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Time Machine greyed out external HD

Ihave been using time machine for the past couple years with both external drive. everything works as needed. But now as of today my time machine doesnt work. it starts to backup, then midway through it stops it doesn't complete. now I had deleted the "inprogress" file, restarted.. nothing.... then I look to see TM pref... I noticed that all my drives that are connected is located "exclude these items from backup. And they are greyed out so I cant "delete them from the list. and I am the admin for this computer. What do I do, how do i fix.. I checked you tube, & social everything is saying the same thing "delete inprogress" restart. I even formated one of the drives... and tried.. it went directly to the "exclude" these files and greyed out. PLEASE HELP Ihave 5 years worth of back ups


Posted on Sep 12, 2020 3:09 PM

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Posted on Sep 12, 2020 3:54 PM

1. Don't panic!

2. Your backup hard drive has to be excluded from the TimeMachine backup otherwise it would create an infinite loop.

3. Since you already formatted (and erased) on of your disks, make sure your backup hard drive is formatted properly with MacOs Journaled, don't use any FAT-formats.

Read the instructions How to back up your Mac with Time Machine: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201250

4. Make a TimeMachine backup onto your recently erased, empty disk.

5. If a timeMachine backup stops, don't erase something. Just try to resume/restart your backup.

6. When finished, make a backup onto the second disk.


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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Sep 12, 2020 3:54 PM in response to sgershen

1. Don't panic!

2. Your backup hard drive has to be excluded from the TimeMachine backup otherwise it would create an infinite loop.

3. Since you already formatted (and erased) on of your disks, make sure your backup hard drive is formatted properly with MacOs Journaled, don't use any FAT-formats.

Read the instructions How to back up your Mac with Time Machine: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201250

4. Make a TimeMachine backup onto your recently erased, empty disk.

5. If a timeMachine backup stops, don't erase something. Just try to resume/restart your backup.

6. When finished, make a backup onto the second disk.


Sep 12, 2020 5:00 PM in response to sgershen

sgershen Said:

"Ihave been using time machine for the past couple years with both external drive. everything works as needed. But now as of today my time machine doesnt work.: it starts to backup, then midway through it stops it doesn't complete. [...]But really my issue is my back ups never finish they could do a back up and midway through it just stops and fails but doesn’t give me any errors and never completes a full back up this is where I’m stuck I restarted unplugged deleted the in progress File....[...]"

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Single Bit-Layer:

Does this always stop at the same percentage each time? If so, it may be a single bit layer issue (meaning it always moves on and writes to the most correct sector on the drive). Technical though it may seem, it is time for a new hard drive.


Using the Correct Format:

What is your macOS operating system? Click on the Apple menu, then select: About this Mac. Use APFS for High Sierra (macOS 10.13) and thereafter. If you use the software that cam with your drive, that may not be letting this be read based on compatibility and system settings. So, next time you purchase a new hard drive, format it right out-of-the-box, using the correct format.

Go Here: File system formats available in Disk Utility on Mac

Sep 14, 2020 11:18 AM in response to sgershen

If the issue persists wihout any error message, you can pinpoint the problem with the help of the console.

https://support.apple.com/guide/console/welcome/mac

You don't have to be an expert, just look for the obvious. Recently, I had an issue with time machine taking way too much time. With the help of console I was able to track down the problem to an unimportant file of my hard drive, which I then excluded from my backup (greyed out).

Sep 12, 2020 4:04 PM in response to yoyoBen

Thank you but I have four external hard drive‘s for back ups this was just a snapshot of one of them that I reformatted their old Mac journalEd..


But really my issue is my back ups never finish they could do a back up and midway through it just stops and fails but doesn’t give me any errors and never completes a full back up this is where I’m stuck I restarted unplugged deleted the in progress File....


Are use disk utility to do first aid no errors. I even went as far as installing OS again But I didn’t reformat my whole MacBook Pro hard drive I just reinstalled the iOS thinking maybe there’s a corrupt file

Time Machine greyed out external HD

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