Backing up to external hard drive - Big Sur

Since updating first to Catalina and now to Big Sur I can no longer drag my files onto my external hard disk. I can't see that the disk is mounted and I can drag files from it, but not to it? Can anyone help please.

iMac Line (2012 and Later)

Posted on Apr 10, 2021 2:03 AM

Similar questions

Can't create a new folder on my Seagate Backup Plus Drive after updating operating system to macOS Big Sur I recently had to have my MacBook Air hard drive wiped at the Apple store. I backed up everything on my 2 TB Seagate Backup external drive. I'm a photographer so I transfer large files and have been using this drive for years with no problem. Now I can't create a new folder on my Seagate drive, so essentially I cannot transfer any new files to it (or further organize what's already on it). Help! I'm currently running on macOS Big Sur. Everything else is working great and I can still access my images via Lightroom. I just can't organize anything anymore which is an essential part of my workflow. I also can't reformat my Seagate drive because it IS my backup and the files are too large to transfer back to my Mac. What do I do? Is buying another external hard drive my only option to move forward??? I have holiday images I need to edit and deliver to a client ASAP!
10030 1
Files won't "Move" when I drag and drop, they only "Copy" I'm trying to drag and drop files to an external drive off my Mac to free up space which, according to the Help menu, says it will move the files. However, dragging and dropping will only "Copy" the files. These files have read/write permissions, I checked. Are the directions incorrect? Is there no way to just "Move" the files? I have Mac OS Catalina.
1839 2
Cannot save files and folders to backup drive I have a 2TB USB external backup drive that is formatted with APFS and encrypted connected to a Mac Pro 2013. I use it for Time Machine backups using OS X Monterey. Now I noticed that I cannot create new folders or save any files to the external backup drive. i.e. it is only good for running automatic Time Machine backups and nothing else. i.e. the New Folder icon is greyed out in Finder menu if I select the external USB drive. More than half the drive is empty space since my Mac Pro 2013 only has a 1 TB SSD drive. What are the rules for configuring external drives so that they can be used for both Time Machine Backups and saving ordinary files and folders? I seem to remember that earlier backup disk configurations allowed one to also drag and drop files and folders. Has something changed?
2307 7

4 replies

diefunkt Author

Level 1

8 points

Apr 10, 2021 2:16 AM in response to Owl-53

Thanks for the swift response, you are correct, it's formatted as NTFS. But I never had the problem before the Catalina/Big Sur upgrades. Guess I'll take everything off, reformat for continued use. Thanks very much.

Owl-53

Level 10

102,193 points

Apr 10, 2021 2:19 AM in response to diefunkt

Welcome

Owl-53

Level 10

102,193 points

Apr 10, 2021 2:50 AM in response to diefunkt

Solved, Helpful, and Apple recommended posts

Owl-53

Level 10

102,193 points

Apr 10, 2021 2:08 AM in response to diefunkt

The problematic Drive is Formatted in what format ? Disk Utilities >> View >> View ALL attached Devices. Click on the Name of the problem drive. What format and advise. Suspect from your description, the drive is NTFS ( Windows ) formats. MacOS can read but can not Write to this file format.

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

Backing up to external hard drive - Big Sur