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Big Sur, Big Problems with Time Capsule

Folks, who else is having issues with backing up to Time Capsule with Time Machine after upgrading to Big Sur?


All my older backups are no longer accessible! Everything was working just fine before Big Sur. Time Machine now keeps asking to do a first backup. When I try to do a backup, it goes into "preparing" for 20 min, then "stopping," then nothing. 1st backup fails to complete.


I tried backing up with Time Machine to a WD external drive hooked up via USB. That works just FINE. It backs up MUCH faster than before too. So I'm guessing Big Sur is having issues with Time Capsule as a networked drive??

Posted on Nov 15, 2020 5:23 PM

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I just discovered that "Back Up Automatically" is the only way to go for Time Capsule.

No more the need for verification before an actual backup.

But any externally connected USB backup drive has to be disconnected.

Posted on Dec 3, 2020 4:35 PM

78 replies

Nov 15, 2020 5:34 PM in response to theping

Yes.. it certainly seems TC is dropping further and further behind.


Sorry nothing running big sur yet but the suggestion is to clear your TC.. if you have previous backups you want to keep use a USB HFS+ formatted drive and archive the TC.. then erase it..

Then try again with Time Machine as it seems to be able to alter things to work with Big Sur.. however your older computers (if you have any) may then have issues.. give it a go..

Nov 16, 2020 9:48 AM in response to LaPastenague

Dang. Ok, not so easy to copy over given we are talking about many TBs. Hoping someone might have a magic pill or something. Time Capsule is never and was never easy to use. Maybe it is time to give up?


I noticed that my external drive is still storing in a backups.backupdb. The Time Capsule moved over to a .backupbundle. Does that have something to do with the trouble?

Nov 16, 2020 12:02 PM in response to theping

Maybe it is time to give up?


Yes.. I do believe so. It is now old tech.. even if apple only stopped production 2.5years ago, the fundamental design goes back to 2008 with improvements in things like disk size and wifi speed.. but none in terms of the change over from AFP to SMB networking that came with Mavericks??? So it has been left behind for ages.


I noticed that my external drive is still storing in a backups.backupdb. The Time Capsule moved over to a .backupbundle. Does that have something to do with the trouble?


*WARNING.. I am trying to understand myself what is going on.. This is guesswork after reading all the available info.. which as you know.. Apple supplies in a drip feed to those who need to know.. end users are in the category of unwashed masses who get nothing. END WARNING*


The underlying format remained HFS+ even though the drive MUST be APFS. Catalina gives trouble for many people on network backups. There are multiple reasons for this, but certainly the changes in OS protocols to SMB3 (AFP which must be used with TC is deprecated), and continued use of HFS+ when Catalina requires APFS format drive could also enter into it. I do not think the change to .backupbundle was much more than a naming exercise intended to prevent Catalina destroying older backups. Big Sur has now made the full change to APFS on the .backupbundle which was probably intended for Catalina.. but cannot do it without starting from empty target. Check the format on the disk holding backups.backupdb. I think you will find it is now changed.




Nov 20, 2020 9:23 AM in response to Keith14

Not necessarily a solution, but not much else to try at this point. If the Time Capsule is 5+ years old, I would retire it.


Not sure if LaPastenague already mentioned this, but Time Machine backs up to an external drive connected directly to a Mac differently than it does to a network drive like a Time Capsule.


Time Machine backs up to a normal folder on an external drive connected directly to a Mac but backs up to a special container called a sparsebundle.......(now called a backupbundle in Catalina and Big Sur)......which is a more complicated way to back up. More chances for errors to occur.

Nov 20, 2020 10:37 AM in response to Keith14

Not practical for most folks.


Say your Mac connects to your network using WiFi now. You would have to turn off the WiFi on the Mac and connect to the Time Capsule from your Mac using an Ethernet cable. Then, disconnect the Ethernet cable and log back onto your normal WiFi network once a backup has run.


Or, log off of your current WiFi network and log onto the Time Capsule WiFi to back up. Then, log off o f the Time Capsule WiFi and back onto your regular WiFi network once a backup has run.




Nov 20, 2020 11:39 AM in response to Keith14

If you can connect the Time Capsule using an Ethernet cable to an Ethernet port on your main router, you do have the option of turning off the WiFi on the Time Capsule and backing up over the WiFi provided by your regular WiFi router.


You can even "hide" the Time Capsule if you want in this type of setup, because it will not be providing a WiFi network. Then, you will be able to back up seamlessly over the same network that you use for your Internet service. Backups to a Time Capsule occur only over on your "local" network, the Internet is never involved in a backup.

Nov 20, 2020 11:54 AM in response to Keith14

I haven't read through the entire thread so may have missed something.


Apple will have you power off your router, power off the Time Capsule, restart your Mac, etc and power things back up as a first step.

After that, they will usually ask you to reset the Time Capsule and set it up again.

If still no luck, it's erase the Time Capsule hard drive and try to start over again with a new backup


If you don't want to lose the old backups.......you can copy them over to a USB drive connected to the Time Capsule using the Archive function in AirPort Utility......before.....you erase the Time Capsule hard drive. Unfortunately, no guarantees that the old backups will still be useable though.






Nov 20, 2020 12:39 PM in response to Bob Timmons

I’ve carried out the power off bit, fortunately I’d only recently (October) reconnected the capsule after household redesign etc, and had cleared it, so no extensive history to speak of. I’ll give it a try and go from there. The change in destination name is probably why Time Machine gives the ‘Time capsule is already in use’ message.

Nov 22, 2020 10:47 AM in response to theping

Pretty sure no one wants this solution, but my "do-nothing" approach seems to have fixed it.


I restarted my modem and router. And then waited till the weekend for time to archive my existing backups as suggested below. BUT THEN lo and behold the Time Capsule STARTED TO BACKUP yesterday!!!


I did nothing except enable "Back Up Automatically." What the heck.


Just to clarify a few details:

(1) My Time Capsule has always been hooked up to the modem so it appears as Time Capsule.local.

(2) Not all the backups re-appeared, just ones from 2020. I had some backups from 2018 and 2019, but I guess it's fine to let them go.

(3) Now I've un-clicked "Back Up Automatically" and backup is still working...


Nov 23, 2020 9:49 AM in response to theping

Interesting issues revealed by this thread.


I have a Time Capsule that currently serves as a way to backup 4 computers, and has worked pretty much flawlessly for quite some time.


One of these is a 2017 13 inch MacBook Air, which has plenty of free space on the internal drive, and has been backing up with no issues since put into service.


Until I upgraded it to Big Sur - now it gives me this error when it cannot complete a backup -


"Time Machine could not back up the disk “%@” because a snapshot of the disk could not be created."


All other computers continue to back up as before with no issues -


Any thoughts?




Big Sur, Big Problems with Time Capsule

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