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I have a 1TB MacBook Pro with a 2TB external drive attached via usb. I want to backup both to a 3TB Time Capsule on the network. When I check Time Machine it doesn't look like it is backing up the SSD and when I check system preferences Time Machine>Options the SSD is in the list of excluded items. Unfortunately, it is grayed out so I cannot remove it from the list. How do I backup the laptop and the attached SSD with Time Machine?
MacBook Pro Retina
The icon for the 2 TB drive should be showing up on the Mac's desktop.
Right-Click on the drive, then click on Get Info in the drop down menu that appears
In the next window that appears, look for Format
That needs to be Mac OS Extended (Journaled)......also known as HFS+.......if your Mac is running any operating system up through Mojave. If your Mac is running Catalina, then the drive can also be formatted in APFS
The icon for the 2 TB drive should be showing up on the Mac's desktop.
Right-Click on the drive, then click on Get Info in the drop down menu that appears
In the next window that appears, look for Format
That needs to be Mac OS Extended (Journaled)......also known as HFS+.......if your Mac is running any operating system up through Mojave. If your Mac is running Catalina, then the drive can also be formatted in APFS
It is likely greyed out because it is not formatted correctly.. Time Machine will only backup HFS+ and new APFS formatted drives. (If you are on later Mac OS).
NOTE.. I really think you will do MUCH MUCH better with a 3rd party backup software for the external drive..
If you are running Catalina.. I would not use Time Machine at all to network drive.
Even earlier OS I would still only use Time Machine for your boot drive.. backup any other drive with alternative.
I use Carbon Copy Cloner.. it works well for me. I have no connection to the company.
You can even use disk image directly from disk utility or some free rsync backup software.
backup external hard drive
