How do I prevent my hard drive being used for time machine back ups?

I want to install Snow Leopard but it tells me that the OS cannot be installed because the disk is being used for Time Machine back ups. I don't recall setting up my hard drive to be used this way (why would I?!) but now I can't seem to

Did you have TM turned on at any time? If so, and if you had no external hard drive attached, could it be that it created its own backup on a portion of your hard drive? I don't use TM, but I believe I read that this may be possible. Take a look at Disk Utility (Applications > Utilities) and report what you see on the left - under the top heading, is there more than one partition showing, such as here:
(I have two partitions: one for Snow Leopard, the other for Lion) - what does yours show?

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Lion installation problem- says hard drive is used for Time Machine back-ups!

I just purchased & downloaded Lion to install on my Apple laptop, but when I went to install it, I got the message:
"This disk is used for TimeMachine back-ups."
What the heck? As I use an external drive for TM back-ups, I'm really confused! How can I get Lion to install on my hard drive? I went so far as to turn off TimeMachine (see image, below), but it's still not working.
Any ideas? This is really frustrating!

Kathy,
Intel and Universal apps should be ok. You can check this massive list for specifics on any application incompatibilities.
http://roaringapps.com/apps:table/tags/_a/index_tags/_a
Just to confirm, was the problem Norton or was the backup directory present?
Glad your up and running now.
@Colin, Yeah it's the leftmost black and yellow. It's an image burned in my head from the old PC days.

Down loaded Mavericks, will not install on my computer because it says "this hard drive is used for time machine back up".

Down loaded mavericks, it will not install on my computer because it says" this hard drive is used for time machine back up". So I used my old computer hard drive for back up and reloaded the program but it still says the first hard drive is being used.

Welcome to Apple Support Communities
Make sure you have selected your MacBook Pro's hard drive as the destination to install Mavericks. If so, you have the "Backups.backupdb" folder in the root level of your hard drive.
That's the folder used by Time Machine to store backups of your files, and the Mavericks installer understands that your internal hard disk is the Time Machine drive.
To fix this, open a Finder window, select the Go menu (on the menu bar) > Go to Folder, and type:
Then, delete "Backups.backupdb", empty the Trash and run the Mavericks installer. Finally, install OS X Mavericks

Cannot install Yosemite as hard drive is used for Time Machine Backup, How Do I Change This?

I have a 2010 MacBook Pro and when I attempted to install Yosemite the MacBook Pro Drive is greyed out and a message appears that read,"drive is used for Time Machine Backup." How do I change this to install Yosemite?
Thanks,
Scott

Well, if you don't want to use that drive for Time Machine anymore, then you should format it using Disk Utility. Then you can install Yosemite on it.
You should, of course, have another full backup somewhere. I really can't state this strongly enough: You should have a full and complete and up to date backup of all your data before you upgrade to OS X Yosemite.

Lion Installer thinks that my internal boot hard drive "is used for time machine backups"

I recently installed a new hard drive on my MBP. It's been running fine, but now I'm running into trouble when I tried to install Lion!
The download worked just fine. But when I try to choose a disk to install Lion onto, my one and only hard drive (internal, boot disk) "is used for Time Machine backups" and is grayed out! I can't click it, I can't customize the installation or do anything except go backwards through the license agreement and such.
No, I do not use my internal drive as a Time Machine. But somehow, even after I've disabled Time Machine, it keeps thinking I do! Time Machine is my menu bar is grayed out, but I can click "Browse other Time Machine disks" and for some reason my boot disk comes up! ("(My name)'s MacBook Pro on 'Untitled 1') I've never used this disk as a Time Machine!
I have a feeling that this is somehow related to my using Super Duper to clone my old hard drive during the upgrade process.
Is there a way to remove the Time Machine files from my boot disk or otherwise convince Lion to install? I've already repaired my disk permissions in Disk Utility. What else can I do?
Thank you in advance. This is very frustrating!

Alexander Chan1 wrote:
No, I do not use my internal drive as a Time Machine. But somehow, even after I've disabled Time Machine, it keeps thinking I do!
At some point, probably accidentally, your internal HD was selected as a destination for Time Machine. Even if that was immediately changed, it had already created a Backups.backupdb folder at the top level of the drive.
As long as that's there, OSX thinks you're trying to install OSX on your backup drive. Just delete that folder.

HT3275 How do you Format the external hard drive been used for time machine?

Error reads "Not enough space on the external hard drive" How do i format the memory and start again?
Thanks Geremy

ON an external hard drive.. that is easy.. just open disk utility and reformat it. Make sure you use Mac Extended Journeled. (HFS+)

I can not find my seagate hard drive that contain my time machine back ups how do i do that?

my airport extreme can not locate my seagate hard drive with all my back ups how do i fix this i need to restore some settings?

As Bob says, that's problematical.
If you were backing-up to that drive while it was directly-connected to your Mac, and now want to move it to your Airport, there's an extra problem. See the blue box in #E2 of Time Machine - Troubleshooting.
If you had previously been backing-up to the drive over your network, the backups may be corrupted (that happens rather often, and is the reason it's not recommended). If so, you may be able to repair them, per #A5 in the same article.
Or, you may need to reset the Airport. See Resetting an AirPort Base Station or Time Capsule FAQ.

My external hard drive I use for time machine failed.

I replaced it with a new drive and used a new name for the drive. Time machine uses the new drive (with new name) and backs up to it without any problem.
But every day, Time Machine complains it can't back up to the old drive. I can't delete the old drive from the Time Machine GUI. How do I fix this? Is there a way I can edit a system file using terminal?

Instead of using Terminal, try to reset Time Machine to default settings, following these steps > http://pondini.org/TM/A4.html You won't lose anything

I have an issue with time machine, it doesn't find the Lacie external driver it use to use. it is the same drive that I usaly use for time machine back ups. It is corectly plugged. What can I do ?

Hi,
I'm trying to back up my macbook with time machine on the Lacie external driver I usualy use for this, but today my computer doesn't find the driver. I haven't done back up in 6 month.
Today, the Lacie driver is pluged and running, but the computer just does'nt find it.
what shall I do ?

Some things to consider:
Is the drive mounted, i.e., visible via Finder and/or on the Desktop?
Is the drive still selected in System Preferences, Time Machine? If not, use the "Select Disk" button.
Is Time Machine still turned on (System Preferences, Time Machine)?
Can you see the drive (and mount it) using Disk Utility (in your Utilities folder)?
charlie

External hard drive for time machine back-ups

Can anyone please suggest the best external hard drive to use for time machine back-ups on my iMac?
I also use a 1TB external hard drive for my iTunes library, but I've noticed that it can be slower to access the music than if I used the iMac hard drive......any suggestions? My iTunes library is currently sitting at around 200GB.
Thanks.
Brian

i'd recommend a firewire 800 drive. many folks here speak highly of drives supplied by [OWC|http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire> and [LaCie|http://www.lacie.com/us/products/product.htm?pid=11156].
JGG

HT4848 Is it possible to partition an external hard drive that is already being used for Time Machine backups without it being erased?

I'm want to use my current external hard drive, which I use for Time Machine Backup, as a recovery disk for Mac OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.2. From what I have read, the recovery disk assistant will erase all data on the external drive unless it is partitioned. Can I partition my current backup drive without erasing it, even though it is already being used for Time Machine?

It's very simple to test. Turn off your computer. Have your time machine backup plugged in. Hold option and turn it on, keeping option held. Do you see your time machine drive? If so, select it and press enter. You'll end up in recovery. If it works, there you go. Then just click the apple and restart to get back to your regular desktop. Then you'll know for when you're ready to do the deed.
Edit...
I'm not sure if time machine will think it's an entirely different computer, though, when a hard drive changed, making an actual restore not doable. Either way, you could still reinstall mt lion fresh and then just migrate after, skipping the need for SL.

TS1338 I have 4 Trojan Horse viruses on my external drive I use for Time Machine. My MacBook Pro hard drive is clean. I have eased the external drive 3 times using Disk Utility and it still has the 4 Trojan Horse viruses. How do I get rid of them. Wayne

I have 4 Trojan Horse viruses on my external drive I use for Time Machine. My MacBook Pro hard drive is clean. I have eased the external drive 3 times using Disk Utility and it still has the 4 Trojan Horse viruses. How do I get rid of them. I am using 10.8.3 Wayne

ksu62 wrote:
The infection names are: classload.jar-719ef6a5.zip
                                          classload.jar-5db452le31.zip
                                          ar3.jar-6ce3b2f-45l483f.zip
                                          classload.jar-lef99412-63bsd3fl.zip
Those look alot like file names and not infection names. I don't find any reference to anything like that on Norton or VirusTotal. Since you said these were Trojans, I would expect to see "Trojan" as part of the infection name.
".jar" files are executable Java applets. The random alpha-numerics would seem to indicate a cache file, likely from a browser with Java enabled. And we all know what ".zip" means.
Worst case is that you had Java enabled in a browser and were infected by one of the late variants of the Flashback Trojan over a year ago or one of a couple of other attacks using the same vulnerability but targetted against a small number of political sympathizers. Much more probable is that thes were Windows only Trojans. Hopefully you have a fully up-to-date OS X, including Java, and have disabled Java in all your browsers by now.

Perfect Hard Drive To Use With Time Machine?

Hi,
Has anyone found out what's the perfect External Hard Drive to use with Time Machine?
I have experience with a few of WD's My Book models (Essential, Pro and Studio). The problem with all of them is that they automatically keep switching themselves off (spin down) and on (spin up) throughout the day, in an effort to save power. But it's actually quite annoying. The My Book drive will automatically turn itself off, and then turn back on again within the space of one minute. Also, going to use Spotlight (even if you've excluded Time Machine Backups from being indexed) will automatically prompt the My Book drive to turn back on, which introduces a small delay to using Spotlight.
Does anyone make an External Hard Drive, with a Firewire 400 or 800 connection, that stays on ALL the time and doesn't automatically make decisions about when it should spin down or spin up?

I'am using a 500Gb Freecom Pro Hard Drive connected on USB via my Cinema Display. I so forget about it that I often forget to disconnect it from my laptop before leaving the office... Never complained about it
Btw, it does not implements the energy saver Auto turn off/on feature which I don't need cause the time it could mostly be really useful is by night. As it stops when I disconnect the USB and start again when I connect it back.. this is perfect to me.
I must say I'm quite happy with every Freecom product I bought and this one certainly don't break the rule

I want to know about time machine if i can use the hard drive that i use for time machine back up as a normal hard drive too or if it's only for time machine

I want to know about time machine if i can use the hard drive that i use for time machine back up as a normal hard drive too or if it's only for time machine
and if it yes i want to know if i have 1TB hard disk to use the 500gb for time machine and the other 500gb for normal use

thank you very much because i am considering to buy the porsche design hard disk 1TB and i want to have it for normal use and for time machine is a pitty to give 1TB for back up only again thanks and i know seperate the back and the working jobs are better but the i have to have 2 hardisks and i want only 1

I just installed a larger hard drive, and used my Time Machine Backup to transfer my info back to the new hard drive. When I open Iphoto, my thumnails are there, but they aren't linked back to the actual photos.I see the photos in my HD. What should I do

I just installed a larger hard drive, and used my Time Machine Backup to transfer my files back to the new hard drive. When I open Iphoto, my thumbnails are there, but they aren't linked back to the actual photos. I see the original photo files in my HD. Is there a way to link the Iphoto thumbnails back to the original files?

Use the Firewire cable and t boot the old Mac's hard drive to the new Mac's desktop and transfer your entire iPhoto folder.
Use Disk Utiliy to erase'format HFS+ Journaled your TimeMachine drive and use the free Carbon Copy Cloner and clone your new boot drive to the external, it's hold option bootable.

How do I prevent my hard drive being used for time machine back ups?

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