10-18-2011, 08:56 PM

Dear All,

I'm having a problem with my Time Machine. I use a WD external hard drive for automatic backups. Recently it quit backing up, and I would get the message box saying "Time Machine has not backed up your Mac in XXX days". However, my WD 5000 is blinking white, as if it is working.

When I open up Time Machine in Utilities, it says "A storage location for Time Machine Backups isn't set up".

So then I go to set it up, I click on "Choose Backup Disk", and the screen is blank. Clicking on "Set Up Time Capsule" opens the Airport Utility screen.

I can't get to the external hard drive to select it.

Am I looking in the wrong place, or have I done something to prevent it from finding the external hard drive?

Thanks much,
Steve

10-18-2011, 10:00 PM

Just to clarify is the hard drive connected to the USB port on the Time Capsule? If so, try the following:
1. Disconnect the hard drive from the Time Capsule USB port.
2. Connect the hard drive to your Mac and launch Disk Utility.
3. Verify the disk and repair any errors that are found.

It should then be OK to reconnect the drive to the Time Capsule.

10-19-2011, 07:44 AM

Sylvester,
I have the drive connected through a powered USB hub. When I run Disk Utility while it is hooked up through the hub, or directly to the Powerbook, the HD is visible in the left-hand column. But all the buttons on the right, Verify Disk Permissions, etc, are grayed out.

Is this an indication that the HD is bad news?

Thanks,
Steve