Country's Mama wrote:
Thank you for responding.
I have Time machine set up, the trouble is I don't store images on my computer so when Time machine backs up it isn't backing up the other two external HD's. I also like to double back up my psd files to a different location than the originals, so what I really want to do is just save from PSE to two locations at the same time.
I am very puzzled by one thing you mentioned. It appears you bypass your internal hard drive to save files. Why is that?
1) do you not have a big enough internal hard drive to use for initial/ongoing data storage.
2) How much free space do you have on your internal hard drive. (same basic question as 1)
There is NO interface to any external drive including USB3 or firewire, that is as fast and efficient as your saves and access to the internal drive. The constant access needed to a file you may be working on is impeded by the capability of the external interface and the external device, as editing involves very fast read/writes constantly to the file being edited at any time, unless you
do move the file into/onto the internal hard drive while working on it.
Of course all the editing software companies will never explain that, because they lean on poor performance due to poor configuration to sell every new version of their software.
Furthermore, if you are editing images in the computer, where the access is to an external drive as a "work" disk, that is very inefficient and not good for files. Do you move the files you are editing into the C: drive, or an internal "scratch" work disk, such as an internal D: (whatever, but inside the machine on the mother board interface)
Also, I sincerely doubt you will find any dual multiple target backup that will bypass the internal data drive, and write directly to multiple external drives or other targets.
That will be the very first question before configuring any third party software, is "will it write to multiple targets, without having a data source on an internal drive?"
Have you talked with Apple Support about Time Machine. It is very flexible, and here is a link to an explanation page.
Nobody on this site knows more than Technical Support for the product you now have... As you know, it's a part of your Operating System, so "no compatibiity issues".
Also, how about an apple forum instead of a photo/camera forum? Odds of getting a pertinent answer, and being thrown under the bus for third party solutions are much better.
Are you registered (free) on an Apple forum, either as part of Apple or third party enterprise?
Explanation of Apple/MAC Time Machinehttp://www.maclife.com/article/howtos/how_backup_time_machine_multiple_locationshttp://www.apple.com/osx/apps/One Apple Forum with nearly 6000 members
http://www.appleforums.net/Another MAC forum:
http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/The backup system built into your operating system should always be considered to be more flexible, and more seamless than any third party software that will have a price attached to it.
Finally, I think your biggest hurdle is to get around NOT having a data folder in your computer. Otherwise, I think you may want to hire a programmer to write some custom programming for your system.
Simplest would be to have your images on your internal hard drive and manage the backup system from there. All backup software will work with that, and Time Machine will surely back up to multiple locations.
What you are doing now, saving to a data drive outside the system and then synching to other drives from there may be the least expensive and effortless method.
I could be wrong (I was once), but if Time Machine won't do what you want to do, I'd quit looking and keep doing what you now do, regardless of the degraded performance and risk. Believe me, I have, over the last 25 years, replaced more failed external drives than I have internal drives. The interface and extra circuitry built into external drives is the "weak link"
That's why my backups get synched to three external devices, but all my files are in my C: drive for performance and the added redundancy.