Project not backing up to WD Elements external drive

Scrivener Scrivener for macOS
1

Hi,

I can set the backup location in Scriv settings to the WD Elements external drive, but it appears NOT to be backing up to the drive. The drive is picking it up from my Documents folder on my internal hard drive, but only one (the first) page in the binder. What am I doing wrong that my .scriv project won’t back up to this external hard drive? Thank you!

2

here is the message error I receive when I click Back Up Now in Scriv. “The project could not be copied to the specified location. Please check that you have enough free disk space and the correct permissions.” I have plenty of space on this new drive, which is backing up every thing else on my computer just fine. thank you.

3

Can I ask:

Does “everything else” it is backing up include the folder where you are keeping your active Scrivener projects, and is it trying to create the back up in that folder on the WD Elements?

:slight_smile:
Mark

4

Hi, Mark,

Thanks for responding. Yes, the external is backing up the folder where I’m keeping active scriv projects. There are back ups of my project in that Documents folder, but that’s why, I thought, I needed to change the back up destination in scriv settings to my WD Elements external. Not sure I am answering properly? I’m probably at the edge of my technological abilities.LOL.

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5

I’m not sure what you are saying about backup and project locations. That being said, here is what I do.

  • ~/backups/scrivener on hard drive for backups
  • ~/Dropbox/scrivener on hard drive for projects. You can use something other than Dropbox of course, e.g. ~/Documents/Scrivener

The important thing is to keep the two folders separate.

I use external USB drives for backup, TimeMachine or copies – automatic with backup apps like TimeMachine, Carbon Capture Cloner, Arq, Chronosync, … etc. or do it manually with Finder. I don’t use external drives for storing stuff that has to work as sometimes USB drives are a bit unreliable. I’ve had more USB drives fail than internal Apple drives. I say “drives”, but they are all presumably Solid State.

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6

It is not good to try to keep your backups and active files in the same location, and it is good, wherever you keep your backups to zip and time-stamp them, so I hope you are doing that. More questions:

  1. How is “everything else” backed up to the WD Elements drive? Manually, or using an app?
  2. Does the “everything else” that is being backed up to the WD Elements just mean your Documents folder, or does it include your Library folder?
  3. Do you know how to access the Library folder?

:slight_smile:
Mark

P.S. Seems RMS has gone where I was heading more step-by-step, but I echo what he says.

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7

Thanks, Mark.

  1. I’m using Time Machine to back up my library folder (the “everything” I referred to) to an external hard drive called WD Elements.
  2. I did have my Scriv project backing up to my internal hard drive Documents folder, to a subfolder titled Scrivener, where only the Scriv backups reside. The manuscript, or active files, are kept in a separate subfolder.
  3. I think I know how to access the library folder in Time Machine or do you mean on the internal hard drive on my computer?
  4. I just closed my active scrivener project to test. Received the same error message…it cannot back up to the WD Elements directly. It did back up to my internal hard drive, to the Documents Folder and subfolder “Scrivener”
  5. I haven’t been zipping my backups. I don’t know how to time stamp, but I’ll work on that. thank you!
  6. The crazy thing is that the Scriv project MIGHT be backed up to Time Machine…but I can’t tell! When I click on that back up scriv project from today (in time machine), it only shows that first page in the binder. Hmmm. maybe that is just a thumbnail summary time machine is giving me and the entire binder is actually backed up.
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Do not attempt to manually back up to your Time Machine drive. Let Time Machine manage it. It’s just easier (and safer) that way.

The Time Machine interface only shows a preview. If you want to check and see if everything is there, restore the project. (Ideally not to the same location as the live copy.)

Both the ZIP and time stamp options can be found in the Scrivener → Settings → Backup pane.

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9

Thank you, everyone. This has been immensely helpful!

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You can partition a drive so that Time Machine only uses part of the drive, leaving the balance accessible as normal storage for files and manual backups or through the Scrivener backup setting etc.

However, if you already have it set as a complete Time Machine drive it’s a little messy and possible to screw up your Time Machine if you make a mistake. Add to that, you’re limiting how much space Time Machine has access to for a comprehensive backup strategy.

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