Time machine doesn't see my external hard drive.

Why doesn't Time Machine recognize my external hard drive? The icon is on the desktop but it won't back up and fails saying the backup volume can't be found.
It works on my mac mini but not on my intel core 2 duo. I have other backup files on my external hard drive. Any suggestions ????

I used it with my imac power pc before and now am using with my intel iMac. Is this possible without reformatting? Here is information you requested.
Format : Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
Name : My Iomega HDD
Type : Volume
Disk Identifier : disk1s3
Mount Point : /Volumes/My Iomega HDD
File System : Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
Connection Bus : FireWire
Device Tree : /PCI0/RP04@1C,3/FRWR@0/node@d0b87de0002bb1/sbp-2@c000/@0:3
Writable : Yes
Universal Unique Identifier : 4692F5BF-C808-3459-8090-F05D5724133C
Capacity : 298.0 GB (319,938,674,688 Bytes)
Free Space : 199.7 GB (214,375,014,400 Bytes)
Used : 98.3 GB (105,563,660,288 Bytes)
Number of Files : 367,381
Number of Folders : 85,981
Owners Enabled : No
Can Turn Owners Off : Yes
Can Be Formatted : Yes
Bootable : Yes
Supports Journaling : Yes
Journaled : Yes
Disk Number : 1
Partition Number : 3

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Time Machine can't see my external hard drive

Time Machine won't show me any backup disk options other than "Set up Time Capsule". When I click on that, it searches for AirPort wireless which I do not have installed. How do I get Time Machine to see my external hard drive connected via Fire Wire? I went into Disk Utility and it showed the external drive was there. Backups had been working previously.

I don't know the answer but I have the same thing happen. I have two external drives I use for backup. Sometimes it can see one and sometimes another. Then sometimes it can't see either one. I will take one out for a while then plug it back in and then it may see it. Maybe it's a cable issue or something but I will be curious to hear what someone more knowledgeable says.

Time Machine doesn't recognise Seagate external hard drive

Forgive my ignorance, but I can't figure out how to connect Time Machine with my new hard drive. I've clicked on "select back up disk" but my external hard drive doesn't appear. I've looked at a lot of similar support online, but everything tells me to click the button and select the drive, but not what to do if there is no drive to select. Can anyone help me? Am I missing something obvious?

mel_hann wrote:
I found this:
http://knowledge.seagate.com/articles/en_US/FAQ/217131en
This tells me it can be done and that it's quite simple. It's all fine until step 4. When I click on Time Machine Backup Configuration it just connects to the Apple support page for how to set up Time Machine. Nowhere to input my details. Grrrrr.... This shouldn't be this hard!
In theory, I agree that it ought to be simple, but that's Seagate's programming, not Apple's. Few folks here, and none at Apple, are familiar with it.
Do you have the current version? Does it claim to be compatible with the version of OSX you're on (is that Snow Leopard 10.6.8, per your profile)? Not all NASs are compatible with all versions of OSX. You need to contact Seagate (or return the NAS).
Again, I'd strongly recommend reconsidering. I just spent the better part of a couple of days helping a user of a GoFlex Home who replaced her internal HD, then found her backups were corrupted, piece her system back together. Not for the faint of heart.
Take a look for yourself: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5061341
There's a lot of chaff there -- she's not an experienced Mac user (she is now!), but was very determined to get her stuff back.

Time Machine doesn't recognize my external hard drive

My external hard drive is no longer recognized by my iMac. I have had this problem before and had to repartition the drive. There is not a drive that is available when I go into Time Machine preferences. Any ideas?

If you completely repartitioned the external hard drive, you may need to Erase & Reformat each Partition on the drive now in order for them to be recognized. You can do that in Disk Utility.

Time Machine doesn't see the WD Hard drive attached to the AEBS

I've been having issues of dropped connections with my WD HD connected to the AEBS vis USB. My backups have been failing and I sometimes get this error message:
The server may not exist or it is not operational at this time. Check the server name or IP address and your network connection and try again.
I wouldn't mind if I had to start over by trashing prefs but, in the Time Machine preference window I can't select the HD connected to AEBS as it doesn't show in the Change Disk window.

sperkins921 wrote:
I'm having an issue with my external HD not being recognized as a drive for Time Machine. Is it because it's NTFS formatted?
Yes. It must use either the GUID (preferred for Intel) or +Apple Partition Map+ (preferred for PPC Macs) *Partition Map Scheme,* and the +Mac OS Extended (Journaled)+ Format.
Is there anything I can do?
Yes. Make two (or more) partitions, which you should do anyway if you want to put anything on the drive besides TM backups. Use the first for TM, format the other(s) however you want. See item #5 in the Frequently Asked Questions *User Tip* at the top of this forum.
Also, should I be able to create a back up file on the internal drive? Not even that drive appears in the list.
Not in the same partition as OSX. You could make a second partition there, but you'd get a warning from TM reminding you that it's not a good idea to have your originals and backups on the same drive.
Sorry for noob style questions- I never bothered with TM before, and having my other MBP stolen has led me to want to use it....
Yup, most of us learn things the hard way, don't we?
You might want to review these:
Time Machine Tutorial
Time Machine 101
How to back up and restore your files
Time Machine Features
Apple - Support - Mac OSX v10.5 Leopard Time Machine
and perhaps browse the rest of the FAQ Tip.

Time Machine doesn't see the WD Hard drive attached to the Extreme Base Sta

All of a sudden I can't get Time Machine to recognize the drive that's been attached to the Base Station.
It doesn't show up in Browse other time machine disks or, when I go to choose a back up disk.
What's going on?

Try connecting it directly to your Mac. If it still doesn't appear, see if Disk Utility (in your Applications/Utilities folder) can see it. If not, and it has a separate power supply, that may be the problem. Otherwise, you need to go disk shopping.
If the Mac does see it when directly-attached (don't try to do anything with it), then the problem must be in the AEBS, communications, security, or network. For that, you may do better in the Airport and Time Capsule forums, hiding in the +Digital Life Section+ at: http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=140

Time Machine not backing up other external hard drive

Hi,
I recently upgraded to Leopard and am trying to use Time Machine. I have one external hard drive that is used specifically for the Time Machine Backup, it's called "Backup Drive". The other hard drive is called "Captured Memories" and is used to store my graphic design files. Time Machine seems to backup my iMac because there is a folder called iMac and it contains the files, but the folder for Captured Memories is blank. I was getting errors saying that the backup failed but when I clicked the "Back Up Now" option on Time Machine, it doesn't list the error - but the Captured Memories folder is still blank so it didn't back up that external drive. I also changed the Spotlight preferences so that it does not search the Backup Drive.
Both the Backup Drive and the Captured Memories drives are the same, they're both Seagate Free Agent Pro drives, 1TB each.
The Free Agent Pro drives both have a sleep timer that I cannot adjust, does that have anything to do with why Time Machine won't backup the Captured Memories drive? If that is the case, what other software can I use to backup the Captured Memories external drive? I want it to sync to the Backup Drive because I am constantly saving and moving files around on the Captured Memories drive.
I was using a Memeo backup software that came with the Free Agent Pro drives but the problem I was having is it would make copies of files rather than move them. For example, I have a folder on the Captured Memories drive that is called, In Progress and one that is called In Proofing. So once a project is complete, I move the file to the In Proofing folder. The Memeo software would copy the file to the In Proofing folder rather than move it. So I'd end up with 2 copies of the file, one in the In Progress folder and one in the In Proofing folder.
Does anyone know how I can simply have the drive backed up like that?
What do I do?
Please help! I really need to make sure that the Captured Memories external drive is being backed up!

I am having a similar problem. I initially set it up 3 days ago and had it back up just the iMac to Time Capsule (about 120 GB) which it did no problem (I initially had my LaCie drive excluded). I then un-excluded my other drive, where all my photos and music reside (about 130 GB). Since then, it keeps trying to back up about 102 GB each time. Looking at the list of backups it does not appear that it has ever successfully backed up the LaCie. I am not aware of any error messages, but I have not been home much. I normally shut down the computer at night but I have been leaving it on trying to let Time Machine do its thing. All I can say is that every time I am at the computer TM is running and it always looks like it is in the middle of backing up 102 GB (usually seems to be near the beginning, never seem to see it more than halfway done). Looking at the TM panel it says the latest backup was 2 days ago. I'd appreciate any advice!

Time Machine says both of my external hard drives require reformatting to case insensitive. What do I do?

I have been successfuly using Time Machine to back my iMac to an external hard drive (via usb) and everything has been fine for the last year. I have been using TM to back up to a HD called Terra LaCie via usb.
A week ago, my iMac hard drive was full--so I spulrged and bought a 6 TB external hard drive (Western Digital My Book-Thunderbolt). I set up the new Thunderbold HD to use RAID 1 (mirror) and copied most of my iMac hard drive over to the Thunderbolt HD.
I kept my working photographs (most recent) on my iMac and felt good to know my older photographs are on my new Thunderbolt hard drive.
For a few days, Time Machine seemed to work fine (backing up my iMac to Terra LaCie HD. I haven't been concerned with backing up the Thunderbolt drive (as I feel that mirroring is same as backing up).
Yesterday, Time Machine indicated the lastest back-up failed (for the HD called Terra LaCie). Now, when I go into Time Machine, the dialog box indicates the following message:
"Are you sure you want to erase the backup disk “Terra Lacie”? Erasing will destroy all information on the disk and can’t be undone.
The disk must be erased before it can be used for Time Machine backups because a disk you are backing up is case sensitive, but the backup disk is not."
When I open Time Machine to look at my external hard drives (I also have a third usb portable drive); two of the three drives indicate the following:
"reformat required; case insensitive disk".
The small, portable hard drive (that I'm also using) doesn't say it needs to be reformated (but my new Thunderbolt and my old usb HD both indicate the same message (above).
What should I do? I just spent days transferring my photographs from my iMac to my new Thunderbolt. Should I just not use Time Machine any longer and work from my Thunderbolt drive?
Am I to understand that my iMac suddenly become case sensitive? Sorry if this was too much information about my hard-ware set-up.
Any help someone can provide me would be greatly appreciated. I suppose I need to understand Time Machine and perhaps my Thunderbolt better.

Hi BDAqua,
Bravo, you helped me solve my problem.
The Case Sensitive Disk was the small portable hard drive that I was using termporarily.
I just disconnected it and I started TM machine and everything seems to be working just fine.
Thank you very much!!!!

I am having trouble installing. downloaded Mavericks but it will not let me install to hard drive, says that is reserved for Time Machine. I have an external hard drive, but disconnected that before download.

I downloaded Mavericks but can't get past the install; it thinks my hard drive is reserved for Time Machine. I have an external hard drive but dis-connected that before download.
I have Time Machine turned off.

Check to see if you have a file name Backups.backupdb on the disk drive.
If the installer sees such a file it assumes that the disk drive is being used by Time Machine.
Allan

How Can I Migrate My Time Machine Backups To A New External Hard Drive?

I have a external hard drive that has 500 GBs left, but I want to buy a larger drive.

ivan wrote:
How Can I Migrate My Time Machine Backups To A New External Hard Drive?
I have a external hard drive that has 500 GBs left, but I want to buy a larger drive.
Hi iVain
Fire up *Disk Utility*, click the Restore tab, then drag your old and new TM drives into the Source and Destination fields. Click Restore, and a complete copy of your old TM files will be made on the new drive. Go to TM preferences and select the new drive, and it will continue backing up just as it left off.
Hope this answers your question. See:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2595485&tstart=0

How do I use time machine to backup to an external hard drive plugged into my airport extreme

How do I use time machine to backup to an external hard drive plugged into my airport extreme? I used to be able to but now time machine will not recognize my hard drive to select as a backup when plugged into my airport extreme. I'm not sure what happened or changed. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks

First thing to do is go to the Pondini tips page, then follow the link to his full TM site for all the details.

If i have Time Machine backed up on an external hard drive, do i just plug the drive into another macbook pro and all my stuff is in the new computer? also, does it matter if the new computer is running Lion when the backed up info came from Snow Leopard

If i have Time Machine backed up on an external hard drive, do i just plug the drive into another macbook pro and all my stuff is in the new computer? Also, does it matter if the new computer is running Lion when the backed up info came from Snow Leopard 10.6.8?

No and Yes
Don't use TM for this purpose, clone your drive to an external, plug the external into another MBP and reboot from it. Please note that booting a machine that came with Lion may not be possible from a drive with Snow Leopard.

HT201250 I have thousands of pictures on my Mac. If something happens to my Mac I don't want them lost. I do time machine back ups to an external hard drive once a week. Is this good enough for making sure my pictures don't ever get lost?

I have thousands of photos on my Mac. If something happens to my Mac obviously, I don't want to lose the photos. I do Time Machine back ups to an external hard drive once a week. Is this good enough to make sure my pictures don't get lost?

tgs6164 wrote:
I have thousands of photos on my Mac. If something happens to my Mac obviously, I don't want to lose the photos. I do Time Machine back ups to an external hard drive once a week. Is this good enough to make sure my pictures don't get lost?
Purchase a couple of these when they go on sale.
Start burning all the photos onto DVDs.
At least you'll have all your photos if your computer, time machine or any other backup you use goes bonkers.

How can I get Time Machine to back up an external hard drive (iPhotos) that is attached to airport extreme base station. Note: Time machine is usb to macbook pro and external drive with iphotos is usb to airport extreme base station. Help please. Thanks!

How can I get Time Machine to back up an external hard drive (iPhotos) that is attached to airport extreme base station. Note: Time machine is usb to macbook pro and external drive with iphotos is usb to airport extreme base station. Help please. Thanks!

Once you have the drive connected to your Mac, click System Preferences (gear icon) on the dock
Click Time Machine
Click Options
Be default, the hard drive will be Excluded from backups. Click the drive to highlight it, then click the "-" (minus) button at the bottom of the list to remove the drive from Excluded items.
The drive will be backed up on the next Time Machine pass
Everything above assumes that the hard drive has been formatted in Mac OS Extended (Journaled) as Time Machine will only backup drives in that format.

HT201250 Time machine back up using a external hard drive connected to the Airport extreme

How can I setup a time machine back up using a external hard drive connected to the Airport extreme? Even better for time managment purposes I want to use the Eithernet Thunderbolt connection for the first back up and then through the wifi there after for daily routine Time Machine back ups.

You can attach a hard drive, but Time Machine backups to a drive at the USB port at the AirPort Extreme are not supported by Apple, so it's not possible to say what your actual results might be.
If you decide to try this, it would be wise to have a secondary backup plan in place as well.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.6/en/15139.html

Time machine doesn't see my external hard drive.

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