Any issues known with MBPro (2021 - M1) and A1470 Time Capsule?

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I have been using Time Capsule (v7.9.1) & Time Machine (now v1.3) for some years with IMac (2011), a previous 2014 MBPro, & a MBk Air.
Lately the new M1 chip 2021 MBPro has been having difficulty with putting backups on the Time Capsule. The other devices continue with regular backups.
Has anyone any observations? Has the Big Sur series of updates, now 11.5, compromised things?
 
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I have been using Time Capsule (v7.9.1) & Time Machine (now v1.3) for some years with IMac (2011), a previous 2014 MBPro, & a MBk Air.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Lately the new M1 chip 2021 MBPro has been having difficulty with putting backups on the Time Capsule.

If we don't have a specific compelling reason to update hardware and/or software, don't update it.
 

Cory Cooper

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Hello,

It may be due to the way the Time Capsule is formatted. Recent versions of macOS use APFS instead of Mac OS Extended (Journaled). I believe that the M1 Macs running Big Sur require the Time Capsule/Tme Machine destination to be APFS formatted.

-What versions of macOS are the iMac/MBP/MBA running?
-Is the Time Capsule your only backup device?

You could purchase an external for the new M1 MBP for Time Machine, or possibly connect a USB drive to the Time Capsule and use it in APFS for the M1 MBP...not sure if that would work though.

C
 
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Cory,
Thank you for your response. I think a separate "Time Capsule" type of device for the 2021 M1 MBPro will be the best answer. So much has moved on since I bought my other devices.

If I delete the Time Capsule from the 2021 MBP that won't affect its connection with the older devices, will it? I would use the Time Machine app on the laptop.

If I get another remote hard drive, should it be wireless remote (with the 2021 laptop) and plugged to the wi-fi router? I am looking at the Western Digital EDBAF200BBL-WESN 4Tb and the SSK 4Tb personal Cloud as examples.

Grateful for your helpful advice.
 
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We might at least consider whether issues such as this are being addressed on the appropriate level. Just consider, that's all, be opened minded to various possibilities.

This original poster, like so many others, reports that something that used to work routinely for years no longer works since they have "upgraded". In order for this progression to be labeled "progress" we need to examine what has been gained in exchange for the confusion and hassle being inflicted on seemingly millions of people.

Best I can tell, corrections welcomed, the primary pitch for the new Macs is that they are faster. If generally correct, how many of all the people being affected actually need a faster Mac? How many are using their Macs for basic operations like web surfing, email and family photos, tasks easily completely on ten year old Macs? And how many users are engaged in more advanced operations where processor speed really does make a decisive difference?

As example, the SSD drives appear to be faster, at the cost of being smaller and more expensive. This requires many users to buy external drives, and split their files up across multiple drives instead of having them all in one place. Such division makes backups more work, and thus calamities more likely. Is the increased speed worth it?

No sooner will we all get used to this M1 business that M1 will be discarded for some new technology. Once we finally get everything working with Big Sur it too will be replaced by some new version of OSX, and a new avalanche of such "my stuff no longer works" posts will begin again.

Are we really getting substantial meaningful benefit from this never ending process of change? Is it really "progress" to have to continually get new dongles, ports, external devices, and ride the OSX learning curve etc etc just to be able to do what we've already been able to do for quite some time?

Questions such as those posed by the original poster can be addressed one by one by one from now until the end of time. Or, we could stand back, take a wider view, and consider the process of change as a whole.

Taking the wider view is generally considered mere philosophy, just a rant. Ok, but philosophy is a process of examining the fundamental assumptions which our choices and behaviors are built upon. In any endeavor, if our core assumptions are flawed, that can lead to a great deal of effort being wasted. Examining the assumptions underlying our choices can be a highly efficient manner of solving problems.

The core assumption here seems to be that we need these new speeds. And thus a great deal of effort is being invested in helping millions of Mac users adapt to a never ending stream of new hardware and software.

If that core assumption is incorrect, if we don't really need the new speeds, then a great deal of effort is being wasted, and a great deal of confusion and calamity is being experienced for no particularly good reason.

Do we really need to go where Apple is taking us? If our Macs were 100x faster, what would we do with that speed? How would we benefit?

The typical forum user will conclude that such posts do not address their particular problem, and thus are of no interest. Ok, fair enough. Every reader will probably conclude, if this isn't about me personally, so who cares? The price tag for taking such a narrow view is that we'll all still be here trying to solve such arguably unnecessary problems 20 years from now.

How is that helpful?
 
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No one forces us to buy the new technology, if things are really that bad people will not buy, the choice is still with the buyer.
Are Windows machines any different, I don't think so.
Do users check compatibility when buying new kit, again I think not, they just assume things will work the way they used to.
I prefer to let the early adopters find all the faults and flaws before I invest in new technology.
 

Cory Cooper

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Cory,
Thank you for your response. I think a separate "Time Capsule" type of device for the 2021 M1 MBPro will be the best answer. So much has moved on since I bought my other devices.

If I delete the Time Capsule from the 2021 MBP that won't affect its connection with the older devices, will it? I would use the Time Machine app on the laptop.

If I get another remote hard drive, should it be wireless remote (with the 2021 laptop) and plugged to the wi-fi router? I am looking at the Western Digital EDBAF200BBL-WESN 4Tb and the SSK 4Tb personal Cloud as examples.

Grateful for your helpful advice.

Hi,

Yes, because of the advances in technology since you purchased your older Macs, the best solution would be a new Time Machine device. In addition, your old Time Capsule is getting on in years depending on which model and when purchased.

Correct - if you remove the Time Capsule from the Time Machine settings on the M1, it will simply stop backing up to it and will not affect the other devices that do.

You can go with a directly connected USB-C external drive or a network-based "cloud" drive. Of course, a directly connected drive will be faster, as it doesn't have the overhead that a network-based drive does. It comes down to personal choice and budget.

I actually have several devices/services that backup the four active Macs in my home - individual external hard drives, a Synology NAS, and Backblaze Personal Backup.

C
 
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Developments:
I took my M1 MBPro off my somewhat ageing Time Capsule. Thus no Time Machine backups.
Next, I powered off the TC for a few minutes. I then logged the MBPro on to the TC. It began making TC/Time machine backups as it ought. Checked my i-mac and the MB Air. Both backing up as previously.
Conclusion:
Seems the old remedy of power off & on has worked again! I’ll keep this post going for a while in case of further events.
 

Cory Cooper

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HA! Glad it's back to working.

giphy.gif


Yes, does seem to fix a lot of things!

Keep us in the loop,

C
 
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I hope that this problem has now gone away. My last post had assumed that we'd reach the trouble free state by powering off and re-booting. Not so lucky.

Using AppleCare on Wednesday, I spoke with a very helpful woman. She recommended a soft re-boot of my 2016 Time Capsule and we re-established automatic backups on Time Machine under a new network title and password. I followed the advice to download the latest Big Sur 11.15.1 too.

So far, all seems well. All three Macs, a 2021 MBPro M1, a 2011 i -Mac & a 2015 MBAir, automatically backing up using Time Machine. No conflict, apparently, with the APFS used by the 2020-on machines.

So much for the reactionary comments of one of our number about 'not fixing it if it ain't broke'. These FREE updates are for pretty much all Macs less that 7-8 years old. Not only do they give software updates but security ones too. That's what you buy into with a new Mac. I feel sorry for those with older machines but it is difficult trying to put off developments of fast moving progress by ignoring it and hoping it will go away. DFIIFIAB advice is not only fragile but, in many cases, wastes resources you've already paid for. Especially true on a very recent MBPro like mine.
The Apple store and other outlets do offer quite cheap credit for new kit. Most software (apps & such) is capable of being updated and quite a few (Mac) machines can be traded for credit.
 
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Not really on topic but I came from 2 decades of open source operating systems and MacOS is anything but fast in terms of updates. Daily and sometimes hourly updates are the norm in the open source world. I moved back to Macs for the stability and relatively slow change process. It's all about perspective though! That's not a ding to Apple, I am quite happy here :)

I too always do updates both for security and bug fix reasons. I also upgrade hardware every few years or when performance drops to a point I can no longer use a system without getting impatient...
 
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Nov 2021. This bugbear has come back again - since I upgraded to Monterey last week. The TC declares very limited storage available for the MacBook Pro (2021) with MI chip. Something like 93GMb. I need about 160 for all my data. This is a mystery since the Time Machine system is supposed to clear out older back-ups as time progresses to make space for new. For other Mac devices (older MBkAir & i-Mac) in the household no problems are reported & they back up as usual.

I have now decided to make the MBPro M independent of the A1470 2TB Time Capsule. The problem is which external storage device to acquire & I need specific guidance from someone who has deeper knowledge than me.

I'd like an automatic back up, using TimeMachine connected onto my network & I fancy the SSK 4TB SSM-F100 Network Attached but there is a warning on the Amazon description that for MAC OS, the time machine can only work on USB mode; it cannot work on NAS mode. Can I plug the SSK into my router to get the effect I need? Or, since the MBPro M1 has only 2 outlets and I am using a multi-hub for almost every external device, do I have to give dedicated plug-in time to the SSK to make the back-ups?
Again grateful for advice & suggestions on which to buy.
 

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