Backing up Time Machine to external drive

[chelz910]

Hello,
I've researched and looked at other forums here but no one's situation seems to be like mine regarding backing up Time Machine to my external drive. I have plenty of backups I've done in the past on this drive with no problem. The drive has plenty of space and is partitioned. It usually runs right away when I plug it in. For whatever reason (possibly the upgrade to Yosemite since my last TM backup) I can no longer back up to this drive. When I open Time Machine through System Prefs - I cannot click on anything to back up to. When I go to Options, the ED is grayed out and "excluded."

All I want to do is perform a backup like I have always been able to. Can someone please help me
I included some pictures.

 

[Kissmyne]

The drive that you are backing up to will ALWAYS be excluded from being a part of a time machine backup, and will not be available to remove from the exclusion list.. can't backup the drive you are backing up to...

The screenshots you provided are fully expected and normal... with the first screenshot actually suggesting that backups are still taking place... can you please provide screenshots of any error you are getting when you attempt to click "Backup Now", or for that matter... the first page that loads when you navigate to System Preferences>Time Machine...

Also in the nicest of ways, I recommend you read over this support article.. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201250

 

[chelz910]

I wasn't even able to see an option to click anything including "backup now." So I turned my harddrive off and on to let it load again and Time Machine immediately started to prepare a backup how it usually does.

Thanks