new WD external HD...help! all WD USERS OPEN!!!

[bluedoggiant]

Ok, i got the HD, opened it, want so happy at first, but i think this machine is great, its a WD 500GB my book studio edition, it came with to things, a button manager, and this anywhere backup thing, im guessing i dont need the anywhere backup thing because its a software that backs up for you, but im using it with Time Machine, but that button manager thing, is that necessary, do i need to install it?

 

[bjett92]

If you are using the drive for Time Machine only I would say no because Time Machine will completely wipe the drive when you start backing up. I know when I get my WD mybook 500gb esential edition, I did not install any software and Time Machine works great.

 

[bluedoggiant]

If you are using the drive for Time Machine only I would say no because Time Machine will completely wipe the drive when you start backing up. I know when I get my WD mybook 500gb esential edition, I did not install any software and Time Machine works great.

will time machine automatically format the drive? i do not need to install the apps that are on it?

 

[bjett92]

when i connected my drive and set time machine to use it for backups, Time Machine said the drive needs to be formatted for backups and automatically formated it and started backing up

 

[Eidorian]

will time machine automatically format the drive? i do not need to install the apps that are on it?

http://guides.macrumors.com/Formatting_an_External_Device

It's not that hard to do it yourself. Time Machine will ask you to format a non-HFS+ drive.

 

[bluedoggiant]

http://guides.macrumors.com/Formatting_an_External_Device

It's not that hard to do it yourself. Time Machine will ask you to format a non-HFS+ drive.

so im asking, is the software that comes with it, is it important, i should i just forget about it?

 

[bjett92]

i would say just forget about it. Set it up for time machine now and if for some reason it doesn't work then try installing the software and see what happens. But first, try w/o the software.

 

[Eidorian]

so im asking, is the software that comes with it, is it important, i should i just forget about it?

You can save it if you want. I'd make sure if WD has it on their site as well.

There's no reason to keep it if you're just going to use Time Machine.

 

[philburtfarm]

New WD external Drive

As a new Mac user, I am easily confused. I also just got a new 500 GB WD My Book and put it on my new machine. I hooked up the firewire and let it go. After a few tries it started to I guess Backup.....It determined that I had about 48 GB to back up and it took almost 12 hours for that to be done. I thought firewire connection was fast. Could I have hooked this up wrong?

Also I did download the WB Anywhere backup system later, does this mean that I now have 2 complete back-ups. I will surely fill the drive up fast doing this.

Can I somehow , uninstall, wipe the external drive and just start over again? I really don't want that long time backing up again if I can avoid it. or can I get rid of the WB backup, just use Time Machine?

Please advise??? I'm old,retired and so confused.

Thank you for your time and Have a Happy New Year.

philburtfarm