User level: Level 1 (15 points)My mac is suddenly not recognising my Time Machine backup device. I thought it might work if I erased it and reformatted it, but the erase button is greyed out. Id welcome sugestions as to nhow I can get the backup working again. Many thanks.
Posted on Oct 10, 2026 3:23 PM
User level: Level 10 (99,154 points)Oct 10, 2026 4:13 PM in response to Jackygr
How old is that external drive...?
What brand and model is that external drive...?
They do not last forever and Time Machine tends to be hard on external drives.
What I would do is disconnect that drive.
Get and setup a new external drive to use for Time Machine.
Back up your Mac with Time Machine - Apple Support
Then at some point, experiment on that external drive with some different formatting.
Erase and reformat a storage device in Disk Utility on Mac - Apple Support
Originally posted at discussions.apple.com/thread/256373875