Does "Enter Time Machine" verify backups (non-network option)?

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Level 2

173 points

Does "Enter Time Machine" verify backups (non-network option)?

When you have a "time capsule" on a network, and back up your Mac to that, you can press the Option key when you open the Time Machine drop-down menu you get an option that says "Verify Backups." But it's grayed out. I assume this is because I am backing up to a local drive, not over a network. So my question is, when I run Enter Time Machine, does TM verify the backups? It takes a while to get ready for browsing old backups, so maybe that's what it's doing? I looked in the online docs, and found nothing. TIA.

iMac 24″, macOS 12.6

Posted on May 14, 2024 9:43 AM

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Answer 1

May 14, 2024 9:46 AM in response to betaneptune

Regarding the "Verify Backups" option being grayed out, this feature is specifically designed for networked Time Machine backups, such as those stored on a Time Capsule or other network-attached storage (NAS). This option verifies the integrity of the sparsebundle disk image used for network backups.

For local backups (such as those to an external hard drive directly connected to your Mac), macOS handles backup integrity differently. Time Machine uses a different file structure and does not require the same verification process as network backups.

If you want to manually verify your local backups, you can do the following:

Disk Utility Check: Open Disk Utility and use the "First Aid" feature to check the health of your backup drive.
Manual Inspection: Manually navigate to the backup folder and check for any obvious signs of corruption, such as missing or unreadable files.

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Answer 2

betaneptune Author

Level 2

173 points

May 15, 2024 10:57 AM in response to swapnil97

Disk Utility - Takes forever. With my disk filling up, and based on dim memories of the last time I did this, it would probably take more than 24 hours of a buzzing disk. (16 TB hard drive)
Manual Inspection - I was hoping macOS would take care of this. It does a network drive, why not a local drive, too?

Then what is it doing while I'm waiting for all the gray tick marks to become active?

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