Time Machine backups when Ext HDD dies

[Lodesman]

May I seek some advice please.

I have a Mac with Lacie 2tb Ext HDD and all is working well.

However, one day the ext HDD will die and will need replacing.

What happens with regard to Time Machine ? Obviously I will not be able to access the backups on the Ext HDD.

Can I just install a new Ext HDD and backup afresh (as though there had never been a time machine backup)?

If not, what do I do. Any help and advice appreciated.

 

[Ap0ks]

Yep, you can just use a new drive and start backing up to it.

I recently had my external drive fail (no longer recognised by any machine), plugged in a replacement and just went into Time Machine system preferences and told it to backup to the new drive.

 

[Lodesman]

Yep, you can just use a new drive and start backing up to it.

I recently had my external drive fail (no longer recognised by any machine), plugged in a replacement and just went into Time Machine system preferences and told it to backup to the new drive.

Thanks for that - I will now rest easy.

 

[Ebenezum]

Two suggestions:

1. If you don't need external hard drive to be easily portable its cheaper and easier to use USB Hard drive enclosure with internal SATA hard drive. If drive dies just take it out of enclosure and install new drive. No need to pay extra for external drive.

2. If you have important information relying only on Time Machine might not be the best idea. Consider making clone to another drive with Disk Utility, SuperDuper!, Carbon Copy Cloner or other such software. I am not saying that Time Machine would certainly fail but placing all the eggs in one basket isn't the smartest idea...