[kenna]

Hi All,

Just got a 250GB external, I need to back up my work folders and my music folders to it each time I connect my hard drive to my Mac. I don't necessarily want to be able to go back in time as I just want one single back up to really get the most out of my limited hard drive space. I could have got a 1TB for that but I didn't want those features and I wanted portability.

So i've checked the thread what application do I need to use if? But there are a few different apps, I looked at SuperDuper but thats a full back up, I don't necessarily want that either.

Could anyone recommend the best way of doing this without me having to overwrite all the files constantly and making this an hour + job each week....it would be great to see an app that simply checks my hard drive, compares it to the folders i've selected then copies over the files I don't have in a matter of minutes. I know this is technically what TM does, but I don't want to convert my hard drive unless someone can tell me how TM would do this and why it would be the best way.

Thanks

[OreoCookie]

Easy solution: use Time Machine. You do not need to convert anything and you can continue to use it as an external harddrive. Again, you don't need to do anything special, just tell Time Macine to use that particular drive. My Time Machine drive also houses an Aperture vault of mine.

There is one thing you shouldn't do: mess with the backup folders in any way, don't rename or move them. Period.

If you only want to save those two folders, you have to exclude all other folders manually (top level folders suffice), although you should also back up your user's Library folder if you want you mails to be backed up as well.

You can also use Synk to do backups of folders, this software has better granularity, burt you have to pay (not much, though). Time Machine is for free.

[kenna]

Thanks OreoCookie, that seems a painsaking experience to have to continually stop new folders from being backed up.

But I may give it a try, when I click on my external to be my time machine hard drive it says that it needs to be reformatted? I'm using a western digital passport, which I think comes with software on it already????

Unsure though, I may look into Synk, but may also give Time Machine a try! Sounds worthwhile!

If I don't like it can I reformat my drive not to use Time Machine?

Thanks for the feedback

[OreoCookie]

Originally Posted by kenna 

Thanks OreoCookie, that seems a painsaking experience to have to continually stop new folders from being backed up.

Painstaking?
You do it once before you enable Time Machine and then never touch the settings again (unless you want to add/exclude additional folders). Takes about two minutes.

Why do people always think things are so difficult?

The harddrive needs to be formatted as HFS+ drive if you want to use it with Time Machine. If it's new, it's probably formatted using the worst filesystem out there, FAT32. Reformatting means, you will lose all data on the drive.

[zombie punk]

Is it possible to use two Time Machine drives on the same laptop (in different locations)?

[kenna]

Originally Posted by OreoCookie 

Painstaking?
You do it once before you enable Time Machine and then never touch the settings again (unless you want to add/exclude additional folders). Takes about two minutes.

Why do people always think things are so difficult?

The harddrive needs to be formatted as HFS+ drive if you want to use it with Time Machine. If it's new, it's probably formatted using the worst filesystem out there, FAT32. Reformatting means, you will lose all data on the drive.

Ahhh right, I get you, thought you meant it would automatically add all new folders to be backed up unless I constantly disabled each one.

Nice, sounds great, i'll have a go with it then!

I don't mind losing all data on the drive, as long as its all good i'm happy.

so I can still use it as a regular hard drive too? I'm guessing so...

Thats my last question, thanks Oreo!

[zombie punk]

Originally Posted by kenna 

so I can still use it as a regular hard drive too? I'm guessing so...

Yes, bearing in mind TM will fill your drive eventually, so there will be space issues.

[OreoCookie]

From my first post, first sentence

Easy solution: use Time Machine. You do not need to convert anything and you can continue to use it as an external harddrive.

[kenna]

*hangs head in shame*
thanks oreo, appreciate the feedback

[OreoCookie]

Oh, and as I said, don't touch Time Machine's backup folder.