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.

Time Machine has turned a single 2TB external drive into two 1TB volumes... and I can't make it go back

Hi there, I'm using an external drive I'd used for a previous Time Machine backup on my new M2 Mac Mini. When trying to set up the drive on my new Mac, there was a prompt asking if I wanted to keep the old Backups (which were for my MacBook Air). I said "yes" not realizing that it would effectively turn my 2TB external drive into 2 x 1TB volumes with an identical name. And I can't find any way in Disk Utility of re-uniting the volumes so that it's a single 2TB drive.


Any ideas?

Mac mini (M2, 2023)

Posted on May 3, 2023 4:11 PM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on May 3, 2023 4:32 PM

You can fix it but you'll lose all prior backup data....


Open Disk Utility and click on the View pulldown menu and select Show All Devices. This will ensure you see everything in the sidebar on the left of Disk Utility.


Highlight the external disk top-level branch that lists the manufacturer of the disk then click Erase, format it APFS and perhaps name it 'Time Machine'. Eject the disk. Plug the disk back in and tell Time Machine to make it a Time Machine drive.



Similar questions

2 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

May 3, 2023 4:32 PM in response to BGCooper

You can fix it but you'll lose all prior backup data....


Open Disk Utility and click on the View pulldown menu and select Show All Devices. This will ensure you see everything in the sidebar on the left of Disk Utility.


Highlight the external disk top-level branch that lists the manufacturer of the disk then click Erase, format it APFS and perhaps name it 'Time Machine'. Eject the disk. Plug the disk back in and tell Time Machine to make it a Time Machine drive.



Time Machine has turned a single 2TB external drive into two 1TB volumes... and I can't make it go back

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.