Yes, you will need a separate hard drive to back up your data.
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I'm by no means an expert and this may not be the optimal way to use Time Machine but here is what I do:
I have the Time Capsule set up to automatically be the back up drive. I had to directly connect my laptop and the TC with a network cable the first time due to the amount of data. Now I use it wirelessly. It just backs up every hour automatically and you don't even notice it.
I also have a firewire drive (Western Digital Passport) and about every other week I change the Time Machine backup drive to it and back onto that drive. I then have that backup drive in my laptop bag when I travel and I can go back and retrieve things should I need to while I'm on the road.
The whole point of this software is to take the effort out of backing up...and it really is easy once you do it the first time!
Mac Specs: Unibody MacBook 2.4GHz/4GB Ram/320GB HD
Don't buy a Time Capsule......invest in an Airport Extreme Base Station and USB Hard drive. The main reason being that once you buy a Time Capsule, you're stuck with whatever drive it comes with and can't upgrade it.
With the AEBS you can change your backup drive at any time, and upgrade at any time.
Not all that easy, but not all that hard for anyone use to tinkering with their hardware. A step-by-step guide on upgrading the hard drive in a Time Capsule.
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Yes, you will need a separate hard drive to back up your data.
I recently upgraded to Leopard from Tiger. I was already using My Book for backing up my data so before I installed Leopard I of course made sure that all of my data was indeed in My Book. Now I want to start using Time Machine and the instructions tell me that before I do, I must reformat My Book. I understand that I must do that and after reading the My Book manual, I'm not quite sure I understand how. The manual tells me to make sure that the data from My Book is backed up so I don't lose it.
Where am I supposed to put the data from My Book so I can reformat it?
Back into my computer?
The My Book icon is on my desk top and of course when I open it, all of my files are there. This tells me that my data is in my computer.
If I reformat My Book to accommodate Time Machine and the data in My Book is erased, will I be able to retrieve my data that is in my computer?
All of this probably sounds crazy to you and no one has yet to give me the answers I need. I even contacted Western Digital tech support. All they told me is that I need to back up my data before reformatting My Book. Yeah. No kidding. Tell me something I DON'T know!
I don't want to purchase yet another My Book and I can't possibly sit here and burn all of my files to CD and DVD.
Does anyone have any idea where my files get backed up to prior to reformatting My Book and erasing all the data?
Thank you in advance.
After doing some research here (admittedly not very extensive research), I decided to go with an Iomega external hard drive. It was a little over $100 at Amazon. I've been very happy with the way it works with Time Machine. After initial setup and getting a few glitches worked out, it's virtually effortless and transparent. This drive was apparently designed to use with Apple products, which is one reason I got it. It's even styled like Apple. I have it connected via Firewire. I recognize that a wireless hard drive would be desireable in that it could be placed in a location other than the computer; so that it would give some protection in the event of fire or theft.
Backing up data from My Book/Using Time Machine
