Question about Time Machine

[Hustler]

I have a 09 macbook (new to me) with a small 60gb ssd so I use an external 120gb seagate hard drive. I'm keeping my iTunes library and photos on the external hard drive.
So I have Time Machine set up to run on another 1TB WD my passport drive any time its plugged in.
So my process is this, plug in my 120 gb drive, click option and open photos, and select it to use the library on my external drive. I leave that application open, then plug in my 1tb WD drive to start the time machine backup.
All finishes, I eject the 120gb seagate and open my time machine back up to view the files in this specific back up and when I try to view what it saved from the photos application, I get a prompt that says "nothing to import. None of these files can be viewed in your photos library".

Is it not able to save items into time machine that aren't on the actual drive inside the computer?
If it can, what am I doing wrong? If it can't...How do I easily backup my photo library along side my time machine backups?

Thanks for any insight
Brad

 

[Ebenezum]

I suspect the problem is that you have Photos open while the backup is in process.

Try quitting Photos before you plug in the WD drive. After Time Machine backup is complete it should contain all Pictures.

 

[Weaselboy]

By default, Time Machine excludes external drives from backup. So you will need to attach the 120GB drive then open Time Machine options and remove that drive from the exclude list.

 

[Hustler]

Awesome, thanks guys.

 

[Hustler]

Ok so I've tried another back up tonight, I closed photos before beginning. I also removed my hard drive from the do not exclude list, so it backs up the hard drive (where my photo library is stored)

But I still get the same results after a back up, I can not view my photo library from the WD time machine drive after the fact.


What else can I be doing wrong?

I suspect the problem is that you have Photos open while the backup is in process.

Try quitting Photos before you plug in the WD drive. After Time Machine backup is complete it should contain all Pictures.

By default, Time Machine excludes external drives from backup. So you will need to attach the 120GB drive then open Time Machine options and remove that drive from the exclude list.

 

[Weaselboy]

Ok so I've tried another back up tonight, I closed photos before beginning. I also removed my hard drive from the do not exclude list, so it backs up the hard drive (where my photo library is stored)

But I still get the same results after a back up, I can not view my photo library from the WD time machine drive after the fact.

What else can I be doing wrong?

Try this... attach the external drive with the Photos library on it. Then open Finder and navigate to the folder on that drive that contains the Photos library. No go to the Time Machine menulet at the top and "Enter Time Machine". Once that comes up, can you scroll back in time along the right side of the screen to see previous backup versions of the Photos library file?

 

[Hustler]

Try this... attach the external drive with the Photos library on it. Then open Finder and navigate to the folder on that drive that contains the Photos library. No go to the Time Machine menulet at the top and "Enter Time Machine". Once that comes up, can you scroll back in time along the right side of the screen to see previous backup versions of the Photos library file?

Doing this with both drives plugged in, yes it shows that there is a photos folder (with the photos icon) but when I click that folder nothing shows.
I did find on one of the time machine 'slides' that you can scroll between that I have the option to show the external hard drive so I select it, then I can find the photos folder, when I click on it it shows calculating size, then shows 19.7 GB, so that obviously has some pictures in it.

Something else I found, if I go to finder, plug in my time machine usb hard drive (with my seagate drive ejected), go through that to view my backup folders, I can navigate to the photos folder and right click it, it shows having 19.7 GB but when I click it to open and view the files, it says "photos can not find the library, it was last on a drive names Seagate 250GB, please attach that drive and try again"

That to me means these files aren't something I can get to without having my seagate drive, am I just reading into this incorrectly?

And if I'm doing it all wrong, is there an easier way to back up without having a lot of duplicates with my photos library?

 

[Weaselboy]

It does not sound like you are doing anything wrong, so I am a bit baffled. So when in the Time Machine interface and you double click the pictures folder shown in the external drive, it shows nothing in there at all?

 

[Hustler]

Yea thats correct, should it allow me to view the actual photos? It just shows a blank finder window after I open the photos folder. But when I click 'get info' it shows 19 GB of stuff in there.

 

[Weaselboy]

Yea thats correct, should it allow me to view the actual photos? It just shows a blank finder window after I open the photos folder. But when I click 'get info' it shows 19 GB of stuff in there.

You won't see the individual photos, since they are inside the Photos library "package".... but you should see the Photos library file there. Can you see that?