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#935264 by catsilversword
16 May 2017, 13:12
Hi,

I installed the latest MAC software a couple of days ago. I've got an external g drive (bought from Apple) which automatically backs stuff up but it seems to have stopped doing so since the update - though the documents are still on the drive. I told it to do an update this morning and it's been 'in progress' ever since - but I can see nothing that anything has actually saved for a few days. There now looks only to be an option to save and back up documents to the icloud, which isn't really what I want.

Any thoughts please? I've tried disconnecting and then re-connecting the g drive, to no avail. Is this a feature of the latest software, to force us to only use the cloud or am I missing something crucial and obvious here?
#935268 by sungod
16 May 2017, 17:32
assume the 'g drive' an external usb/similar disk?

is the device showing up in finder? if not, i've had mac usb ports become unresponsive, a reboot typically restores them to life

if it is there, what are you using to do the backup, time machine?
#935280 by catsilversword
17 May 2017, 08:54
Yes, the g drive is external and plugged in by USB. When we bought it, we were going to get a time machine, but the person in Apple thought this drive was more useful. It's worked perfectly until the recent software update! I've tried disconnecting and reconnecting it (as it's existence wasn't showing in the desktop) - it does now recognise it, but seems not to be doing as it should. Perhaps I just need to get a new one - but I'm perplexed that the only way forward at the moment it to back to the cloud - despite passwords etc, it still feels out of my hands to do that. Maybe I'll need to drop into an Apple Store to see if they've had anyone lose experiencing this....
#935284 by catsilversword
17 May 2017, 09:51
I've just checked again - the drive does appear in finder - and it flashes away as usual - but doesn't seem to be actually saving anything. I can see that documents are saving to the cloud (made a small change to check this)....
#935285 by mitchja
17 May 2017, 12:00
With the latest versions of MacOS, you can turn off iCloud document and desktop storage if required (so you files save locally rather than in the iCloud; that does mean though that those documents won't be accessible from other devices using the same AppleID / iCloud drive), details can be found on this page (the instructions to turn it off can be found near the bottom).

An external Apple Time Capsule plugged into your local network does work best with Time Machine though as a backup solution, as there's very little setting up involved and then it's all automated and the backup runs in the background.
#935289 by catsilversword
17 May 2017, 13:48
Thanks James. I did actually find the guidance note you linked to - but was reluctant to do that, as there doesn't seem to be an option to save to anything other than the cloud. Perhaps, if I do tick the box not to save documents that ways I will then get an option to save elsewhere....

Increasingly, it looks as though the external drive is failing though. Perhaps just coincidence that it happened when it did.....
#935291 by sungod
17 May 2017, 16:34
you say "we were going to get a time machine, but the person in Apple thought this drive was more useful", think you meant time capsule

time machine is the backup software built-in to the mac, you configure it in system preferences, it'd be the logical thing to do the back-up to a usb disk

the disk may be on the way out, or it may simply have been corrupted by accident, if you plug it in and then open 'disk utility' (found in applications->utilities) then select the g drive disk in the pane on the left, you should see a button over on the right called 'verify disk', click that and it'll check the disk structure for problems, there's also a repair option
#935296 by marshy11
17 May 2017, 17:12
catsilversword wrote:Yes, the g drive is external and plugged in by USB. When we bought it, we were going to get a time machine, but the person in Apple thought this drive was more useful. It's worked perfectly until the recent software update! I've tried disconnecting and reconnecting it (as it's existence wasn't showing in the desktop) - it does now recognise it, but seems not to be doing as it should. Perhaps I just need to get a new one - but I'm perplexed that the only way forward at the moment it to back to the cloud - despite passwords etc, it still feels out of my hands to do that. Maybe I'll need to drop into an Apple Store to see if they've had anyone lose experiencing this....


When you say you disconnect/reconnect, have you tried ejecting rather than just unplugging - apologies if that is what you meant. You can eject the disk in Finder using the little eject symbol at the side of the drive.

I use Macs and have a network with Time Capsule and Seagate drive as a secondary back-up. They are all working fine after the update.
#935302 by sungod
17 May 2017, 19:50
if you unplug an external disk without first ejecting it you are likely to cause filesystem damage, sometimes this will be detected and the system will warn you, sometimes you'll only find out when something doesn't work or is corrupt

if that's the case, i'd be inclined to reformat the disk and do a fresh backup

if your data are important, get a second disk so that you can alternate backups between disks, you can never have too many backups!
#935322 by catsilversword
18 May 2017, 09:12
I do usually tell it to eject before taking out - but to be fair, I also sometimes forget (I generally remove the drive before we go away somewhere and store it) - perhaps this is one remove too many... I do think I'm going to have to replace it.

One thing though - assuming I get a replacement, will need to physically move all my docs from the cloud to the drive? I'm probably being extremely dim in asking that, but not sure if a hard drive will back up files stored in the cloud unless I do something to enable it?
#935338 by sungod
19 May 2017, 07:53
unless it's actual hardware failure, disk utility should be able to either repair the drive or reformat it and start from scratch

if the files are on your mac, and you backup the mac to external disk (i.e. using time machine) then your documents will be backed up to the disk
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