Time Machine repeatedly failing to complete backup

Joined
Jun 23, 2012
Messages
137
Reaction score
2
Points
18
--Moved t MacOS / Apps and other software.--

I've always used TimeMachine. But recently it started failing about 60% through the backup, I've done a fsck, drive is fine, I've also tried to use a different drive, I've erased the drive and added it as a completely new backup target, same problem. Just cleared it again, want to try a full backup later again, what logs can I monitor/store to upload to assist in diagnosing the problem. MacOS 10.13.6

I've attached a tm.txt as the output of:

log stream --style syslog --predicate 'senderImagePath contains[cd] "TimeMachine"' --info

G

View attachment tm.txt
 
Last edited:

chscag

Well-known member
Staff member
Admin
Joined
Jan 23, 2008
Messages
65,248
Reaction score
1,833
Points
113
Location
Keller, Texas
Your Mac's Specs
2017 27" iMac, 10.5" iPad Pro, iPhone 8, iPhone 11, iPhone 12 Mini, Numerous iPods, Monterey
It sounds like your internal hard drive that you're trying to backup could be the problem. I know you said your ran a fsck check but those are not definitive. Do you have any other means of backing up that drive? Carbon Copy Cloner? SuperDuper? Both of those apps have free trials. Give it a try to see if the drive backs up okay. You can use the same external hard drive to use to backup to.
 
Joined
Oct 16, 2010
Messages
17,494
Reaction score
1,541
Points
113
Location
Brentwood Bay, BC, Canada
Your Mac's Specs
2011 27" iMac, 1TB(partitioned) SSD, 20GB, OS X 10.11.6 El Capitan
As chscag mentioned, try Carbon Copy Cloner and if there is any corruption causing the problem, there's a good chance it will tell you what it is.

https://bombich.com





- Patrick
======
 
OP
georgelza
Joined
Jun 23, 2012
Messages
137
Reaction score
2
Points
18
Thanks, will try.

How/where can I find out exactly what drive the MAC has in it, know it's a 500GB SSD, would this be the standard 2.25inch Laptop SDD's?
Macbook Pro, 2.7 GHz Core i7 (Serial: C02T37NRGTFM)

G
 
Joined
Oct 16, 2010
Messages
17,494
Reaction score
1,541
Points
113
Location
Brentwood Bay, BC, Canada
Your Mac's Specs
2011 27" iMac, 1TB(partitioned) SSD, 20GB, OS X 10.11.6 El Capitan
How/where can I find out exactly what drive the MAC has in it,

Use the "System Information.app" and all the info will be listed at the top under Hardware.





- Patrick
======
 
Joined
Oct 16, 2010
Messages
17,494
Reaction score
1,541
Points
113
Location
Brentwood Bay, BC, Canada
Your Mac's Specs
2011 27" iMac, 1TB(partitioned) SSD, 20GB, OS X 10.11.6 El Capitan
OP
georgelza
Joined
Jun 23, 2012
Messages
137
Reaction score
2
Points
18
... So CCC is finishing, completing last steps...
Failed

/Volumes/Mini TimeMachine/Users/george/Library/Containers/com.nektony.App-Cleaner/Data/Library/Application Support/App Cleaner & Uninstaller/Advertisement_v11

I've seen it mention "App Cleaner & Uninstaller" before in my TM errors also, Although I've uninstalled it, thinking I go and delete the "com.nektony.App-Cleaner/Data/Library/Application Support/App Cleaner & Uninstaller/Advertisement_v11" directory/key completely ?

G
 
OP
georgelza
Joined
Jun 23, 2012
Messages
137
Reaction score
2
Points
18
I notice the above location it's complaining about is on the output side, error writing to that point not the TM drive, interesting as I said that software App Cleaner has been removed from my machine, will do a Search for it and remove references found.

warning: apfs_num_other_fsobjects (78) is not valid (79)
Verifying allocated space.
The volume /dev/rdisk1s1 appears to be OK.
File system check exit code is 0.
Restoring the original state found as mounted.
Operation successful.
 

chscag

Well-known member
Staff member
Admin
Joined
Jan 23, 2008
Messages
65,248
Reaction score
1,833
Points
113
Location
Keller, Texas
Your Mac's Specs
2017 27" iMac, 10.5" iPad Pro, iPhone 8, iPhone 11, iPhone 12 Mini, Numerous iPods, Monterey
If the CCC backup failed, that would indicate a problem with the SSD. What you might try - if you have a current backup of your data - is wipe the SSD clean and reinstall macOS and then try again. If the backup fails after that, replace the SSD.
 
Joined
Oct 16, 2010
Messages
17,494
Reaction score
1,541
Points
113
Location
Brentwood Bay, BC, Canada
Your Mac's Specs
2011 27" iMac, 1TB(partitioned) SSD, 20GB, OS X 10.11.6 El Capitan
interesting as I said that software App Cleaner has been removed from my machine, will do a Search for it and remove references found.


As many would expect to hear from me again with such a problem, yes I will suggest using Find Any File.app (FAF) to seek and destroy any parts:
Thomas Tempelmann - Find Any File





- Patrick
======
 

Rod


Joined
Jun 12, 2011
Messages
9,628
Reaction score
1,832
Points
113
Location
Melbourne, Australia and Ubud, Bali, Indonesia
Your Mac's Specs
2021 M1 MacBook Pro 14" macOS 14.4.1, Mid 2010MacBook 13" iPhone 13 Pro max, iPad 6, Apple Watch SE.
You might also like to run OnyX on your SSD. This is available from Titanium Software for free. Note it is version specific. If it fails to verify your SSD I would then consider a Clean Install but if you do not have a viable backup that could be a problem for restoring your files and apps.
 

Rod


Joined
Jun 12, 2011
Messages
9,628
Reaction score
1,832
Points
113
Location
Melbourne, Australia and Ubud, Bali, Indonesia
Your Mac's Specs
2021 M1 MacBook Pro 14" macOS 14.4.1, Mid 2010MacBook 13" iPhone 13 Pro max, iPad 6, Apple Watch SE.
If this is the case you could of course simply make direct copies of the files you want to save. You can copy such things as your Photos library iTunes Library etc but it's a big job.
Can I ask did you reformat your external HD when you erased it? Sometimes reformatting to say ExFat then back to Macintosh OS Extended (Journalled) can help to completely erase the hidden files on an external drive.
 
Joined
May 21, 2012
Messages
10,702
Reaction score
1,158
Points
113
Location
Rhode Island
Your Mac's Specs
M1 Mac Studio, 11" iPad Pro 3rdGen, iPhone 13 ProMax, Watch S7, 2018 15" MBP, AirPods Pro
I notice the above location it's complaining about is on the output side, error writing to that point not the TM drive, interesting as I said that software App Cleaner has been removed from my machine, will do a Search for it and remove references found.

warning: apfs_num_other_fsobjects (78) is not valid (79)
Verifying allocated space.
The volume /dev/rdisk1s1 appears to be OK.
File system check exit code is 0.
Restoring the original state found as mounted.
Operation successful.
Which AppCleaner? AppCleaner from the macOS App Store, or the original, https://freemacsoft.net/appcleaner/? Yes, there is a difference.
 
OP
georgelza
Joined
Jun 23, 2012
Messages
137
Reaction score
2
Points
18
First Backup completed, successfully after deleting the App Cleaner file/s. So we've made progress, All the reason for HAVING to resolve this is because I don't have a current backup, why I've made this a critical task to resolve. UI've learned previously the value of TM.

G

If the CCC backup failed, that would indicate a problem with the SSD. What you might try - if you have a current backup of your data - is wipe the SSD clean and reinstall macOS and then try again. If the backup fails after that, replace the SSD.

- - - Updated - - -

Will have a look at it, but the last error logs pointed finger at the offending Library sub folder where there was left over bits of App Cleaner, I removed that and the CCC task completed successfully. Will do one or 2 more today and then retry TM tonight.

G

As many would expect to hear from me again with such a problem, yes I will suggest using Find Any File.app (FAF) to seek and destroy any parts:
Thomas Tempelmann - Find Any File


- Patrick
======

- - - Updated - - -

Thanks, will have a look at it.

G

You might also like to run OnyX on your SSD. This is available from Titanium Software for free. Note it is version specific. If it fails to verify your SSD I would then consider a Clean Install but if you do not have a viable backup that could be a problem for restoring your files and apps.

- - - Updated - - -

Hmmmm, Cant actually recall. Looking at my emails I have invoice from Apple Store for it so going assume it was directly from the App store and not directly from vendor.

Whats the difference you refer to?

G

Which AppCleaner? AppCleaner from the macOS App Store, or the original, https://freemacsoft.net/appcleaner/? Yes, there is a difference.

- - - Updated - - -

Nope, it was normally just a "Erase" tasks via Disk Utility, but I've also tried this on another HDD and had the same problem so don't believe it is target based. Seems to have been one of those app Cleaner files.

If this is the case you could of course simply make direct copies of the files you want to save. You can copy such things as your Photos library iTunes Library etc but it's a big job.
Can I ask did you reformat your external HD when you erased it? Sometimes reformatting to say ExFat then back to Macintosh OS Extended (Journalled) can help to completely erase the hidden files on an external drive.
 
Joined
May 21, 2012
Messages
10,702
Reaction score
1,158
Points
113
Location
Rhode Island
Your Mac's Specs
M1 Mac Studio, 11" iPad Pro 3rdGen, iPhone 13 ProMax, Watch S7, 2018 15" MBP, AirPods Pro
They’re not the same vendor. I’ve been using the original, since before the macOS App Store was around. I tried the App Store version, thinking it was the same vendor, but I had issues with it.
 
OP
georgelza
Joined
Jun 23, 2012
Messages
137
Reaction score
2
Points
18
Can confirm after doing the CCC and then deleting the left over files from App Cleaner TM now completed successfully.

Now I can look at the Mojave upgrade :)

thanks all for assisting.

G
 

Rod


Joined
Jun 12, 2011
Messages
9,628
Reaction score
1,832
Points
113
Location
Melbourne, Australia and Ubud, Bali, Indonesia
Your Mac's Specs
2021 M1 MacBook Pro 14" macOS 14.4.1, Mid 2010MacBook 13" iPhone 13 Pro max, iPad 6, Apple Watch SE.
Joined
Oct 16, 2010
Messages
17,494
Reaction score
1,541
Points
113
Location
Brentwood Bay, BC, Canada
Your Mac's Specs
2011 27" iMac, 1TB(partitioned) SSD, 20GB, OS X 10.11.6 El Capitan
They’re not the same vendor. I’ve been using the original, since before the macOS App Store was around.


FWIW: Same here.
AppCleaner

And congrats to georgelza on their success.





- Patrick
======
 

Shop Amazon


Shop for your Apple, Mac, iPhone and other computer products on Amazon.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
Top