Time Machine cannot see backup drive

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Time Machine cannot see backup drive

Up until February 2022, I was using a Time Capsule for my Time Machine backups, as part of a full Apple Loop, from my computer to my network (iMac to AirPort Extreme network to Time Capsule) until the HD on the Time Capsule went kaput. Since Apple doesn't make Time Capsules anymore, I went and purchased a Seagate 8TB Backup Plus hub. Everything worked fine again, until the AirPort Extreme went kaput in August. Since Apple doesn't make AirPort Extremes anymore, I went a bought a pair of Asus AX6600 routers to make a new network. So while all my Apple computers are able to connect to the new network through the Asus routers, none of my Apple computers see the Seagate backup drive, even though it's plugged directly into one of the Asus routers. I tried searching online for a solve, but I can't figure it out for the life of me.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

iMac (24-inch, M1, 2021, 2 ports)

Posted on Oct 25, 2022 2:30 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Pablo Olmos

Level 1

42 points

Oct 25, 2022 3:39 PM in response to EdwardAHavens

Hi EdwardAHavens

I am very sorry to have to tell you this, but from my point of view, you cannot do this you want to do with the external HDD plugged into the router. Let me explain

When you plug into a router via USB a hard drive, this hard drive has to be formatted in a format that the router recognizes.

Surely your Seagate HDD, when you plugged it into the Airport Extreme, was formatted in a HFS+ format, and unfortunately, that format is not recognized by ASUS. ASUS would recognize an NTFS disk format which is windows and mac by itself can't write to NTFS disks either (it can read, but not write unless you have a third party application for it, but TimeMachine can't in any way).

Also there is another thing that is not right because of the TimeMachine requirements, Since the Big Sur OS, TimeMachine needs an APFS formatted disk, the previous disk format, HFS+, is not recommended anymore either. From Big Sur (Monterey and Ventura as well) the Time Machine backup disk must be in APFS format (the new Apple File System format). This is the right thing for TimeMachine to work well and backup correctly.

And unfortunately, the ASUS router will not mount, network or recognize a hard disk in APFS format.

You have no choice but to plug the hard drive into the computer and format it in APFS so that TimeMachine will start backing up correctly with OS Ventura.

Here is a link with some information about ASUS router and hard drives plugged into the USB port

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iS5OCxgBG4

Best regards

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Answer 2

Oct 27, 2022 12:20 AM in response to Pablo Olmos

Thank you for the response, Pablo. I've taken the Seagate hard drive off the ASUS router and plugged it into my mid-2012 MacBook Pro, and we are back in business.

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Time Machine cannot see backup drive

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