Time Machine still does not work

I have about the same setup:

one disk with two partitions: one for TM and one for other data.

a second disk with two partitions: one for CCC clone, one other data.

Works perfectly well. There must be something that "hampers" your TM backup, it should be smooth and relatively fast.

I don't think your disk is the issue, HDDs are relatively sturdy.

Perhaps reset the TM settings does help:

open TM preferences, click "select disk",

select the TM disk again it should be on top, click "use disk"

then select "options" in the previous preferences list,

in the "exclude" field/page now set all other disks and partitions.

perhaps after that restart the mac.

Michael Graubart wrote:

To re-open all that long-ago furore about TM seems sad. But TM (on my Mac mini with Mojave) still does not do a proper backup.

For a year or two I abandoned TM and used Carbon Copy Cloner, which creates a complete and bootable. copy of my hard disk in a couple of hours. But last night I decided to give TM another go.

My hard disk (a solid-state replacement for the original) has a capacity of 479.89 GB, of which 346.84 GB is in use. I set TM to do a backup. After about 8 hours, it showed 7.89 GB of 148.15 GB backed up; so I left it running. After another 6 hours, it showed exactly the same, so I shut it down and investgated what had been deposited in my external drive.

Quite a lot was there (though whether new or old I did not check). But when, for instance, I looked at Pictures > Photos Library.photoslibrary to see whether my recent photos in Photos.app had been backed up, I could not open the file. It clearly had not been properly handled.

What is the opinion now amongst experts reading this cri de coeur? Is it time to abandon TM altogether? Or is there a cure for its misbehaviour?

If a Time Machine backup takes longer than you expect

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204412

Great !

have a good time.

Lex

Michael Graubart wrote:

PPS: To be more precise, TM showed ‘Backing up’ for about two hours, then I left it running for several hours more, at the end of which the data (amount backed up) shown had not increased, leading me to conclude that the backup had been completed.

What I have now discovered is, seemingly, that nothing was backed up at all, despite the announcement ‘Backing up’.

Well even though TM is failing you give no background on the drive itself(?)— it is  likely the TM  disk has been operating in a state of failure, and will continue to fail with increasing frequency. 

The solution is to replace it for one that works.

Learn more about backup disks that you can use with Time Machine —https://support.apple.com/kb/HT202784

Regularly check the "preferences" in the TM menu, then "options", then check that the "exclude" list is complete ! For example when you connect a disk !