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

Similar Messages

  • HT201250 new external hard drive for Time Machine backup suggestions?

    Ok, I have 3 external hard drives; unfortunately I've used them on my PC and they are read only on my iMac.  So, I need to buy a new external hard drive for Time Machine backup.  I'm a little confused; can I buy any EHD and them format it so Mac can use it or are there special EHD's I need to purchase?
    Anyone have a particular EHD that is working well for you?  Thanks, Blue

    Bluehowler wrote:
    Ok, I have 3 external hard drives; unfortunately I've used them on my PC and they are read only on my iMac.  So, I need to buy a new external hard drive for Time Machine backup.  I'm a little confused; can I buy any EHD and them format it so Mac can use it or are there special EHD's I need to purchase?
    Anyone have a particular EHD that is working well for you?  Thanks, Blue
    Unless you need all three external drives for your PC, you can reformat in one of them in Mac OS Extended (Journaled)  for use with Time Machine. However, since Time Machine backs up hourly, you'd need the external drive to be running constantly. That means ventilation of the drive becomes an issue since some, such as Seagate, can get very hot in their sealed enclosures. Some drive manufacturers try to get around this by spinning down the drive when not in use, but I've read complaints that that doesn't play well with a Mac. So whether you reuse one of your current externals or get a new one, it's a good idea to keep the drive's ventilation in mind.

  • Is it possible to use an external hard drive for time machine backup and also as a regular hard drive?

    Is it possible to use an external hard drive for time machine backup and also as a regular hard drive?

    I am using an external drive in the exact way that you described. You just keep it plugged in to the computer when you want to access the movies and files. In order to put files on it, just go to finder open up the drive under devices and drag and drop files onto the drive. It is just like using a usb drive with a terabyte of space.

  • Is it possible to use more than one external hard drive for Time Machine backups?

    I want to use two hard drives for Time Machine backups.
    Bigger one keep at home and be sure it is safe.
    Second one (very small pocket size) keep with me for travels.
    I want to backup to both drives to be sure I can restore everywhere and to be sure if something bad happened with my small travel disk I can restore from home backup.
    Is there any problem with listed schema? Is it normal for Time Machine to handle backups for different drivers and keep everything consistent and smooth?

    I really need some help!  I have been using an Iomega NAS 1TB HD for the past year.  And I received an error message.  I believe I have ran out of memory on this drive.
    Then recently in the last couple of months I got a ReadyNAS Duo 2TB with 2TB RAID.  Should I switch my back ups to this one and delete the other back up file or keep the old back up image file on the Iomega?
    Can I transfer the old image back up to this new ReadyNAS? How do I do this?
    I appreciate any help.

  • HT5096 How do I transfer all of my stuff from a laptop to my new iMac using an external hard drive from Time Machine?

    I have had a laptop for years.  I backed up the entire hard drive using Time Machine onto an external hard drive.  We now have a new iMac and I am trying to put everything from my old lap top onto our new computer.  I know it's probably simple but I'm clueless.  Please help. 

    Connect the drive and use the Migration Assistant to restore the backup. This can either be done as part of the setup process or on its own; the Migration Assistant is located in the /Applications/Utilities/ folder and will migrate user data into a newly-created account.
    (99464)

  • How do I remove files from my Time Machine Backup and then how to exclude external hard drives from Time Machine?

    How can I remove external hard drives from the Time Machine and exclude them in the future?

    For deleting backups from Time Machine: http://pondini.org/TM/12.html
    For excluding things from backups: http://pondini.org/TM/10.html
    For general Time Machine advice (all courtesy of Pondini): http://pondini.org/OSX/Home.html

  • How to reformat an external hard drive after time machine?

    I have an external hard drive upon which I put movie files that I view through a Sony box (like the Roku box). I brought my MacBook in for a repair and connected the same external HD and used Time Machine to make a back up. It did reformat it in order to do so, but since the Sony box isn't a pc or mac I didn't think it would make a difference, but now the Sony box won't recognize HD. Is there a way to reformat it on my MacBook so that I can use it on the Sony box again, or do I need to reformat it with a Windows computer? I had no issues when transferring files only and using the Sony box.
    If you give any instructions, please write them out specifically, don't just post "you have to partition it" and leave it at that. I am computer challenged when it comes to these things. Think instructions for a person one step above being vaguely aquainted with a Mac please. Thanks.

    You can find a decent guide to formatting your drive here.

  • Using only part of an external hard drive from Time Machine?

    Hi. I have a Western Digital external hard drive that I currently use as back-up for some PC files. Can I partition that external hard drive and use part of it for Time Machine? Apple seems to recommend that the external hard drive be used 100% for Time Machine, but perhaps others have successfully done this? If it is risky, I'll just get another external HD, but I thought I'd first check if I could use the one HD for both PC and Mac. Thanks!

    yes, you can. there is certainly no requirement that the whole drive be dedicated to TM. what IS advisable however is to dedicate the whole partition to TM. You can keep other stuff on a TM partition but I wouldn't recommend it.
    However, keep in mid that the whole drive needs to have correct partition scheme (GUID for intel macs and APM for PPC mac). Your drive is almost certainly partitioned with MBR partition scheme. If that's the case it will have to be completely reformatted before you can use it for TM. you can reformat it and make two partitions. one formatted mac os extended to be used for TM and the other formatted FAT so that you can use it both on a MAC and a PC.
    P.S. Keep in mid that the partition formatted FAT will not be backed up by TM.
    Message was edited by: V.K.

  • How to restore a failed external hard drive from Time Machine?

    My external hard drive has failed. It will no longer spin up and therefore is unmountable. Thankfully I had added it to my OSX Time Machine backups. So, since disks are cheap, I can just go buy a new, probably larger external drive and restore, right? But how do I tell Time Machine that this is a replacement and to restore to the new drive?
    PS - Yes I did remove the external drive from TM's exclude list and have verified that the backup is there on TM's own external drive.

    dacracot wrote:
    My external hard drive has failed. It will no longer spin up and therefore is unmountable. Thankfully I had added it to my OSX Time Machine backups. So, since disks are cheap, I can just go buy a new, probably larger external drive and restore, right? But how do I tell Time Machine that this is a replacement and to restore to the new drive?
    give the new drive the same name as the old one. then you can restore anything on its backups using regular TM interface. if you want to restore the whole drive , just select the whole drive in the sidebar, scroll back in time to when the odl time was backed up and hit 'restore".
    PS - Yes I did remove the external drive from TM's exclude list and have verified that the backup is there on TM's own external drive.

  • Can you use the same external hard drive for Time Machine backups and as an additional storage drive?

    I have an external HD that I've been using exclusively for Time Machine backups. I need to clear space on my hard drive, so I was thinking to move music & photos to an external drive.  Wondering if I can use the same one I have (which I'll aslo keep using for Time Machine) or if I need to get another drive. 

    Hi Jossydtaylor,
    Time Machine can use either an entire external disk or a partition of that disk:
    OS X Mountain Lion: Disks you can use with Time Machine
    http://support.apple.com/kb/PH11171
    You can use Time Machine with a Time Capsule, and with USB, FireWire, and Thunderbolt disks. The backup disk can be directly connected to your computer or be on a network. If the backup disk has been divided into partitions, you can use one of the partitions.
    If the disk is partitioned using the Master Boot Record (MBR) partition type, some partitions may not be available for use with Time Machine. The GUID Partition Table (GPT) partition type is recommended.
    For more info on partitioning, see this article:
    Disk Utility 12.x: Partition a disk
    http://support.apple.com/kb/PH5845
    Cheers!
    - Ari

  • Using external hard drives for Time Machine backups

    I would like to let everyone know about an important issue regarding what type of media to use, or better said not to use for Time Machine backups.
    I tried to use a RAID 0 array disks ( FIY: RAID is a storage technology that combines multiple disk drive components into a logical unit for the purposes of data redundancy and performance improvement.), but after a few minutes the backup suddenly stopped giving me a message of failing to write to the disk.
    I tried to back up several more times, but the result was the same.  I called Apple Customer Support, they said there was nohing wrong using a RAID 0 array disk combination.
    I checked the RAID disks with disk utility, the disks were okay, but it did not solve the problem.
    I reformatted the RAID disks, but that did no help either.
    Then I used a different disk not part of any RAID array, and the Time Machine backup was able to successfull finish he task.
    I called Apple to tell them about this issue, and they finall confirmed I was right:
    Conclusion: backing up to a RAID 0 array disks using Time Machine does not work 

    Is there anything else on the drive?  If not, just erase it with Disk Utility.
    If there is, have you emptied the trash?  That will take a very long time, and may present problems wtih locked files, permissions, etc.  If so, see #E6 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting.

  • Can I use my 2TB Time Capsule ONLY as an external hard drive for Time Machine backups?

    Hi...wondering if somebody could help me out there.
    I currently have an older Apple 2TB Time Capsule (previous generation) which I'm using as both my WiFi access point, as well as my Time Machine backup location for both my iMac and my MacBook Pro.
    We've been having slow WiFi issues in our home, and seeing as how this Time Capsule is a number of years old, were thinking of upgrading to the faster WiFi routers with 802.11ac capability.  I'll be honest when I say we were considering other options, beyond the newest Time Capsule.
    My question is, can we somehow use the 2TB of storage on our current Time Capsule for the purpose of backing up our computers with Time Machine, but NOT use the WiFi functionality of the Time Capsule itself? 
    I'm assuming if I manually plugged either my iMac or MacBook Pro (wired ethernet) into the Time Capsule, I could likely get that computer to recognize and use it for Time Machine purposes, but I'd like to use it to backup both computers, ideally wirelessly on the MacBook Pro.
    Any help would be great. 
    Right now I'm running a DSL line into a DSL modem, which then runs ethernet into my Time Capsule.  From there, I have a 4 port switch connected for wired devices (we wired our home with ethernet jacks in almost every room).  We also have an Airport Express to extend the range of the network.
    Thanks,
    Jason

    You can bridge the TC and plug it into whatever wireless router you buy.
    There is no need to turn off the wireless in the TC.. but you can set it up as a secondary wireless network. That is totally up to you. I find the Gen4 TC very fast on 5ghz.. but you need it to be close to the computers.. in your case that should be dead easy.. simply plug it in by ethernet in the same room as the iMac say.. and set it up with bridge and the imac plugged into it by ethernet.. one computer then can access the internet and backup via ethernet with huge speed improvements.. the laptop can then use whatever your new router wireless network.. or the TC one if it is close enough..
    So there are plenty of variations and your setup is easy to handle with the large amount of ethernet you have.
    Just post again if you need specifics.. but I need specifics to give them!!

  • How to retrieve a backup of an external hard drive from time machine if there is a drive failure of the external HD?

    Hi,
    I have a time caspule that I use as my backup for Time machine.
    My itunes folder is on an external drive and When I do my backups, I connect my external to my mac so that my itunes folder will be backed up.
    When I do the back up, I know its backing up the external due to the size of the backup.
    but if my external were to fail, how do I retrieve the back up of the external? From what I can tell the drive has to be connected to the mac when connecting to time machine to access the back up files for the external. But if the drive is dead, how do I retrieve my files?

    budden10, please try this:
    Disconnect the external drive to simulate it not working or having failed
    Open Time Machine on your Mac and wait a few minutes for your backups to load fully
    Go back in time and select a date when you were backing up the external drive
    Now look at the Finder window and locate your Mac on the left side of the window under DEVICES
    Click on your Mac
    What do you see in the window there just to the right?

  • 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.

  • HT201250 If time machine puts all of my photos onto my external hard drive using time machine, can I then delete the photos from my computer put view them again from the external hard drive? Basically, can I free up space on my mac but not lose years of p

    If time machine puts all of my photos onto my external hard drive using time machine, can I then delete the photos from my computer but view them again from the external hard drive? Basically, can I free up space on my mac but not lose years of photos?

    To add to Niel's comment bear in mind that if you have a backup copy on an external HD and later delete the orignals on your Mac HD you will then only have one copy - so no backup.
    If the pictures are precious you should have at least two copies, and ideally another copy kept off site,

Maybe you are looking for