TimeMachine - the saga continues!

[sllewk]

Yes Tis me again (sorry) I have followed Macsh's suggestion and now have TimeMachineEditor on my iMac - thank you because it should hopefully do exactly that which I desire!!! NO CHANCE. TimeMachine did not even get up off it's backside. Nothing happened at all over the weekend. I set up a schedule for 19.00 Sunday evening but nothing has happened at all. I have not got a clue except an idea put forward by Ian that the hard drive might be on the way out; so how do I check for that occurrence?? Also has anyone else had a similar happening when running on Catalina 10.15.7? I think my next move will be to uninstall the hard drive and delete all on it but I do not think there is much stored on it, should I run anything in particular after the delete is finished?

Sorry everyone to take up so much of your time but I am lost (as usual)!!!
very best regards from Keith in Derby England.

 

[MacInWin]

Keith, there isn't any real notice that a backup is running or has been run, other than to enter Time Machine and see it there, or look at the backup drive and see the date of the folder for the backup in the proper spot. So, how do you know that nothing happened Sunday evening? TME just starts up TM, makes the backup and shuts down TM immediately after the backup is run. No notices, nothing on the screen, it just works in the background.

 

[Slydude]

Jake is correct as usual, but there is an easy way to determine the date of the most recent backup:

1. Open the Time Machine pane in System Preferences. Don't go to the Time machine app. Preference pane screenshot
2. Open that preference pane and look at the date for the current backup. Backup status screenshot

 

[IWT]

Hullo Keith. Always welcome.

If you look at the top menu bar on the right side and see an icon like this:

Click on it and, from the small drop down, it should show you when the last Time Machine backup took place - something like this:



Have a look at that and let us know, please.

(The fact that a backup is activated by an app like TME shouldn't matter)

Ian

 

[IWT]

Two minds with the same thought, Sly. My idea is slightly quicker

Ian

 

[Slydude]

As usual, I went the long way around the barn rather than straight through.

I've used that method before but don't use it often because:
1. Users only see that setting if the option to show Time Machine in the menu bar is set.
2. I find that icon hard to see in the menu bar.

 

[sllewk]

Good morning all, It is wonderful what you can find when you look in the right place!!! Thank you one and all those who replied to my cry for help; the problem was never a problem but the ignorant operator. The problem is solved, it has backed up --- what a clever computer I have in front of me!!! Thanks to every-one.

Very best regards from Keith in Derby England.

 

[lochinveraady]

Yes Tis me again (sorry) I have followed Macsh's suggestion and now have TimeMachineEditor on my iMac - thank you because it should hopefully do exactly that which I desire!!! NO CHANCE. TimeMachine did not even get up off it's backside. Nothing happened at all over the weekend. I set up a schedule for 19.00 Sunday evening but nothing has happened at all. I have not got a clue except an idea put forward by Ian that the hard drive might be on the way out; so how do I check for that occurrence?? Also has anyone else had a similar happening when running on Catalina 10.15.7? I think my next move will be to uninstall the hard drive and delete all on it but I do not think there is much stored on it, should I run anything in particular after the delete is finished?

Sorry everyone to take up so much of your time but I am lost (as usual)!!!
very best regards from Keith in Derby England.

Good morning all, It is wonderful what you can find when you look in the right place!!! Thank you one and all those who replied to my cry for help; the problem was never a problem but the ignorant operator. The problem is solved, it has backed up --- what a clever computer I have in front of me!!! Thanks to every-one.

Very best regards from Keith in Derby England.

 

[lochinveraady]

I have this problem too. 5 weeks ago I bought a brand new iMac online and a new 'My Passport for Mac' disk to set up with Time Machine. The computer works great, time machine did too for a few days, and ever since, every few days I get 'unable to complete backup - problems with the back-up folder'. I have a string of listed conversations with Support - they have been great - it always gets fixed, but 'repairs' last only a few days, then back comes the same message. Sometimes it can be fixed by ejecting the disk - it won't eject, because it says another programme is uning it, but it's not, as far as I am aware. So go through the force eject, remove the lead from the lead from the back of the computer, wait a bit, plug it in again, set it up and ig backs up....... for a few days....... Getting really frustrated. Disk has been 'scrubbed' several times and backed yp, disk has been reformatted , always the support people get it goiong, but it never lasts. `everytning closed because of lockdown, so had to bjuy the computer online and at the mopment, no way of returning it as 'not working properly'. Anyone suggest anytning?

 

[IWT]

@lochinveraady,

A warm welcome to Mac-Forums and thank you for your post.

When you purchased the "My Passport for Mac" External Hard Drive (EHD), did you use Disk Utility (DU) to erase the entire EHD and then reformat it to APFS; as your iMac is brand new?

This is important because purchased Drives "for Mac" often include security and other software and may not be formatted correctly for your Mac.

That might explain your difficulty.

Your answer will determine what you should do next.

An incidental observation is that your Desktop is rather cluttered with files and Folders. Generally not a good idea. If, maybe, you have moved from Windows to Macintosh, then the Mac's Desktop is not intended as a way of storing files/folders. As I say, an incidental observation; nothing to do with Time Machine.

Ian

 

[lochinveraady]

@lochinveraady,

A warm welcome to Mac-Forums and thank you for your post.

When you purchased the "My Passport for Mac" External Hard Drive (EHD), did you use Disk Utility (DU) to erase the entire EHD and then reformat it to APFS; as your iMac is brand new?

This is important because purchased Drives "for Mac" often include security and other software and may not be formatted correctly for your Mac.

That might explain your difficulty.

Your answer will determine what you should do next.

An incidental observation is that your Desktop is rather cluttered with files and Folders. Generally not a good idea. If, maybe, you have moved from Windows to Macintosh, then the Mac's Desktop is not intended as a way of storing files/folders. As I say, an incidental observation; nothing to do with Time Machine.

Ian

 

[lochinveraady]

I didn't re-format the disk because I didn't know I had to do this..... but it was subsequently scrubbed and reformatted to APFS as you suggested by the apple support person. Actually that has been done twice....... a later support person started again from scratch and re-checked everything. The problem appears to be intermittent..... I wondered if the disk was faulty but the support folks said probably not, since it does work sometimes. I do worry that each time the disk is scrubbed, what is subsequently downloaded will have bits missing which have been altered but not saved properly.

 

[IWT]

I do worry that each time the disk is scrubbed, what is subsequently downloaded will have bits missing which have been altered but not saved properly.

No worries there. When a Drive is "scrubbed", ie totally erased, there is nothing left. It is then formatted APFS and to all intents and purposes, it's like brand new.

So when you start to put data on it via Time Machine, there will not be any "bits missing".

Intermittent faults are an agony to deal with - as you have found out . My worry in your situation would be trusting the Drive. In other words, I'd be concerned that it was faulty in some way. That can happen with Drives straight out of the box. Is there any way you could return that Drive and get a replacement?

Ian

 

[MacInWin]

Before you return it, how much space is on the drive and how much is left for TM? I've seen that TM message when there is so much new stuff to backup that it can't find enough previous older backups to eliminate safely to make the new backup fit.

 

[Rod]

Just as a reference to Jake's question above the "suggested" storage capacity of an EHD for TM backups is roughly twice the storage of the device being backed up. eg. I have 512GB of storage on my MBP so my EHD for TM backups is 1000GB (1TB).

 

[lochinveraady]

No worries there. When a Drive is "scrubbed", ie totally erased, there is nothing left. It is then formatted APFS and to all intents and purposes, it's like brand new.

So when you start to put data on it via Time Machine, there will not be any "bits missing".

Intermittent faults are an agony to deal with - as you have found out . My worry in your situation would be trusting the Drive. In other words, I'd be concerned that it was faulty in some way. That can happen with Drives straight out of the box. Is there any way you could return that Drive and get a replacement?

Ian

Thanks Ian, I bought the disk on Amazon so could related my attempts to get it to work properly and try to get it replaced. I think this wikll be my next move - after trying another cable. One suggestion from apple support was to try a different cable, since sometimes removing it from the computer and plugging it in again has helped - for a few days!!!