Why is my external drive not backing up in Time Machine?

I am running Snow Leopard on a Macbook Pro.  I have my photo library on an external drive.  I have a 2nd external drive which I use for my Time Machine backups.  I keep the photo drive connected when I backup to Time Machine.  The photo drive is NOT excluded in Time Machine preferences.
While I have the photo drive connected, it appears in all of the Time Machine backups.
However....when I disconnect the photo drive (as would happen if it was lost, stolen, damaged, etc) and then I enter Time Machine, the photo drive does not appear and neither does my iPhoto library that I keep on the photo drive.  Does this mean it is not backing up?  What would I do if I lost the photo drive?

Does this mean it is not backing up?
No.
What would I do if I lost the photo drive?
This.

Similar Messages

  • External Hard drive not backed up on Time Machine

    One of my Seagate external hard drives has failed. I thought that the Time Machine was backing up its contents onto my other external hard drive - I set it to back up everything including the external HD. However I've looked into the Time Machine & gone back to before the HD failed, & there is no sign of it. Surely its contents should have been saved on there even if it has now failed? I don't understand the Time Machine anyway; it seems to only show me certain parts of the computer contents; it's really hard to see all of what is on there.
    Second question; what is the best brand of external HD to buy? I thought Seagate was reliable but I no longer trust it after this failure. Someone on this forum recommended OWC Mercury ProElite series?

    Thanks all,
    This is helpful. I am 100% certain I set it to back up everything except the HD it is backing up onto - I remember specifically telling it to back up the other HD -  but strangely, when I open the TM window I cannot see anywhere to specify the folders etc to back up; please see screenshot. All it shows is that the TM back-up drive is excluded. I don't understand where all the preferences have gone? I got this window by clicking 'options'; the only other choice was 'select disk'.
    Anyway, if as you say they are not included even if you expressly tell it to back them up, maybe including them has no effect. I will try the shift-command-C thing & see if that helps.
    Thanks.

  • Why doesnt my external drive show up in the time machine window when im trying to set it up wirelessly

    my external hardrive doesnt show up in the time machine window for disk selection . i connected it to a usb hub it shows up when i do the manual setup but it still doesnt show up in the disk window . any help am i missing something ?

    The supported targets for Time Machine backups are local (direct-connected) disks, and network targets include Time Capsule, a disk hanging off the current-generation AirPort (though not earlier AirPort devices), and OS X Server systems.
    The Time Machine storage is based on the HFS+ file system, so I would not expect TM to work with SMB file services.
    While there are hacks to allow Time Machine to access network drives, I would not consider those to be reliable. Skim the forum and the 'net for related details, and for previous discussions of setting this up and the related issues that can arise.
    Remember to test the recovery with whatever you decide to use; whole point of backups is the ability to restore the data, after all.
    If you want to learn more about Time Machine, Pondini is an excellent resource.

  • WD External HD not backing up thru Time Machine and can't access files

    Hello,
    This is the snapshot picture of my problem:
    http://i668.photobucket.com/albums/vv43/no-real/computer/Picture1.png
    When I connect the WD 500GB drive to my Macbook Pro, the computer doesn't recognize it in the devices list (The WD-HD seems running when I connect though USB or Firewire), nor the Time Machine can find it.
    I'm hoping someone can help me after exhausting all resources I checked on the net.
    This problem suddenly started about two months ago, whereas before there was no problem for about two years.
    I read forums and one said to start Disk Utility and have it recognize the HD. The first time it didn't recognize it, but starting and quitting Disk Utility few times the HD was finally recognized. However, the Verify disk or Repair disk can't be completed (Error sign) The snapshot of my situation is like this:
    http://i668.photobucket.com/albums/vv43/no-real/computer/Picture1.png
    Another forum said if the HD was formatted for Windows (Which I used for the first few months using this WD-HD) and wasn't formatted for Mac, which I can't remember if I did, this could be causing problems?
    I'm very careful about ejecting or shutting down my External HD properly, and I can't remember a time when I disconnected it improperly (Who knows, maybe I have)
    Any thoughts and/or solution for this problem? Or am I doomed to reformat the whole drive.
    The iomega Drive you see in the snapshot is a new one I bought and works just fine.
    Thanks

    no-real wrote:
    So I tried everything but to no avail.... I will reformat the disk. Luckily I had most of my critical files on the Mac HD so... the damage is not all that bad!
    Thanks for all the help here... and when I went to the apple store today and consulted, they said it is a better idea to store on two separate disks, one with time machine, and one with the old fashion drag and drop to diversify risk.
    I'd disagree with the second part of that -- drag and drop is not a good backup solution. I've learned over the years (mostly the hard way, of course ), never to trust my backups to a single app or piece of hardware: no app is perfect, and all hardware fails, sooner or later.
    Like many here, I keep both full Time Machine backups, plus a "bootable clone" on a separate external HD. I use CarbonCopyCloner, many use the similar SuperDuper. That gives me the best of both types of backups, plus of course a completely separate, independent backup.
    CCC is donationware; SD has a free version, but you need the paid one (about $30) to do updates instead of full replacements, or scheduling. Either is easily found via Google.
    And/or, see Kappy's post on Basic Backup, complete with links to the web sites of each product.
    And by chance, before I will reformat, is there a way to access this External disk with some files? It shows up on disk utility.... maybe a way to just manually pull out some files?
    Since it doesn't appear in the Finder, no.

  • External Drive not showing up on Time Machine

    I bought a seagate external Drive to backup my Mac through Time Machine. It said it's Mac compatible in the box...
    Now it doesn't show up when I try to choose a drive at Time Machine...
    Help!

    Ok, already solved it. I had to Reformat the Drive for a MAC format.
    Here's a helpfull link:
    http://www.macworld.com/article/1132140/timemachine2.html
    Thanks!

  • I got a macbook pro 2008 and can not back up using time machine. it eject my external hard drive everytime. does someone has a fix???

    i got a macbook pro 2008 and can not back up using time machine. it eject my external hard drive everytime. does anybody has a fix???

    Does your external hard drive have it's own power supply?  It should.
    Is your external hard drive formatted with the NTFS file system?  It won't work.
    It needs to be formatted either with Mac OS Extended or FAT32.
    (There are drivers available to add NTFS support to OS X but their quality is unknown, especially the "free" ones.)

  • Why is my external drive nt backing up my computer???

    why is my external drive nt backing up my computer??? i tried endless time to set up time machine in order to automatically back up my files. it starts backing up a few MB's of files and then i get a message that an error occurred while backing up files thus making the backing up a failure. what gives? i tried formatting the external drive. checked utility disk for restoring permissions, etc....

    hi there, i'm afraid i dont know what u mean. i can copy files manually and open them in another mac, but to copy all the files will take me forever. i want to erase everything on my mac so that i can re-install the software...

  • The first time I connected my new My Passport portable hard drive to my Mac, the message asking if I want to use the drive to back up with Time Machine did not appear.  What is the next step?

    The first time I connected my new My Passport portable hard drive to my MacBook Pro, the message asking if I want to use the drive to back up with Time Machine did not appear.  I would like to set it up to do this.  What would my next step be?

    Drive Partition and Format
    1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
    2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
    3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Apply button and wait until the process has completed.
    4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
    5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Security button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
    6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.
    Open Time Machine preferences to select this drive for use as the backup drive. Turn on Time Machine.

  • I just fix my macbook air because it was kernel panic. They changed the hard drive. I could not back up with Time Machine, because it did not work and I had over Adobe creative suite 5 design premium student. But I finished my studies last year and I'd li

    I just fix my macbook air because it was kernel panic. They changed the hard drive. I could not back up with Time Machine, because it did not work and I had over Adobe creative suite 5 design premium student. But I finished my studies last year and I'd like to know how to get the serial number for me to reinstall Adobe creative suite 5 design premium when I am no longer study because I would still like the used? It is not fair if I do anymore because I really need.

    You can download Creative Suite 5 here:
    Other downloads
    To deal with the issue of the serial number and using it again, you'll have to use Web Chat. Here's a link:
    Adobe ID, sign in, and account help
    See the bottom of the page for a link

  • LaCie d2 500GB Quadra Hard Drive Not Being Seen By Time Machine

    Hello all,
    I have a LaCie d2 500GB Quadra Hard Drive Not being seen by Time Machine hooked up to my iMac via firewire 800. My iMac is running latest updates etc. Have raised a support ticket and was given the following instructions by LaCie:
    Posted: 08 November 2007 @ 00:00
    Thank you for contacting LaCie Technical Support. Make sure the drive is mounting and you can assess files on it on your 10.5 system. If you can then you will need to reformat the drive to make it compatible with time machine.
    Warning! All data on the external drive will be destroyed in this process.
    Step 1: Run Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility
    Step 2: Click on the LaCie hard drive's 'physical' entry, usually the third entry in the list
    Step 3: Click on the Partition tab
    Step 4: Change 'Current Scheme' to '1 Partition'
    Step 5: Change the name of the drive back to what you would like it to be
    Step 6: The format needs to be Mac OS Extended, with or without journaling
    Step 7: Click on the Options... button
    Use "Apple Partition Map" partition scheme on a PowerPC-based Mac.
    Use "GUID" partition scheme on an Intel-based Mac.
    Step 8: Click on OK
    Step 9: Click on Apply
    Step 10: click on Erase at the bottom of the screen, then confirm the erase.
    The drive should start to be reformatted which should take only a few seconds and show up on the desktop with a new icon. Once it has you can then use it with time machine.
    I have done all of the above and it is still not being seen. Anyone had a similar issue or got the above to actually work?
    Thanks in advance!!!!

    Ryan,
    Check drive volume name and also the Computer name. Apple released a tech note recommending that both be limited to only the characters A-Za-z0-9 (no dashes, hyphens, or other special characters.
    If you can, send the Apple System Profiler report to me at the addres in my profile. Imay be able to see something there. I have helped another user with similar problems, but with a LaCie USB drive. He got things working by repeating the recommended steps, and double checking everything.
    As others have rported, this should work, so there may be something else preventing proper operation.
    If the drive is usable from Finder, but Time Machine cannot use it, there is something related in how Time Machine is viewing the drive.
    Mike

  • HT201250 Is there a size limit for an external drive to be used with time machine?

    I have an iMac with a 2TB drive. I have a 2TB WD drive used for Time Machine that is full. I would like to go to the bigest WD (type) external drive that will work with Time Machine. Is there a TB limit for TM in OS X Lion?

    Welcome .  I have also used a 2TB WD My Book ext HDD for Time Machine backups for the past year and have had no problems.  They seem to get a  very bad wrap.  Perhaps we are a few of the lucky ones.  The two brands recommended by macjack are very, very good brands.

  • How do I retrieve files from a backup hard drive (was backed up using Time Machine) on a different computer

    how do I retrieve files from a backup hard drive (was backed up using Time Machine) on a different computer?

    Please visit Pondini's Time Machine FAQ for help with all things Time Machine.

  • How can I restore stickies which were not backed up on Time Machine?

    I accidently deleted some text on a stickie note.  That note was not backed up in Time Machine. That text is also gone from the Stickies Database.  Everything that I read online leads me to believe that I can find this deleted text in this file... com.apple.Stickies.plist.  Is that correct? 
    If so how do I retrieve this text?  Is there a tutorial somewhere?
    The notes online say that I can open the file in Omni Outliner and then use NVU to convert it to text.  How does that work?
    When I open the file in Omni Outliner, I get this...
    Now what do I do?  Any help, or suggestions on how to recover this data, either using the method described above or otherwise, would be helpful.
    Thank You.

    Take a look at Pondini's excellent Time Machine data ... 
    Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #28   ... which suggests where the file should be   ...  <home folder>/Library/Stickies database.
    <Acknowledgement to Pondini>
    <home folder>/L

  • My Lacie external hard drive will not back up on Time Machine. Says there's not enough space. This has happened with every single external I've purchased. Thought TM was supposed to delete old backups??

    My Lacie External backed up on Time Machine after the first back up but now says there's not enough room. I thought TM deleted old back ups to save new versions. What am I doing wrong. This happens to me constantly. Every single external hard drive I've purchased for the MacBook Pro (5 of them) has not worked either initially or at the second back up. It either isn't formatted properly so I have to go to Genius bar to help me set up for the first back up, or after the first back up, it says there's not enough space and I have to go back to Genius Bar. Is there a way I can fix this on my own?

    I just purchased 2 external hardrives. a LaCie Minimus and a G Drive. Each 1 TB. The guy at Apple told me that would provide 2 good TM backups for me. My internal HD has 750 GB capacity, of which I'm using 700 GB. Perhaps the ratio is not great enough. I do wish they would have told me this before I purchased the two Bummmmer! I even had them format and get the first back-ups going because of issues I've had in the past. I also just bought a 750 GB for photos.
    So, I won't be able to buy another bigger external since I've just purchased 3. Ugh. Well, I'll just exclude some files and divide things up. Eventually, I just want my 20,000 iphotos on one of the 1TB externals, and a TM back-up on another so that iphoto will function once more. It really hates how many photos I have and is brutally punishing me for it.I seriously need to do some housecleaning!
    Thanks for the advice. Just moved from US to Australia last week and was hoping to upload a few photos and the domino effect has lead me to this. Just went to Genius Bar in Perth today and they told me how to reformat drive to transfer iphoto library over, but I got stuck at trying to back-up my TM.

  • External hard drive not appearing when entering time machine.

    Why does my external hard drive back up on time machine ok, but when I enter time machine (and the external device isn't plugged in) i can't see it?
    It appears in time machine fine when the external drive is plugged in, but just not if it's been ejected or
    I want to have the ext drive backed up in case I lose it or it corrupts....and if that happens I won't be able to plug it in to see the drive in TM - does that make sense?
    I am running OSX 10.9.3 on a Mid 2010 Mac Book Pro. The external drive is a samsung and is formatted to Mac OS Extended (journaled). Time Machine is a standard Apple one and has been working fine for a couple of years

    Try holding down the Option Key when selecting the Time Machine menu, then select Brows Other Time Machine Disks. See if you can then browse the backup of that drive. The normal Time Machine display is kind of a “live” restore point thing, if that makes sense.
    I’m not sure if there is anything in Pondini’s FAQ, but you might peruse it and see if he discusses that issue: http://pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html

Maybe you are looking for

  • Syncing problem - HELP!

    Hey all!  My ipod nano, 6th generation, isn't syncing.  It will say "syncing" but isn't doing anything.  What's up??!

  • Upgrade failure

    Hi experts, I am deploying a new WSA, but seem unable to upgrade AsyncOS - when I check for available upgrades, I receive the following error: Error Failure downloading upgrade list. Everything else seems to be OK - I have time via the default NTP se

  • All Parameter roles of reuse_alv_grid_display

    Sir, plz explain me All Parameter roles of reuse_alv_grid_display

  • Trouble loging in

    Hi I've just started with Oracle, I've got 10g R1 on WinXP Pro. I'm trying to make a simple database to hand on to a professional at a later date, after lots of trouble trying to get Enterprise Manager to even start, and lots of reloads etc I finally

  • My ENVY 4500 Printer keeps disconnecting (not WiFi)

    My ENVY 4500 Printer keeps disconnecting sporatically. One minute I can print just fine, the next the printer can't be reached. The printer status shows "The printer is not connected." This keeps happening from all the devices, not just my iMAC. I tr