Time Machine Issue

[SoCalDave]

Hi all - I'm new to Time Machine and have a question.

I'm trying to use it with 2 different hard drives. I've successfully used TM and have a full backup on each external drive. I don't leave the external drives on, only need to backup every week or so. I don't leave them connected when not in use.

My issue is this: I ran TM and backed up to Disk1, then unplugged Disk1 and plugged in Disk2 and ran TM. Now I'm plugging back in Disk1 and it's not working. Attaching screen shots for reference.

Thanks,

Dave

 

[MacInWin]

Did you wait for the backup to complete? TM is run at very low priority, and can take a long time for a full, first-time backup, or even a regular backup if it's been a long time and lots of changes to be covered.

 

[SoCalDave]

Thanks Jake - yes both external drives have a complete backup. I was just connecting the external drives 1 at a time to get the deltas (new files, modified files, etc).

Right now I've plugged in both externals (via usb) to see if that works.

 

[SoCalDave]

I think it's working now. I had to put the 2nd external in first and let it finish; then the 1st external.

Just the opposite of how I thought it would work!

Thanks,

Dave

 

[MacInWin]

That fits the symptoms. The error message was because back to #2 wasn't finished before you swapped back to #1. When it did finally finish, everything was restored and both drives should be available. Just remember that TM can take a while to finish. On the top menu bar, you can see if it has finished by the status of the icon for TM. When it is backing up, the circular arrow has two arrowheads. When it is between backups, it has just one. You can read more here: Back up your Mac with Time Machine

 

[SoCalDave]

Thanks - that makes sense! Appreciate the help!

Dave

 

[MacInWin]

Happy to help, and welcome to the forum! Come back anytime. We're here pretty much 24/7/365.