Back Up Drive

[fireman0174]

I found a back up drive that I had used on my old Windows machine - long gone. I would liked to be able to use it as a second backup for my iMAC.

In order to use it I assume that it has to be "prepared" for the MAC system, sort of like the old format command in windows as I'm currently not able top save anything on it. What must I do in order to use the drive?

I would just as soon "format" the entire drive to get rid of whatever windows left over files are still on the machine. Thanks

 

[bobtomay]

Formatting & Partitioning a Hard Drive in OS X

Still the same or close enough - you could head to the Erase tab first if you want. I don't worry about erasing on drives I am keeping, just partition and format.

 

[MYmacROX]

You are correct. You would use Disk Utility in the utilities folder inside the applications folder (Applications>Utilities>Disk Utility).
Go to the Erase tab after you select your external HDD (it has to be plugged in, obviously). There you can select what format to use. If you want it to be used with Time Machine backups you'll want to choose MacOS Extended (Journaled).

 

[fireman0174]

You are correct. You would use Disk Utility in the utilities folder inside the applications folder (Applications>Utilities>Disk Utility).
Go to the Erase tab after you select your external HDD (it has to be plugged in, obviously). There you can select what format to use. If you want it to be used with Time Machine backups you'll want to choose MacOS Extended (Journaled).

Thank you for the assistance.

One thing I must say. I have posted several questions on this forum as a result of my switching to a MAC. I simply cannot believe how quickly I have gotten a response in every case!!