For this reason we suggest using the “For Mac” drives when trying to install your operating system, or clone to the external drive. The only drives that have been tested to make sure they are to be bootable on Intel-based Macs are the “For Mac” drives. It is possible to boot your computer from an external drive, but Seagate does not provide assistance in getting it to work.
If the drive is not formatted correctly the backup will fail with a message that the disk is not in Mac OS Extended (Journaled), which is required. Most drives will come formatted for Windows, but Time Machine requires that the drive be formatted for a Mac, called Mac OS Extended (Journaled) or HFS+. For any additional support outside of what is provided, please consult Apple support. The best approach is to only use the drive for Time Machine and do not store additional data on the drive. Note: Should you get an error when trying to format the drive, please restart your computer and try again.Īpple Time Machine is automatic backup software built into the macOS.
Once formatted you will be able to move data to the drive just as you would a flash drive.
To set the drive up for Mac storage only you will want to make sure the drive is formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled) which is also referred to as HFS+.