Time Machine archive onto NTFS drive?

[jeffy.dee-lux]

Hi, sorry if this is already covered somewhere, I've tried searching and couldn't find anything about what I'm trying to do.

Basically, I've got a PC at work in which I installed my own 1TB drive, and I'd like to use that as off-site backup for my personal MBP. I use an external drive at home for Time Machine, but I'd like to know if there's a way I can make a copy of my Time Machine backup, and store it onto my PC's drive. It doesn't need to be readable by the PC in any way, I'd just like to be able to store it somewhere, and then be able to retrieve it if need be and restore my mac from it. I hope that's clear.

I was thinking I could make a .zip of my Time Machine back up, and simply copy that to the PC drive. Then when I want to restore from that back up, I'd just have to copy the .zip file back to a mac and uncompress it. Should that work?

Thanks!

 

[wrldwzrd89]

You'll need an archive format that supports hard links to directories as well as large files. The only Mac-supported format I know of that does this is Apple's own .DMG (disk image). Fortunately, creating one of these from an external drive is easy.

1. Select the disk in Disk Utility, after launching Disk Utility.
2. Go to New -> Image from [device name]...
3. Authenticate as an administrator when prompted.
4. Select compressed as the image type, and whatever encryption options you want.
5. Wait while DU does its thing. Depending on the amount of data to be imaged, this can take 5 hours or more.

 

[jeffy.dee-lux]

Great! Thanks a lot, I'll give that a shot.

 

[jeffy.dee-lux]

I've just realized I don't know how to go about transferring this .dmg file to my windows drive. At first, I thought I'd just make a FAT32 partition of my external drive, store the 156 GB backup file onto that, and then plug that drive into my PC at work and make the transfer.

I realize now that FAT32 only allows files up to 4GB in size. How can I go about transferring a 156 GB file from a mac to a PC??

 

[wrldwzrd89]

There are two ways to go about this.

1. (Preferred) If you have access to a Windows machine, format the external as NTFS. Install the NTFS-3G toolset on your Mac, to enable write support for NTFS drives.
2. (Alternative) Substitute for NTFS-3G (free) either Paragon NTFS for Mac OS X (paid) or MacDrive for Windows (paid). If you elect to use the MacDrive method, format the drive on your Mac as Mac OS Extended (Journaled).

 

[angelwatt]

I realize now that FAT32 only allows files up to 4GB in size. How can I go about transferring a 156 GB file from a mac to a PC??

You'd either have to move it somewhere on the Windows side that has a NTFS formatted area or you can try zip-type programs that will break up the file into multiple files. Have a look see at MacHacha as well as an option. I have the program, but haven't needed to use it.

 

[ChrisA]

I was thinking I could make a .zip of my Time Machine back up, and simply copy that to the PC drive. Then when I want to restore from that back up, I'd just have to copy the .zip file back to a mac and uncompress it. Should that work?

Thanks!

The idea is good but I don't thing "zip" will preserve the links wwritten to the TM drive. But you could make a disk image (DMG) file.

"Dump" can also image a drive and store the image in a file put "dump" is a terminal command and many people cannot type in terminals.

Today disks are cheap. You can buy a 1TB drive for under $100. Buy a couple of these and rotate them. You want a simple setup with few steps so fewer things can go wrong.

 

[jeffy.dee-lux]

Today disks are cheap. You can buy a 1TB drive for under $100. Buy a couple of these and rotate them. You want a simple setup with few steps so fewer things can go wrong.

Thanks for the tips, but I already have three drives, I did go and buy a 1TB drive for under 100$, I'm just trying to figure out how to use that as an off-site back up for the Time Machine drive I keep at home. This 1TB drive is installed in my PC, so it is NTFS.

I realized I've got a program installed on my PC that allows it to copy from a HFS drive. I'm gonna give that a shot.