Wd Passport Ultra Backup Mac OS X

Format your Passport so the drive is compatible with the backup tools available in Mac OS X and so it can perform the common task of transferring files between the external hard drive and your Macs internal hard drive.

OS X includes all the tools to format the drive and store files on the Passport external hard disk.

Click the Utilities folder and then double-click Disk Utility.

Click the Mac OS Extended option in the Volume Format menu, then click Erase to format the drive for your Mac.

Wait for them to be completely copied on to the hard drive, then click the Passport icon on your desktop.

Drag the icon above the Trash icon and then release your mouse button to safely eject the Passport external hard drive from your computer.

It contains special Time Machine-specific database files which arent meant to be interacted with by end users in Finder.

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Wd Passport Ultra Backup For Mac Alias And

So I went to Finder to have a look at the drive, and I am now seeing things that I dont know how they got there; most notably, the My Passport For Mac alias and My Passport For Mac alias 2.

I dont remember creating alias, have no idea now how they got there, and dont know why they exist I am going to post a screenshot below to try to help (and because I am still learning how to attach images to posts, so I need the practice).

The second navigation column are all of the items in the top left of the item highlighted in the left greyish column.

These include the Backups.backupdb folder (where your Macs Time Machine backups reside -- dont delete that ), the three aliases you inadvertently created, and what appears to be some sort of Western Digital utility software for your Mac.

The third column reflects the contents of the item selected in the second column which is one of your aliases.

The fourth column (on the right) is empty because you havent selected anything in the third column.

This is the way this hierarchical directory view works on macOS.

Got a little paranoid several months ago because I didnt remember if I formatted the drive originally when I hooked it up.

And when I looked into the backups.backups just now, I doesnt look like when I looked at it last.

If you hover your mouse over the blue My Passport for Mac alias in the second column, right mouse click and select Get Info, you can see for yourself when that alias was created.

Youll have to investigate yourself and try to draw a conclusion if you see one.

The contents of the Backups.backupdb folder is unrelated to this.

If these additional aliases were a common Time Machine bug, wed see dozens and dozens of similar QA forum threads on the topic but there are none.

That points to user error regardless of whether you remember doing it or not.

For sure, I make mistakes time to time while using my various technology devices and I dont always remember doing so.

And my memory isnt infallible and it wont be getting better as the days pass.