time machine fails on cleanup M2 MBP 13 to LaCie

Question

time machine fails on cleanup M2 MBP 13 to LaCie

Hi,

I have a boat load of computers used in my lab. One that I use has a LaCie USB3 Time Machine backup. I don't use this much and was updating the OS today and noticed it hasn't had a backup since January.

So I did a Back up Now and it did 2.2GB all good went to clean up and it failed said it could not find the drive.

Ok I have 3 USB protocol analyzers here so the LaCie was on a OWC hub so first I tried the drive direct with a USB3->USB-C adapter same problem.

So I loaded up the USB-Prober app and the drive stays connected. Ok that's old try a protocol analyzer.

Hooked it up into a MacBook Air and watched the 200 file update. Then it failed again.

I used Disk Utility and checked the drive it's fine.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Gordon

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 14.6

Posted on Sep 11, 2024 2:01 PM

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Answer 1

AlWeir

Level 5

5,103 points

Sep 12, 2024 7:49 AM in response to Gordon Rankin

Is the LaCie a HD or SSD?

Did you format the drive to be used for Sonoma. If it was APFS on a HD then

APFS does have one significant downside: because it’s designed primarily for SSDs, its performance on mechanical hard drives is terrible. I mean, almost completely unusable. (Fusion drives are better, but still not great.)

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Answer 2

AlWeir

Level 5

5,103 points

Sep 12, 2024 10:17 AM in response to Gordon Rankin

I use a utility that shows the health of SSD's that S.M.A.R.T. install on them. It's called DriveDX and it gives you a run down what is going on with SSD's. I use primarily on my SSD on my MAC internal to see how it looks. Other than I can't give you mush more help on you problem.

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Answer 3

Sep 12, 2024 12:52 PM in response to AlWeir

Ok a bit of new information. I went to eclecticlight.co as they had a lot of info for Time Machine problems. I loaded up their Time Machine app and found out that the backups are working fine. It's just the cleanup seems to be failing and there are no errors to be shown anywhere including the console.

So the displayed error of why it's not finishing with a can't find the drive error is misleading I think and not the actual problem.

I will pull up Time Machine and see what I get out of it. If it says January or today.

Thanks,

Gordon

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Answer 4

Sep 12, 2024 8:59 AM in response to AlWeir

Thanks for the reply!

I had to open it to be sure, but it's a Samsung SATAIII drive and yes APFS.

The controller is an older LaCie FireWire 800/USB3 (larger B type) and I am using it USB3-SS from a USB-C hub which has 3 USB3, 2 USB-HS/SS/FS, HDMI and Ethernet 10/100/1000.

Gordon

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