Mac newbie setting up time machine.

Discussion in 'macOS' started by CanadianDonkey, Mar 30, 2008.

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  1. CanadianDonkey, Mar 30, 2008

    CanadianDonkey macrumors member

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    Feb 15, 2008
    #1
    Hello all.

    I'm new to the mac platform, and I'm trying to set up time machine.

    So, i open up the time machine program, and I'm presented with a switch to turn time machine on and off. and when I turn it on, it brings up a "Drive select" screen. Now, the problem is, I have a 500 GB HDD attatched via USB, but it doesn't appear.

    So....I have a external harddrive attached, Time machine won't allow me to back up to it.

    What do I do?
     
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  2. tersono, Mar 30, 2008

    tersono macrumors 68000

    tersono

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    #2
    Make sure the USB drive is Mac-formatted - if it's formatted as FAT or NTFS, Time Machine can't use it.
     
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  3. CanadianDonkey, Mar 30, 2008

    CanadianDonkey thread starter macrumors member

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    #3
    Alright, I formated it on a vista computer... how do I go about formating it once I hook it up to my mac?
     
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  4. richard.mac, Mar 30, 2008

    richard.mac macrumors 603

    richard.mac

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    #4
    OS X will do it for you if it asks if you would like to use the external drive for Time Machine. otherwise erase it with "Volume Format: Mac OS Extended (Journaled) in Disk Utility which is in the Utilities folder.
     
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