What format should I use for my external hard drive for time machine? I have a new WD 2TB drive that is formatted for PC.

See the information below from If you can't back up or restore your Mac using Time Machine - Apple Support

When you select a drive to use with Time Machine, your Mac automatically prompts you if you need to reformat it.

• If you're using an external drive connected to your Mac, use Disk Utility to make sure that your backup drive is formatted as HFS+ Extended (Journaled) and that the partition type is GUID Partition Table (GPT).
• If you're using a Time Capsule, formatting the drive from Time Machine preferences automatically formats the drive as HFS+ Extended (Case Sensitive, Journaled) with a GUID Partition Table (GPT).

Note that the information in my reply above did not mention encrypted. My external drive is encrypted via FileVault and that works with no problems with Time Machine.

Corsa55555 wrote:

What format should I use for my external hard drive for time machine? I have a new WD 2TB drive that is formatted for PC. When i got to disk utilities to erase and reformat the options are

1. Mac OS Extended (journaled)

2. Mac OS Extended (journaled, encrypted)

3. Mac OS Extended (case sensitive, journaled)

4. Mac OS Extended (case sensitive, journaled, encrypted)🙂

The WD website includes instructions and discussions for reformatting their drives for use with Time machine etc.

I have my WD drive as Mac OS Extended(Journaled) reformatted from PC format.