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Time Machine questions

Mrs HBF

Mrs HBF

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 27, 2010
162
11
I have not used Time Machine yet nor have I backed up anything and I know I really need to do so. So do I need to get a hard drive in order to do this? If so, what do you all recommend is the best that isn't bulky but is also inexpensive? I'd like to spend under $100. Then how do I use it with conjunction to Time Machine?

Thank you. Yes, I'm still very new to MBP.
 
1. Buy external Hard Drive of your choice. There are many under $100.00.
2. Plug it in to USB port
3. Open Time Machine.
4. Point Time Machine at your drive.
5. Done.

It is super easy. :)
 
I don't know much about hard drives, MartyF81. Anyone in particular you prefer?

Also, yes, I know this is a dumb question, but when you wrote "Point Time Machine at your drive", what do you mean? When I turn on Time Machine, the external hard drive I buy will pop up?
 
I'll help you out.
Go to your nearest Best Buy, go to the Electronics department and ask the guy/girl for a USB powered (Portable) external hard drive. They carry three under $100.00

Here is an excellent video on how to set up time machine:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dakrnV86dGc
I wish you luck!
Don't worry about this. It gets easier over time and you'll be doing the same for others.
 
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Jaro65 said:
Here is a whole slew of them: http://www.amazon.com/External-Hard...pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1278712402&pf_rd_i=172456

I have had good experience with my Western Digital My Passport Studio drives, but they're a bit more expensive as they also offer a FireWire 800 interface. It is a nice feature to have, but really not necessary if you just want to use the drive for a Time Machine.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the list Jaro65. I am making the assumption that one would use the external hard drive in conjunction with Time Machine. Isn't that what Time Machine is all about? If not, why else would you need a backup hard drive?

Opstech, thanks for the Youtube tutorial. Quick question, since it was a bit blurry, I might have missed this. Is there a place in which you need to type the brand of external hard drive you have? I think I saw her type it in but am not sure.

Also, can I get any portable external hard drive or must it be configured already for Mac?
 
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Pretty much any USB external harddrive will be fine. I use 5 different drives for different things and they all work fine.
You will often have to format it first as Macs use a different file system to windows (HFS instead of NTFS).
You can format it using disk utility in your utilities folder. When you first plug in a mac formatted drive it will ask you if you want to use it for time machine, just answer yes and off you go.
 
On a side note but same topic, is there a place to set the time when Time Machin runs? Mine is setup on our Airport Extreme and it seems to pick the absolute worst times to run the automated backups. Exsmple, I will copy a large file to my desktop, literally 1-2 min after it copied, Time Machine runs..very annoying when I'm using Photoshop trying to edit images.
 
I work at Best Buy. I personally picked up a Western Digital My Passport external hard drive. If you catch a sale, you can get one for under 100 bucks with over 100 gb's for sure.
 
Mrs HBF said:
Thanks for the list Jaro65. I am making the assumption that one would use the external hard drive in conjunction with Time Machine. Isn't that what Time Machine is all about? If not, why else would you need a backup hard drive?
Click to expand...

Time Machine is a feature built into the OS X. It will do automatic backups for you. But...you need a drive where these backups will be stored. Thus the need for an external USB drive (or you can use Time Capsule).
 
Mac-key said:
Are you referring to this one?
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...ital_WDMT5000TN_500GB_My_Passport_Studio.html

Just picked it up last week. Very nice drive for the price.
Click to expand...
Is there any difference in terms of functionality between yours above from B&H and this one from J&R? http://www.jr.com/western-digital/pe/WD_BAAE5000ASL/#productTabDetails

I had cut and pasted "Western Digital 500GB My Passport Studio Portable Hard Drive" from your B & H page into the J&R page. The two look different so I'm wondering if one is newer than the other? Or is there any difference that makes J&R's more expensive?

Both work with Time Machine?
 
pretty much any external drive will work with Time Machine on your Mac ... even if it says on the box "for PC" ... you just have to format for Mac.

Launch utilities/disk utility ... follow instructions :cool:

here is a link from Seagate on how to use PC external HD on your Mac ... it is very easy.

http://support.seagate.com/mac
 
My iMac has a 1 TB hard drive that's dedicated to TM.

I still have to set up TM for my MBP...there isn't much on it right now.

I would buy a fairly large portable hard drive (at least 500GB); partition the drive and format part of it for Time Machine and have the remainder for storage.
 
Mars2010 said:
I would buy a fairly large portable hard drive (at least 500GB); partition the drive and format part of it for Time Machine and have the remainder for storage.
Click to expand...
I don't understand. Isn't Time Machine used to help you back things up on to your 500 GB portable hard drive? I don't understand what a partition is for.
 
johnnyfiive said:
On a side note but same topic, is there a place to set the time when Time Machin runs? Mine is setup on our Airport Extreme and it seems to pick the absolute worst times to run the automated backups. Exsmple, I will copy a large file to my desktop, literally 1-2 min after it copied, Time Machine runs..very annoying when I'm using Photoshop trying to edit images.
Click to expand...

The default for Time Machine is "on" and the only other option is "off" I have mine set to off and back up manually--no big deal for me--I turned it off for that very reason--it would always back up at bad times--but the "on" setting means it backups up every hour--and that is not configurable without additional 3rd party software.
 
I was thinking for Time Machine to use as extra storage.

I think the difference between Time Machine and other "inexpensive" solution is based on the fact that Time Machine has Wireless connection. Am I wrong?
 
you do not have to partition the HD .... if you want to use for example 300 GB for Time Machine and have 200 GB for extra storage ... that is why you would partition.

Or just use the whole HD for Time Machine.

Time Machine will backup your whole system including OSX and every hour will add to the back up of any changes you have made. ... TM rocks :cool:

I only plug mine in once a day and have it partitioned 300GB TM + 200GB stuff
 
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