Q: Can I use Time Capsule to backup an external hard drive?
My MacBook Pro is backed up to a Time Capsule via Time Machine. My iTunes library is stored on an external hard drive (WD My Passport formatted to Mac OS Extended (Journaled)) that is connected to the MacBook Pro. Can I also back up the iTunes library to the Time Capsule using Time Machine?
Posted on May 24, 2015 1:13 PM
Yes you can, assuming that the WD drive is connected directly to your Mac using a USB or FireWire connection. (Not sure if the WD drive has a FireWire port or not).
Your next question might be "how" to do this.
Click the Time Machine "clock" icon at the top of the Mac's screen
Click Open Time Machine Preferences
Click the Options button
Here, you will see a list of items that have been excluded from your Time Machine backups. Your WD drive should appear here, if it connects directly to the Mac.
Click on the WD drive to highlight it, then click the - (minus) button at the bottom of the box to remove the drive from the list of items that are excluded from backups.
Time Machine will back up both your Mac and the WD drive on the next pass.
Depending on how much data you have on the WD drive, the backup may take some time, since Time Machine will back up everything on the WD drive. Once that is done, Time Machine will only back up any changes that might have occurred on your Mac or the WD drive, so subsequent incremental backups will usually only take a few minutes for each backup in the future.
Posted on May 24, 2015 1:24 PM