My MacBook pro won't recognize hard drive I put in it. It boots only to a white screen unless I boot to my recovery USB. If I do that then I can select my USB and my external time machine drive in the disk utility, so no problems there. But what do you

My MacBook pro won't recognize hard drive I put in it. It boots only to a white screen unless I boot to my recovery USB. If I do that then I can select my USB and my external time machine drive in the disk utility, so no problems there. But what do you think it is? It won't recognize any hard drive I put in the machine, so might it be the sata cable?

Boot the Recvoery USB, use Disk Utility to select the internal drive makers namea and size on the left.
Now select erase and select the midde option and click erase, it will take a bit to complete but it's best for the drive.
Now select Partiton tab, click the big box and Options: GUID and then Format: OS X Extended journaled and click apply.
Quit and you should be able to install OS X now with your Apple ID and password.
see
http://osxdaily.com/2011/08/08/lion-recovery-disk-assistant-tool-makes-external- lion-boot-recovery-drives/

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HT1338 I have mountain lion and cant get time machine to work. the disk keeps getting ejected.

I just installed Mountain lion and i can't get time machine to work. every time i connect it time machine starts but then ejects the drive. I also tried to back up direct to the hard drive with the software that came with the drive and the same thing happens. Does anyone have a clue as to what may be wrong?

When that happens, you should get some sort of message. If you don't remember it exactly, go to the Time Machine Preferences window -- there should be a red "Failed" message and icon there. Click the icon to see the message. Either report the wording or post a screenshot.
If not, a clue may be lurking in your logs. Use the widget in #A1 of Time Machine - Troubleshooting to display the backup messages from your logs. Locate the backup in question, then copy and post all the messages here.

MacBook Pro won't recognize 1TB external drive

Hey team,
My mid-2010 MacBook Pro won't recognize my WD My Passport 1TB drive. I was copying files from the drive to my computer when my computer went to sleep (didn't run out of power, just went to standby mode). Turned computer back on and now it won't recognize the drive.
It is a USB 3.0 cord (computer is only USB 2.0 and the cord works with other drives) and when plugged in, the light turns on and the disk spins but isn't recognized my this or other computers (also not in Disk Utility).
Tried a handful of disk recovery programs but nothing wants to 'see' the disk plugged in.
Thanks for any and all suggestions.

yes yes yes, I warn people about WD drives on this link:
Your dead external hard drive is likely fine! Great hope for your 'faulty' external HD
theReKleiner wrote:
What now?
Only option is to buy the SAME exact HD and swap controller boards, or pay someone a LOT more $$$ to do the same thing.
its not soldered there, its just a controller/ SATA "one piece"
They do that to save 50 cents in mfg. costs.
I mention your "issue" in that link. Which is why you do NOT buy WD ext. HD.
they make the controller board and SATA card one piece.
CURRENT MFG. THAT HAVE controller board and SATA cards as one piece are : WD USB drives, and Toshiba USB Canvio
However Toshiba didnt USED to do that, but they started doing it at the end of 2013.
avoid those 2.
To avoid that nonsense, buy Hitachi drives in USB.
Or, the best option:
Save money and invest in a bare hard drive backup and redundancy plan
Its cheaper
less fuss
more reiable, removes the nasty failure point of SATA card interfaces.
takes up lot less space.
Bare hard drives and docks. The most reliable and cheapest method of hard drive data storage, archives, and redundancies
The best method for your data archives and redundancies, which is also the least expensive, the most reliable, and the most compact option is the purchase of naked hard drives and at least one USB 3.0 HD dock ($40 roughly).
While regarding Time Machine and your Macbook or desktop, your primary backup is best saved to a conventional USB (or Firewire / thunderbolt) hard drive inside an enclosure, the most important part of your data protection begins after your 1st / primary Time Machine / backup; and these are your secondary (most important) data storage devices, archives and their redundancies.
However bare hard drives and docks (below) also work perfectly as a Time Machine backup, this is for home use, since the docking station is certainly not very portable as a notebook Time Machine backup device should be; nor should bare HD be packed around with a notebook, rather remain at home or office.
Six terabytes of 2.5" HD pictured below in a very compact space.
Bare hard drives and docks have the lowest cost, the highest reliability, and take up the smallest storage space
Drawbacks:
1. Care and knowledge in general handling of naked hard drives (how not to shock a bare HD, and how to hold them properly). Not a genuine drawback.
Advantages:
1. By far the least expensive method of mass HD storage on a personal basis. Highest quality naked HD can be purchased in bulk very cheap.
2. Eliminates the horrible failure point of SATA bridges and interfaces between external drives and the computer.
3. Per square foot you can store more terabytes of data this way than any other.
4. Fast, easy, no fuss and most simplex method of data storage on hard drives.

I am out of space on my Macbook Air and have a Time Machine Backup. I want to complete reset my mac, but wonder if I can pick and choose what I restore to my computer? Can I also use my time machine backup and external storage as well?

I am out of space on my Macbook Air and have a Time Machine Backup. I want to complete reset my mac, but wonder if I can pick and choose what I restore to my computer? Can I also use my time machine backup as external storage as well for the files I don't need everyday?

If you are using "Restore from Time Machine Backup" option from OS X Recovery, you can only choose from the broad categories presented.
... Can I also use my time machine backup as external storage as well for the files I don't need everyday?
To be clear, if you are asking if you can use the volume containing your Time Machine backup to store additional, non-Time Machine files, the short answer is yes.
It's not a good idea though, since the Time Machine backup will eventually fill all available space, after which it begins to remove old, "expired" backups to make room for newer ones. The presence of additional files doesn't change that fact, and Time Machine will not erase them, but you will encounter a dilemma should you want to store additional files on that volume when there is no remaining space. You will have to make room for them on your own, by deleting existing files. Furthermore, since Time Machine cannot back up its own volume, those additional files will not be backed up by Time Machine.
The easy solution for what you describe is to purchase additional external storage. External USB hard disk drives have become very inexpensive; about $55 will buy a perfectly suitable 1 TB drive.
You can also choose to replace your MacBook Air's internal storage with a larger capacity one. Look for a suitable replacement from OWC / MacSales:
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/SSD/OWC/Air-Retina
That gets a little more expensive but it is the optimum solution.

I have an external Time Machine drive that I want to reformat. I can't remember the password. How can I do this. Disk Utility won't let me. Thanks.

I have an iMac that had drive problems last winter. Took the iMac to the Apple Store and they reinstalled everything and now it works again. Only thing is that my external Time Machine drive is screwed up now. Its 1.5 TB.
I had the Time Machine drive partioned into two parts. One partion was for an emergency bootup using carbon copy cloner. That partion I can open and mounts on my desktop. The other partion was Time Machine. It once upon a time opened and mounted without a password.
It requests a password to unlock even though I never had it password protected before the iMac drive problems. And so now it won't mount the drive.
I can go to Disk Utilities and I can see Time Machine with both partions. The Carbon Copy partion is mounted. The Time Machine partion is not mounted. For this reason I can't select it and erase it.
What the heck am I supposed ot do now to erase it and start over. Any help would be appreciated. I really don't want to go and buy another drive.
Kevin

Triple-click anywhere in the line below to select it:
{ diskutil list; echo; diskutil cs list; } | open -f -a TextEdit
Copy the selected text to the Clipboard (command-C).
Launch the Terminal application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.
Paste into the Terminal window (command-V).
A TextEdit window will open with the output of the command. Post the contents of that window, if any — the text, please, not a screenshot. The title of the window doesn't matter, and you don't need to post that.
If any personal information appears in the output, anonymize before posting, but don’t remove the context.

Lion can't find my external Time Machine Drive

Anyone having a problem with Lion identifying the external Time Machine drive? When I go to Time Machine set up all I get is "Set Up other Time Capsule". Connections seem OK and drive is on and worked fine previous to the upgrade.
Any ideas?

Is the drive a USB or FireWire external HD, or a network drive (NAS)?
If it's a NAS, it needs an update. See #C16 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting.
If it's an external HD, try repairing it, per #A5 in that same link.

External time machine drive no longer being automatically recognized

Recently my RMBP has stopped recognizing my external time machine drive. When ever I connect my 1 TB WD drive to my mac, it shows up on my desktop as usually but will not get recognized by time machine. I used to be able to connect the drive, have it show up on my desk with the orange USB logo, and then it would be auto recognized and the time machine logo would appear on it and it would start backing up. Now, I connect it and it just stays at the orange USB logo. I have to go to the time machine menu bar icon and open time machine's preferences and manually select the drive to get it to back up. This happens both on battery power and while I'm charging. I have already verified the disk in disk utility and have repaired as well. I don't recall when this started happening. I was running the 10.9.4 beta before its public release, but it hadn't been working before I upgraded to that either.

This simple procedure will clear your Time Machine settings, including exclusions. The backups won't be affected. If you have a long exclusion list that can't be recreated easily, you may prefer a more complicated procedure that preserves the exclusion list. In that case, ask for instructions. Otherwise, do as follows.
Triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it:
/Library/Preferences/com.apple.TimeMachine.plist
Right-click or control-click the highlighted line and select
Services ▹ Reveal in Finder (or just Reveal)
from the contextual menu.* A Finder window should open with a file selected. Copy the file to the Desktop. Then move it (the original, not the copy) to the Trash. You'll be prompted for your administrator password. Restart the computer and recreate your settings in the Time Machine preference pane. It will show that you have no backups. Don't worry; your backups haven't been touched. Run a backup to test. The backup may take much longer than usual. If TM now performs as expected, delete the file you copied to the Desktop.
*If you don't see the contextual menu item, copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combinationcommand-C. In the Finder, select
Go ▹ Go to Folder...
from the menu bar and paste into the box that opens by pressing command-V. You won't see what you pasted because a line break is included. Press return.

Macbook was frozen, did a hard shut down, when powered up it is stuck on a white screen with a rotating dial

macbook was frozen, did a hard shut down, when powered up it is stuck on a white screen with a rotating dial

Sounds like the 'white screen of death'.
Try rebooting your phone. Take the battery out for a few minutes then re-insert battery and see what happens. It may take some time to reboot. There have been numerous "fixs" for this problem, but until RIM come up with a definitive answer to stop it happening, then really theres nothing we can do except try some things. The battery pull has been offered on a few forums and some say it worked for them. Worth trying again.
You could always try THIS
but that seems a bit extreme, but may work if the reboot doest. Do you remove the battery whilst its still on? thats how you normally do a reboot. take batt out whilst powers on. Sorry if this doesnt help, but i know theres people all over the net that get this issue.

HT1338 I erased my Time Capsule HD using the Disk Utility on my Vista computer

I erased my Time Capsule HD using the Disk Utility on my Vista computer and I now can not see my TC in my computer. I tried to remap it by right clicking my computer and selecting remap drive, but after selecting Z drive I cannot find TC in browser. Not sure if I did something wrong but it was working fine before I erased it. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

To erase the OSX on your harddisk you have to boot your Mac from the OSx Install DVD that came with your Mac.
You can't erase the OSx from which your Mac is booted.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3910
Stefan

MacBook Pro won't recognize Canon MP800, even after reloading print drivers

Time Warner Cable updated servers. We had to update the DNS address for the MacBook Pro to maintain internet access. After doing this MacBook Pro doesn't recognize the Canon MP800 printer - shows no print drivers for Canon IJ Network , even after reinstalling printer software and downloading print drivers from Canon website - MPNavigator 2.0 keeps saying print driver has not installed. The MacBook is wirelessly networked with the printer and an EMac. We haven't updated the DNS address for the EMac because it still recognizes the printer and prints; however, we now don't have internet access with EMac as a result.

If printing wirelessly check your printer sharing settings - System Preferences/Sharing
If printer is connected directly to your computer, check your printer connections, read the troubleshooting section in your printer manual and check the printer manufacturer website for drivers you may need to update.

New MacBook Pro won't recognize my existing account password after migrating data from existing MacBook Pro.

I just turned on a new (to me)(bought used, pre loaded with 10.6.3) 17" circa 2007 MacBook Pro, allowed it to migrate settings, data, and applications. I turned it on and the welcome to OSX video automatically played then it asked me if I wanted to transfer my stuff from my old MacBook Peo. I said yes and hooked it up with the firewire cable. After it finished migratine it gave me the option to get started and I said yes. It went straight to the login screen. When I try to log in it doesn't recognize my password assuming it wants my login info that should have migrated I type it in but it just shutters. The password hint is not helpful either. Am I not thinking straight here? How do I get it to recognize me?

Try booting off the DVD that came with the computer or a Snow Leopard DVD. Go to Utilities menu/Reset Password.
User Password Reset (3) Apple support - Snow Leopard and earlier
Mavericks
Check that your computer is compatible with Mountain Lion/Mavericks.
To check the model number hold down the option/alt key, go to the Apple menu and select System Information.
MacBook Pro (Mid/Late 2007 or newer) model number 3,1 or higher
Your Mac needs:
OS X v10.6.8 or OS X Lion already installed
2 GB or more of memory (More is better - 4 GB minimum seems to be the consensus)
8 GB or more of available space

Can I back up macbook to external time machine drive attached to my Samba?

I'm already backing up my macbook with a WD MAc Formatted drive. I want to connect it to a NAS (Samba Server).
I know that time machine will not work with NAS. Will my existing time machine drive work if I connect it wirelessly to a Samba based NAS device?

yes. mount the drive remotely on the macbook and choose it as the designated TM drive in TM system preferences.

Partition and rename existing Time machine drive?

I use a 1 TB external hard drive for Time Machine backups and as extra storage for miscellaneous files - a total of 130 gigs is used (100 gigs of Time Machine backups plus 30 gigs other files). I am using Mountain Lion 10.8.5. That external drive is named "Seagate Drive"... I want to partition that drive in two 500 gig volumes and rename the first 500 gig to "Time Machine" for backups, and rename the other volume to "Extra Storage".
I understand that the existing backups should remain intact on the first volume after I partition the drive, but when I rename that first volume to "Time Machine" will the Time Machine app continue backing up to it or will Time Machine become confused because of the name change and no longer auto backup to the drive, thus requiring me to re-start a completely new full backup? ...Also after I rename the Time Machine drive volume will the Time Machine app still recognize the older backups that were recorded when the external drive had its older name?
...will any of this cause me trouble?
Thanks
I don't want to create any headaches for myself.
Thanks!

You can always inherit the backup if you have problems.
Inherit a Backup
Inherit a Backup (2)

Restore on new drive: Time Machine versus "Restore" via Disk Utility

I am about to install a new 240GB OWC Mercury Electra 6G (6Gb/s) SSD into the main drive bay of my MacBook Pro, moving the original Apple-installed 120GB 3G (3Gb/s) SSD into the optical bay using an OWC "Data Doubler."
I have my entire Mac OS X Yosemite install, all apps, and all data (that is, the entire contents of the original SSD) backed up to an external Time Machine backup drive.
I'll want to make the new SSD in the main bay my bootable drive, restoring my original SSD's system to the new SSD. The original SSD will then be erased.
Question is, what are the differences between these two restore strategies:
1. Restore from Time Machine to the new SSD
2. "Restore" via Disk Utility, using my original SSD (in the optical bay) as the "Source" and the new SSD (in the main bay) as the "Destination"
Are there any fundamental difference between these two approaches? Such as:
- Is one faster than the other?
- Does one involve more or less risk in some settings or such being "lost in translation" and needing to be reset?
- Would both methods of restore include a recovery partition on the new SSD?
MacBook Pro (17-inch, Early 2011, Macbook8,3) | 2.3 GHz Intel Core i7 | Yosemite 10.10.2

Thanks Kappy - to clarify / confirm: are you saying that the "Restore from Time Machine" approach would *not* include the Recovery HD (and, possibly inferring, that under that approach, getting the Recovery HD would be possible but would require an additional step)?

MacBook Pro won't recognize external drive via usb, will recognize same drive by firewire.

Title pretty much sums it up. I've had an external firewire 800 drive (Iomega eGo) for about 2 years now. I've got it partitioned and am using part as a time machine backup and the rest as a data storage/ data moving partition. A few days ago I realized that any data I put on either partition can't be copied off by either my computer or either of my two friend's MacBook Pros. The copy starts fine, but then always screeches to a halt around 5% (this is via firewire). This same drive also cannot be recognized via USB by any of our Macs (I plug it in, light comes on, but doesn't blink), but if I plug it into my Windows Desktop the USB recognition is immediate. I found this very strange. I could also copy files off of the drive via USB onto my desktop. If I let it sit long enough on a failed copy on our macbooks eventually it gives me an error code 36. I traced that to a likely hard drive failure on the part of the external. I found this odd because not even 3 days ago I was pulling iTunes songs off the drive onto my desktop with no trouble. Is there any way to fix this via software or the terminal or anything? Disk Utility says both partitions are 'OK'. I'd really like to not spend another chunk of change on an external, as I just spent $180 on a new HDD and SSD for my desktop.
Thanks in advance,
Jeremy

Triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it:
{ diskutil list; echo; diskutil cs list; } | open -ef
Copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C.
Launch the Terminal application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.
Paste into the Terminal window by pressing the key combination command-V. I've tested these instructions only with the Safari web browser. If you use another browser, you may have to press the return key after pasting.
Wait for a new line ending in a dollar sign (“$”) to appear.
A TextEdit window will open with the output of the command. If the command produced no output, the window will be empty. Post the contents of the TextEdit window (not the Terminal window), if any — the text, please, not a screenshot. The title of the window doesn't matter, and you don't need to post that.
If any personal information appears in the output, anonymize before posting, but don’t remove the context.

My MacBook pro won't recognize hard drive I put in it. It boots only to a white screen unless I boot to my recovery USB. If I do that then I can select my USB and my external time machine drive in the disk utility, so no problems there. But what do you

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