MORE TIME MACHINE SORROW

In 2015 we bought a 3TB LaCie drive, which seemed to cope with acting as a back up.
Only snag seemed to be the MBP closing down prematurely.
So System Preferences - energy saver - was used to set "computer sleep" to NEVER, which seemed to work.
Worked OK till 2018-10-29, when I stopped using Time Machine, as it never seemed to be needed.

April 2019 we succumbed to security scare stories and installed the free version of AVAST FOR MAC.
That was not as good as hoped.
Seems to make the iMac MBP SLUGGISH and does not seem to have been designed to be compatible with OS X.
Glad we did not waste any cash on this software.
This week we decided to start using TIME MACHINE again.

Bad news - there is apparently no electricity reaching the La Cie. Tried various 240V supply points, leads, etc but no response when switching the 3TB power switch on. No BLUE LIGHT ON FRONT of LaCie disk drive.

Maybe we should not have left it asleep for months?

Looks like buying a new 3TB drive is on the cards.

External HDDs are limited life devices, four years as pretty par, and by the time you have faffed around you might as well have got a new drive anyway (not even sure where you would get the right power supply to test it).

Two things:

1. Absolutely right: do not waste money on "big commercial" AV software. If you have concerns install Malwarebytes and keep it up to date.

2. DO NOT STOP USING TIME MACHINE! It has save my hide on three occasions that I can remember and once let me recover a 9 month old file that everybody else in the team had deleted, thinking it would no longer be needed. DO NOT STOP USING TIME MACHINE. It's like cancelling your house insurance because your house hasn't burned down.

Apparently, failed power supplies in Lavie drives are not uncommon. Chances are that the drive itself is still fine and would work in some other external enclosure. At only £14, something like this might be worth a punt: https://www.novatech.co.uk/products/novatech-3-5-inc... . On the other hand, new drives are cheap as chips nowadays, so it might be wise to use this failure as an excuse to buy a new one.

I agree 100% with ian_c's comments regarding time machine. It uses hardly any resources and is good insurance. As with all backup software, you never need it until you need it - and then you really need it.

Thanks for the 2 helpful replies on both hardware and software.
Looks best for me to just get a new replacement 3TB La Cie , to minimise my screwdriver efforts.
THANKS.

EVEN MORE SORROW.
Started to check our 2013 purchased 15" MBP for compatibility with new LaCie hard drives.
Serial C02K63HMDV33.
The MBP Hardware data states:
Firewire BUS Max speed up to 800 Mb/sec.
USB BUS 2.0. speed up to 480 Mb/sec.
Thunderbolt BUS Speed up to 10 Gb/s. x 2.

I admit I don't really understand the terminology, but it does not look like the compatibility I was hoping for.
The old 3 TB LaCie was slower than I expected, using a cable connecting the FW800 sockets.
I may have to contact APPLE for their agreement on compatibility.

The 2013 15" doesn't have Firewire, according to this page: https://support.apple.com/kb/SP690?locale=en_GB

Was it new in 2013? Looks like you may have a 2012 model: https://support.apple.com/kb/SP694?locale=en_GB

You can get FW to USB adapters, which despite the speed loss would probably more more cost effective than a new Firewire drive (and you don't want a second hand external HDD).

Oh, hang on. You can still get the triple: https://www.amazon.co.uk/LaCie-Rugged-FireWire-Porta...

Used to have one of those for my old machine. Good drives lasted over 4 years.

If the drive is only used for time machine backups then, IMO, transfer speed isn't a big deal. The backups just happen in the background and it doesn't really matter how long they take. The only time that the speed is intrusive is if you have to do a total, or large, restore, but this is not an everyday occurrence.

I use a USB2 port on my Mac mini for the time machine drive and never notice the speed.

After a while not being able to access the MBP I stumbled on the following

DABS QUOTE for a solid state back up device.
I apologise if this breaks the rules on adverts.

Seagate 1TB Desktop SSHD 7200RPM SATA 6GB/s 64MB 3.5 8GB SSD Cache

Product ID: 8XSLAW00 Dabs Price: £59.71 Product Category: Hard Drives

Buy a Seagate Desktop SSHD today and receive a Dying Light Season Pass. Once you have bought your product, email [email protected] with your Name, Email Address and Sales Order Number and you will receive a follow up email within 48 hours with your code. **Performance. Capacity. Affordable Price.** The wait is over for a solid state hybrid drive in a 3.5-inch form factor. The Seagate� Desktop SSHD delivers SSD-like performance and massive capacities at an affordable price. Don't waste time and money on a dual drive solution to get the high performance and capacity you demand for: - Desktop PCs - Workstations - Direct-attached storage (DAS) devices The Seagate� Desktop SSHD is here with breakthrough technology that identifies and stores to flash only your most frequently used data. You can boot up and launch applications faster while still having the massive capacities you need for everything else. Choose performance and capacity with 8GB of MLC NAND flash and up to 2TB of HDD capacity. 3-year limited warranty. **Why choose the Desktop SSHD?** - Simple. An all-in-one storage solution - Performance. SSD-like performance to give you the boost you crave - Capacity. The capacity you need--up to 2TB - Price. An affordable price that makes sense **Features** - The first solid state hybrid drive (SSHD) in a 3.5-inch form factor - Boots up and performs like an SSD1 - SATA 6Gb/s with NCQ for interface speed - Faster than a traditional HDD1 - All-in-one design for simplicity and ease of installation - Installs and operates like a standard hard drive: cross-platform, no drivers or additional software required - Massive 1TB or 2TB capacities combined with SSD-like performance1 - Backed by a 3-year limited warranty **Solid State Drive Technology Inside Your SSHD** SSHD technology uses the right amount of ultra-fast NAND flash (the same type used in SSDs) to increase system performance. Seagate's Adaptive Memory � technology

Dabs: More information at Dabs Direct: Seagate 1TB Desktop SSHD 7200RPM SATA 6GB/s 64MB 3.5 8GB SSD Cache >>END QUOTE
This seems it might be more reliable and durable than the previous 3 TB LACIE HD.
Any experience with one of these?

Dabs was bought by BT.

Doesn't seem to be available now.