You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

User profile for user: Kerry Kinkade
Kerry Kinkade Author
User level: Level 1
35 points

Time Machine did not finish backing up because some files were unavailable. Backups will resume when your Mac is unlocked.

I've had no trouble with Time Machine until updating my Mac Mini M2 to OS 15.0.1. After the update, I constantly get the message "Time Machine did not finish backing up because some files were unavailable. Backups will resume when your Mac is unlocked." The backups seem to run fine until reaching about 80% then stall before the message appears. I've tried different ports, different USB C hubs, different cables etc. with the same result. I've scann the resources here and found nothing current or helpful on this issue.

Mac mini (M2, 2023)

Posted on Oct 25, 2024 5:25 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply
User profile for user: Kerry Kinkade
Kerry Kinkade Author
User level: Level 1
35 points

Posted on Oct 25, 2024 2:50 PM

After my initial post, I tried erasing my backup drive and starting over with a new time machine backup, but I still got the same message.


After exhausting everything I could think of, I called Apple Care. I spoke with a representative who let me explain everything I had already tried and he indicated that I had covered most of his solutions matrix, so we didn't waste time going over that again (GREATLY APPRECIATED!). I was put on hold for a short time by the rep then asked to do the following:


  1. Eject my backup drive and disconnect it from my Mac;
  2. Open time machine and tell it to forget my backup drive;
  3. Restart my Mac in Safe mode;
  4. Reconnect my backup drive;
  5. Open time machine and tell it to use my backup drive for a new backup;
  6. Let time machine format the backup drive and complete an initial backup to my backup drive;
  7. Confirm the initial backup finished without errors;
  8. Restart my Mac in normal (not safe) mode.


I completed the above steps in pretty short order and have since had 5 hourly backups with no errors. This seems to have solved the problem.

View in context
59 replies

Time Machine did not finish backing up because some files were unavailable. Backups will resume when your Mac is unlocked.

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.
Learn more Sign up