I am stumped. Mac telling me to eject disk that doesn't exist.

[Wando64]

Mac mini M1 on MacOS 12.4

Sometimes when I come back to the Mac after sleep I find an error warning me to eject disk "Backups of 'MyComputerName', before disconnecting".
The problem is that I don't have a disk called "Backups", or "Backups of 'MyComputerName'".

I have two external SSD physically connected, with completely different names.
I also have a number of remote disks mounted, including a Time Machine disk.

Any idea of how I can find out which disk is causing the problem?

 

[jcscol]

It sounds like the name of a disk image used for your Time Machine backups on the networked volume.

If you go to the Time Machine disk you will probably find it there.

 

[Wando64]

I have been checking the log file called fsck_apfs.log and approximately every hour I find three identical entries as follows:

/dev/rdisk5s1: fsck_apfs started at Mon Jul 11 15:46:02 2022
/dev/rdisk5s1: ** Checking the container superblock.
/dev/rdisk5s1: Checking the checkpoint with transaction ID 18492.
/dev/rdisk5s1: ** Checking the object map.
/dev/rdisk5s1: ** Checking volume /dev/rdisk5s1.
/dev/rdisk5s1: ** Checking the APFS volume superblock.
/dev/rdisk5s1: The volume Backups of Stefano’s M1 Mac mini was formatted by newfs_apfs (1934.121.2) and last modified by apfs_kext (1934.121.2).
/dev/rdisk5s1: ** QUICKCHECK ONLY; FILESYSTEM CLEAN
/dev/rdisk5s1: fsck_apfs completed at Mon Jul 11 15:46:02 2022

As you can see, it refers to a volume called 'Backups', but this must be a system thing as I don't have any volume with such a name.
I can only imagine it has something to do with Time Machine.
If so, why does it work fine during wake, but (sometimes) during sleep it complains of a bad disconnection of a volume I have not created?

EDIT: I have now verified that these entries happen every time TM runs a backup.
So the question is, why would there be this perceived disconnection?
The physical disk does not get disconnected form the server Mac, so this is NOT a physical disconnection, but rather probably caused by a network issue. Maybe caused by the other Mac sleeping? (However, I never had this problem prior to the M1 Mac)

 

[Wando64]

An easy solution would be to simply stop TM from working during sleep ( I never understood why it backs up when nothing could have possibly changed)
Could this be done with an automation?

 

[Wando64]

Even though I am not getting many replies, I have decided to keep this thread updated with my troubleshooting of this problem, in the hope that someone can offer any useful suggestion and also in case it might help someone else with the same problem.

To summarise, the M1Mini (Monterey) is doing Time Machine (TM) backups onto a HD physically connected to my IntelMini server (Catalina) and accessed remotely.

Today after waking the M1Mini I found the same Error (Backups disk disconnected without ejecting).
I have decided to take these steps on the IntelMini:
- Unshared the TM Disk,
- Reset IntelMini SMC,
- Run First Aid on a)TM HD, b)TM HD Container, c)TM HD Volume. No Errors.
- Re-shared the TM HD
Then I run a TM backup from the M1Mini without any errors.

I will post an update tomorrow.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

OP, Monterey has trouble with various external HDDs including Time Machine. I've experienced it myself with Apples own Airport Time Capsule (in years of use, I've never had to basically wipe the drive and start a new backup so many times in so short of a period). And I can't keep a previously-perfectly-reliable HDD RAID box attached for more than 3 hours (it "unexpectedly ejects" like I've pulled the cord... but is perfectly stable with the same cable hooked to Intel Macs running macOS BEFORE Monterey).

On this site, go up to the magnifying glass (search) in the upper right and type Monterey Time Machine. You will quickly find MANY threads about Time Machine and Monterey not working well for some. Off the site, a general search will lead you to MANY threads even on Apple's own support site about external drives vs. Monterey. There's simply too many issues about this to believe it is user error, user cables, etc.

Basically, external drives are hit or miss- some will work as expected and others will "unexpectedly eject." This seems to be more of a problem with HDD vs. SSD drives but the latter is not 100% immune. RAID setups are particularly challenging though again, some apparently work fine and others don't. There DOES seem to be some relationship with "sleep" (that Silicon Macs seem to lose connection more readily while asleep) though sleep is definitely NOT the sole catalyst as I've had "unexpected ejections" WHILE actively transferring files to/from disks obviously not asleep at the time.

There's no easy way to tell which work well and which don't: you simply try new hardware until you find something that seems stable. More simply: the U in USB does not currently apply to macOS Monterey (and maybe Big Sur before it too based on many such posts around the web).

Fans will try to blame cables, hardware, etc but it's hard to rationalize the redirection game when the very same stuff hooked back up to Macs running earlier versions of macOS have no issues. If it works with Intel Macs (and even PowerPC Macs before them) it should work with Silicon Macs. U in USB is not supposed to be so finicky.

My guess is you won't find a solution because what is very likely some bugs are bugs only Apple can fix in some macOS update (someday). I'm mostly confident most of this kind of issue is either macOS or (hopefully not) Silicon itself.

In the meantime, you might want to turn off automatic TM backups and enter some reminders to alert you to do a manual backup at least once each day while you are actively using your Mac. That should get around the potential sleep catalyst... though may not completely resolve your issue. You might also try rebooting your Mac more frequently than perhaps you've done in the past. I've basically given up on Apple's own Time Capsule for TM backups (for now) and am trying a Time Machine software option on a Synology NAS. So far (a few days) so good... but I'm not exactly gushing confidence (because I still suspect the root of these types of issues is Monterey itself).

 

[jcscol]

In the Terminal on the M1 Mini, if you type:

pmset -g

what value does it have for ttyskeepawake ?

 

[Brian33]

I agree with @HobeSoundDarryl , except I don't think the problem is limited to USB-connected devices.

There appears to be some bug in Monterey that results in the disconnections. Once every couple weeks, I get one message for each of my four thunderbolt2-connected drives. I'm lucky it doesn't happen frequently. I've done a fair bit of reading and troubleshooting and I now believe it's an issue in Monterey's handling of external volumes that is hitting a lot of users. It makes me sad because my setup was rock-solid stable under Mojave -- I never had a single disconnection event in several years.

In the Terminal on the M1 Mini, if you type:

pmset -g

what value does it have for ttyskeepawake ?

I get ttyskeepawake 1 on my Late 2015 iMac 27".

What's the significance of this setting, I wonder?

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Actually, I agree with the "disconnections" observation. I notice that the ethernet port seems to "reboot" several times each day. At first I was assuming my broadband was down but immediately trying older Macs attached to the same has no such delay... as does quickly switching the new Studio Ultra to wifi instead of wired.

A simple web page load might be delayed up to a minute or two+ (no it's not a single site issue as quickly trying to load a number of sites will demonstrate the same, seemingly offline/waiting effect). I've noticed issues with LAN access too, implying the same disconnect-pause-reconnect cycle. Wired, it shows itself. Wifi, it does not.

I think at least one bug is in perhaps some part of the system that manages ALL externally-connected devices: thunderbolt, USB-C, USB-A and ethernet (for me). This "part" seems to either pause or sleep... or perhaps outright crash+restart. On a loaded Studio Ultra that I use all day long, I notice this several times each day.

 

[Wando64]

In the Terminal on the M1 Mini, if you type:

pmset -g

what value does it have for ttyskeepawake ?

System-wide power settings:
Currently in use:
disksleep 0
powernap 1
womp 1
networkoversleep 0
sleep 1 (sleep prevented by sharingd, powerd, bluetoothd)
Sleep On Power Button 1
ttyskeepawake 1
tcpkeepalive 1
autorestart 0
standby 0
displaysleep 10

 

[Wando64]

For clarity:

The disk is accessed remotely (not USB),
The disk itself is called "TM MM1" and it does not disconnect.

What is disconnecting is a disk called "Backups", which does not correspond to any of my disks on either of the two Minis.
Presumably created within the Sparsebundle?

However, in the fsck_apfs.log, approximately every hour there is an entry as such:
/dev/rdisk5s1: The volume Backups of Stefano’s M1 Mac mini was formatted by newfs_apfs (1934.121.2) and last modified by apfs_kext (1934.121.2).

This entry in the log also appears every time I run a TM backup manually, so there is no doubt that this invisible "Backups" volume is created by Time Machine.

EDIT: Yes I can see that the volume is mounted on the M1Mini as an image, so what is disconnecting is the remote image. I think this is very likely a network problem more than anything else.
If I manually eject the image, it gets reconnected the next time a TM backups run, as expected.

 

[Wando64]

If you are running TM to a remote disk, could you please check if you can see an entry similar to this in your fsck_apfs.log:

dev/rdisk5s1: The volume Backups of Stefano’s M1 Mac mini was formatted by newfs_apfs (1934.121.2) and last modified by apfs_kext (1934.121.2).

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/initial-time-machine-backup-failures-increasingly-being-reported-by-mac-users.2326672/page-6?post=30853421#post-30853421

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/time-machine-stopped-working.2342151/

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/time-machine-experiencing-multiple-issues-on-monterey-my-personal-issue-resolved.2319832/page-25?post=30764239#post-30764239

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/smb-broken-with-monterey.2324371/?post=30785194#post-30785194

Monterey Time Machine not working - Apple Community

discussions.apple.com

Using Time Machine on Monterey - Apple Community

discussions.apple.com

And on and on. There are seemingly countless links to threads in which people are sharing issues with Time Machine vs. Monterey. I've run down this same path before myself. You search & hunt & get suggestions, try them, sometimes think you figured it out and than WHAM, it fails again.

Just pop open a browser window and type Time Machine Monterey in search. Then click thread after thread after thread. I only copied in ones that would prob be OK to post above. There are far more than those, often loaded with pages of posts by users trying this, trying that, switching out this thing, doing terminal tweaks, etc. Some will proclaim a solution only to come back soon with "No, that didn't fix it."

I wish you much luck in solving this issue but I strongly suspect you need Apple to do something(s) here... like fixing bugs between Monterey (apparently Big Sur too and probably Ventura) and external drives (including NAS drives). But again, if you want to keep trying anyway, I wish you much luck.

I'm on day 4 with a switch to Synology-based Time Machine backups (having given up on Apple's own Time Capsule) and it hasn't failed me yet. I suspect it probably will soon but at least there's a little hope that this time will be different. 🤪

 

[Wando64]

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/initial-time-machine-backup-failures-increasingly-being-reported-by-mac-users.2326672/page-6?post=30853421#post-30853421

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/time-machine-stopped-working.2342151/

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/time-machine-experiencing-multiple-issues-on-monterey-my-personal-issue-resolved.2319832/page-25?post=30764239#post-30764239

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/smb-broken-with-monterey.2324371/?post=30785194#post-30785194

Monterey Time Machine not working - Apple Community

discussions.apple.com

Using Time Machine on Monterey - Apple Community

discussions.apple.com

And on and on. There are seemingly countless links to threads in which people are sharing issues with Time Machine vs. Monterey. I've run down this same path before myself. You search & hunt & get suggestions, try them, sometimes think you figured it out and than WHAM, it fails again.

Just pop open a browser window and type Time Machine Monterey in search. Then click thread after thread after thread. I only copied in ones that would prob be OK to post above. There are far more than those, often loaded with pages of posts by users trying this, trying that, switching out this thing, doing terminal tweaks, etc. Some will proclaim a solution only to come back soon with "No, that didn't fix it."

I wish you much luck in solving this issue but I strongly suspect you need Apple to do something(s) here... like fixing bugs between Monterey (apparently Big Sur too and probably Ventura) and external drives (including NAS drives). But again, if you want to keep trying anyway, I wish you much luck.

I'm on day 4 with a switch to Synology-based Time Machine backups (having given up on Apple's own Time Capsule) and it hasn't failed me yet. I suspect it probably will soon but at least there's a little hope that this time will be different. 🤪

Thanks. I appreciate the help, but my TM is not failing.
I am familiar with the threads you have linked, but in my case every backup fully completes and the data is fully accessible. In short, it would appear that I have a different problem.

 

[davidlv]

System-wide power settings:
Currently in use:
disksleep 0
powernap 1
womp 1
networkoversleep 0
sleep 1 (sleep prevented by sharingd, powerd, bluetoothd)
Sleep On Power Button 1
ttyskeepawake 1
tcpkeepalive 1
autorestart 0
standby 0
displaysleep 10

Here are the sleep commands I use, and an explanation of the tcpkeepalive command.
which I think you should turn off:
sudo pmset -b tcpkeepalive 0
Originally, I found these at the following URL: (in Japanese)

macOSの寝相について考えたこと -- `pmset` - ばかもりだし

電源まわりの設定， 前々から何となく気になっていて，なら何故すぐやらない，先日も触れましたが，マシンの新調きっかけで，この辺を整理しておこう，と思ったわけです． 勿論"あくまで自分レベル"で浅く😛 つか，スリープ，よくわかんない． 後で触れようかとは思っているのですが，いまいちスッと入ってこないんですよね． 思うに，"何処が分からないのか，が，分かっていない"． そんな状態で，見切り発進です． % sw_vers ProductName: Mac OS X ProductVersion: 10.14.3 BuildVersion: 18D42

baqamore.hatenablog.com

pmset -g Shows what you have set now.
sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 0 standby 0 autopoweroff 0
sudo rm /var/vm/sleepimage
--Ignore any message saying there is no such file
sudo touch /var/vm/sleepimage
sudo chflags uchg /var/vm/sleepimage
sudo pmset -a proximitywake 0
sudo pmset -b tcpkeepalive 0
--This command may produce a warning saying some features may not work properly. This is fine, it simply disables Internet access during sleep. This is the same as disabling "PowerNap" Apple's badly implemented (demented?) attempt to have apps update themselves during sleep behind the users back.

sudo pmset -a standbydelaylow 86400
sudo pmset -a standbydelayhigh 86400

 

[Wando64]

Here are the sleep commands I use, and an explanation of the tcpkeepalive command.
which I think you should turn off:
sudo pmset -b tcpkeepalive 0
Originally, I found these at the following URL: (in Japanese)

macOSの寝相について考えたこと -- `pmset` - ばかもりだし

電源まわりの設定， 前々から何となく気になっていて，なら何故すぐやらない，先日も触れましたが，マシンの新調きっかけで，この辺を整理しておこう，と思ったわけです． 勿論"あくまで自分レベル"で浅く😛 つか，スリープ，よくわかんない． 後で触れようかとは思っているのですが，いまいちスッと入ってこないんですよね． 思うに，"何処が分からないのか，が，分かっていない"． そんな状態で，見切り発進です． % sw_vers ProductName: Mac OS X ProductVersion: 10.14.3 BuildVersion: 18D42

baqamore.hatenablog.com

pmset -g Shows what you have set now.
sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 0 standby 0 autopoweroff 0
sudo rm /var/vm/sleepimage
--Ignore any message saying there is no such file
sudo touch /var/vm/sleepimage
sudo chflags uchg /var/vm/sleepimage
sudo pmset -a proximitywake 0
sudo pmset -b tcpkeepalive 0
--This command may produce a warning saying some features may not work properly. This is fine, it simply disables Internet access during sleep. This is the same as disabling "PowerNap" Apple's badly implemented (demented?) attempt to have apps update themselves during sleep behind the users back.

sudo pmset -a standbydelaylow 86400
sudo pmset -a standbydelayhigh 86400

Thanks, I had no disconnection this morning after yesterday‘s reset but it is to early to sing victory, so this might come useful.

 

[davidlv]

Thanks, I had no disconnection this morning after yesterday‘s reset but it is to early to sing victory, so this might come useful.

Those sleep commands were not intended solely as a solution to your network/Time Machine issue. I think they are a good start in taking control of the sleep function. When I first looked them up, I was using an old 2011 MBP, so the commands are basically for a MacBook, but they still work fine even on my present (old) iMac 15,2 (late 2014).
I have separated the original 128GB SSD and 1 TB Seagate that composed the Fusion drive that the machine came with, and to save space, I still delete the sleepimage (which is the same size as the amount of RAM installed, 24GB in this case.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Thanks. I appreciate the help, but my TM is not failing.
I am familiar with the threads you have linked, but in my case every backup fully completes and the data is fully accessible. In short, it would appear that I have a different problem.

The mysterious "backups of computer name" in your original post is very likely Time Machine (disk). The warning to "eject discs before disconnecting" means that it "unexpectedly ejected" and- in your case- perhaps has automatically reconnected, as some report with the unexpected ejection problem. The warning notification persists when you look at the screen but the ejection did not "stick" so that all seems normally connected.

Most unexpected ejections do not occur while files are being written/read (though some can), so it is easy to imagine your TM backups complete normally and this still occurs.

I shared the example of my "unexpected ejection" issue not to imply it is the same as yours but to illustrate the finicky nature of external storage vs. Monterey. Based on your original post, you appear to have that same kind of problem.

If you want to verify my assumptions in this thread, manually eject Time Machine disc and don't use it for a number of days. Odds are high that you won't see that warning anymore (because there is not "backups" disc to "unexpectedly eject" to give you the warning notification. For example, with my reliable RAID box (on Intel Macs) basically "retired" (from Silicon Mac) for a while, it no longer "unexpectedly ejects" giving me that kind of warning notification.

If my guess is wrong- and it certainly could be- systematically do the same with each of the various disks you have attached and that will help you discover the problematic one.

I still don't think this issue resolves without Apple's OS programming team crushing 1+ bugs in Monterey/Ventura (or whatever comes after that). But I'll hope you find a solution that works for you anyway.

 

[Wando64]

The mysterious "backups of computer name" in your original post is very likely Time Machine (disk). The warning to "eject discs before disconnecting" means that it "unexpectedly ejected" and- in your case- perhaps has automatically reconnected, as some report with the unexpected ejection problem. The warning notification persists when you look at the screen but the ejection did not "stick" so that all seems normally connected.

Most unexpected ejections do not occur while files are being written/read (though some can), so it is easy to imagine your TM backups complete normally and this still occurs.

I shared the example of my "unexpected ejection" issue not to imply it is the same as yours but to illustrate the finicky nature of external storage vs. Monterey. Based on your original post, you appear to have that same kind of problem.

If you want to verify my assumptions in this thread, manually eject Time Machine disc and don't use it for a number of days. Odds are high that you won't see that warning anymore (because there is not "backups" disc to "unexpectedly eject" to give you the warning notification. For example, with my reliable RAID box (on Intel Macs) basically "retired" (from Silicon Mac) for a while, it no longer "unexpectedly ejects" giving me that kind of warning notification.

If my guess is wrong- and it certainly could be- systematically do the same with each of the various disks you have attached and that will help you discover the problematic one.

I still don't think this issue resolves without Apple's OS programming team crushing 1+ bugs in Monterey/Ventura (or whatever comes after that). But I'll hope you find a solution that works for you anyway.

Hi, once again thanks for trying to help.

As you can see from my latest postings above, I have now established beyond any doubt that what is "disconnected" is a volume ("Backups") contained within the Sparsebundle disk image created by TM on the remotely connected TM disk.
This volume is mounted asn an image on the M1Mini. The disconnection happens with the M1Mini, but the actual physical disk is, and remain, normally connected to the Server IntelMini.

I dare to assume (and it is an assumption) that IF the disconnection where to happen DURING a TM backup, TM would complain about it and I would get a message to tell me that the backup has failed. I get no such message.

It seems fairly clear to me that the disconnection happen when either when the IntelMini OR the M1Mini OR both enter sleep. Again, another assumption based on the fact that the disconnection only happens overnight.

In any case this has worked fine for weeks without any error until last week, so something happened that created the issue.
After the resets I have done yesterday the error has not occurred again. (early days, I know)

This might well be caused by Monterey bugs and issues, as you suggest, but it could also be a
network problem that could be resolved with a reset.

 

[Wando64]

Three days without disconnections.
I think the reset did the trick.

Fingers crossed.

 

[Wando64]

Sadly after about a week the problem started reoccurring.
Back to the drawing board.

One thing I have noticed is that the "Backups" remote disk image is mounted when a TM backup is initiated, but it is not unmounted after the backup thus leaving it vulnerable to any network issues that might cause a disconnection.
The only way to tell if the image is mounted is to look at Disk Utility as it is not otherwise visible from the Finder.

Ideally I would like to create a script to unmount this image immediately after each TM backup.

Also, does anyone have any idea as to how I could tell when the disconnection happened? The System log doesn't seem to contain this info (though it probably should). Maybe I am just not looking in the right place.

 

[BanditoB]

Just a quick thought. Is your Mac mini connected to the network via Ethernet? If so, check the Ethernet settings and disable power saving. It seems like this setting causes a number of network problems and I'm pretty sure that it is enabled by default.

 

[Wando64]

Just a quick thought. Is your Mac mini connected to the network via Ethernet? If so, check the Ethernet settings and disable power saving. It seems like this setting causes a number of network problems and I'm pretty sure that it is enabled by default.

I will check this, however the IntelMini (server) is homing a number of external TM disks for as many macs, but only the one for the M1Mini is causing problems.
One thing is different about this drive though, it is the only one APFS formatted.

 

[davidlv]

Just a quick thought. Is your Mac mini connected to the network via Ethernet? If so, check the Ethernet settings and disable power saving. It seems like this setting causes a number of network problems and I'm pretty sure that it is enabled by default.

Where do you see "power saving" in the ethernet system preferences Network pane?
I can't see any such setting on my iMac running Monterey or on the MBP running Big Sur.

 

[BanditoB]

You need to go to Network in System Preferences, select the Ethernet adapter in the left column and then click on the Advanced button. From there, go to the Hardware tab and change it from Automatically to Manually. Then for the Speed you must select 1 GB (1000baseT) or higher. Then, under the Duplex setting there will be options with and without energy-efficient-ethernet. Pick the one you want without energy-efficient-ethernet and you have disabled it. You would normally want to select Full-Duplex if you're using TCP/IP. Ethernet Flow Control is not needed for TCP/IP as it manages this within the protocol itself, so hardware flow control isn't necessary and can slow things down unnecessarily.