Time Machine tells me, of a working partition, 'reformat required (incompatible file system'. Why would it say that?

Question

Level 1

0 points

Time Machine tells me, of a working partition, 'reformat required (incompatible file system'. Why would it say that?

I have 2 partitions on my hard disk, but only recently started using the 2nd. It behaves normally--but Time Machine

refuses to back it up, claiming that it has an 'imcompatible file system', and wants to reformat the partition. Granted,

named the partition 'LINO' in anticipation using it to experiment with Ubuntu, but never succeeded in persuading

Snow Leopard to read an Ubunto .dmg or thumb drive. (I deduce that Snow Leopards do not like the fishy taste of

penguins.) Ubuntu and LINO never met, and LINO is used without demur by Snow Leopard. What is going on?

Time Capsule 802.11n (4th Gen), Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Nov 16, 2012 8:29 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Nov 16, 2012 8:40 PM in response to fmaci

Open Disk Utility. Select the drive entry from the sidebar. In the partition map displayed click on the partition in question. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended, Journaled from the dropdown menu. Click on the Option button and verify that the drive is using GUID then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button. You should be OK for Time Machine.

I'm assuming this HDD is your startup drive? If it is, then you shouldn't use it for backups.

I know very few people who have trouble installing Ubuntu on any Intel Macs. And Snow Leopard is irrelevant because Linux is not installed in Snow Leopard but runs exclusively by itself.

If you plan a proper Linux installation then I would read the documentation and forum information at Ubuntu's website to learn what to do and how it's done. I don't know why you want to use Linux considering that OS X is a superior form of Unix which in turn is superior to Linux.

Reply