how to remove a hard drive and replace it with a new one on a Macbook Air

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Level 1

8 points

how to remove a hard drive and replace it with a new one on a Macbook Air

i just want to remove an old external hard drive for a new one. When I eject the old one and plug in the new one is not recognized. thanks

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 12.6

Posted on Sep 12, 2023 9:55 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

John Galt

Level 10

145,928 points

Sep 13, 2023 4:30 AM in response to adakio

You need to add it to Time Machine. Choose Select Disk or Add or Remove Backup Disk.

Change Time Machine preferences on Mac - Apple Support

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Answer 2

ku4hx

Level 7

23,586 points

Sep 13, 2023 4:24 AM in response to adakio

Physically detach the old drive and give TM no choice in the matter but to use the new drive. If that fails do a restart and again retry with only the new drive attached.

TM can use multiple drives. I've used as many as three so each drive will benefit from a unique name: TimeMachine 1, Time Machine 2 and etc. Or whatever you choose to ID them uniquely

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Answer 3

ku4hx

Level 7

23,586 points

Sep 12, 2023 12:42 PM in response to adakio

Many modern external drives come formatted for Windows. Using Disk Utility, erase the new drive and format it with an Apple format.

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Answer 4

adakio Author

Level 1

8 points

Sep 12, 2023 8:48 PM in response to ku4hx

I want to make the new external drive the destination for time machine. After I unmount old drive and replace it with the new one, time machine won't back up. It wants to use the old one

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how to remove a hard drive and replace it with a new one on a Macbook Air

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