Same issue here on a new MacBook Air M1 with Big Sur. I wanted to mention this because everyone is talking about Monterey but the problem is also with Big Sur. I’m in talk with apple support but they have no clue.
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Resolved Time machine experiencing multiple issues on Monterey (my personal issue resolved)
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Since you're reporting Big Sur here, maybe it's more of a hardware problem over Software, or at least more hardware over software.
I had no Time Machine problems on my m1 Mini until I installed Monterey on an external SSD. I never put Monterey on the internal SSD, so it looks to me like a firmware update is the culprit.
I reached out to Apple again today. A Sr. Advisor called me back. I complained that it has been 30 days since they acknowledged that the Time Machine not finishing the first copy is a known issue, however there is no update. I also emphasized that a $5K + MBP without the ability to use time machine is seriously defective, and at some point if no solution is forthcoming I would rather return or exchange it. Much to my surprise the advisor suggested I take it to a genius at a store to be sent for hardware repair. I explained I doubted Apple has any hardware repair for this issue at this point, but if he could confirm that they do, I would be happy to send it. He clearly had no further information but offered to reach out to the original Sr. advisor to request an update. Bottom line - as of now, it appears there is no information they are sharing, though he recognized it is a serious issue. I really like the machine and hope carbon copy is doing it's job. I will wait another month or until there is inventory to swap the machine. While the return period has elapsed, at least in California there are consumer protection remedies that will likely result in Apple having to replace a machine with a known manufacturing defect. Frustrating with what is otherwise a phenomenal MBP. In the end, I do trust Apple will address the issue.
Seems more like a software issue to me. This is what I see
- The Time Machine Drive is connected to my Monterey Machine. Finder there shows no files at all. Even asking Finder to display hidden files I see nothing
- If I access that drive across the Network from my High Sierra machine the situation is completely different. On the High Sierra machine:
- All I can immediately see is a folder yyyy-mm-dd-hhmmss.inprogress where the date and time is that of the last time Time Machine ran
- This contains the latest version of the files in scope for Time Machine, on a random sample seems complete
- However, if I ask finder to show hidden files I then also see
- .Spotlight-V100
- A series of folders also named like yyyy-mm-dd-hhmmss.interupted
- Each of the immediately preceding yy etc is the data and time a backup ran
- These seem to be populated with the relevant data (Not a comprehensive test by any means but I removed one volume in succession from the Time Machine exclusions and the list of volumes inside these folders grows as expected)
- When a backup runs, the latest inprogress is renamed to an interrupted and a new inprogress started
Maxed out 2021 iMac 24 on Monterey 12.0.1 here. Dropbox and OneDrive installed as well.
I get:
Backup failed (104: BACKUP_DELAYED_UNFINISHED_PROTECTED_FILES)
Apple software quality is falling down year after year after year.
Can't remember a single core app that hasn't been broken or canceled over time. Preview, Mail, Aperture, Disk Util, OSX Server, reviews and updates on App Store. And now, Time Machine. It's embarrassing at this point.
I get:
Backup failed (104: BACKUP_DELAYED_UNFINISHED_PROTECTED_FILES)
Apple software quality is falling down year after year after year.
Can't remember a single core app that hasn't been broken or canceled over time. Preview, Mail, Aperture, Disk Util, OSX Server, reviews and updates on App Store. And now, Time Machine. It's embarrassing at this point.
For those having issues with failed backups, have you tried disabling system integrity protection? Wondering if that would help with the protected file errors people have reported.
I am waiting to see if it is fixed in the next update, I have it turned off at the moment (CCC is carrying the backups). It was backing up my photos (among other files) but I am about to mess with that photos drive changing to ssd and don't see the point in trying until it is fixed (and I am ssd).
I can quite happily drop it if there is no fix. But slightly in the dark regarding why it forces apfs, the issues for that etc. with rotational drives. A topic I need to understand more but some comments from well informed on MR have me concerned with a spinning HD as a long term option (encrypt the non TM HD and that is forced apfs as well). Not sure Apple think many people cannot stump up for the really big SSD for backups.
Still on a learning curve at the mo, catching up from 2013.
I can quite happily drop it if there is no fix. But slightly in the dark regarding why it forces apfs, the issues for that etc. with rotational drives. A topic I need to understand more but some comments from well informed on MR have me concerned with a spinning HD as a long term option (encrypt the non TM HD and that is forced apfs as well). Not sure Apple think many people cannot stump up for the really big SSD for backups.
Still on a learning curve at the mo, catching up from 2013.
I tried a new SSD as the Time Machine destination for my m1 Mini--and this time it completed the first backup!!
But that was two days ago and no other backups have been able to be completed.
This is in Big Sur. Will they eventually fix Big Sur as well as Monterey?
But that was two days ago and no other backups have been able to be completed.
This is in Big Sur. Will they eventually fix Big Sur as well as Monterey?
I spoke to soon, it completed 2 backups successfully and now it won’t complete any more.
Has anyone tried on the 12.1 beta?
Has anyone tried on the 12.1 beta?
I don't beta test, but I heard through my twitter feed that the macOS 12.1 4th beta is out. maybe try it and see if Apple has included a fix ? Sorry, just caught my typo and fixed it.
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I had the same issue for the last month and have been following this thread so I'll give some details on what I tried and what finally fixed it. The quick answer is that booting to safe mode and verifying that status allowed me to complete a back up. Subsequent back ups booting normally are also now completing as expected.
Have a Macbook 14" MX1 24 core with 32 gigs ram and a 1tb hard drive. Did a clean install and transferred my files over manually as my old Mac was over 5 years old and didn't want all that garbage.
I know this is kind of dumb add on to this thread with the Safe boot being my fix but thought it couldn't hurt.
Have a Macbook 14" MX1 24 core with 32 gigs ram and a 1tb hard drive. Did a clean install and transferred my files over manually as my old Mac was over 5 years old and didn't want all that garbage.
- Formatted my old ext USB drive (WD disc drive) using Time Machine which converts it to read only APFS
- Problem of not finishing and filling up the drive started.
- Contacted Apple who had to escalate a ticket as the first level had no clue.
- Attempted to format and try other drives including 2 Seagates and a Samsung SSD which all did the same thing.
- Came to this forum and tried most of fixes listed (deleting FindMy files), clearing cache, NVRAM, PRAM, SMC, etc. but problem still persisted.
- Decided to try Safe Mode boot again (which I thought I already did) and made sure it was listed as in Safe Boot under system report.
- My internal HD has about 300g of files on it and it completed in a few hours but an hour of that was it cleaning up which cleared out all of the stuff from previous attempts.
- Did a reboot to normal and did a few back ups and they worked fine.
- Decided to try on a second drive with a fresh format and it exhibited same behavior in normal boot (it wouldn't finish).
- Booted to Safe and it completed fine.
- Being as this drive only had a few hours of attempted back ups the first complete and clean up went much faster. Restarted to normal and tried a few more times on this drive and so far they are all completing under normal boot just fine.
I know this is kind of dumb add on to this thread with the Safe boot being my fix but thought it couldn't hurt.
I think what bothers me the most about Time Machine (since Big Sur) and switching to APFS, is that I can't go back and delete files from backups as I could previously in Catalina, and prior. I'm glad I have a reliable backup, but it seems like now in order to trim a backup the only option is to reformat and start a new one, unless someone knows how to prune and clean Time Machine Backups that now use APFS.
I false-fully thought that FindMy workaround solved my issue, but no, I'm in the same boat, backup still is in the .inProgress state. Files and folders are physically on the external drive, but TimeMachine-wise this is still unfinished.
Exactly what I'm thinking. It just cannot wrap it up.
391 posts about this. Constant chatter. I imagine many have tipped macrumors. Still no "headline" regarding the issue.
FYI: I migrated from one M1 Max to another using my (above mentioned and applied fixed) TM and it went without hitch. When setting up iCloud for the first time on the new M1 Max, I deliberately did not initiate FindMy, but I did initiate a "claim existing backup" using TM. It worked without issue, and once completed I turned on FindMy. All subsequent snapshots and TM incrementals have worked.
So for me, the FindMy fix mentioned earlier worked and continues to work across two identical M1 Max devices. Albeit the older of the two units is going back to store this evening for a refund.
I hope that helps someone...
So for me, the FindMy fix mentioned earlier worked and continues to work across two identical M1 Max devices. Albeit the older of the two units is going back to store this evening for a refund.
I hope that helps someone...
Many of us have sent an email to the Macrumors tip line. Falls on deaf ears for some unknown reason. This is a vert serious bug.
I haven't done so myself, but have you, or anyone else reached out to other Mac News sites such as Appleinsider, 9to5Mac, Macworld, etc. I'm sure someone has more influence in the Apple Community over Macrumors. Remember I reported back about a month ago now, about an article I came across that someone had written up about the issue on a third party site.
I'm thinking using Carbon Copy Cloner instead of Time Machine while Apple hopefully fix that. I see that it support snapshots just like time machine. Is there any major difference in the the way CCC makes backup in respect to Time Machine? I'm not interested in bootable backup, just data backup
SOLVED (for me, for now)
MacBook Air M1 8gb with Big Sur
And while I was totally pessimistic about TM working again, is has just now finished the first backup. What has worked for me apparently, has been deleting the Time Machine preferences file com.apple.TimeMachine.plist, as adviced by the Apple Support. It took several attempts to finish but at the end I got my backup finished. Snapshots are now showing up in the finder as volumes that can be browsed. Hope that this is not just temporary working, and that could work for someone else
MacBook Air M1 8gb with Big Sur
And while I was totally pessimistic about TM working again, is has just now finished the first backup. What has worked for me apparently, has been deleting the Time Machine preferences file com.apple.TimeMachine.plist, as adviced by the Apple Support. It took several attempts to finish but at the end I got my backup finished. Snapshots are now showing up in the finder as volumes that can be browsed. Hope that this is not just temporary working, and that could work for someone else
I haven't used CCC in any detail in quite a while. The main difference I would point out is, that it's not integrated into the OS like Time Machine, and you don't have the functionality to go back through the backup timeline that time machine gives you. CCC is mainly an external backup you'd have to go and manually restore from.
Hopefully I'm not gonna need it anymore (see the post above). TM seems start working again!
I read the latest post, it dropped while I was typing this one. With that said, I would still keep CCC around, I have both CCC, and SuperDuper!, and time machine. It's always good to have a few solutions to choose from. You never know when one may have issues, or one may do what you want at the time better than the others.
Thing with CCC, it still works, and is carrying part of the load at the mo (my online backup NOT iCloud is full version kept and the other HD is off site that will need updating soon). TM has me wondering how safe my backup is on it and should I continue. TM is on probation and until I see a next OS update and it still works, it is something I will not trust for a while (whatever supersedes Monterey that is).
Whatever happens now, if I decide to continue with TM, that hard drive is on the naughty step.
Whatever happens now, if I decide to continue with TM, that hard drive is on the naughty step.