CliffStoll
Level 1 (4 points)

Q: Time machine, Thunderbolt displays, and extended desktop on El Capitan

OK, I've an iMac running El Capitan, with 2 external daisy-chained 27" Thunderbolt displays.  Menubar is on one of the Thunderbolt displays. Feels like a spaceship, looking across all this retina real-estate!

 

First problem:  Can't  enter Time Machine.  Upon clicking the time machine icon, the displays dim (just as you'd expect), the sweet animation begins, but then the animation stops, and the desktop returns.  The system does not enter time machine.

 

By disconnecting the two external Thunderbolt displays, I can enter time machine normally, and choose files to backup.  But with external Thunderbolt displays, I cannot enter Time machine to choose backups. 

 

iMac (mid 2011) running OS X 10.11.1, pretty much vanilla except for 2 additional 27" Thunderbolt displays, extending the desktop horizontally across three monitors.

iMac, OS X El Capitan (10.11.1), 2 Thunderbolt 27" displays

Posted on Oct 22, 2015 11:57 AM

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CliffStoll

Q: Time machine, Thunderbolt displays, and extended desktop on El Capitan

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  • by franciscofrombaltimore,

    franciscofrombaltimore franciscofrombaltimore Nov 11, 2015 9:10 AM in response to CliffStoll
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Nov 11, 2015 9:10 AM in response to CliffStoll

    I have the same problem.  Two external displays connected via thunderbolt to my macbook pro retina  (one at the end of a daisy chain of thunderbolt hard disks, the other directly connected to  the mac) .    Cannot enter time machine.  But if I disconnect either one of the two,  no problem...