External Drives Display Twice

I have an external drive that is showing up twice in Finder. I use it for my Time Machine backups. I restored my new Mac mini from an old backup. I've already run First Aid and no issues were detected. I've also run Dis Utility and Erased the drive to no avail. When I run Disk Utility the duplicate drive is greyed out. I can eject the duplicate drive and still have use of the actual drive. I'm really not sure what needs to be done at this point to remove the "extra" drive.

Posted on May 11, 2023 07:24 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Dec 3, 2023 02:42 PM

I noticed the same thing yesterday. I'm on Ventura 13.6.1. All you do is eject Time Machine and disconnect. The extra Time Machine displayed in side bar will still be there, but greyed out. Not to worry. Just right click on it and you get the option to remove from side bar. Remove it and reconnect Time Machine and the problem is solved. Other replies I saw were quite ridiculous.

3 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Dec 3, 2023 02:42 PM in response to TekDragon1968

I noticed the same thing yesterday. I'm on Ventura 13.6.1. All you do is eject Time Machine and disconnect. The extra Time Machine displayed in side bar will still be there, but greyed out. Not to worry. Just right click on it and you get the option to remove from side bar. Remove it and reconnect Time Machine and the problem is solved. Other replies I saw were quite ridiculous.

May 11, 2023 08:29 AM in response to TekDragon1968

Which macOS version is the Mac mini running?


It sounds like you may have accidentally created a second partition on the external drive.


Open Disk Utility > click the small box on the upper left side and select Show All Devices Then reformat the whole External Drive, which should eliminate the second partition that you are not seeing.


For more detailed instructions, go to > Erase and reformat a storage device in Disk Utility on Mac - Apple Support and select the macOS version that the Mac mini is running.

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

External Drives Display Twice

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.