I have an external hard drive and i am trying to erase it because its full so that i can continue to use it to back up my iMac help

Hi Guys
Ok I have an external haddrive that is I guess full. Can I erase it so I can continue to use it for backing up my iMac?

The short answer is yes, but if its capacity is inadequate for the source volume's contents it will still be too small.

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I have a new computer and have all my music is on an external hard drive. I have the external hard drive connected to my computer. How do I get my music that is on my ipod to go to the itunes on the new computer.

I have a new computer and have all my music is on an external hard drive. I have the external hard drive connected to my computer. How do I get my music that is on my ipod to go to the itunes on the new computer.

What error message are you getting when you try to launch iTunes? (Precise text, please.)

I have an external hard drive and want to know how to transfer files to my new lap top Window 7

I have an external hard drive and I want to transfer my i-tune files to my new laptop....Anyone done this? What must I do?Thanks

These are two possible approaches that should work.
Method 1
Backup the library with this User Tip.
Restore the backup to your new computer using the same tool used to back it up.
Deauthorize the old computer if you no longer want to access protected content on it.
Keep your backup up-to-date in future.
Method 2
Connect the two computers to the same network. Share your <User's Music> folder from the old computer and copy the entire iTunes library folder into the <User's Music> folder on the new one. Again, deauthorize the old computer if no longer required.
I'd recommend method 1 since it establishes an ongoing backup for your library.
tt2

I am trying to save a doc. to a external hard drive and it wont allow me. I says its read only, any ideas on how to correct it?

I am trying to save a doc. to a external hard drive and it wont allow me. I says its read only, any ideas on how to correct it?

Save it on the internal HD then copy it from this safe location to the external device.
iWork applications can't apply their save process on devices which aren't formatted as HFS+.
But it may also be that for some reason, an external device formatted as HFS+ is set to Read Only.
If it's this case, you will have to change de setting before moving the file on it.
Yvan KOENIG (VALLAURIS, France) vendredi 20 mai 2011 11:01:05
Please :
Search for questions similar to your own before submitting them to the community
To be the AW6 successor, iWork MUST integrate a TRUE DB, not a list organizer !

My hard disk is damaged and i have no external hard drive, and i was wondering, if i sent my computer to Apple, would they back up my files for me before repairing it?

My hard disk has been damaged for about 4 months now. When I ran the disk repair under disk utility, it told me to back my files and send it in for repairs. My problem is that I had a external hard drive, but I lost it, so I obviously can't back up my files. Also I tried using other external hard drives and that didn't work, pretty sure it was because they were not formatted for a mac. So my question is that if I send my computer to Apple, for repair, that would they back up my files there before repairing my computer. It could be a dumb question but at least I asked. Also my mouse pad no longer works. The "clickability" of it stopped about 3 months or so after getting the computer and just around last Christmas the mouse would not click anymore at all, it would move if one put there fingers on the mousepad but it would not "touch click" anymore. So yeah, help!
And the OS X was still a snow leopard, not sure the number of the OS.

Can't you just get another external drive, format it for Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and backup some if not all of your files? Apple's not in the data recovery business. You should have maintained a backup and now it might be too late. Your best bet would probably be just to call it a loss and buy both an internal, to put in your machine, and an external, for backup purposes. You can boot from your installer disc, format the 'new' internal and begin restoring your apps at least.
I'll never understand why some people don't have backups. Drives fail. It's best to have redundant backups so that all three or four drives don't all fail at once.
Sheesh - I know that I'm not helping your problem but maybe now you've learned your lesson and others will as well.
Clinton

HT1589 My laptop memory is getting very full, mostly with music in I tunes. I have an external hard drive and I would like to move all the Itunes library to the external drive but I am afraid I will screw up I tunes and I won't be able to find and or syn

My hard drive is filling up with music files in I Tunes. I would like to move them to my external hard drive but I am afraid when I do that I won't be able to sync my music to my devices. I have just added I cloud and signed up for I Match. I wonder if this would allow me to move all my I tunes files to the external drive. What will be the impact of this. I believe I can set the default to the new location for future downloads

Move the entire iTunes folder out to the external drive, e.g. as X:\iTunes where X: is the letter of the drive. Hold down shift as you click the icon to start iTunes and keep holding until asked to choose or create a library. Click choose then browse to the file X:\iTunes\iTunes Library.itl.
tt2

Okay so I have a Seagate Backup Plus Drive External Hard Drive and I'm trying to get it to backup Applications and stuff on the dock such as iPhoto, and Photo Booth.

It's one of these External Hard Drives. I go to the Finder folder and go to the "Seagate Backup Plus Drive" to see what's in there and what I assume is that backups but the only thing that seems to be in there is folders from everything that is Desktop and a few Documents. The Applications folder seems to be empty and there are no folders for Photo Booth or iPhoto. Everything from GarageBand and iTunes seems to have been backed up according to the Seagate Backup folder when it is plugged in and opened. How do I get this thing to backup everything from Photo Booth and iPhoto? And by the way, I can't seem to access Time Machine the way you get it to where you can go back in time and see all of your stuff from previous dates. I don't know if this is important or a crucial part but I seem to not be able to access the actual time Machine Layout.

Simple on that one - Download Carbon Copy and follow the steps below:
if you have access to an external USB enclosure use it, or you can buy one for $10...
install your new ssd in the usb enclosure - connect to your macbook...
open disk utility and format/erase your ssd - mac os extended journaled.
open carbon copy - clone your drive with it - source (your old drive) + destination (your ssd).
once the clone is done, turn your macbook off - take old hard drive out - install new ssd in....
turn your macbook on - if boot time is more than 40 secs to desktop - go to system preferences - startup disk and select your new ssd as the startup disk - restart your macbook - should be about 14 sec boot time now.
install your old hard drive in your usb external enclosure and use it as a backup drive.
good luck

I have an external hard drive and I would like to transfer the information on it to my macbook pro

I have just received a Macbook pro for Christmas and I am trying to transfer info from an external hard drive to my mac but I am totally clueless. Please help!!

You can use Setup Assistant or Migration Assistant to migrate from the old computer's backup disk to the new computer. If you use Setup Assistant, that would be when you first power on the new computer and it will create user accounts on the new computer to match the old one and migrate files and programs (at last the ones that will run on the new computer) from your backup to the new computer.
Migration Assistant is similar but is run after you have the new computer up and running (e.g. you didn't run Setup assistant on the very first power up).
P.S. This is exactly what I did for our Macbook Air, obtained in 2011, to get it set up with everyting from an older (2008) iMac. I ran Setup Assistamt with the Time Machine backup from the old computer connected via USB to the Macbook Air. All the proprietary software (MS-Office, Adobe Photoshop, etc.) was migrated over without having to re-enter serial numbers and the like, all emails and browser bookmarks were migrated, all user files and settings were migrated, even wireless router ids and passwords. The only thing I had to reinstall was the driver software for a Canon wireless printer/scanner.

I have an external hard drive and it randomly stopped being detected on my macbook pro

Hi, I've got a seagate backup plus external hard drive that randomly stopped being detected by my macbook pro for no reason. I've tried it on my friends macbook pro and it works fine, his macbook is just about identical to my macbook. Help would be apprieciated!

Here's my lo-tech solution (if you have Parallels) to this frustrating problem:
Eject your hard drive.
Unplug (USB) your hard drive from the MAC .
Start Parallels.
When Windows has started, plug your drive back into the MAC.
You should get a little screen asking if you want the drive to be utilized by MAC or Windows. Select Windows.
Use Windows to copy your files over to the hard drive.
This is less than ideal and not a long-term solution, but I was afraid of attempting any reformatting since I have many files on my hard drive.
Just remember that Windows has to be running first, before you plug in your hard drive.

I have an external hard drive and i want to free up space on my laptop ...

Hello everyone,
okay, so i just bought an external drive (1TB.) and i need to free up space on my mac book pro. file-vault is on and i have like 48 GB. left on the HD (215GB Hard drive) i went and deleted everything i didn't need(images,notes,apps) but the sparse image bundle thing is still taking up like 134GB. Any ideas? Oh and i have activated time machine.

Javeck wrote:
Thanks, after i did that i got about 1.5GB back. i usually just shut it off.
Not a good idea, especially since you're using Time Machine. After the "Recovering space" message, you should see a "backing-up" message -- that's the only time your home folder is getting backed-up.
See #25 in [Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/FAQ.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum), for how Time Machine works with File Vault.

I recently bought Mac book air and was doing a fresh install of 10.7 and I erased my hard drive and now want to reinstall osx but it keeps telling me that it can't find install information for this machine and to call AppleCare.

Any one have any suggestions?? AppleCare is closed right now

Hmmmm...
When you say OSX, which version do you want to reinstall?
Was the MacBook Air new when you bought it? Did it originally come with Lion? Mountain Lion?
When you say you erased your hard drive, did something go wrong while you were installing Lion?
Were you installing it from a file downloaded from the App Store, or from another source?
When you press and hold "Option" while you boot up, does "Recovery" come up as an option to boot your computer?
If so, you can reinstall Lion from the recovery part of the drive and (hopefully) everything should be fine.
Let me know if you still need a hand with your MacBook and we'll see if we can get you going again.

I have a damaged disk and after talking to Apple Support I know I need to wipe my hard drive. I want to save as many of my files as possible, I have an external hard drive and when I boot in recovery HD, I can see my files, just not sure how to transfer.

I'm currently running Lion OSX, and I've already tried repairing the disk multiple times. At this point I really just want to rescue as much of my files as possible.
Thanks!

Is there any critical data on the external drive? If not, partition it so there is enough room for the operating system and a recovery tool that you buy from the store on one partition, and enough to completely recover the contents of the internal drive. Partitioning is described here:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=61301
In the options section of the partition tab, be sure to select GUID for both partitions after selecting them. Once done, install the operating system on the first partition, and then install the recovery tool on it. Finally run the recovery tool to exttact the info to the second partition.

I'm selling my macbook so I have formated the hard drive and I am trying to reload mac os snow leopard 10.6 but it keeps freezing?

Can anyone help?

Try a restart.
If that doesn't fix the problem, shut down the computer and then power it back up. Immediately after hearing the startup chime, hold down the shift key and continue to hold it until the gray Apple icon and a progress bar appear. The boot up is significantly slower than normal. This will reset some caches, forces a directory check, and disables all startup and login items, among other things. If the system operates normally, there may be 3rd party applications which are causing a problem. Try deleting/disabling the third party applications after a restart by using the application unistaller. For each disable/delete, you will need to restart if you don't do them all at once.
Safe Mode
Safe Mode - About
General information.
Isolating issues in Mac OS X
Troubleshooting Permission Issues
Step by Step to Fix Your Mac

I moved my itunes library to an external hard drive and now when I try to sync my ipad it says it is already synced to another library.

I moved my itunes library to an external hard drive and then I tried to sync my ipad. I got a message that says my ipad is synced to another library and it will erase my ipad, which I don't want to do. I'm not sure how to fix this problem, any ideas?

Ok. progress...
So is your media folder called iTunes Music or iTunes Media? And does it have a folder called Music inside it?
Before going any further you should first attempt to use File > Library > Organize Library > Rearrange files in the folder "<Media Folder>" (ignore if grayed out). This will make sure that any iPod Games or Mobile Applications get placed inside the iTunes Media folder which is needed for portability.
If your iTunes Media folder is called iTunes Music, close iTunes, rename the folder as iTunes Media and start iTunes again. iTunes will automatically adjust. Close iTunes again.
On your external drive rearrange the folders that you have already copied there so that they match the layout in your active library. You should end up with a folder called X:\iTunes where X: is the external drive letter, and the media folder is X:\iTunes\iTunes Media. If the library layout was upgraded then you will need to create a Music folder inside this and move all the artist folders and Compilations into Music. You will also need to copy iPod Games and Mobile Applications from your internal drive into the new media folder. Next copy the files iTunes Library.itl, iTunes Library Extras.itdb, iTunes Library Genius.itdb, sentinel and the folder Album Artwork from the internal drive into X:\iTunes. The preceding manipulations should make the internal and external copies of your library match without you having to copy all of the media over again.
Now hold shift as you start iTunes. Click choose, browse to and open X:\iTunes\iTunes Library.itl.
Finally use File > Library > Organize Library > Consolidate files. This will ensure that any stray files that might have been added from outside your original media folder will be copied into the new one.
You can now reclaim the space used by your library on the internal drive, however before you do so I would advise you to obtain another external drive and make use of this backup tip.
tt2

External Hard Drive and Time Machine questions

Hello, I am new here to the forums and I have looked all over for the answers to two questions that I have regarding external hard drives and the time machine feature.
For some background, I recently had a scare (water spill but luckily I had a keyboard cover on and the entire spill landed on the cover) with my Mid-2012 13" Macbook Pro (2.5Ghz) and due to almost losing all my data I've decided to invest in an external hard drive. However, rather than just purchasing a 500GB HDD to use as an external hard drive, I decided to kill two birds with one stone and upgrade my Macbook Pro as well by investing in the 480GB OCW Mercury Extreme Pro SSD. I'll be using the SSD as my internal drive so the original hard drive that came with my Macbook will serve as my backup external drive. Lastly, I plan to use the external drive solely for the purpose of backing up my MacBook in case something ever happens to my Macbook.
I am using this guide to help me with this whole process: http://circuitremix.com/?q=content/macbook-pro-solid-state-drive-upgrade-guide-a nd-performance-testing.
My two questions are:
1) When following the guide, it never mentions anything about the Partition Map Scheme. After being alerted to this and doing some additional research, is it better to go with the GUID Partition Table rather than the Master Boot Record?
2) After I have cloned everything onto my new SSD and replaced the HDD in my MacBook with it, should I erase everything on my HDD before setting it up with time machine? I was thinking about keeping the original data on the original hard drive (which would now be my external drive) just in case something goes wrong with time machine but I have read that people recommend solely dedicating the entire external hard drive for time machine backups.
Thanks in advance!

Format the new SSD in Disk Utility to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and that will solve question No. 1.
After formatting, clone the new SSD using Disk Utility>Restore or Carbon Copy Cloner (down load from the Internet). Test the new SSD and if it performs as expected, do the physical swap.
Question No. 2. Erase the Time Machine HDD using Disk Utility and then install Time Machine. See this excellent website regarding Time Machine.
http://pondini.org/OSX/Home.html
If you want an external boot HHD, get another one and use Carbon Copy Cloner. This will give you redundancy in backups as well which is a good strategy. CCC also can update the contents in an incremental manner similar to Time Machine.
Ciao.

I have an external hard drive and i am trying to erase it because its full so that i can continue to use it to back up my iMac help

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