WD

[Rina]

Good morning

I wonder if there is anybody who can help with a problem I have?

I use a WD Passport, which I have encrypted with a password, to back up my Macbook Pro. The Macbook Pro is running the latest version of Ventura.

I back up my work through Time Machine.

I have only just realised, that whilst backing up, everything appears to be working fine, when in fact nothing is being written to the Passport! The ‘latest’ folder has nothing in it!

What is the problem and are there any solutions?

Many thanks.



Rina

 

[Randy B. Singer]

...

I back up my work through Time Machine.

I have only just realised, that whilst backing up, everything appears to be working fine, when in fact nothing is being written to the Passport! The ‘latest’ folder has nothing in it!

Apple offers a series of suggestions on what the problem might be and how to deal with it:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204157

 

[Rina]

Thanks Randy, I'll contact them although I did speak to an Apple Advisor yesterday morning and he wasn't able to advise me on why this was happening.

 

[Randy B. Singer]

Thanks Randy, I'll contact them although I did speak to an Apple Advisor yesterday morning and he wasn't able to advise me on why this was happening.

I should note that it isn't unusual for me to hear from users for whom Time Machine failed to properly back up their data. In almost every case, they could switch to doing a clone backup and that worked perfectly for them.

Folks have their preferences for cloning backup software, but I prefer:

SuperDuper! (Free/$28)
https://shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html

Of course, if the problem is that your external hard drive is improperly formatted, or if it is otherwise unfit, then nothing is likely going to work. FWIW, WD Passport drives tend to be cheap POS's. They offer a large capacity for a low price, but everything else about them screams lack of quality and reliability. (No cooling, no power supply, poor QC, etc.)

 

[IWT]

Randy has provided good personal advice as well as links to Apple. He also mentioned Disk Formatting which I think is a really important aspect of Time Machine backups.

Given that you are running Ventura and, I assume, have an SSD, it may be worth casting an eye on this Apple Link:

Types of disks you can use with Time Machine on Mac

Use Time Machine on your Mac with a Time Capsule and with USB and Thunderbolt disks.

support.apple.com

In general if you attach a clean EHD to the Mac, TM will do the appropriate formatting for you. In my setup TM formatted my 2 EHDs to APFS Volume - APFS (Case-sensitive).

It might be worth opening Disc Utility, click on View at the top and choosing Show All Devices. Then click on your TM EHD and choose the lowest indent and see what its Format is.

Ian

 

[Rina]

I should note that it isn't unusual for me to hear from users for whom Time Machine failed to properly back up their data. In almost every case, they could switch to doing a clone backup and that worked perfectly for them.

Folks have their preferences for cloning backup software, but I prefer:

SuperDuper! (Free/$28)
SuperDuper!

Of course, if the problem is that your external hard drive is improperly formatted, or if it is otherwise unfit, then nothing is likely going to work. FWIW, WD Passport drives tend to be cheap POS's. They offer a large capacity for a low price, but everything else about them screams lack of quality and reliability. (No cooling, no power supply, poor QC, etc.)

Given that you are running Ventura and, I assume, have an SSD, it may be worth casting an eye on this Apple Link:

 

[Rina]

Hi Randy, I'll try what you said. Many thanks. Advice much appreciated. I'm disabled and still shielding but my partner/carer will be able to assist me.

 

[Rina]

Randy has provided good personal advice as well as links to Apple. He also mentioned Disk Formatting which I think is a really important aspect of Time Machine backups.

Given that you are running Ventura and, I assume, have an SSD, it may be worth casting an eye on this Apple Link:

Types of disks you can use with Time Machine on Mac

Use Time Machine on your Mac with a Time Capsule and with USB and Thunderbolt disks.

support.apple.com

In general if you attach a clean EHD to the Mac, TM will do the appropriate formatting for you. In my setup TM formatted my 2 EHDs to APFS Volume - APFS (Case-sensitive).

It might be worth opening Disc Utility, click on View at the top and choosing Show All Devices. Then click on your TM EHD and choose the lowest indent and see what its Format is.

Ian

Hi Randy, I'll try what you said. Many thanks. Advice much appreciated. I'm disabled and still shielding but my partner/carer will be able to assist me.

 

[Rina]

Randy has provided good personal advice as well as links to Apple. He also mentioned Disk Formatting which I think is a really important aspect of Time Machine backups.

Given that you are running Ventura and, I assume, have an SSD, it may be worth casting an eye on this Apple Link:

Types of disks you can use with Time Machine on Mac

Use Time Machine on your Mac with a Time Capsule and with USB and Thunderbolt disks.

support.apple.com

In general if you attach a clean EHD to the Mac, TM will do the appropriate formatting for you. In my setup TM formatted my 2 EHDs to APFS Volume - APFS (Case-sensitive).

It might be worth opening Disc Utility, click on View at the top and choosing Show All Devices. Then click on your TM EHD and choose the lowest indent and see what its Format is.

Ian

 

[Rina]

Hi Ian I'll try what you said. Many thanks. Advice much appreciated. I'm disabled and still shielding but my partner/carer will be able to assist me. I'm just so upset that for almost a year (my computer was collected on 17 June), when I thought the WD was backing up all of my information; using TM, it wasn't doing anything!
When I plug in my WD, the attached appears BUT it won't let me unlock the WD and it won't show on the desktop so I have to go to WD Utilities and click on it and back it up (or NOT back it up) using TM that way. This is clearly, not what's supposed to happen as I was informed by an Apple Advisor yesterday. He did a screen share with me and everything is 'ticked' as it should be and so on. I have also tried to use another WD-I don't have a problem with this WD, except that it will not let me use TM. A message appears, saying something like, 'try backing up when your passport is ready,'
I should have copied this to Randy, which I'll try and do.

Rina

 

[Rina]

Good morning

I wonder if there is anybody who can help with a problem I have?

I use a WD Passport, which I have encrypted with a password, to back up my Macbook Pro. The Macbook Pro is running the latest version of Ventura.

I back up my work through Time Machine.

I have only just realised, that whilst backing up, everything appears to be working fine, when in fact nothing is being written to the Passport! The ‘latest’ folder has nothing in it!

What is the problem and are there any solutions?

Many thanks.



Rina

 

[Rina]

'm just so upset that for almost a year (my computer was collected on 17 June), when I thought the WD was backing up all of my information; using TM, it wasn't doing anything!
When I plug in my WD, the attached appears BUT it won't let me unlock the WD and it won't show on the desktop so I have to go to WD Utilities and click on it and back it up (or NOT back it up) using TM that way. This is clearly, not what's supposed to happen as I was informed by an Apple Advisor yesterday. He did a screen share with me and everything is 'ticked' as it should be and so on. I have also tried to use another WD-I don't have a problem with this WD, except that it will not let me use TM. A message appears, saying something like, 'try backing up when your passport is ready,'
I should have copied this to you. I did send it to Ian. Sorry!

Rina

 

[IWT]

@Rina

In the screenshot you posted - and thank you very much for doing this - you should enter your Admin/Login password and the click on Always Allow. This is because Time Machine backs up more or less everything bar your Operating System (it doesn't backup your Operating System because it's irrelevant as regards your data. If you got a new Mac or ran into trouble with this one, then your data is the crucial factor. The Operating System is a separate feature).

Once you give Time Machine the permission re your Keychain, it should backup everything.

Have you had time to explore the format of the Time Machine EHD as I suggested in post #5? The instructions for doing this were included.

Please don't despair. We shall help you all the way. It's tough being unable to lead a normal life and having to shield. We understand.

Ian

 

[Randy B. Singer]

'm just so upset that for almost a year..., when I thought the WD was backing up all of my information; using TM, it wasn't doing anything!...

I hear this all the time, and not just with Time Machine. It's important to back up your data, but it's just as important to test your backup regularly to make sure that things are actually getting backed up. Too often folks have their hard drive fail, go to their backup thinking that their data is still safe, and find that their data was never backed up as they thought that it was.

 

[MacInWin]

A useful tool for checking on TM is The Time Machine Mechanic, from Howard Oakley. You can get it here:

XProCheck, T2M2, Ulbow, Consolation and log utilities

XProCheck – check on XProtect Remediator scans completed and reported in the log Updated! Inspects the Unified log for a period of 1-30 days and reports all completed and reported anti-malwar…

eclecticlight.co

I use T2M2 and XProCheck frequently, to see if macOS is doing what it should be.

 

[Rina]

I hear this all the time, and not just with Time Machine. It's important to back up your data, but it's just as important to test your backup regularly to make sure that things are actually getting backed up. Too often folks have their hard drive fail, go to their backup thinking that their data is still safe, and find that their data was never backed up as they thought that it was.

@Rina

In the screenshot you posted - and thank you very much for doing this - you should enter your Admin/Login password and the click on Always Allow. This is because Time Machine backs up more or less everything bar your Operating System (it doesn't backup your Operating System because it's irrelevant as regards your data. If you got a new Mac or ran into trouble with this one, then your data is the crucial factor. The Operating System is a separate feature).

Once you give Time Machine the permission re your Keychain, it should backup everything.

Have you had time to explore the format of the Time Machine EHD as I suggested in post #5? The instructions for doing this were included.

Please don't despair. We shall help you all the way. It's tough being unable to lead a normal life and having to shield. We understand.

Ian

Hi Ian



Thank-you so much for your support.

I’m afraid that we’re not at all au faut with the technical aspects of computer programs etc.



In the WD, which I thought had been backing up using TM, when the message appears, I always put in Allow and my password but it won’t accept my password and ‘jumps’ so I’ve been moving the box to the corner of the computer whilst I went into the WD utilities and then it would ask for my password and the WD would show on the desktop. I then went to TM and asked it to back-up, which it did, or so I had thought until the advisor from Apple informed me that it had only backed up since June last year. That’s when my computer was bought for me!

The other WD has the WD lock sign and it will unlock and then another box appears asking for my password and then I just use this WD to back-up what I’ve done the previous day.

TM won’t let this WD back-up at all. A message just appears saying something like, ‘Can’t back-up TM. Wait until My Passport shows’ or words to that effect.

Both WDs are relatively 'newish' and neither are at all damaged.

We unfortunately, haven’t as yet had time to explore the format of the Time Machine EHD as I’m on controlled medication and by the late afternoon, I simply can’t focus or do anything but we shall.

However, I have hospital appointments this afternoon, tomorrow and on Friday morning!



Would this have anything to do with Ventura?



Thank-you once again for being patient and understanding.



Rina

 

[Randy B. Singer]

A useful tool for checking on TM is The Time Machine Mechanic...

Mike Bombich of Carbon Copy Cloner has an article on this for clone backups:

How to verify or test a bootable backup
https://bombich.com/kb/ccc5/how-verify-or-test-your-backup

Here is an article for Time Machine backups:

How to Verify That Your Mac’s Time Machine Backups Are Working Properly
https://www.howtogeek.com/292197/ho...cs-time-machine-backups-are-working-properly/

 

[Jimmysb]

I have never considered checking my TM back-up, other than looking at the drive to ensure it is being carried out. My assumption was that if TM failed to BU it would inform you that it had failed

 

[Rina]

Mike Bombich of Carbon Copy Cloner has an article on this for clone backups:

How to verify or test a bootable backup
How to verify or test a bootable backup | Carbon Copy Cloner | Bombich Software

Here is an article for Time Machine backups:

How to Verify That Your Mac’s Time Machine Backups Are Working Properly
How to Verify That Your Mac’s Time Machine Backups Are Working Properly

Hi Randy



Thanks for the information.

We tried to do the ‘check’ you suggested, but the ‘Verify Backup’ was greyed out.

We also tried to erase the WD My Passport, with the idea of starting all over again, but were unable to erase it!

We tried several suggested ways of erasing the WD but to no avail.
I'm wondering if the problem is being caused by Ventura as prior to this the WD worked fine. I've checked the WD software, which is up to date.
Many thanks for your support with problem.

Rina

 

[IWT]

@Rina

I am probably stating the obvious, but just to be sure:

The WD EHD is connected directly to the Mac via cable - not through a Hub? Yes?

If "Yes", then personally I'd regard the Drive as faulty or even dead.

I've experienced this on several occasions and, like you, found that the EHD wasn't functioning properly. If that happens to me, I'm wary of using it for critical backups, even if I was able to erase the Drive. If, like you, the erasure failed, I'm done with that Drive.

This may sound draconian, but Drives fail, often without prior warning. If I were you, I'd get a new EHD. Time Machine backups are critical.

Ian