Time Machine not backing up when I plug in my hard drive

[lamina]

I have a laptop, and I'd like Time Machine to automatically start backing up when I plug the external hard drive into my MacBook.

It says that it will backup next "When disk is connected", but I have to start it manually each time.

 

[Mr.Noisy]

I don't think there is a way to get TM to back up Automatically when the hdd is connected, I use an external but it's not always switched on, i just gor to TM prefs and back up now, No biggy and jobs done.

 

[merl1n]

This may apply to your situation:

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1550?viewlocale=en_US

If you follow these instructions, it will re-format your disk so TM will have to do another "initial" backup which will take a few hours.

But this may fix your problem. TM does do backups automatically.

The other question I have, is when you plug in your drive and it mounts on your desktop (or side panel in a Finder Window), do you wait a few minutes for TM. Sometimes TM waits a few minutes before starting an automatic backup.

 

[lamina]

The other question I have, is when you plug in your drive and it mounts on your desktop (or side panel in a Finder Window), do you wait a few minutes for TM. Sometimes TM waits a few minutes before starting an automatic backup.

That solved the problem. Thanks a lot. I just wasn't waiting a few minutes for it to automatically back up.