# [SOLVED] What format do I use to back up my Mac?



## mcharley94 (May 14, 2007)

I have acquired an new MacBook Pro which is running OS X 10.5.1. The Mac has a 160GB HD and I have an external 160GB HD which I wish to use with Time Machine. Up until now I have used this external drive with my IBM compatibles, but I just bought a new 250GB to replace it (which matches the 250Gb drive on my main IBM system).

My question is...now that I have the 160GB external empty, what steps do I need to take before I try and back up the Mac? In other words, the external drive is presently formatted as an NTSF drive. Do I need to delete the partition and reformat it with the Mac, and if so how do I go about this? 

This is all Greek to me...I have very little experience working with a Mac from a technical aspect, but need to learn to for a potential position in the near future, which is what prompted me to purchase the system in the first place.

Thank You for any replies :smile:


----------



## sinclair_tm (Mar 11, 2005)

*Re: What format do I use to back up my Mac?*

You will find a program named "Disk Utility" in the "Utilities" folder which is in the "Applications" folder on your Mac. After launching it, all your hard drives will be listed on the left side. Plug your drive in, and it will show up there. Click on the drive icon and then click on the erase tab which will be in the right window. Name it and tell it to format it for the Mac, and there you go. When its done, launch "Time Machine" and it should ask to use the drive. You'll be all set.


----------



## mcharley94 (May 14, 2007)

*Re: What format do I use to back up my Mac?*

Thank you so much for the reply.

I still have a question though after following your instructions....

Under Volume Format there are four different types,

Mac OS Extended (journaled)
Mac OS Extended
Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, journaled)
Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive)

Which do I choose :4-dontkno


----------



## shuuhen (Sep 4, 2004)

*Re: What format do I use to back up my Mac?*

They all should work, but I recommend using one of the two journaled filesystems. The one that is case sensitive _and_ journaled is good when you need filenames to be case sensitive (generally would come up more for servers, but some users may want a case sensitive filesystem).

Unless Apple changed the default install options your MacBook Pro's internal hard drive should be using "Mac OS X Extended (Journaled)", so you'd be fine with using that for the 160 GB drive you're going to use for Time Machine backups. The one with both case sensitivity and journaling is just an option for those that have reason for it.


If you're interested in the reasons why the journaled versions are good, here's Apple's article on it. Even though it talks about servers, the benefits are still there for laptops, desktops, etc.

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107249


----------



## mcharley94 (May 14, 2007)

*Re: What format do I use to back up my Mac?*

Mission Accomplished...Thank You


----------

