Using Time Machine With Seagate Backup Plus

To use Time Machine to make a backup of your Mac, you need one of these types of storage devices:

An external hard drive for Mac and Windows, Backup Plus Ultra Slim offers 2TB of space for photos, music, and more; Enjoy fast plug-and-play connectivity with the included USB 3.0 cable; Back up files with a single click or schedule automatic backups—it works with both Mac and Windows. Reformatting may be required for use with Time Machine. And usually, the Seagate Backup Plus drive is formatted with either exFAT, FAT32 or NTFS. That's to say, you can use Seagate Backup Plus drive for different aims. For example, you can use Seagate Backup Plus drive for Time Machine Backup, or you can simply use it to free up space for Mac internal hard drive. Seagate Backup Plus external hard drive is often used for Time Machine backup. But many users reported that they were unable to mount Seagate Backup Plus drive on Mac computers. And some say their Seagate Backup Plus couldn't work on Mac after plugged in. Here is a real example. Hi there, I recently purchased a 2TB Seagate Backup Plus Slim in order to backup my Mac (2013 Macbook Pro with Retina Display). When I first plugged it in to set it up with Time Machine, it prompted me to install Seagate Toolkit.

• External drive connected to an AirPort Extreme Base Station (802.11ac) or AirPort Time Capsule
  

External drive connected to your Mac

Time Machine can back up to an external drive connected to a USB, Thunderbolt or FireWire port on your Mac. If the disk isn't using the correct format, Time Machine will prompt you to erase it.

Network-attached storage (NAS) device that supports Time Machine over SMB

Many third-party NAS devices support Time Machine over SMB. For details, check the documentation of your NAS device.

Mac shared as a Time Machine backup destination

To use another Mac on your network as a Time Machine backup destination, complete these steps on the other Mac:

1. Choose Apple menu  > System Preferences, then click Sharing.
2. From the list of services on the left, select File Sharing.
3. From the Shared Folders list on the right, click the add button (+), then choose a folder to use for Time Machine backups.
4. Control-click the folder you've added, then choose Advanced Options from the shortcuts menu that appears.
   
5. From the Advanced Options dialogue, select 'Share as a Time Machine backup destination'.

When setting up Time Machine on your other Mac computers, you should now be able to select the shared folder as a backup disk.

External drive connected to an AirPort Extreme Base Station (802.11ac) or AirPort Time Capsule

Time Machine can back up to an external USB drive connected to an AirPort Extreme Base Station (802.11ac model) or AirPort Time Capsule.

Using Time Machine With Seagate Backup Plus Review

1. Connect the drive directly to your Mac, then use Disk Utility to erase it.
2. Connect the drive to a USB port on your AirPort base station, then turn it on.
3. Open AirPort Utility, then select your base station and click Edit to view its settings.
4. Click the Disks tab in the settings window.
5. Select your backup disk from the list of partitions, then select 'Enable file sharing':
   
6. If more than one user on your network will back up to this disk with Time Machine, you can use the Secure Shared Disks pop-up menu to make sure they can only view their own backups, not yours. Choose 'With accounts' from the menu, then click the add button (+) to add users.
7. Click Update to restart your base station and apply the settings.

AirPort Time Capsule

Time Machine can back up to the built-in hard disk of an AirPort Time Capsule on your network.

Learn more

• Time Machine can't back up to a disk formatted for Windows, or to an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch.

To use Time Machine to make a backup of your Mac, you need one of these types of storage devices:

• External drive connected to an AirPort Extreme Base Station (802.11ac) or AirPort Time Capsule
  

External drive connected to your Mac

Time Machine can back up to an external drive connected to a USB, Thunderbolt, or FireWire port on your Mac. If the disk isn't using the correct format, Time Machine will prompt you to erase it.

Network-attached storage (NAS) device that supports Time Machine over SMB

Many third-party NAS devices support Time Machine over SMB. For details, check the documentation for your NAS device.

Using Time Machine With Seagate Backup Plus Backup

Mac shared as a Time Machine backup destination

To use another Mac on your network as a Time Machine backup destination, complete these steps on the other Mac:

1. Choose Apple menu  > System Preferences, then click Sharing.
2. From the list of services on the left, select File Sharing.
3. From the Shared Folders list on the right, click the add button (+), then choose a folder to use for Time Machine backups.
4. Control-click the folder that you added, then choose Advanced Options from the shortcuts menu that appears.
   
5. From the Advanced Options dialog, select 'Share as a Time Machine backup destination.'

When setting up Time Machine on your other Mac computers, you should now be able to select the shared folder as a backup disk.

External drive connected to an AirPort Extreme Base Station (802.11ac) or AirPort Time Capsule

Time Machine can back up to an external USB drive connected to an AirPort Extreme Base Station (802.11ac model) or AirPort Time Capsule.

1. Connect the drive directly to your Mac, then use Disk Utility to erase it.
2. Connect the drive to a USB port on your AirPort base station, then turn it on.
3. Open AirPort Utility, then select your base station and click Edit to view its settings.
4. Click the Disks tab in the settings window.
5. Select your backup disk from the list of partitions, then select 'Enable file sharing':
   
6. If more than one user on your network will back up to this disk with Time Machine, you can use the Secure Shared Disks pop-up menu to make sure that they can view only their own backups, not yours. Choose 'With accounts' from the menu, then click the add button (+) to add users.
7. Click Update to restart your base station and apply the settings.

AirPort Time Capsule

Time Machine can back up to the built-in hard disk of an AirPort Time Capsule on your network.

Learn more

How To Use Seagate Backup Plus

• Time Machine can't back up to a disk formatted for Windows, or to an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.