Time Machine Backups on Mac OS 12.0.1

[moser]

When making a connected external disk time machine backup, the name of the disk changes to "Time Machine Backups" and I have to manually re-recognize the named disk for it to back up. I'm using OS 12.0.1 now, but I saw this behavior in the previous OS as well.

 

[maw_walker]

Are you getting successful backups from Monterey? I just noticed this morning that all of my backups since I upgraded to Monterey have failed. I back up to a NAS and I have OS versions from Mojave all the way to Big Sur on the NAS. I ended up deleting all back ups for the machine in question (the only Monterey machine I have) and then Monterey backed up fine. Was odd.

 

[moser]

Are you getting successful backups from Monterey? I just noticed this morning that all of my backups since I upgraded to Monterey have failed. I back up to a NAS and I have OS versions from Mojave all the way to Big Sur on the NAS. I ended up deleting all back ups for the machine in question (the only Monterey machine I have) and then Monterey backed up fine. Was odd.

If successful means I can enter time machine and it recognizes the last update, the answer is yes. However if I look at prefs, the designated disk is still "Time Machine Backups." In other words, it looks like the backups are solid, even though I have to manually designate a the backup volume every time I perform the incremental backup; and it won't backup automatically because it 'can't find' the designated disk. So far this is a good workaround, though I discovered that through Big Sur it hadn't been backing up and I had to perform one. It did recognize the previous backups I had done before, however.

 

[maw_walker]

I guess we have different situations then, sorry if I misread this. My system sees the volume fine but it is on a NAS and available on my network. Time Machine for me would start "preparing the backup" and then just quit saying it couldn't back up. It seemed in my situation the existence of other OS version back ups caused an issue because when I started fresh for that machine, it worked fine.

I wonder if there are other Monterey and Time Machine back up issues out there.

 

[TonyAguila]

When making a connected external disk time machine backup, the name of the disk changes to "Time Machine Backups" and I have to manually re-recognize the named disk for it to back up. I'm using OS 12.0.1 now, but I saw this behavior in the previous OS as well.

I’m assuming that “connected external disk” means the drive is connected either by USB or Thunderbolt. I don’t do TM backups to network drives (NAS or Time Capsule) from disasters I experienced in the past. If you don’t mind erasing the drive to get started, I suggest reformatting the drive with Disk Utility as APFS. Yes, APFS. You can name it what you want.

Then from System Preferences -> Time Machine, select Add or Remove Backup Disk… and choose the disk that you just formatted. You are good to go. APFS has come to maturity in Monterey, and even in Big Sur, and I have had no issues with Time Machine. I have a pair of 8TB hard drives for my Time Machine backups with no problem at all with backups, or restores (incremental or full)—performing much faster than HFS+ drives.

 

[moser]

You are right..I had thought I had originally formatted this drive as APFS, but in fact it is Mac OS Extended (Journaled). There was something I read that said not to set up Time Machine drives as APFS, but that was awhile ago...It's a 4TB G RAID Drive connected via USB through the SATA port to a late 2013 model MacPro..I will save the original material on this drive and re-format it to see what happens. I did speak to AppleCare and they didn't suggest re-formatting, however we were trying to avoid a complete computer/drive back up, so that may have been the reason. I'll try that and in a few days let you know if it works! Thanks.

 

[TonyAguila]

You are right..I had thought I had originally formatted this drive as APFS, but in fact it is Mac OS Extended (Journaled). There was something I read that said not to set up Time Machine drives as APFS, but that was awhile ago...It's a 4TB G RAID Drive connected via USB through the SATA port to a late 2013 model MacPro..I will save the original material on this drive and re-format it to see what happens. I did speak to AppleCare and they didn't suggest re-formatting, however we were trying to avoid a complete computer/drive back up, so that may have been the reason. I'll try that and in a few days let you know if it works! Thanks.

It’s very important that the drives are erased by Disk Utility, and formatted as APFS. Third-party disk utilities are not yet savvy enough with APFS so we need to rely on Apple’s Disk Utility. The fate of the once-venerable Disk Warrior is still an unknown. But even with APFS, with hard drives, bad sectors still need to be mapped out. With APFS, the task of running First Aid in Disk Utility is possible, unlike with HFS+. I have never tried formatting a raid drive as APFS, though. You may have to experiment.

And if your raid drive is formatted Raid 0, it will be vital that you be able to check the integrity of the drive(s) regularly.

 

[moser]

I'll let you know how it works out...