Is there a backup option were you don't have to reformat a external hard drive?

I want to backup my data on my mac as I have not done so yet. I plugged our familes external usb hardrive (500gb) in to my computer and time machine said it would delete every file on that to re format it. I have serached the internet for programmes were you can backup but dont have to reformat the hard drive. Can someone please help?

time machine requires an HFS formatted drive.
Buy your own drive and format it as you like.

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Hallo Kieth ,
I am not quite ready to restore the full iphoto library , as I have days of work re - imputting titles,descriptions and enhancement . I hope that your suggestion works , as I use my Macbook basically to work with digital photography. Through time , I will need to delete my library to recover more disc space and I would hate to have to spend more time re - imputting titles and descriptions all over again .
Thanks for your interest and advice.
regards - Alan

How do I reformat my External Hard Drive (Seagate Backup Plus).

Hello everyone. How do I reformat my External Hard Drive (Seagate Backup Plus Portable Device). I accidentally clicked to use it with Time Machine and my hard drive is of little use now. When I open my hard drive, it just shows 'backup', the same thing when I open it with Windows. Thinking of reformatting it back to be used to Mac and Windows. And not use it again with Time Machine. New to Apple, appreciate the help

Hello,
"Thinking of reformatting it back to be used to Mac and Windows. And not use it again with Time Machine"
If you want to format the External drive as universally compatible, your best bet is to format it as exFAT. Note that reformatting the drive erases all contents of the drive.
1) Open Disk Utility located in /Applications/Utilities/ (or simply type it in spotlight and the application will show up)
2) Select the external Hard drive
3) Click the 'erase' tab.
4) Under format: select exFAT
5) Click "Erase" in the lower right hand corner to reformat the drive.

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You can open a command prompt by hitting the start button and typing CMD<Enter> in the search box that opens up.
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Where <User> is your Windows user name.
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MkLink /J "C:\Users\<User>\AppData\Local\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup" "D:\Backup"
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tt2

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Next
Plug in the drive.
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Is there anything I can do short of reformatting the external hard drive?

After 5 years of good service my external hard drive isn't working right with Time Machine. Here's the note I sent to a an AppleCare person I talked to this afternoon:
Disk Utility couldn't repair the disk.
I got red messages:
Incorrect number of file hard links
Invalid catalog record type
The volume OWC Mercury Elite AL Pro couldn't be verified completely.
After I rebooted using my hard drive it didn't even appear as a disk under the 1.5 TB OEM firewire line and I had to reset it again like we did before by pulling the plug for 30 seconds.
Okay, is there anything else I can do to short of reformatting the disk?
If not, how do I reformat it?
During the phone conversation he seemed certain that reformatting and losing 5 years of Time Machine backups would be the only solution if Disk Utility wouldn't repair the external drive, but is there anything else I might try?
I'm using OS 10.6.8 a 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo iMac.
Thanks!

Drive Partition and Format
1. Boot from your OS X Installer Disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu.
If you are preparing an external or a non-startup drive, then open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Apply button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Security button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
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Carbon Copy Cloner or SilverKeeper - CNet Downloads or MacUpdate.

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Make sure the external drive is formatted Mac OS extended (journaled), quit iPhoto, drag the iPhoto library to the external drive, depress the option key, launch iPhoto and use the select library command to select the iPhoto library on the external drive
Fully test the library. Once you are sure it is totally ok delete the old library - test one more time prior to emptying the trash
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LN

Reformatting my External Hard Drive from Time Machine Backups

I used an existing external hard drive as my Time Machine Backup, but it only has 80 GB capability while my hard drive is 30 GB. I will buy a new one external hard drive and I want to revert the existing one back to a shared external hard drive. How do I reformat my existing external hard drive? Do I open it through iMac and delete the folders and rename the drive?

How do I reformat my existing external hard drive? Do I open it through iMac and delete the folders and rename the drive?
NO. There are some hidden files/folders TM uses, and which you won't be able to delete through Finder.
Open /Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility, select the non-indented drive just above the external (make sure you have the right one, NOT your internal), select the "Erase" tab, and erase it, formatting it to Mac OS Extended (Journaled). While you're there, make sure it's partitioned as GUID if you have an intel-based Mac, and APM if you have a PPC-based mac.
Both those operations will completely wipe the drive. You won't be able to recover any files from them after the wipe.
Good luck!
Message was edited by: joshz

Is there a backup option were you don't have to reformat a external hard drive?

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