Time Machine Disallows Back-Up of TWO SSDs on MacPro

[jcfelice88keys]

Having just purchased a 3TB Air Port Time Capsule, I find that Time Machine does NOT allow me to back up my secondary 2TB SSD. After having completed backup, my Secondary SSD seems not to be accessed in Time Machine/Time Capsule.

Time Machine preferences seems to allow one to EXCLUDE the Secondary SSD, but there is no way for me to INclude the Secondary SSD in the backup.

What am I missing? Is there a workaround possible?

MacPro 2012 Tower, 12-Core, 128GB RAM, Primary (Boot) Disk 2TB SSD; Secondary (Data) Disk 2TB. Running High Sierra.

Thanking you in advance,

Joe

[mikehalloran]

What’s the size combined data on the your drives?

Yes, you are missing something but haven’t given enough info for me to know what.

Check your Options. The 2nd drive sometimes defaults to Excluded if the combined data size is close.

[jcfelice88keys]

Hello Mike,

Despite my new AirPort/Time Capsule's data size being 3TB, the combined data size of my two SSDs totals 4TB, although I have no intentions of loading my SSDs to their full respective capacities. At present, my two SSDs are approximately 50-60% filled, each.

Before changing to High Siera, running the previous incarnation of Sierra, I was able to back up both drives to a 4TB Western Digital spinner. Back before November 2017, on my 4TB Western Digital spinning USB Backup drive, the most data I actually backed up with Time Machine was approaching 3TB (without having to delete/roll over any previous data).

Since changing to High Sierra, my 4TB USB spinner stopped accepting incremental backups. (I was holding my breath without incremental backups between November, 2017 and June 2018.) Thinking that High Sierra would work with the WiFi Time Capsule, that's why I sprang for the 3TB Time Capsule and its associated updated AirPort wireless capability.


* * * * * *

You asked me to check my Options, presumably in Time Machine. It seems the icon for the Secondary SSD has been faded down, so as not to be able to select it as a source to back up.

Just by chance, might there be a way to use Time Machine with the wireless Time Capsule storage for my Primary 2TB SSD ... AND ... the Western Digital 4TB spinning USB drive to incrementally back up my Secondary 2TB SSD?

Thank you in advance for any information you may have to offer.

Cheers,

Joe

[HCMarkus]

Could this all have something to do with the new disc file system. Perhaps one drive received the APFS formatting and the other didn't...

[mikehalloran]

Could this all have something to do with the new disc file system. Perhaps one drive received the APFS formatting and the other didn't...

No. From the info given, that's the only thing I am certain of.

[mikehalloran]

You didn't answer my question. I did not ask capacity.

Once again, What’s the size combined data on the your drives?

GetInfo on each drive. You'll see how full each is. Add the two numbers together. What is it?

[mikehalloran]

Time Machine preferences seems to allow one to EXCLUDE the Secondary SSD, but there is no way for me to INclude the Secondary SSD in the backup.

If the total data of the combined drives is under 3T, I'm going to guess that you just need to know how to do this. It's the opposite of what you think since anything on the list is excluded.

Open System Preferences/Time Machine
Click on Options
Highlight the SSD you want to include. This will activate the - (minus symbol) below the window
Click on the - The SSD will disappear from the list
Click on the Save button

You're done.

Drives added to a Mac appear in the Excluded list by default. You really don't want Time Machine backing up your CD, thumb drives etc.

Many of us keep our VI libraries on a separate drive. Since these can always be downloaded again, why back them up in Time Machine?

You can also drill down into that drive to exclude downloadable libraries and include work files or anything else you want backed up. It's not 'all or nothing'. I don't recommend this, however. If you disconnect and reconnect that external, it will again default to the Excluded list no matter what customization you did earlier.

[jcfelice88keys]

Hello Mike,

Sorry for the confusion: I had given you only capacity without actual data:

Here are the results of Get Info for each drive, respectively:

SSD Name: "Primary" -- this my boot disk and the only one which seems to be addressed via Time Machine / Time Capsule.
Format: APFS

Capacity: 1.98 TB
Available: 1.06 TB (12.49 GB Purgeable)
Used: 934,033,141,760 Bytes (934.03 GB on Disk)

SSD Name: "Secondary" -- this SSD seems not to be accessed via 3TB Time Capsule
Format: Mac OS Extended (Journaled)

Capacity: 2 TB
Available: 1.17 TB (49.3 MB purgeable)
Used: 833,299,894,272 bytes (833.3 GB on Disk)

* * * * * * *

Combined Total Used Storage: 934.05 GB + 833.3 GB = 1767.35 GB ~ 1.8GB

* * * * * * *

The Get Info screens show the Primarry SSD boot disk is formatted APFS and the Secondary SSD is formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled) by the firm who configured my MacPro. Might this be the smoking gun as to why the Secondary SSD fails to be recognized by Time Capsule???

Cheers,

Joe

[mikehalloran]

Joe, read my post before your latest.

[mikehalloran]

The Get Info screens show the Primarry SSD boot disk is formatted APFS and the Secondary SSD is formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled) by the firm who configured my MacPro. Might this be the smoking gun as to why the Secondary SSD fails to be recognized by Time Capsule???

No. TCs have HHDs (mechanical hard drives) that cannot be formatted APFS so they'll see everything.

Everything is working as it should. Once you follow the directions I posted earlier, you'll be good.

[mikehalloran]

Did you buy a tower?



or a used pancake?