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Time Machine back up's - will 2 go into 1?

Avatar David Fleetwood
I am trying to set up a WD My Book ext. drive to act as the back up device for Time Machine on both of my iMac's - one with an Intel chip running 10.6.2, the other a G5 running 10.5.8.
I partitioned the drive using Disc Utility and backed up each one to the relevant partition. However the back up's are failing and I wonder if I am attempting something that will not work. Any thoughts?

Re: Time Machine back up's - will 2 go into 1?

Avatar Mick Burrell
David, did you partition the drive using the G5? If so, it will have used the Apple partition scheme and both machines should be okay using that. If however you used the Intel machine for the partitioning then by default that will have used the GUID partition scheme which may (probably would) give problems to the G5. But you say "backups" plural are failing. Do neither of them work?

For what it's worth I think you could have left the drive with one partition and each machine would have set up its own set of backup folders - but I haven't tried that!

Re: Time Machine back up's - will 2 go into 1?

Avatar David Fleetwood
Mick, I used the Intel machine to do the partitioning so that may be the problem. Both back up's seem to be having problems, I think the first one on each Mac was ok because the other one was switched off at the time but now both are on, confusion reigns! At least you have told me there is nothing inherently undo-able in what I am trying, so I will try the ways you suggest. I have not had any luck with the print server by the way but the exisitng set up is not much of an inconvenience. Thanks again David

Re: Time Machine back up's - will 2 go into 1?

Avatar Mick Burrell
If the drive has been partitioned using GUID then I think that may well be the issue with the G5 although I can't explain why that should cause a problem with the Intel machine. My suggestion would be to repartition the drive from the G5 and then see if you can just get one machine up and running correctly. If you can, then try the other machine and see what happens. If the first machine fails to give a reliable backup, try the other machine and see what happens there. If you're still having problems try using a different interface (if possible - FireWire, USB, whichever you're not using now) and if that fails I would tend to suspect the drive itself.

Re: Time Machine back up's - will 2 go into 1?

Avatar Lionel Ogden
I know this may sound rather basic, but how are you connecting two computers to a single external hard drive and are you leaving them connected all the time? Perhaps there is a problem if two computers are trying to use the same interface at the same time. My WD My Book has two firewire ports but I had assumed that one of these was for connection to the computer and the other for daisy chaining another drive. If you have the option try connecting one computer to the firewire port and the other to the USB2 port.

Re: Time Machine back up's - will 2 go into 1?

Avatar David Fleetwood
An update folks! I used the G5 to repartition the drive but this did not work as the Intel Mac then did not 'see' the ext. drive. Having no partition on the drive also did not help as again only one Mac saw the drive. At present I am using a firewire port on each Mac and connecting into the 2 firewire ports on the WD drive, using a 400/800 adaptor for the G5 Mac.
Lionel, I think you may be right in that there could be conflicts with the drive having to take instructions from 2 different Macs, potentially at the same time. I will try a USB2 cable connection but I am beginning to think I will have to get the old ext. drive back out!

Re: Time Machine back up's - will 2 go into 1?

Avatar Trevor Hewson
I would have thought that if you want to access the same drive by two machines, you would need a networked drive. A USB and/or Firewire drive is surely only meant to be accessed by one machine at a time?

Re: Time Machine back up's - will 2 go into 1?

Avatar Mick Burrell
David - if you plug in one machine at a time, its version of Time Machine will catch up. Not ideal for convenience but similar to those who take laptops away from their external drives.

Re: Time Machine back up's - will 2 go into 1?

Avatar David Fleetwood
I can see what you mean Mick but I really want to leave both plugged in all the time, otherwise after a while I will forget to switch them. Trevor - I think you are on the right lines - I should have splashed out & bought a Time Capsule! Thanks for all your thoughts - David

Re: Time Machine back up's - will 2 go into 1?

Avatar Mick Burrell
You may get away with having both machines plugged in as long as they're not both switched on - and I expect that's as bad as only having one at a time plugged in! Yes, you could have bought a Time Capsule - or indeed a network drive but I expect a second WD My Book will be a cheaper solution!

Re: Time Machine back up's - will 2 go into 1?

Avatar David Fleetwood
Just to finish this post, I had a reply from WD support today who said that only 1 computer at a time could be connected (& operate properly), so yes it could be a 2nd WD My Book, Mick. Thanks again
 
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