You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Level 1

4 points

Transferring data to new iMac

How do I make a time machine backup to an external drive?

iMac 21.5″, macOS 10.13

Posted on Apr 17, 2021 10:41 AM

Top-ranking reply

Level 8

46,062 points

Posted on Apr 17, 2021 12:25 PM

You also may need to format your external disk first:

Go to Disk Utility (Finder --> Go --> Utilities)
In Disk Utility, select “View” --> “Show All Devices”.
Select the top level, non indented, drive in the external section of Disk Utility that matches the name of your external drive.
Click Erase
Name: any name you want
Format: Mac OS Extended (Journaled) if macOS Catalina or earlier, APFS if Big Sur.
Scheme: GUID
Click Erase
Setup Time Machine again.

Cheers,

Jack

View in context

Similar questions