Time machine can't mount disk ,hard drive,after its been formatted for windows

i want to use time machine but it can't mount disk as it has been used with windows

You will need to repartition and reformat the drive for use with OS X:
Drive Partition and Format
1. 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. 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.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.

Similar Messages

  • Initiating external usb hard drive that has been formatted for Windows

    I have a 400GB USB external hard drive and it was working fine until I tried to erase it in disk utility and it wouldn't work and kept causing disk utility to freeze up and it was very difficult to force quit even.
    I took it to a PC shop and they reformatted it for windows and it worked on their windows so I thought I would try and reformat it again in disk utility to run on mac but it just did the same things and froze again.
    If anyone can understand what I am babbling about could you please give me some advice before I give up
    Thanks
    Kevin

    No it has to be formatted for OS X. Mac Extended (Journaled).

  • Time Machine can't copy my hard drive

    Time Machine can't copy my hard drive, it says that it can't complete the safety copy because an error occured when files were copied to the safety copy. Does anyone recognise this problem? All I could find in System notifications about Time Machine is this: "localhost kernel[0]: Security policy loaded: Safety net for Time Machine (TMSafetyNet)"

    John Galt wrote:
    ... Are you unable to select the external HD as a backup device?
    pres92 wrote:
    that's the problem -- my hard drive ("startup disk) is not listed, so I can't select it.
    The reason is that the startup volume is not a valid selection for its own Time Machine backup.
    The only drive listed is the Time Machine external drive.  Obviously, I don't want to back up the time machine drive.
    By default, a Time Machine backup volume is excluded from being backed up.
    The appearance you describe is correct, otherwise I'm completely misunderstanding your problem.

  • Can I backup to an external hard drive that has been formatted with windows?

    Hi, I am fairly new to mac.  I was wondering if I can backup my mac book pro using time machine to an external hard drive that has been formatted with windows.  Time machine is saying it must erase to the hard drive in order to do a backup? Please help. 

    No it has to be formatted for OS X. Mac Extended (Journaled).

  • Possible solution: Time Machine can not mount disk

    Like many of you, my Time Machine started acting up after working fine for months.
    I have an external USB (Western Digital 500GB) drive connected to a Airport Extreme (N-speed) as an AirDisk.
    I have an iMac (iSight 160GB) connected via ethernet to the AEX and a MacBook (60GB) connected to the AEX. Both have less than half HD usage.
    After a few months, the MacBook would fail to backup properly: “Unable to Mount” message after the TM process was going for a few minutes. I could access the WD drive in R/W mode otherwise from the same machine. I read on these boards that I should erase the sparsebundle on the WD drive associated with the MacBook. I did that, and all was then well.
    Fast forward a few months, again the same problem on the same machine. I ran DiskWarrior against the WD drive to ensure permissions were fine. Mind you that the iMac TM backup’s have been working fine all along.
    Yesterday I solved my problem by reading various tips on these boards:
    - Always mount the AirDisk via “==> Go ==> Connect to Server” within the Finder
    o As per Apple KnowledgeBase article
    - *Proper Computer Name*
    o Ensure that your computer has a proper name in the Sharing Preference pane.
    o Go into System Preferences --> Sharing.
    o Is the box labeled “Computer Name” empty? If it is blank, you need to put in a name for your computer. Otherwise Time Machine won’t be able to perform backups. Additionally, Time Machine needs to differentiate this computer from others on your network (i.e. "Bills MacBook" vs "Office iMac"). As a result, no two Macs should have the same name. If the "Computer Name" field is blank, create a unique name for this Mac.
    o Also, Time Machine may experience problems if your computer name includes certain characters. Make sure the computer name only includes ASCII characters from the following set.
    o (0123456789abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ)
    o Once a change in the computer name occurs, you should stop and restart Sharing on the affected computer. Uncheck and then recheck Sharing in the Services list on the left.
    The combination of these two steps has my MacBook working smoothly once again with Time Machine, Airport Extreme and an AirDisk.
    GOOD LUCK

    Most likely, the power interruption corrupted the sparse bundle containing your backups.
    Try to repair them per #A5 in the Time Machine - Troubleshooting *User Tip,* also at the top of this forum.

  • Time Machine won't mount Firewire 800 drive after restart / Finder crashes

    I've been having problems with Finder crashes. I first suspected Spotlight might be the problem because sometimes when I started typing a search, it would display the first 3 characters and then lock up. I could force quit the Finder, but it wouldn't relaunch and required the computer to be shutdown and restarted with the power button. Once restarted, I had no keyboard and no mouse click (the mouse would move across the screen but I could not click on anything). After waiting several minutes (3-5) the mouse and keyboard worked properly.
    After some research suggested the Spotlight index might be corrupt, I forced Spotlight to rebuild the index (add the drive to the exclude list under "Privacy" and then remove it from the list) and then repaired disk permissions. After that Spotlight was noticeably snappier and I thought my Finder crashes had been solved until........
    Part 2: I have been using Time Machine (connected to a Fantom GreenDrive via Firewire 800) for several months now and ever since the beginning, I have noticed that the drive will NOT mount after a restart. I must turn the drive off and back on again to get it to mount. After that Time Machine picks it up and seems to work fine.....well, that is until this Finder crashing thing started several weeks ago. Anyway, I inadvertently set up an experiment last weekend when I installed some software update and forgot to remount the Time Machine drive after the restart. That was last Sunday night. The computer did not crash all week long. I thought my Spotlight fix had finally solved my problems, but now it seems I was wrong. This morning (Saturday, six days later), I noticed my Time Machine drive was not mounted. I mounted it, told Time Machine to "Back Up Now" and went away for a few hours. When I came back the Finder was locked up.
    So guess my question is this: Are there any know problems with using Firewire 800 with Time Machine? and What can I do to fix this? In the meantime I'm trying another experiment - I've disconnect the Firewire 800 connection and replaced it with USB.

    shaneeudy wrote:
    So guess my question is this: Are there any know problems with using Firewire 800 with Time Machine?
    Hi, and welcome to the forums.
    Not in general. Some drives don't always wake or "spin up" fast enough; often that's seen when the system wakes from sleep, though, not so much after a system Restart. Many Western Digitals do that; I don't recall seeing any posts here about yours, but you might want to search the forums for Fantom
    In the meantime I'm trying another experiment - I've disconnect the Firewire 800 connection and replaced it with USB.
    Good plan - that may provide a clue.
    Also, check with the maker -- there may be a firmware or driver update.
    And try verifying your internal HD, and repairing your backups, per #A5 of Time Machine - Troubleshooting (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum). Either might cause that.

  • Will Time Machine identify a back up hard drive after main has been erased?

    I went to the Genius Bar a couple of days ago and was told that in order to fix some of the problems I was having I should do a achieve and install (or maybe erase and install I can't remember.) Then use Time Machine to restore all the files on my computer except for the system and library folders (since there is a lot of stuff inside them that has been causing errors.)
    My question is will Time Machine be able to identify my disk after the achieve and install? I looked at the Time Machine Backup from another start up disk and Time Machine just showed up blank. Is that what would happen if I wiped my drive? Or would that only happen if I completely erased the hard drive and not be an issue if I went with the achieve and install?

    The Time Machine disk certainly shouldn't look blank - that could indicate a pro blem with your backups not running when you expect.
    When you look at your Time Machine disk you should see a 'Backups.backupdb' dire ctory which contains subdirectories for each Time Machine snapshot.
    If you don't see these then your Time Machine isn't backing up and you shouldn't  re-install your machine :)
    If you do see that, then you should be OK (as long as the subdirectories cover r ecent dates), in which case you can run the re-install - I'd go for a 'clean ins tall' and use the 'Copy my settings from a Time Machine backup' which is one of  the options after the first boot.

  • HT201250 How can I migrate a Time Machine backup from an external hard drive to a new TimeCapsuls?

    I just got a 2TB Time Capsule.  I want to migrate my time machine backups on an external hard drive to the new Time Capsule.  I have about 430Gb of files to back up; I don't want to wait 7-8 days for the backup, unless I have to.  I am using OS 10.7.5 (forget which cat that is).  I have mounted the TC drive as 10.0.1.1; I tried to drag and drop from old to "data" on TC, but I get the error "The volume is the wrong format for a backup."  Any ideas how I can move my old files to the new, and bypass creating a brand new backup file?
    Thanks.

    Rather than do that, which means starting over from scratch, losing all your edits, organisation and so on, why not simply use iPhoto Library Manager to revert the Library to the older version? Easier, less destructive.
    The instructions on that are here
    If you really want to start over: you can access the Originals folder simply by going to your Pictures Folder and finding the iPhoto Library there. Right (or Control-) Click on the icon and select 'Show Package Contents'. A finder window will open with the Library exposed.

  • Is there any way to create a time machine backup to an external hard drive with content already on it?  I have a hard drive that i have used for pictures but when i try to run a backup it says i need to start from a blank drive. Can i get around it?

    Is there any way to create a time machine backup to an external hard drive with content already on it?  I have a hard drive that i have used for pictures but when i try to run a backup it says i need to start from a blank drive. Can i get around it?

    It would be much better if you had separate drives for the pictures and Time Machine backups.....but, if you want to use the same drive for both purposes, temporarily move the folder with the pictures to another location for safe storage.
    Run the Time Machine backup on the hard drive and verify that everything is working correctly. Time Machine will format the disk for you in Mac OS Extended (Journaled) as part of the backup process.
    Then move the folder with the pictures back to the hard drive with the Time Machine backups.
    When you have tested to make sure that everything is working again, then and only then should you delete the folder with pictures from the temporary storage area.
    Again....it would be much better to keep Time Machine backups on a drive just for that purpose, and other data on another drive for that purpose. This is clearly one of those times when the fact that you can do something does not mean to imply that you should do it.

  • My iMac suddenly can't read the backup hard drive I've been using for Time Machine.  I did NOT just upgrade the OS or anything.  The external HD is an OWC Mercury Elite All Pro. It's worked fine since I got the iMac 4 years ago.`

    My iMac suddenly can't read the backup hard drive I've been using for Time Machine.  I tried unplugging the cord that connects the HD to the iMac and plugging it back in, but I still get "The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer" below which are buttons for Initialize, Ignore and Eject.  I was using a cord that went from larger square plug to larger square plug.  So then I tried one that went from smaller square plug to what I think is USB (thin rectangular plug) of the sort that connects the keyboard and mouse. It's the type that my printers and scanners use to connect to the iMac.  I did NOT just upgrade the OS or anything.  The external HD is an OWC Mercury Elite All Pro. It's worked fine since I got the iMac 4 years ago. What else can I try before just trying to initialize and

    Thanks, Michael!  I do hear it at times spooling up and running. Just after I bumped the thread I looked for troubleshooting for this drive online and found the manual which suggested using Disk Utility which I've seen before accidentally (if I hit Command Shift U instead of Shift U to type "Unit" on a new folder for a student's homework ) but had never really noticed.   Disk Utility does see it and also a sub-something (directory?) which might be the Time Machine archives on the disk, called disk1s2), sort of the way that my iMac's hard drive shows up as 640.14 GB Nitachi HDT7... and has a sub-something titled DB iMac, which is what I named my iMac's hard drive.
    Anyway the owner's manual just shows the image under the formatting section, not the troubleshooting section, but as soon as I saw it in the manual I remembered seeing it accidentally a few times, went to it, and am now verifying the disk.  Right now it's telling me that it will take 2 hours to complete the verification, so I guess I have a bigt of a wait.  :-) 
    Does that fact that Disk Utilities can see it mean it's not failed, or just that it hasn't completely failed? 
    I can see the virtue in having multiple redundant backups, or at least two backups. What do you suggest?  Two external hard drives?  I had this one linked by ethernet, and but I also have a cord that could link it by USB (like a printer), so if this one is reparable I could get a second one and link it by USB.  If this one is not reparable I could get two and do the same thing.  I do have an Airport so I suppose it's possible to get some sort of Wi-Fi hard drive (my new printer/scanner uses only the network and not a cable, although it has a cable that I used for the initial installation), but I'd suspect a Wi-Fi hard drive might have a higher price.
    What hard drives, if any, do you recommend? I seem to recall that when I was looking at external hard drives 4 years ago, Apple's were substantially more expensive, which is why I got the OWC Mercury Elite All Pro.

  • I got a macbook pro 2008 and can not back up using time machine. it eject my external hard drive everytime. does someone has a fix???

    i got a macbook pro 2008 and can not back up using time machine. it eject my external hard drive everytime. does anybody has a fix???

    Does your external hard drive have it's own power supply?  It should.
    Is your external hard drive formatted with the NTFS file system?  It won't work.
    It needs to be formatted either with Mac OS Extended or FAT32.
    (There are drivers available to add NTFS support to OS X but their quality is unknown, especially the "free" ones.)

  • I had to reformat my OSX 10.5.8 and i can't restore my emails from my time machine backup from an external hard drive - only the latest (post backup) time machine back ups are available to restore. Please can any help

    I had to reformat my OSX 10.5.8 and I can't restore my emails from my time machine backup from an external hard drive - only the latest (post backup) time machine back ups are available to restore. Please can any help? I can find the mail folder in my libraries, but the Restore Button is grayed out

    OSX treats the reformatted drive as a different one; it's the same as replacing it, and the old one is no longer connected.
    See #E3 in  Time Machine - Troubleshooting to see and restore from the "old" drive.
    And, you may not want to restore via the Finder; see the blue box in #15 of  Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions.

  • I threw out 24 time machine backups from an external hard drive into my desktop trash and now I can't empty my trash.

    I threw out 24 time machine backups from an external hard drive into my IMac desktop trash and now I can't empty my trash.

    Since you didn't mention what type of error message you were seeing, I'm going to guess on what is happening.
    I'm guessing that since you threw away Time Machine backups, that Time Machine is probably active on your Mac. There is a chance then that the files you tossed are marked as in use. You can't delete files that are in use.
    Try turning Time Machine off, then restart your Mac. Then try deleting them again.
    Once done, turn Time Machine back on.
    Tom

  • Can 'Time Machine' back-up other external hard drives

    Can 'Time Machine' back-up other external hard drives connected to your mac as well as the mac memory itself?

    As Neil says, yes, it can.  But external HDs are excluded by default;  you have to tell Time Machine when you do want to back one up.
    See the exclusions box in Time Machine Prefs > Options.
    If the drive is shown in black, just select it and click the minus sign at the bottom.
    If it's shown in gray, though, it's not formatted for a Mac, and Time Machine can't back it up (and you can't remove it).

  • 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.

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