Resolved Time machine experiencing multiple issues on Monterey (my personal issue resolved)

[occamsrazor]

Moreover, Time Machine reports “Oldest backup: None” and “Latest backup: None”. Also, Finder does not show any files present on the SSD. However, Get Info reports gigabytes of disk usage.

I just found this thread as after years of TM working fine, I suddenly started having this exact problem.
This is with both a MBP 2019 Intel and a Mac Mini M1 running Big Sur 11.6.1. I am having the issue on both machines using both external SSDs (Samsung T5, APFS-formatted with encryption) and with a QNAP NAS. I have tried erasing the SSD completely, and the backups on QNAP, and starting afresh but the same thing happens.
All the backups appear to complete, then there is no date in either Oldest or Latest Backup fields. Running a backup again copies a bunch of more data, but the same lack of completion and no dates shown.

 

[ozarkcanoer]

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.

I have the issue on Big Sur 11.6.1 with a M1 iMac. I have two SSDs in a Thunderbay mini and I let Time Machine alternate the two drives for backups. I erased both drives and TM did a full update to the first drive but the second drive never finished its first backup and now seeing "Backup failed (104: BACKUP_DELAYED_UNFINISHED_PROTECTED_FILES)" on the second drive.

I have not called Apple yet.

 

[eriksatie]

I have the issue on Big Sur 11.6.1 with a M1 iMac. I have two SSDs in a Thunderbay mini and I let Time Machine alternate the two drives for backups. I erased both drives and TM did a full update to the first drive but the second drive never finished its first backup and now seeing "Backup failed (104: BACKUP_DELAYED_UNFINISHED_PROTECTED_FILES)" on the second drive.

I have not called Apple yet.

although probably they don't have a solution, the right thing is to call Apple Support to make them aware of this problem. They have to fix it.

 

[likegadgets]

Over 400 postings and 18 pages. I am surprised no publication has picked up on this serious issue. I keep emailing the Apple Sr. advisor assigned to my case. He keeps responding they are aware and there is no update.

 

[MacinMan]

OK, I've been playing around with my Time Machine backup. To give better clarity to my comment(s) a couple days ago: it looks like you can delete all, but one snapshot in the Finder when manually cleaning up backups. This morning I did a command+A on the drive in Finder, and it deleted all but one snapshot. This is probably so it doesn't have to start the backup again from scratch, and if you wanted ot do that, you would simply reformat the drive. I was looking at snapshots in the CCC dashboard, and it looks like it lets you manage them through that as well.

 

[jjtitan]

I had this problem on my Mac mini M1 BigSur
But I have seen on the console why the first backup stops:

erreur 12:47:36.466125+0100 backupd Failed to acquire device lock assertion for /Volumes/com.apple.TimeMachine.localsnapshots/Backups.backupdb/hati/2021-12-05-124732/Data/Users/jj/Library/Metadata error: Error Domain=NSPOSIXErrorDomain Code=22 "Invalid argument"
erreur 12:48:31.254062+0100 backupd Failed postflight for destination <APFSDestination /Volumes/TM1-MarcilleMassy-hati 1>
erreur 12:48:32.466872+0100 backupd Backup failed (104: BACKUP_DELAYED_UNFINISHED_PROTECTED_FILES)

It can't read /Data/Users/jj/Library/Metadata then I excluded this folder in the Preferences TM
Then I succeed the first backup (in Safe mode)
Now TM work like before
I am not sure that all people have exactly the same problem

 

[AndrewWx]

Wow - just came on looking for help and discovered I am not alone in this issue. My time machine drive (LaCie rugged 4TB conventional HD - USB-C) Has not been able to complete a back up since 1 Oct. I tried to get it to complete a back up over the past days but it struggled and after 22 hours and reaching about 80% it stopped with the error: "Time Machine did not finish backing up because some files were unavailable."

Thank goodness for Carbon Copy Cloner.

 

[vancoder]

It can't read /Data/Users/jj/Library/Metadata then I excluded this folder in the Preferences TM
Then I succeed the first backup (in Safe mode)

WORKED! Just completed my first backup in a month and I didn't use safe mode. Just excluded this.

 

[vancoder]

How the correctly wrapped backup log should look like:

2021-12-06 15:06:00  Finished copying from volume "Macintosh HD - Data"
2021-12-06 15:06:01  .•••+••+++••.
2021-12-06 15:06:01  Time Estimates Evaluation
2021-12-06 15:06:01  Unmounted '/Volumes/com.apple.TimeMachine.localsnapshots/Backups.backupdb/ Vancoder MacBook Pro M1/2021-12-06-134747/Macintosh HD - Data'
2021-12-06 15:06:01  Unmounted local snapshot: com.apple.TimeMachine.2021-12-06-134747.local at path: /Volumes/com.apple.TimeMachine.localsnapshots/Backups.backupdb/ Vancoder MacBook Pro M1/2021-12-06-134747/Macintosh HD - Data source: Macintosh HD - Data
2021-12-06 15:06:01  Marked as reference snapshot: com.apple.TimeMachine.2021-12-06-134747.local
2021-12-06 15:06:01  Backup result: {
2021-12-06 15:06:01  Creating APFS snapshot com.apple.TimeMachine.2021-12-06-150601.backup
2021-12-06 15:06:02  1 backups: 2021-12-06 23:06:01 +0000 (1hr) MΔ: 493.79 GB
2021-12-06 15:06:02  Completed backup: 2021-12-06-150601.backup
2021-12-06 15:06:02  Mountpoint '/Volumes/TM Backup 1' is still valid
2021-12-06 15:06:02  Found backup "2021-12-06-150601"
2021-12-06 15:06:02  Mountpoint '/Volumes/TM Backup 1' is still valid
2021-12-06 15:06:14  Starting session for '/Volumes/TM Backup 1' with options: 4
2021-12-06 15:06:14  Accepted a new connection from 'Finder' for service com.apple.backupd.session.xpc
2021-12-06 15:06:14  Session requested for Time Machine volume '/Volumes/TM Backup 1'
2021-12-06 15:06:14  Session prepared 0 backups (1 cached dates) for file:///Volumes/TM%20Backup%201/ (APFSMachineStore)
2021-12-06 15:06:14  Prepared 0 backups!
2021-12-06 15:06:14  Found backup "2021-12-06-150601"
2021-12-06 15:06:17  Accepted a new connection from 'Finder' for service com.apple.backupd.session.xpc
2021-12-06 15:06:17  Mounted backup "2021-12-06-150601"
2021-12-06 15:06:17  Mounted '/Volumes/.timemachine/121C0BC3-C708-4CA3-894D-68A4E42B21CD/2021-12-06-150601.backup/2021-12-06-150601.backup'

 

[MacinMan]

I wonder if simply deleting ~/Library/Metadata would help? It's a user folder, not system, and it looks like it's spotlight related based on what i saw in mine. Maybe something in that folder is getting corrupted, and a simple recreation of the folder and files would help. Only speculating here, since I haven't had problems with it personally.

 

[vancoder]

I wonder if simply deleting ~/Library/Metadata would help? It's a user folder, not system, and it looks like it's spotlight related based on what i saw in mine. Maybe something in that folder is getting corrupted, and a simple recreation of the folder and files would help. Only speculating here, since I haven't had problems with it personally.

Error Domain=NSPOSIXErrorDomain Code=22 "Invalid argument"

This error popping up for many folders (in my case for FindMy as well). After googling this error I found that it's usually discussed on developer forums where people develop serious software using C or Swift, e.g. https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/14959 I'm guessing this is just a bug in a MacOS possibly with relation to new Apple hardware as well. I also think that my backup may stop working in the future because this error will appear somewhere else. I want to believe that it's just an uncaught architectural bug that appear everywhere, rather than all these modules like TM, FindMy or Spotlight are broken.

 

[MacinMan]

Error Domain=NSPOSIXErrorDomain Code=22 "Invalid argument"

This error popping up for many folders (in my case for FindMy as well). After googling this error I found that it's usually discussed on developer forums where people develop serious software using C or Swift, e.g. https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/14959 I'm guessing this is just a bug in a MacOS possibly with relation to new Apple hardware as well. I also think that my backup may stop working in the future because this error will appear somewhere else. I want to believe that it's just an uncaught architectural bug that appear everywhere, rather than all these modules like TM, FindMy or Spotlight are broken.

I should have kept up better, I was making that suggestion based on thinking you were getting permissions errors since many of the reports of failed backups included various permission errors. Now that you mention it, the Arch problems sound more likely.

 

[vancoder]

I should have kept up better, I was making that suggestion based on thinking you were getting permissions errors since many of the reports of failed backups included various permission errors. Now that you mention it, the Arch problems sound more likely.

Yeah, "Failed to acquire device lock assertion" message was triggered by this Code=22 "Invalid argument" error from many places for me, and this is just a part I copied, there were much more:

com.apple.findmy.FindMyWidgetPeople/Data/Library error: Error Domain=NSPOSIXErrorDomain Code=22 "Invalid argument"
com.apple.findmy.FindMyWidgetPeople/Data/Documents error: Error Domain=NSPOSIXErrorDomain Code=22 "Invalid argument"
com.apple.findmy.FindMyWidgetPeople/Data/tmp error: Error Domain=NSPOSIXErrorDomain Code=22 "Invalid argument"
com.apple.findmy.FindMyWidgetIntentsPeople/Data/Library error: Error Domain=NSPOSIXErrorDomain Code=22 "Invalid argument"
com.apple.findmy.FindMyWidgetIntentsPeople/Data/Documents error: Error Domain=NSPOSIXErrorDomain Code=22 "Invalid argument"
com.apple.findmy.FindMyWidgetIntentsPeople/Data/tmp error: Error Domain=NSPOSIXErrorDomain Code=22 "Invalid argument"

 

[colinsky]

WORKED! Just completed my first backup in a month and I didn't use safe mode. Just excluded this. View attachment 1924123
View attachment 1924124

Excluding library/metadata has worked for me! Time Machine has now made three hourly backups for me.

 

[vancoder]

Time Machine has now made three hourly backups for me.

Same.

 

[deleon]

Excluding library/metadata has worked for me! Time Machine has now made three hourly backups for me.

Didn’t work for me. I must have something else locked or in the same state as the metadata library.

 

[deleon]

Since I’m joining this thread here is my situation:
Macbook 14 Pro
I initially set it up using a backup from my M1 Air.
The problem occurred from the beginning where I could not complete the first time machine backup.
Talking to support we did all the same stuff listed here.
I erased my drive and started with a blank slate. That worked.
For one month, I was getting hourly back ups.
Today, I get a warning that I hadn’t backed up to my Synology NAS in 10 days. I’m getting a message that something is locked on my Mac.
I wiped the backup and started fresh. Both the NAS and a USB SSD will once again not complete the first backup.
I tried the safe mode, excluding certain libraries. No luck.
Opened a ticket with apple, they took logs, etc from my computer. Then called me back to say engineering is aware of the problem and there are no work around at this time. This call happened today.

 

[jjtitan]

Didn’t work for me. I must have something else locked or in the same state as the metadata library.

I suggest to launch de console when the backup stop (with error)
Do a filter on the word backupd
find the folder with error toward the end

erreur 12:47:36.466125+0100 backupd Failed to acquire device lock assertion for /Volumes/com.apple.TimeMachine.localsnapshots/Backups.backupdb/hati/2021-12-05-124732/Data/Users/jj/Library/Metadata error: Error Domain=NSPOSIXErrorDomain Code=22 "Invalid argument"
erreur 12:48:31.254062+0100 backupd Failed postflight for destination <APFSDestination /Volumes/TM1-MarcilleMassy-hati 1>
erreur 12:48:32.466872+0100 backupd Backup failed (104: BACKUP_DELAYED_UNFINISHED_PROTECTED_FILES)

Here it is /Users/jj/Library/Metadata
Perhaps is an another folder to exclude

 

[eriksatie]

I had this problem on my Mac mini M1 BigSur
But I have seen on the console why the first backup stops:

erreur 12:47:36.466125+0100 backupd Failed to acquire device lock assertion for /Volumes/com.apple.TimeMachine.localsnapshots/Backups.backupdb/hati/2021-12-05-124732/Data/Users/jj/Library/Metadata error: Error Domain=NSPOSIXErrorDomain Code=22 "Invalid argument"
erreur 12:48:31.254062+0100 backupd Failed postflight for destination <APFSDestination /Volumes/TM1-MarcilleMassy-hati 1>
erreur 12:48:32.466872+0100 backupd Backup failed (104: BACKUP_DELAYED_UNFINISHED_PROTECTED_FILES)

It can't read /Data/Users/jj/Library/Metadata then I excluded this folder in the Preferences TM
Then I succeed the first backup (in Safe mode)
Now TM work like before
I am not sure that all people have exactly the same problem

Worked for me also! first backup completed, lets see if keeps going on.
but I'm not trusting TM anymore until a proper fix comes from Apple...

 

[Macintosh101]

What annoys me is that Macrumors is reporting an issue with the SD card reader on the new M1 MBPs on their front page here on the basis of a 9 page Macrumors forum thread. But here we are sitting on 18 pages and still Macrumors won’t report the TM issue…

Some SD Cards Not Working Properly With 2021 14 and 16-Inch MacBook Pros

The SD card reader slot on the new 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pro models is not functioning as expected with some SD cards, according to multiple reports...

www.macrumors.com

 

[eriksatie]

What annoys me is that Macrumors is reporting an issue with the SD card reader on the new M1 MBPs on their front page here on the basis of a 9 page Macrumors forum thread. But here we are sitting on 18 pages and still Macrumors won’t report the TM issue…

Some SD Cards Not Working Properly With 2021 14 and 16-Inch MacBook Pros

The SD card reader slot on the new 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pro models is not functioning as expected with some SD cards, according to multiple reports...

www.macrumors.com

just thought the same exact thing... as bad as it can be, an issue with the card reader is not as critical as an issue with TM. that makes me thing that many people simply don't do backup. and for that reason probably TM is not the priority number one for Apple

 

[MacinMan]

just thought the same exact thing... as bad as it can be, an issue with the card reader is not as critical as an issue with TM. that makes me thing that many people simply don't do backup. and for that reason probably TM is not the priority number one for Apple

That's always been the case for computer users in general. The majority don't backup, or backup right. That's why you hear a lot a stressing on having a good backup plan from professionals giving various computer help and advice: be it a YouTube video, or an article, or whatever else. The poor backup practices aren't just limited to Mac Users either.

With that said, I don't think it would be too hard for Apple to at least send out an update that disables Time machine completely (until it's fixed) and provide people with a third party solution. Such as a discounted license for CCC, or SuperDuper, or similar. Now, the people who really need those apps, and use them, I am sure will pay the full price. This would be for those in a tight spot, that need something (right now.)

The other thing I see more and more of here is, that there doesn't seem to be once "Clear Cut" solution. It seems like, one thing works for some, and not others, or if it works, it's temporary. It is nice to see though, that quite a few people here, that aren't able to resolve their issues with Time Machine, are at least able to use another reliable solution so they can move on with a reliable backup (for the time being.)

 

[eriksatie]

That's always been the case for computer users in general. The majority don't backup, or backup right. That's why you hear a lot a stressing on having a good backup plan from professionals giving various computer help and advice: be it a YouTube video, or an article, or whatever else. The poor backup practices aren't just limited to Mac Users either.

With that said, I don't think it would be too hard for Apple to at least send out an update that disables Time machine completely (until it's fixed) and provide people with a third party solution. Such as a discounted license for CCC, or SuperDuper, or similar. Now, the people who really need those apps, and use them, I am sure will pay the full price. This would be for those in a tight spot, that need something (right now.)

The other thing I see more and more of here is, that there doesn't seem to be once "Clear Cut" solution. It seems like, one thing works for some, and not others, or if it works, it's temporary. It is nice to see though, that quite a few people here, that aren't able to resolve their issues with Time Machine, are at least able to use another reliable solution so they can move on with a reliable backup (for the time being.)

yeah I'm doing right now a backup with blackblaze for this reason. would be nice if Apple would have some sort of plan for backup, maybe a totally cloud solution with iCloud. this would solve many problems for users that are not keeping their files on the main SSD but use iCloud for storing them. TM is not making backups for that files.

I personally keep the full Photo Library on the System SSD for this reason, to be able to make a real backup of the whole library. but is getting bigger and bigger and buy a bigger SSD just for that seems a waste of money. and the same is for general work documents

 

[thedocbwarren]

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.

I have drive on the naughty step as well. Somewhere in the last month a drive decided it would just backup forever and never cleanup or finish. It stopped even reporting it was not backing up. Every single attempt to fix corrupted it further. +1 on the CCC idea as I use it as well. If I relied on TM I'd have some real problems.

 

[Macintosh101]

Anyone know if 12.1 fixes Time Machine?

macOS Monterey 12.1 Fixes Major Tap to Click, YouTube HDR, and Charging Bugs