External hard drive read-only after Time Machine setup

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Level 1

5 points

External hard drive read-only after Time Machine setup

I want to use my external hard drive to drag and drop files to and also as a Time Machine backup.

I have a MacBook running Sonoma 14.1. I hooked up an WD external hard drive and formatted it with MacOS Extended (Journaled) with the scheme of GUID Partition map. I could drag files in there fine to save them but when I added it as a Time Machine backup it said I had to remove those file. So I did so I could set it up with Time Machine with the idea that I could add them back after it was set up (and keep adding files by dragging them over) but now it won’t let me drag anything to it and the permissions say read only! Also the “Get Info” now shows the formate as APFS (Case sensitive)

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Posted on Jan 17, 2025 12:26 AM

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Answer 1

Jan 17, 2025 1:14 AM in response to ESPEER

You can’t do that unless you partition the drive - make one partition for Time Machine and one for other files; but I have to advise against it. It is best to use the Time Machine drive for that purpose only.

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Answer 2

PRP_53

Level 10

93,109 points

Jan 17, 2025 1:30 AM in response to ESPEER

Back up your Mac with Time Machine

Use your Time Machine backup disk only for Time Machine backups, not for storage of other files.*

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Answer 3

HWTech

Level 9

62,156 points

Jan 17, 2025 8:54 AM in response to ESPEER

Completely agree with the others.

Plus is the data you are dragging & dropping to the external drive the only copy of that data? If so, then I guess it is not important unless you are backing it up as well to yet some other external media.

I never recommend partitioning any drive. People usually discover much later that one or more of the partitions is too small, resulting in them needing to start completely over.

I don't understand everyone's fascination of putting their critical backups in jeopardy by using a backup drive for more than just backups. In the event of lost or damaged data you want your backup to be ready to restore those critical files which is the sole purpose of a backup. If people jeopardize their backup integrity, then they must not really care about those files in the first place. Obviously the files being put onto the data partition are not important or they would be on their own dedicated external media being backed up to your dedicated backup drive. I just don't understand.

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