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

[KevinGrabher]

tl;dr
If you've had multiple failed tries to run a TimeMachine Backup there might be 100 folders named (Backup of MacBook XY 1 ... 99) in /Volumes/ which you'll have to delete.

Story:
I ran into the issue when trying to back up an M1 MacBook to an old Mac Mini Server running Sierra. When the MacBook was updated to Monterey the Backups no longer worked (throwing error in console: "Failed o mount 'disk5s1', dissenter { DAStatus = 49180; } status: (null)").
I updated the Mac Mini to Catalina, deleted the old sparse bundle (not sure if that step was necessary) but the backup still would not complete (the sparse bundle would be created, but then while "preparing backup" it failed to mount the image). Deleting all the folders named "Backup of ..." in /Volumes/ (had to "sudo rm -rf" them) solved the issue.

 

[chtobi]

Hi all,

I really have to thank Kevin for the final hint. I was close to give up.

Deleting all the folders named "Backup of ..." in /Volumes/ (had to "sudo rm -rf" them) solved the issue.

My Story:
- I have a two Synology NAS, a MacBook Pro and an iMac (both Intel from 2020).
- I have used Synology NAS since couple of years as time machine backup location without any issues
- Early this year it just stopped working, ONLY on my iMac
- Based on the fact that everything was working fine with my MacBook Pro, I knew it is not the NAS
- The error I got was always Error 19 and in the log was the pattern "Failed to mount 'disk3s1', dissenter"
- I did a lot of research with cleaning up passwords in keychain etc., nothing helped, using a USB drive was possible without issues

I was very close to just do a fresh OS install on my iMac to exclude any cash, faulty profiles etc. (I don't have the time to figure out what the problem is I just want it to work again).

Just before starting the reinstall adventure I discovered this post from Kevin and gave it a try. I had plenty (over 50) of directories with the pattern of "Backups of xxx iMac".

Here is exactly what I did:

- Stopped Time Machine, disabled "Back Up Automatically", removed the backup location in Time Machine using "Remove Disk"
- Removing all "Backups of xxx iMac" folders by using terminal: sudo rm -rf /Volumes/Backups\ of*
- Reboot
- Adding the Time Machine Disk by using terminal: sudo tmutil setdestination -ap "afp://myuser@mynas/backup_folder" (you could also use the UI I guess but this is simpler for me)
- Start backup and it started!

Just wanted to share this in case it helps anybody else. In case I would encounter new problems I will post again.

 

[MacinMan]

Hi all,

I really have to thank Kevin for the final hint. I was close to give up.


My Story:
- I have a two Synology NAS, a MacBook Pro and an iMac (both Intel from 2020).
- I have used Synology NAS since couple of years as time machine backup location without any issues
- Early this year it just stopped working, ONLY on my iMac
- Based on the fact that everything was working fine with my MacBook Pro, I knew it is not the NAS
- The error I got was always Error 19 and in the log was the pattern "Failed to mount 'disk3s1', dissenter"
- I did a lot of research with cleaning up passwords in keychain etc., nothing helped, using a USB drive was possible without issues

I was very close to just do a fresh OS install on my iMac to exclude any cash, faulty profiles etc. (I don't have the time to figure out what the problem is I just want it to work again).

Just before starting the reinstall adventure I discovered this post from Kevin and gave it a try. I had plenty (over 50) of directories with the pattern of "Backups of xxx iMac".

Here is exactly what I did:

- Stopped Time Machine, disabled "Back Up Automatically", removed the backup location in Time Machine using "Remove Disk"
- Removing all "Backups of xxx iMac" folders by using terminal: sudo rm -rf /Volumes/Backups\ of*
- Reboot
- Adding the Time Machine Disk by using terminal: sudo tmutil setdestination -ap "afp://myuser@mynas/backup_folder" (you could also use the UI I guess but this is simpler for me)
- Start backup and it started!

Just wanted to share this in case it helps anybody else. In case I would encounter new problems I will post again.

I wanted to make a note here: I believe the path "/Volumes/Backus\ of" only applies to network TM backups. I checked and since I do local backups to a USB connected drive, the only path in /Volumes is the local time machine drive when it comes to Time Machine.

 

[TriciaMacMillan]

The problem with Time Machine not finalizing the backup because of an inaccessible file just re-appeared on my Mac. It seems it's a file that was created or left over when I quit the Amazon Prime Video app in the midst of a movie.

[com.apple.TimeMachine:EventCollection] Adding event for inaccessible protected file Users/metin/Library/Containers/com.amazon.aiv.AIVApp/Data/Library/Saved Application State/com.amazon.aiv.AIVApp~iosmac.savedState

I had to exclude ~/Library/Containers/com.amazon.aiv.AIVApp for Time Machine to work again.

Bummer! I had hoped that Apple had solved this once and forever!

 

[MacinMan]

The problem with Time Machine not finalizing the backup because of an inaccessible file just re-appeared on my Mac. It seems it's a file that was created or left over when I quit the Amazon Prime Video app in the midst of a movie.

[com.apple.TimeMachine:EventCollection] Adding event for inaccessible protected file Users/metin/Library/Containers/com.amazon.aiv.AIVApp/Data/Library/Saved Application State/com.amazon.aiv.AIVApp~iosmac.savedState

I had to exclude ~/Library/Containers/com.amazon.aiv.AIVApp for Time Machine to work again.

Bummer! I had hoped that Apple had solved this once and forever!

You probably could have uninstalled prime and it's settings and reinstalled and been fine, if it was simple related to that particular event.

 

[TriciaMacMillan]

You probably could have uninstalled prime and it's settings and reinstalled and been fine, if it was simple related to that particular event.

You're probably right, and I assume I might even just have resumed the video, but I felt safer to add the exclusion. I might abort watching a video at any time again, and I don't want to have to consider Time Machine side effects when doing so.

 

[MacinMan]

You're probably right, and I assume I might even just have resumed the video, but I felt safer to add the exclusion. I might abort watching a video at any time again, and I don't want to have to consider Time Machine side effects when doing so.

That's strange that it happened to you though. I have the Prime app as well, and when I've used it and stopped a video, that's never happened. Might be an Apple Silicon issue specifically. (if that's what it happened on) I'm on an intel based mac. I had my time machine drive die, and I had to start over with a new drive, but it's not given me any issues since.

 

[TriciaMacMillan]

That's strange that it happened to you though. I have the Prime app as well, and when I've used it and stopped a video, that's never happened. Might be an Apple Silicon issue specifically. (if that's what it happened on) I'm on an intel based mac. I had my time machine drive die, and I had to start over with a new drive, but it's not given me any issues since.

Yes, there have been indications that only some M1 Macs have these problems. I take care of 3 M1 Macs, but only one (mine) has ever had such issues.

I have no idea though, how the CPU architecture would cause access rights problems.

If check the right, they looks good:

% ls -al "~/Library/Containers/com.amazon.aiv.AIVApp/Data/Library/Saved Application State"
drwxr-xr-x@ 5 user staff 160 12 May 08:08 com.amazon.aiv.AIVApp~iosmac.savedState

That's read access for each and everyone. And its extended attributes look like this:

% xattr "~/Library/Containers/com.amazon.aiv.AIVApp/Data/Library/Saved Application State/com.amazon.aiv.AIVApp~iosmac.savedState"
com.apple.quarantine

 

[MacinMan]

Yes, there have been indications that only some M1 Macs have these problems. I take care of 3 M1 Macs, but only one (mine) has ever had such issues.

I have no idea though, how the CPU architecture would cause access rights problems.

If check the right, they looks good:

% ls -al "~/Library/Containers/com.amazon.aiv.AIVApp/Data/Library/Saved Application State"
drwxr-xr-x@ 5 user staff 160 12 May 08:08 com.amazon.aiv.AIVApp~iosmac.savedState

That's read access for each and everyone. And its extended attributes look like this:

% xattr "~/Library/Containers/com.amazon.aiv.AIVApp/Data/Library/Saved Application State/com.amazon.aiv.AIVApp~iosmac.savedState"
com.apple.quarantine

Just thought I would check in to see if you were able to get the issue resolved again without needing exceptions.

 

[TriciaMacMillan]

Just thought I would check in to see if you were able to get the issue resolved again without needing exceptions.

Sorry for not getting back to you earlier. Actually, I did not try any more, just left the exception in there, so I can't say.

I'd think that uninstalling the app, deleting ~/Library/Containers/com.amazon.aiv.AIVApp, and then re-installing the app would solve the problem, but I didn't care enough to try it.

 

[MacinMan]

Sorry for not getting back to you earlier. Actually, I did not try any more, just left the exception in there, so I can't say.

I'd think that uninstalling the app, deleting ~/Library/Containers/com.amazon.aiv.AIVApp, and then re-installing the app would solve the problem, but I didn't care enough to try it.

That's fine, was just curious. Either way works. Monterey will be my last version of macOS for a while, as I have a late 2015, 27" iMac, and Apple did a huge cut off for macOS 13, including mine. Things are stable though, and I'll still have about 2 years of security updates left. Then I'll make a choice whether or not to go Apple Silicon, or build my own computer. One of my favorite things about the Intel based macs, is you got macOS of course, and then just about any third party OS you wanted, both in a VM, or native (usually.) While I pretty much stuck with macOS as host, I do have Linux, Windows, DOS, and even older versions of the mac OS in Virtual Machines (VMWare Fusion.) Having the option is nice, even though I didn't use it, it was still nice to have. The other thing is, Apple's focus now, really doesn't target users like me anymore. So, they really haven't added anything to the OS in years that I need, or want. It was mainly about security, and bug fixes for me. Now, Monterey fixed the issues I had with Big Sur, so now keeping security current is enough for now.

 

[TriciaMacMillan]

One of my favorite things about the Intel based macs, is you got macOS of course, and then just about any third party OS you wanted, both in a VM, or native (usually.)

I hear you! I've been hesitating if I should switch to Apple Silicon because of this, but I eventually did, and I don't regret it. The M1 Macbook Pro is really just amazing. I've moved my Parallels VMs to an older Intel Mac Mini, and if I need Windows, I access it through Apple Remote Desktop which works very well. I even have an older macOS VM there with two or three 32bit applications that I might have to have access to every now and then.

Everyone has different requirements, but for me the M1 Macbook Pro has three big advantages over the Intel based one I had before: battery life, silence, performance (in that order).

 

[MacinMan]

I hear you! I've been hesitating if I should switch to Apple Silicon because of this, but I eventually did, and I don't regret. The M1 Macbook Pro is really just amazing. I've moved my Parallels VMs to an older Intel Mac Mini, and if I need Windows, I access it through Apple remote Desktop which works very well. I even have an older macOS VM there with two or three 32bit applications that I might have to have access to every now and then.

Everyone has different requirements, but for me the M1 Macbook Pro has three big advantages over the Intel based one I had before: battery life, silence, performance (in that order).

I have an older late 2013, 13" MBP, and the late 2015, 27" iMac. I prefer desktops to laptops, so that's why I switched to an iMac. It's nice having the monitor and computer in one. If Apple were to do another 27", or larger Apple silicon version I'd consider it. The 24" is a bit too small for me, there is the Mac Mini, and Studio, but they require a separate display, which isn't the worst thing, and I'd have to do anyway if I built a PC. The iMac was just a nice balance.

Thankfully I won't have to make a choice for a couple years yet. So my options could change in that time. Plus there is Linux if I need more time.

 

[dKupe]

The other thing is, Apple's focus now, really doesn't target users like me anymore. So, they really haven't added anything to the OS in years that I need, or want. It was mainly about security, and bug fixes for me. Now, Monterey fixed the issues I had with Big Sur, so now keeping security current is enough for now.

I hear you brother. Mac user exclusively since my first Mac in 1986. I just updated to Monterey from Catalina and the slowness of Time Machine (compared to Catalina) is my only complaint. But in every other respect Monterey absolutely flies for me compared to Catalina.

I'm running a 3TB Apple Time Capsule connected to my late-2013 iMac 27" via Ethernet (no wifi involved whatsoever). Full disclosure- obviously to run Monterey on my iMac 14,2 I used OCLP (which might be you in a year or two). Ironically I did that for the future Apple Security updates! I retired the Fusion Drive in my iMac earlier this year and installed a 4TB SSD so this great old Mac has lots of years left in her. In addition, I did a complete erase of the Time Capsule following the upgrade so we can scratch that as an issue.

Here's the really weird part- My hourly Time Machine backups typically start off with "time remaining of 3 hours" or more. And this for a machine that is sleeping much of the day so changed files should be close to nil. Almost a space-time enigma! I mean it would literally never catch up that way. I've resorted to turning off Automatic Time Machine backups for that reason. I'm more confident in my CCC backups anyhow, though I do love Time Machine for the versioning aspect. Alas the spinning-platter drive in the Time Capsule is the last such device I use...everything else is SSDs. I suspect I'll wind up having to replace the Time Capsule before this Mac. Oh wait- I still have one more brand new Time Capsule still in shrink wrap! And one more last-generation Airport Express (the one with Airplay 2) connected to my stereo amplifier. Plays wonderfully with my HomePod Minis...about the only new things around! 😄

Yep, Apple really doesn't target users like me anymore!

 

[Pskordilis]

i think 12.6 ruin time machine AGAIN...

 

[jon9091]

This issue seems to be resolved for me on Ventura.

 

[trialcritic]

I am in Ventura and have this problem even now

 

[Dbs40]

Hi thanks to this thread i was able to fix my “Waiting to complete first Backup,” problem with exclusions in Big Sur (I have programs that only run up to Big Sur so didn't want to upgrade OS). However in my case my particular error was [com.apple.TimeMachine:FileProtection] Failed to acquire device lock assertion for /Volumes/com.apple.TimeMachine.localsnapshots/Backups.backupdb/[USER] MacBook Air M1/2022-11-06-020815/Data/Users/Deleted Users/[USER]/Library/Metadata error: Error Domain=NSPOSIXErrorDomain Code=22 "Invalid argument"

Since that folder only appears while Time Machine was running I was only able to add it to the exclusions list while Time Machine was backing up or else Terminal would have a path error, and I had to use this non specific higher directory sudo tmutil addexclusion -p ~/Volumes/com.apple.TimeMachine.localsnapshots/Backups.backupdb/.

Will that cause future problems with restoring if a seemingly important main folder like that is excluded?

Is there a way I could write the exclusion so that it can be variations on /Volumes/com.apple.TimeMachine.localsnapshots/Backups.backupdb/[USER] MacBook Air M1/*various dates*/Data/Users/Deleted Users/[USER]/Library/Metadata instead of the main folder?

Thanks for your help.

 

[Dbs40]

Hey all, so how's everyone's backups working? I haven't heard any bad news here for a while, so I'm hoping that's a good thing. 12.2.1 came out today, and no one has reported anything. TM did a backup after my update and things are continuing to function normally here.

Hi I did just have this problem, maybe you (or someone here) might have some insight into the question I just posted.

 

[MacinMan]

OK, I'm confused with your post. You quoted my post, but I don't see a reply, so did it get lost?

 

[Dbs40]

Hi I did just have this problem, maybe you (or someone here) might have some insight into the question I just posted.

OK, I'm confused with your post. You quoted my post, but I don't see a reply, so did it get lost?

I'm sorry I just edited it. And I posted a question in #768

 

[MacinMan]

Hi I did just have this problem, maybe you (or someone here) might have some insight into the question I just posted.

Maybe @TriciaMacMillan can comment, if she still watches this thread. I don't have an Apple Silicon Mac, and most of the time the issue is related to Apple Silicon and not Intel. She has Apple Silicon macs that have had the problem and others here have as well. My initial issue were gone after I reformatted my drive and the first couple of updates of Monterey. In fact, I had to do a clean install of Monterey after trying Ventrua with OpenCore and things going sour. My brand new TM backup on the new install worked fine without any issues and it was quite fast.

 

[TriciaMacMillan]

Hi thanks to this thread i was able to fix my “Waiting to complete first Backup,” problem with exclusions in Big Sur (I have programs that only run up to Big Sur so didn't want to upgrade OS). However in my case my particular error was [com.apple.TimeMachine:FileProtection] Failed to acquire device lock assertion for /Volumes/com.apple.TimeMachine.localsnapshots/Backups.backupdb/[USER] MacBook Air M1/2022-11-06-020815/Data/Users/Deleted Users/[USER]/Library/Metadata error: Error Domain=NSPOSIXErrorDomain Code=22 "Invalid argument"

Since that folder only appears while Time Machine was running I was only able to add it to the exclusions list while Time Machine was backing up or else Terminal would have a path error, and I had to use this non specific higher directory sudo tmutil addexclusion -p ~/Volumes/com.apple.TimeMachine.localsnapshots/Backups.backupdb/.

Will that cause future problems with restoring if a seemingly important main folder like that is excluded?

Is there a way I could write the exclusion so that it can be variations on /Volumes/com.apple.TimeMachine.localsnapshots/Backups.backupdb/[USER] MacBook Air M1/*various dates*/Data/Users/Deleted Users/[USER]/Library/Metadata instead of the main folder?

Thanks for your help.

This seems to be another problem, because 1) the issue described in this thread is a Monterey problem, and 2) as you mention, these files are created by Time Machine itself, so it's weird that it can't access them.

However, I'm pretty sure that I've had that problem once, and I'm trying to remember how I solved it. I think I've forcely removed all local snapshots, then rebooted my Mac, started Time Machine, and the issue was gone. Should be worth an attempt.

Another possible cause I can think of are broken access rights. Are you the only user on this Mac? I suppose [USER] is you? However, the Users/Deleted Users/ in the path makes me assume that there is a deleted user on your Mac that causes these problems. If you don't need this user any more, the easiest would be to delete the user's folder. If you still need the data, then I'd try to take over ownership, as it may be that the data is owned by a non-existing uid. Try

ls -al "/Users/Deleted Users"

If this shows a numeric uid instead of a username, then the owner doesn't exist any more.

To take over ownership:

chown -R yourUsername:staff "/Users/Deleted Users"

Let me know if any of this helped.

 

[Dbs40]

This seems to be another problem, because 1) the issue described in this thread is a Monterey problem, and 2) as you mention, these files are created by Time Machine itself, so it's weird that it can't access them.

However, I'm pretty sure that I've had that problem once, and I'm trying to remember how I solved it. I think I've forcely removed all local snapshots, then rebooted my Mac, started Time Machine, and the issue was gone. Should be worth an attempt.

Another possible cause I can think of are broken access rights. Are you the only user on this Mac? I suppose [USER] is you? However, the Users/Deleted Users/ in the path makes me assume that there is a deleted user on your Mac that causes these problems. If you don't need this user any more, the easiest would be to delete the user's folder. If you still need the data, then I'd try to take over ownership, as it may be that the data is owned by a non-existing uid. Try

ls -al "/Users/Deleted Users"

If this shows a numeric uid instead of a username, then the owner doesn't exist any more.

To take over ownership:

chown -R yourUsername:staff "/Users/Deleted Users"

Let me know if any of this helped.

Thanks for your reply. The problem started when my previous external drive died causing some Time Machine failures then I when I tried to start using a new external drive, it would backup a lot of data but still said Last Backup: None and showed those errors in Terminal. I am the only user so I don't know why there is a deleted users folder or why the problem lies there. This M1 mac is a migration from an older Mac, maybe that is it, I don't know, but I have been using this M1 mac and Time Machine successfully for over a year, it was just the external drive failure that seemed to cause a problem.

The deleted user username in the Terminal error is is the same as my current username, I don't see a number in place of a username when I enter ls -al "/Users/Deleted Users". Before I got the exclusions working I did try to delete all local snapshots in Terminal, restart in safe mode, but still Time Machine was not completing. I am going to look closer at your solutions, thank you.

 

[TriciaMacMillan]

Oh, as to your actual question

Is there a way I could write the exclusion so that it can be variations on /Volumes/com.apple.TimeMachine.localsnapshots/Backups.backupdb/[USER] MacBook Air M1/*various dates*/Data/Users/Deleted Users/[USER]/Library/Metadata instead of the main folder?

No, I don't think that's possible. You may try and exclude all of /Volumes/com.apple.TimeMachine.localsnapshots/Backups.backupdb/ but as explained before, I think this should not happen at all, and I'd recommend to fix the underlying problem.