If any of you need an alternative to TM, (due to this trouble) take a look at Arq backup and Carbon Copy Cloner. Both work well with MacOS Monterey.
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Resolved Time machine experiencing multiple issues on Monterey (my personal issue resolved)
- Thread starter MacinMan
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Is there any concern that with CCC that we could be potentially dragging around the files that are corrupting time machine? That's the only reason I'm waiting for Apple to fix it.
Both CCC and SuperDuper appear to backup fine. They both should exclude the Time Machine external drives so they would not be backing up Time machine. These are inexpensive and proven solutions and given that TM is not working it is better to have one of these backups, just in case. Alternatively - just back up your DATA to an external drive.
UPDATE: The Sr. Apple Advisor assigned to my case called me to confirm that Apple engineering is aware of the issue and are working to resolve it. I do hope Macrumors or other publications publish the issue so Apple prioritises the fix. This one is a serious issue, as many trust that time machine covers the backup needs.
Sorry, I should clarify. CCC most likely clones everything - including system files - which could be at the root of the issue with how TM relates to Monterey. Ultimately, it probably won't matter, because when Apple fixes this, CCC will clone the updated files as well.
There is nothing written in stone saying that you have to back up the entire system drive. The advantage of CCC, or SuperDuper over TM is they let you select what you want to back up much easier. Truth be told, even though I use TM by default, I ALWAYS manually restore things. I never do an automatic time machine restore. So, if you only need your user folder, and maybe /Applications just have CCC / Superduper back those items up. Then you'll have the important data, and will be able to waiter for TM to be fixed much easier.
Thanks for the tip! I guess encryption is the problem. Now time to do mine as my 2021 MAC IS COMING
Ah. Got it. Didn't know you can pick and choose. Thought it just cloned the drive. Gonna check out CCC. Thanks!
For me, Encryption did cause the really bad slow down. However, for everyone else who has come sense, it seems to be a much more serious problem. If you're getting an Apple silicon based Mac, you may have issues unless you stay on Big sur until Monterey is fixed.
Encryption is NOT the problem. It's a problem either way. Many folks still having issues regardless of attempting this without encryption. Again, it's a TM/monterey/M1 problem.
That's what I just clarified, Encryption was MY issue, it's not for everyone else.
I may very well still have the same issue the rest of you though. It may just be affecting Intel based Macs differently say by a speed hit, and possibly oversized backups, but it's still able to backup so it doesn't look broken. In my case however, things could be broken behind the scenes granted that this wasn't a quick thread where the problem is solved and people have moved on. People and more of them, are having more issues, so something in fact, is still in need of repair.
Just chiming in again since I didn't clarify which model I'm using: base MacBook Pro M1 Pro, experiencing the "Waiting to Complete First Backup" error
I created a Big Sure VM the other day with VMWare Fusion. I set up Time Machine in that environment to compare a first backup to the Host of Monterey. Keep in mind the virtual environment had much less data to deal with than the host, however, time machine finished the first backup in about 20 minutes. and we're talking a VM here. So that's why I made the statement above about me possibly having the same issue as those of you on the Apple Silicon Macs. The difference is, for Apple Silicon it's causing the backups not to complete For an Intel Mac (my late 2015 iMac) the same problem could simply cause TM to run slower. As I've mentioned Backups under Monterey also seem to be much larger. For example my 4TB drive got down to 2 TB free after almost a year of backups. It's now down to a little under 2 TB after about a week with Monterey. I have a reliable backup I could access, however, for it to fill up that fast doesn't seem normal, so it could be the same issue, or same set of issues affecting us differently. If I recall I'm the only one here running an intel based Mac with Monterey. Does anyone else here also have an Intel Mac they could test? I would say the symptoms to look for are slow backup (initial backup) and large mounts of storage being taken up.
I do. I still have my 2019 i9 MBP 16". Running 12.01 Monterey (was un upgrade from Big Sur on an already set up Machine). The Time machine connected to it with historical Data is working perfectly. The hourly backups are fast. The DATA on the MBP is about 1.2 TB. - I did ran for testing a new TM on a reformatted drive - Took about 3 hours.. I have not noticed any issues with the Intel MBP (but I am not using it much). I did get a feeling that the backups are bigger. I am now only running the one TM as I am working on the new M1 Max. - keeping the 2019 intact as a backup. I did not use migration assistant - just installed new what I needed and copied my document and desktop folders manually. So the M1 Max is clean setup and other than time machine everything else I use works great. I am confident a new release of Monterey with a fixed time machine will be coming soon.
Thanks, Yes, I'm sure a fix is due out soon for something like this and the usb issues as well. Thanks for confirming the increased size as well, may just need to use a larger drive now for backups if it's going to run down this fast now. Yes, the backups run fine, i was just wondering about the size, since I seemed to be the only one who noticed that., at least said anything about it until you confirmed.
I was just throwing this out, but does anyone here follow ZolloTech, or another Apple related Channel on YouTube?
It sounds like Apple has bugs in all it's software above maybe a usual amount this time around. I watched a couple videos last night, and it sounds like there are a lot of little things wrong with iOS, 15.1, and 15.2. Then there is the strange rollout last week where there was the TVOS 15.1.1, and HomePod 15.1.1, but no iOS, iPadOS, or Monterey updates. What's also strange is, none of these sources have mentioned the Time machine problems in Monterey, so I wonder if people just don't use it like they did, maybe when it was new and Apple was making The Time capsule it was designed to be the companion for.
Was just curious, after seeing the growing number of cases show up on this thread, and then hearing about other areas Apple is also having stability issues from different sources.
It sounds like Apple has bugs in all it's software above maybe a usual amount this time around. I watched a couple videos last night, and it sounds like there are a lot of little things wrong with iOS, 15.1, and 15.2. Then there is the strange rollout last week where there was the TVOS 15.1.1, and HomePod 15.1.1, but no iOS, iPadOS, or Monterey updates. What's also strange is, none of these sources have mentioned the Time machine problems in Monterey, so I wonder if people just don't use it like they did, maybe when it was new and Apple was making The Time capsule it was designed to be the companion for.
Was just curious, after seeing the growing number of cases show up on this thread, and then hearing about other areas Apple is also having stability issues from different sources.
This is my experience too.. Brand new out the box MBP M1Max. Exact same behaviour. For now I have resorted to using CCC with snapshots. Clearly some sort of bug in Monterey and with the new MBPs I suspect. Glad to know I am not alone.
However, if you are on an M1+ machine you will struggle to boot from it. The new way of working is to install Monterey or Big Sur cleanly, and then use Migration Assistant.
In my opinion, CCC is seamless and is also much faster than TM. With CCC, it is pretty much set and forget. You can also control how often CCC backs up, along with what CCC backs up. You can't do those things with TM. CCC also verifies the backup integrity after each run.
Or perhaps it's just that for the vast majority of us there is no problem. Both my M1 Macs have been updated to Monterey and TM is carrying on just fine: wifi and ethernet to NAS as well as directly attached spinning disks. All the backup destinations are encrypted APFS; the time taken to perform backups seems similar to before updating from Big Sur. I'm not suggesting that there isn't a problem: there clearly is one affecting some folks. I shall be intrigued to learn what the common denominator is.