Any one been having trouble with Time Machine. Fine for a few days and in one case weeks then problems accessing drive and failure warning from backing up.
iMac 27", macOS 10.13
I'm not sure if this will help as I'm not sure how advanced their utilities are or if they require a certain level of functionality through macOS itself to even work (I strongly suspect they do), but the next thing to try is to download the WD-specific utilities for the Mac they have available on their website:
https://support.wdc.com/downloads.aspx?DL
Theoretically you could see if it lets you update the firmware and if their utility is able to do anything useful with the drive to get them on track.
My instinct is that you may end up needing to try and take care of it through Terminal which can take a number of different directions (that people here could try and assist with) but lets at least have you give their tools a try.
I'm hoping that if you can brow beat it with their utilities or through terminal, and get the firmware updated (if one is even available) that may be what keeps the drives getting corrupted again. The fact that this has happened with two of the same drives in such a short period of time makes me strongly think the issue is with their firmware.
Do other backup Apps work on the Maxtor?
WD Passports seemed to be working hard to no effect when connected but I think this followed when Time Machine failed and the directories on the drives suffered.
In Activity Monitor is fsck using a lot of CPU when they seem to be working hard?
It doesn't show in Disk Utility?
Is fsck running in Activity Monitor?
Both drives WD Passport 4T connected via USB3 hub. All other drives as well as a back-up using SupaDupa work fine. I have had the odd drive fail over the years and I have always considered that there are two kind of drives - one that had failed and one that will! Keen photographer and have over 150,000 images stored. My history goes back to Apple II and the original Apple user Club. Now going to be 80 this year the new systems baffle me.
Thanks for your time. I returned the first drive that sounded rough and this was the replacement. Another partitioned drive shows the Image sector by TimeMachine greyed out in disc utility which wont erase.
I was very disappointed in my last 2 2 TB USB3 WD Drives, both died within a month.
Wilst WD can make some great drives their cases are really bad...
https://x704.net/bbs/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=8785&p=115369&hilit=WD+cases#p115369
I think it was that and kernal tasks that topped the list.
I have at last managed to erase the WD passport and backed up using SupaDupa which seems to be OK. It is just the Maxador with Time machine on a partition that refuses to mount. It was running for a few months before the notice that back-up had failed and problem with mounting. I think it it Time machine rather than the drives that is the problem - now not using.
What Brand & model Drives, how do they connect?
Both the recent WD Passports seemed to be working hard to no effect when connected but I think this followed when Time Machine failed and the directories on the drives suffered. They certainly were noisier and more vibraation than other drived. I have a similar problem on a Maxadore drive loosing Time Machine but having the other partition visible. Again this refuses to erase - this one is a couple of years old - Hence the purhase of the WD drive which was returned and replaced with the new one failing within a couple of days. I have been using back-up drives for many years, but only recently decided to make use of Time Machine as REGULAR BACK-UP. Again for many years I have used Supa-Dupa but since retirement not always good at remembering to run it. Thanks folks for your interest. I will be returning the WD drive and purchasing another make and staying clear of Time machine!
Except I have a 4Tb Maxtor drive that I cant erase. Amazon replaced the faulty Passport Drive and so far, now I managed to remove Time Machine from it, it seems to be working. Have removed the Time Machne from the toolbar so I am not tempted to ever ry using it again.
Thanks everybody for their time - I would be grateful to know how you can erase a drive that has one partition that refuses to mount,
Sorry. Forgot to say, WD software supplied on new drive did not work either.
Yes. I use SupaDupa. This also makes the back-up a start up disk
So, everything is fine now?
The drive shows but Time machine partition greyed out. The other partition shows. First aid ran on drive but failed on TMachine partition.
Time Machine refusing to let external drive mount and unable to repair or reformat drive. Had this on two new 4T drives (one partitioned) and other partion shows.
