Time machine backing up what...?

[pixeltaker]

I have a three terabyte external hard drive that I use on my Mac Book Pro with Time Machine. I also have an additional one terabyte that I back up files to. If I have the one terabyte plugged in and I'm backing up my system on the three terabyte Time Machine, will it also back up the one terabyte external hard drive? (The files on the one terabyte are not on my computer, only on this external hard drive.)

 

[chas_m]

No. Time Machine has one focus: it backs up everything on the boot drive. It does not back up other drives.

You can use other cloning or backup programs like SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Cloner or Chronosync for handling/automating multiple drives and destinations for backups.

 

[Slydude]

Time Machine can back up the contents of an external drive. I've seen a link recently with detailed explanations but this is the closest I can find at the moment. I haven't tried using Time Machine to back up external drives so I haven't tried this tip. I usually use Carbon Copy Cloner to back up external drives.

 

[chas_m]

Perhaps I should rephrase that as "Time Machine is designed to only back up the boot drive to an external drive." I second your recommendation for CCC.