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Time machine will not back up my MacBook Air and presents the following error message:
"The backup disk is not in Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format, which is required."
Time Machine was functioning just fine until today when I got this message for the first time.
Help?
MacBook Air 13″, macOS 10.15
If it had been working until now, it was formatted properly. The most likely explanation for that message is that the disk is operating in a state of failure.
You can try "repairing" it with Disk Utility's First Aid, but the failure is likely to occur again. The solution is to replace the disk at your earliest opportunity.
Repair a storage device in Disk Utility on Mac - Apple Support
Since any drive can fail at any time, one and only one TM backup drive isn't enough anyway. Time Machine can back up to as many hard disks as you provide.
You may wish to continue to use the one that failed in conjunction with the new one until its failures become so frequent you no longer wish to tolerate it. Once you get a replacement and are using it to create additional backups, you can try erasing the one that has failed. Then, add it to Time Machine again. It may continue to work for a long time.
If it had been working until now, it was formatted properly. The most likely explanation for that message is that the disk is operating in a state of failure.
You can try "repairing" it with Disk Utility's First Aid, but the failure is likely to occur again. The solution is to replace the disk at your earliest opportunity.
Repair a storage device in Disk Utility on Mac - Apple Support
Since any drive can fail at any time, one and only one TM backup drive isn't enough anyway. Time Machine can back up to as many hard disks as you provide.
You may wish to continue to use the one that failed in conjunction with the new one until its failures become so frequent you no longer wish to tolerate it. Once you get a replacement and are using it to create additional backups, you can try erasing the one that has failed. Then, add it to Time Machine again. It may continue to work for a long time.
Thanks for your fast response. I didn't change anything at all. Also - am not entirely sure how to check how the drive is formatted. I've used the same drive for over a year, but recently (several weeks ago) attached it to my new Mac. During the transfer of data from old Mac to new, I did not do anything to reformat or change the time machine settings. And, it has worked without incident until this morning.
So how is the external drive formatted? And is there anything you did/changed/installed after it worked yesterday?
Thank you, John - I appreciate your thorough response and suggestions. I will try them tomorrow - and respond again to you with feedback.
time machine
