I'm running out of storage space on my Mac Book Pro and it's running very slowly these days. I need to upgrade to a newer version of OS X, but was told by Apple that I shouldn't do that without backing up the contents first. I thought I needed to find an external hard drive that is compatible with my very ancient operating system, but I'm seeing different information about that online. Some folks reference the fact that it's not the operating system that the external hard drive needs to be compatible with, but rather, the port connection. Others say there is sometimes software that comes with the hard drive that needs to be compatible with your OS. Which is true? Both? Here's the goal: I'd like to be able to find an external drive that works with Yosemite 10.5.5, back my computer up, install a newer operating system, then use that same external drive with the new OS. What is the best course of action in this case?
MacBook Air 13', OS X 10.10
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Sep 08, 2020 How to partition external hard disk on Mac? Connect the external hard disk to the Mac. Click on Disk utility. Select the drive from the left sidebar, then click the Partition tab. Under Partition layout, select '2 Partitions.' The user can adjust the size of the partition based on the desired requirement. An external drive is typically formatted for either MacOS or PC use. Convert it mac free. While there are some drives that work on both, most tend need to be reformatted to be functional on the opposite system, and that will erase all your data. As mentioned above, all drives are compatible with Apple computers as long as they have proper connectors. So, check your Mac for extension ports. If you have a newer Mac, then you need USB-C hard drive, older ones support USB (2.0, 3.0, or 3.1) or Thunderbolt. Pick the drive that supports the Mac ports. And last, but not the least.
To use Time Machine to make a backup of your Mac, you need one of these types of storage devices:
- External drive connected to an AirPort Extreme Base Station (802.11ac) or AirPort Time Capsule
External drive connected to your Mac
Hard Drive For Macbook
How to download imvu on mac. Time Machine can back up to an external drive connected to a USB, Thunderbolt, or FireWire port on your Mac. If the disk isn't using the correct format, Time Machine will prompt you to erase it.
Network-attached storage (NAS) device that supports Time Machine over SMB
Many third-party NAS devices support Time Machine over SMB. For details, check the documentation for your NAS device.
Mac shared as a Time Machine backup destination
To use another Mac on your network as a Time Machine backup destination, complete these steps on the other Mac:
- Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, then click Sharing.
- From the list of services on the left, select File Sharing.
- From the Shared Folders list on the right, click the add button (+), then choose a folder to use for Time Machine backups.
- Control-click the folder that you added, then choose Advanced Options from the shortcuts menu that appears.
- From the Advanced Options dialog, select 'Share as a Time Machine backup destination.'
When setting up Time Machine on your other Mac computers, you should now be able to select the shared folder as a backup disk.
External drive connected to an AirPort Extreme Base Station (802.11ac) or AirPort Time Capsule
Time Machine can back up to an external USB drive connected to an AirPort Extreme Base Station (802.11ac model) or AirPort Time Capsule.
- Connect the drive directly to your Mac, then use Disk Utility to erase it.
- Connect the drive to a USB port on your AirPort base station, then turn it on.
- Open AirPort Utility, then select your base station and click Edit to view its settings.
- Click the Disks tab in the settings window.
- Select your backup disk from the list of partitions, then select 'Enable file sharing':
- If more than one user on your network will back up to this disk with Time Machine, you can use the Secure Shared Disks pop-up menu to make sure that they can view only their own backups, not yours. Choose 'With accounts' from the menu, then click the add button (+) to add users.
- Click Update to restart your base station and apply the settings.
AirPort Time Capsule
Time Machine can back up to the built-in hard disk of an AirPort Time Capsule on your network.
- Connect the drive directly to your Mac, then use Disk Utility to erase it.
- Connect the drive to a USB port on your AirPort base station, then turn it on.
- Open AirPort Utility, then select your base station and click Edit to view its settings.
- Click the Disks tab in the settings window.
- Select your backup disk from the list of partitions, then select 'Enable file sharing':
- If more than one user on your network will back up to this disk with Time Machine, you can use the Secure Shared Disks pop-up menu to make sure that they can view only their own backups, not yours. Choose 'With accounts' from the menu, then click the add button (+) to add users.
- Click Update to restart your base station and apply the settings.
AirPort Time Capsule
Time Machine can back up to the built-in hard disk of an AirPort Time Capsule on your network.
Best External Hard Drive For Macbook Pro
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Internal Hard Drive For Macbook Pro
- Time Machine can't back up to a disk formatted for Windows, or to an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.