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

Similar Messages

  • 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+)

  • 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.

  • 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?

  • 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.

  • Which format for external hard drive to use with time machine backup and connect to windows laptop?

    Hi!  I have an external hard drive on which I have transferred my iTunes library (just mine - not others).  I have also a folder containing just films (some but not all of which are in iTunes too)  Everything has been working just fine until yesterday I noticed that Time Machine was not including the external hard drive in back up as it wasn't formatted.  So I have moved everything back to the Mac hard drive and and ready to format the external hard drive - but understand that if I do the contents cannot be opened from a windows laptop ...  is that right?  Is there are format I could choose that would allow Time Machine to back up and allow Windows to open as well (the idea being that I take the external hard drive with me on holidays etc!!)  Many thanks for any advice. 

    ok - I understand.  I have managed so far to format the drive (on windows) to exFAT file system - which apparently works with both Windows and Mac - but you're  correct - it will not be included in time machine backup as I have checked the back up files and Samsung is not showing.  Reckon I'm onto having to buy yet another portable hard drive just for windows - or of course buy myself a new mac book!!  Can I ask you please - does the drive have to be clear of everything before I change the format - or can I change it with the files still in there?  Also, got any quick ways duplicating the files onto another External Hard drive (for use on the windows laptop)  At the moment the files are taking 2/3 hours + to copy over!  Thank you! 

  • External hard drive to use with Time Machine? Thoughts?  Mac newbie.

    Hello. Switched to an imac and have loved the experience. Was just about to buy an external hard drive when apple announced the time capsule. I've been holding off thinking I would purchase one but now I'm re-thinking it.
    Between music, videos and pictures, I currently have about 400gb of stuff (and it will grow). My main concern is backing up (archiving) a copy of these files. Backing up other system files is a second concern after that.
    I'm thinking of buying a 1TB external hard drive, firewire capable, partitioning part of it to be an archive drive, and the other part to use with time machine. Skip the time capsule.
    Will that work? Other recommendations?
    If so, any recommendations on a quiet, reasonably sized (i.e. doesn't take up the entire corner of the desk), 1tb external hard drive?
    Thanks.

    Clayton, if you're only backing up one Mac, then you can purchase any good, reputable 750 GB or 1 TB external drive.
    Considerations:
    1) Reliability is key here. You want a drive that works. Various people have complained about Western Digital (me included), so take that into consideration.
    2) Quiet is important. You have a quiet computer -- why louse up the working environment with a noisy drive?
    3) FW (Firewire) 800 is faster than FW400, which is faster than USB. But once you get the initial backup done, it really doesn't matter how fast the drive is, because it works in the background and doesn't hamper your work. And if you DO need to restore your entire computer via Time Machine (I've done it), speed is less important than reliability. Even if it takes 3 hours, you'll be grateful. So while some may counsel you to get a 'fast' drive, reliability is more important.
    4) On FW versus USB, you'll hear many claims. Again the key is reliability versus speed. A good USB drive is fine for what you are doing; FW is faster. Some folks have had problems with one or the other, so hear what they have to say.
    5) Every drive dies. That's true for any electromechanical device. Don't think you've solved your backup problems by plugging in a drive and walking away. Your most critical files need a second backup, be it to a DVD, CD, thumb drive, network drive -- something. The more critical it is, the more backups you need. If you're writing your Ph.D. thesis, by definition you can't have too many backups
    6) Convenience matters. You can 'roll your own' drive if you have experience -- buy a case, buy a drive, assemble, etc. But it's many times easier, particularly for a Time Machine backup drive, to just buy a reliable (there's that word again) external HD off the shelf.
    7) Finally, follow directions. Apple tells you how to set up a TM drive. Do it their way. That means, format the brand new drive and make it a 'GUID' partition. Use the Apple Disk Utility. Follow directions.
    Good luck,
    Steve

  • 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.

  • What is a good external hard drive to use with time machine running osx lion?

    My LaCie HD quit and I need to get a new one. What is recommended to use with the Lion OS? I would like to use Time Machine and hook the HD up using Firewire.

    I've been using several Mercury drives from OWC (MacSales) for years with no problems whatsoever. They are good and not expensive. Here's where you can find them. Pick one that fits your needs.
    http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/
    Rick

  • A good external hard drive to use with Time Machine?

    I am currently looking at this:
    http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Iomega-Prestige-320-GB-Portable-Hard-Drive-Compact-HD- /150635106484?pt=UK_Computing_HardDrives_RL&hash=item23128d50b4#ht_1674wt_1156
    But I don't really know, I want a fairly cheap one that is at least 320GB really :/

    This also looks good but would I be able to reformat it for Mac OS X?
    http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/320GB-Seagate-External-Portable-Drive-/160623670173?pt =UK_Computing_HardDrives_RL&hash=item2565eab39d#ht_666wt_1156

  • 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

  • HT3275 Verbatim drive I use for Time Machine backups got messed-up. I erased it.  It does now perform its regular back-ups.  HOWEVER, I can't "Enter TM."

    I am running OS 10.6.8.  The external Verbatim drive I use for Time Machine backups got messed-up, so I erased it & chose it as my back-up disc for TM.  It does perform its regular back-ups.  HOWEVER, when I try to "Enter TM" nothing happens?

    I read some hints about this issue from similar queries, including "Restart your computer".  That did the trick!

  • 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.

  • Can i use time capsule for external h drive and also for time machine?

    Can i use time capsule for external h drive and also for time machine?

    Hello, vascocaco.
    If I understand correctly, you're wondering if you can use your Time Capsule's internal hard disk both for Time Machine backups and as an ordinary drive. Is this your question?
    You can, but Time Machine backups may take longer.
    To do it, you should partition your Time Capsule's hard disk to create one volume for the backups and one for other files.

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