Situation: I added a second drive to my mac mini. I moved the entire iTunes library onto it. I don't have server on the mini. I used to back up with time machine when I only had one drive. Time machine doesn't back up since I added the new drive. How do I back up the two internal drives onto a single external through time machine or via some other software? Do I need two external drives since I have two internal drives?
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How to back up a Mac mini with dual drives
- Thread starter TheRealUni
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Use Time Machine...it will back up both drives. Yes, a single will do as long as it has the capacity.
You might want to look at a couple of software options - SuperDuper and Carbon Cloner (CCC). Alternatively, you could probably get your TM to work with some reconfigs/preferences.
CCC - easy to use and can technically handle hidden partitions.
SuperDuper - also easy enough to use and you may be able to put in schedules as well for back ups.
Both are able to do a full back up and then only back up the changes and adjust the back up. Example - iTunes: you added music and only this would be backed up to your iTunes folder automatically on the next backup. You may have removed an album of music you didn't like, the next back up would also remove it from your backup. There are lots of easy facets to these software applications. TM is easy but I admit I don't use it. I prefer doing regular backups only because I am old school.
Under Time Machine->Options, is where you can add or remove which drives you want or don't want backed up.
Didn't work
Time machine seems capable of "excluding" drives but not "including" them. I might have to go with CCC or some other software. I feel that i just see's the second drive as some ejectable device.
Time machine seems capable of "excluding" drives but not "including" them. I might have to go with CCC or some other software. I feel that i just see's the second drive as some ejectable device.
TM can't do it... unless you are running a fusion or a raid, or jbod..
I have been using CCC for the last 3 years and love it... it gives me a lot more control over what is getting backed up and more importantly when... (things i don't add to often or don't care about as much are once a month
Unless something has changed recently, Time Machine can certainly backup multiple drives, and has been able to for a long time:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/443857/
A.
I agree, in fact the last time I checked Time Machine will "by default" try to backup all mounted drives, I've always had to 'exclude' the drives I did not want backed up.
I have four HDs in my 2008 MacPro. One of those is dedicated to TimeMachine to backup the other 3 drives and my wife's Mac Mini. So, TM can certainly backup multiple drives.
That being said, TM is not a great choice as your only backup system (particularly if the TM drive is stored locally). It's great for onsite backup, so you can retrieve something that you deleted, or restore a corrupted file. However, for catastrophic issues, you should make sure you've got a more robust backup system in place.
In addition to TM, I also use Carbon Copy Cloner and an external 2 TB drive. I have the disc divided into 4 partitions, one for the Mac Mini and three for the drives in my MacPro (I don't bother backing up the TM drive). I store the drive in my desk at work and bring it home once a month to perform backups. This way, worst case, I would never lose more than a month's worth of files. Not the perfect system, but a heck of a lot better than relying on TM only.
That being said, TM is not a great choice as your only backup system (particularly if the TM drive is stored locally). It's great for onsite backup, so you can retrieve something that you deleted, or restore a corrupted file. However, for catastrophic issues, you should make sure you've got a more robust backup system in place.
In addition to TM, I also use Carbon Copy Cloner and an external 2 TB drive. I have the disc divided into 4 partitions, one for the Mac Mini and three for the drives in my MacPro (I don't bother backing up the TM drive). I store the drive in my desk at work and bring it home once a month to perform backups. This way, worst case, I would never lose more than a month's worth of files. Not the perfect system, but a heck of a lot better than relying on TM only.
I've got a Mini server with three external data drives, one of which does Time Machine backups of other Macs in the house. The server itself doesn't use Time Machine.
The dual internal drives clone automatically every night to a fourth always-connected external drive using SuperDuper! On a weekly basis I swap this external with another one kept off-site. The data on the two external drives that aren't used for Time Machine are cloned to bare drives on occasion and alternates are kept off-site. These drives have media content that changes infrequently. The Time Machine backup drive is not backed up at all, but all the Macs' critical data are also backed up to the "cloud" with CrashPlan.
I've been running with this setup for 4 years and have yet to lose any files (although I've had 4 drives go bad in that time).
The dual internal drives clone automatically every night to a fourth always-connected external drive using SuperDuper! On a weekly basis I swap this external with another one kept off-site. The data on the two external drives that aren't used for Time Machine are cloned to bare drives on occasion and alternates are kept off-site. These drives have media content that changes infrequently. The Time Machine backup drive is not backed up at all, but all the Macs' critical data are also backed up to the "cloud" with CrashPlan.
I've been running with this setup for 4 years and have yet to lose any files (although I've had 4 drives go bad in that time).
yes multiple drives in different computers. it will not however backup multiple drive in the same computers. So for example i have two drives in my mini and my TC only backs up the drive holding the OS. i have not created any exclusions in my prefs...
ok scratch everything i just said... I just went into my prefs and check the exclusions list and it was populated with all of my other drives... lol, As embarrassing as that is however, the truth is that i never set these exclusions up myself. meaning that it is the OS that sets them up...
By default, Time Machine excludes all the disks but the one that runs the OS.
If you want Time Machine to backup another disk, you must delete it in the exclusions list.
Really? I use Time Machine to backup my internal laptop drive and an external drive that I attach to the laptop when I do my backups. Been doing it that way for about 3 years.
yep, that is precisely what i found out today. My apologies for the self-assured posts previously...
Get either one, or two, external drives.
If you need two individual drives, you might consider a USB3/SATA docking station -- they cost around $25. Then get two "bare drives" and swap as required. Cheap, easy, fast.
Use either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper.
If you have only one "target" drive, partition it into two "pieces".
Use CCC (or SD) to clone your boot drive to one partition (first is best).
Then, clone your second internal drive to the OTHER partition.
Do incremental backups as necessary. Could be once a day, or once a week. Depends on your needs.
If you need two individual drives, you might consider a USB3/SATA docking station -- they cost around $25. Then get two "bare drives" and swap as required. Cheap, easy, fast.
Use either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper.
If you have only one "target" drive, partition it into two "pieces".
Use CCC (or SD) to clone your boot drive to one partition (first is best).
Then, clone your second internal drive to the OTHER partition.
Do incremental backups as necessary. Could be once a day, or once a week. Depends on your needs.