Time Machine: Lost a Drive - Now What?

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Time Machine: Lost a Drive - Now What?

Running High Sierra 10.13.6 on a mid-2010 iMac. Internal HD is a 1TB SSD. I've had two external HDs dedicated to TM for a few years - a 2TB and a 3TB, both Firewire 800. It appears that the 3TB drive has crapped out - no longer will mount, although it does power up.

My question is - with that drive gone, is the TM data on the other external drive still viable if I need to do a restore of (1) a single file, or (2) the entire internal HD/SSD? Or, do I need to erase that remaining drive and let TM start over? I realize doing so means there is no going back previous to the erasure, but I'd like to be certain that what is on the remaining drive will save my bacon if I need some sort of restore...

Tnx, Jim

Posted on Oct 30, 2019 9:20 AM

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Answer 1

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MrHoffman

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Oct 30, 2019 11:15 AM in response to W6JHB

Time Machine archives are self-contained, and multiple parallel Time Machine archives will alternate when performing backups.

Here? Replace the failed disk drive, and start a new Time Machine archive on the new storage.

Set the old (failed) hard disk drive aside, on the off chance you need (to pay for) a restore from there.

Probably buy a second hard disk here too, and plan to replace that other aging FireWire hard disk drive.

As higher-end upgrade alternatives, a network-attached storage (NAS) device with or without RAID, or direct-attached RAID storage device. (RAID is not a backup strategy, but it can help preserve data over a hard disk or SSD failure.)

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Answer 2

W6JHB Author

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Oct 30, 2019 11:41 AM in response to MrHoffman

Thanks for the info - I feel better about my remaining drive being something I can use if I need to.

One last question: In TM preferences, it is still showing that 3TB drive as being part of the team, although it is physically not even hooked to the computer. How can I have TM forget about it and not show it in the prefs panel?

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Answer 3

W6JHB Author

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Nov 1, 2019 10:43 AM in response to MrHoffman

I was joking about the "team" thing. However, they ARE on the Time Machine team, so to speak.

Anyway, you said "Remove the entry associated with the target that's not working." How? I don't see a way in the TM preferences panel to remove that broken drive's entry in the list of backup devices.

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Answer 4

Nov 1, 2019 1:56 PM in response to W6JHB

Among other details, here’s how to remove a backup device:

Change Time Machine preferences on Mac - Apple Support

I’ve bumped into a few folks that use the word “team” in conjunction with the devices configured with RAID storage, and the term “teaming” is commonly used when aggregating network interfaces for certain network configurations and related operations.

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Answer 5

W6JHB Author

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Nov 1, 2019 2:10 PM in response to MrHoffman

That did it - many thanks for your help.

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Answer 6

Oct 30, 2019 1:35 PM in response to W6JHB

There’s no “team” here.

There are multiple, separate, isolated, self-contained targets.

Backups cycle through each accessible target.

Each is a full and complete and self-contained and restorable backup. Each one.

You could have several different targets at one location, or targets spread across multiple locations, and the target(s) local to where the Mac is located would be used for backups. This is commonly used for a Mac that moves among home/school/work, and can also be used for rotating off-site backups.

Here? Remove the entry associated with the target that’s not working.

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Time Machine: Lost a Drive - Now What?

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