Am I stuck with Mac OS Extended (Case-Sensitive, Journaled)?

[goat1927]

Case sensitive for a Time Machine drive is okay, but for data, I strongly advise against case-sensitive. It can cause a lot of problems especially with third-party apps that take for granted that filenames are supposed to be case-insensitive. With Time Machine drives, the only app reading from and writing to it will be the TM app itself, which is aware of it.

Hi there Tony,

Hoping you can help - similar issue to the above, but here are the specifics of my situation.

Currently running macOC High Sierra 10.13.6 (older machine).

We backup all our photos (stored on iMac, Photos app) to an external Seagate Backup Plus hard drive - have done that for about 10 years. I did a pretty horrible job of organizing the backup method and organizational structure of the photos folders on the hard drive, so I'm trying to reorganize/clean up the folder structure (basically, just move files from one location on the external HD to another on the external HD). I keep getting one of a few messages when I try to move or delete folders:

- The volume has the wrong case sensitivity for a backup
- The operation can't be completed because it isn't supported

Now, I believe these are 2 separate issues.

1. The first, on running Disk Utility, it's telling me that the "Seagate Backup+ BK Media" (USB External Physical Disk - GUID Partition Map" is NOT case-sensitive, but the immediate child "folder" seems to be "Seagate Backup Plus Drive" (USB Extended Physical Volume - Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled).

2. The iMac has 2 user profiles, so folders of Photos were saved from 2 different user profiles on to the external hard drive. I believe the "operation can't be completed" error is due to rights based on user.

Given the situation I'm describing, can you you please advise how I can adjust any settings, drive formats, etc? Goal: move/delete/reorganize files on the external hard drive. Seems extremely complicated to do something so simple, but I understand now why I'm not able to .

Would appreciate any help you're able to offer - either in this thread, via private message, etc. My email address is (e-mail address removed)

Thank you very much!

Matt

 

[TonyAguila]

Hi there Tony,

Hoping you can help - similar issue to the above, but here are the specifics of my situation.

Currently running macOC High Sierra 10.13.6 (older machine).

We backup all our photos (stored on iMac, Photos app) to an external Seagate Backup Plus hard drive - have done that for about 10 years. I did a pretty horrible job of organizing the backup method and organizational structure of the photos folders on the hard drive, so I'm trying to reorganize/clean up the folder structure (basically, just move files from one location on the external HD to another on the external HD). I keep getting one of a few messages when I try to move or delete folders:

- The volume has the wrong case sensitivity for a backup
- The operation can't be completed because it isn't supported

Now, I believe these are 2 separate issues.

1. The first, on running Disk Utility, it's telling me that the "Seagate Backup+ BK Media" (USB External Physical Disk - GUID Partition Map" is NOT case-sensitive, but the immediate child "folder" seems to be "Seagate Backup Plus Drive" (USB Extended Physical Volume - Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled).

2. The iMac has 2 user profiles, so folders of Photos were saved from 2 different user profiles on to the external hard drive. I believe the "operation can't be completed" error is due to rights based on user.

Given the situation I'm describing, can you you please advise how I can adjust any settings, drive formats, etc? Goal: move/delete/reorganize files on the external hard drive. Seems extremely complicated to do something so simple, but I understand now why I'm not able to .

Would appreciate any help you're able to offer - either in this thread, via private message, etc. My email address is (e-mail address removed)

Thank you very much!

Matt

Before we go deeper into the process, I need to know if you can afford to erase all of the information in that Seagate drive. For what you are trying to accomplish, I think your best backup method is Time Machine, but Time Machine will not let you open up the drive and pick out files that you want to retrieve. You do all that with the Time Machine app. If you want to be able to get into the “backup” disk like you would any other Finder volume or folder, then you need to use a cloner app, or manually copy files to it in Finder.

If you are willing to completely erase the external drive, then my recommendation is to turn it into a Time Machine drive. The ideal format for Time Machine is APFS. You can do this in High Sierra, but I suggest that you ask the help of someone you know is running a later version of macOS, ideally Monterey or Ventura. APFS was first introduced in High Sierra, but its implementation of APFS was prone with bugs. You can also, if you have a good internet connection, boot into Recovery and run Disk Utility from there. That would guarantee you that Disk Utility will be up-to-date.

Don’t worry about the case sensitive issue or encrypting. Just plain vanilla. You will allow macOS to properly prepare it for Time Machine, at which time you can turn the encryption mode on (recommended). Let me know.

 

[goat1927]

Before we go deeper into the process, I need to know if you can afford to erase all of the information in that Seagate drive. For what you are trying to accomplish, I think your best backup method is Time Machine, but Time Machine will not let you open up the drive and pick out files that you want to retrieve. You do all that with the Time Machine app. If you want to be able to get into the “backup” disk like you would any other Finder volume or folder, then you need to use a cloner app, or manually copy files to it in Finder.

If you are willing to completely erase the external drive, then my recommendation is to turn it into a Time Machine drive. The ideal format for Time Machine is APFS. You can do this in High Sierra, but I suggest that you ask the help of someone you know is running a later version of macOS, ideally Monterey or Ventura. APFS was first introduced in High Sierra, but its implementation of APFS was prone with bugs. You can also, if you have a good internet connection, boot into Recovery and run Disk Utility from there. That would guarantee you that Disk Utility will be up-to-date.

Don’t worry about the case sensitive issue or encrypting. Just plain vanilla. You will allow macOS to properly prepare it for Time Machine, at which time you can turn the encryption mode on (recommended). Let me know.

Hi Tony,

First - thank you very much for replying!

No, I can't erase the Seagate because it's the only location where all our family photos are saved. That said, would getting a second external HD be the need?

Matt

 

[TonyAguila]

Hi Tony,

First - thank you very much for replying!

No, I can't erase the Seagate because it's the only location where all our family photos are saved. That said, would getting a second external HD be the need?

Matt

Definitely get a new one. You cannot afford to lose any of that existing data. Don’t even consider getting an SSD drive. Get a “spinner” hard drive, at least double the capacity of your Mac’s main drive, if not more. Portable 2.5" SATA hard drives are very affordable nowadays. When I still had my second Mac, a Mac mini, I had two 2-TB drives connected to it, in tandem. You can’t be too careful with your backup data. On my Studio, I have two 8-TB Time Machine drives, and I still do regular clones over and above the Time Machine backups to numerous 2-TB SSDs.

 

[goat1927]

Definitely get a new one. You cannot afford to lose any of that existing data. Don’t even consider getting an SSD drive. Get a “spinner” hard drive, at least double the capacity of your Mac’s main drive, if not more. Portable 2.5" SATA hard drives are very affordable nowadays. When I still had my second Mac, a Mac mini, I had two 2-TB drives connected to it, in tandem. You can’t be too careful with your backup data. On my Studio, I have two 8-TB Time Machine drives, and I still do regular clones over and above the Time Machine backups to numerous 2-TB SSDs.

Thank you!

Once I have that, can you advise how I can go about pulling content from my old Seagate to the new one?

Much appreciated...

Matt

 

[goat1927]

Definitely get a new one. You cannot afford to lose any of that existing data. Don’t even consider getting an SSD drive. Get a “spinner” hard drive, at least double the capacity of your Mac’s main drive, if not more. Portable 2.5" SATA hard drives are very affordable nowadays. When I still had my second Mac, a Mac mini, I had two 2-TB drives connected to it, in tandem. You can’t be too careful with your backup data. On my Studio, I have two 8-TB Time Machine drives, and I still do regular clones over and above the Time Machine backups to numerous 2-TB SSDs.

Hi there Tony,

I've acquired a new external drive - would love a hand with next steps, if you'd be willing. I have my new HD and set it up for XFat, but when I try to drag and drop files from the old HD to the new one, it's telling me "The volume is the wrong format for a backup."

If you're able to help, happy to supply my email - could really use a hand.

Thank you,

Matt

 

[TonyAguila]

Hi there Tony,

I've acquired a new external drive - would love a hand with next steps, if you'd be willing. I have my new HD and set it up for XFat, but when I try to drag and drop files from the old HD to the new one, it's telling me "The volume is the wrong format for a backup."

If you're able to help, happy to supply my email - could really use a hand.

Thank you,

Matt

You’re running High Sierra, right? You will need to format the drive as Mac OS Extended (Journaled), not XFat. I can’t run High Sierra on my Mac, but it might have been designated before as HFS+. Someone else here might want to correct me…

After it’s done, unless you want to “backup” your files piece-by-piece, you should use Time Machine to make a full backup. You go into System Preferences, select Time Machine, and add the new drive to the list. You can encrypt the backup, if you want, and you can exclude certain folders or drives from being copied, if you’re sure you can do without those files. After you have designated that drive as a Time Machine backup device, you can go ahead and start the backup. By default, Time Machine will do backups every hour.

 

[goat1927]

You’re running High Sierra, right? You will need to format the drive as Mac OS Extended (Journaled), not XFat. I can’t run High Sierra on my Mac, but it might have been designated before as HFS+. Someone else here might want to correct me…

After it’s done, unless you want to “backup” your files piece-by-piece, you should use Time Machine to make a full backup. You go into System Preferences, select Time Machine, and add the new drive to the list. You can encrypt the backup, if you want, and you can exclude certain folders or drives from being copied, if you’re sure you can do without those files. After you have designated that drive as a Time Machine backup device, you can go ahead and start the backup. By default, Time Machine will do backups every hour.

Hi Tony,

Jumping back to this - are you able to connect on this offline to help? I want to make sure I'm clear on what I'm trying to do.

First, to answer your questions - yes: using High Sierra 10.13.6 (it's an older iMac).

I think part of what I'm experiencing is that some of the old EHD's backup files of photos were done as part of a Time Machine backup. What I really want to do is (and if I need to pull folders one by one from the old EHD to the new one) pull all the old EHD photos onto the new one, so that moving forward, all photos get backed up to the same EHD. I know it's a lot, but I'd be fine doing the backup of photos piece by piece.

It's tough trying to look at photos for any variety of reasons on the old EHD, especially with all the kids' photos that we use for graduations activities, etc. Trying to make it easy - wish I had known better years ago.

If email or private message is easier, so you can see what I'm trying to do, let me know and I can provide an email. Tough to explain on my end...

Thank you very much - really want to solve this!

Matt

 

[TonyAguila]

Hi Tony,

Jumping back to this - are you able to connect on this offline to help? I want to make sure I'm clear on what I'm trying to do.

First, to answer your questions - yes: using High Sierra 10.13.6 (it's an older iMac).

I think part of what I'm experiencing is that some of the old EHD's backup files of photos were done as part of a Time Machine backup. What I really want to do is (and if I need to pull folders one by one from the old EHD to the new one) pull all the old EHD photos onto the new one, so that moving forward, all photos get backed up to the same EHD. I know it's a lot, but I'd be fine doing the backup of photos piece by piece.

It's tough trying to look at photos for any variety of reasons on the old EHD, especially with all the kids' photos that we use for graduations activities, etc. Trying to make it easy - wish I had known better years ago.

If email or private message is easier, so you can see what I'm trying to do, let me know and I can provide an email. Tough to explain on my end...

Thank you very much - really want to solve this!

Matt

Sure, we can do this over e-mail and phone, if needed. Send it to my secondary address, (e-mail address removed).

 

[goat1927]

Sure, we can do this over e-mail and phone, if needed. Send it to my secondary address, (e-mail address removed).

Thank you! Just emailed you!

Matt

 

[TonyAguila]

Thank you! Just emailed you!

Matt

I didn’t get the e-mail. Anyway, from your original post you mentioned that you recently got a NEW hard drive and I take that to mean that you still have your old Time Machine drive, right? It would help if I knew the model of your Mac, the system version of macOS, and the make, size, and interface (USB, Firewire, Thunderbolt, etc.) of the new hard drive.

For now, if you still can, do an up-to-date Time Machine backup to your old drive. After that, take it offline, DO NOT copy anything to or from it. One thing you need to keep in mind is to not directly tamper with the files/folders inside a Time Machine volume. All the actions should be done by the system.

Next, connect the new hard drive to the Mac. Assuming that you are running at least macOS High Sierra, turn on Disk Utility and locate the new drive. Format/erase it as APFS and leave the other options at default. When it is done, reboot, with the new drive still connected. When you are logged in, open System Settings (or “Preferences,”) depending on your macOS version. Go to Time Machine and if the old drive is still listed, select it and click on the “–” (minus sign, bottom left) to unload it. Next click on the “+” to add the new drive to the list. Click to select it, option-click or right-click to select “Back up to “[drive name]” now.” Time Machine should start backing up. Depending on the amount of data you have, it can take a while.

As long as your system supports APFS, I recommend staying with APFS for Time Machine backups. Others might say that APFS is only for SSDs, or that hard drives or Time Machine drives need to be formatted HFS+, for now, trust me. After all, this will be a new drive and as long as you still have your old backup drive, you can still fall back to it. Right?

If the initial backup worked, I can instruct you later on how to encrypt your backups, use Options… to exclude drives or folders that you wish to exclude from Time Machine, etc. This is what my setup looks like…

Good luck!

 

[goat1927]

Hi Tony,

Sorry the email didn't come through...my email is a @mac.com one - full address is my first name and last name together "mattjaworski" - can you try emailing me there and I can provide info that way?

Thanks!

Matt

 

[TonyAguila]

Hi Tony,

Sorry the email didn't come through...my email is a @mac.com one - full address is my first name and last name together "mattjaworski" - can you try emailing me there and I can provide info that way?

Thanks!

Matt

I sent you an e-mail directly, Matt. I still need a couple more information about your setup.