How to format WD Elements 1TB for Time Machine use

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How to format WD Elements 1TB for Time Machine use

Hi,

I just bought a WD Elements 1TB external drive, and would like to use it with Time Machine. However, when I connect it to my macbook pro, it says "The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer" and Time Machine doesn't recognize it. When I opened Disk Utility to try to reformat it, it shows up as read only so I can't make any changes. How can I get this drive to work with Time Machine?

Macbook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.6), WD Elements 1TB External Hard Drive

Posted on Jan 11, 2011 11:43 AM

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Answer 1

leroydouglas

Level 10

203,904 points

Jan 11, 2011 12:01 PM in response to freedom1015

http://www.askdavetaylor.com/externalmac_hard_drive_read-only_how_to_fixit.html

http://db.tidbits.com/article/10307

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Answer 2

bdmarsha

Level 4

2,580 points

Jan 11, 2011 12:47 PM in response to leroydouglas

The first link that you posted is not correct. To be used with Time Machine the disk must have utilize the GUID partition scheme. The second link has it right.

bd

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Answer 3

freedom1015 Author

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Jan 11, 2011 12:58 PM in response to leroydouglas

I tried using the second link, and got as far as this paragraph:

"On the Partition pane, everything will appear to be greyed out, as if you had encountered a brick wall. That's because before you can do anything, you have to change the partition arrangement, using the Volume Scheme pop-up menu. You have to do this even if you don't actually want to change the number of partitions. So, the Volume Scheme pop-up menu starts out saying Current. Change that. The minimal change is to 1 Partition. I'm not going to tell you that you need any more partitions than one, or how big they should be; that's up to you, and depends on how this disk will be used."

It says to change the Volume Scheme pop-up menu, but that menu is also greyed out and un-changeable. I am getting that brick wall feeling the author mentioned. How can I fix this?

I really appreciate the fast responses, thank you for your help so far 🙂

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Answer 4

leroydouglas

Level 10

203,904 points

Jan 11, 2011 1:15 PM in response to freedom1015

Make sure The top most drive is selected (not the indented volume) in the left hand column.

Select one or more partitions to suit your needs, partition map scheme GUID.

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Answer 5

freedom1015 Author

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Jan 11, 2011 7:03 PM in response to leroydouglas

There is no indented volume, it only shows up as "500.11 GB WD Ext HDD 1021 Media," which is also kind of weird because it's a 1TB drive and it says 500GB. Any suggestions?

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Answer 6

Pondini

Level 8

38,873 points

Jan 11, 2011 8:30 PM in response to freedom1015

See #5 in [Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/FAQ.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).

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Answer 7

freedom1015 Author

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Jan 11, 2011 9:35 PM in response to Pondini

Pondini - I understand that I need to be able to format the drive in Disk Utility, however all of the options in the Erase and Partition menus (and all other disk utility options) are greyed out and uneditable.

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Answer 8

bdmarsha

Level 4

2,580 points

Jan 11, 2011 10:05 PM in response to freedom1015

See <http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2176> for some possible solutions. The strange thing is that I have purchased a few WD Elements drives and they never had this problem nor were they formatted as NTFS.

bd

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Answer 9

freedom1015 Author

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Jan 11, 2011 11:57 PM in response to bdmarsha

bd - I followed steps in Option 2 and Terminal gave this message:

Started partitioning on disk1
Unmounting disk
Error: 13: POSIX reports: Permission denied

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Answer 10

bdmarsha

Level 4

2,580 points

Jan 12, 2011 5:48 AM in response to freedom1015

If none of the options listed in the Apple support article work, then I think your only option is to return or exchange the external drive at the place of purchase.

bd

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Answer 11

freedom1015 Author

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Jan 12, 2011 10:47 AM in response to bdmarsha

Okay thank you, I appreciate all the help. I think I will try to return it for one that is explicitly mac-friendly to avoid all this trouble.

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Answer 12

freedom1015 Author

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Jan 12, 2011 11:48 AM in response to freedom1015

Returned the drive for a WD My Passport and it works now. Thanks everyone.

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