Can I safely reformat just one of my partitions on my external hard drive?
I am 99% sure of the answer, but I'm just looking for a bit of confirmation before I pull the trigger...
I have an external Western Digital hard drive that I have partitioned into two parts. "WD" is used to store all my music, projects, movies, etc., this making it ESSENTIAL that it DOES NOT get erased! The other partition, "TM" is for Time Machine backups.
I just reformatted my computer last night and I went into the "TM" partition and deleted everything. I didn't need those backups now what I'm starting fresh again. But when I go to configure Time Machine after my fresh reformat of my laptop and I choose the "TM" partition, Time Machine says, "In order to start backing up with Time Machine the disk “Time Machine” must first be erased. Erasing will destroy all information on the disk and can not be undone.".
Is that safe?! WIll it just reformat the "TM" partition and leave "WD" alone or will it erase the entire hard drive (aka. both partitions)?! Please let me know. Thanks!
The erase option in Disk Utility (and supposedly TM, which I don't use) can be used on individual volumes (partitions) of a disk.
Similar Messages
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Hello ...
My name is Rui, i'm from Portugal ... (so please be patiente with my english, it can get a bit confusing)
so... first of all ... i have to say ... i'm still a pc user ... i don't have a Mac ... yet ... they are sold out right now in the shops near me ... i am waitting for them to arrive so i can pick up mine ... (i wish in a couple of days i will be entering the Mac world ....) ... i'll be picking the "entery" iMac model, the 21,5'', i5 with 500gb hard disk ... well .. i know it's the cheapest one (i hope it is a good machine tho) ... but it's my entering Mac world too (my only apple products till know were the ipod ...) ... one of my concerns are being the 500gb hard drive ... that for my pc experience is a little bit short ... that makes me a little scared (but paying 300e for the next model to have a 1tb disk, it's not a good option for me right now) ...
so..
I've been reading a lot about iMac's ans OS X so i can get familiar with this all new world ...
and i couldn't get any answer for some of my doubts... so i decided to ask you Mac Users ..
My idea is to have an external HD to store files (and not to fill the 500gb of the iMac) ... and i am wondering if it would be possible to make this ...
- make three partitions on the external Hard Drive and
- the first be formatted in Mac OS extended (journaled) mode
- the second on fat 32 - so i can store and share files with a mac or pc
- third be reserved for Time Machine
i wonder would that be possible... or would make sort of incompabilities ... would it work all well ?
hummm ...
I hope someone can help me with this ...
... if it is a silly question ... sorry ... but please remember, i've never had a Mac computer (i'm waiting for my 1st iMac to be available on store) ... so a lot of things are "flying" in my head right now ...
... and of course .. sorry for my english ... i hope you all understood me ...
thanks (obrigado) a lot for your patience...
Rui from PortugalHi! Dwagner, once again ...
I've just got my Mac last friday ... i'm still getting amazed with this new world to me ... eehe .. quite different ... but
... "i can do it, i can do it" eheeh
i'm in that period that a new question appears at almost every mouse click ... lol
so ... can you help me (once again) ..
you said you had your hard drive with this settings...
"You can partition for OSX (extended Journal) - read/write by only OSX or read only by Windows via BootCamp
You can partition for Windows (NTFS) - readable by only Windows
OR - you can format with ex-FAT and this is read/write capable for both operating systems."
how did you formated the partition in NTFS ? ... on the mac? using the "disk utility" ? or did you use another program to do so ...?
i hope i'm not "bugging" you ... this might be a silly question for most of people ... but right now ... it's a major question for me ... ehehe
once again Obrigado (Thank You)
Rui from Portugal -
One of the folders on my external hard drive has transformed into a unix executable file and I can no longer access my files. Is there any way to save the data?
Wow, have seen Files do that, but a whole Folder as I recall!
Could be many things, we should start with this...
"Try Disk Utility
1. Insert the Mac OS X Install disc, then restart the computer while holding the C key.
2. When your computer finishes starting up from the disc, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu. (In Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you must select your language first.)
Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from the disc again to access Disk Utility.
3. Click the First Aid tab.
4. Select your Mac OS X volume.
5. Click Repair. Disk Utility checks and repairs the disk."
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214
Then try a Safe Boot, (holding Shift key down at bootup), run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions, reboot when it completes.
(Safe boot may stay on the gray radian for a long time, let it go, it's trying to repair the Hard Drive.) -
I have several HD videos stored on an external hard drive and would like to bring them into iTunes and play them via iTunes on my Apple TV2, but I am not sure how to go about it. I don't want to store the movies on my iMac hard drive because it would eat up to much space...so do I just move the iTunes Library to the external hard drive? And, if so...will the Apple TV2 find the iTunes Library on the external hard drive? Thanks for any help anyone can suggest.
iTunes content on an external drive isn't a problem.
The simplest method is to just move your library to an external drive.
If you wanted to keep just movies on an external drive, that's a little more difficult. You'd need to put the movies where you want them to reside on the external drive and add drag and drop them onto iTunes while holding down the option key. Obviously any movies already in iTunes would need moving from their current location and removing from iTunes first. -
I just backed up my mac to an external hard drive using Time Machine. What would happen if I turn Time Machine off and then plug the external hard drive back into my computer?
What I am ultimately wanting to do is make more room on my computer by backing up all of my files onto the external hard drive and then deleting them off of my computer. However, neededing to be able to retrieve them from the external hard drive later down the road.
From what I have read and am trying to understand, is that I probably shouldn't have used time machine. I need to use the external hard drive like a basic flash drive where I can put things on and get things off without having it automatically update through time machine everytime I connect it to my computer.
Not tech savvy at all and barely understand basics. I need very simple and easy to understand explanations.sydababy wrote:
and then deleting them off of my computer.
BIG BIG MISTAKE ..... youre making a linchpin deathtrap for your data trying to shove everything on a single fragile HD.
Dont suffer the tragedy other people make, buy another or 2 more HD, theyre cheap as dust.
The number of people who have experienced terror by having a single external HD backup is enormous. One failure that WILL HAPPEN, and kaput,......all gone!
Dont do it, its all about redundancy, redundancy, redundancy.
follow here:
Methodology to protect your data. Backups vs. Archives. Long-term data protection
Deleting them off your computer is fine....having only ONE copy is extremely BAD.
The Tragedy that will be, the tragedy that never should be
Always presume correctly that your data is priceless and takes a very long time to create and often is irreplaceable. Always presume accurately that hard drives are extremely cheap, and you have no excuse not to have multiple redundant copies of your data copied on hard drives and squirreled away several places, lockboxes, safes, fireboxes, offsite and otherwise.
Hard drives aren't prone to failure…hard drives are guaranteed to fail (the very same is true of SSD). Hard drives dont die when aged, hard drives die at any age, and peak in death when young and slowly increase in risk as they age.
Never practice at any time for any reason the false premise and unreal sense of security in thinking your data is safe on any single external hard drive. This is never the case and has proven to be the single most common horrible tragedy of data loss that exists.
Many 100s of millions of hours of lost work and data are lost each year due to this single common false security. This is an unnatural disaster that can avoid by making all data redundant and then redundant again. If you let a $60 additional redundant hard drive and 3 hours of copying stand between you and years of work, then you've made a fundamental mistake countless 1000s of people each year have come to regret. -
Can I take my old mac and make it into an external hard drive
Can I take my old mac and make it into an external hard drive? It does not work anymore but I would like to make it into an external hard drive. I heard it is not to hard to do myself but I have important information I would like off of it and only really trust the apple store to do it. I know it is possible because I have had a friend that had it done after water went on her laptop. I would like to also know how much is this going to cost and if it is even worth getting done at the store or just do it myself.
Can it boot to Target Disk Mode
How to use and troubleshoot FireWire target disk mode
Otherwise just take the HD out and put it in an external enclosure. -
Help I just moved my music files to a external hard drive and am using the new crappy version ( i know my opinion) of itunes and cant add the files to my libray it gives me the add file to library option but not the add folder to library option what am i doing wrong?
In iTunes 11 uncheck the preferences setting in in the iTunes Preferences panel "Advanced > Copy Files to iTunes Media folder when adding to Library"
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i can only access my itunes library if i plug in my external hard drive. how do i find where the itunes songs are on my external hard drive and how do i move them to my computers internal hard drive so i no longer have to have the external hard drive plugged in?
When the drive is connected, use the Organize Library command in iTunes. If the entire library is located there, drag it to the internal drive, launch iTunes with the Shift key held down, and point it there.
(59363) -
How can I transfer pictures from my old Mac mini to an external hard drive?
HHow can I transfer pictures from my old Mac mini to an external hard drive? Thanks.
Normally you should be able to drag and drop them onto the drive, provided the drive is Mac formatted. Have you already tried that?
Matt -
Can't mount one of the five partitions on an external hard drive
I have a G5 running 10.5.8 with two external hard drive. One of them (carrying the brand IOGear and identified on my System Profiler as being manufactured by Prolific Technology Inc) has been operating just fine for almost as long as I’ve had the computer (early 2005). It is partitioned into 5 volumes that have been serving faithfully as storage for my many files. About a month ago, I realized I did not see the desktop icon for the volume for one of the partitions along with the others showing on my desktop. I checked it out in my Time Machine files and it’s there along with everything else and getting backed up regularly along with the rest. At the time, I restored that information into a folder on my desktop. I can now access information from it, but I cannot save to it. When I try (from Word), I get a message saying that Word can’t save or create the file… the disk may be full or write-protected… and to try one or more of (a) freeing more memory, (b) making sure the disk is not full (that volume, like the others on the partitioned disk, is far less than 1/4 full), write-protected, or damaged. I have run DiskUtility a couple of times on it and it says that volume and the others on the drive are all just fine. However, it identifies that partition as not being mounted (the other four are mounted and working fine), and when I try to mount it through Disk Utility, it says it can’t and that I should try repairing it… As I said, when I check it to see if it needs repairing, it says it’s okay so it doesn’t repair. Also, I am unable to do a “Get info” on it from the Finder because I have nothing to click on to then get the “Info” on… hope that line makes sense. Finally, my question (probably obviously) is “How do I get this partition mounted so I can use it again????” Any help will be very, very, very appreciated. (P.S. I’ve tried all the ‘stuff’ like turning the drive off, letting it rest, turning it back on, etc.)
>There is also a blue info icon in Disk Utility if you highlight that Partition.
Thanks for that info... I had overlooked it (forever, I guess... and that's many years)
I've now done the info on that Volume and on one of the others on the disk for comparison.
This is the one that's having the problem:
Name : xxx (the problem one)
Type : Volume
Disk Identifier : disk1s5
Mount Point : Not mounted
File System : Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
Connection Bus : USB
Writable : Yes
Universal Unique Identifier : B...xxxxx...F
Capacity : 40.7 GB (43,650,494,464 Bytes)
Owners Enabled : No
Can Turn Owners Off : Yes
Can Be Formatted : Yes
Bootable : Yes
Supports Journaling : Yes
Journaled : No
Disk Number : 1
Partition Number : 5
The one that's working fine:
Name : xxx (the okay one)
Type : Volume
Disk Identifier : disk1s3
Mount Point : /Volumes/Beading:Needlework
File System : Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
Connection Bus : USB
Writable : Yes
Universal Unique Identifier : 1...xxx...7
Capacity : 74.2 GB (79,651,254,272 Bytes)
Free Space : 64.3 GB (69,019,447,296 Bytes)
Used : 9.9 GB (10,631,806,976 Bytes)
Number of Files : 17,211
Number of Folders : 2,578
Owners Enabled : Yes
Can Turn Owners Off : Yes
Can Repair Permissions : No
Can Be Verified : Yes
Can Be Repaired : Yes
Can Be Formatted : Yes
Bootable : Yes
Supports Journaling : Yes
Journaled : Yes
Disk Number : 1
Partition Number : 3
As you can see, there's a lot more info on the working one. Also, my guess (within my not huge knowledge of this stuff) is that the difference in the "Owners Enabled" line might be very significant. I also have no idea why the differences in the Journaled part, unless it's just that the problem one isn't mounted.
I really appreciate the attention you and Texas Mac Man are giving me here. Thank you very, very much! -
Hi,
I have a MacBook Air (July 2013) with the latest Mavericks OS X. I also have the lastest version of iTunes.
My computer has very little memory left, so I wanted to free some up. When I looked, movies were taking up a considerable amount of space. I want to move them from my computer, but still be able to watch them if I want to later. I haven't purchased an external drive yet, because I didn't know what size to get. I also have a lot of Photoshop files that are taking up a lot of memory, so I might put some of those on too. Would you recommend a 1 TB one or bigger?
Can you take me through the exact process of moving my iTunes movies to the external drive? I understand where to find the files (My Name<Music<iTunes Media<Movies), but am stuck from there. Do I simply drag them to the external drive and then delete them? Will this delete them from my iTunes library? How will I go about watching them again? I assumed that I would just plug the external hard drive in, click in the movie and watch. Is it this simple? I only want to move my movies, otherwise I would follow tutorials for backing up the library. Once you back up the movies, can you delete them from your computer?
Thanks,
MollyiTunes does not have provision for automatically storing one kind of media on a separate drive, so you have some basic decisions to make first. Do you want these movies to still appear in your iTunes library, or are you content with browsing filenames on a drive in Finder when you want to look for one? The second's the easiest thing because then you don't have to have an external drive permanently turned on and attached to your computer (wired or wireless). To do that you literelly only need to drag your movies folder to an archive drive and delete movies from iTunes. To watch them again you can add it back to iTunes while holding down the option key so the movie is used from its location on the external drive.
There's ways to move the movies to an external drive while keeping them in iTunes but the external drive iwll always have to be turned on and connected to the computer or you will see a bunch of broken link exclamation marks.
Realize what you are talking about is not "backup". Backup (which you should do) is putting a second or more copy of items on external drives for the day when your internal drive fails and everything on it is lost, inclduing all your home photos and perhaps things that have been pulled from the iTunes Store and can no longer be re-downloaded. -
Can I split my itunes music library between and internal and external hard drive?
Is it possible to have music on the two different drives and still be able to make playlists from both drives to put on my ipod? Here's my situation: I'm using a Dell 32 bit computer running Vista Home Premium SP2 which I share with other users. I have a large itunes library (40g+ of music only) that's starting to hog the hard disk space from other users. If possible, I would like to split off part of my itunes library to an external hard drive while still having access to the entire library for my ipod. Ideally I would like to have all my downloaded songs on both the internal and external drives so I'll have backups in case a drive fails, while putting all the music I have hard copies of solely on the external drive. Any help on how this can be done would be appreciated.
If you manually manage your itues library, you can store parts of it on an external drive, or on an internal drive. Just keep in mind that in iTunes that you must set a default location for iTunes to manage it's files, and that will be the default location for iTunes to store anything it downloads. You would need to manuay manage moving things from there if tht is not where you want them stored.
Perhaps a "better" solution would be for you to invest a little mone into 2 external drives. One to hold your entire iTunes library, and the second to be your off-line backup of the first. This is the method I have gone with and I like how it works for me. My entire iTunes library is on an external (portable) 320GB drive. Then, when iTunes is not running, I will clone my external drive onto a second drive I happen to have, this way if I have any failure of my primary drive, I lose at most about a weeks worth of content. For me, I purchase little content during a week, but I do move a fairly large volume of podcasts. With the entire library being on the external drive, if I ever have to swap to using my backup drive iTunes wil just think that it hasn't run and downloaded anything for a week, and all the "lost" content will be re-downloaded automatically. This won't work for apps or purchased content, but for subscribed podcasts, it is great. -
Just want to backup iTunes on an external hard drive
Greetings,
I've been working on this for days without success. All I want to do is back up my iTunes on an external hard drive.
Using iTunes 7.6 on an iMac G4; Music resides on an external hard drive. I want to back up to a different external hard drive.
I've tried moving folders, but when I go to test the data, iTunes can't locate songs. I tried the <option> key to redirect. I just tried adjusting preferences to new drive; then I tried "consolidate" ...took forever 90Gigs.
I just can't get everything right on each of the two drives. The folders are different.
Just when I thought I got it working (iTunes operating perfectly from alternate drive) I can't eject the first drive. I want to put one hard drive in a safe place. No other programs using these external drives.
Drive that is working looks like this:
LaCie
iTunes folder (contains all my artist folders)
iTunes library (database file)
iTunes Library.xml
Other drive that I want to dismount:
Seadisc300
iTunes folder (contains album artwork file, iTunes Library data, iTunes Music Library.xml iTunes Library.xml and iTunes Music folder (artists) plus previous library folders.
Anyone know what files / folders need to be where?
This is frustrating. Any advice most welcome.
Thanks,
Mark1 - iTunes puts music in \iTunes\iTunes music folder by Artist\Album\song.
2 - Dunno why it's there unless you created a new library and selected that location.
3
When selecting the location under iTunes preferences... does one select a folder or the actual database file inside a folder?
You are not selecting a library. You are selecting a location for the iTunes music folder.
Do I allow iTunes to "organize" after making the adjustment?
I would. This makes iTunes oprganize the songs by Artist\Album\Song based on those fields in the ID3 tags.
4 - ???
The default for iTunes is...
Album artwork folder
iTunes music folder
iTunes library file
iTunes library.xml file
Maybe a Previous libraries folder.
If you choose to have the music folder located elswhere, it won't be in the iTunes folder.
Just a note: To make it easier to understand, don't mix up terms.
*iTunes music folder* is just that. It's where the music is. It is not the library.
*iTunes library* is what you see when you open iTunes. This info is contained in the *iTunes library.itl* file.
*iTunes library.itl* file is the database used by iTunes for all the info about your library - Songs, movies, podcasts, playlists, ratings, etc.
*iTunes library.xml* is created by iTunes for other apps to access th eiTUnes library. iTunes istelf does not use it. -
Why can't I add files from my MacBook Pro to my external hard drive?
I re-named my external hard drive on my PC, and now I cannot add files from my Mac to the hard drive. How can I add files again? Do I need to reformat my hard drive?
Since you mention you used the external harddrive with your 'PC', I assume that it was NTFS formatted. By default Mac cannot write to NTFS only read it.
To make sure: go to. Disk Utility (while the drive is mounted), select the drive and look at 'Format'. That should tell you the format type of the drive.
If you are looking for third party solutions, try:
http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/24481/ntfs-3g
http://www.paragon-software.com/home/ntfs-mac/
However, know that they are not supported by apple and won't be the best solution. The best cross platform solution would be to reformat the drive with exFat (you can do this through disk utility), just make sure you backup your data before doing this. Both Windows and Mac can write to exFat and it does not have file size limitations as Fat32. -
How can I change the source file so it is direct from external hard drive?
I am trying to make a movie on imovie of a snowboarding trip that I went on, there is around 80 to 100 gig of mp4 movies that will not fit on my computer that I have stored on my external harddrive. I had the movie half finished then found I could do no more as I had no space left in my mac. I had to delete everything and start again but I'm not doing this until I can find a way of changing the source file so I can take them direct from my external hard drive as to not use up all my computers available space. I have moved imovie to my external hard drive but it still tries to read from a movie file on my mac, how can I change that so it will read from a source file on my external hard drive, is it possible?? Can someone help me??
Hi Bengt, Thanks for your input, much appreciated.
I have a WD 1TIG hard drive and are using usb connection, is it possible to use fire wire with these? I have had trouble with a lot of the videos I Imported, once they downloaded the file in the viewer window showed up blank and when I mouse over them it places a picture of another file in the window and wont drag and drop into the movie window, like their corrupted or something? Had to delete just about all of them and start again. Also is it possible to select a bunch of videos in the viewer window as to change the dates to the correct dates? All I have been able to do is "select all" which is no help.
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