External HD dies, Time Machine begins again

TuckerdogAVL

TuckerdogAVL

Registered
I don't understand how having to constantly replace my external hard drives to use Time Machine is cost effective and efficient. I have a new WD "My Passport" 640gb to back up my Macbook Pro. The external is about 3 months old. If I keep it connected and the laptop goes to sleep, it would often just not come back and I get a beep......pause......beep.......pause.....beep and I have to disconnect and try again. This has gone on since the first Time Machine b/u.

Today, I get the "Time Machine" message that it "can't fix the drive. Reformat and start all over again." So, how does this help with timely backups? I try to just "simply hook it up and forget it" but I'm brought back to reality on an almost weekly basis.

This WD Passport replaced a Seagate that was about 8 months old.
That external replaced a Lacie that was about 1 1/2 years old.

So, external hard drives cost so far, about $300+....
Shouldn't I just give up and go with Carbonite at $60 a year?
 
If your hard drives are dying because of some hardware failure, and they're as young as you say they are (8 months for the Seagate, 3 months for the Passport), then you may want to investigate getting them replaced under their respective warranties instead of buying brand-new drives. No drive should consistently fail under a year's worth of use.

If Time Machine is failing for some other reason, then let's troubleshoot that -- what format are these drives in? Most external drives come pre-formatted as FAT32, which has its own set of limitations. I highly recommend formatting drives with the GUID partition format in Mac OS X Extended (Journaled) format before using them with Time Machine. Is this what you're doing, or are you leaving them in the format they come from the factory in (FAT32)?
 
The good news is I have the receipt from this latest one...and I agree...I actually purchased it Sept 28. Amazing huh... and I did reformat for the Mac prior to using. I am running 10.6.8.
 
It appears to be working right now directly plugged into the MacBookPro. Of course, that means all the other things that have to be plugged directly into the MacBookPro that don't work with the Hub that are supposed to work with the hub, can't work at the same time. I have a plug somewhere for the hub that supposedly gives it extra juice so I'll see if I can find that. Thanks for your help. It's "resolved" for the time being as long as I don't need more than 2 things plugged into the USB ports on the MacBook Pro.

PS the Seagate interestingly died the same time my first harddrive death...but I was able to get the hard drive back onto the new one with the help of some very good techs in town.... and the Lacie had it's own power system when it died.
 
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