Just noticed that Time Machine has been unable to back up my iMac to my Easystore external hard drive the last two weeks. When I open Time Machine there is an error message saying, "Files can’t be copied onto the backup disk because it is read-only." What's changed?
My operating system is Monterey v12.4.
iMac (24-inch, M1, 2021, 2 ports)
jscld wrote:
Just noticed that Time Machine has been unable to back up my iMac to my Easystore external hard drive the last two weeks. When I open Time Machine there is an error message saying, "Files can’t be copied onto the backup disk because it is read-only." What's changed?
My operating system is Monterey v12.4.
A hard rive is a hard drive —and all new drives should be erased/formatted/initialized when new out of the box.
GUID/APFS
Anytime I read "Mac friendly" or in your case, " Easystore" external hard drive..(?) it makes me think that there is some proprietary software involved to make it r/w.
I would look for some update to that external drive, especially if it is formatted as NTFS—
refer to the developers website if in doubt
search the developers website or contact their: Support/Help/FAQ/Known issues/compatibility/Updates.
my Monterey TM is still using the HFS+...
if no insight or resolve—
Erase and reformat a storage device in Disk Utility on Mac
jscld wrote:
Just noticed that Time Machine has been unable to back up my iMac to my Easystore external hard drive the last two weeks. When I open Time Machine there is an error message saying, "Files can’t be copied onto the backup disk because it is read-only." What's changed?
My operating system is Monterey v12.4.
Under Monterey, Time Machine backup drives appear as "read-only" to the user. You can see that if you use Get Info on the drive.
But normally Time Machine works when you run it. Can you enter Time Machine as if you were to restore a file? Do you see backed up files, can you try to restore one?
If the drive has ceased to function normally and MacOS reports it as read only, the drive may be failing. When MacOS detects a failing drive, it will sometimes mark it as read-only.
Can you run Disk Utility on the drive (First Aid)? Does it report any problems? To check the hardware health, try downloading DriveDX and run its diagnostics (long duration test, not just the short test).
If you have WD Utilities installed and use them with the drive, that may also be a problem. Some users have reported conflicts with software like that and the MacOS.
Why is my back-up drive now read-only and unable to back up via Time Machine
