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backing up an external NAS hard drive

I'm struggling to back-up my external networked hard drives with Time Machine. The discs are shown under "network" when you check your system in Time Machine, but the option to 'replace' is greyed out. I have a 5tb LaCie HD that I use as a "TimeCapsule" back up, and 3 other hard drives connected as NAS (network attached storage) drives. Those are connected to my network router, containing all my music and some photo data, so I can access the data from anywhere and free up space on my MacBook Pro. The 5tb back-up "time capsule drive works fine to back-up my MacBook Pro's primary drive, as expected, but I can't seem to get it to include my external NAS drives in the back-up process. Does anyone have any idea how to get Time Machine to include my NAS drives in my back-ups?

MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 11.2

Posted on Mar 12, 2022 2:52 AM

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Posted on Mar 12, 2022 5:45 AM

Time Machine was designed to back up your Mac and a "local" hard drive......like a USB drive connected directly to your Mac. Time Machine cannot back up a network drive.


You can use another application like Carbon Copy Cloner, SuperDuper or ChronoSync to back up the network drive to another drive. Personally, Carbon Copy Cloner (CCC) has been flawless for me over many years.

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Mar 12, 2022 5:45 AM in response to rorygilmore

Time Machine was designed to back up your Mac and a "local" hard drive......like a USB drive connected directly to your Mac. Time Machine cannot back up a network drive.


You can use another application like Carbon Copy Cloner, SuperDuper or ChronoSync to back up the network drive to another drive. Personally, Carbon Copy Cloner (CCC) has been flawless for me over many years.

Mar 14, 2022 1:42 PM in response to rorygilmore

+1 for CCC as it has worked great for me. No pecuniary interest.


3 other hard drives connected as NAS (network attached storage) drives. Those are connected to my network router, containing all my music and some photo data


What make and model router are you using?


Once you start having so many drives plugged into your router it is well worth considering a real NAS. You may well be trying to avoid that option due to cost.

Synology is the one we recommend here because it has very good Mac compatibility and is reliable using it with Time Machine. If new prices are two high a second hand 2 bay from about 2018 can be a good option. Or look at alternatives from various linux / BSD community projects.


Any NAS will include its own backup app and you can simply use a USB drive on the NAS itself.. all setup to automatically update as required.

backing up an external NAS hard drive

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