This is a limitation of the drive. Re-partition the drive back to one partition. For more information on how to partition the drive please follow Answer ID 3865: How. Format using disk utility on any Mac such as: Macbook Pro, iMac, macbook air, laptop mac, desktop, computer apple, macbook retina display, macbook air, mac mini, Mac Pro,iMac pro.
This answer explains how to format a WD drive for use on Windows and macOS.END External hard drives and external solid state drives come pre-formatted and ready for use. Internal HDD and internal SSD drives do not ship pre-formatted and will need to be Partitioned and formatted before being used. Please note the instructions do not differ when formatting different capacity sizes, this is not capacity specific. Critical: The instructions in the article below are designed to help repartition and format a hard drive. This process is Data Destructive and cannot be undone.
Once the process begins, ALL THE DATA ON THE DRIVE WILL BE LOST! Important: Please note if this is the first time connecting an external device to a macOS, there is a Reformatting Required for Mac OS Compatibility, please see. Select an Operating System (OS) Operating System Instructions Windows 10 and 8.1 Windows 7 and Windows Vista macOS 10.14.x (Mojave) macOS 10.13.x (High Sierra) macOS 10.11.x (El Capitan) and macOS 10.12.x (Sierra) macOS 10.9.x (Mavericks), and macOS 10.10.x (Yosemite) macOS 10.7.x (Lion), and macOS 10.8.x (Mountain Lion) Both Windows and macOS (exFAT & FAT32). APFS formatted volumes can be read by a macOS High Sierra (10.13), but not by a macOS Sierra (10.12) or earlier.
For more information, please refer to. If the following message occurs during the format procedure, MediaKit reports not enough space on device for requested operation. Operation failed., please refer to. For instructions to convert a drive to (APFS) Apple File System Format on macOS High Sierra (10.13), please refer to Important: If at any time an error occurs stating that the drive can not be dismounted or unmounted, this is not caused by an issue with the hard drive. Please see for additional information on this particular issue. How to Partition and Format a Drive on Windows 10 and 8.1 Partitioning a hard drive means preparing it to be used by the, creating a Volume for the OS to use. Formatting, however, deletes the content of a volume to clean it, and assigns a file system to it so that data can be moved into and out of the volume.
Both processes are normally done together. Critical: The instructions in the article below are designed to help repartition and format a hard drive. This process is Data Destructive and cannot be undone. Once the process begins, ALL THE DATA ON THE DRIVE WILL BE LOST! Windows 10 includes a built in utility known as Disk Management that can be used to partition and format a hard drive.
To partition and format the drive with Disk Management, follow these steps:. Right-click on Start, the Windows logo on the bottom-left of the screen, and click Disk Management.
In the Disk Management window, the lower pane will display a list of available drives. Identify the drive that needs to be partitioned and formatted, and make sure that all critical data on this drive has been backed up elsewhere. If there is already a partition on the drive, the bar above that drive will appear blue.
If there is no critical data on the drive, or the data has been successfully backed up, right-click the bar and click Delete Volume. Important: If Disk Management shows the drive as Not Initialized, the drive will have to be initialized. For assistance initializing a hard drive, please see. If there is no partition and data on the drive, it will appear as Unallocated, with a black bar on top. Right-click the Unallocated space or the black bar, and click New Simple Volume. The Welcome to the New Simple Volume Wizard will open.
Click Next to proceed. Choose the volume size and click Next.
By default, the maximum disk space is already selected and it is recommended to leave it at the maximum disk space. Note: To create multiple partitions, select or type a specific number of megabytes (MB) for the first partition and continue to the next step.
Once done with this process, the remaining space will display as unallocated space. Now, create another New Simple Volume in the remaining unallocated space for the next partition.
For example, on a 2TB drive, set the volume size to 1000000 (1 TB) and continue to the next step. When done, begin the New Simple Volume process again and select the remaining capacity, the unallocated space, for another 1TB partition. Assign a drive letter to represent the volume being created, and click Next.
By default, this is the next available letter. Next is the File System, which controls how the data is read and written. Set the file system to NTFS, which is the default Windows file system, and leave the Allocation unit size to Default.
The Volume Label field can be customized in order to give the volume a desired name, such as My Book or WD Black 1. Check the box labeled Perform a quick format and click Next. Click Finish to begin formatting the drive. When complete, the drive will appear with a blue bar as in the image below.
How to Partition and Format a Drive on Windows 8 or 8.1 Partitioning a hard drive means preparing it to be used by the, creating a Volume for the OS to use. Formatting, however, deletes the content of a volume to clean it, and assigns a file system to it so that data can be moved into and out of the volume. Both processes are normally done together. Critical: The instructions in the article below are designed to help repartition and format a hard drive. This process is Data Destructive and cannot be undone. Once the process begins, ALL THE DATA ON THE DRIVE WILL BE LOST! Windows 8 includes a built in utility known as Disk Management that can be used to partition and format a hard drive.
To partition and format the drive with Disk Management, follow these steps:. Right-click on the lower-left corner of the desktop screen and click Disk Management. In the Disk Management window, the lower pane will display a list of available drives. Identify the drive that needs to be partitioned and formatted, and make sure that all critical data on this drive has been backed up elsewhere. If there is already a partition on the drive, the bar above that drive will appear blue, which indicates the drive is already formatted and may contain data. If there is no critical data on the drive, or the data has been successfully backed up, right-click the bar and click Delete Volume.
Important: If Disk Management shows the drive as Not Initialized, the drive will have to be initialized. For assistance initializing a hard drive, please see. If there is no partition and data on the drive, it will appear as Unallocated, with a black bar on top. Right-click the Unallocated space or the black bar, and click New Simple Volume. Click Next to proceed. Choose the volume size and click Next. By default, the maximum disk space is already selected and it is recommended to leave it at the maximum disk space.
Note: To create multiple partitions, select or type a specific number of megabytes (MB) for the first partition and continue to the next step. Once done with this process, the remaining space will display as unallocated space. Now, create another New Simple Volume in the remaining unallocated space for the next partition. For example, on a 2TB drive, set the volume size to 1000000 (1 TB) and continue to the next step. When done, begin the New Simple Volume process again and select the remaining capacity, the unallocated space, for another 1TB partition.
Assign a drive letter to represent the volume being created, and click Next. By default, this is the next available letter. Next is the File System, which controls how the data is read and written. Set the file system to NTFS, which is the default Windows file system, and leave the Allocation unit size to Default. The Volume Label field can be customized in order to give the volume a desired name, such as My Passport or WD Black 1. Check the box labeled Perform a quick format and click Next.
Click Finish to begin formatting the drive. When complete, the drive will appear with a blue bar as in the image below. How to Partition and Format a Drive on Windows 7 and Windows Vista Critical: The instructions in the article below are designed to help repartition and format a hard drive. This process is Data Destructive and cannot be undone. Once the process begins, ALL THE DATA ON THE DRIVE WILL BE LOST! Windows includes a built in utility known as Disk Management that can be used to partition and format a hard drive.
To partition and format the drive with Disk Management, follow these steps:. Click on Start and right-click Computer. Click on Manage. A window called Computer Management will open, displaying two panes. On the left-side pane, under Storage, click on Disk Management.
This will load Disk Management on the right-side pane. Disk Management will proceed to display all the hard drives detected by Windows.
The window may need to be maximized in order to see all the drives listed. The lower pane will display a list of available drives. Identify the drive that needs to be partitioned and formatted. It typically has a black bar indicating unallocated space. Important: If Disk Management shows the drive as Not Initialized, the drive will have to be initialized. For assistance initializing a hard drive, please see.
If there is already a partition on the drive, the bar above that drive will appear blue. This indicates that the drive is already formatted and may contain data. Make sure that all critical data on this drive has been backed up elsewhere. When ready to proceed, right-click on the blue bar and choose Delete Volume. The bar should now be black. Right-click on the unallocated space or the black bar to see a menu of available options, and click on New Simple Volume.
The Welcome to the New Simple Volume Wizard will appear. Left-click on Next to proceed to the next screen. Choose the volume size and click Next. By default, the maximum disk space is already selected and it is recommended to leave it at the maximum disk space. Note: To create multiple partitions, select or type a specific number of megabytes (MB) for the first partition and continue to the next step. Once done with this process, the remaining space will display as unallocated space. Now, create another New Simple Volume in the remaining unallocated space for the next partition.
For example, on a 2TB drive, set the volume size to 1000000 (1 TB) and continue to the next step. When done, begin the New Simple Volume process again and select the remaining capacity, the unallocated space, for another 1TB partition. Assign a drive letter to represent the volume being created, and click Next. By default, this is the next available letter.
Next is the File System, which controls how to data is read and written. Set the file system to NTFS, which is the default Windows file system, and set Allocation unit size to Default. The Volume Label field can be customized in order to give the volume a desired name, such as My Passport or WD Black 1. Check the box labeled Perform a quick format and click Next. Click Finish to begin formatting the drive. Note: If an error message is received stating that Windows is unable to unmount the drive, this means that there is a program or service currently reading or writing data on the drive.
Determine what program is accessing the drive and shut it down, and then try again. Please see for assistance with this error under Windows. The listing for the drive (Disk 3 in the picture below) will say Formatting as it formats the drive. This process may take a few seconds. When the drive is done (Disk 3 in the picture below), the bar will be blue and the drive will say Healthy. How to Partition and Format a Drive on Windows Vista Partitioning a hard drive means preparing it to be used by the, creating a Volume for the Operating System to use. Formatting, however, deletes the content of a volume to clean it, and assigns a file system to it so that data can be moved into and out of the volume.
Both processes are normally done together. Critical: The instructions in the article below are designed to help repartition and format a hard drive. This process is Data Destructive and cannot be undone. Once the process begins, ALL THE DATA ON THE DRIVE WILL BE LOST! Windows Vista includes a built in utility known as Disk Management that can be used to partition and format a hard drive. Please see for more information.
Please follow the steps outlined below:. The lower pane will display a list of available drives. Identify the drive that needs to be partitioned and formatted. It typically has a black bar indicating unallocated space. Important: If Disk Management shows the drive as Not Initialized, the drive will have to be initialized. For assistance initializing a hard drive, please see. If there is already a partition on the drive, the bar above that drive will appear blue.
This indicates that the drive is already formatted and may contain data. Make sure that all critical data on this drive has been backed up elsewhere.
When ready to proceed, right-click on the blue bar and choose Delete Volume. The bar should now be black. Now right-click on the unallocated space or the black bar to see a menu of available options, and click on New Simple Volume.
The Welcome to the New Simple Volume Wizard will appear. Left-click on Next to proceed to the next screen. Choose the volume size and click Next.
By default, the maximum disk space is already selected and it is recommended to leave it at the maximum disk space. Note: To create multiple partitions, select or type a specific number of megabytes (MB) for the first partition and continue to the next step. Once done with this process, the remaining space will display as unallocated space.
Now, create another New Simple Volume in the remaining unallocated space for the next partition. For example, on a 2TB drive, set the volume size to 1000000 (1 TB) and continue to the next step. When done, begin the New Simple Volume process again and select the remaining capacity, the unallocated space, for another 1TB partition. Assign a drive letter to represent the volume being created, and click Next. By default, this is the next available letter. Next is the File System, which controls how to data is read and written. Set the file system to NTFS, which is the default Windows file system, and set Allocation unit size to Default.
The Volume Label field can be customized in order to give the volume a desired name, such as My Passport or WD Black 1. Check the box labeled Perform a quick format and click Next.
Click Finish to begin formatting the drive. Note: If an error message is received stating that Windows is unable to unmount the drive, this means that there is a program or service currently reading or writing data on the drive. Determine what program is accessing the drive and shut it down, and then try again. Please see for assistance with this error under Windows.
The listing for the drive (Disk 1 in the picture below) will say Formatting as it formats the drive. This process may take a few seconds. When the drive is done (Disk 1 in the picture below), the bar will be blue and the drive will say Healthy. How to format a drive on macOS 10.14.x (mojave) Critical: The instructions in the article below are designed to help repartition and format a hard drive.
This process is Data Destructive and cannot be undone. Once the process begins, ALL THE DATA ON THE DRIVE WILL BE LOST!. Open Disk Utility. Please See. From the left Column chose the External drive (My Passport, My Book, etc.). Click the Erase Button.
Type the drive new Name (My Passport, My Book, etc.). Click the Format drop down. Choose a new Format: Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Click Erase button. When finished, the drive will be formatted and repartitioned successfully. Click the Done button.
How to partition and format A DRIVE ON macOS 10.13.x (High Sierra) Critical: The instructions in the article below are designed to help repartition and format a hard drive. This process is Data Destructive and cannot be undone. Once the process begins, ALL THE DATA ON THE DRIVE WILL BE LOST!. Open Disk Utility. Please See. In the top menu bar, go to View, and choose Show All Devices. Click the eject button next to the drive volume (My Passport, etc) The drive Volume will now be greyed out.
Select the drive (WD My Passport Media, etc). Click the Erase button. Choose a new Format: Mac OS Extended (Journaled) Choose Scheme: GUID Partition Map. Type the drive new Name.
Click the Erase button. When finished, the drive will be formatted and repartitioned successfully. Click the Done button. Critical: The instructions in the article below are designed to help repartition and format a hard drive. This process is Data Destructive and cannot be undone.
Once the process begins, ALL THE DATA ON THE DRIVE WILL BE LOST! Steps for macOS 10.11.x (El Capitan) and macOS 10.12.x (Sierra). Open Disk Utility.
Please See. Click the Eject button next to the external hard drive volume (My Passport, etc).
The drive will now be greyed out. Click the Erase button. Choose a new Format: Mac OS Extended (Journaled) Choose Scheme: GUID Partition Map. Type the drive new Name. Click the Erase button.
When finished, the drive will be formatted and repartitioned successfully. Click the Done button. How to Format or Partition a Drive on Mac OSX 10.9.x (Mavericks) and 10.10.x (Yosemite) Partitioning a hard drive means preparing it to be used by the, creating a Volume for the OS to use. Formatting, however, deletes the content of a volume to clean it, and assigns a file system to it so that data can be moved into and out of the volume. Both processes are normally done together. Critical: The instructions in the article below are designed to help repartition and format a hard drive.
This process is Data Destructive and cannot be undone. Once the process begins, ALL THE DATA ON THE DRIVE WILL BE LOST! Mac OSX 10.9.x, and 10.10.x include a built in utility known as Disk Utility that can be used to partition and format a hard drive. To partition and format the drive with Disk Utility, follow these steps:. Double left-click on the Mac HD, the internal Mac hard drive visible on the top-right corner of the desktop screen. Choose Applications from the left-side panel.
While in there, open Utilities, and lastly double-click on Disk Utility. Disk Utility will now be open. In the left-side pane, choose the drive that is to be partitioned and formatted. Typically there are two listings for each drive unless more than one partition exists on a particular drive. Choose the drive listing that is farthest to the left for the drive that will be formatted.
It is usually directly above the name of the drive. In the example below, the one to be selected would be 495.78 GB WD My Passport 0830 Media. After selecting the appropriate drive, additional options will appear on the right-side pane. Click on Partition.
In the Partition area, click on the drop-down box under Partition Layout and select 1 Partition. Note: Partitioning a drive is only necessary if planning to use multiple partitions on the drive. It's recommended using a single partition in most cases, if the primary objective is to simply prepare the drive for use with the computer, no partitioning is required. No further action is required. Click on the drop-down next to Format and from the drop-down menu select Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
This is the format that the drive will be formatted to. In the Name area, a drive name can be given to the drive by just typing in the desired name or drive label. Click the Options button and choose Apple Partition Map. Then, click on Ok.
Lastly, click on Apply. Important: If the Mac computer being used is an Intel-based Mac, Apple recommends to use the GUID Partition Table instead. A confirmation box will appear, reminding users that partitioning and formatting the drive will erase all information that is on the drive.
Make sure that all critical information on the drive is backed up elsewhere before continuing. If not, copy the data to another location. When ready, click on Partition. The disk will be unmounted before being formatted.
Note: If an error message is received stating that the drive is unable to be unmounted, this means that there is a program or service currently reading or writing data on the drive. Determine what program is accessing the drive and shut it down before trying to format the drive again.
If the error message persists, restarting the computer may resolve the issue. If additional assistance is required, please. The drive is now formatting and at the bottom of the Disk Utility panel a Status Bar displaying the name of the drive, the format that's being applied to it, as well as the given name. When finished, the bar will go away and the drive will now be listed on the desktop.
How to Format or Partition a Drive on Mac OSX 10.7.x (Lion) and 10.8.x (Mountain Lion) Partitioning a hard drive means preparing it to be used by the, creating a Volume for the OS to use. Formatting, however, deletes the content of a volume to clean it, and assigns a file system to it so that data can be moved into and out of the volume. Both processes are normally done together. Critical: The instructions in the article below are designed to help repartition and format a hard drive. This process is Data Destructive and cannot be undone. Once the process begins, ALL THE DATA ON THE DRIVE WILL BE LOST!
Mac OSX 10.7.x, and 10.8.x include a built in utility known as Disk Utility that can be used to partition and format a hard drive. To partition and format the drive with Disk Utility, follow these steps:. Double left-click on the Mac HD, the internal Mac drive. Choose Applications, then Utilities, and double-click on Disk Utilities. Note: If the screen does not look like the one in the picture below, the folder view may be set to a different one. Click on the Columns button (it's highlighted in blue in the screenshot) in the upper left corner of the window to change to the same view used here.
In the far left pane, choose the drive that is to be partitioned and formatted. Typically there are two listings for each drive, unless that particular drive has more than one partition in it.
Choose the drive listing that is farthest to the left for the drive that is to be formatted. It is usually directly above the name of the drive.
Once the drive has been selected, click on the Partition tab. Under Volume Scheme click the drop-down box and select 1 partition. Now, click the Options button and choose Apple Partition Map, then click on Ok. Important: If the Mac computer being used is an Intel-based Mac, Apple recommends to use the GUID Partition Table instead.
Click on the drop-down next to the Format option and change the Format to Mac OS Extended (Journaled). A name can also be given to the drive by typing it into the Name box. When done, click on Apply.
A box will come up warning that formatting and partitioning the drive will erase all of the information that is on the drive. If the information on the drive is no longer needed, then click on Partition. If the data on the drive is still needed, it will need to be copied to another location before proceeding. The drive is now formatting, and a status bar will be displayed at the bottom of the Disk Utility window. This status bar will say formatting the disk, and gives the name of the drive, the format it is applying, and the name that was specified for it. When it is done, this bar will go away and the drive should now be listed on the desktop. If additional assistance is required, or more information is needed, please.
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Hello; Does any UHH member know how the WD Passport for Mac external hard drive is SUPPOSED to work? A couple years ago, I purchased a 1T drive from a well known large electronic retail chain. I plugged it in, and downloaded my images, and files, and it was fine. As time went by, whenever I plugged it in, and updated it, I noticed more and more space being used. A bit over a month ago, I decided to buy another Passport, this time choosing the bigger 4T drive. However when I tried to back up the files, and images, the drive runs, and shows a certain number of GB's being stored when it's finished.
(Seems to be MUCH lower than what I have on my computer. When I open up the drive, there is one file there with about 60 images, (while my computer and files hold at least 1,000 images and more info.) I have taken it back to the store twice now, the first time I was told it 'seems to be working,' and if I wanted to leave it there, there would be a charge of $80 to transfer the data in and out. I didn't leave it. I went back again, and a different person said that I am not understanding how the Passport works with Time Machine. He assures me that everything HAS been backed up, and that I need not worry about the low number of GB's being shown. But when I plug the Passport into a different Mac computer, and open it up, the same two files (one has my images from the one file that I can SEE has been backed up, and the other, seeming those the system, (library etc.) info. For my computer(?) or the Passport.
Am I missing something here? Not using the drive correctly?
I thought I could use this as I did my other Passport, back up sometimes, then plug it back in later and download any file/Image that I want to use, that I might have taken off of my computer to free up space on it. Hi, If you are using the Mac Time Machine to back up your data, it is probably backing up all of you internal hard drive to the WD Passport. Each time you plug in the WD drive to your Mac, Time Machine is going to look at the last time it was backed up to determine what has changed and then attempt to perform a backup. The first Time Machine backs up every last bit of data on your internal HDD to the external drive. Subsequent to that, Time Machine backs up only what has changed since the previous back up.
So, depending on how much data you have on your internal HDD, a substantial amount of space could be occupied on the back up drive. If your back up drive does not have enough space, Time Machine will automatically remove information from the oldest back up to free space, but it will never delete all of your data.it always maintains the current state of your machine. You cannot retrieve information directly by opening a file on the backup disk.you must use the Time Machine utility to look for files you want. That is accessed by double clicking the Time Machine icon in the menu bar at the top of your screen. If you want to back up and retrieve photo files more easily, you might want to think of using an external back up drive as opposed to the Time Machine drive. I hope this helps and does not confuse the matter.
Thanks for taking the time to write. Ok (please bear with my ignorance.) when I go to Time Machine, it only goes back to (say) August or September. It does not SEEM to be backing up all of my image files, (maybe my operating systems.) So to me it seems that the Time machine is NOT going back far enough. (There is a LOT of space on the new drive.) Why is it that I can retrieve a file directly from the old 1T Passport but only one file from the 4T?
How do I change the new drive settings on my computer so that I can use it to store/retrieve files and not the Time Machine? Still don't understand having to go to the Time machine to retrieve images, doesn't seem very safe to me as it is still on my computer. I want my external drive to be something that I not only save my images on, but I can take with me an plug into other computers to work on or show. (I am an abstract artist who incorporates digital photography in my paintings. BTW: My computer had a MELT DOWN last Christmas, that even regional tech managers for Apple were stumped.
In the end they completely wiped my HD drive clean and rebooted it. (I kept everything I COULD save on my old Passport.) Could THAT have anything to do with what is going on now? Hi, If you are using the Mac Time Machine to back up your data, it is probably backing up all of you internal hard drive to the WD Passport. Each time you plug in the WD drive to your Mac, Time Machine is going to look at the last time it was backed up to determine what has changed and then attempt to perform a backup. The first Time Machine backs up every last bit of data on your internal HDD to the external drive. Subsequent to that, Time Machine backs up only what has changed since the previous back up.
So, depending on how much data you have on your internal HDD, a substantial amount of space could be occupied on the back up drive. If your back up drive does not have enough space, Time Machine will automatically remove information from the oldest back up to free space, but it will never delete all of your data.it always maintains the current state of your machine.
You cannot retrieve information directly by opening a file on the backup disk.you must use the Time Machine utility to look for files you want. That is accessed by double clicking the Time Machine icon in the menu bar at the top of your screen. If you want to back up and retrieve photo files more easily, you might want to think of using an external back up drive as opposed to the Time Machine drive. I hope this helps and does not confuse the matter.Hi, br If you are using the Mac Time Machine to ba. Happy to try and help.Wow - let's see how I can address your??s. All your data, applications and photos are probably on the 4TB drive. If you try and look at the Time Machine (TM) file on the 4TB drive, you will probably see a folder that says DATA.if you try and open that folder, you'll see something that ends in.sparsebundle.
Actually, don't bother.only by using the TM utility in the menu bar can you look for individual files. But, I think you already know that.
As far as TM not going back far enough, when did you purchase the 4TB drive? Sounds like it was August or September which would explain why it doesn't go back 'far enough.' My guess is that there is a TM file on the 1 TB drive which might go 'further back.' Whatever state your machine was in when you first connected the 4 TB drive should be in TM, even though it only goes back to Aug or Sept. As the 4 TB fills up and there's not enough space to complete a backup, TM will automatically delete the oldest backup.
It doesn't delete the original back up, it deletes on the incremental changes between the 'original' and the latest backup. Hope that's not too confusing. The best thing you can do is use the 4TB as a TM drive and the 1 TB drive ONLY for photos.that way you can move it from computer to computer to do your work. I keep all my photos on my Mac and back up all my data to TM, also to a cloud (Google Drive) and periodically I also clone the hard drive to an external drive using Carbon Copy Cloner. The advantage of backing up to the cloud is that you can sync multiple computers to the cloud drive so they are always current (almost.it does take some time to sync to a cloud drive).
Not sure that the MELT DOWN contributed to your current issue, but one never knows. Finally, if you want to just synchronize the photo files on your Mac with the external drive, just look in the App store. ChronSync Express seems to get good reviews.not an endorsement since I don't use it. Keeping in mind that I'm computer stupid, this is what has transpired today. When I plugged in the ext.
Drive, the same things came up. But I noticed that the two drives showing in the Time Machine say My Passport for Mac (the 1T) and My Passport (4T) with NO 'for Mac' designation. (The body of the 4T drive and box states 'for Mac.' ) I tried doing a b/up with the new drive, and the 'wheels' just kept turning, stating that '.It was preparing' I finally got out of it, deleted the 4T port.
HD from my computer and rebooted. It did ask if I wanted to back up on EITHER drives or both. (I chose both.) I then went back into the 4T drive and pressed b/up. Decided to leave the 'spinning wheels' and went back to painting. When I came back, the 'back up' was finished, but consisted of only TWO of those 'post card' looking cards with a few images on them, going back only for today!! Feel this is a dilemma.
Do you think I should take the computer back to the electronic retailer, OR to Apple? (So far I haven't gotten MUCH success with the retail 'G Squad!' ) BTW: Have a real basic website: williamsxpressions.com if you want to know what I do. (Not real sophisticated, but it's me!). Happy to try and help.Wow - let's see how I can address your??s. All your data, applications and photos are probably on the 4TB drive. If you try and look at the Time Machine (TM) file on the 4TB drive, you will probably see a folder that says DATA.if you try and open that folder, you'll see something that ends in.sparsebundle.
Actually, don't bother.only by using the TM utility in the menu bar can you look for individual files. But, I think you already know that. As far as TM not going back far enough, when did you purchase the 4TB drive? Sounds like it was August or September which would explain why it doesn't go back 'far enough.'
My guess is that there is a TM file on the 1 TB drive which might go 'further back.' Whatever state your machine was in when you first connected the 4 TB drive should be in TM, even though it only goes back to Aug or Sept. As the 4 TB fills up and there's not enough space to complete a backup, TM will automatically delete the oldest backup. It doesn't delete the original back up, it deletes on the incremental changes between the 'original' and the latest backup.
Hope that's not too confusing. The best thing you can do is use the 4TB as a TM drive and the 1 TB drive ONLY for photos.that way you can move it from computer to computer to do your work. I keep all my photos on my Mac and back up all my data to TM, also to a cloud (Google Drive) and periodically I also clone the hard drive to an external drive using Carbon Copy Cloner.
The advantage of backing up to the cloud is that you can sync multiple computers to the cloud drive so they are always current (almost.it does take some time to sync to a cloud drive). Not sure that the MELT DOWN contributed to your current issue, but one never knows. Finally, if you want to just synchronize the photo files on your Mac with the external drive, just look in the App store. ChronSync Express seems to get good reviews.not an endorsement since I don't use it.Happy to try and help.Wow - let's see how I can ad. Don't take your computer back to the Retailer or to Apple, it will just be a waste of your time.
When backup software runs, and this is common to any of them iOS or Windows, the first step is to scan all files to take a snapshot of the creation dates. This is for incremental (only files or folders that have changed) backups.
This can take quite a while. On a 2 Tb drive in a Windows system, the first scan (even before backup begins) can take 12 hours since there are a bunch of individual files to examine. This is the '.It was preparing' portion of the program. Set it to run and go someplace, like away for the weekend or something (being snarky) and see. Don't take your computer back to the Retailer or to Apple, it will just be a waste of your time. When backup software runs, and this is common to any of them iOS or Windows, the first step is to scan all files to take a snapshot of the creation dates.
This is for incremental (only files or folders that have changed) backups. This can take quite a while. On a 2 Tb drive in a Windows system, the first scan (even before backup begins) can take 12 hours since there are a bunch of individual files to examine.
This is the '.It was preparing' portion of the program. Set it to run and go someplace, like away for the weekend or something (being snarky) and see.Don't take your computer back to the Retailer or t. I think it needs to be understood that the Time Machine is a complete back-up intended to be accessed through the Time Machine. It is not a direct hard drive file copy of the images of which you wanted to archive copies that could possibly be read by another computer.
The Time Machine back-up works well through Time Machine. I have recovered lost files several times over the years. For image copy duplication, I attach a separate standalone hard drive and copy the image library files from iPhoto, Photos or Photoshop images in the Pictures file on the computer hard drive. I keep at least the Time Machine backup and at least two external hard drive copies of the image format files.
Don’t use your TM drive as portable photo storage. Just plug it in and leave it alone. Better yet, get Backblaze and skip the whole hardware game. I’m a backup nut and photo nut. Here’s my set up. All photos are stored on a 1tb SSD, masters and Lightroom files.
(I also store all my copied music CD’s there too as after duping 600 CD’s to my HDD three times I got tired of that.) This drive is compact and totally portable, and if I run over it or it falls into the ocean, my backup system described below rescues me. That drive copies using superduper (superduper.com) to a second SSD drive three times a week. The second drive is a 2tb drive, partitioned to two 1tb partitions. One partition is a photo backup, and the other partition is a fully bootable boot drive created by superduper that is renewed every night.
When things get too large, I just upgrade my SSD sizes. The whole multi disk structure is copied to Backblaze on a constant basis so I have an offsite copy of everything in the cloud if the house burns down. I use Dropbox for all documents and work product, though I use Selective Sync so as not to keep my internal HDD cluttered with archival stuff. (I also have a Microsoft OneDrive account for various things, but not relevant here.) Last, I have a 200gb iCloud account for family photo storage and access, stuff that is apart from my photography hobby resources. I stopped using Time Machine about three years ago because it was sluggish and unreliable in both the copy and retrieval processes.
The tech in my office uses it for some office stuff, but we also have a main server, Dropbox and Backblaze. I told you I was a backup nut. Thanks for taking the time. Your talk about 'partitions' bring me back to the nightmare I had when not even senior Apple tech managers could 'fix' the problem that I was having with my Mac Pro Laptop that they ended up having to wipe clean in the end.
Your system seems 'foolproof' (IF there is such a word in the world of digital data.) I will take your info. And show it to a techie that I know (I am computer dumb!) And see what/where he thinks I can borrow parts of your set up for my purposes. Thanks again. Don’t use your TM drive as portable photo storage. Just plug it in and leave it alone.
Better yet, get Backblaze and skip the whole hardware game. I’m a backup nut and photo nut. Here’s my set up. All photos are stored on a 1tb SSD, masters and Lightroom files.
(I also store all my copied music CD’s there too as after duping 600 CD’s to my HDD three times I got tired of that.) This drive is compact and totally portable, and if I run over it or it falls into the ocean, my backup system described below rescues me. That drive copies using superduper (superduper.com) to a second SSD drive three times a week. The second drive is a 2tb drive, partitioned to two 1tb partitions. One partition is a photo backup, and the other partition is a fully bootable boot drive created by superduper that is renewed every night.
When things get too large, I just upgrade my SSD sizes. The whole multi disk structure is copied to Backblaze on a constant basis so I have an offsite copy of everything in the cloud if the house burns down.
I use Dropbox for all documents and work product, though I use Selective Sync so as not to keep my internal HDD cluttered with archival stuff. (I also have a Microsoft OneDrive account for various things, but not relevant here.) Last, I have a 200gb iCloud account for family photo storage and access, stuff that is apart from my photography hobby resources. I stopped using Time Machine about three years ago because it was sluggish and unreliable in both the copy and retrieval processes. The tech in my office uses it for some office stuff, but we also have a main server, Dropbox and Backblaze.
I told you I was a backup nut.Don’t use your TM drive as portable photo storage. It's a 'set it and forget it' system that backstops against escalating degrees of data jeopardy severity. Data-wise, it sort of turns my iMac into a 'dumb workstation,' because if the whole thing went kablooey all it would cost me is the time it takes to reinstall software. With the bootable external solid state drive (the 'SSD' in the above description) if my internal hard drive fails, I can boot up from that drive, which also has everything from my main internal HDD on it too. (I don't believe you can boot from Time Machine, but maybe you can now).
As for portability, my photos are on the OTHER (1TB) SDD so I can take it with my laptop knowing that it is backed up to the second partition on the other drive, as well as to Backblaze. If either external drive fails, they are replicated. And if EVERYTHING fails, burns or floats away, I have Backblaze, Dropbox, iCloud and Microsoft OneDrive.