EXTERNAL DISC DRIVE TIME MACHINE

[marilyn123]

Hello All,

I have 2 external backup disk drives that my MacBook Air 13.3.1 found w/o any problem for years, until 3 days ago.

Now my MacBook says my drives cannot be found.

Please see the attached files.

Thanks.

 

[TonyAguila]

Hello All,

I have 2 external backup disk drives that my MacBook Air 13.3.1 found w/o any problem for years, until 3 days ago.

Now my MacBook says my drives cannot be found.

Please see the attached files.

Thanks.

Notice that TM indicates “After disk is connected” for both drives? It could be an ownership or permission issue. But it might be a trivial problem. Launch Disk Utility and eject both, then remount. See if they are both visible in Finder. Now see if Time Machine will recognize them. You may even have to remove and re-add each to your list.

 

[marilyn123]

Thanks, Tony.

I called Mac Tech and an upper tier said I might have cable issues.

The external disk drives turned up in Disk Utility and Finder, but Time Machine won't allow me to remove or add them.

See file uploads.

 

[marilyn123]

I have used both external drives for years and then, poof! They have dismounted.

 

[TonyAguila]

I have used both external drives for years and then, poof! They have dismounted.

Did you try removing the drives from the Time Machine list? Just select one and press the “minus” button. If it disappears from the lineup, do the other. You won’t damage either by doing this. I would restart after this, and then reload the drives afterwards.

It’s also possible that your macOS is damaged. One reason why I keep a copy of my current macOS version’s installer is that it’s so easy to reinstall it. More often than not, things go back to normal after such a refresh. Much harder to do if you’re running a beta version, which I am.

 

[marilyn123]

Hello All,

I have 2 external backup disk drives that my MacBook Air 13.3.1 found w/o any problem for years, until 3 days ago.

Now my MacBook says my drives cannot be found.

Please see the attached files.

Thanks.

 

[marilyn123]

Yes. I tried adding and subtracting the external disk drives. The MacBook could not find them.

 

[TonyAguila]

Yes. I tried adding and subtracting the external disk drives. The MacBook could not find them.

If you can borrow an external drive that you can connect to your Mac, one that will be okay to erase, so you can test it. Hard drives are more susceptible to wear and tear, especially whn running 24/7. I have two 8-TB hard drives for TM, and on the average, I use them for about two years. Then I would replace them with brand new ones, whether or not they are going bad. I use the old ones for archiving non-vital data.