my passport for Mac

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Level 1

9 points

my passport for Mac

Hi, can anyone please help solve my confusion?

I recently purchased a My Passport for Mac. I just noticed in the WD screen that pops up showing connected devices it says Read Only next to the drive. When I hover over the i symbol it says its read only because its being used by Time Machine. How is it read only though when it seems to back up to it just fine. I can open files that are in the backup. Is there a setting I'm missing somewhere or something? In its info it says its formatted as Mac OS extended (Journaled).

Thank you.

MacBook, macOS High Sierra (10.13.3)

Posted on Mar 4, 2018 7:58 PM

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Answer 1

y_p_w

Level 6

17,642 points

Mar 4, 2018 8:48 PM in response to Allan Eckert

A My Passport for Mac is HFS+ formatted by default. I think the OP's problems may just go away by turning off Time Machine and turning it back on.

https://www.wdc.com/products/portable-storage/my-passport-for-mac.html

Formatted HFS + Journaled macOS High Sierra, Sierra or El Capitan.

Of course worst case is to just reformat and then start over with a fresh Time Machine backup.

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Answer 2

Mickymoo1 Author

Level 1

9 points

Mar 4, 2018 9:20 PM in response to y_p_w

Hi, I've gone into the Time Machine Preferences and I don't seem to have a slider to turn it off? So not sure how to do this. Another option was to disconnect My Passport and reconnect, but I do this every time I've finished using it and my MacBook as everything gets packed away. Every time I connect it again though, it still shows as Read Only. Time Machine still seems to back up to it ok though. So, unfortunately I'm still at a loss.

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Answer 3

Mar 4, 2018 8:34 PM in response to Mickymoo1

It is probably format as NTFS for Windows.

Reformat it for Apple with HFS+

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Answer 4

y_p_w

Level 6

17,642 points

Mar 4, 2018 8:34 PM in response to Mickymoo1

Maybe have a read of this. It could be a temporary issue.

Fixing Time Machine Errors - Backup Volume Is Read Only

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my passport for Mac

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