Backing up 10.4.11 to a Seagate GoFlex...

[nonarticulate]

I'm still running OS 10.4.11 after all these years, and I'm trying to finally start the gradual upgrading process. I have the Snow Leopard installation CD ready to go. But I know that I need to back up my hard drive before I install it.

So. I bought a Seagate GoFlex external drive. This one: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ls_o00_s00_i00

I'm trying to format it for my Mac, and that's the problem. The Mac Installer that comes on the drive refuses to launch. I get as far as seeing the icon in the Seagate Setup Assistant window, but when I click the MacInstall icon, nothing happens.

I tried using Disk Utility to format the drive, instead. I followed a guide that I found online and did these steps:

1. Went to the Partition tab.
2. Changed the Volume Scheme to 1 Partition.
3. Selected GUID Partition Table under the Options Tab.
4. Selected Mac OS Extended (Journaled) for the Format.
5. Clicked the Partition button.

And it tells me that the Partition failed with the error "Could not unmount the disk."

Now I'm at a loss. I don't know what to do, and any help would be greatly appreciated.

I may as well ask, while I'm at it, what's the best way to back up my whole hard drive once (if) I do get this Seagate thing to work. I have Carbon Copy Cloner downloaded already, and I was planning to use that.

[BrianBaughn]

What model Mac are you working on?

[nonarticulate]

Copy/pasted:

Model Name: MacBook
Model Identifier: MacBook2,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.16 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2

[BrianBaughn]

You're not doing it wrong. I think some externals have this issue. Try booting from the SL installation disk and running Disk Utility to format.

CCC is a great choice for cloning your current drive.

Have you upgraded the RAM in that MacBook? It can use as much as 3GB. You can put 4GB (2 x 2GB) with no issues, but the system will only access 3GB.

[nonarticulate]

Originally Posted by BrianBaughn

Try booting from the SL installation disk and running Disk Utility to format.

I'm going to sound like a moron here, but how do I do that? Just... insert the Snow Leopard disk? Also, would booting from the Snow Leopard disk run the risk of erasing my current Tiger hard drive? Because it's not backed up anywhere else, which is why I need this Seagate drive to work before messing with Snow Leopard.

And yeah, I was thinking about more RAM, but more down the line. I want to finish with Snow Leopard first.

[BrianBaughn]

The RAM would be due to getting SL. You're probably gonna hate it with 1GB RAM.

Put the disk in, restart and press and hold the "C" key. This will boot from the DVD.

You're safe. Don't run the installation. You'll see Disk Utility in one of the menus.

[nonarticulate]

Thanks! I'll try this out and see if it works for me.

[nonarticulate]

Success! I formatted the Seagate for Mac via the install disk and then backed up my hard drive with Carbon Copy Cloner. Now I feel much safer about upgrading from Tiger. Thanks for all the help!