Erase the external HD?

Hi,
I've just installed Leopard. I want to use Time Machine, but all of my iTunes library is stored in my external HD. I don't have much space in my computer for the iTunes stuff. Do I need to buy another external HD to be able to use TM? When I plugged my HD it asked me to erase the contents of my external HD, which I can't do.
Is there a way to use TM and keep the data I already have in my external HD?
Thanks,
Mike

Can I use the Time machine HD to store other files as well? Or should it be used for TM only?

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Having troubles erasing my external HD?

IN response to some other problems I am having, it has been suggested that I erase the external 320 GB HD that I have connected to my iMac, which I use for TM backups...and start from scratch. I used the Disk Utility and did ERASE and zero'd out all data. However, it still shows on my drive that 132 MB are used? I am confused. Is there any other way to completely erase the drive so that it is like I am starting out with a new drive???
Any help would be appreciated. I know this may seem stupid, but I struggled with this all day yesterday. It took 3 hours to perform my erase function and I STILL have that on there.

Great! thank you for the quick response! I just checked and my partition scheme is GUID, so I guess that is good? I never partitioned it and didn't want it partitioned? It's not, is it?
OH, you are probably laughing at these questions...I promise I"m not really this stupid!

I was trying to back up my mac by using my external hard drive. Without realizing it, time machine erased all my backups from my other computers. Is there any way to recover these files? I can't even get the external hard drive to work on my pc.

I was trying to use my external hard drive to back up my mac computer. It had files on it from my pc computer. Time machine erased all my existing files. (I thought it was only going to erase the duplicate files and rewrite them). Is there anyway to recover these files from my external hard drive. My mac has renamed the hard drive time maching and it will no longer show up on my pc. What can I do?

Yes, the Old Master file has a folder for each year where I find all photos from that specific year. I am attaching a screen shot of the file.
In the meantime i have managed to download all photos (it did not download any video files though in mpg, avi, 3gp, m4v,mp4 and mov format) to a new iphoto library. Unfortunately the photos are quite mixed and often doubled up. I ma considering to purchase iphoto library which checks all duplicates in iphoto. this will save me a lot of time. What do you think?

Started to run recovery disc assistant on a backup hard drve-stopped when it said it would erase all data-but now can't inialize the external drive nor repair it with disc utility?

started to run recovery disc assistant on a backup hard drve-stopped when it said it would erase all data-but now can't inialize the external drive nor repair it with disc utility. what to do?

Activity Monitor – Monitor Performance Problems
Performance Guide
Why is my computer slow
Why your Mac runs slower than it should
Slow Mac After Mavericks
Things you can do to resolve slowdowns see post by Kappy
Try running this program and then copy and paste the output in a reply. The program was created by Etresoft, a frequent contributor. Please use copy and paste as screen shots can be hard to read.
Etrecheck – System Information

I have an Apple Macbook and will be backing up the entire system to an external hard drive utilizing the Time Machine application. when I am doing this, will the data on the external drive that I am using be erased?

I have an Apple Macbook and will be backing up the entire system in order to upgrade to a newer OS. I will be using an external hard drive to do this and there is already data on it. To complete the backup, i will be using the Time Machine application. Does this application wipe out all of the existing data on the external hard drive, or will it create a new "folder" for the backup?
thank you

No, but as steve359 states you should use a dedicated hard drive for backups. It you need a temporary backup then you can use the drive provided it has sufficient space for all your data on the hard drive.
When Time Machine finds that the drive has data on it already it may decide to erase the drive before continuing, which is another reason to use a dedicated drive.

I mounted my external hard drive to a pc and now I don't have edit or write permissions on my Mac (read only). How do I get them back without erasing the drive?

Hello all, I am a photographer and have my portfolio, edited and raw images backed up on a Seagate Free Agent External Hardrive. I mounted my external hard drive to a pc recently and now I don't have edit or write permissions to it on my Mac (read only). How do I get them back without erasing the drive and loosing my valuable work?

If you re-format it you will lose all the data on it!!!!! So make sure you have backed up the drive or moved all the data on it to another external HD or the internal HD on your iMac.
Below is an Apple Advice letter that explains how to format an external HD, it's written for Aperture but you can use the instructions to formate any external HD.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3509

I have iMovie 09. I just erased my external hard drive, but it is still formatted for the mac. However, iMovie will not recognize the hard drive. It shows the only hard drive available is the computers. How do I get the external hard drive to show up?

I have iMovie 09. I just erased my external hard drive, but it is still formatted for the mac. However, iMovie will not recognize the hard drive. It shows the only hard drive available is the computers. How do I get the external hard drive to show up?

In Finder's Menu, select Go menu>Go to Folder, and go to "/volumes". (no quotes)
Volumes is where an alias to your hard drive ("/" at boot) is placed at startup, and where all the "mount points" for auxiliary drives are created for you to access them. This folder is normally hidden from view.
Drives with an extra 1 on the end have a side-effect of mounting a drive with the same name as the system already think exists. Try trashing the duplicates with a 1 or 2 if there are no real files in them, and reboot.
If it does contain data...
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2474

I backed up with an external drive, but it only backed up part, do I erase the complete back up and start again?

My system is OS 10.8.5 Memory 4 GB 1333 MHz DDR3, storage available 375 GB out of 500 GB. Yesterday I tried to back up with the Seagate Backup Plus Drive with 1.5 TB using the Time Machine. The backup started, said it would take 3 hours, but ended at 2 hours when the computer went to sleep when I had to leave the desk.When reviewing "About this Mac",it appears under Macintosh HD the amount of GB for Audio 20.53GB, Movie18.66 GB, Photo 4.56 GB, Apps 11.92 GB, Backups zero KB, Other 64.54 GB on the same menu below, appears the External Seagate Back up plus but with Zero KB on Audio, Movies, Photos, Apps, Backups 74.48 GB, zero KB in Other zero KB.I believe that for some reason the back up was not finished complete and only copied 74.48 GB. My question is how do I erase this and start over so I can have a complete first back up with everything. If I did something wrong, I do not get where it was. Thank you so much.
I
o
Capacity: 499

You let the computer go to sleep. When it did then so did the backup drive. The first bit of advice is do not use the software provided with the Seagate backup drive. The second bit of advice is to completely re-partition and format the drive.
Drive Partition and Format
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Apply button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Security button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.
Clone Mavericks, Lion/Mountain Lion using Restore Option of Disk Utility
Boot to the Recovery HD:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
     1. Select Disk Utility from the main menu then press the Continue
         button.
     2. Select the destination volume from the left side list.
     3. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
     4. Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag it
         to the Destination entry field.
     5. Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to
         the Source entry field.
     6. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
Destination means the external backup drive. Source means the internal startup drive.
Finally, get a good backup utility to incrementally update the clone.
Suggested Backup Software
1. Carbon Copy Cloner
2. Get Backup
3. Deja Vu
4. SuperDuper!
5. Synk Pro
6. Tri-Backup
Others may be found at MacUpdate.
Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on backup and restore. Also read How to Back Up and Restore Your Files.

Accidently erased the partion in my external hard, and now i cant access because it says its locked.

I heres what happened i was going to erase the 1tb seagate external harddrive and instead of just reformmatting it i delete the hd image under the expansion image in disk utility, i know this sounds confusing so ive added a screen shot. located under the expansion hdd there used to be another hdd labeled "TimeMachineBackups" i deleted that and now i have no access to the external harddrive at all. As you can see in the partion tab of expansion hdd all the buttons are greyed out, and it says that i cant partion until the locked disk is unlocked, yes the harddrive was lockedd with a passsword before i deleteed it but i cant figure out how to unlock it. Im pretty good with most things but termial has always given me a problem, so if anyone out there can help me please.

OS X 10.7 Lion /10.8 Mountain Lion
Follow the instructions in the first and third boxes.
http://pondini.org/OSX/Password.html

HT3275 "The external disk must be erased before it can be used for Time Machine backups because it has an incompatible filesystem." What if I don't want to erase the disk?

I'm trying to use Time Machine on my Macbook (which is a year old) to back up onto a 1Tb external hard drive. I have 860 Gb free on the hard drive. But for some reason Time machine presents me with the statement above. How can I back-up my laptop without clearing out the data I already have on the hard drive?

Time Machine must back up to a hard drive that has been formatted in Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Your drive is likely formatted in FAT 32.
If you want to use the drive for Time Machine backups, you will have to erase it and reformat using Disk Utility on your Mac.
First, move the files that you do not want to lose to another temporary location and test to make sure they are OK.
Second, erase the drive that you want to use for Time Machine backups and format it for Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
Third, move the files back to the hard drive. Test to make sure they are OK. When you are sure that the files are safe, you can erase them from their former "temporary" location. (Although I do wonder how you are backing up these files).
Time Machine will not touch the other files that you have on the hard drive.

My external Time Machine disk is almost full. I know TM is supposed to erase the oldest back-ups to makew room for newer ones but is it safe for me to just erase the back-ups from 2 or so years ago to make room for TM as well as anything I might want to

My external Time Machine disk is almost full. I know TM is supposed to erase the oldest back-ups to make room for newer ones but is it safe for me to just erase the back-ups from 2 or so years ago to make room for TM as well as anything else I might want to add to this external drive?

Time Machine makes room for backups as necessary in a complex and sophisticated fashion, and it's not something to mess with lightly. However there are instructions at the bottom of this link which tell you how you can. Those instructions are part of the ultimate resource for all things Time Machine, put together by an Apple Support Communities member who is greatly missed.

Running Time Machine for the first time, how that I make sure that some information I have in the external drive does not get erase in the prosess

Running Time Machine for the first time, how that I make sure that some information I have in the external drive does not get erase in the prosess

1. Quit iPhoto
2. Copy the iPhoto Library from your Pictures Folder to the External Disk.
3. Hold down the option (or alt) key while launching iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Choose Library' and navigate to the new location. From that point on this will be the default location of your library.
4. Test the library and when you're sure all is well, trash the one on your internal HD to free up space.
Note: This is now your Library. It's not a Back Up, and you need another disk for backing up.
Regards
TD

External drive not showing up - which disk initialization method will NOT erase the data on that external hard drive?

Hi,
as thousands of other users, my WD Passport drive worked like a charm until yesterday and now it wont show on any computer, but does show in the Disk management and when plugged in , the Disk Management offers two ways of initialization : MBR and GPT
i dont understand any of that and want to know if any of those two methods will make the disk initialize wITHOUT loosing the data on the drive?
i looked on so many forums and some people say that it will and others that it will not erase the data.
can you please tell me what is correct?? also a suggestion is to add some more wording to that initializaiton dialog box so that we can know what initialization does and doesnt
thank you so much
t

Try connecting it to a different computer to see if you can access the data, under no circumstances should you Initialize the drive as all existing data will be lost.
If you still can't access your files, then remove the drive from the case and connect it via an extra SATA cable and power connector (you usually need a desktop PC in order to do this if the drive is a 3.5 inch model, a 2.5in drive will fit into a laptop
if you have a spare slot).
J W Stuart: http://www.pagestart.com
Never be afraid to ask. This forum has some of the best people in the world available to help.

How can I erase my external hard drive?

So I've been having this problem for a while now. Here's my setup: Macbook OS X 10.5.8 and a WD 10EAVS 1TB External Hard Drive. That's all. I was given this by a fellow student on campus who was graduating. So I want to use this to store my iTunes Library (my Macbook's hard drive ran out of space). Here's what I do:
- Macbook is turned on and running
- I plug the external hard drive into a working outlet --> Hard drive turns on
- I plug the external hard drive into the mac using a USB connection --> Disk Insertion Error message: the disk you insterted was not readable by this computer
- It is not readable so I open it in Disk Utility (the hard drive is listed/recognized)
- I attempt to erase and/or partition the hard drive in order to format it in Mac OS Extended OR Mac OS Extended (Journaled), but I get one of these two messages: "Disk Erase failed with the error: File system formatter failed." OR "Disk Erase failed with the error: The underlying task reported failure on exit."
I attempted to look up what these mean or how to fix the problem but nothing is really working. I was able to format the hardware line to MS-DOS (FAT) and the sub-line as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) but I don't even know if that's right or not.
Basically, I need my computer to recognize this hard drive whenever I plug it in and to run smoothly as "extra space" to store my music on.
I haven't had A LOT of experience with external hard drives but enough to get things done. But this problem is a killer.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Please don't hesitate to ask for more info in order to figure it out. I'll do my best with the knowledge/information I have
Thanks so much!

Read carefully to the end, it is not a long text.
Let us resume the required steps, after putting inside a new, virgin disk:
1. Start up machine and as soon as possible put CD/DVD, press key C to force boot from CD; if the sequence is not fast enough and machine passed over the initial phase, and ? was displayed, force shut down by pressing button key, then start again, with CD/DVD inside
2. Press key C after start, and wait until the Apple logo in displayed, wait
3. You will see a list of install language, choose one, and
4. Go to Apple bar and choose Disk Utility; on the left side, you will see the disk, select it, then, on the cenral-lower part of displayed windows go to Options and choose Apple Partition Map (APM), go back and choose, if not already chosen by default, Mac OS Extended Journaled (HFS+), 1 partition (or more, some prefer more than one), click to partiion/erase disk. Note that you MUST have both conditions achieved: APM and HFS+
5. Close Disk Utility and revert to installation proper, proceed.
If you do not see the disk on the left side of Disk Utility, then disk is damaged or badly connected.
P.S. The same procedures are applied to any disk, with the note that:
- for Intel Macs, partition map should be GUID, not APM
- for external disks or flash drives intended to smoothly work with Windows, format should be FAT 32 and Master Boot Record; NTFS may be done with an additional utility like NTFS-3G or NTFSmounter

How do I erase and external HD that won't mount?

Help! I bought an Iomega eGo drive from Amazon. I backed up my MacBook Pro and my work on this drive. Now it won't mount and I want to send it back to Amazon. I tried disk utility, Disk Warrior and plugging it into other Macs. It has firewire 400 & 800 and usb. Nothing from all of them. How d I get my personal stuff off so I can return this hunk of junk? (my 2nd one! I never learn.)
Any help or ideas would be very much appreciated!
Thanks!

Just to add to the previous, if you use "System Profiler" (in your Utility Folder) and look under which ever interface you have it connected through, does the "bridge" in the enclosure itself at least appear, even if the drive itself doesn't? If it DOES, then the problem either lies with the drive or with its connection to external enclosure's "bridge". If even the "bridge"/ enclosure itself doesn't appear then the problem is either with the bridge/enclosure itself, the cable you are using, or the port you are using on the Mac (as the drive doesn't surface under any of three connection methods you can pretty much disregard the last two).
If the bridge is dead, then the only way you will be able to erase the drive is by removing it from the enclosure and putting it in another one (which will almost certainly void any warranty).
If the bridge appears, but the drive does not, then it is probably the drive itself which is dead, in which case you won't be able to erase it anyway, but no-one is likely to bother going through the expensive and time consuming process of seeing what is on it by removing platters etc! Most techs in the warranty departments of major companies like Iomega are overworked, underpaid, and trying to avoid additional work. They just won't be interested in the content. Dead drive, into the bin, onto the next one! As you say yourself, such failures with Iomega drives unfortunately aren't exactly worthy of headlines!
If Disk Utility can "see" it, though, even if it won't mount it, then there may be some other options for wiping data before sending it back.
Cheers
Rod

Erase the external HD?

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