External HDD - OS X 10.7 / Time Machine / File Storage

Hi there, I'm planning on buying an external HDD and have a few questions before I 'proceed to checkout'.
Firstly, the manufacturer's description on the site that I'm buying from specifies that the hard drive works with Mac OS X 10.4-10.6. As I plan to use the hard drive to back up my MBP before upgrading to OS X 10.7/Lion I'm wondering if after the upgrade, the hard drive will still be usuable.
Also, after upgrading, I hope to use the hard drive with the Time Machine function of OS X. Is it possible to use both Time Machine and to separately store files such as movies or music on the one hard drive?
The hard drive that I've chosen: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Iomega-eGo-Desktop-Hard-Drive/dp/B003MC3JNS/ref=sr_1_1?s =computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1312208384&sr=1-1 (Iomega eGo Desktop Hard Drive (Mac Edition,2TB))
Thanks in advance for any help you guys can give me, appreciate it.

SP Forsythe wrote:
Nonetheless, I would not have expected there to be any issue anyway. It is exceeding rare that ANY drive that works with a recent iteration of OS X would have a problem with Lion.
I have 4 external hard drives. 1 Time Capsule I use with Time Machine and 3 WD drives: a My Book World Edition, a My Passport, and a My Passport Essential SE. Since upgrading to Lion, the only one that works is Time Capsule. WD hasn't released any firmware updates for the others yet.
I'm feeling a little insecure, since I don't really have a back up any longer, only a copy.
My advice is to contact the company before you buy. I suspect that many manufacturers have not updated their system compatibilities yet, but I would contact before I buy just to make sure.

Similar Messages

External HDD not mounting; cannot use Time Machine backups

I upgraded to the Lion OSX and after that my external HDD wont mount. It shows up in Disc Utility but cannot be repaired as it won't mount (it keeps running and running the repair bar).
I followed some discussion and tried to install MacFuse and likes but it doesn't work. I could not also locate the ufsd.fs in my folder - /System/Library/filesystems/ufsd.fs - as was suggested as a remedy.
I tried this advice :
"Download and install NTFS-3G
now try this
sudo mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/disk1s1 /Volumes/usb1 "
but all i got was this message:
what is the best course of action??
thanks

Hi, and welcome to the forums.
It sounds like TM may have started a new "sequence" of backups. Try the +*Browse . . .+* option, per #E2 of the Time Machine - Troubleshooting *User Tip* at the top of this forum.

HT201250 Is there a size limit for an external drive to be used with time machine?

I have an iMac with a 2TB drive. I have a 2TB WD drive used for Time Machine that is full. I would like to go to the bigest WD (type) external drive that will work with Time Machine. Is there a TB limit for TM in OS X Lion?

Welcome . I have also used a 2TB WD My Book ext HDD for Time Machine backups for the past year and have had no problems. They seem to get a very bad wrap. Perhaps we are a few of the lucky ones. The two brands recommended by macjack are very, very good brands.

A few months ago I bought an imac 27 inch late 2013 ... ever since I have continuously problems with my external HDD that disconnect all the time and cause problems in other software (Lightroom, Adobe PS CS6) ...

a few months ago I bought an imac 27 inch late 2013 .. §16GB - and flash memory) - 3,3 Ghz Intel Core 15
ever since I have continuously problems with my external HDD that disconnect all the time and cause problems in other software (Lightroom, Adobe PS CS6) ... it is not a HDD problem, because it occurs with my 3TB WD HDD (Time Machine), my 1TB WD and 1TB IOMEGA
any one have a solution? anyone dealt with this problem in the apple care program?

You are still under warranty and/or have AppleCare. Call them. Let them deal w/it.

External hard drive not working with Time Machine

I have an Iomega network hard drive attached via ethernet cable to my Airport Extreme router.
I plugged the hard drive in. Everything works like it should. I can see the drive in Finder and I can read and write to the drive. I do share the network drive in a mixed WIN and OS X environment. I never had to reformat the drive and I can read/write to the drive with no problems from all of my computers.
I turned on Time Machine on my iMac and walked through the simple setup screens there. I never set anything up on the hard drive through the drive interface software. And Time Machine worked fine for about 4 months. Then all of a sudden, Time Machine just stopped backing up and I got all kinds of error messages saying that the TIme Machine backup failed.
So I went into Time Machine, turned it off, turned it back on. No luck. Same error messages.
So I started fresh. I deleted the prior Time Machine backups and I am back at the TIme Machine set up screen. OS X can see the TIme Machine share on my external hard drive and I tell the setup wizard that's the drive I want to use.
Then I get a window that says it's trying to connect to the external hard drive which I call "Cloud_Drive". After about 30 seconds, I get an error window that says
"There was a problem connecting to the server "Cloud_Drive-TimeMachine"
The server may not exist or it is unavailable at this time. Check the server name or IP address, check your network connection, and then try again.
At this point the external drive is still visible in FInder and I can read/write to it from my iMac. I just cannot understand why Time Machine was working and then all of a sudden it stopped.
I did go into the software management of the drive and found an area in which to turn Time Machine on on the drive's side. Which I never did before so I turned it on and then I'm prompted to enter the name of the computer and the ethernet ID. I entered the name of the iMac and I have tried using the WiFI MAC address - no luck getting TIme Machine to work and I've also entered Terminal, found a MAC address under the line titled "ether" and still the same result.
I have also changed the destination of the Time Machine files on the external hard drive and the Time Machine wizard does write a sparcebundle file to that new location but still get the same error message above.

Is it a firewire ext. HD?
Yes, many are reporting same, there is a firewire fault and TB HD on external HD from LaCie (Seagate) and from WD especially.
Technicians are looking into it.
Until there is resolution, consider setting up a USB ext. Time machine HD.
Until then consider confining Mavericks use with USB HD.
Ive tested a long line of USB HD on Mavericks, all seem fine.

Cannot delete Time Machine file from external hard drive

Hello,
I'd like to delete my original Time machine file from an external hard drive ( Lacie mini ). I move the file into the trash bin and it constantly "deletes". At one time I left it deleting overnight and the file still wasn't trashed.
I am going to hook up Time Machine to a different, dedicated external hard drive, but I'd like to gain space on the drive that Time Machine is currently on.
I currently have Time Machine turned off ( I do have everything backed up with my home folder on another external HD ). Should Time Machine be turned on for me to trash the file? Is there a better way to delete the file?
Much thanks in advance.

V.K. wrote:
... the best and the quickest way to delete it is to erase the TM hard drive....
But what if a person doesn't want to erase the TM drive? My MacPro came with tiger installed, but since tiger-intel-retail discs don't exist, my copy of tiger is what i have. I was all manner of foolish directing TM to that drive, but damage is done. What can someone in my position do?

I bought a new external hard drive for backups, but time machine won't do a full back up. I think it is remembering backing up onto previous external hard drives, which I don't own anymore. How do I do a new full backup?

I bought a new external hard drive for backups, but time machine won't do a full back up.
I think it is remembering backing up onto previous external hard drives, which I don't own anymore. How do I do a new full backup?
When I bought the new (used) iMac, I also bought an external hard drive for backups. It worked fine, but my husband stole it.
Then I bought a new external hard drive (Seagate) and it worked fine for three weeks, then died.
So I just got a new external hard drive, which was put together from an internal hard drive and a hard drive enclosure.
Time machine did the first backup today, and it should have taken 9 hours like it did on the previous first time full back up. Instead, it took 30 minutes. That can't be right. I want to start over and do a full backup to make sure everything gets onto my new external hard drive, but I can't figure out how to do that. Please help.

Triple-click anywhere in the line below to select it:
tmutil compare -E
Copy the selected text to the Clipboard (command-C).
Launch the Terminal application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.
Paste into the Terminal window (command-V).
The command will take at least a few minutes to run. Eventually some lines of output will appear below what you entered.
Each line that begins with a plus sign (“+”) represents a file that has been added to the source volume since the last snapshot was taken. These files have not been backed up yet.
Each line that begins with an exclamation point (“!”) represents a file that has changed on the source volume. These files have been backed up, but not in their present state.
Each line that begins with a minus sign (“-“) represents a file that has been removed from the source volume.
At the end of the output, you’ll get some lines like the following:
Added:
Removed:
Changed:
These lines show the total amount of data added, removed, or changed on the source(s) since the last snapshot.

I have a power pc (g5) computer that I will soon be replacing with a current i5 or i7 mini. How do I transfer the Time Machine files from the internal hard drive on the G5 to an external drive that I will later use with the Mini?

I have a Power PC G5 computer that I will soon be replacing with a current i5 or i7 Mini. How do I transfer the Time Machine files from the internal hard drive on the G5 to an external drive that I will later use with the Mini?

Hi, likely the easiest is to just poll the drive & get something like this...
Get MacScan...
http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/networking_security/macscan.html
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/NewerTech/U3NVSPATA/
But if you have a good external drive already, just clone it.
Get carbon copy cloner to make an exact copy of your old HD to the New one...
http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html
Or SuperDuper...
http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/

Can i use my time capsule to wirelessly backup my macbook and its external hard drive, which up until now was it's time machine and storage? How?

Can i use my time capsule to wirelessly backup my macbook and its external hard drive, which up until now was it's time machine and storage? How?

The external drive must be connected to the Mac using either USB or FireWire
You must remove the external hard drive from the list of items that are "excluded" from backups in Time Machine Preferences.
Here's how:
Open System Preferences (gear icon on the dock)
Open Time Machine
Click Options
Look for the name of the hard drive in the list of "excluded" items and click on it to highlight it
Click the -- (minus) button at the bottom of the list to remove the hard drive from the list of "excluded" items....so it will now be backed up
Strongly recommend that you do the first backup using Ethenret from your computer to the Time Capsule since the entire contents of the external drive will be copied on the first pass. Ethernet will be 3-5 faster than wireless.
Once you have the first backup done, you can use wireless for subsequent backups since they will nornally be much smaller....unless you add large files to the external drive.

Can I view photos and movies from my external hard drive? I used Time Machine and a WD Passport for backup. Since my drive on my MacBook Pro is filling up I was planning to delete some of the movies and photos.

Can I view photos and movies from my external hard drive? I used Time Machine and a WD Passport for backup. Since my drive on my MacBook Pro is filling up I was planning to delete some of the movies and photos. I wanted to see if I could view them from the hard drive. Thanks

Hello, eco1.
Thank you for visiting Apple Support Communities.
This sounds like you are wanting to move your iTunes media folder to an external drive and have iTunes this folder from this location. If this is the case then I would recommend taking a look at the article below.
iTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Media folder
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1449
Cheers,
Jason H.

Recognizing Time machine files after moving external drive to time capsule

I have a LaCie external hard drive that contains my time machine backups, and would like to attach it to my time capsule (in the basement) to free up desk and usb space. When I attach it to the capsule the drive is recognized, but it does not recognize the backup files. As it stands if I select the drive from time machine it will start to back up all over again using only the remaining space on the drive.
My options are to reformat the drive and start over, losing my previous backups, or I can find a way for time machine to recognize the existing files on that drive. Does anybody know a way to do this?
Any advice would be appreciated:)

Network backups are in a different format than local backups. The network backups are contained in a disk image. Although it's theoretically possible to copy the existing backup folder to that image, I wouldn't give much for your chances of success.
A much better plan would be to keep the drive as it is, continuing to use it for local backups at least intermittently, and start a new backup on another drive. You need more than one backup to be safe anyway.

My external hard drive for backup and Time Machine is full. I bought a new HD. Can I just begin using it, or must I transfer old BkUp and TM to the new HD?

My external hard drive for Back Up and Time Machine is full. I bought a new HD. Can I just begin using it and rely on the old HD for past Time Machine versions, or must I transfer the old Back Up and Time Machine files to the new HD?

It is your choice.
If you don't want to be able to far back into the time slots covered by the old disk then just start using the new disk.
If you want to retain the ability to go back into those time slots then copy it.
Allan

What brand external hard drive is best with time machine

what brand of external hard drive works best with time machine?

Contrary to the other two replies, I will relate what I've read here: WD drives are fine, but their (cheap?) enclosures are subject to failure. Some buy a bare WD drive and install it in an Oxford Chip external enclosure (OWC / macsales.com would be one source). And, I have two LaCie Quadras and one OWC Mercury Pro - both are generally recommended here. If you want it bootable, most WD drives do not support it:
http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1787/related/1/session/L2F2LzEvd GltZS8xMzUxNTIzMzIwL3NpZC9ueUFYc1g5bA%3D%3D
Please note: it's good to have an external hard drive which has its own power supply and, as mentioned, FW 800 or USB 3). You also do not need any software that comes on the external - you will most likely need to format it anyway because most come formatted for Windows, but that is easy using Disk Utility.

How to completely delete all backed-up time machine files but not other files in my external hard drive?

I use a 500G WD as my external.. I have documents and movies there that i do not want to delete. Simply i just want to delete my time machine files completely and for my mac to not recognised it as a time machine HD.. TY guys p.s. A video would be nice

If you have the external HD setup as one partition, you cannot delete only the TM files as a unit. You will have to use the brute force method of deleting directory by directory.
If you have the drive partitioned into a TM backup partition and another partition for your other work, you can simply reformat the TM backup partition.
So, the first question is, how is your drive setup, as one or as two partitions?

Can I use the second HDD in a Mini for Time Machine?

I am looking to replace one of the HDDs in a Mac Mini with an SSD, this would be for the main OS to work on and all my files, I am not a big advocate of spreading around my files over multiple data silos. I was wondering then, as I don't have a Time Capsule, whether it would be possible to dedicate the second HDD for exclusive use of Time Machine, backing everything up?
I don't have a Mini at the moment and so don't know how OS X treats the existing setup, is the HD treated as one, or are the two clearly separate? It's a mystery to me why there are two in the first place, I summise that it was an attempt by Apple to create the illusion of a fater computer by adding in a small amount of SSD to complement the larger (and cheaper) HDD?
Anyway, would splitting the two work and would it be easily achievable with existing tools in OS X?
Thanks.

Hamper wrote:
I was wondering then, as I don't have a Time Capsule, whether it would be possible to dedicate the second HDD for exclusive use of Time Machine, backing everything up?
Anyway, would splitting the two work and would it be easily achievable with existing tools in OS X?
Yes, you can use the 2nd HDD with Time Machine as your TM back up drive.
As long as you are able to format your new SSD and the HDD, you can use them independently. I would advise using Terminal and the diskutil commands to do this as Mountain Lion 10.8.3's GUI Disk Utility will see the SSD and HDD as needing to be "fixed" (drives marked in RED) and if you choose to FIX the drives your two drives will automatically be setup as a Fusion drive and all data on the drives will be lost.

External HDD - OS X 10.7 / Time Machine / File Storage

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