how to remove a hard drive and replace it with a new one on a Macbook Air

i just want to remove an old external hard drive for a new one. When I eject the old one and plug in the new one is not recognized. thanks

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 12.6

Posted on Sep 12, 2023 9:55 AM

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Posted on Sep 13, 2023 4:30 AM

You need to add it to Time Machine. Choose Select Disk or Add or Remove Backup Disk.


Change Time Machine preferences on Mac - Apple Support

4 replies

Sep 13, 2023 4:24 AM in response to adakio

Physically detach the old drive and give TM no choice in the matter but to use the new drive. If that fails do a restart and again retry with only the new drive attached.


TM can use multiple drives. I've used as many as three so each drive will benefit from a unique name: TimeMachine 1, Time Machine 2 and etc. Or whatever you choose to ID them uniquely

how to remove a hard drive and replace it with a new one on a Macbook Air

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