Time Capsule backup failure

Bob -- Please see the attached image below of my current WiFi set up that I'd like to leave intact.

As a possible work around for the backup disruptions via WiFi, I set up a separate ethernet connection from my MacBook Pro to the Time Capsule.

I don't know how to use the ethernet connection instead of WiFi connection for backing up to the Time Capsule. Your responsiveness and expertise are greatly appreciated.

Dan

On your Mac......

Open System Preferences (the gear icon on the dock)

Open Network

Click on the icon just to the right of - (minus) button at the bottom of the connection list

Click on Set Service Order

Make sure that Ethernet is at the top of the connection order list. If it is not, drag it to the top of the list.

With Ethernet at the top of the list, the active connection will automatically switch to Ethernet when you connect an Ethernet cable to the Mac. No need to turn off WiFi from the WiFi menu at the top of the Mac's screen.

Unfortunately, Time Machine has been a lot less than reliable with a Time Capsule and Big Sur.

You have mentioned that you have tried several suggestions, but we don't know what those might be, so we may be wasting your time.

Check to make sure that you are not running any kind of anti-virus application on your Mac.

Power off the Time Capsule by pulling the power plug from the back to the device or pulling the power cord from the AC wall jack.

Try to Shut Down the Mac. If that is not working normally, hold down the power key on the Mac until the Mac powers down.

Wait a few minutes. Start up the Mac again. If a window appears asking whether you want to open the applications that were running when you shut down the Mac, click Cancel.

Wait another minute of two for the Mac to complete its start up.

Power up the Time Capsule and let it run a minute.

Open AirPort Utility on your Mac to see if the Time Capsule will appear in the main window. If yes, click on the Time Capsule to select it, then click Edit in the smaller window that appears. Next, click the Disks tab at the top of the next window to check and check to see if the Time Capsule disk.......named "Data" unless you have changed the name......appears.

Check in Time Machine Preferences to make sure that the Time Capsule disk....named Data.....is the backup destination for your Mac.

Open any Finder window on the Mac and check to make sure that the Time Capsule appears under the Locations listing on the left panel of the Finder window

Report on your progress.

Should I remove CleanMyMac?

Yes. This is the the first troubleshooting step that you should perform, since there have been recent updates to Big Sur that are creating all kinds of issues with anti-virus and other utilities that claim to "optimize", "clean", "speed up", etc your Mac.

None of these things are needed on a Mac, but that is a discussion for the Big Sur support forum.

Please follow the manufacturer's instructions to completely remove the CleanMyMac application from your Mac. Simply deleting the Application or disabling it will not completely remove it from your Mac.

If the backup now runs once you have removed the "utility", you have your answer.

If the backup does not run, then more troubleshooting steps like Verify Backups and Back Up with Consistency Scan will be needed to try to isolate the issue.

Post back on your progress.

Power off the Time Capsule

Restart your Mac

Power the Time Capsule back up again

Click on the Time Machine "clock" icon at the top of the Mac's screen

Click on Open Time Machine Preferences

Make sure that the Time Capsule hard drive......named Data unless you have changed the name.....appears as the backup destination for Time Machine backups

Try to back up again

Unfortunately, this sounds like your backup file has become corrupted and is no longer useable.

Power off the Time Capsule

Restart your Mac

Power the Time Capsule back up

Hold down the option key on your Mac while you click on the Time Machine "clock" icon at the top of the screen

Select Verify Backups

The process will take anywhere from 10-60 minutes or longer depending on much data is stored on the Time Capsule. You can watch the progress by opening Time Machine Preferences.

Let the process run until it completes or until you see a message indicating that the backups cannot be verified.

Not looking good, I am afraid. Backups are very likely corrupted.

Try the following as a last ditch effort.

Power off the Time Capsule

Wait at least 30 minutes, longer will not hurt

Restart the Mac

Hold down the Shift key on your Mac while you click on the Time Machine "clock" icon at the top of the Mac's screen

Select Back Up With Consistency Scan

Frankly, this is not likely going to help or work, but it is the last thing that you can do at this point to try to get backups going again.

At this point, about all that you can do is erase the Time Capsule hard drive and try to start the backup process again.

Some users have a difficult time deleting all the old backups, so there is an option to use the Archive function in AirPort Utility to try to copy all of the data on the Time Capsule hard drive over to a USB drive connected at the Time Capsule's USB port......before......you erase the Time Capsule hard drive.

Unfortunately, because the backup files are corrupted though, they really will be of no use going forward.

So, you have two options at this point:

1) Try to copy all of the data on the Time Capsule hard drive over to a USB drive.....before.....you erase the Time Capsule hard drive and start a new backup

2) Simply erase the Time Capsule hard drive and then try to start a new backup

Not sure how old the Time Capsule might be, but after 5-6+ years, it is time to start thinking about replacing the device, since you would not want to keep important data on a product of this age. Both the Time Capsule power supply and hard drive are in the "suspect" category at this stage.

Let us know how you want to proceed.

I've had exactly same issues with Time Capsule since I've upgraded to Big Sur. On the same TC another Mac running Mojave would have no issue. After fiddling around to no avail, I first backed up on a separate HD, then used Airport Utility to erase the contents of the TC (Disk Utility doesn't work on the TC), then started a complete new backup which is now in progress and seems to work.

By the way, same procedure must be applied on separate HDs (at least mines that are LaCie) to reformat them under APFS and then backup again.

By the way, same procedure must be applied on separate HDs (at least mines that are LaCie) to reformat them under APFS and then backup again.

If you connect a blank USB hard drive directly to a Mac and the hard drive is formatted in the normal Mac OS Extended (Journaled), Time Machine will automatically reformat the drive in APFS (Case Sensitive) before the backup begins.

The hard drive on a Time Capsule is formatted in Mac OS Extended (Journaled). That cannot be changed, but if you back up a Big Sur Mac to a blank Time Capsule disk, Time Machine will automatically format the sparsebundle file on the Time Capsule hard drive in APFS (Case Sensitive), even though the Time Capsule hard drive itself will remain formatted in Mac OS Extended (Journaled).

So, you have backups stored in one format on a hard drive that is formatted in a different way. Gosh, I wonder what could possibly go wrong in this type of setup.

Bob, sorry to contradict you, but in my case I first attempted to do it this way, but eventually found that I needed to first reformat the HD on which there were prior backups and then do the full backup.

Not following this.

Reformatting the drive will erase the drive. If it's a Time Capsule, you have no choice in how it is formatted.....it will be Mac OS Extended (Journaled), also known as HFS+......but.....Time Machine will automatically format the sparsebundle backup file on the Time Capsule as APFS (Case Sensitive).

It is not possible to format the Time Capsule hard drive itself in APFS unless you physically remove the drive from the Time Capsule. Even then, I'm not sure that this would work.

If I erase a USB drive and format it as HFS+, Time Machine will automatically reformat the drive as APFS (Case Sensitive) before the backup begins.

I suppose you could go ahead and format the USB drive as APFS if you prefer. But if you do, I'll bet if you check you will find out that the drive really is formatted as APFS (Case Sensitive), courtesy of Time Machine when you check Get Info for the USB drive.