Regular backup to Seagate GoFlex drive

[Lenoxus]

I have a MacBook 4,1 with OS 10.5.8. I also have a 500GB external drive made by Seagate, called a GoFlex. Over 400GB of it is free, and it has the ability to be accessed by my iPad over wifi, and I also use it to back up files from a Windows laptop.

On my MacBook, there are a few folders that I would like to back up on a regular basis to the GoFlex. The main problem is that Time Machine does not recognize the GoFlex at all, even though the drive's icon appears on my MacBook's desktop. Furthermore, I don't want to reformat the GoFlex in any way because I'd like to retain its usability with those other two devices.

So in short, I need to either get Time Machine to recognize the drive and not reformat it, or I need some alternative. Does anyone have suggestions?

 

[Weaselboy]

Time Machine requires the destination drive formatted in HFS+ (Mac OS Extended in Disk Utility). I am not aware of a Mac backup utility that will backup to a FAT32 partition (which is likely what you now have on the Seagate).

What I would do is create a HFS+ partition on the Seagate used only for Time Machine, then leave another partition still in FAT32 to share files like you have been.

 

[Lenoxus]

Time Machine requires the destination drive formatted in HFS+ (Mac OS Extended in Disk Utility). I am not aware of a Mac backup utility that will backup to a FAT32 partition (which is likely what you now have on the Seagate).

What I would do is create a HFS+ partition on the Seagate used only for Time Machine, then leave another partition still in FAT32 to share files like you have been.

Ah, good idea. Will do so. Thanks!