Have an extern (network) disk connected (USB) to my Cisco Router. From my new Mac I can se the disk and work with files on the disk. However, I tried to setup Time Machine, but this application doesn’t see the hard disk.
Can anyone help?
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Jan Præst
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Can’t find extern disk for backup
Comments: 6 Responses to “Can’t find extern disk for backup”
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What format is the drive? Make sure it is Mac format, not FAT.
Are you trying to set it up so it gets backed up to Time Machine? Or, are you trying to set it up so it IS your Time Machine backup drive. If the second, then it is better to connect it directly to your Mac.
It's an NTFS-disk also serving a Windows-PC. It's you second choice I'm aming at. I thought I could use an old disk also serving other purposes beside the Back up function.
That won't work for two reasons. First, the disk needs to be formatted Mac OS Extended for it to be a Time Machine drive. But second, and more importantly, a Time Machine drive is JUST a Time Machine drive. The whole thing must be used (though you can do tricks with partitions -- not worth it IMHO).
I'd get another drive (a big one) and use that for Time Machine. Drives are cheap, no need to try to trick one to using only part of it for your backup.
Thanks. I'll get another drive. :-)
Two thing more... My daughter and I booth have a Mac and I want the backup disk to be a common disk. You say that a Time Machine drive is a dedicated drive, yes, but shall it be dedicated to only one MAC also?
I guess Apples Time Capsule is a good choice. It's also a expensive choice... Can I just pick another model considering also my first question?
It is dedicated as a Time Machine drive, yes. But you can use it for more than one Mac. I do. I have one that backs up the machine it is connected to. It also is used across the network to back up another Mac.
Time Capsule is the best choice if you really want to back up all of your Macs over your network. It really isn't that expensive if you consider all of its features. But you can save money by simply getting each of your Macs its own external backup USB drive. If you are looking to save, that is what I would do.