Time Machine Backup Disk won't mount.

I use a Seagate external hard drive to back my desktop Mac up to Time Machine. Got an alert saying it hadn't backed up for about two months. The hard drive is not mounted. When I go into disk utility to see the disk- it reads as not mounted. On the side panel the writing is greyed out so I can't click on it. I can click mount at the top but nothing happens. The disk makes the usual whirring noises every so often but it does not seem to be connected.

Is there anything I can do or is the disk finished? If so I can contact the manufacturer to replace because it's still within warranty but any help here would be appreciated.

iMac 24″, macOS 15.2

Posted on Jan 14, 2025 1:38 PM

Top-ranking reply

rkaufmann87

Level 10

148,588 points

Posted on Jan 14, 2025 2:14 PM

-First, please try restarting in Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support. If you use a wireless keyboard, plug into the charging cable to the back of the Mac which will make it a wired keyboard.

If that does not help, then the next step I would suggest is checking to see if the External Hard Disk is failing. You can use this by running a DriveDX report on the drive. If there are ANY errors, that means the drive is failing and MUST be replaced.

If those steps do not help, the please let us know and we can do more testing.

BY the way do you have ANY of the following types of third party apps installed that may be the root of the issue:

Antivirus
Cleaning
Security
VPN
Maintenance

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Time Machine Backup Disk won't mount.

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