No it will not erase your existing files. Time machine will create a folder on your external hard drive called Backups. If you connect a disk formatted for Windows, it can be reformatted (permanently removing all data) to a Mac filesystem format and used as a backup disk."
A general "rule of thumb" is, to keep a reasonable "depth" of backups, Time Machine needs 2 to 4 times as much space as the data it's backing-up (not necessarily the entire size of your internal HD). Be sure to add the size of the data on any other drives/partitions you want to back up.
Use one for Time Machine backups and another for your personal files. Choose the ExFAT file system if you plan to use this drive with Windows computers, or Mac OS Extended if you're just using it with other Macs.
If it's just a normal backup it's unlikely to take more than five minutes. If you feel that the Time Machine backup is taking too long there are ways to speed it up, which we look at below.
Use Time Machine with an external drive, such as Seagate® Backup Plus Slim Portable Drive, to easily back up your data, photos, and documents. Time Machine can automatically back up everything on your computer in just a few steps. Open Time Machine from your Menu Bar (or from System Preferences).
Click on Manual Setup, click on the Disks icon on the toolbar, and then click on the Disks tab. Select your disk (normally this is called “Time Capsule Disk”), click on Erase, and then click on Erase two more times in the confirmation dialogs that appear.
One of the reasons you can't add files to a Seagate hard drive on your Mac is that it's formatted with NTFS. On macOS, you can only read disks in this format, not write to them. This will prevent you from adding, changing, or deleting files. Fortunately, Seagate offers the Paragon Driver for macOS.
Open a new Finder window and click Pictures in the left sidebar. Click and drag the iPhoto Library file onto the external hard drive icon on your Desktop. Depending on how large your library is and the connection speed of the external drive, it may take several minutes or longer to complete the copy process.
Look for the
Seagate External drive in (My) Computer/This PC.
Drag and drop
- First, open one window by double-clicking on (My) Computer/This PC.
- If the upper right-hand corner of the window that opens includes this symbol (
- Now you can resize it.
- Click and hold down the mouse button, on the corner of the window.
Seagate Manager:
- Open (My) Computer.
- Open the FreeAgent external drive.
- Open the folder Seagate Backup.
- Open the next listed folder: PCname (this is the name of the computer from which the backup was run).
- There will be two folders listed: C and History.
Navigate through your folders in the Windows Explorer window and select the files you want to transfer to the external hard drive. To select multiple files, hold the "Ctrl" key on the keyboard and select each file with your mouse. Press "Ctrl-A" to select all of the files in the current folder.
Use Time Machine: After you set up Time Machine, it automatically backs up the files on your Mac. If you ever lose the files in your Photos library, you can restore them from the Time Machine backup. The permissions for your Photos library may conflict with those for the Time Machine backup.
Fix – Seagate external hard drive problems on Windows 10
- Press Windows Key + S, and type Control Panel.
- Go to the Hardware and Sound > Power Options.
- In the left pane click Choose what the power button does.
- Click Change settings that are currently unavailable.
Take the files you want to erase, drag them into your trash can, then in your command menu click Finder > Secure Empty Trash. Or, you can even erase your entire hard drive: open the application called Disk Utility, click in the left column on the name of the drive, click the “Erase” tab, then click “Security Options.”
Best external hard drives and SSDs for Mac and PC
- Western Digital My Passport 4TB. The overall best external hard drive for Mac or PC.
- Samsung Portable SSD T5. The best high-speed external storage device.
- G-Technology G-RAID with Thunderbolt 3.
- Buffalo MiniStation Thunderbolt.
- LaCie Porsche Design Mobile Drive 4TB.
- Adata SD700 External SSD.
- WD My Book Duo.
- LaCie Rugged USB-C.
A hard drive can be used on any type of computer - PC or Mac. Seagate branded external drives come preformatted, some for PCs, some for Macs, and some of them have special utilities allowing them to work between both without formatting. Seagate internal drives must be formatted before use.
Seagate Central - How to Backup your Mac using Time Machine
- If you have not done so already, set up your Seagate Central.
- Open System Preferences and then select Time Machine.
- Select the option Select Backup Disk.
- Select your Seagate Central, which will be <host name> TM BACKUP from the list of backup options.
- Once the drive is selected, click on Use Disk.
To reformat a drive on Windows:
- Plug in the drive and open Windows Explorer.
- Right-click the drive and choose Format from the drop-down menu.
- Select the file system you want, give your drive a name under Volume label, and make sure the Quick Format box is checked.
- Click Start, and the computer will reformat your drive.
The basic steps required to install a hard drive are:
- Configure the drive as a master or slave device (PATA only).
- Mount the drive in the chassis.
- Connect the data cable to the drive and to the PATA or SATA interface.
- Connect a power cable to the drive.
- Restart the system and run BIOS Setup.
The
backup feature is available on the Windows version of
Seagate Dashboard.
Create a backup plan
- On the Home page, click Back up to cloud.
- Select specific folders and files and then click Continue.
- Select a cloud storage service, and then click Continue.
- Select a frequency, and then click Start backup.
In Disk Utility, of OS X Utilities, select the partition (in the lefthand column) that you created in the previous step. Select Erase and ensure that the Format is Mac OS Extended (Journaled). It should default to this option. If you want to be super security conscious, you can select the Security Options button.
The most common format for a Time Machine backup disk is Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format. Time Machine also supports Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled), Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled, Encrypted), and Xsan formats.
No it will not erase your existing files. Time machine will create a folder on your external hard drive called Backups. backupdb. This will contain your time machine backups.
The ideal way to do this is to create separate partitions on the external drive. Use one for Time Machine backups and another for your personal files. This will ensure your Time Machine backups don't grow too large, so you'll always have room for your personal files.
Most external hard drives come formatted with the FAT file system, which makes the drive compatible with multiple operating systems. As such, the drive is immediately usable out of the box. However, if you do not intend to change the file system, a format is not necessary.
The best way to keep your backups secure is to encrypt your backup disk. When you switch a Time Capsule or network backup disk from unencrypted to encrypted, your existing backups are erased and new encrypted backup sets are created.
Backup disks you can use with Time Machine. Time Machine can back up to an external storage device connected to your Mac or supported AirPort base station. External USB, Thunderbolt, or FireWire drive connected to your Mac. External drive connected to an AirPort Extreme Base Station (802.11ac) or AirPort Time Capsule.
