time machine

[malibuchevy]

I have a new macbook - had time machine set up then got an iomega external hard drive
when I looked at time machine tonight computer said that there was a problem and this had not backed up. Nothing looks familiar - don't see any info about a back, nor do I see any discs when looking at one to choose for backup. I had obviously done something incorrectly but being a novice, have no idea what i should be seeing on the screen or what to try
HELP

 

[jbarley]

Most new Hard disks come partitioned and formatted for MS Windows.
Fire up "Disk Utility" located in "Applications/Utilities", and you should be able to select your new disk, repartition it and format it to Mac OS extended (journaled).
After this is completed it should show up as a Time Machine selectable drive.

 

[fryke]

This information should _always_ be given as well, when you give advice to reformat a volume: All information on it will be erased in the process! So if you already have put stuff on it, that will be gone.

 

[djackmac]

After the reformat you may need to go to Time Machines preferences and change disk to point time machine to backup to the new drive.