Having an issue backing up using time machine

[Hustler]

Hello all. I'm a new mac user, and have a 2nd hand mbp running SL 10.6.8. I copied all my info from my last pc onto a WD my passport that I reformatted into ExFat. I have been able to transfer over what I've needed to so far.

However my issue is now I'm wanting to set up a backup from my new to me mbp with time machine and its saying the Exfat is an incompatible file structure and must be reformatted.

I thought mac and pc could both read and write to Exfat. Am I missing something here or doing it wrong?

Thank you for any advice.

Brad

 

[justperry]

Hello all. I'm a new mac user, and have a 2nd hand mbp running SL 10.6.8. I copied all my info from my last pc onto a WD my passport that I reformatted into ExFat. I have been able to transfer over what I've needed to so far.

However my issue is now I'm wanting to set up a backup from my new to me mbp with time machine and its saying the Exfat is an incompatible file structure and must be reformatted.

I thought mac and pc could both read and write to Exfat. Am I missing something here or doing it wrong?

Thank you for any advice.

Brad

If I were you I would just use Carbon Copy Cloner, it's free up until 3.4.7 and you can also have multiple schedules, like once a day for the home folder and once a week for the whole System, and, CCC creates a bootable backup as an added extra so if something is wrong with your System you're up in mere minutes instead of hours.

I thought ExFat could be used, might be because you have an older OS that it is not compatible.

 

[Bear]

...
However my issue is now I'm wanting to set up a backup from my new to me mbp with time machine and its saying the Exfat is an incompatible file structure and must be reformatted.

I thought mac and pc could both read and write to Exfat. Am I missing something here or doing it wrong?
...

Yes Mac can handle Exfat, however, it's not supported for Time Machine. You need to use "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" for the file system format for the Time Machine drive.

 

[Hustler]

Thank you for the replies.
So is there any benefit or downside of using time machine vs carbon copy? Do they both achieve the same thing? I'd rather not reformat this newer external hard drive again to that just incase I need to get something off my old (or other) windows machines in the future.

Brad

 

[Bear]

Thank you for the replies.
So is there any benefit or downside of using time machine vs carbon copy? Do they both achieve the same thing? I'd rather not reformat this newer external hard drive again to that just incase I need to get something off my old (or other) windows machines in the future.

Brad

Carbon Copy Cloner also requires "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" for the file system format. It may have an option to work on other file system formats, but in that case it would not be bootable.

I use Time Machine, Some people do both Time Machine and Carbon Copy Cloner to have backups done 2 different ways with one of them being bootable for emergency use. And of course the backups being on 2 different disks gives more protection.

Your needs will dictate what you should use. Also, expect to have to pay for Carbon Copy Cloner since the last free version will eventually not work on a future OS X update.