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Question

Macbook laptop

Aug 21, 2012 1:40AM PDT

I have a macbook and have the Seagate Free Agent external storage drive. However, when I open free agent, I cannot delete a folder, nor can I add a folder from another source. What am I doing wrong? I need to keep copies of everything on my computer and need to know the best way of doing this. I thought the free agent would help. I have timeline on my laptop but it doesn't seem to work with any of the drives I ask it to download to. I am new with the Mac, so I am hoping I can get some help. Thanks.

Discussion is locked

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Answer
The main cause of this problem is because the Seagate
Aug 21, 2012 5:52AM PDT

has not been formatted as OS X Extended and may well be formatted as NTFS.

The Mac can read (see) files on an NTFS but cannot write to it. To delete files, the mac has to write to the drive.

Suggestion.
Create a folder on your desktop and copy the contents of the Seagate into it.
Now use Disk Utility to format the drive as OS X Extended (journaled)

Once this has been done, you will find that you can now do everything you want to with the drive, including Time Machine.
Just put all the stuff that you copied off the Seagate, back onto it and you are back in business.

Let us know if that worked out for you

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Thanks for the information
Aug 21, 2012 7:42AM PDT

I created a folder on my desk top and dragged all the files I had on the Seagate into that folder. Now I am ready to format the disk BUT I cannot find "disk Utility" to do so. I am new with the Mac so excuse me if this sounds dumb. Where do I find the DU? Thanks

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Found Disk Utility BUT
Aug 21, 2012 7:54AM PDT

when I open it - it does not have a place that tells me to format disk. How do I use this?

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With DU open
Aug 21, 2012 8:09AM PDT

you should see two panes.
A narrow one on the left that shows all the connected drives on your Mac and a larger pane on the right.
This should give you a number of options which vary depending on what you have selected in the left pane

Click on the Seagate in the left pane. It may say something like Seagate and underneath that have another icon, indented, with another name.
In the right pane you should see the tabs that say First Aid, Erase, partition, Raid, Restore.
Assuming you do, choose Partition.
Under Partition Layout: Choose 1 partition.
Give disk a name
Format: Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
Hit Apply.

In a few moments you will be done.
If you see anything other than what I described, let me know.

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I found what you wrote to me
Aug 21, 2012 8:23AM PDT

and started the erase segment. However, it is telling me it will take two hours. Is this correct? Or did I do something wrong? I did not partition which I should have since I had that option. Can I cancel what is going on now and re-start the erasing all over again? I did see the <<< It may say something like Seagate and underneath that have another icon, indented, with another name.>>>> and I clicked on the indented because it said FreeAgent Disk

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OK - I think I got it working
Aug 21, 2012 8:28AM PDT

the reason I saw three hours is because I chose the security of zeroing out so that any info cannot be retrieved. I then clicked on skip and it immediately began to erase all the files. Now it asked me if I wanted to use TimeMachine as my backup and I said yes. It is backing up and I think I am good to go. I will drag my files that were previously on the FreeAgent Disk back onto the formated disk. Am I correct? Thanks for all your help.

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Well Done
Aug 21, 2012 9:39PM PDT

you seem to have got there in the end and will be able to do the same without a problem next time.

More later

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Thank you for guiding me ... also
Aug 22, 2012 2:56AM PDT

one more Mac question. I downloaded for some unknown reason Speech Feedback and now I cannot remove it from my desk top. Any idea what i do to remove this?

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Not sure what Speech Feeback is but
Aug 22, 2012 4:15AM PDT

a Google search does not turn up any software by that name.
Where did you get if from and what happens when you put it in the trash and empty the trash?

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It is called Speech Recognition
Aug 22, 2012 6:27AM PDT

and I found it in system preferences. I just had to turn it off and the icon went away. I don't know how it got turned on. When the icon is on your desk top you cannot delete it or even try to put it into the trash. It does nothing. You have to literally go into SP and turn it off. I don't know the purpose of utilizing it. It came with the Macbook set-up. Thanks again for all your help.

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Speech Recognition is part of OS X
Aug 22, 2012 8:56AM PDT

and with it you can use spoken commands to control your Mac and some Apps.

As you have found, you can turn it on or off.
Check out the Help function in the Finder menu bar for more details

You had me confused by the use of the phrase "I downloaded for some unknown reason"
That indicates that you brought it down from the internet and not that it was part of the OS.

Downloaded, Installed & Imported are terms that usually managed to get confused.
All mean different things.

Anyway, I see that you are getting to move around on your new machine, that's the quickest way to learn

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