Time machine puts my external hard drive on the exclusion list automatically

Fisiolactica wrote:

Thanks for the reply. My problem is when I try to backup my computer manually to my second external drive it does not recognize it and it puts it automatically on the "exclude these items from backup" list under the options on the Time Machine preferences menu. I have used this disk before to backup my computer and is on the backup drives list, but for some reason now is not being recognized. To actually make a backup on this drive I have to delete it from the list and then add it again which I didn't had to do before. Is there a reason for this?

There is no problem accessing the Time Machine backups.

It might suggest the drive is working in a state of failure.

erasing, reformatting, and initializing this device as new might be one way of reclaiming the lost functionality you have come to appreciate.

All drives will fail, typically 3-5 years can be expected.

The alternative to reformatting would to simply buy another backup drive and test under those circumstances for comparison.

Fisiolactica wrote:

Hi! I have 2 backup drives setup for the time machine: one is an external drive (drobo) that connects via wifi and automatically backup my computer and the other is an external drive that I backup manually. But lately whenever I connect the second drive it appears on the exclusion list and I cannot delete it. If I unmount the drive it disappears from the list and the only way to make a backup is to delete the drive from the time machine list and re-add it which is annoying. Any idea how to solve this? Thanks!

What is it you are try to accomplish here?

If you back up to multiple disks, you can switch disks before entering Time Machine. Press and hold the Option key, then choose Browse Other Backup Disks from the Time Machine menu.

Back up your Mac with Time Machine - Apple Support

3-2-1 Backup Strategy: three copies of your data, two different methods, and one offsite.

—Boot clone https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-10081

—How to use Time Machine to back up or restore your Mac: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201250

—Use DiskUtility Restore feature https://support.apple.com/guide/disk-utility/restore-a-disk-dskutl14062/mac

note: >System Preferences>Security & Privacy >Privacy>Full Disk Access

unlock the padlock, press the + button and add Disk Utility