Time Machine and Photos

[Ram171]

Hello all,

I haven't been able to find a post on this so i decided to ask.

I've recently placed my Photos library on an external drive as to save space on my MBP HDD. When using Time Machine, will it back up the Photos library? Or bypass it since its external? If its not covered by Time Machine, what are some ideas to back it up? Does Photos have a vault like Aperture?

 

[Kg4zlb]

Time machine can be set to either include or ignore an external HDD. Like you, I wanted to save space so kept them on my ext HDD - I have just finished importing them to Photo and then up to iCloud for a second back-up!

HTH

David

 

[Ram171]

Time machine can be set to either include or ignore an external HDD. Like you, I wanted to save space so kept them on my ext HDD - I have just finished importing them to Photo and then up to iCloud for a second back-up!

HTH

David

so do I need another external drive? A different one? To put the Time Machine Backups?

 

[Kg4zlb]

Unless I am misunderstanding, no! Time Machine will back up everything on your Mac plus everything else you select it to do so - so by adding your ext HDD to the TM backup, you would have your back up in TM PLUS the originals on your ext HDD. Time Machine IS the backup drive!

 

[ApfelKuchen]

so do I need another external drive? A different one? To put the Time Machine Backups?

Apple recommends that you have a separate drive for Time Machine, but it's not mandatory.

External drives (USB, Thunderbolt, Firewire) are not included by default in Time Machine. To add an external drive, open the Options... section in System Preferences > Time Machine.

Photos does not have a Vault like Aperture (iPhoto doesn't, either). You can switch between multiple libraries, but there's no provision for Vaults, merging libraries, or splitting libraries. (If you're using iCloud Photo Library you can add the contents of more than one library to the iCloud library).

 

[Kg4zlb]

so do I need another external drive? A different one? To put the Time Machine Backups?

Yes, sorry - I just re-read! TM requires a destination to back up to and an ext HDD would be ideal. Personally I have an Airport Time Capsule which does everything for me.

 

[MCAsan]

Not much point in using a drive for both data and TM. When the drive dies, they all do eventually, you lose the data and backup. Always use separated dedicated drives for backups.

 

[glenthompson]

so do I need another external drive? A different one? To put the Time Machine Backups?

Yes - never put data and backups on the same drive. Drives are cheap compared to trying to get your photos back when the drive fails.