Time Machine not working with Big Sur
time machine not working with big sur
[Re-Titled by Moderator]
tbirdvet wrote:
time machine not working with big sur
Why not? Did you review the applicable Apple Support documents?
Question marked as
I've been fighting with this for months, and finally found the cause (at least in my case): I'm running Sophos anti-virus, and this is a known incompatibility with their software and Big Sur which they have documented:
https://support.home.sophos.com/hc/en-us/articles/360051251412-Support-for-macOS-11-Big-Sur-
Here is the full description of the problem from their website:
"Time Machine backups to NETWORK locations (Time Capsule, NAS) are currently failing when Sophos Home is installed on Big Sur macOS 11 - Users will see a message reading "Time Machine couldn't complete the backup - The disk is already in use" This does NOT affect local backups, or backups to external devices/drives.
This issue is currently under investigation by our development team. As a workaround, run the backup in Safe mode or use an external device to backup to. We expect this issue to be resolved by March of 2021."
I got a different error message (several of them, in fact), but otherwise this matched my problem description. In order to solve this, I had to completely uninstall Sophos. Disabling it wasn't enough. Hopefully they get it worked out, but in the meantime, I'd rather have backups than anti-virus (I'll experiment with other AV solutions).
Hopefully this helps someone else!
79 replies
guixiu wrote:
Apparently with Big Sur it has to be APFS format.
No it doesn't. I have three different Macs running Big Sur and all the Time Machine drives are formatted as HFS+.
looks like there is a bug with time machine - it has filled up a 1TB drive with multiple backups of the 125GB macbook air
so something has happened to the backup logic in Big Sur
Same here. Since upgrading to Big Sur, Time Machine gets stuck on "preparing backup." I let it run all night; no joy. I'm on the phone now with Apple tech support. At least for the agent I'm working with, this problem seems to be a new issue. It may have something to do with the way my external hard drive is formatted. Apparently with Big Sur it has to be APFS format. I have no idea what that means, but I suspect my drive is HPF+ formatted, since that seems to be how the G-Drive Mobile is preformatted. It worked fine in Catalina. Not in Big Sur.
onetoone wrote:
I did that and now have two logical volumes. Works fine.
Yes, that works. However, it's not the best idea to save data on a drive used by Time Machine because if the drive fails (and they will eventually), you lose both your backups and your data.
most backup drives are portable so this ability allows you to put a few files on the drive and take the drive with you,, anywhere. not really meant to be used an extension of external storage, just a temporary convenience.. of course a thumb drive gives the same ability.
Original poster here. I have yet another phone session with my AppleCare support person tomorrow. Last week we tried a series of interventions recommended by Apple engineers based on live comprehensive diagnostic testing from the previous phone session. None of those interventions worked, so my support person recorded another post-intervention diagnostic session, and I'll hear results and new recommendations from the engineers tomorrow. It's definitely a Big Sur-related snafoo, although it doesn't affect everyone who upgraded from Catalina. I haven't been able to back up with Time Machine since Oct. 28.
I have a the same or at least a similar problem. I bought a new MacBook Air coming from a Mid 2012 MacBook Pro and with that I upgraded to Big Sur. My Time Machine Backup runs on a Time Capsule. The initial backup works fine. After that Time Machine starts regularly to begin a new backup but it only starts with searching for the volume and preparing the backup. Thats it, no further backups :(
I have read through this entire thread and tried several suggestions. I verified I do not have the third party apps also mentioned. Time Machine will not work.
I have a Macbook Air 13 running on Big Sur 11.2.1. I use a Western Digital My Book external hard drive for my time machine. It has always worked. For years. And now I get nothing but can't back up due to errors.
I took the suggestion and using disk utility changed the format from APFS to Mac OS Extended. Somehow after the first time back up the container changes back to APFS and you guessed it - will not work.
What Apple voodoo is this?
This is so aggravating. BigSur has been a ton of headaches so far (Bluetooth issues, kernel panics, mail app & exchange fails, and now time machine issues).
I tried the remove and erase and re-chose the back-up disk. 1st backup was fine, 2nd back-up was fine. 24 hours later, the error is back.
This is BigSur's issue...just like the horrible bluetooth lag that never existed on the same hardware with Catalina. Or the Mail issue, which is fine on my Catalina MacBook Pro but not on the iMac with BigSur. It's some of the laziest and most bug ridden I have ever seen from Apple.
My Big Sur Time Machine backup drive is not working properly. Firstly message says It's full but I thought older backups were deleted to make room for new ones? Secondly when you open the drive in finder the previous backups are not visible?
I have a new MacBook Air (which is running Big Sur) and all my backups in Time Machine were from my older MacBook Air which was running an older version of IOS (High Sierra). When I enter Time Machine with the EHD plugged in to the newer MacBook Air, it doesn't show any of the older backups within Time Machine? Why is this so? Can this be rectified please?
Many thanks for any help given.
Just for the record my original(old) issue was "TM not working correctly with mail". The moderator changed it to "TM just not working" which is not the issue. TM works fine for everything except mail.
Yes, it took me a long weekend and interaction with numerous Apple Support people to discover Mail and TM did not work as of old. It does not appear to be an Apple priority to make it work again.
MailBackupX is news to me. I now save anything I might want to keep on the iMac and hope I don't delete anything I will want in future. So far, so good but one day, I will want to retrieve and e-mail long gone. I use my iMac just for personal use so it is unlikely to be crucial. If I were in business, it would be a bigger issue.
tbirdvet wrote:
time machine not working with big sur
It's working for me.
Time Machine not working with Big Sur