I keep getting this message: Time Machine couldn’t complete the backup to “Seagate Portable Drive”.
How to do I back up to my external hard drive (Seagate)? It appears to have stopped working.
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How to do I back up to my external hard drive (Seagate)? It appears to have stopped working.
Please read If you can't back up or restore your Mac using Time Machine.
Excerpt:
I added the emphasis because it's frequently overlooked.
For general troubleshooting, refer to Time Machine troubleshooting on Mac.
Please read If you can't back up or restore your Mac using Time Machine.
Excerpt:
I added the emphasis because it's frequently overlooked.
For general troubleshooting, refer to Time Machine troubleshooting on Mac.
There isn't much else you can do other than to substitute another external hard disk drive that you know is working.
Perhaps try "reconnecting" to it as follows:
The following technique can be used to "reconnect" to the backup disk. It will not affect the existing backup history in any way.
Open Time Machine's Preferences and de-select the Back Up Automatically checkbox. Make sure no backups are in progress, otherwise you should wait for it to finish or terminate.
If the backup disk is directly connected to the Mac, disconnect it: drag its icon to the Trash, wait for it to disappear from the Desktop, and then physically disconnect it from the Mac.
Then, click the "Select Disk..." button, select the backup disk, then Remove Disk, then Stop Using This Disk.
This will not affect any existing backups.
Reconnect the backup disk to the Mac, power it on if required, and wait for its icon to appear on the Desktop.
Then, Select Disk... again in Time Machine's Preferences. Re-select the same one under Available Disks, then Use Disk. If the backup is on a network (TC or AEBS), you will be prompted for the password you provided for that disk in AirPort Utility.
"Waiting to complete first backup" will appear, which means it won't do anything until the next scheduled backup. Despite the implication of that message, it does not mean it needs to create a completely new backup, as if it's creating a brand new one. Your existing backups will still be available.
If you don't want to wait that long, select Back Up Now.
A Notification may appear if your source volume is encrypted and the backup volume is not. That's normal.
Re-select Back Up Automatically. The "Preparing Backup..." status message will remain for a long time. Eventually, "Backing up xxx of yyy" will appear, but those values will not be accurate, nor will the "Estimated time remaining" in Time Machine's Preferences. Just ignore it. It may take a few hours even if your Mac is not allowed to sleep. Time Machine will also pause or become slow if you use your Mac for tasks it considers a higher priority.
For fundamental troubleshooting references please read If you can't back up or restore your Mac using Time Machine - Apple Support and Time Machine troubleshooting - Apple Support.
Hi. Thanks very much. I tried this already and verified the disk. There appeared to be no problems yet it's still not backing up.
Unfortunately, it doesn't even give me the option to select a disk. I followed the other steps and disconnected and reconnected but still receving the same message.
I keep getting this message: Time Machine couldn’t complete the backup to “Seagate Portable Drive”.