Time Machine drive icon greyed out in Disk utility

Hi I'm using a 1TB WD Electronics external drive which is partitioned (265GIG used so far)
Macbook Pro btw
i use one half as a regular external drive and one half to take care of TM back ups
i recently plugged in the drive and the Time Machine back up has failed and there's no TM icon on the desktop and the TM partition is greyed out in Disk utility
i've turned TM off at the moment
any ideas to get TM running again?
thanks
Sam

Disconnect the drive and reconnect it. Any change? If not, test it with another Mac.

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Time machine greyed out in disk utility

I want to erase a time machine backup to use the HD on a different system, yet it's greyed out in disk utility.
The HD still works fine and I can restore files from it and time machine itself still works backing up to it.
I cannot however erase it using disk utility.
Here's a screenshot.
What am I doing wrong?

You've got other problems in addition to the Erase being grayed out.
The menu icons at the top are not right either. The Info, Burn and Eject menu items should be active also.
I'd suggest quitting Disk Utility, reboot your system and trying again.
Post back if that doesn't fix it.
regards

HT1379 I had to restart by resetting the NVRAM/PRAM. Now I have a window showing OS X Utilities. My options are restore from Time Machine Backup (which I could do), Disk Utility to repair or erase, get help online or reinstall OS X. What should I do?

I had to restart by resetting the NVRAM/PRAM. Now I have a window showing OS X Utilities. My options are restore from Time Machine Backup (which I could do), Disk Utility to repair or erase, get help online or reinstall OS X. What should I do? The problem began when I tried to restart my computer and the only thing I saw was the grey screen, Apple logo, and the timer; the computer wouldn't restart from there.

I searched through trouble shooting options on the Apple Support page and was able to make it this far.

Grey bar at startup - Mac HD is greyed out in Disk Utility - Can't be repaired? Need to salvage my data!

Mac Book Pro -
My MacBook Pro (2008 Model) has been unable to start up - upon the start up screen when the grey Apple logo appears, I get a loading bar below it.
After about 15-20 minutes when the bar is almost complete the machine shuts off. There seems to be no way around it.
So I booted up my laptop in recovery mode, and opened Disk Utility to check my if there was something wrong with my drives -
my Macintosh HD (under the TOSHIBA drive) is greyed out. When I hit verify/repair it returns error messages and it remains greyed out.
I tried multiple times and a few times it stopped being greyed out on the sidebar, but even then it wouldn't let me verify or repair.
Not backing up my data recently is my obvious fault here, but I just wanted to know if there is ANY way to salvage my data.
Things I've tried:
1) Recovery Mode
     -Veryify/Disk Repair doesn't work
     -Time Machine can't seem to access my HD either (greyed out)
2) TargetDisk mode
     -I connected my MacBook Pro via firewire to my Mac Pro in TargetDisk mode and no Hardrive shows up on my finder.
Any advice appreciated, going to try and take it to a tech shop on Monday.
Thank you!

I would take out the HDD and install it in an enclosure and then connect that to the Mac Pro and see if there is any success.
If not, then look for data recovery software on the Internet. Most will have a 'trial' version that will indicate if the software will be successful or not, so you do not have to commit funds without knowing if it will work or not.
The last option is a professional recovery service. There will be no guarantees of success and the costs will be very high.
Ciao.

Brand new Mac, had to erase drive through disk utility as time machine back up failed. Now disk utility only has the option to install Mountain Lion which my Mac won't allow. Anyone any ideas as my Mac won't load anything up but disc utility!

Brand new Mac, had to erase drive through disk utility as time machine back up failed on initial setup, USB cable popped out Now can only access disk utility as won't load to log in screen. The only has the option in disc utility is to re-install Mountain Lion which my Mac won't allow or loading another time machine back up but after an hour of it processing, that didn't resolve the issue either! The time machine back up is the latest back up of my Mac Book Pro which was using OS X Maverix. I'm guessing I'm going to have to take my Mac to the store but that would be a hassle so does anyone have any ideas?

Follow this guide using another Mac.
Insert your newly created Mavericks USB into you Mac, press the power button and then hold down 'option,' until it gives you an option to boot from the USB. You will then be able to erase the internal disk with Disk Utility and reinstall Mavericks straight after.
After that you should be able to use Migration Assistant to restore your applications and user data.

Time Machine drive reporting more and more disk space available

OK, so I've been using Time Machine since 28-OCT-2007 and all my backups are present. I have watched my TMDrive (Buffalo 500GB Fire Wire) report as little as 20GB available and slowly over the past 30 or so days report 205.42 GB now available. Any sizable downloading I do is pointed at another external HDD and that is listed in the Do NOt Backup list. I understand how hourly and daily works, but to see such drastic swing in available disk space seems a bit odd. Has anyone else seen this?
Message was edited by: brenodo

Brenodo,
As backups are thinned, you will see a reduction in the amount of space used on the TM drive. This is entirely normal. Keep in mind that TM is designed to maintain a "restorable" copy of your system, and all of your user files, past and present. This represents a discreet amount of data which is only added to in small increments, really... as you say, any large downloads are going to a dedicated external.
While TM might temporarily use much more disk space to manage its backups, the thinning process will eventually weed out everything that is unnecessary, as you are now seeing. I wouldn't be surprised if you begin to see the free space being used again, at some point, and the cycle will begin anew.
Scott

When trying to format my internal hard drive, it's greyed out in Disk utility?

I'm trying ot format my computer and wipe everything off before giving it away, but Disk Utility has everything greyed out and won't let me choose my hard drive. I have the original CD and everything that came with the computer. How do I fix this fast?

Clean Install of Snow Leopard
Be sure to make a backup first because the following procedure will erase
the drive and everything on it.
     1. Boot the computer using the Snow Leopard Installer Disc or the Disc 1 that came
         with your computer. Insert the disc into the optical drive and restart the computer.
         After the chime press and hold down the "C" key. Release the key when you see
         a small spinning gear appear below the dark gray Apple logo.
     2. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue
         button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu.
         After DU loads select the hard drive entry from the left side list (mfgr.'s ID and drive
         size.) Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window. Set the number of
         partitions to one (1) from the Partitions drop down menu, click on Options button
         and select GUID, click on OK, then set the format type to MacOS Extended
         (Journaled, if supported), then click on the Apply button.
     3. When the formatting has completed quit DU and return to the installer. Proceed
         with the OS X installation and follow the directions included with the installer.
     4. When the installation has completed your computer will Restart into the Setup
         Assistant. Be sure you configure your initial admin account with the exact same
         username and password that you used on your old drive. After you finish Setup
         Assistant will complete the installation after which you will be running a fresh
         install of OS X. You can now begin the update process by opening Software
         Update and installing all recommended updates to bring your installation current.
Download and install Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1.

Time Machine... out of disk space on day one--what to do?

I have spent hours identifying items to exclude on my Mac Pro... then I got one good backup of say 800 or so GB... then I replaced all of my HDs with larger drives but with the same data and drive name and now Time Machine wants a lot more disk space to do the next update (backup).... apparently, although TM seemed to be doing other backups (before the HD upgrade) it seems that it cannot automatically delete what it needs...
How can I start fresh? Is there a way to tell TM to recycle the backup?
Can Time Machine write to a second disk... as an overflow backup drive?
I need like a 2 or 3TB Time Capsule.... what to do?
Thanks,
Robert

Robert Broussard wrote:
I have spent hours identifying items to exclude on my Mac Pro... then I got one good backup of say 800 or so GB... then I replaced all of my HDs with larger drives but with the same data and drive name and now Time Machine wants a lot more disk space to do the next update (backup).... apparently, although TM seemed to be doing other backups (before the HD upgrade) it seems that it cannot automatically delete what it needs...
If you want it to backup new drives, it's going to backup everything on them (unless you re-entered them, the previous exclusions apply to the previous drives.) Just because they contain copies of the same files, to TM, it's all new. You don't say how big your TM drive is, but if it's 1 tb with 800 gb already used, there isn't much space left.
How can I start fresh? Is there a way to tell TM to recycle the backup?
Don't know what you mean by "recycle", but most likely you need to erase your TM drive (with Disk Utility) and let TM do a new, full backup.
Can Time Machine write to a second disk... as an overflow backup drive?
I think so. You need to set them up as a single RAID volume. Browse or search this forum, as there was a post about this in the last few days, with specific instructions.

Volumes Greyed out in disk utility

tried to do averify and repair disk when it finished the volumes/partitions are greyed out

Where are you running Disk Utility from - the boot
system, or an installation disk?
from the actual system yea, I understand about thenot being able to unmount a volume you are on but the disks that were doing it were not the system disk so I was able to do repair and verify disk to mount/unmount, they would go through fine but the volume would stay greyed out not the actual disk itself. One is a int HD the other was a ext FW 400 drive. I have haad a lot fo problems laltely so if you want to read all the thiings that have happened here they are. OH thanks so much for your help
OK before I forget the way all this happened I will write it all down so here it is.
I was trying to hook up a ethernet conn to a muse receptor (music gear)I realized after I wasnt successful setting it up that my main Macintosh HD was missing from the desktop , When I would do a search I would see it and could acess it but it was greyed out. I did repair perm it was ok. I tried moving it to the sidebar ,no luck. I then installed a OS x on an ext HD and repaired and verified the disc that way to unount and remount all was good. WEnt back to real Os ,still not there. Then SOmeone in an email said to run a apple script
"System Events"
set visible of (choose folder with invisibles) to false
end tell when I did I then realized that now my other HD is missing from my desktop and I also accidentally made it go poof from the side bar too. now if I go to finder and try to hit show HD nothing happened.
SOMEONE PLEASE HELP!
More info if I do command shift G for , /Volumes/Macintosh HD/ it goes to a shortcut for it and if I do it for the Audi HD I get a short cut to it but this time it is a network shortcut icon
Also My iDisk which I never use is stuck on my desktop and cant get rid of it
I think what happened is maybe I got my user and my main hard drive volume switched up cause if I look into that Macintosh HD and go to users/myname/desktop it looks the same as my current desktop
OBviously these are all guesses
Update
Now when I hit the audio shortcut Icon it says it cant be found and to insert the disk or connect to the sever volume and wait for it to appear on the desktop
Matt

Time Machine HD does not appear in Disk Utility

Hello,
I used Time Machine towards the end of 2007 on an external SATA HD through USB 2.0. I would frequently turn it on and let it do its thing and shut it off. One day I attempted to use Time Machine and it did not mount on my desktop. I've been searching around trying to discover a solution to this problem without any success. The HD does not show up in Disk Utility nor does it show up in XP when it is connected to my mobo with SATA. I did manage to see it under "Disk Management" in XP but was unable to assign it a drive letter. It showed the amount of space used but other than that I haven't been able to get it to work. I have since purchased a larger HD for time machine and all I really want to do is transfer over the contents of the currently non-working HD to the new HD and then format the old one. I'm asking around to see if any of my friends have an external SATA enclosure so I can find out if it is the enclosure or the HD but in the mean time is there anything I can do in Leopard (or Windows XP) to find out if the information is on the HD or if the HD is damaged?

I am sorry - I simply do not understand your instructions!
I have 2 Time Capsules and have been using both. However a few days ago they quit working. I have had to turn off Time Machine because I am getting hourly alerts that back-up failed because there is not enough space. It does not delete old backups to provide additional space. I am willing to erase both to try to get them working again but I cannot figure out how to erase and setup the drives. Hence I turned Time Machine off.
There is nothing wrong with the MBP internal hard drive. "Sparse bundle" is total Greek to me! My wifi network appears to be working properly. The internal HD is mounted in Disk Utilities and verified as working properly. I am a long time user of Apple but I am still a novice (Level 1)!
Perhaps I should start a new thread.

Mac HD greyed out in Disk Utility

Hey,
This all started after Mountain Lion, which slowed down my MacBook a lot. I tried to do a clean install and reformat my HD, and doing so it removed the partition already on it. When I went to restore the HD, every option is greyed out except for Verify and Repair Disk (which I have clicked on numerous times to no avail). I cannot even add a partition to the Hard Drive. This Hard Drive worked fine until I clicked erase (in which it gave me an error), and I just want to create another partition (which is also greyed out).
I don't care if everything gets erased, frankly I just want my Mac back to normal. I do have a Mountain Lion USB, but that does squat. Thank you Mountain Lion by the way for this long day in which my Mac still isn't fixed.
Any help is appreciated, I am new to Mac, just moved from PC which looks pretty good right about now.

While we all have MacBooks in this forum most of us don’t run Mountain Lion. There's a Mountain Lion Support Community where everybody has Mountain Lion. You should also post this question there to increase your chances of getting an answer. https://discussions.apple.com/community/mac_os/os_x_mountain_lion

Mac HD option greyed out in Disk Utility

Hey,
This all started after Mountain Lion, which slowed down my MacBook a lot. I tried to do a clean install and reformat my HD, and doing so it removed the partition already on it. When I went to restore the HD, every option is greyed out except for Verify and Repair Disk (which I have clicked on numerous times to no avail). I cannot even add a partition to the Hard Drive. This Hard Drive worked fine until I clicked erase (in which it gave me an error), and I just want to create another partition (which is also greyed out).
I don't care if everything gets erased, frankly I just want my Mac back to normal. I do have a Mountain Lion USB, but that does squat. Thank you Mountain Lion by the way for this long day in which my Mac still isn't fixed.
Any help is appreciated, I am new to Mac, just moved from PC which looks pretty good right about now.

Old
look my 0 partition. It is the internal. The 2 is my drive.
Can't had a partition. the 0 guid options partition are all greyed out.
Notice that stars beside the 750?
Everything work great. I just can't add a partition.
Can't resize?
Am I booting from EFI?
/dev/disk0
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *750.2 GB   disk0
   1:                        EFI                         209.7 MB   disk0s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS Mac OSX                 749.8 GB   disk0s2

Moutain Lion Time Machine Backup To WHS 2011 Via Disk Utility Image On Windows Share?

I read that with Lion you could do a Time Machine backup to a network share on Windows Home Server 2011. I read you could create a image file via Disk Utility that would be placed on the network share, but mounted as a regular disk in Mac. I think I read this method no longer works on Moutain Lion though. Has anyone tried it? I'm setting up a new Mac Mini and would like to do time machine backups to my WHS 2011 drivepool. If it is possible great, any way to use the backup for bare metal restores as well? (ether across the network, or putting that image file on a usb drive first etc) I use bootcamp to go back and forth on my Mac Mini, but I'd like to keep things backed up on the Mac side via standard time machine.

I re-googled and found something I read about a few days ago that shows how it was done in Lion:
http://basilsalad.com/how-to/create-time-machine-backup-network-drive-lion/
I think maybe I found someone that tells how to do it:
http://www.jamesbadger.ca/2012/09/12/mountain-lion-time-machine-over-afp-auto-mo unt-edition/
The question is, how do I use this backup for a baremetal restore then? I'm assuming I would do a generic Mountain Lion restore, and then just restore over the network after I manually re-mount the image again first.
Does this sound like a real option/solution? Looks like maybe I answered my own question, but I'd like to hear anyone else confirm it works and is worth trying.
So my goal is to do a time machine backup over the network to a windows machine.
If it's not possible, I guess I'll have to break down and plug in an external USB drive, but I'd still like to know if it's possible for another friend as well.

Time Machine vs. Carbon Copy Cloner & Disk Utility

I have an iMac 320GB whereof 50GB are used (no partitions). I am using Time Machine on a 500GB external HD.
As I want to have at least 2 copies of my entire system, I have also been considering using Carbon Copy Cloner (CCC) for bootable backups.
Or would you rather suggest using Disk Utility and the restore option for copying the system to an external HD? Is it the same copying procedure (bootable backup) like CCC?
Any suggestions?
I own:
iMac 320GB (system)
LaCie 500GB (whole disk used for Time Machine)
LaCie 250GB (empty at the moment)
LaCie 160GB (multimedia storage)
Thank you
Message was edited by: airwalker

CCC would be MUCH easier to use than Disk Utility-it has an incremental feature where it only backs up what's changed between the backups, and it can be scheduled.
You should probably have 2 separate external drives- 1 for TM, and 1 for CCC (the TM one should be at LEAST 2-3 times the storage space used, and the CCC drive should be 320 GB if you want a "block level" -and faster-copy. If you don't want the block level copy, it can be smaller.)
Good luck!

Permissions buttons greyed out in disk utility

In the disk utility, the "verify permissions" and "repair permissions" buttons are greyed out no matter which disk is selected in the left-hand pane. Does anyone know why this is so and/or what alternative ways there are of repairing permissions?
The problem persists whether I start the computer from the recovery system (command-r) or not.
Thanks.

Hi again and thanks for bearing with me!
I haven't done any cleanup, however there are only a couple of files in /Library/Receipts/, all very old, so I'm guessing the receipts are kept elsewhere after OS X 10.5, since the KB article you referred me to explicitly refers to pre- 10.5 systems.
The disk utility log in console and the info in the disk utility itself both give exactly the same info, which is basically what you’ve given:
          Owners Enabled :           Yes
          Can Turn Owners Off :           Yes
          Can Repair Permissions :           Yes
          Can Be Verified :           Yes
          Can Be Repaired :           Yes
          Can Be Formatted :           Yes
          Bootable :           Yes
          Supports Journaling :           Yes
          Journaled :           Yes
          Disk Number :           0
          Partition Number :           2
If I understand correctly, this would all mean that I should be able to click “verify permissions” in the disk utility, but for some mysterious reason I cannot.
However, in the KB article (http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1452) I notice it says “While started from an installation disc in Mac OS X v10.5 and later, a user's home directory permissions can be reset using the "Reset Password" utility.” Does this mean that if I use the reset password utility I can reset permissions and therefore not need to use the repair permissions function of the disk utility? Or is this something completely unrelated to what I’m trying to do?
I really appreciate your help very much - the only reason I wanted to repair permissions was that it was one of the recommended solutions to a problem I’ve had with microsoft office, which thankfully has now been solved after reinstalling os x and office, but it still bugs me that the option to repair permissions seems unavailable!
Anyway, it's not the end of the world if it can't be solved, you've helped me learn a lot in the process!
George

Time Machine drive icon greyed out in Disk utility

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