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Time machine back up SSD

Mainbeam

Mainbeam

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 15, 2012
39
1
Liverpool, GB
Hi, I have OSX running off an SSD where my optical drive used to be. I also have an internal hdd. Computer is early 2011 MacBook Pro unibody.

The problem in having is I'm trying to do a time machine backup for the first time and time machine only recognises the hdd and not the SSD with OSX.

Does anyone have a fix for this problem?

Thanks
 
If I'm understanding correctly, TM only shows target drives, not the drive to be backed up. The SSD is the boot drive so it won't appear as a target.
 
You can create a new partition on the SSD, and use that for your target. HOWEVER, it's very risky to place a backup on the very same drive you need to backup. I gather you're running OS X on the SSD, data and apps on the HDD?

If there's room on your SSD to backup your OS and data, then there's room on your SSD to store the data itself. Data on the fast drive, backup on the slower drive (though you're losing much of the benefit of a backup unless you use an external drive).
 
Last edited:
Thanks AK. Yes to your 1st line. So are you saying that the SSD will automatically back up? I was confused as it gave the option to back up the HDD but not SSD.

Thanks for the replies folks.
 
Mainbeam said:
Thanks EG. Do you know how to make the SSD appear as a target drive? Thanks.
Click to expand...

One of TMs missions is to copy data to a 2nd drive in case the 1st drive fails. Without changing to another boot drive, you would need to partition the SSD. Boot from partition 1 and make partition 2 a target. This would give you in the fly internal version backups. Is that your goal?
 
ElectronGuru said:
One of TMs missions is to copy data to a 2nd drive in case the 1st drive fails. Without changing to another boot drive, you would need to partition the SSD. Boot from partition 1 and make partition 2 a target. This would give you in the fly internal version backups. Is that your goal?
Click to expand...


Sorry for not being totally clear with my original post. Basically, I want to plug in an external HDD and back up 2 internal drives, the SSD and the HDD. Thanks.
 
Mainbeam said:
Sorry for not being totally clear with my original post. Basically, I want to plug in an external HDD and back up 2 internal drives, the SSD and the HDD. Thanks.
Click to expand...

The confusion is in the word "target". Generally in a backup situation, the "target" is the destination of the backup data. It seems what you want is to have both your HDD, and your SSD to be the "source" of backup data... and your external device to be the "destination" (or target) of your backup.

Yes... Time Machine can have multiple source drives. Go into "System Preferences > Time Machine > Options" and make sure that neither drive is excluded.

/Jim
 
Mainbeam said:
Sorry for not being totally clear with my original post. Basically, I want to plug in an external HDD and back up 2 internal drives, the SSD and the HDD. Thanks.
Click to expand...

You're not seeing the SSD because it's not optional, backing up the boot drive is the default. You're seeing the HDD in the Time Machine Preferences either because it's a potential target - a place to store the backup (as Jim explained), or because you chose to exclude it from being backed up.

System Preferences > Time Machine, "Select disk..." means, Select the disk you want to backup to (the target). It'll show disks eligible for backup. Your SSD is not an eligible backup drive. Plug in the external HDD, you'll be asked if you want to backup to that drive.

If you go into System Preferences > Time Machine > Options... you'll see the "Exclude these items from backup" screen. By default, the boot drive will not be displayed. If you click the + you will get a dialog box that allows you to select folders/drives you'd like to exclude from the backup. If a drive or folder is displayed on that screen, it has already been excluded from backup.
 
Thanks. Makes sense now. It automatically backs up the boot drive. Problem I have now is GB's worth of yellow other and only 10gb of space left of SSD. I created a 2nd partition and then deleted it.
 
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