Zeno

Q: External drive manual backup with Yosemite

Have been looking into what kind of external drive to use in terms of upgrading from Mountain Lion to Yosemite.  My Mac Mini Late 2012 has USB 3, Firewire 800 and Thunderbolt.  Would prefer to use Firewire or Thunderbolt, but the cost of using external drives with these capabilities is beyond my budget.  So I have been looking at USB 3 options.  The problem is that all four of my USB ports are currently in use (keyboard, printer, USB hub and external CD drive).  So it looks like if I want to use an external drive, I will have to remove an item from a USB port in order to plug in the external (most likely the CD drive). 

 

Should I be OK if I do a manual backup of Time Machine or any other automatic backup?  In other words, I would just mount and dismount the external whenever I wanted to make a backup?

 

Any other suggestions?

Mac mini (Late 2012), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.5)

Posted on May 10, 2015 7:44 AM

Close

Q: External drive manual backup with Yosemite

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

  • by iW00,Helpful

    iW00 iW00 May 10, 2015 8:44 AM in response to Zeno
    Level 4 (1,349 points)
    May 10, 2015 8:44 AM in response to Zeno

    Zeno wrote:

     

    Should I be OK if I do a manual backup of Time Machine or any other automatic backup?  In other words, I would just mount and dismount the external whenever I wanted to make a backup?

     

    Any other suggestions?

    I have a Macbook Pro and i'm doing a backup once a week by using Time Machine.

     

    Setup a Time Machine Backup and run the initial backup. Once is completed, then go to System Preferences > Time Machine backup and turn the automatic backups off.

     

    Go to System Preferences > Time Machine and enable option Show Time Machine in menu bar.

     

    Once you have done above steps, you can run a Time Machine Backup manually whenever you wish to do that by connecting your Time Machine Backup disk to your Mac and clicking on the Time Machine icon in menu bar and selecting Back Up Now option.

     

     

    Also, you do not have to do above steps; simply setup yourself a Time Machine and leave the settings as they are and each time when you do connect your Time Machine Backup disk to your mac, Time Machine will automatically recognized your drive and will start doing a backup and will move a local snapshots to your external HDD.

     

    Mac Basics: Time Machine backs up your Mac - Apple Support

    About Time Machine local snapshots - Apple Support

  • by leroydouglas,Helpful

    leroydouglas leroydouglas May 10, 2015 8:44 AM in response to Zeno
    Level 7 (23,378 points)
    Notebooks
    May 10, 2015 8:44 AM in response to Zeno

    Nothing wrong with connecting your TM back up when you want it to run.

     

    one caveat:

     

    Setup a Time Machine Backup and run the initial backup. Once is completed, then go to System Preferences > Time Machine backup and turn the automatic backups off.

     

    I would leave Time Machine ON.


    In this way local snapshots are stored on your Mac until TM runs again.  Simply umount your drive when your done.

     

    About Time Machine local snapshots - Apple Support

  • by Király,

    Király Király May 10, 2015 8:38 AM in response to Zeno
    Level 6 (9,812 points)
    Mac OS X
    May 10, 2015 8:38 AM in response to Zeno

    You can do that, but why not just buy a USB hub? You can then keep the drive and TM running all the time.

  • by Zeno,

    Zeno Zeno May 10, 2015 8:47 AM in response to Király
    Level 1 (5 points)
    May 10, 2015 8:47 AM in response to Király

    My experience has been that the more recent USB external drives are not recognized unless they are connected directly to the computer.  In other words, they will not work with a hub.  If you know of any that work with hubs, please let me know.

  • by benwiggy,Solvedanswer

    benwiggy benwiggy May 10, 2015 9:16 AM in response to Zeno
    Level 4 (1,430 points)
    Mac OS X
    May 10, 2015 9:16 AM in response to Zeno

    Why not plug the keyboard and printer into the USB hub? (Your first post says one of the ports is taken up by a USB hub.)

     

    I would strongly recommend that you leave the external drive plugged in all the time

     

    Plenty of USB3 hubs will supply power to an external drive. I like the Anker range of hubs.

  • by Zeno,

    Zeno Zeno May 10, 2015 9:46 AM in response to benwiggy
    Level 1 (5 points)
    May 10, 2015 9:46 AM in response to benwiggy

    benwiggy: Plugged my Macally keyboard into the hub and it works--thanks.  Believe it is a Macally USB 2 that will work with USB 3.  The hub is Staples brand USB 2.  So this frees up a USB 3 port to be used with an external drive.

     

    Will investigate further your suggestion regarding USB 3 hubs and external drives, particularly the Anker range.

  • by benwiggy,

    benwiggy benwiggy May 10, 2015 9:50 AM in response to Zeno
    Level 4 (1,430 points)
    Mac OS X
    May 10, 2015 9:50 AM in response to Zeno

    All USB 2 devices (and USB 1.1) will work in USB 3 ports. Conversely, a USB 3 drive will work on a USB 2 port, just at a slower speed.

     

    Your printer is unlikely to be USB 3, too. (unless it's brand new). But even so, it should still work via a USB 2 hub. Try it! There's no danger!

  • by Zeno,

    Zeno Zeno May 10, 2015 10:41 AM in response to benwiggy
    Level 1 (5 points)
    May 10, 2015 10:41 AM in response to benwiggy

    You're right, benwiggy, the USB 2 printer did work with the hub--thanks.