HT201250: Use Time Machine to back up or restore your Mac

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51whellock
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: I have an old My Book Essential, but no icon! Help!

I have an old My Book Essential which was the back up for my Time Machine, but apparently in September it stopped backing up.  My My Book power is on and it is connected directly to my desktop computer.

 

Any ideas as to how I can make My Book work again or make my Time Machine work some other way?

My Book, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.5)

Posted on Oct 12, 2013 12:24 AM

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51whellock

Q: I have an old My Book Essential, but no icon! Help!

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  • by clintonfrombirmingham,

    clintonfrombirmingham clintonfrombirmingham Oct 12, 2013 2:15 AM in response to 51whellock
    Level 7 (30,009 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 12, 2013 2:15 AM in response to 51whellock

    If the disk can't be seen in Disk Utility (Applications>Utilities folder) then either the drive or (more likely than not) the drive enclosure has 'died'.

     

    You could always try a new enclosure for the drive but, with drives being so inexpensive these days, you may want to just trash the drive and get another.

     

    I tend to stay away from Western Digital drive - their enclosures seem to fail with some regularity as well as the drives themselves. If I were you I would purchase LaCie (Seagate) or G-Technology (Hitachi) both available from MacMall (and probably Amazon, but shopping at MacMall is simpler).

     

    Good luck,

     

    Clinton