Am I correct that Time Machine (iMac desktop OSX v. 10.9.5) does not protect against random ware (since it is always connected to the computer)?
If so, how do I back up Time Machine to another external drive (Eg. Seagate Slim), which I can remove and backup on a, say, weekly basis? I tried to drag and drop the Time Machine icon to the Seagate icon, but that does not work.
Thanks.
Nacrheum
iMac, OS X Mavericks (10.9.5)
Yes, that is correct.
nacrheum wrote:
Am I correct that Time Machine (iMac desktop OSX v. 10.9.5) does not protect against random ware (since it is always connected to the computer)?
Yes, that is correct.
nacrheum wrote:
If so, how do I back up Time Machine to another external drive (Eg. Seagate Slim), which I can remove and backup on a, say, weekly basis? I tried to drag and drop the Time Machine icon to the Seagate icon, but that does not work.
Yes, that is correct.
nacrheum wrote:
Am I correct that Time Machine (iMac desktop OSX v. 10.9.5) does not protect against random ware (since it is always connected to the computer)?
Yes, that is correct.
nacrheum wrote:
If so, how do I back up Time Machine to another external drive (Eg. Seagate Slim), which I can remove and backup on a, say, weekly basis? I tried to drag and drop the Time Machine icon to the Seagate icon, but that does not work.
If you're able to determine when the system was hit, couldn't you use TM to restore OS X to a time prior to the date it was hit?
You don't have to do anything special. Just connect the external drive and add it as a backup destination in the Time Machine preference pane. When it's connected, it will be used in rotation with the other backup devices (if any.) When it's not connected, the connected devices will still be used.
And to avoid confusion, ransomware could potentially destroy all data on all connected storage devices, including Time Machine backups. You do need at least one offline backup to be safe.
I really appreciate your help. However I don't want to have my Mac provide more than 1 Time Machine, or alternate or rotate backups between 2 drives, or transfer the Time Machine function to an alternate drive. I was looking (it now seems naively) for a simple way to backup the mirror image of my computer (i.e, the Time Machine drive) to another drive , every week or so, which I would then promptly eject to keep it offline. In that way I could always have an extra drive on hand which would always serve as an emergency Time Machine, should the (always connected) Time Machine be corrupted by ransom ware or other mishaps.
By the way, I sincerely meant it when I said I appreciate your helpful suggestions. This support community is super, especially for non-experts like me.
I don't recommend backing up a backup. All backups should be made directly from the original data. The suggestion I made earlier is what I do myself, and it works fine.
I suggest getting another external and using SuperDuper or CarbonCopyCloner to create a bootable clone of your hard drive. While it will not save old versions of your files, it can get you back up and running very quickly.
Am I correct that the Time Machine does not protect against ransom ware?
