time machine not working with big sur
[Re-Titled by Moderator]
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!
guixiu wrote:
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.
Not required.
I've heard many people are having problems with Big Sur. Good luck!
Will not scroll back in time. I had the TM drive on my Mac with Mojave and all was fine. When I used with Big Sur nothing happens.
I can't even get into Safe Mode any longer. The instructions don't work. Not for Big Sewer.
any news ? I have the same disk i have been using for back up for the last 4 years, was working fine 2 weeks ago, before the update.
After this whole incident and running out of room on the back up disk a few years ago, I'm planning to back up to two separate disks instead of one.
Do you know if i can copy the "backup " folder in my current drive to a new one, so i dont loose those, and the next back up wont start from zero ?
I upgraded from Catalina to Big Sur and cannot use Time Machine any more.
Neither my Samsung external drives nor my G Drive Time machine are either recognized or working any more with Big Sur.
I have no anti virus installed.
My TM works fine except with the mail app. No issue restoring any file but cannot restore a specific email trying to go back in time.
This thread is ridiculous to try to find the answer. Perhaps the question should be posted again with a simple answer.
That’s helpful to know. Hopefully they won’t delete your comment.
this is interesting..... I tried to copy files to the AFPS Time Machine Volume and could not... Here's why:
..Note: The entire APFS disk is reserved for Time Machine backups. If you want to store files other than the Time Machine backup on the same physical device, use Disk Utility to create an additional APFS volume on the disk. The two volumes then share the available space.
I did that and now have two logical volumes. Works fine.
onetoone wrote:
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.
First, I don't know if "most" drives are portable. But the fact remains, if you take a portable drive with you that has a Time Machine backup and data and it fails, wherever it happens to be located, you lose both the backup and the data.
Time Machine not working with Big Sur
