Time machine backup

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jpb-2016 Author

Level 1

4 points

Time machine backup

Help! I went into the apple store a month ago to help with storage problems (digital photos clean up) and they ended up deleting a bunch of stuff because I didn't know that plugging in my phone was not a backup. They never checked to make sure a back up had been done. So now I'm trying to do a backup and having problems. I'm not tech savvy and hoping someone can help guide me through this, or maybe I should call apple support?

This is what's happening: I'm trying to do a backup. There is sufficient room on the external hard drive. I keep getting a message saying: Are you sure you want to erase the backup disk " red-hardriv"? Erasing will destroy all information on the disk and can't be undone. The disk must be erased before it can be used for Time Machine backups because it has an incompatible file system.

MacBook Air 13", macOS 10.14

Posted on Jul 13, 2019 1:51 PM

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Answer 1

Kappy

Level 10

362,007 points

Jul 13, 2019 2:06 PM in response to jpb-2016

You need to reformat the backup drive in order to use it because it has an unrecognized filesystem.

Drive Partition and Format - El Capitan or Later

Open Disk Utility in the Utilities' folder.
After Disk Utility loads select the drive (out-dented entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the side list.
Click on the Erase tab in the Disk Utility toolbar. A panel should drop down.
In the drop down panel set the partition scheme to GUID. Set the Format type to APFS (SSDs only) or Mac OS Extended (Journaled.)
Click on the Apply button and click on the Done button when it is activated.
Quit Disk Utility.

Open Time Machine preferences to select and configure the drive for a Time Machine backup, after which the backup begins automatically.

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Time machine backup

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