Formatting 1 TB External HD for Time Machine

progpoetprogpoet
Posted:
in macOS edited January 2014
Hi all -



This is my first post here. I just got a 1 TB Western Digital My Book Essential Edition external hard drive and now I'm formatting it. At least, I think I am. I'm not sure I'm doing it right. In Disk Utility it says "newfs_hfs: /dev/partition size not a multiple of 4k and the progress bar keeps moving along, but I can't tell if anything is actually happening. It also says the drive isn't mounted although I have it plugged into a USB port.



Please help me to understand what I'm doing, if I'm doing anything wrong, and if I am, how I can do it right. I bought this for the express purpose of backing up my entire system with Time Machine and I will be EXTREMELY upset if I've messed things up right from the start.



Thanks in advance for any and all helpful responses.







-- Jeff

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 8
    majormattmajormatt Posts: 1,077member
    1) Try a different USB Cable?

    2) Try a different USB port

    3) Restart your Mac



    Try those and if that doesn't work, come back.
  • Reply 2 of 8
    shadowshadow Posts: 373member
    First, in DIsk Utility select the entire drive (the topmost icon for your drive in the device tree on the left). Click the partition tab. Select one partition or whatever you want to have. In the 'Options' select 'GUID partition table'. Press Apply.



    You should see the partition(s) icon(s) below the drive one in the device tree. Select a partition, press the 'Erase' tab, select 'Mac OS Extended (Journaled)' as a 'Volume format' option, enter volume name and press Erase button.
  • Reply 3 of 8
    progpoetprogpoet Posts: 5member
    Hi all -



    First, thank you for your replies. They are greatly appreciated.



    Now - I originally had the drive connected to one of the USB ports on the keyboard, which I quickly realized was silly, given the amount of power a drive of this size would need, so I plugged it directly into a free USB port on the back of my Mac. I have also restarted the Mac. Here's what I get now when I open Disk Utility and attempt to partition the drive:



    This volume will not be erased.

    Size: 931.5 GB

    Available space: 931.5 GB



    I am wondering if I should attempt to erase the volume again, because when I go to the Erase tab, I see this:



    Volume Format: MS-DOS (FAT 32)

    Name: UNTITLED



    Total Capacity: 931.5 GB

    S.M.A.R.T. Status: Not Supported

    Partition Map Scheme: Master Boot Record



    So, now what? I really want to get this drive up and running so I can back up my system already. Thanks again for your responses.





    -- Jeff
  • Reply 4 of 8
    isavantisavant Posts: 2member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by shadow View Post


    First, in DIsk Utility select the entire drive (the topmost icon for your drive in the device tree on the left). Click the partition tab. Select one partition or whatever you want to have. In the 'Options' select 'GUID partition table'. Press Apply.



    You should see the partition(s) icon(s) below the drive one in the device tree. Select a partition, press the 'Erase' tab, select 'Mac OS Extended (Journaled)' as a 'Volume format' option, enter volume name and press Erase button.



    Jeff - As long as your Mac is an Intel Mac... Shadow's post applies 100% and should get your new drive ready for Time Machine. If you have a Power PC era Mac, change the Option GUID to Apple Partition Table.
  • Reply 5 of 8
    progpoetprogpoet Posts: 5member
    Yay!!!! Drive partitioned, Time Machine backup in progress! Thank you all SO much!!!









    -- Jeff
  • Reply 6 of 8
    progpoetprogpoet Posts: 5member
    UPDATE:



    I got the drive partitioned and formatted and am now in the process of backing everything up with Time Machine! I believe it's backing up the Mac's internal hard drive, plus two of the three external drives, because the total amount of stuff being backed up, according to TM, is 252 GB.



    Right now, as I type this, it's got 134 GB backed up and counting. YAY!



    Thanks again to those of you who responded. As embarrassing as it is to admit this, most of the problem, such as it was, was simply due to my own lack of understanding as to how Disk Utility works, and how a bootable drive needs to be partitioned - thus proving, once again, that most computer problems are actually human problems.







    -- Jeff
  • Reply 7 of 8
    justflybobjustflybob Posts: 1,337member
    Hi Jeff,



    You may want to consider using SuperDuper! as well as Time Machine to handle your backups.



    Time Machine creates an archive of your most recent items and changes, but does not create a bootable drive that would allow you to switch to your My Book and keep working,



    SuperDuper! creates a clone of your existing Mac HD and it is bootable. It has saved my bacon several times in the recent past. Unfortunately, SuperDuper! is not yet Leopard compatible. However, the folks there say it should be fairly soon.



    If the stuff on your Mac is important to you, then both have a place in your backup scheme.
  • Reply 8 of 8
    progpoetprogpoet Posts: 5member
    Thanks. I will definitely be getting SuperDuper! once it is Leopard-compatible. I just went through the 'blue screen of death' Leopard upgrade install nightmare and ended up having to take my iMac in to the Apple Store so they could hook it up to a bootable hard drive and then perform an archive and install, which I might have avoided if I'd had a bootable HD of my own.





    -- Jeff
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