Back-up external drive with another external drive?

robcub · robcub #1 (**permalink**)

12-21-2009, 07:17 AM

Hi. I have a iMac 5,1 with 250GB of space on the hard drive. Most of that space (220GB) is taken up with apps of the remaining 70GB - 20GB is taken up with my stuff.

At the moment I have an external drive of 500GB which is partitioned into two - one a disk copy of the Mac when I bought it and after I'd loaded all the software. The other partition is my Time Machine back up.

This situation is working really well at the moment.

Now what I would like to do is to copy all my files (work, pix, music,etc. about 20GB) to another external drive and leave the Mac with just system software and applications. But if I do that, how can I back up my stuff? Can you back-up external drive with another external drive using Time Machine?

I would appreciate any comments / ideas.

baggss · baggss #2 (**permalink**)

12-21-2009, 11:58 AM

Yes. Time machine offers you the option to back up other drives, not just your internal. Better make it a big drive though.

Collin Bl · Collin Bl #3 (**permalink**)

12-21-2009, 03:22 PM

I have just gone to this Voyager Q drive dock (Review) with 2 1TB drives so i can do an off site bootable back up rotation. That way if my iMac fails i can just continue working off of the back up.

robcub · robcub #4 (**permalink**)

12-22-2009, 07:21 AM

Thank you for your answers, Collin Bl and baggss. I should have said, another thing I was thinking of was to buy a MacBookPro and use an external for work and back it up on another external when at the iMac. Great news that this is possible!

hughvane · hughvane #5 (**permalink**)

12-22-2009, 06:40 PM

In addition to the answers already provided, and if your two external drives have firewire connection, have you considered simply daisy-chaining them? Both will mount to either of your computer's desktops. You can drag and drop to your heart's content.

Portability might prove the stumbling block, as USB-powered external drives can't be daisy-chained, nor do Mac USB ports provide sufficient grunt in many (reported) cases.

robcub · robcub #6 (**permalink**)

12-22-2009, 09:00 PM

Good point, hughvane, I always think firewire drives are a better bet than USB anyway.

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Back-up external drive with another external drive?

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robcub #1 (permalink)
Member Since: Dec 21, 2009 Posts: 11	12-21-2009, 07:17 AM Hi. I have a iMac 5,1 with 250GB of space on the hard drive. Most of that space (220GB) is taken up with apps of the remaining 70GB - 20GB is taken up with my stuff. At the moment I have an external drive of 500GB which is partitioned into two - one a disk copy of the Mac when I bought it and after I'd loaded all the software. The other partition is my Time Machine back up. This situation is working really well at the moment. Now what I would like to do is to copy all my files (work, pix, music,etc. about 20GB) to another external drive and leave the Mac with just system software and applications. But if I do that, how can I back up my stuff? Can you back-up external drive with another external drive using Time Machine? I would appreciate any comments / ideas.
	QUOTE Thanks

baggss #2 (permalink)
Member Since: Oct 10, 2004 Location: Margaritaville Posts: 10,306 Mac Specs: 27" 3.4 Ghz i7 iMac-13" C2D Macbook-OSX 18.8.2-64Gb iPad 2-32 Gb iPhone 5-ATV 2-14Tb of Storage	12-21-2009, 11:58 AM Yes. Time machine offers you the option to back up other drives, not just your internal. Better make it a big drive though.
	QUOTE Thanks

robcub #4 (permalink)
Member Since: Dec 21, 2009 Posts: 11	12-22-2009, 07:21 AM Thank you for your answers, Collin Bl and baggss. I should have said, another thing I was thinking of was to buy a MacBookPro and use an external for work and back it up on another external when at the iMac. Great news that this is possible!
	QUOTE Thanks

hughvane #5 (permalink)
Member Since: May 18, 2008 Location: Banks Peninsula, New Zealand Posts: 3,244 Mac Specs: MacMini 2.4, 4 Gb, OS 10.6.8; MacBook 2.4, 2 Gb, OS 10.5.8; G4 eMac 1.25, 2 Gb, OS 10.4.11	12-22-2009, 06:40 PM In addition to the answers already provided, and if your two external drives have firewire connection, have you considered simply daisy-chaining them? Both will mount to either of your computer's desktops. You can drag and drop to your heart's content. Portability might prove the stumbling block, as USB-powered external drives can't be daisy-chained, nor do Mac USB ports provide sufficient grunt in many (reported) cases.
	QUOTE Thanks

robcub #6 (permalink)
Member Since: Dec 21, 2009 Posts: 11	12-22-2009, 09:00 PM Good point, hughvane, I always think firewire drives are a better bet than USB anyway.
	QUOTE Thanks

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