Format external hard drive for backup drive for Mac Pro

How do you format an external portable hard drive to work as a backup drive for the Mac Pro?

If you plan to use Time Machine then Time Machine will take care of that for you once you choose the drive as your backup destination. If you want to do it yourself then you need to attach the drive; once it is mounted, open Disk Utility and select your drive from the left hand side bar. Once highlighted go to the main window and click on the subheading "Erase". The format needs to be "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)". Click Erase and wait for the operation to complete. Now that you have a freshly prepared volume it can be used for Time Machine back up. Time Machine will recognize the disk and ask you if you would like to use this volume at which point you should follow the prompts to begin your back up.

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Formatting external hard drive for mac

Hi I am having trouble reformatting an external Hard drive from my Windows computer to my new Mac any guidance would be appriciated thx.

http://www.cultofmac.com/92845/formatting-external-hard-drives-in-os-x-video-how -to/

Can I install my time machine back up onto a properly formatted external hard drive?

I have a MacBook Pro with a 750GB harddrive, with 500+ Gb of data on it. Just before I traverse to Europe, I did a TimeMachine back up.
I now want to give my Mac to a friend, and buy a AirMac when I get home. Even if I get the one with the largest drive it will not hold the full 500+'back up.
I have an 8 year old Mac Book pro at home as well. It will be a few months before I can buy the new AirMac. So my question is ....
Can I install my current backup on a properly formatted external hard drive, and will it then run like a computer --until I get my new AirMac?
Thanks for your help (and please don't be too tough on me for what may see to de a dumb question)
Soper777

The Time Machine backup is not bootable
You will have to install Leopard first

Hey, can i clone my Macbook Pro internal hard drive and then paste it all onto a formated external hard drive, then make the Mac use the external as the primary hard drive?

hey, can i clone my Macbook Pro internal hard drive and then paste it all onto a formated external hard drive, then make the Mac use the external as the primary hard drive? please help for i only have around 618mb left out of 189GB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If what doesn't work?
If cloning your internal drive to the external drive is not successful, I expect CCC will tell you so. Assuming that doesn't happen, you will have a bootable replica of the internal drive on the external drive once CCC has finished.
You can then do any of several things:
1. Replace your internal drive with a much larger one (320GB or 500GB, or even larger), and clone the external drive's contents onto the new drive so you'll have all your data in one place. Note that if you do this, you'll also need to buy an external drive that's large enough to back the new internal drive up on.
2. Boot from the external drive as a temporary measure while you clear at least 30-40GB of data off the internal drive, allowing you to keep using it and saving small amounts of data to it. The external drive will then contain the only copies of the files you've deleted from the internal drive, so you'll need a seond external drive large enough to back both the other drives up on.
If you can't comfortably clear a minimum of 30GB off the internal drive, you really need a larger internal drive right now, and you shouldn't bother fooling around with the inadequate one you have — you'll just quickly overfill it again.
3. Replace the optical drive in your MBP with a large conventional hard drive, giving you two hard drives inside the machine. You will then need one or more external drives large enough to back up both of the internal drives.
If you sense a theme here — back up, back up, back up — you are correct. It's flat-out foolhardy to own or use a computer without maintaining complete, up-to-date backups of everything at all times.

How to access a PC formatted external hard drive

I am trying to access a PC formatted external hard drive, however when I attempt to mount it I get a message saying the drive is not recongnized and if I want ti initialize, which i believe if I execute will remove the files I am trying access..Is there a way to access the files on the external hard drive...it is a avi file i need to edit..

http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/26288/ntfs-for-mac-os-x
http://www.paragon-software.com/home/ntfs-mac/
Paragon also has a program (suite) that will convert NTFS <=> HFS+ without data loss (but have backup never use something wo one!)
And Pargon has kept up with Lion while others have not or have stopped development and works best with PC drive cases with low overhead and fast reliable copy operation.
The demo is also fully functional for 30 days.

Can I bring files from a NTFS formatted external hard drive (from Windows XP 32 bit desktop) to my new macbook pro retina?

Can I bring files from a NTFS formatted external hard drive (from Windows XP 32 bit desktop) to my new macbook pro retina?

What are these files you are trying to copy over?
If they are program specific and there is no program on a Mac to read them then you'll have to find either a Mac version of that program or one that does the same thing and can read those files.
The file extension should not change just because you connect a NTFS formatted drive to a Mac computer. A Word Document is still a .doc/.docx ad the same for all other office type programs. Music files with an extension of .MP3, or whatever, should read the same on both system. Same goes for all other files like images with a .JPG extension.
Yes I would network them.
I would not use Migration Assistant. There is nothing on your Windows PC that can be used on the Mac other than your personal data files. No programs or settings can be carried over from Windows to OS X.
marimbapony1 wrote:
Also, when I view the files from the external hard drive, they show up as .nbz and are not recognized by any program on the Mac. Should I just abandon the hard drive option and start sharing files through the LAN approach?

HT1338 I was backing up my MacBook with Time Machine on my new (correctly formatted) external hard drive. It was going fine when my 2 yo knocked the hard drive. Now TM said "failed" and the Mac refuses to recognize the external hard drive. Help please?

I was backing up my MacBook with Time Machine and using my new (correctly formatted) external hard drive. All was going well when my 2 yo knocked the disk leading to a "failure" by time machine (Latest Backup: Failed). Now the MacBook will not even recognize the hard drive. I have rebooted, tried all I can think of, but no acknowledgement of the drive. The drive itself makes noise and vibrates as if working, but nothing from the Mac. Please help or $100 down the drain... Thank you.

You may have already done these resets in the "tried all I can think of " portion of your post.....if not then here they are.....
PRAM
support.apple.com/kb/HT1379
SMC
support.apple.com/kb/HT3964
.....hopefully that is all that is required.....

Can i use windows migration assistant to transfer files from my windows formatted external hard drive to my mac?

I have a windows formatted external hard drive and a macbook pro. I was wondering if i could use the windows migration assistant to transfer files from my external hard drive to the mac

No.
Just connect the drive to your Mac. The Mac can read most Windows formats (it cannot WRITE Windows New Technology File System (NTFS) formatted drives.

FAT formatted external hard drive is not 'readable by this computer'

Hello support community
The problem: when I insert my 'FAT' formatted external hard drive (Samsung M3) into my mac book pro it comes up with the error message that says "the inserted disk is not readable by this computer" and I therefore cannot access the files.
The story (potential further details):
1. I had a problem with my mac where it took hours to load each time I turned it on, would only work when power was plugged in etc. so I had to reformat my mac hard drive (when I tried to veriify it said repair, that wouldn't work). So i'm starting with a recently reformatted, clean mac.
2. Before doing this I reformatted my external hard drive (whilst on windows machine) to FAT32 (so I can use on both windows and mac) so that I could back up my files.
3. I then transferred files from mac onto external hard drive and then also put them on a windows machine.
4. After reformatting mac hard drive when I then tried to transfer files back onto the mac I get the 'not readable' error.
The technical details:
Thank you very much indeed anyone who can help or can try and help
Cheers
Andy

Erase the drive and reformat using your Mac (Disk Utility)

HT201269 I am trying to save memory on my iPhone 4S/ ios6. Can I back up all photos to icloud and the external hard disk I normally use for photos? If I then delete photos from the iPhone do the get deleted on iCloud?

I am trying to save memory on my iPhone 4S/ ios6.
1) Can I back up all photos to icloud and the external hard disk I normally use for photos? If I then delete photos from the iPhone do the get deleted on iCloud?
2) Can I back up the newsstand to iCloud and save memory on the iPhone?
3) Can I back up the bookshelf to icloud and save memory on the iPhone?

1. What format is the external drive? It sounds like it's ina format that Macs can't write to. Is it a NAS or NTFS?
2. Easiest thing: just move your iPhoto Library to the external
Make sure the drive is formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
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.
Regards
TD

I need to configure a new hard disk as backup disk for time machine. The set up program is running and it says it will take 9 days to backup about 56 GB. Is it normal ?

I need to configure a new hard disk as backup disk for time machine.
The set up program is running since two hours and it says it will take 9 days to backup about 56 GB.
Is it normal ?

Roberto 17 wrote:
I started this morning at 12 and after 5 hours now the backup is about 6 GB up on 56 GB.
The new HD is a WD My Passport Edge 500 GB capacity
5 hours to do 6 GB of transfer is NOT normal, even for USB 2.0 so there's something wrong here. I'd say cancel it, wipe the drive and then test the integrity of the drive. Do some file transfers over to and see if it's behaving normally. It could be a bad USB cable, it could be a bad drive or bad enclosure. As it's new, I suspect you haven't really put it through its paces yet and it's important to do that first before commissioning it to serve as your "reliable backup."

Can I transfer the photos from mac to external hard disc which is used for pc too

can I transfer the photos from mac to external hard disc which is used for pc too

A FAT32 drive can't store files which are 4GB or larger. You need to reformat or repartition the drive to include an exFAT, NTFS, or Mac OS Extended volume, or use a different drive, or use a way other than an external drive to transfer it.
(105483)

Brand new user I have plugged in my external Hard which I was using for my windows laptop into my IMAC and it now appears I have lost all of my files is there any way I can recover these ?

Brand new user I have plugged in my external Hard which I was using for my windows laptop into my IMAC and it now appears I have lost all of my files is there any way I can recover these I didn't know that you should reformat

only if you have a backup can you recover

DVD/Lightscribe drive for new (late 2010 Mac Pro?

Does anyone know a source for an internal DVD w/ Lightscribe drive for a late 2010 Mac Pro? I want to install it in the second drive bay. I got one from OWC, but the depth of the DVD drawer was about twice that of the original drive that came with the Mac Pro. It would have been able to fit through the drop cover on the front of the Pro, but would not clear the internal rack components. It fit in the rack nicely with the 4 screws lining up properly, but would then not open more than about an eighth of an inch before hitting the internal rack frame, causing it to close. Thanks.

Bummer! The instructions included with the drive did not mention thi. When I called OWC customer service she said that sometimes you had to remove the bezel from the Mac. I told her the Pro had no bezel. She said that the drive info did not specifically say it would fit a 2010 Pro a d gave me a RMA.'nmh bad for not questioning further. Thanks.

Can't write to a Windows formatted external hard disk

I moved the Windows XP formatted external hard disc from the Windows machine to the Imac. I can read files on the hard disc, can write from the external to the Mac, and can work with the files once they are on the Mac. But I cannot write to the external. I lack permission, the error message says.
I talked with Apple via my AppleCare arrangement. They tell me I will have to reformat the disc for the Mac before I can write to it.
The problem with the recommendation is that that disc, 160 gb, is over three-quarters filled with backup files for the home network. I can't afford to lose them.
The puzzle is that the network sharing is uneven. So I'm led to think there is some problem with my setup. From the Mac, I can read and write to two Windows computers and the internal hard disc, the C drive, of the third. When the external hard disc was attached to that third computer, I was never able to see it from the Mac.
None of the Windows machines can see the Mac.
Any suggestions?
John
IMac Intel Core Duo Mac OS X (10.4.6)

When you go over a network, the Mac doesn't have to worry about writing to the destination disk, it just sends the appropriate TCP/IP packets and lets the PC that is serving the disk worry about writing to the disk. When the disk is connected directly, then the Mac has to know all about writing to that file system.
It does seem to me that if Apple could read from the drive, they should be able to write to it, but apparently that was more complicated and they didn't implement it.
As for the windows boxen not being able to see the Mac... have you considered installing Bonjour for Windows onto the PCs? My wife has PCs and I have Macs, but we're all networked together. We were having some networking issues, trying to share printers. So I had her install Bonjour on one of her boxes. Suddenly, all our networking problems went away. She could see my printers, and all my drive shares.
So you might want to think about turning thinga around and serving off of the Mac.
Doc

NTFS formatted external hard disks?

does mountain lion supports writing on NTFS formatted external hard disks?

I'm getting immense slow-downs using Tuxera NTFS (latest release as of August 2012). I moved my home folder to an NTFS shared drive. Reading/writing to the cache while browsing in Safari is slow. Takes about 30 seconds for Finder to open my NTFS drive, takes about 1 minute to open an app and close the app. If I disable Tuxera NTFS and make my drive read-only, everything goes back to snappy performance (except for write-errors, since disabling Tuxera means I can't write to my home folder).
What shocks me the most is that if you visit the Tuxera community forum on their corporate website, none of their support representatives have helped their customers since the release of Tuxera NTFS for OS X Mountain Lion. It's as if the company realized they messed up, so they went silent.
I'm about to try the latest version of Paragon. I had it for OS X Lion, but it corrupted my entire drive after 2 months of use, which is why I tried to give Tuxera a shot. Here's to hoping Paragon has fixed their issues.

Format external hard drive for backup drive for Mac Pro

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