Last fall I bought a Seagate 5TB Backup Plus (brand recommended on your site). It backed up my MBP 2013 once and ever since every attempt gives me a failure message “Time Machine couldn’t complete the backup to “Seagate Backup” or the other message same thing “MBP Backup”. I am currently using Mojave 10.14.4 and believe I was using Mojave when I did the first backup. I have run disk utility and repair multiple times but still not able to complete the backup. Can I erase the Seagate and start from scratch? If so where do I find the instructions for that?
Many thanks,
Christol
PS: I learn so much from your videos
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Christol
Sure, you can start it over again. Just go to System Preferences, Time Machine. Click Select Disk. Select your current backup and then "Remove Disk."
Then run Disk Utility and erase the drive. Erase it as Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
Once it is erased, go back to Time Machine preferences, Select Disk, and select it to start the backup from scratch.
Thanks Gary, It seems to be working. The backup is taking so much longer than the failed results were. Fingers are crossed.
Oh dear, I spoke too soon. It has failed again after following the above instructions. Does the external drive need to be reformatted or something. I am at a loss what to do next?
Christol: Sounds like it might be a bad drive. Run First Aid in Disk Utility to check it.
So I have now done the following and I am running the backup again. I did First Aid and it seemed okay (no error messages), changed the name of the drive, removed partition, erased again and went back to the original Seagate instructions and downloaded NTFS for Mac Paragon Driver which I had not done in the first place when I got it. I am hoping that solves the problem. I also dowloaded Malwarebytes, found and removed a dozen or so.
NTFS for Mac Paragon Driver? You shouldn't need that, at all. In fact, I get people complaining about that all the time. That should be only if you want to format the drive as NTFS (old Windows format) instead of for Mac. What did Malwarebytes find? This doesn't sound like an issue with malware at all.
Thanks Gary, I was just trying to cover the bases. Malwarebytes quarantined: Advanced Mac Cleaner: 2 folders and a log printout and another folder amc (I have removed this app now); com.MyCouponize.agent.plist; com.MyMacUpdater.agent.plist; com.pcv.hlpramc.plist; com.pcv.hlpramcn; com.pcvark.Mac-File-Opener.plist; hlpramc folder and helperamc.log; Mac File Opener folder; and Similar Photo Cleaner.
NTFS driver was a recommendation for Mac in the product insert with the Seagate.
Christol: Definitely sounds like Malwarebytes found some junk. I'd figure out how they stuff got on there, and make sure to avoid that. But I don't think it has to do with the drive issue. And I'm sure you don't need NTFS.
In the end the backup failed again. As you said it must be a bad drive. Thanks for trying to help. And yes, I'll remove the NTFS. As for the malware I know I downloaded the Cleaner but I read on your site today that it was a bad idea and when it came up on the malware scan it was top. Thanks again for all your tips and tricks.
So if it is a bad drive is there any harm in trying to convert it to APFS and see if the Time Machine will work with that? A shame I spent all that money for this and it doesn't work. Any recommendations for my next one. I feel burnt by Seagate.
Christol: Time Machine requires that the drive be HFS+, (Mac OS Extended Journaled). In fact, if it is anything else, it will reformat it as HFS+ when you start. https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/types-of-disks-you-can-use-with-time-machine-mh15139/mac
Thanks again Gary.
All is not lost. I have been able to drag and drop all of my folders and documents onto the Seagate and use it like a thumb drive for now until I purchase another drive to backup my computer. Thanks for all your information today.