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Use Time Machine to backup external drive

Hi,


I'm trying to use Time Machine to backup my Mac and my external drive (LaCie 2TB HDD) where all my photos are stored. When I look at the settings under "exclude these items.." my external hard drive is there and grayed out, meaning it won't be part om the Time Machine and I can't change it.

Are there any solutions for this problem?

iMac 27″ 5K, macOS 11.6

Posted on Oct 20, 2021 12:22 PM

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Posted on Oct 21, 2021 2:57 AM

My bad, I should have been more specific. I'm using 2 external hard drives; one as an extension of the Mac which I have only pictures and videos stored (LaCie 2TB HDD), and the other one as a backup aka Time Machine (Seagate 6TB).

But you have a really valid point there.


SOLVED: The format for the LaCie hard drive was in "ExFat", which apparently Time Machine didn't support. So I reformatted the hard drive to "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" which made me able to back up the drive as well. It even made reading and writing speeds faster.

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Oct 21, 2021 2:57 AM in response to rkaufmann87

My bad, I should have been more specific. I'm using 2 external hard drives; one as an extension of the Mac which I have only pictures and videos stored (LaCie 2TB HDD), and the other one as a backup aka Time Machine (Seagate 6TB).

But you have a really valid point there.


SOLVED: The format for the LaCie hard drive was in "ExFat", which apparently Time Machine didn't support. So I reformatted the hard drive to "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" which made me able to back up the drive as well. It even made reading and writing speeds faster.

Oct 20, 2021 1:06 PM in response to Jarosz96

NEVER EVER use the same EHD to store data on (in your case your photos) and for a backup. Why, very simple....all EHD's die and your LaCie will too and when that occurs you will have lost both your data (the photos) you will have lost their backup. Get yourself another EHD and use one for data storage (your photos) and another for backup. When most experienced users use are OWC Mercury Elite Pro series of EHDs. The reason they are so popular is they are reliable, come pre-formatted, are reasonably priced and OWC offers great support.


Personally, I have never had luck with LaCies however some like them. With OWC, I have some enclosures that are over 15 years old that still work great.

Use Time Machine to backup external drive

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