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Reformatted Easy Store drive not working with Time Machine

I followed the instructions to get my MacBook Pro Retina OS Catalina to work with my new Easy Store backup hard drive. This error appeared when I attempted to perform a backup and selected the Discovery ICON. "Are you sure you want to erase the backup disk “easystore”? Erasing will destroy all information on the disk and can’t be undone." I've already used the disk utility, selected Extended Journal Encrypted, and hit the delete button.

Best Answered by

Amanda Wong

Answered on Tuesday, August 27, 2024

If you select the incorrect file system while formatting the Easy Store backup hard drive in Disk Utility, Time Machine will prompt the message asking you to erase the drive to make it compatible.

You should choose APFS as the format if you're using macOS 11 Big Sur or later, and select Mac OS Extended (Journaled), also called HFS+, if you're using macOS 10.15 Catalina or earlier while formatting the drive for Time Machine. Thus, to use WD Easy Store on Mac for Time Machine, you can reformat the drive in Disk Utility again or follow the onscreen guide to erase the drive in Time Machine.