Time Machine On Brand New External HD Shows a "Vault". Where Did That Come From?

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Level 1

4 points

Time Machine On Brand New External HD Shows a "Vault". Where Did That Come From?

I'm setting up Time Machine for the first time on my 2021 MacBook Pro. I've connected a brand new 5TB HD, which I've partitioned into a pair of 2.5TB partitions. One of them will be for Time Machine. There's nothing on the HD. Yet, when I go into Time Machine set-up mode, it says I have a "Vault" with 1.77TB free. It seems to be from an old back-up a year ago, which would have backed-up from an older computer and onto an older HD. I've successfully started a Time Machine back-up onto one of the partitions. But, I'd like to get rid of the Vault, wherever it is. I'd be grateful if someone can tell me where the Vault lives and how to delete it. I've provided a link to a screen grab showing the problem. Thanks for listening! JSA Time Machine and Vault icons during Time Machine Set-Up

MacBook Pro 15″, OS X 10.11

Posted on May 5, 2024 5:15 PM

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Answer 1

May 5, 2024 6:13 PM in response to willtry

there is no need to link to a google site that requires a login to post pictures here.

Use the screenshots/images/picture icon in the reply footer:

..

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Answer 2

willtry Author

Level 1

4 points

May 7, 2024 6:34 AM in response to willtry

Thanks for comments and suggestions. I was finally able to solve the problem using the add/delete command at the bottom of the Time Machine set-up window.

After selecting "Vault", I clicked on the minus sign. A dialogue box opened, asking if I wanted to delete the selected drive or volume (I don't remember the exact wording). I confirmed the deletion and Vault disappeared.

Case solved!

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Answer 3

May 6, 2024 9:59 AM in response to willtry

I may have blundered into what that is, by accident.

When I tried to make a backup of the contents of my iPhone onto my Mac, the error messages indicated, that it was not possible to include iPhone PASSWORDS, unless the backup file was encrypted on the Mac.

The "Vault" with the Time machine Icon may be a more secure file in the midst of an Un-encrypted backup, that includes some passwords or encrypted other backups, which your Mac refuses to back up "in the clear".

Remember that if your Time machine drive is APFS format, free space is freely shared between Volumes. if it is MacOS Extended format, it does not benefit from shared free space, and may operate somewhat more slowly.

If that drive is MacOS Extended format, Consider ERASE-ing it now, before you get too far into this, and re-initialize it as APFS.

If already APFS, then do not anguish over the space taken up, because available free space on the drive is shared among all volumes on the drive.

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Answer 4

willtry Author

Level 1

4 points

May 6, 2024 12:48 PM in response to willtry

Thanks for the suggestion. I'm still hung up on getting rid of the Vault. I don't know what it is, where it resides or how it got there; I didn't knowingly set-up it up. My may concern is inadvertently backing up to the Vault and not being able to retrieve the back-up. I'm uneasy having an unknown element as part of the back-up process. Is there any way to disappear the Vault? Thanks!