- #Using external hard drive time machine how to
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You can locate it in the Applications folder in Finder or by using Spotlight Search. The Terminal app is the built-in command-line tool for Apple devices. But what happens if you’re working on a remote Mac or want to run some scripts?
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You can turn the app off with ease and even delete unnecessary backup files to free up storage space. Option 2: Use the Terminal to Turn Off Time Machine BackupsĪs you can see, the Time Machine interface is pretty straightforward. You have to do it manually by deleting the files within the app. However, you won’t free up any space on your external drive this way. Turn off Time Machine by clicking on the big slider on the left-hand side.Īfter turning it off, Time Machine will no longer automatically back up your files. Find the Time Machine icon at the bottom of the window.You can also use the Dock and click the “System Preferences” icon. Then choose “System Preferences” from the drop-down list. Move your cursor to the top-left corner of the screen and click on the Apple icon. Open “System Preferences” on your Mac.It’s pretty straightforward and only requires a few simple steps: That way, it’ll automatically stop backing up your files, but you’ll still be able to do it manually. Option 1: Turn Off All Backups Using the Time Machine Appįor starters, you can try turning off Time Machine by using the app.
#Using external hard drive time machine how to
In this article, we’ll show you how to turn off Time Machine by using the app or a nifty Terminal command.
#Using external hard drive time machine manual
You might want to free up some of that space and switch to doing manual backups. Image Credit: Piotr Adamowicz/Shutterstock.However, since the program is so thorough, the backup files can quickly overload your external drive.
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You can always just download them again if your drive fails. On the other hand, if they’re just videos and other types of data you could download again from the Internet, there’s no need to have multiple redundant copies. If the files are important, you’ll want to have redundant backups. Bear in mind that the drive may be slow if you’re reading and writing files while Time Machine is backing up to it.įiles you store on the external drive won’t be backed up by Time Machine, so bear that in mind. You can save files to the files partition, leaving the backups partition for Time Machine alone. These are the two partitions on the drive. Choose the Backups partition in Time Machine’s settings and Time Machine will back up to that specific partition only, not the entire drive.Įvery time you connect your drive to your computer, you’ll see two different volumes. If you wiped your drive or you’re setting up Time Machine from scratch, you’ll need to point it at that specific partition. If you resized an existing Time Machine partition, Time Machine should automatically keep using it for backups. RELATED: How to Back Up Your Mac and Restore Files With Time Machine Warning: This process will wipe all the files on the drive! You’ll have to start using Time Machine from scratch, so you’ll lose any old backups and personal files that may be stored anywhere on the drive.
#Using external hard drive time machine mac os
Create two clearly labeled partitions, choosing Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive) for the Time Machine partition and ExFAT for the file storage partition. Open the Partition tool for the drive, then delete any partitions that exist. If you’re setting up the drive from scratch, or don’t mind wiping your Time Machine backups and starting over from scratch, you can also do that. Press Command+Space, type Disk Utility, and press Enter to open it. You’ll need to use the Disk Utility built into your Mac to work with partitions. You can also make the files partition an ExFAT partition, which means you can use it with Windows PCs and practically any other device you can connect an external drive to. This will ensure your Time Machine backups don’t grow too large, so you’ll always have room for your personal files. Use one for Time Machine backups and another for your personal files. The ideal way to do this is to create separate partitions on the external drive. RELATED: What's the Difference Between APFS, Mac OS Extended (HFS+), and ExFAT? A Better Option: Create Separate Partitions for Backups and Files Time Machine will also work toward filling up the entire drive, not leaving extra room for your files. Don’t place anything inside the Backups.backupdb folder-Time Machine automatically deletes files and folders inside there to free up space, so you may find your personal files deleted if put them there.īear in mind that Time Machine requires the drive be formatted with the Mac’s HFS+ file system, which means you won’t be able to easily access these files on Windows PCs or anything else that isn’t a Mac. Place personal files and folders outside the Backups.backupdb folder.