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Problem with Time Machine and a WD Passport for Mac

I purchased a new " WD Passport for Mac" but Time Machine won't connect to it. I did a chat with WD and they say there is no problem with the Passport for Mac and to contact Apple as the issue seems to be in Time Machine. When I open Time Machine and select the Passport for Mac is says I must erase the passport. I did not do that and tried again to select the Passport for Mac but got the same message, so I erased the Passport for Mac. Initially I got the message that Time Machine cannot connect to Passport for Mac. Now when I repeat the process I keep getting the message to erase the Passport for Mac. The new Passport for Mac did not have a quick start guide, but says it' ready out of the box.


I use a 2020 MacBook Pro running OS X Big Sur version 11.4.


I previously have been using a WD Elements but it just stopped accepting my password and after two days of trying I gave up and bought the Passport for Mac.

Posted on Jun 7, 2021 9:25 AM

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Posted on Jun 7, 2021 10:05 AM

The Error Message being received is because the Drive is New and probably formatted for Windows usage which is either NTFS or maybe exFat.


For the drive to work on macOS and especially Big Sur the drive must be reformatted to the Apple Filing System format - which Time Machine Backup is asking to do.


Allow TM Backup to Erase the drive to the required file format and it should work.

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jun 7, 2021 10:05 AM in response to Heilbronner

The Error Message being received is because the Drive is New and probably formatted for Windows usage which is either NTFS or maybe exFat.


For the drive to work on macOS and especially Big Sur the drive must be reformatted to the Apple Filing System format - which Time Machine Backup is asking to do.


Allow TM Backup to Erase the drive to the required file format and it should work.

Jul 4, 2021 5:04 AM in response to PRP_53

Allowing ™ Backup to erase the drive worked and I was able to initially backup all my files to the WE Passport for Mac. But, I have not yet restarted File Vault, so I don't know what will happen when I try to backup my files with File Vault activated. I read that OS X 11. automatically encrypts all files even without activating File Vault. If that is true I don't know if I really need to activate File Vault. I guess I'll find out when/if I do activate File Vault.

Problem with Time Machine and a WD Passport for Mac

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