WD My Passport for MAC Apparently Needs Reformatting (?) for Time Machine

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64 points

WD My Passport for MAC Apparently Needs Reformatting (?) for Time Machine

I have been using a WD My Passport for MAC disc to work with Time Machine to backup my Mac Mini. I thought all was working well for some time, then got a message the other day that TM had not backed up for xx days, along with this -

I tried to run First Aid on the disc, but -

So, I opened up disc info to see this -

I have no idea why or how long this has been the case, but apparently the HD is in Read-only mode. Is this what it appears to you? How do I go about reformatting it into HFS+ and if l do this, should it work fine with TM at that point? If not, I am out to purchase a different HD, but I don't want to do that if there is a simple fix for this one. Thanks for any help!

Mac mini, macOS 14.3

Posted on Jan 25, 2024 6:09 AM

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Answer 1

NoBite Author

Level 1

64 points

Jan 27, 2024 8:06 AM in response to NoBite

I first went into Time Machine setup and asked TM to forget this disc as a destination. Then, since the disc was no longer in use, I was able to eject it. I then manually unplugged it for a minute, plugged it back in and went int Disc Utility to Erase and Reformat. This time it worked! Then, I went back to Time Machine and was asked it I wanted to use the newly formatted and renamed disc as TM destination. Yes, let's do that. And, right now we are copying data onto that disc.

Will this hold up long term? I have no idea. Why did it stop working to cause me this expedition? I have no idea. Is this endemic with WD SSD HD's? Again, I don't know, but there are a lot of testimonials to that end in various forums. I do not think I need an SSD HD as a TM backup. If I find this one just won't go the distance, I'd welcome tips on drives with better reputations!

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Answer 2

NoBite Author

Level 1

64 points

Jan 26, 2024 8:16 AM in response to NoBite

OK, things have gone from confusing to confounding!! I decided to erase and reformat the HD. That seemed like the best solution. However, upon opening Disc Utility, selecting the HD and attempting to erase and reformat, I got this error message -

So, now what?

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WD My Passport for MAC Apparently Needs Reformatting (?) for Time Machine

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