Time Machine: Accessing External Drive Backup Data (if the drive is not connected)

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Time Machine: Accessing External Drive Backup Data (if the drive is not connected)

Hello,

I am successfully using Time Machine to backup both my internal data and external drive data.

I can access the old data on the external drive and restore it if necessary, no problem. But what if the drive becomes corrupted, or I lose it? How am I able to retrieve this data, as when I enter Time Machine, the drive does not exist in order for me to access old data?

Is this a limitation of Time Machine? Do you suggest a better solution?

Thanks!

MacBook Pro 15", macOS 10.14

Posted on Oct 24, 2019 9:40 AM

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Answer 1

Tesserax

Level 10

158,208 points

Oct 24, 2019 9:50 AM in response to fleetwood412

If you have been using Time Machine to back up both of these drives, should the external drive fail, you can still use TM to restore the external drive's data to a replacement drive.

Regardless, I would still recommend that you use a second backup strategy by using a third-party app, like Carbon Copy Cloner, to perform both clone and/or incremental backups of your critical data. In addition, by having a clone copy, should either drive fail, you would have an immediate replacement so you can get back "up and running" quickly ... especially if it is the internal drive that fails.

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Answer 2

Tesserax

Level 10

158,208 points

Oct 24, 2019 10:31 AM in response to fleetwood412

It never hurts to be too careful with critical data ... so I would say "yes," adding CCC to your overall backup strategy would be recommended. I put together a short user tip related to backups that you may find helpful. Looks like you're on the path already.

macOS Backup Strategy - Apple Community

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Answer 3

fleetwood412 Author

Level 1

8 points

Oct 24, 2019 9:52 AM in response to Tesserax

Excellent, thanks so much for your quick reply.

I currently have said external drive mirrored to my Dropbox / Cloud backup.

Would you recommend I look into Carbon Copy Cloner as well?

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Time Machine: Accessing External Drive Backup Data (if the drive is not connected)

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