Time Machine does not see my external HD

I would like to setup TM but it does not see my external HD, but I can see it on desktop in and finder. I can browse it. But time machine does not see it and forces me to use airport time capsule but I don't have it. Help please.

What format is the external drive in?
If it's formatted for Windows (either using the MBR partition table or using FAT/NTFS volumes) then Time Machine cannot back up to this disk.
The disk needs to be formatted as Mac OS X Extended using either the APM or GPT partition tables.
Life is complicated somewhat by the fact that the OS, in general, can read MBR/FAT drives, but they're not suitable for Time Machine (limitations in the disk formats prevent some of Time Machine's features from working).
You can check the current partition map/disk format in Disk Utility.app - just select the disk on the left and the information will be displayed below. If the disk is using MBR and/or FAT then you'd need to reformat the drive in order to use it with Time Machine.

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    vlakvarkie wrote:
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