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Time Machine can't back up to external drive

I keep getting the message, "Time Machine couldn't back up to Seagate Backup Plus external drive." How do I fix that?

iMac 27″ 5K, macOS 11.2

Posted on Feb 17, 2021 11:32 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Feb 17, 2021 11:36 AM

You have not provided us much information. Did the Seagate ever work as a Time Machine backup?


If it did work at some point then please do the following troubleshooting:


Reset the NVRAM per NVRAM Reset

Restart in Safe Mode per Safe Mode Reset instructions


If it still does not work, then try another USB cable. If that does not work, run First Aid in Disk Utilities on the TM drive, it may have errors and may need to be replaced.

5 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Feb 17, 2021 11:36 AM in response to MickLead

You have not provided us much information. Did the Seagate ever work as a Time Machine backup?


If it did work at some point then please do the following troubleshooting:


Reset the NVRAM per NVRAM Reset

Restart in Safe Mode per Safe Mode Reset instructions


If it still does not work, then try another USB cable. If that does not work, run First Aid in Disk Utilities on the TM drive, it may have errors and may need to be replaced.

Time Machine can't back up to external drive

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