External Back up drive disappeared

I noticed that TIme Machine had stopped backing up, so I looked to see what was happening and I was getting an error saying that the external hard drive I am using for my back up was having problems (sorry I can't remember the specifics right now) and that I needed to fix the drive or possibly erase and reformat the drive. So I reformatted the drive and started a new backup onto the drive. I'm not sure if that backup completed and now I don't see the external hard drive on my desktop. I've made sure all cables are attached and have unplugged and replugged them in but I still don't see the drive. Any ideas? Is the drive failing?

THe drive could be failing, but if it uses an AC Adapter tose seem prone to failure & needing replcement...
http://store.westerndigital.com/store/wdus/en_US/DisplayAccesoryProductDetailsPa ge/productID.115863100/categoryID.13096000/parid.13092600/catid.13096000.
And since they're out of stock, my guess is it a hot item!

Similar Messages

How do I get iTunes songs which were downloaded from external back-up drive to play on new computer and is there a way to get my play lists back?

When I try to play a song from my re-installed iTunes library, I get the error message: "Song xxx could not be played because original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it?" > "Locate" or "Cancel." When I click on "Locate" I can't figure out how to get the song to play from any of the places that were "located." The path is C:\users\Janet\libraries\music\iTunes
However, iTunes songs chosen from my library will play in iTunes (current version) when I have the external back-up drive plugged in! I recently copied my backed-up iTunes library from my external back-up drive to a new computer.
Most of the songs, but not all, magically appear in Windows Media Player and I can play those just fine.
I can see my iTunes library in the newest version of iTunes, recently downloaded to new computer, but can't play songs without connecting to the external back-up drive - so maybe there is something else on that external drive that needs to be on my C: drive?
I am using an HP Pavillion Notebook, Windows 7, 64-bit. My previous computer was Windows Vista. Before Vista, I had XP.
Back when I had XP, I wanted to purchase some songs to download to my computer. Because iTunes had the ability, I used it to create a massive library of songs, most of which were ripped from my CDs. I don't have an iPod and iTunes worked fine for creating playlists and then burning them to CDs.
Also, I'd like to know if there is a way to get back my playlists.
And another thing - in the older version of iTunes, there was a folder in the lists on the left-hand side of the screen where I could click to see all the songs I had purchased. I'd like to get that ability back if possible.
In hindsight, iTunes was probably not the best choice for me to build my music library in a Windows operating system, but it seemed to be the best choice at the time. I really wish I could convert all the songs to mp3 format.
I have been working with computers since the days of DOS, black and white screens, and no mice. The first computer I bought for my own use at home was a Mac and it had "Flying Toasters" as a screensaver. (I miss that screensaver.) It did not have a tower and I believe they called it a laptop, even though the thing was as big as a suitcase and probably weighed around 30 pounds. However, I am by no means a computer expert. In other words, pretend you're trying to tell your mother how to do what I am asking. =)
Many thanks in advance to anyone who can help me.

I copied the iTunes file from the external drive and it's in both places. I thought all I would need is the iTunes program (which I downloaded to new computer) and my iTunes library file. There must be something else that's missing. My iTunes library looks the same on the new computer as it does when I open it on the external drive. If I click on an iTunes library song from my new computer, it will only play if I have the external drive plugged in.
My back-up drive is a mess. I have multiple copies of music, video, photo, and document files and I don't know how that happened. ={ Obviously, I don't know how to back up stuff properly and there are back-up files extending over a 6- to 8-year period. I think all I did was just drag and drop the main folders from the back-up drive to the same main folders on the C: drive. Also (and I'm kind of fuzzy on this) Windows used to automatically save music files in a folder within my document files (which makes no sense to me). As my Jewish friends would say, "Oy Vey!"

Macbook pro OS 10.7.5, what is the best external back up drive to use with it?

Hi
I have a Macbook pro OS 10.7.5 and am looking for an external back up drive. What external back up drives do people recommend?

T4444 wrote:
Hi
I have a Macbook pro OS 10.7.5 and am looking for an external back up drive. What external back up drives do people recommend?
We don't know which MBP you have so start by establishing what ports you have on the MBP that you can connect an external drive to. It'll have USB ports, but if they're USB 2.0, a full, bootable backup could take a very long time. If it's USB 3.0, backups can go a lot quicker. The USB external HD's are common and relatively inexpensive. If you have a Thunderbolt port, that's very fast but the externals compatible with it tend to be more expensive.
If it's just USB 2.0 and Firewire, Firewire is faster but is being phased out. USB 2.0 is backward compatible with USB 3.0 so when you upgrade to a newer MBP, a USB 3.0 external can plug right in.
Also, unless the external must be really portable, look for one that has a separate power source rather than drawing power from the connection to the Mac, since some externals need more power than the Mac is able or willing to supply.

HT201250 Time Machine cannot find my external back-up drive when I click on the "select disk" button. No drive is found. I have run a Time Machine back-up to this external drive in the past. I'm on the latest version of Snow Leopard. Thank you!

Time Machine cannot find my external back-up drive when I click on the "select disk" button. No drive is listed. I have run a Time Machine back-up to this external drive in the past. Any suggestions

Does the disk appear in Disk Utility?

How to remove hard drive to create external back-up drive

All,
I have an old Powerbook G4 that has seen better days... I'd like to take the hard drive out of it an make myself an external back up drive.
Has anyone done this?
Lindsay

That should function just fine, with one possible exception. Some very old 2.5" HD's were up to 12.5mm tall (and now at least one of the newest high capacity/300GB drives is over 10, but you don't have to worry about that in your case), and as the specs for this particular case state, it can accept a max height of 10mm. I don't know if Apple ever used 12mm drives in TiBooks, but I don't think so. Even my older Pismo HD is 9 or 9.5mm.
And from your OP, it sounds like you're retiring the TiBook and using its HD as backup for your new MB, which has USB2, so as you say, speed shouldn't be a concern in that situation.

Back-up to an external Back-up drive

Thanks for your helpful questions and posts. I'm trying to backup my IPod to an external back-up hard drive. I cannot change the option from back up to CD or DVD. Has anyone completed a back-up to an external back up hard drive? My external back-up drive is a Western Digital external Hardrive. Thanks for your help.

In the Advanced section of the iTunes preferences, set the music library's location to the internal drive, consolidate the library, and then copy the music folder over outside of iTunes. If there isn't enough space on the internal drive to store the library, the external drive needs to be plugged in.
(29630)

What external back up drive should I get?

I have a 2010 27" i7 iMac with the 256GB SSD + 2TB HDD. My current back up drive is maxed out because its only a tiny 500GB, so I need to buy a new one that will accommodate my machines drives.
I am confused on two points.
1. How big of a drive should I buy?
-I have been thinking of getting a 3TB, but I'm not sure if this is big enough. I've also though about getting a 2TB and adding on when I need it.
2. What Back-up system should I use?
-I am using Time Machine currently, but I know that is not a true bootable back up and I would like to use Super Duper in addtion to Time Machine on the same external drive if possible.
I would appreciate any advice on what set up I should get. If you can comment with your back up configuration I would appreciate it as well!
Thanks!

1. How big of a drive should I buy?
-I have been thinking of getting a 3TB, but I'm not sure if this is big enough. I've also though about getting a 2TB and adding on when I need it.
2. What Back-up system should I use?
-I am using Time Machine currently, but I know that is not a true bootable back up and I would like to use Super Duper in addtion to Time Machine on the same external drive if possible.
I would appreciate any advice on what set up I should get. If you can comment with your back up configuration I would appreciate it as well!
Thanks!
For Time Machine you should get as large as you can afford because it will eventually fill. The brands and models I recommend are:
OWC (macsales.com) Mercury Elite Pro series
Lacie Quadra D2 series
G-Tech G series
all have similar functions and are all very high quality.
For your second question many on this forum (including myself) use a redundant backup strategy. My strategy is to use Time Machine and also to create a Bootable Clone using SuperDuper (CCC will work just as well). However NEVER NEVER NEVER put both backups on the same drive even if it has enough space. The reason being is very simple if that drive crashes you have lost both backups and defeated the whole purpose of a backup! There are numerous backup strategies available depending on your needs, fear factor and budget. I would recommend reading these MacWorld articles where they talk about different strategies. I think you will see a common theme in them though.
Backup Plan I
Backup Plan II
Backup Plan III
Roger

What size should external back-up drive be for use with Time Machine?

I am very new to Macs.
My iMac has a 500GB hard disc - not much on it yet.
I want to back the hard disc up daily and automatically to an external hard drive using Time Machine. So that I could restore everything if the iMac failed.
1. Does the external hard drive that I buy need to be larger than the iMac's hard disc, e.g 1Tb? Or is 500Gb enough in my case?
2. Should it be pre-formatted for Mac when I buy it? Or do I have to do this?
3. Should it use firewire or USB?
4. Presumably I need to leave the external drive plugged in all the time? Or will this stop the iMac from switching on and off?
I really want the easiest solution possible as I am not very techie and I want the minimum amount of fiddling with it. So I am confused between whether to choose a Western Digital My Book Office edition or Studio edition, 500Gb or 1TB, firewire or USB, or maybe a Lacie?
Would be grateful for advice.
Thanks very much.

Welcome to the Apple forums. If you have a 500G external disk, that will work fine for quite a while with hourly, daily and weekly backups, but sooner or later it will fill up, but then it begins to delete weekly backups. The same will happen with whichever size of external disk you buy: sooner or later. . . . Nonetheless, that disk will be fine for most purposes. I have 250G and use a 200G partition for my MacBook Pro and while that was fine, it tends to delete weekly backups so I have about 6 months of backups stored. (I also make other backups of all data).
It may be preformatted, but that is unlikely. Use Disk Utility (in Applications>Utilities) and use MacOS Extended, which is selected in the Partition tab (you do this even if you only use a single partition).
The system works with either Firewire or USB 2..
You do not need to leave it in all the time. If it is connected, it will make the backups, if not, nothing will happen and it will indicate that the next backup will occur when the disk is attached. To disconnect, you would highlight the disk in a Finder panel and press the Eject icon (not while TM is running of course) then disconnect the cable.
I am not able to suggest which disk is best, although my LaCie one has not missed a beat. Others may have a different idea. Try a Google search with the disk manufacturer's name and "problems" or somesuch. No disk is perfect of course.

Importing a library from an external back-up drive

So I'm in a slight panic. I just upgraded to Leopard and wanted to keep it clean. So I backed up entire hard drive as a bootable backup onto an external drive and did a clean install of Leopard on the iMac. Now I could have sworn I went into the backup and poked around to be sure all of my photos were there. I recall them being in iPhoto's nested folder system by date. My first question is this.
1. Where do those files reside in the file structure? When I go to User/Myself/Pictures I just get this iPhoto library icon. I could have sworn that's where I used to find iPhoto's huge pile of nested folders all broken out by date. They've got to be there somewhere because I had to do a complete restore from this backup disk a few months back when my hard drive crashed.
2. Assuming someone can help me find these files can you tell me how I can import them into my new version of iPhoto? If I must I'll use Migration Assistant to pull the photos over but I'm trying not to do that because it seems to bring all sorts of other user junk over that I don't want.
3. I suppose another question is whether migration assistant merges data or if it writes over the data on the new system.
Aaack, can someone please help?
Thanks.

Benjamin
Where do those files reside in the file structure? When I go to User/Myself/Pictures I just get this iPhoto library icon. I could have sworn that's where I used to find iPhoto's huge pile of nested folders all broken out by date. They've got to be there somewhere because I had to do a complete restore from this backup disk a few months back when my hard drive crashed.
With iPhoto 7 (iLife 08) the old iPhoto Library Folder is now a Unix Style Package File. The change was made to the format of the iPhoto library because many users were inadvertently corrupting their library by browsing through it with other software or making changes in it themselves.
Assuming someone can help me find these files can you tell me how I can import them into my new version of iPhoto? If I must I'll use Migration Assistant to pull the photos over but I'm trying not to do that because it seems to bring all sorts of other user junk over that I don't want.
As Larry says, simply drag your iPhoto Library Folder to the Pictures Folder and launch iPhoto.
I suppose another question is whether migration assistant merges data or if it writes over the data on the new system.
It overwrites.
Regards
TD

Recovering mail from external back-up drive

Hi all I was doing a bit of housekeeping ... why oh why ... anyway I seem to have 2 mail accounts ... only ever ONE email address but there seems to be differing numbers of mails in the two in boxes ... all very confusing so I thought I'd tidy things up and foolishly deleted the wrong one (I think) anyway I'm a little scared now but have the 2 accounts on my powerbook and a back-up of everything on an external drive ... I just want to be sure ... which files do I drag from the external drive to recover or should I sync with the powerbook ... thanks for your time ... Roger

Mail stores preferences and account settings in HOME/Library/Preferences/com.apple.mail.plist and everything else in the HOME/Library/Mail/ folder. Thus, replacing these with good ones should fix your problem (quit Mail first).

Advice on external back up drive

Hi,
I've just purchased an external LaCie 500GB quadra HD to back up my internal drives (40GB and 120GB both partitioned in half with OS9 and OSX) and just wanted some advice as to how I should set up the external drive and what would be the best software to use.
Should I partition the external drive to give me a bootable section on the drive?
Various software (LaCie, Silversomething, Retrospect) came with the drive and I already had Data Backup that I got from MacUser magazine.
Any assistance will be greatly appreciated.
Best regards
Martin

gmanucia,
Thought you could use this info about getting FireWire to work!
First, you should always Repair Permissions in Disk Utility before and after any update; I would do that now. If you installed your update with FireWire plugged in, your Mac may not recognize it anymore.
Try resetting your FireWire ports by disconnecting all FW devices, shut down your Mac and unplug it from AC power (wall socket) for 30 minutes. plug it back in and try FW.
If that didn't work, download the combo update from this site (yours may be corrupt), not Software Update, disconnect all firewire + USB devices except keyboard + mouse, Repair Permissions, re-install update, Repair Permissions again + try. Yours is the 10.4.9 Combo update ( PPC, not for Intel systems). Others reading, download the Combo that applies to your system.
If that still didn't get it Zap the PRAM. While restarting Mac hold down the following key combo Command-Option-P-R. Keep holding those keys down till you hear the second start-up chime, then release.
For those of you with Macs that are not PowerBooks or iBooks, a bad internal battery can cause FireWire to not be recognized, so make sure it's good! Also, here is Apple doc.#88338 on getting FireWire to work.
Good Luck!
Cheers!
DALE

Best external back-up drive for MacBook Pro

I ordered a WD 2 TB My Passport external drive from Staples. In the meantime one of you answered this question with the problems they are having with their software if using Maverick OX.
I am thinking of purchasing the LA Cie 2TB USB 3 Porsche Design P'9233. What are your thoughts? I believe this should be a plug and play and not need formatting-am I correct?
I don't want problems with a new drive and will return the WD as it is unopened.
Thanks

mksr wrote:
It ststes to go to System Preferences, Time Machine and choose drive. It will automatically back-up to the drive of your choice.
If it actually does that, then it is formatted out of the box. If the MBP does not recognize the drive, then it will have to be formatted. Formatting a HDD is strait forward and not a lengthy process. Here is a document regarding various format options:
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3044
Ciao.

External back up drive locked - I have no access to my files

Hi, I have a brand new iMac Intel based, running 10.6.2.
I installed the 10.6.4 update last night and when I came in this morning, my external drive is locked and I can't access my backup files, nor can I run Time Machine.
I reinstalled the system back to 10.6.2...still locked.
HELP!!!

When doing an OS X update in order for it to be smooth there are some basics to follow.
1. First back up prior to doing the update which it sounds like you're doing.
2. Next is disconnect all peripherals except the keyboard and mouse.
3. Run Repair Disk Permissions in Disk Utility
4. When possible download the Combo update. Here is the one for 10.6.4
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1048
5. Install the update
6. Repeat step 3
7. Check system to see if it's working OK.
8. Connect peripherals and run.
Troubleshooting:
If you run into issues run a PRAM and SMC reset. Please read the instructions for the SMC reset carefully as it covers multiple models of Macs, you need the one for Intel based iMacs.
10.6.4 is very stable but if your system isn't stable to begin with doing an update will not fix it and probably make it even worse. While you probably weren't aware your system wasn't totally stable if you do the above steps it will probably solve your problems.
Regards,
Roger

Using external back up drive

Is there an app that allows me to use my existing seagate freeagent 1 TB external harddrive as a backup I can sync with?
Thanks for any suggestions!
J

sync with in what regard, what use.
You can use same as a time machine backup, or an external data archive, etc.
you can have it connected to the back of the NEWEST airport extreme as TM backup.
More specifics needed.
You can use your hard drive as a backup or archive in many ways as mentioned here:
Methodology to protect your data. Backups vs. Archives. Long-term data protection

Why do you need to format an external back up drive for os extended?

help

Defragmenting the drive can be done, and requires use of a third-party utility. But... see what Apple has to say on this topic at:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=25668
I suggest you not bother.

External Back up drive disappeared

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