How to format a disk for use with Time Machine

This guide walks you through how to reformat a disk (usually an external hard drive) so that it can be used with Time Machine on Mac OSX.

Warning! formatting a disk will completely wipe all data stored on it.

Based on Mac OSX 10.7 Lion.

• Launchpad > Utilities > Disk Utility.

• Select the disk you wish to format in the left column.

• Click on the Erase tab.

• In the Format box change the drop down to ‘Mac OS Extended (Journaled)’.

• Click on the Erase button.

• A confirmation box will pop up, click Erase again.

All the data on the disk will be permanently erased, once this process has finished you can go to Time Machine and use this disk as the backup location.

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