Time Machine failing since Mojave

[DrMacintosh]

Ok, so after updating to Mojave I plugged in my external HDD that I use for mass storage and has a Time Machine partition on it. After plugging it in and started a backup. It started writing data but then failed in about the same place every time. Saying that there was an error copying files.

 

I tried again because maybe it was a one off thing, but it failed again. So I ran First Aid on the partition and it found nothing wrong. Tried again and it kept failing. I figured maybe it was something wrong with the previous backup so I deleted it and tried again only to have it fail.

 

After all of that it was clear to me that this was not going to work so I formatted the Time Machine partition and tried to start fresh only to have Time Machine fail to backup on a blank partition! I ran Disk Utility again and it had to make a repair to the file system and failed just now while writing this.

 

This is telling me that there is something wrong with Mojave and Time Machine.

 

Any one having a similar experience and know anything I can do to fix this? Could it be a local snapshot (of which I have that is corrupted and Time Machine is trying to build off that?

 

I have since found other threads on the Apple support communities that show this is a replicable issue 

So far I’ve seen 3 topics on this issue with similar symptoms.

Here: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8561149

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8559943

 

And my own: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8562272

This is certainly not isolated to just peoples drives. This is a problem.

[Guest]

Seems definitely a software issue. Just to be sure run fsck on that drive

[DrMacintosh]

Just now, Lukyp said:

Seems definitely a software issue

Just talked to a Senior tech and we are running diagnostic software while I am backing up. 

 

A user on the forums identified the potential issue 

Quote

Yes,

In previous versions, the problem of the ever growing backup (endless) was fixed by excluding the directory where it stored its work files.

Adding /Users/Shared/adi to the exclude list was enough.

It looks like TimeMachine is not using that folder anymore, but stores that always growing data somewhere else, triggering the problem: as TimeMachine moves on, the total size of data to be backed up grows with it until it reaches a full disk, no matter what disk size you have.

Too bad.

I informed the Senior Tech about it and he though it made sense in context and made a note of it and will cross examine my machines logs and their own testing with the /Shared/adi folder.

[Guest]

5 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

Just talked to a Senior tech and we are running diagnostic software while I am backing up. 

 

A user on the forums identified the potential issue 

I informed the Senior Tech about it and he though it made sense in context and made a note of it and will cross examine my machines logs and their own testing with the /Shared/adi folder.

I've also seen that but I though that was a different issue, shouldn't that folder be anywhere else? That could probably be found by searching recently modified files using the find command 

[DrMacintosh]

3 minutes ago, Lukyp said:

I've also seen that but I though that was a different issue, shouldn't that folder be anywhere else? That could probably be found by searching recently modified files using the find command 

We believe that Mojave changed how the /adi folder is being handled either intentionally or accidentally. Either way, if this is the cause of the problem, it will be an easy fix.  

[Aremis]

On 10/1/2018 at 5:48 AM, DrMacintosh said:

Ok, so after updating to Mojave I plugged in my external HDD that I use for mass storage and has a Time Machine partition on it. After plugging it in and started a backup. It started writing data but then failed in about the same place every time. Saying that there was an error copying files.

 

I tried again because maybe it was a one off thing, but it failed again. So I ran First Aid on the partition and it found nothing wrong. Tried again and it kept failing. I figured maybe it was something wrong with the previous backup so I deleted it and tried again only to have it fail.

 

After all of that it was clear to me that this was not going to work so I formatted the Time Machine partition and tried to start fresh only to have Time Machine fail to backup on a blank partition! I ran Disk Utility again and it had to make a repair to the file system and failed just now while writing this.

 

This is telling me that there is something wrong with Mojave and Time Machine.

 

Any one having a similar experience and know anything I can do to fix this? Could it be a local snapshot (of which I have that is corrupted and Time Machine is trying to build off that?

 

I have since found other threads on the Apple support communities that show this is a replicable issue 

So far I’ve seen 3 topics on this issue with similar symptoms.

Here: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8561149

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8559943

 

And my own: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8562272

This is certainly not isolated to just peoples drives. This is a problem.

I'd roll back to 10.12 or something.  13 had a lot of issues, Mojave is even worse.  Its actually killing the 5k LG monitors and causing issues.

 

Just don't use Mojave.

[DrMacintosh]

Just now, Aremis said:

I'd roll back to 10.12 or something.  13 had a lot of issues

Unfortunately without a software backup I am unwilling to revert to a previous macOS version.  

[Ashleyyyy]

so this affects all Mojave installs? 

[DrMacintosh]

33 minutes ago, firelighter487 said:

so this affects all Mojave installs? 

No, so far we haven’t been able to isolate it but it is definitely replicable. 

 

Could have something to do with APFS and HFS+, machines with SSDs vs HDDs, and other certain hardware configs. 

 

I’m waiting to hear back from the Senior Tech about what is going on. Should hear back from his today. 

[TacoSenpai]

Did you make the microwave plate turn counterclockwise and turn on the giant CRT at the same time?  There should be sparks flying out of the microwave as well...El Psy Congroo.

 

 

[Baldlars]

I found a solution for my case ... my Time Machine would only back up to about 35 GB and then stops. After a bit of time I would get a 'Backup fail message. I've tried all the  various suggested remedies and nothing seemed to work. I can say with some certainty that it is a Mojave related issue ... and is not some conflict with 3rd party software as suggested by an Apple rep. I have the same problem under Safe Mode, and also after I removed the 3rd party app suggested by the Apple rep.

 

Then I took the big plunge and reformatted my external hard drive ... this time I formatted it as MacOS Extended (Case Sensitive, Journaled) and now it seems to be working again, if not a bit slower. This SUCKS big time because I lost all of my old backups. 

[DrMacintosh]

44 minutes ago, Baldlars said:

I found a solution for my case ... my Time Machine would only back up to about 35 GB and then stops. After a bit of time I would get a 'Backup fail message. I've tried all the  various suggested remedies and nothing seemed to work. I can say with some certainty that it is a Mojave related issue ... and is not some conflict with 3rd party software as suggested by an Apple rep. I have the same problem under Safe Mode, and also after I removed the 3rd party app suggested by the Apple rep.

 

Then I took the big plunge and reformatted my external hard drive ... this time I formatted it as MacOS Extended (Case Sensitive, Journaled) and now it seems to be working again, if not a bit slower. This SUCKS big time because I lost all of my old backups. 

I have heard from people on the Apple Support communities just a few hours ago that using Extended Journaled Case Sensative seemingly fixed the problem. 

 

Even if this is a solution, it does not address the inderlying problem of Time Machine not being updated to disclose or even enforce that normal Extended Journaled wouldn’t work anymore or dynamically detecting what it needs to do for a specific user situation. 

 

Ill try it it when I get home. 

[lukemb]

Did the Extended Journaled Case Sensitive formatting work Dr M? Have had the same problem.

[DrMacintosh]

46 minutes ago, lukemb said:

Did the Extended Journaled Case Sensitive formatting work Dr M? Have had the same problem.

Yes

 

[wasab]

The problem is that you are sticking 100% to the closed walled apple ecosystem. Apple often breaks shit and you are competely at their mercy for any fixes.

 

If you are actually smart about it, you would ditch magical machine or whatever it  is call and boot into clonezilla from a live USB drive and just clone your entire disk. 

[Ashleyyyy]

On 10/8/2018 at 8:12 PM, wasab said:

The problem is that you are sticking 100% to the closed walled apple ecosystem. Apple often breaks shit and you are competely at their mercy for any fixes.

 

If you are actually smart about it, you would ditch magical machine or whatever it  is call and boot into clonezilla from a live USB drive and just clone your entire disk. 

please do your research first. time machine is a great piece of software with loads of nice features. 

[wasab]

9 hours ago, firelighter487 said:

please do your research first. time machine is a great piece of software with loads of nice features. 

not great if it doesnt work. think first. 

[Ashleyyyy]

8 hours ago, wasab said:

not great if it doesnt work. think first. 

true that, but when it does work it's fantastic. i don't know of a program similar to it for Linux. if you know of one please tell me. 

[wasab]

16 minutes ago, firelighter487 said:

true that, but when it does work it's fantastic. i don't know of a program similar to it for Linux. if you know of one please tell me. 

 

[Ashleyyyy]

@wasab i mean a program that makes a backup every hour of the files that i've changed in the last hour. 

[TopHatProductions115]

@firelighter487

31 minutes ago, firelighter487 said:

true that, but when it does work it's fantastic. i don't know of a program similar to it for Linux. if you know of one please tell me. 

 

 Linux is a very versatile OS. I'd recommend Googling things like this yourself next time, since this only took a few seconds:

• https://www.ostechnix.com/cronopete-apples-time-machine-clone-linux/

 

I do not intend to be rude, but it's a bit antiquated to ask questions like that without putting some effort into looking around for it first - even if it's to refute your opposition in an online forum. It's just good writing/research habit.

 

I say this as both a former Linux user and a current Mac user..

[Ashleyyyy]

2 hours ago, TopHatProductions115 said:

@firelighter487

 

 Linux is a very versatile OS. I'd recommend Googling things like this yourself next time, since this only took a few seconds:

• https://www.ostechnix.com/cronopete-apples-time-machine-clone-linux/

 

I do not intend to be rude, but it's a bit antiquated to ask questions like that without putting some effort into looking around for it first - even if it's to refute your opposition in an online forum. It's just good writing/research habit.

 

I say this as both a former Linux user and a current Mac user..

i will admit i could have done some research. 

 

i will definitely try that program. thanks!

[wasab]

1 hour ago, firelighter487 said:

@wasab i mean a program that makes a backup every hour of the files that i've changed in the last hour. 

There is time shift. But why would you need to do this?