backing up laptop

Question

I have come to the conclusion that Time Machine just *****. Invariably, I will buy a new backup drive. Time Machine will work for 3 months and then spontaneously and for no reason refuse to recognize the drive, which won&#x27;t then show up in Disk Utility or anything. So I buy a new drive. Repeat ad nauseum. Apparently merely plugging in a new or different drive is sufficient to make sure Time Machine won&#x27;t recognize any of the previous ones. I now have 10 or so external backup drives of various makes and models that have various data on them that I cannot access in any way, making them utterly useless. Thinking about the amount that I&#x27;ve lost over the years makes me ill. I don&#x27;t believe for a moment that all of those drives spontaneously died with no symptoms.So, my question is two-fold.One, is there any way to get those data off of those various drives for less than $$$$$?Two, is there a reliable backup system for a MacBookPro? Because this is beginning to really hack me off.

Allan Eckert · Answer

Time Machine has worked for me without problems.Please download and install EtreCheck from http://etrecheck.com/Run it and post the report here.

friarea · Answer

EtreCheck version: 3.0.2 (306)Report generated 2016-08-29 22:16:19Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.comRuntime 1:38Performance: ExcellentClick the [Support] links for help with non-Apple products.Click the [Details] links for more information about that line.Problem: Other problemDescription:Time Machine won’t recognize external drive.Hardware Information: ⓘ    MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Mid 2014)     [Technical Specifications] - [User Guide] - [Warranty &amp; Service]    MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro11,1    1 2.6 GHz Intel Core i5 CPU: 2-core    8 GB RAM Not upgradeable        BANK 0/DIMM0            4 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok        BANK 1/DIMM0            4 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok    Bluetooth: Good - Handoff/Airdrop2 supported    Wireless:  en0: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac    Battery: Health &#x3D; Normal - Cycle count &#x3D; 616Video Information: ⓘ    Intel Iris        Color LCD 2560 x 1600System Software: ⓘ    OS X Mavericks 10.9.5 (13F1911) - Time since boot: less than an hourDisk Information: ⓘ    APPLE SSD SD0128F disk0 : (121.33 GB) (Solid State - TRIM: Yes)        EFI (disk0s1) &lt;not mounted&gt; : 210 MB         Macintosh HD (disk0s2) /  [Startup]: 120.47 GB (7.32 GB free) (Low!)        Recovery HD (disk0s3) &lt;not mounted&gt;  [Recovery]: 650 MB USB Information: ⓘ    Apple Internal Memory Card Reader     Apple Inc. BRCM20702 Hub         Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller     Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad Thunderbolt Information: ⓘ    Apple Inc. thunderbolt_busGatekeeper: ⓘ    Mac App Store and identified developersKernel Extensions: ⓘ        /Applications/Parallels Access.app    [loaded]    com.parallels.virtualhid (1.0.3 - SDK 10.9 - 2016-07-18) [Support]    [loaded]    com.parallels.virtualsound (1.0.36 - SDK 10.6 - 2016-07-18) [Support]        /Applications/Parallels Desktop.app    [not loaded]    com.parallels.kext.hypervisor (10.2.1 29006 - SDK 10.7 - 2015-06-03) [Support]    [not loaded]    com.parallels.kext.netbridge (10.2.1 29006 - SDK 10.7 - 2015-06-03) [Support]    [not loaded]    com.parallels.kext.usbconnect (10.2.1 29006 - SDK 10.7 - 2015-06-03) [Support]    [not loaded]    com.parallels.kext.vnic (10.2.1 29006 - SDK 10.7 - 2015-06-03) [Support]System Launch Agents: ⓘ    [not loaded]    6 Apple tasks    [loaded]    144 Apple tasks    [running]    34 Apple tasksSystem Launch Daemons: ⓘ    [not loaded]    48 Apple tasks    [loaded]    141 Apple tasks    [running]    60 Apple tasksLaunch Agents: ⓘ    [not loaded]    com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist (2015-05-12) [Support]    [loaded]    com.adobe.CS5ServiceManager.plist (2015-05-12) [Support]    [running]    com.parallels.mobile.prl_deskctl_agent.launchagent.plist (2016-07-18) [Support]Launch Daemons: ⓘ    [not loaded]    com.adobe.SwitchBoard.plist (2015-05-12) [Support]    [loaded]    com.adobe.fpsaud.plist (2016-06-28) [Support]    [running]    com.fitbit.galileod.plist (2014-05-19) [Support]    [loaded]    com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist (2014-03-26) [Support]    [running]    com.parallels.mobile.dispatcher.launchdaemon.plist (2016-07-18) [Support]    [loaded]    com.parallels.mobile.kextloader.launchdaemon.plist (2016-07-18)    [loaded]    jp.co.canon.MasterInstaller.plist (2014-09-22) [Support]User Launch Agents: ⓘ    [loaded]    com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist (2015-09-09) [Support]    [loaded]    com.google.keystone.agent.plist (2016-07-12) [Support]    [running]    com.parallels.mobile.startgui.launchagent.plist (2016-08-29) [Support]User Login Items: ⓘ    iTunesHelper    Application  (/Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunesHelper.app)    Fitbit Connect Menubar Helper    Application  (/Applications/Fitbit Connect.app/Contents/MacOS/Fitbit Connect Menubar Helper.app)    Photo Stream URL    SMLoginItem  (/Applications/iPhoto.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/PhotoStreamAgent.app)Internet Plug-ins: ⓘ    Flip4Mac WMV Plugin: 3.3.3.1   - SDK 10.7 (2015-01-26) [Support]    FlashPlayer-10.6: 22.0.0.209 - SDK 10.9 (2016-07-14) [Support]    QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (2016-07-19)    Flash Player: 22.0.0.209 - SDK 10.9 (2016-07-14) [Support]    EPPEX Plugin: 10.0 (2013-09-12) [Support]    Default Browser: 537 - SDK 10.9 (2014-11-23)    SharePointBrowserPlugin: 14.6.2 - SDK 10.6 (2016-03-25) [Support]    Silverlight: 5.1.40416.0 - SDK 10.6 (2015-06-06) [Support]    JavaAppletPlugin: 14.9.0 - SDK 10.7 (2014-09-20) Check versionSafari Extensions: ⓘ    iMedia Converter Deluxe   - iSkysoft Studio - http://www.iskysoft.com (2014-09-25)    Open in Internet Explorer - Parallels - http://www.parallels.com (2014-10-05)3rd Party Preference Panes: ⓘ    Flash Player (2016-06-28) [Support]    Flip4Mac WMV (2015-01-05) [Support]    Growl (2015-05-12) [Support]Time Machine: ⓘ    Auto backup: YES    Volumes being backed up:        Macintosh HD: Disk size: 120.47 GB Disk used: 113.16 GB    Destinations:        Seagate Backup Plus Drive [Local]         Total size: 999.86 GB         Total number of backups: 33         Oldest backup: 10/6/14, 8:02 PM         Last backup: 1/30/16, 3:11 PM         Size of backup disk: Excellent            Backup size 999.86 GB &gt; (Disk size 120.47 GB X 3)Top Processes by CPU: ⓘ         6%    firefox         4%    fontd         4%    WindowServer         1%    kernel_task         0%    DockTop Processes by Memory: ⓘ    885 MB    firefox    582 MB    kernel_task    197 MB    Finder    197 MB    Dock    139 MB    com.apple.IconServicesAgentVirtual Memory Information: ⓘ    3.60 GB    Free RAM     4.40 GB    Used RAM (2.33 GB Cached)    0 B    Swap Used Diagnostics Information: ⓘ    Aug 29, 2016, 09:51:05 PM    Self test - passed    Aug 28, 2016, 06:43:33 PM    /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Kernel_2016-08-28-184333_[redacted].panic [Details]

Allan Eckert · Answer

How are you formatting the disks for Time Machine?

John Galt · Answer

I think you ought to ask what is causing the drives to fail prematurely. Drives can fail for a variety of reasons, but the unusually high failure rate you&#x27;re experiencing is cause for investigation. If Disk Utility cannot recognize a drive well enough to mount it, and if all cable connections are known to be intact, the drive is not worth fixing, and you&#x27;re right to discard it. That inability prevents determining the cause of failure. Not knowing those causes, I can offer only general suggestions. First, no third party "drive utility" or "drive manager" or "drive medic" or similarly categorized product should ever be used on a Mac. That just goes without saying. All those things are capable of doing is to accelerate a drive&#x27;s inevitable failure. They&#x27;re also extremely popular, probably due to aggressive marketing strategies that seek to convince unsophisticated users of their indispensability.Next, you are using Parallels. Ask yourself there is anything that Windows or the programs it&#x27;s running might be doing to mounted volumes. Windows equivalents for the above categorized utilities are likely to exist. Don&#x27;t use them either, for the same reasons.A suggestion regarding Parallels: I recommend excluding the entire virtual machine from the TM backup, because the slightest change to it, even a single byte, will require the entire VM to be backed up. Besides filling a TM backup volume to capacity quickly, each backup will take a long time. Maintain a separate backup for the VM, if that&#x27;s important to you.You might hear suggestions to only use drives containing their own power supplies, or to use a powered hub, or full sized drives, or laptop drives, etc. Or never use drives from manufacturer X; only trust those from drive manufacturer Y. Having used a variety of self-powered and USB-powered drives from many different manufacturers on many different Macs without any noteworthy problems, I can find no justification for any of those claims.Find out what&#x27;s causing the premature failures. Whatever the problem is, it&#x27;s not Time Machine. There is nothing unusual Time Machine does to a drive.