Dueling Time Machine Disks?

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Level 1

4 points

Dueling Time Machine Disks?

This sort of falls under a "best practices" question - I have been using Time Machine to back up to an eSata drive attached to my MBP 17 via an eSata card in the MBP 17 ExpressCard slot. No problem. That drive is a nice, fast, UNPORTABLE drive that stays at home.

I'm looking at having a smaller, portable USB drive that I take with me on the road, also using it for Time Machine backups. But only when I'm on the road. When I return, I'll switch back to the big, fast, desktop drive. Go on the road, and it's back to the USB drive. I'm assuming I'd have to change back-and-forth via the Time Machine panel in System Preferences.

Do folks think this should work? Would it cause any problems? This way, I'd have some fallback while traveling, while also having a backup at home. It's also a bit of a risk-reducer, should either drive fail.

Curious as to what folkst think.

MBP 17 2.4, Mac OS X (10.5.2)

Posted on May 13, 2008 6:29 PM

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Answer 1

nashman Author

Level 1

4 points

Jun 1, 2008 3:25 PM in response to nashman

Well, just wanted to provide the results of my testing/experimenting. Since no one replied, I decided to simply try it. And surprisingly enough, things seem to be simply working exactly as I wanted. Alright, not exactly, but pretty close.

To revisit the situation, I have a large, hi speed desktop disk connected via an eSata card in my MBP 17. This drive stays in the office. Have been backing up to it for awhile using TM. Works fine. I also have a Costco Western Digital 250 gig drive portable USB drive that I travel with. I've now started doing TM backups to it, as well.

Two entirely separate backup scenarios. I simply go to System Preferences and simply "Change Disk..." and point to the desired disk. When I'm on the road, I've selected the WD portable drive. When I'm at home, I simply use the desktop drive. Gives me a level of security in the event of possible failure of either of the backup drives.

And unfortunately, the desktop drive does seem to be having issues - heating up excessively and then dropping off the desktop. So, I'm now creating a network backup to my dual G5 on a drive there.

The only issue I have, and I referenced it in the first paragraph, is that it seems the first backup when switching to a different disk sometimes takes a while. Nothing horrible, just a bit more time preparing. But nothing I can't live with it.

Your mileage may vary, but happy to answer any questions or provide any added info.

Greg

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