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When I first got my iMac I installed a 6TB WD My Book and it worked fine. The last couple of days it says it has not been able to back up time machine. If I restart the mac or disconnect the drive and restart if will back up a few times then repeat.
iMac 27″, macOS 11.1
Hi lyle275,
Let's try by using this article, Time Machine troubleshooting on Mac - Apple Support, and see if this helps. You should also try this article on First Aid, Repair a storage device in Disk Utility on Mac - Apple Support. If you do First Aid, make sure to run First Aid on your external disks, as shown in the "External" section of the sidebar in Disk Utility.
Let us know if anything works!
Cheers,
Jack
Hi lyle275,
Let's try by using this article, Time Machine troubleshooting on Mac - Apple Support, and see if this helps. You should also try this article on First Aid, Repair a storage device in Disk Utility on Mac - Apple Support. If you do First Aid, make sure to run First Aid on your external disks, as shown in the "External" section of the sidebar in Disk Utility.
Let us know if anything works!
Cheers,
Jack
If everything in the two articles I sent does not help, then unfortunately, it probably means your drive should be erased, or the drive is failing.
Please, backup ALL DATA as this will delete EVERYTHING:
Let us know how it goes!
Cheers,
Jack
Still waiting for them to get back to me. Saw something interesting but don't know if it means anything. If I go into time machine, My Book, Select Disk, it shows "Other Airport Time Capsule". Have never had one, should it be there?
Thank you but none of that helped me. The setup initially worked. If I restart the computer or eject the drive and then reconnect it works. The problem is it only works for a day or so?
Ok Jack, have done as instructed and it is now backing up. Will report back tomorrow and let you know if it is still functioning. Thank you.
Update: backed up 4 times then stopped again? Going to call WD.
Sounds good. However, WD will most likely blame Apple, but definitely try.
Just got off the phone with them and have reformatted. We'll see if that works.
Just so you know, that is the same thing as Erase, and we already did that. But, good luck!
Got my fingers crossed.
Well Jack, you were right. Will talk to them tomorrow.
Keep us posted!
Well I solved my problem. After getting absolutely no response from Western Digital I dumped it and installed a Seagate. So far it is humming along. Thanks Jack for all of your help.
Time machine not backing up
