Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Time Machine backup question.

C

Captain Sulu

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 30, 2013
20
0
UK
Good morning all.

I have bought a Seagate 2TB Backup Plus desktop drive to use on Time Machine. I have set the drive up and it all seems to be working just fine.

However, I cannot see the 'Time Machine' icon in the menu bar even though I ticked 'show in menu bar' on the settings. To check the status of the backup I therefore have to go all the way through the settings menu.

Also, there is an orange 'Seagate backup ....etc' icon on the top right hand corner of the home screen. If I send this to the trash, it seems to turn off the backup process that will only start again if I disconnect and reconnect the drive.

Any help gratefully received.

Sulu
 
Sounds to me as if you installed the seagate backup software, not TM.

When you plugged the disk in, did you get a pop up message asking if you wanted to use the disk for TM? If so, did you follow the prompts?

If not, or even if so, I'd be inclined to erase the disk with disk utility to get rid of any seagate software, to look in applications and drag to the trash any seagate software, reboot, and start again with TM.
 
Yes. I just plugged the machine in (following the instructions on the Apple website) and followed the prompts. The initial backup started fine and if I go into system settings, it shows the date and time of the last backup etc so it seems to be working OK.

I just can't figure how to get the icon onto the menu bar and get rid of the Seagate icon on the home screen background.
 
I have the same drive, which I use on my TM. When I initially plugged it in, there was a lot of software it wanted me to install according to Seagate's quick setup guide. I ignored the setup guide and formatted the drive to Mac OS Extended (Journaled).

I then setup the drive to use with TM and it works great. Icon appears in the menu bar if I want it. I do not use it though.

I use the same drive on another Mac I have and set it up using it straight out of the box and had the same issues you had. I then formatted it as I had my other Seagate drive and problem was gone.

Good drive, just seem to like to be formatted before use. Not sure why? They are supposed to work straight out of the box according to their paper work.
 
Captain Sulu said:
I have bought a Seagate 2TB Backup Plus desktop drive to use on Time Machine. I have set the drive up and it all seems to be working just fine.

However, I cannot see the 'Time Machine' icon in the menu bar even though I ticked 'show in menu bar' on the settings. To check the status of the backup I therefore have to go all the way through the settings menu.

Also, there is an orange 'Seagate backup ....etc' icon on the top right hand corner of the home screen. If I send this to the trash, it seems to turn off the backup process that will only start again if I disconnect and reconnect the drive.
Click to expand...

Your mistake was to buy the "Backup Plus" drive. Many hard drive makers think they have to add some "add value" to their hard drives, and the result is that they mess things up. That's what the "Backup Plus" drive does. For £10 pound less you could have bought the plain version of the drive, and you wouldn't have these problems. In my opinion, there should be a separate. extremely hot place in hell reserved for hard drive makers who do that kind of stuff. On the other hand, it could have been worse. You could have bought a Western Digital drive that loses data on Mavericks.

If you bought mail order within the last seven days, return the drive for a full refund and buy a Toshiba, Samsung, or "Seagate Extension" drive; they don't add that kind of ****** software to your drive.

There is nothing to setup. Plug the power cable in, plug the USB cable into the drive and your Mac, and use Disk Utility to format the drive as an "HFS+ Journaled" drive. If you are lucky that will work with the "Seagate Backup" drive as well; some drives are kind of resistant and manage somehow to restore their own crappy backup software. And then you just use "Time Machine". The first backup always takes ages, that's normal.

----------
firedept said:
I have the same drive, which I use on my TM. When I initially plugged it in, there was a lot of software it wanted me to install according to Seagate's quick setup guide. I ignored the setup guide and formatted the drive to Mac OS Extended (Journaled).

Good drive, just seem to like to be formatted before use. Not sure why? They are supposed to work straight out of the box according to their paper work.
Click to expand...

Seagate sells "Seagate Extension" and "Seagate Backup". The difference is that the "Backup" costs £10 more and contains useless Backup software that you need to remove first. The formatting needs to be done for the "Extension" ones as well; they are probably formatted for Windows. Good to hear that reformat actually removes the software.
 
I got this one direct from the Apple online store so you'd think it would work straight out of the box - the box that says it's Mac compatible>

How do I format the drive? I'm a complete IT idiot and the last time I tried anything like that my PC had to go into rehab for a couple of weeks.
 
Got to Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility

Select the drive in the left pane
partition and format in the right pane

Edit:
This will remove all data from the drive you select, so choose wisely, and make sure there's nothing on the drive you need
 
Captain Sulu said:
I got this one direct from the Apple online store so you'd think it would work straight out of the box - the box that says it's Mac compatible>

How do I format the drive? I'm a complete IT idiot and the last time I tried anything like that my PC had to go into rehab for a couple of weeks.
Click to expand...

Just checked - Apple does indeed sell it for £89.95.

I'd call Apple to check if you can return it (I think it's seven days by law, and Apple's return policy might be better), then go to www.dabs.com and get the "Seagate Extension" 2TB for £59.95. It is the exact same hard drive, except that it doesn't come with Seagate's rubbish backup software. Or get a Toshiba or Samsung drive.

Here's the rip-off: All external hard drives are Mac compatible out of the box. All of them. But as soon as a manufacturer prints "Mac compatible" on the box, the price increases.
 
Thanks everyone. That seems to have sorted it out.

However, I've still got that annoying icon on the home screen with the name of the external drive (not the app). Does anyone have any idea how I can get rid of this? I also get one when the CD drive is in use.

Thanks

Sulu
 
Captain Sulu said:
Thanks everyone. That seems to have sorted it out.

However, I've still got that annoying icon on the home screen with the name of the external drive (not the app). Does anyone have any idea how I can get rid of this? I also get one when the CD drive is in use.

Thanks

Sulu
Click to expand...
That is normal but if you want to get rid of it go to "Finder" "Preferences" "General" and uncheck the box that says external disc. You can also uncheck CD drive if you wish.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back