How to Backup Mac and Windows

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Level 1

0 points

How to Backup Mac and Windows

I purchased an external hard drive to backup my Macbook Air which has a partitioned hard drive with windows 7 on it. I was wondering if there was an easy way to backup Mac and Windows at the same time?

I backed up Windows 7 first, then switched over to Mac to do a backup with Time Machine. When I attempted to backup with Time Machine, I received a window stating Time Machine would need to reformat my hard drive which would erase my backup for Windows.

Does anyone know how I can create a backup image of my entire partitioned hard drive, or do I have to have a dedicated external hard drive for each operating system?

I have the latest version of Windows 7 and Mac OS X.

Macbook Air, Windows 7, How do I backup a partitioned hard drive with Windows 7 and Mac OS X?

Posted on Sep 16, 2010 1:22 PM

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Answer 1

Albeer

Level 1

131 points

Sep 16, 2010 2:03 PM in response to Gil Galan

Maybe. But you probably went about it wrong.

An option would have been to first partition the external drive using Apple's Disk Utility with two partitions: one for the Mac and one for Windows/PC. Then you could the same drive for both platforms.

However, that might not be best option. It would be best to dedicate an external drive exclusively to Time Machine. This would mean you would have to backup incrementally unless you have available ports that you can dedicate to each drive (depending on the external drive being either firewire or USB.) If you can dedicate a drive to a port, the Time Machine drive will back up per its settings automatically. Not sure what you're using to backup the Windows side.

Since you mention you have a MacBook Air, its uncertain how you're connecting as the Air has no USB or Firewire ports...

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Answer 2

Sep 16, 2010 2:12 PM in response to Albeer

Hi

+"It's uncertain how you're connecting as the Air has no USB . . . "+

Not true:

http://www.apple.com/macbookair/specs.html

3rd Column > Peripheral connections.

Tony

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Answer 3

Pondini

Level 8

38,863 points

Sep 16, 2010 4:02 PM in response to Gil Galan

You may need 2 drives, but you might be able to use 2 partitions.

The problem is, Time Machine requires a drive with the GUID *Partition Map Scheme* and either +Mac OS Extended (Journaled)+ or +Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled+ Format.

To back up your Windoze partition, you'll need a different format. +MS-DOS (FAT)+ is the only non-Apple format Disk Utility can use; it has some drawbacks, including a maximum file size of 4 GB. If the app you used will back up to such a partition, you'll be fine. If not, I understand there's an app named WinClone that I think will work, but check it out to be sure.

If you need partitioning instructions, see #5 in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).

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