Way to convert Time Machine drive to normal data drive

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Level 1

3 points

Way to convert Time Machine drive to normal data drive

Is there a way to convert a time machine drive to an external drive. I had time machine running on an external hard drive, and while I have TURNED OFF the time machine service and backups on system preferences, I would like to remove all traces of the time machine itself. I would like it to be a standard drive, with a non time-machine icon (Normal USB Icon). Is this possible without a reformat?

mac mini 2009 4gb ddr3 2.0 ghz intel core 2 duo, Mac OS X (10.5.6)

Posted on May 8, 2009 4:10 PM

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Answer 1

Kappy

Level 10

362,007 points

May 8, 2009 4:15 PM in response to ericargyle

Not really practical to do so without erasing the drive. Erasure is quick and has no other impact on the drive. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder, select the external volume from the left side list, click on the Erase tab in the DU main window and click on the Erase button. Should take under a minute.

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