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.

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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

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 second internal drive; want to back it up too

I have a Mac Pro with two internal hard drives. I didn't have anything on the second drive before, but now since my first drive is getting full I transferred about 170GB onto my 500MB drive. I can't figure out how to back up this drive onto my Time Machine drive and have spent 45 minutes looking through topics.
I checked in Disk Utility and the 2nd drive is Mac OS Extended (Journaled). I go into System Preferences Time Machine and it only asks which drives to Exclude, not Include. There doesn't seem to be a way to add another drive. Can anybody help me?
Thanks!

Time Machine should be backing up all connected drives unless you tell it otherwise. Did you take a look through your backups?
Try a +Backup Now+ and see if the drive gets backed up.
Is the TM drive or this drive formatted as "case-sensitive"?
~Lyssa

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 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.

I have the new iPad and am looking at this product as a external hard drive (Can I pictures /videos or any other file wirelessly to the conected hard drive attached to the airport ????

CAn I write files to the hard drive conected to the airport extreme?

It is technically possible, but not out of the box - and limited.
How-to:
Once you have setup the USB-Drive on the Aiport Extreme and configured sharing you need an app on the iPhone/iPad. I have successfully used "GoodReader". However there might be others/better.
(In Goodreader the Airport Extreme should show up on the right hand bottom as AFP if your iPad and Airport Extreme are on the same WLAN.)
The limit however is:
- Works ONLY with files IN the Goodreader app (NO iPhotos, iBooks, ...)
- can only MOVE files/folders to/from the harddisk or delete them (can automatically sync, which might be nice)
- can NOT open files ON the harddisk - needs to download to iPad first
- can NOT create folders on the harddisk either
- nor can you move them around on the harddisk, it's always download/upload to the iPad first
Unfortunately I haven't found anything better. From memory:
Samsungs Goflex Satellite and Kensingtons Wi...something (could be wifi, not sure now) can only "stream" stuff to the iPad - and they too need an(other) app for that!
However if somebody knows anything better - I'd be eager to know, :-)

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 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.

HT3275 Time Machine doesn't see the back-up disk

Time Machine doesn't see the back-up disk after I've logged off and then back on, even though the disk is available to the iMac 24/7. Turning the disk off and then on in the current session works, but this seems to defeat the purpose of an unattended back-up disk. I can't find a setting that ensures the back-up disk is recognized after log-in or restart. Is there a solution?

Is this Mountain Lion??
It seems to have made some changes that make the disk drop out.. it does this even if you are continually connected to the TC and we don't have a solution yet.
For your login issue, is the TC using a disk password.. or are you setting it to default? Could you try just turning on the guest account in the TC to read and write access and see if this helps. Tell us how it goes.
There is another fix.. but it involves using disconnect all users from v5 airport utility.. Apple removed the function in v6.
If you are on Lion or Mountain Lion even you can install the v5 utility.
How to load 5.6 into ML.
1. Download 5.6 for Lion.
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1482
Click to open the dmg but do not attempt to install the pkg.. it won't work anyway.
2. Download and install unpkg.
http://www.timdoug.com/unpkg/
Run unpkg on the desktop.. it is very simple.. drag the AirPortUtility56.pkg file over to unpkg.. and it will create a new directory of the same name on the desktop.. drill down.. applications utilities .. there lo and behold is Airport utility 5.6 .. drag it to your main utilities directory or just run it from current location.
You cannot uninstall 6.1 so don't try.. and you cannot or should not run them both at the same time.. so just ignore the toyland version.. the plastic hammer.. and start using 5.6.. a real tool.

I purchased Apple TV. I had to upgrade my OS to Lion which I did. I cannot get Lion to open because time machine is backing up to two hard drives, my external hard drive and my internal hard drive. How do I just get the backups going to the external? thx

I have a desktop Mac. I bought Apple tv and wanted to connect my photos to the tv. I learned that I had to upgrade my OS as I didn't have icloud capability. I purchased and downloaded Lion. I cannot open it however, because when I go to select the hard drive to install Lion onto, the dialogue box says that I cannot open it in either my external hard drive or the internal hard drive because of the backups to time machine. I have tried the 'fix' of moving the backup folder to the trash and then putting it on the desktop, but I still can't access either one of the drives to install Lion. Any suggestions? Thanks.

The current OS is Mountain Lion 10.8.3, so I if the purchase was recent, that is what you should have.
It should be possible to see what disk space is being used by opening the Disk Utlity in the Applications>Utilities folder. It looks like both disks are set as TM disks:
If you have Time Machine backup of both the internal and external disks and want to rationalise the system to only backup one, then set the TM preferences>options to exclude volumes as required:
When you download the installer from the Apple Store (MAS) it will come up with a dialogue to run it. It will then ask which disk you wish to install the system on. Is this where you have got to, before it says they are both unavailable?

Time Machine doesn't see internal disk

Hi,
I did a backup on an external disk, but obviously I did something wrong. Now I can't back up on my internal disk because Time Machine doesn't see it. What can I do to make it work again? (The backups on external disk work out fine though, it's just that there is no way to select the internal disk as the main backup because it doesn't show on the "select disk" option...)
Thanks!

Sorry but your picture is not presenting.. it is not your fault.. it will present on your computer but not on other computers.
If I try and download the picture it is 209bytes.. clearly too small. This is trying to open your picture.
This picture showing the failure is normal screenshot.. does it show for you??
I have suggested reducing the file name.. pic1.png as I think the long names with spaces could be an issue.
Here is the same picture with the name changed.
You cannot select the source disk for the target in TM.
Here is mine.. the source disk is never ever listed as available to use as a target.

Time Machine doesn't see MyBook Live NAS.

I just got a new SMC-D3GNV gateway from Comcast and now Time Machine doesn't see my NAS MyBook Live. I can access all my files on the MyBook Live via finder. Also, all software/firmware is current. Any idea's?

mwithers wrote:
I know variations on this question have been asked many times before, but I've just read many of those threads, and I don't see an answer.
Time Machine does not see my La Cie Network Space NAS and neither does Disk Utility (the La Cie support pages imply that it should, believe it or not).
If your Mac can contact the NAS, it should appear in a Finder sidebar (if your Finder preferences are set for that). If you can set Time Machine up to back up to it, it will create a +sparse bundle+ on it. That sparse bundle, when mounted, will appear in Disk Utility's sidebar, and you can do a +*Repair Disk+* on it. Otherwise, no, Disk Utility won't see network drives.
Does not matter if it is connected via WiFi or directly through ethernet. I suspect this means that it is not Mac OS extended formatted, and not formattable (by Disk Utility) either.
Correct; Disk Utility can't format a network drive.
Review the LaCie specs and setup instructions carefully. My quick read on their site does not turn up any claim that it's Time Machine compatible, though.
Can you return it?

I just had to reformat the external hard drive that houses my iPhoto library, then restore it from a backup. Now Time Machine is telling me my backup hard drive suddenly does not have the space to complete a backup. I also noticed when I go in to Time Mac

I just had to reformat the external hard drive that houses my iPhoto library, then restore it from a backup. Now Time Machine is telling me my backup hard drive suddenly does not have the space to complete a backup. I also noticed when I go in to Time Machine, there are only about 5 backups recorded on the ext. hard drive. There were many more before. Any idea what happened and if I have to buy a new back up hard drive?

Hallo Kieth ,
I am not quite ready to restore the full iphoto library , as I have days of work re - imputting titles,descriptions and enhancement . I hope that your suggestion works , as I use my Macbook basically to work with digital photography. Through time , I will need to delete my library to recover more disc space and I would hate to have to spend more time re - imputting titles and descriptions all over again .
Thanks for your interest and advice.
regards - Alan

I have a time machine backup file on a USB hard drive. I bought a time capsule / airport extreme, flat 3TB. I wish to transfer the backup file from the usb hard drive to the time capsule hard drive. 10.6.8

I have a time machine backup file on a USB hard drive. I bought a time capsule / airport extreme, flat 3TB. I wish to transfer the backup file from the usb hard drive to the time capsule hard drive. 10.6.8

Unfortunately, Time Machine backups that are stored on a drive that has been connected directly to a Mac are completely different than Time Machine backups that are stored on a Time Capsule.
Frankly, it is not worth the effort and trouble to try to transfer the old backups to the new Time Capsule.....my opinion....having done this in the past.
It is possible though, but I would not recommend it due to the complexity and downsides involved with this. To give you an idea of how to do this, check out this support article.
http://pondini.org/TM/18.html
Even if you transfer the "old" backups over to the Time Capsule successfully, Time Machine will not simply "add on" to the old backups.
Time Machine will make a new complete backup of your Mac and then add incremental backups from that point.
My advice.....start a new backup on the Time Capsule and move forward. Keep the USB hard drive around for a month, maybe 2 or 3 in case you need to go back to an old backup for some reason. At that time, you will not likely need the old backups at all since you will have a current 2-3 month history of new backups. At that point, you can erase the USB drive and use it for another purpose.

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

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