Hello!

I configured my mum's iMac six to eight weeks ago, or so, to have a Time Machine backup. To be honest, I did two things at once, upgrading the iMac from 10.5 to 10.8 (which worked very well so far) and installing an external USB 2 drive as backup HD and so configured TimeMachine to use this.

Now, all of a sudden, since yesterday evening, there's a message telling the TimeMachine HD was writing protected and so, backups can no longer be done.

Huh?

The protection settings are: Read&Write for the user / Read&Write for 'staff' / Read for 'everyone'. Right or wrong?

The TimeMachine HD is a WesternDigital USB 2 My PassportEssential 320 GB drive out of which 107 GB remain available, the rest has already been filed by TimeMachine...

Any advice?

Greetings, and thanks in advance,
PeteParker

[eyadams]

Try re-partitioning the drive.

I had a similar problem. I had bought a Seagate external USB 2.0 drive, and it could do a backup, but when the Mac was turned off or went to sleep the external drive wouldn't re-mount, even with Disk Utility. What I eventually found was that the drive had been partitioned with MBR, which is the standard for Windows but doesn't work as well on the Mac. Re-partition using GUID, and everything works great.

Hello,

Originally Posted by eyadams 

Try re-partitioning the drive.
I had a similar problem. I had bought a Seagate external USB 2.0 drive, and it could do a backup, but when the Mac was turned off or went to sleep the external drive wouldn't re-mount, even with Disk Utility. What I eventually found was that the drive had been partitioned with MBR, which is the standard for Windows but doesn't work as well on the Mac. Re-partition using GUID, and everything works great.

I think I did partition it originally with GUID (isn't that the standard option?). Where I can look this up?

I don't really know what to think. As I said, it's a WesternDigital USB 2 drive, which was originally formatted for Windows. When I erased the drive, I think I did a quick erase using Disk Utility - I always thought the difference between 'quicker' and 'safer' was the question of being able to get back the erased data, as quicker as easier it is (so, for instance, when you sell an old hard drive, you wouldn't want anyone to be able to get your data back). Is there another difference? I can retry.

The current state is: I switched off TimeMachine; the drive sometimes mounts, sometimes doesn't, if it doesn't, trying to activate it via Disk Utility doesn't work.
I ran FirstAid which, after checking, recommended repairing. Repairing failed, however, telling the drive needs to be erased, that data can still be read (and saved, therefore), but that the drive can no longer be used normally.

Any idea? I don't mind erasing, it's no problem, the backup of the last weeks is unimportant; but I don't want this to happen again, it should just work, generally, and I don't understand what the problem is.

Greetings!
PeteParker

[eyadams]

You can check which partition scheme is in use by firing up Disk Utility, selecting the disk, and clicking on the "Partition" tab. It will tell you which scheme is currently in use, and allow you to re-partition. If all you did was a quick format, you didn't partition - they're not the same thing.

Originally Posted by eyadams 

You can check which partition scheme is in use by firing up Disk Utility, selecting the disk, and clicking on the "Partition" tab. It will tell you which scheme is currently in use, and allow you to re-partition. If all you did was a quick format, you didn't partition - they're not the same thing.

Alright, I just did that, it says:

Write status: Read/Write
S.M.A.R.T. status: Not supported
Partition-scheme: GUID partition table

I don't know if this is really relevant, but - there are no partitions except for one. So I never created a second or third one, I just used the whole drive for TimeMachine (that was also recommended to me, instead of using one partition for backup, the other for different stuff; I thought it good advice, too).

Is this any help? Hmm.
Pete

[eyadams]

Well, if it's partitioned GUID, then my idea isn't what's wrong. Sorry. The drive may be defective - it does happen. Try calling the manufacturer.

Originally Posted by Caren 

How did you directly update 10.5 to 10.8 - is it possible? If you did it 'congrats!'
Check the permission of drive again and repair it. Let me know.

Hey,

as for the drive - it was defect, I sent it back to WD and I'm waiting for them to send me a new one.

I did upgrade my mum's iMac with 10.5 to 10.8 - for real! And it works brillantly. It's quite some work though: You've got to check software compatibility, device compatibilty - and then there's much new to learn. She likes it very much I think, it's just so tidy, and really fast although the iMac is pretty old.
As for 'doing' it - well, I really backupped the data, erased the drive, installed 10.8, and step-by-step brought back the data. Importing emails didn't really work, so I had to insert the .mbox files and imported them manually, that took 2 hours or so. Stuff like that. Any questions? Don't hesitate, if you want; we're really happy.

Greetings,
Pete

[Spheric Harlot]

Why are you posting that link?

How is it relevant to anything Peter has described?