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time machine backup an external hard drive

martinchivers

martinchivers

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 19, 2011
283
9
Bath, Somerset, UK
I have just go around to setting up time machine.

I have a hard drive (PC, internal type) in an external caddy. I deleted all the old stuff & made the backup overnight. That has worked fine, but I have 2 questions...

I have a second internal drive in the same caddy & a USB drive plugged in to the mac as well. The backup ONLY "backed up" the mac 1TB internal drive. Can I backup the other 2 drives as well?

Secondly....as its an internal drive/caddy, is it safe to remove it (i.e. switch it off) as its quite noisy & also fear that if it running 24/7 it will fail. If turning it off, I assume I drag the logo into the recycle bin, in the same way that I did previously (when the logo was "1TB external")

Any help, much appreciated.
 
incidentally, just to add, I have tried to add the other 2 drives. Via system preferances, time machine. In "OPTIONS" "Exclude these items" the 2 drives are greyed out. I cannot see anything or any way in INCLUDING them.
 
Are all the HDs HFS formatted? I have not tried to back up a FAT32 HD so I am not sure if Time Machine would back that up.
 
Thanks for the input. To be honest. I do not know. I use both the drives (that I want to backup) on my PC as well as mac. When I installed Initially I formatted them so that they WOULD work (on both)
 
martinchivers said:
Thanks for the input. To be honest. I do not know. I use both the drives (that I want to backup) on my PC as well as mac. When I installed Initially I formatted them so that they WOULD work (on both)
Click to expand...

It sounds like the other HDs could be formatted NTFS. Time Machine won't backup Windows NTFS formatted HDs.
 
morning. OK, in front of my machine now. Although I have done it before, I cannot remember how to get into the hard drive management! (in order to check the format type!)

Any help for a total scatterbrain, most appreciated!!!
 
martinchivers said:
morning. OK, in front of my machine now. Although I have done it before, I cannot remember how to get into the hard drive management! (in order to check the format type!)

Any help for a total scatterbrain, most appreciated!!!
Click to expand...

Applications -> Utilities -> Disk Utility
 
morning.

Just checked. It is FAT32. I could easily remove the data & reformat.

Just need to check.........ONCE FORMATTED to HFS, will I be able to access & save/ write etc, using my PC, as well as the iMac?

Once I have done the format, I assume I will be able to add this drive onto my time machine list.

Thanks again! martin
 
You will need extra software on the pc to read mac formatted drives. If you don't want to do that you could consider carbon copy cloner to make backups.
 
OK. at the moment, it works fine....i.e. - reads & writes on PC & Mac.

The only thing it doesnt do, it work with time machine.

Its there a format the will continue to work with mac/PC, while allowing time machine?
 
martinchivers said:
...
Its there a format the will continue to work with mac/PC, while allowing time machine?
Click to expand...
That would be Mac OS Extended (Journaled) which is also known as HFS+.

If you search on Google (and probably other search engines) with "hfs windows" as your search parameters, you get many options on how to be able to use HFS+ volumes on windows. I have not used any of these, so I can't make any recommendations as to which piece of software is best.
 
hi.

I reformatted the drive to "mac os extended (journalised) - then tested it with the PC. The PC would not recognise the drive at all.

I then did the same again using mac os extended, but that had the same outcome.

Now back to fat32 & its all back to where it was before, allowing me to use the drive with both my mac & the PC. At the end of the day, if I am unable to back-up this drive, with time machine, then I will have to live with that.

I reformatted another of my drives (used on mac only) & that has now been recognised in time machine, so it will back that one up.

I will now manually, copy stuff over, prior to running the time machine backup. Thanks for all the help.

Martin
 
I have another couple of questions, regarding Time Machine.

As I said, I have a hard drive (PC, internal type) in an external caddy, plugged into a USB.

Firstly, is it likely that if its doing a back-up it will slow the machine down, when continuing to use the machine?

Secondly, If I were to put the mac into sleep mode, but leave the hard drive running (overnight), would it continue the backing up process?

I have a second drive on the same caddy, which has now been correctly formatted, for time machine compatibility. I don't really seam to be able to add it in, as a drive that should be backed up. It IS showing now (not greyed out) in the time machine section of system preferences. But cannot add it.

Basically, I want to be able to control WHEN it does the back-ups, is there a place anywhere to set it to something like "backup when the hard drive is on"? I really do not want this drive (and also the second dive) to be continuously running 124/7. They are quite noisy for a start, but also I fear for their longevity of life if running all the time.

Lastly, assuming my 1TB drive is half full, how long should time machine take to do the back-up, Obviously, the FIRST one takes longer, but thats done now.


Any help, much appreciated.
 
martinchivers said:
I have another couple of questions, regarding Time Machine.

As I said, I have a hard drive (PC, internal type) in an external caddy, plugged into a USB.

Firstly, is it likely that if its doing a back-up it will slow the machine down, when continuing to use the machine?
Click to expand...

Maybe. It depends on what you're doing to notice slowdown. I turn time machine off when I'm doing heavy stuff.

Secondly, If I were to put the mac into sleep mode, but leave the hard drive running (overnight), would it continue the backing up process?
Click to expand...

No.

I have a second drive on the same caddy, which has now been correctly formatted, for time machine compatibility. I don't really seam to be able to add it in, as a drive that should be backed up. It IS showing now (not greyed out) in the time machine section of system preferences. But cannot add it.
Click to expand...

I guess it's already added. In options you can select items not to backup.

Basically, I want to be able to control WHEN it does the back-ups, is there a place anywhere to set it to something like "backup when the hard drive is on"? I really do not want this drive (and also the second dive) to be continuously running 124/7. They are quite noisy for a start, but also I fear for their longevity of life if running all the time.
Click to expand...

Turn it off if you don't use it. It will backup when you turn it back on.

Lastly, assuming my 1TB drive is half full, how long should time machine take to do the back-up, Obviously, the FIRST one takes longer, but thats done now.
Click to expand...

It depends on the changes you make. Large changes will take more time. If you move a large folder it will take time too.
 
hi again guys.

I am still unable to backup the second hard drive in the caddy. It isn't greyed out, as it was prior to reformatting it. When I check the ACTUAL backups in the time machine folder, only "macintosh" appears, so obviously its not being backed up. If it were to be backed up, I assume it would show, within the same folder.

I have gone to "time machine" in system preferences/Options & attempted to add the drive there. Not 100% sure of the presedure, any ideas?
 
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