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Time Machine is backing up to a non-existent drive!

Big Sur v11.2.3


Big Sur 11.2.3


I feel like I keep running into the oddest issues!


I have 3 external drives defined as back up drives in Time Machine preferences. Due to this causing challenges a few years ago, I disconnected the 3rd drive, but left it listed in preferences. Time Machine is currently running, and when I opened preferences it reported that the backup was being sent to that 3rd drive, which isn't connected! How? Where is the backup going to? Yes, I know that I can remove the drive from preferences, but that's not the point. The point is - Why is Time Machine backing up to a drive that's not even connected? It should certainly detect that the drive isn't there. And no, the drive cannot be connected any way other through the wire.

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 11.2

Posted on Apr 23, 2021 12:57 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Apr 24, 2021 6:41 AM

Also see: About Time Machine local snapshots - Apple Support

6 replies

Apr 25, 2021 11:53 AM in response to etresoft

Some people may be wondering why I ever added a 3rd drive. Drive 1 was needed, of course. I added a 2nd drive in order to have a readily available backup in case the 1st drive failed. I then decided to add a 3rd drive so that I could store it off site. I did this several years, OSes ago. However, what I noticed then, was that Time Machine would work fine for a couple days, and then would start telling me that there was a problem w/ one of the drives (not true). I'd disconnect that drive, and Time Machine would tell me that there was a problem w/ one of the other 2 drives (again, not true). I'd disconnect that one and shortly later it would tell me that there was a problem w/ the last remaining drive, (yet again, not true). I'd reboot, reconnect all 3 drives and things would be good for a few days, and then ...


So I decided to disconnect the 3rd drive and wait for the next OS upgrade. That didn't solve the problem, so again, I disconnected the 3rd drive and waited for the next OS upgrade. The 3rd drive has been disconnected for a long time now. My assumption was that if Time Machine couldn't find the drive, it would use 1 of the other 2 that were available. But then a few months ago, I caught Time Machine backing up to that 3rd drive, which hadn't been connected in over a year. I never got any kind of error message from Time Machine telling me that it couldn't do the back-up due to the drive not being available. Hence, the reason for asking my question. Now, I understand about local snapshots. I'm now thinking that since it's been a while since the 3rd drive was connected and there have been several OS upgrades, maybe I'll reconnect it to see if Time Machine can now handle more than 2 drives.


Thanks all who responded.

Time Machine is backing up to a non-existent drive!

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