iMac M1 Time Machine backup to shared external drive fails

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Level 1

20 points

iMac M1 Time Machine backup to shared external drive fails

Hi !

After reed an article" backup to another Mac" I wonder if someone can tell me if I can use an external Time Machine drive on that other Mac and backup from my main Mac ?

I tried to set up my late 2014mini with an external drive (format for Time Machine, connected with thunderbolt/firewire adapter.) opened file sharing and added that drive to shared folders, (from network folder in finder sidebar), clicked advanced and checked ...with time machine.
on my main Mac an iMac m1 I tried to add that drive/folder...but unfortunately finder told me something went wrong, nothing more!

thanks in advance tomazo.

Posted on Jan 13, 2026 7:38 AM

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Answer 1

den.thed

Level 10

91,516 points

Jan 13, 2026 8:59 AM in response to tomazo

Backup drives go bad and other things can go wrong.

If you are serious about backup, then you should have multiple backups for each of your Mac's. Those backup can be any combination of Time Machine and Cloning to local drives, a NAS or an on-line backup service.

FWIW we mostly use CarbonCopyCloner for daily backups of each Mac on local drives and rotating weekly backups on drives that are kept in a safe place.

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