Monterey Time Machine not working

I have something similar working in my environment (see below for details). The Time Machine volume is encrypted, case-sensitive, and has a quota specified (I used a Terminal command to create the Time Machine Volume). Also, I didn't have to use Safe Mode for the first Time Machine backup to complete.

- Pie Lover

I have the same issue, both with 11.6.1 and then after updating to 12.0.1. However, I also could not get TM backup to USB SSD to finish in safe mode either. I get the same behavior - backup runs until the end and then faults with message that "Waiting to complete first backup". Checking in disk utility shows data on disk, but Finder does not show any filename on the disk.

Does Monterey now backup to individual folders instead of a backup folder. Also I had a load of previous hourly backups disappear over the last few days. Only got my M1 Pro on 19th November. Does hourly backups but has deleted a load. Backup history looks like this now. I have a 1TB Lacie drive and only around 300gb is used so why is it deleting backups.

All hourly backups from the 19th November through to yesterday have been deleted.

Another backup has completed and one of yesterdays backups got deleted.

Interesting tool. I'm not a techie so cannot diagnose the issues.

2021-11-24 09:18:35.667265-0800 .          .

Progress: 4% done, -, - MB/s, avg: 0.00 MB/s, - items/s, avg: 0.00 items/s

FSPhysicalSize:3% (CV:23.79 GB/708.4 GB (D: Zero KB),T:708.4 GB,D:Zero KB(-),LA:197 KB(0%))N

FSCompletedItems:5% (CV:59177/1174693 (D: 0),T:1174693,D:0(-),LA:13(0%))Y

TTCompletedEventPaths:- ()N

Copied: 1084 (l:38.2 MB p:41.4 MB) Propagated: 58151 (l:23.78 GB p:23.75 GB) Propagated (shallow): 5146 (l:Zero KB p:Zero KB)

Tracker: FlCp:74DrCp:914SmCp:58FlLn:38FlMvSk:2972DrMvSk:2174

Lookups: DrtLkpHt:15040,DrtLkpMss:120474,DrtLkpSkp:4965,Vld:23313,NVld:9637,LnAltChk:456,ClnAltChk:4,VSChk:23313,IntBckpHt:15040,IntBckpMss:8273,CcheUpdt:1686,NoVlmSts:8649

Comparisons: Mtch:73332,MdD:8175,XAttrNm:26 Operations: TrstLkp:43599,TrstLkpAftAtmpt4:3352,TrstLkpAftAtmpt5:921,DrNoCpy:3860,DrEmpty:3860

Backup Projected Stats: 1220194 items (p:732.4 GB)

Sized: l:20.1 GB p:14.11 GB c:45663, Outstanding:0/446, Finished Volumes:0

Current: Zero KB/(l:Zero KB,p:Zero KB) - /Volumes/Time Machine+/2021-11-24-091434.inprogress/Macintosh HD - Data/private/var/db/oah/279281325309952_279281325309952/7704f1e9114d8c582d9c1d51b7ec43c1900893f089c63904725d17fe0705aa3e

2021-11-24 09:23:29.343378-0800 Skipping scheduled Time Machine backup: Backup already running

2021-11-24 09:23:35.684528-0800 .••••      .

Progress: 50% done, 0.1515%/s, 1.62 MB/s, avg: 1.62 MB/s, 261.86 items/s, avg: 261.86 items/s

FSPhysicalSize:46% (CV:326.6 GB/704.59 GB (D: Zero KB),T:704.59 GB,D:Zero KB(-),LA:74 KB(0%))Y

FSCompletedItems:53% (CV:602251/1137670 (D: 0),T:1137670,D:0(-),LA:5(0%))Y

TTCompletedEventPaths:- ()N

Copied: 10089 (l:501.9 MB p:528.5 MB) Propagated: 594178 (l:328.88 GB p:326.08 GB) Propagated (shallow): 74703 (l:Zero KB p:Zero KB)

Tracker: FlCp:1176DrCp:6836SmCp:2016FlLn:61FlMvSk:66875DrMvSk:7828

Lookups: DrtLkpHt:69537,DrtLkpMss:6762,Vld:71597,NVld:2139,LnAltChk:300,VSChk:71597,IntBckpHt:69537,IntBckpMss:2060,CcheUpdt:7,NoVlmSts:11852

Comparisons: Mtch:82576,MdD:1067 Operations: TrstLkp:70662,TrstLkpAftAtmpt5:5926,DrNoCpy:5654,DrEmpty:5654

Backup Projected Stats: 1220194 items (p:732.4 GB)

Sized: l:23.8 GB p:17.92 GB c:82686, Outstanding:0/521, Finished Volumes:0

Current: Zero KB/(l:487 KB,p:487 KB) - /Volumes/Time Machine+/2021-11-24-091434.inprogress/Macintosh HD - Data/Users/jiporter/Box Sync/JP-PDFs/Classics/Philosophy/Cynics/Texts/Crates of Thebes-DL-Eng.pdf

2021-11-24 09:25:58.243789-0800 Finished copying from volume "Macintosh HD - Data"

      20469 Total Items Added (l: 1.77 GB p: 1.26 GB)

      106120 Total Items Propagated (shallow) (l: Zero KB p: Zero KB)

    1205875 Total Items Propagated (recursive) (l: 690.52 GB p: 687.47 GB)

    1226344 Total Items in Backup (l: 692.29 GB p: 688.73 GB)

        7529 Files Copied (l: 1.76 GB p: 1.25 GB)

      10458 Directories Copied (l: Zero KB p: Zero KB)

        2421 Symlinks Copied (l: 59 KB p: Zero KB)

          61 Files Linked (l: 10.5 MB p: 10.6 MB)

      96598 Files Move Skipped (l: Zero KB p: Zero KB) | 96598 items propagated (l: 57.4 GB p: 57.24 GB)

        9522 Directories Move Skipped (l: Zero KB p: Zero KB) | 1003157 items propagated (l: 633.12 GB p: 630.23 GB)

2021-11-24 09:25:59.670521-0800 Unmounted '/Volumes/com.apple.TimeMachine.localsnapshots/Backups.backupdb/JIP MBP 14/2021-11-24-091433/Macintosh HD - Data'

2021-11-24 09:25:59.696745-0800 Unmounted local snapshot: com.apple.TimeMachine.2021-11-24-091433.local at path: /Volumes/com.apple.TimeMachine.localsnapshots/Backups.backupdb/JIP MBP 14/2021-11-24-091433/Macintosh HD - Data source: Macintosh HD - Data

2021-11-24 09:25:59.821010-0800 Backup failed (104: BACKUP_DELAYED_UNFINISHED_PROTECTED_FILES)

2021-11-24 09:53:59.455590-0800 Starting automatic backup

2021-11-24 09:54:01.029729-0800 Backing up 1 volumes to Time Machine+ (/dev/disk5s4,16): /Volumes/Time Machine+

We also copied logs, reports and screen shots. I agree there is a bug in the new macOS. The engineers have enough information and enough occupancies of the problem to address this issue as a priority. Has anyone reinstalled Big Sur or another prior macOS?

I have a related question. I noticed that after running unsuccessful TM backups repeatedly, my purgeable space has grown to 400 GB and my available space on my internal disk has shrunk by that amount. I believe this is due to TM snapshots and hidden backups. Is this normal behavior? Or is my internal drive gorging itself on TM data that it cannot place on my external HDD? (Possibly a clue to the problem or just a symptom of it?)

I don't need to worry about running out of space yet, but I could if this continues this way.

As I mentioned before the auto scheduled Time Machine backups were stopping with a message that a particular file could not be backed up. Each time the file listed was a hidden file and related to a browser. Today the same thing happened, except the file reference was a Siri file in another hidden folder.

Not true. Prior to Monterey, I was backing up a 2021 iMac (M1chip) & a 2019 MBP16 (Intel) to the same Time Machine volume. The only things that the 2 computers have in common are SDD hard drives & Monterey 12.0.1. The iMac is still backing up correctly. The MBP16 is not. It seems odd that people reporting here are getting such mixed results with M1 vs. Intel. I have tried most of the remedies suggest here, short of reformatting the volume, to no avail. I hope Apple addresses this problem soon.

Let me join the crowd of Time Machine victims. Brand new MBP 14" with M1Pro. I've erased and formatted three hard drives--two Toshiba, two Hitachi. They format as APFS by Time Machine. Time Machine takes forever to complete the first back-up. Then it MAY or may not run a second and third backup, each lasting forever--at least overnight with no termination. I force the process to quit (skip backup) and then examine the disk. It shows no files are there and Time Machine shows "first" and "latest backup" as "never." But oddly, if I ENTER Time Machine, the files seem to be there. But honestly, I have ZERO confidence that my files are actually backed-up. While I do have cloud back-up and I make a clone, Time Machine's historical backups have saved me countless times and I really need a functioning Time Machine. How could Apple miss this?

Similar problem on my Intel iMac 2020 using external 8T drive. Mine drive disappears from my desktop, followed by an "improper ejection" message. Worked fine with Big Sur and, after one failure, was OK with Monterey12.0.1. Can't get it to complete first backup with newly updated 12.1. Wish Apple could get its act together with its own Time Machine.

Appreciate all suggestions, including https://www.howtoisolve.com/time-machine-not-working-on-mac/ but NONE work for me. Like many, I was hoping 12.1 would fix it. I won't run down each things I've tried, but I've tried all suggestions from multiple sources. Worse, I can't even get SuperDuper (new version, Silicon native) to make a bootable copy. The nice folks who make the product say it's something with the OS. So, something about Monterey + M1Pro chip just isn't working for my brand new MBP 14" As I've already tried Safe Mode, and using a separate administrator account, the only other thing I can think of is completely wiping the disk and starting over. But that will be a lot of work. I guess I'll start the undoubtedly frustrating process of seeking help from Apple. I've used Macs since 1985 and have never had this much grief.

As mentioned, what works for you (excluding the Container folder) hasn't for me and, barring confirmation from the community, hasn't for others either. So perhaps it's not a guess, just a lucky hit, and not a universally valid one, judging from the sundry complaints by posters to this site. Neither my nor your solution is a proper fix, since complete restores from TM backups are ruled out in both cases.

I was simply trying to help the OP to a quick solution that I am quite certain will work as a pis aller to get TM going (preferable to CCC, which overwrites and doesn't offer the same depth and ease of versioning; I still use CCC just the same and this hobbled version of TM). If you'd like to confirm the Library folder method, by all means report back to the user community. It would be good to know if there's a lowest common denominator that works for everyone and not just this or that user.

I can confirm that this works for me too (MPB 14). Thanks very much for sharing the information. Strangely, a manual exclusion of the entire containers folder did not work in the past, but running this terminal command did.

Actually, it worked only once the first time. Do you run the terminal command each time? ie, is the exclusion permanent or temporary? I'm guessing you have to make the exclusion request repeatedly to get a backup to work. will experiment.

@tundraespresso

Actually, it worked only once the first time. Do you run the terminal command each time? ie, is the exclusion permanent or temporary? I'm guessing you have to make the exclusion request repeatedly to get a backup to work. will experiment.