Can't Duplicate Time Machine Disks

[Waterdragon]

Apple has made it impossible to duplicate our Time Machine Disks. This could be disastrous. I usually have two TM disks running. Should one fail (and it *has* happened) I make a copy of the other so that I can be as sure as reasonably possible that I will not lose historical data. But now, if one disk fails I can't do that, which puts everything I have on the other disk potentially at risk. Even disconnecting the one good disk and keeping it in a drawer or box isn't an ideal solution as unused disks can die too. I also won't be able duplicate the contents of a disk to a larger disk should I need one and still want everything in the same place. BAD MOVE APPLE. I've submitted feedback to Apple outlining the problem and asking that they fix it, and would like to ask anyone who finds this issue important to do so to. Here's the link to where you can do that:

Product Feedback

We would love to hear your comments about any of our hardware and software products. Send us your thoughts.

www.apple.com

Thank you!
~Waterdragon

 

[TonyAguila]

Apple has made it impossible to duplicate our Time Machine Disks. This could be disastrous. I usually have two TM disks running. Should one fail (and it *has* happened) I make a copy of the other so that I can be as sure as reasonably possible that I will not lose historical data. But now, if one disk fails I can't do that, which puts everything I have on the other disk potentially at risk. Even disconnecting the one good disk and keeping it in a drawer or box isn't an ideal solution as unused disks can die too. I also won't be able duplicate the contents of a disk to a larger disk should I need one and still want everything in the same place. BAD MOVE APPLE. I've submitted feedback to Apple outlining the problem and asking that they fix it, and would like to ask anyone who finds this issue important to do so to. Here's the link to where you can do that:

Product Feedback

We would love to hear your comments about any of our hardware and software products. Send us your thoughts.

www.apple.com

Thank you!
~Waterdragon

Why not start a new Time Machine backup on the second disk? You can always use two (or more) Time Machine drives concurrently and your Mac will alternate between them every hour. Depending on the age of the Time Machine drive, your “historical” data will go as far back as the first backup on the older drive. The newer drive will provide redundancy. I always have two TM hard drives plus a third to my NAS volume.

I have set up a number of clients with portables to maintain two Time Machine drives, one for work and the other for home. If switched daily, they should more or less have identical data, so in case of disaster, you will be left with at least one… unless your work is at home, as is the case for me. I have my TM drives in a Thunderbolt external case, so if there’s a fire or other disaster, heaven forbid, I would take the external case with me first. For most of us, our data is more precious than the hardware.

 

[Waterdragon]

Please read the body of my post. If you do you'll see that I say that I *do* keep two TM backups running. And I go on to describe why this is not always sufficient. Specifically: "Should one fail (and it *has* happened) I make a copy of the other so that I can be as sure as reasonably possible that I will not lose historical data. But now, if one disk fails I can't do that, which puts everything I have on the other disk potentially at risk. Even disconnecting the one good disk and keeping it in a drawer or box isn't an ideal solution as unused disks can die too. I also won't be able duplicate the contents of a disk to a larger disk should I need one and still want everything in the same place." Thank you.

 

[Waterdragon]

Why not start a new Time Machine backup on the second disk? You can always use two (or more) Time Machine drives concurrently and your Mac will alternate between them every hour. Depending on the age of the Time Machine drive, your “historical” data will go as far back as the first backup on the older drive. The newer drive will provide redundancy. I always have two TM hard drives plus a third to my NAS volume.

I have set up a number of clients with portables to maintain two Time Machine drives, one for work and the other for home. If switched daily, they should more or less have identical data, so in case of disaster, you will be left with at least one… unless your work is at home, as is the case for me. I have my TM drives in a Thunderbolt external case, so if there’s a fire or other disaster, heaven forbid, I would take the external case with me first. For most of us, our data is more precious than the hardware.

Hi Tony, Please read the body of my post. If you do you'll see that I say that I *do* keep two TM backups running. And I go on to describe why this is not always sufficient. Specifically: "Should one fail (and it *has* happened) I make a copy of the other so that I can be as sure as reasonably possible that I will not lose historical data. But now, if one disk fails I can't do that, which puts everything I have on the other disk potentially at risk. Even disconnecting the one good disk and keeping it in a drawer or box isn't an ideal solution as unused disks can die too. I also won't be able duplicate the contents of a disk to a larger disk should I need one and still want everything in the same place." Thank you. ~Waterdragon

 

[Howard Brazee]

What happens when you use cloning software to duplicate a Time Machine disk?

 

[TonyAguila]

Hi Tony, Please read the body of my post. If you do you'll see that I say that I *do* keep two TM backups running. And I go on to describe why this is not always sufficient. Specifically: "Should one fail (and it *has* happened) I make a copy of the other so that I can be as sure as reasonably possible that I will not lose historical data. But now, if one disk fails I can't do that, which puts everything I have on the other disk potentially at risk. Even disconnecting the one good disk and keeping it in a drawer or box isn't an ideal solution as unused disks can die too. I also won't be able duplicate the contents of a disk to a larger disk should I need one and still want everything in the same place." Thank you. ~Waterdragon

As far as I know, there is no means of cloning a Time Machine drive. The intricacies of Time Machine are too much for any cloning software to replicate. Check out this thread…

Best Way to Clone a Time Machine Drive - Apple Community

discussions.apple.com

I tried and tried. Nothing works, as far as I can tell.

 

[Applescrumpy]

So command line tools such as dd and pv won’t work either presumably?