Should I necessarily use an external hard "for mac" to get a backup from my macbook?

I want to get a backup from my macbook pro using the time machine. Should I necessarily use an external hard "for mac" to get a backup from my macbook? Because I have an external hard, but its not for mac. Is there any way I can use this one?

You can use the external drive you want with your Mac. However, the "for Mac" external drives come prepared to connect them and start using them, and probably you will have to do some additional steps with your external drive.
First, you will have to format the external drive with "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)", the only filesystem compatible with OS X. If you have got files on the external drive, you have to copy them to your Mac before erasing the drive. Then, follow these steps to format the external drive with "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" > http://pondini.org/TM/5.html
Then, to use Time Machine, open System Preferences > Time Machine > Select Disk, and choose your external drive, so your Mac will start making backups to your external drive

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    (109318)

  • About using WD external hard for new mba

    how would i save my data already stored in my WD external hard previously used for my pc before formatting tht hard for my mba

    ahmad mac wrote:
    how would i save my data already stored in my WD external hard previously used for my pc before formatting tht hard for my mba
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    Maximum volume size: 2TB
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    Maximum volume size: 256TB
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    HFS+ ((((MAC FORMAT)))) (Hierarchical File System, a.k.a. Mac OS Extended (Journaled) Don't use case-sensitive)
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  • Can I use an external drive for a 2nd time capsule backup?  Other questions too

    My setup:
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    So can I plug in the CineRAID into the usb port for a 2nd time machine backup with massive storage?
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    Just get an airport extreme and use the CineRAID for a backup via USB...
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  • Advice on External HDD for Mac & Windows

    Hello
    I am looking for advice regarding using a external HHD for Mac & Windows.
    I searched the forum, but failed to find a updated thread on this subject matter.
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    Should i use HFS+ with a small FAT32 partition to keep MacDrive on?
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    Im not sure what would be optimal for both platforms.
    Thanks in advance for your input.

    Why just one?
    Shopping list I can think of:
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  • Can I use one external hard drive for 3 of my Macs?

    I have a 2007 white MacBook, a 2011 MacBook Pro, and a 2013 MacBook Air.
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    1. Yes. Note that anything you want to keep should be on at least two drives in case one of them fails.
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    (110959)

  • How do you remove back up data from the memory storage? my storage data states that i have over 80gb of data used for back ups and i dont know why as i use a external hard drive as a time machine .now my 250gb flash storage is nearly full

    how do you remove back up data from the memory storage? my storage data states that i have over 80gb of data used for back ups and i dont know why as i use a external hard drive as a time machine .now my 250gb flash storage is nearly full.. HELP!

    When Time Machine backs up a portable Mac, some of the free space will be used to make local snapshots, which are backup copies of recently deleted files. The space occupied by local snapshots is reported as available by the Finder, and should be considered as such. In the Storage display of System Information, local snapshots are shown as  Backups. The snapshots are automatically deleted when they expire or when free space falls below a certain level. You ordinarily don't need to, and should not, delete local snapshots yourself. If you followed bad advice to disable local snapshots by running a shell command, you may have ended up with a lot of data in the Other category. Ask for instructions in that case.
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  • Using an external hard drive for both TM backups

    I would like to use an external hard drive for both TM and as the main hard drive storage for my Macbook which is now approaching being full...how do I do this ??? or should I have 2 separate devices....want to free up space on Macbook

    Now that I've partitioned my I Terabyte external drive to two partitions using the disk utility with one partition for Time Machine and one partition as my new "hard drive"...my internal drive on the MacBook almost filled....I wanted to move...pix, movies, music..etc to the new drive and have all future storage pointed to that drive not the internal drive....need to have space available on the original drive on the MacBook....How do I move existing stored data and point ongoining saved music..files...etc to the new drive...???
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  • Using an External Hard Drive vs. a separate computer for music producing

    Hi all. I have a dilemma. I'm currently using logic express to make my music and its installed on my 13 inch macbook pro that I bought last year. Granted, it works fine, however I am looking to upgrade to Logic Studio soon as well as purchase Spectrasonic's Omisphere, which for those who don't know is about 50 gb of sounds. That on top of the 50 gb that come with Logic Studio means about 100 gb of software which I frankly don't have the room for on my macbook pro. I've been looking at buying a new mac mini, 2.3 ghz i5 with 8gb of RAM and a 500 gb Hard Drive, solely dedicated to making music. However, my friends tell me I should just buy an external hard drive and install Logic, as well as the software, on the hard drive since it will be far less expensive than buying a new computer. However, I don't know how I feel about installing software on an external hard drive. So my question is, given what I am trying to do, what is my best option? Are there issues with using an external hard drive for this sort of work that would make buying a seperate mac mini more practical, or vice versa?

    If you want to do this in a cost-effective way, you should delete some files you don't need from your macbook pro to make room for logic pro. Even though Logic Pro has around 50 GB of stuff, most of it comes from the Jam Packs, which I'm guessing you won't really need to use...So make room for Logic Pro on your laptop and install it there...then use the external hard drive to store and record your music to.
    If you're going to get a mac mini with that type of spec, you might as well buy a new macbook pro with the same specs and better.
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  • I found information on how to transfer my library to a new computer. I am going to use an external hard drive for this and transfer my itunes folder to the new computer.   I will then download and install a new version of itunes on my new computer.   My q

    I found information on how to transfer my itunes library to a new computer. I am going to use an external hard drive for this to transfer my itunes folder to the new computer.
    I will then download and install a new version of itunes on my new computer.
    My question is this. When I do this, will itunes have all my album artwork for all my library? My library has a lot of my own music and I have spent quite a bit of time copying album artwork that itunes did not add. I am really hoping I don't have to do this again!
    Thanks for your help!

    If you follow the directions in this Link...
    Copy iTunes to an External Drive
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1751
    Everything should be carried across...

  • HT201250 if I used external hard disk for backup time machine, is it possible to use that external hard disk to save another else from diffrent computers?

    If I used external hard disk for back up time machine, is it possible to use that external hard disk to save another else from diffrent computers?

    Welcome to Apple Support Communities
    You can do this, but you should make a new volume on your external disk. Time Machine needs a volume that is only used to store backups, so you can't store other data in the same volume as the one you are using for making backups.
    If you want to create another volume on your external disk, use Disk Utility to do this > http://pondini.org/OSX/DU3.html Anyway, you should get another external disk to store other files, but if you don't want to, you can create another volume in it

  • I am trying to confirm the time at which a particular backup occurred using an external hard drive that I have since misplaced. Although time machine lists the backup times for some backups, it does not list them for all. Can someone help?

    I am trying to confirm the time at which a particular backup occurred using an external hard drive that I have since misplaced. Although time machine lists the backup times for some backups, it does not list them for all, including the one in question. Can someone help?

    Okay, I've sussed it.  I saw a link to another discussion that hadn't turned up in any of my searches before I posted the question above.
    My Tosh HDD was formatted to FAT 32 and therefore would not be backed up by Time Machine.  I removed all data from it - nightmare as I hadn't enough space to put it on the macbook HDD, but, after trawling through numerous photos and deleting rubbish for hours, I finally made enough space and copied all data across.  Then, after clearing the data from the Tosh HDD, I used disk utilitity to reformat it to Mackintosh OS Extended.  Chose the option without kournalling because I'm not baking up onto this disk and so don't need it - according to some other discussions I found.
    When it was done I check on time machine in system prefs and once I selected options, I was able to remove it from the excluded from backups list.  Hey presto.  Now I'm moving my photo library and my music library onto the Tosh HDD and my macbook should start to breath again.  Hurray.

  • I would like to know if you have to back up a macbook hard drive, can I use a external hard drive that has been previously used to back up several pc 's, or is it best to have a separate external drive for the Mac?

    I would like to know if you have to back up a macbook hard drive, can I use a external hard drive that has been previously used to back up several pc 's, or is it best to have a separate external drive for the Mac?

    In the Mac side of things, backups usually come in two flavors: clones or incrementals.
    A bootable clone is a bit-for-bit copy of all essential files in the startup volume. If using the Lions, clones can be made using CarbonCopyCloner or just plain old Disk Utility. These backups represent the safest protection of your info, but take the longest to do. Recovery is an inverse process: you copy the clone back into the internal drive.
    Incremental backups start with a complete backup of the startup volume and only copy whatever changed from the previous run. OS X includes the fully integrated Time Machine backup utility to do this. It is extremely easy to do and takes the least amount of time. Recovery is another matter altogether since you have to start with a freshly installed instance of the OS and have to apply all intervening backups to bring the result to the latest saved version.
    As for where the backup takes place, the recommended media is an external dedicated drive or drives connected via the fastest interface available on your Mac: Thunderbolt, USB3, Firewire, or USB2. Network-based backups, wired or wireless, are attractive but may not offer the same performance and hence take longer. Also important to note that the entire drive need not be completely dedicated to a single backup. The Mac's EFI firmware infrastructure allows for an unlimited number of partitions on a hard drive and each can be used for either type of backups.
    Holler if you need specifics on how to do each. This was just an executive summary.

  • How do i use an external hard drive for all my itunes music?

    how do i use an external hard drive for all my itunes music?

    Hi valleydave,
    Here are two good links for you to check out:
    http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1751
    http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1449
    The first one goes over, in-depth, what you're looking for in regards to "off site" iTunes.

  • How can I use my external hard drive for my iphoto instead of my mac book pro memory?

    i don't know if this question has been asked before: how can I use my external hard drive for my iphoto instead of my mac book pro memory? just like itunes all my song are save on my external hard drive. make sense?

    Moving the iPhoto library is safe and simple - quit iPhoto and drag the iPhoto library intact as a single entity to the external drive - depress the option key and launch iPhoto using the "select library" option to point to the new location on the external drive - fully test it and then trash the old library on the internal drive (test one more time prior to emptying the trash)
    And be sure that the External drive is formatted Mac OS extended (journaled) (iPhoto does not work with drives with other formats) and that it is always available prior to launching iPhoto
    And backup soon and often - having your iPhoto library on an external drive is not a backup and if you are using Time Machine you need to check and be sure that TM is backing up your external drive
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