Joe Sixpack wrote:
• Error message was:
"Backup not completed. Time Machine couldn't back up to CleanSlate"
("CleanSlate" is the drive name.)
T7 drive permissions:
Prior to attempting a back up: "You have custom access"
• After back up failure: "You can only read"
Thanks for the extra details. I'll have to give the new details some thought.
I'd run EtreCheck, but this is not my Mac, so I don't want to install software that is not from the App Store. I did try watching the console, but it was flooded with messages, and I didn't know what to look for.
I understand. I'm the same way, however, if I am unable to use my own bootable external drives for troubleshooting, then sometimes it is necessary to run a third party app for troubleshooting purposes. The trick is trying to use apps which do not need to install themselves into the OS and using trusted apps which won't do anything nefarious.
FYI, EtreCheck does not install anything onto the system. You can run it directly from the Downloads folder. The only thing that would be added to the system would be a preference .plist file for EtreCheck (like every other app this is used) which would be in "~/Library/Preferences/com.etresoft.EtreCheck4.plist". You can check out the EtreCheck website....the developer mentions how to remove it although it seems they did overlook this one preference file (very minor since it is such a small file and does nothing on its own...and most apps store a preference file when run).
EtreCheck was written by a respected forum contributor as a way to provide useful sanitized system details as an aid for forum contributors to quickly know the relevant system configuration details & performance metrics, and a summary of some system logs. It was made to be non-invasive and to respect user privacy. It really does save time when trying to assist users remotely as the report has the information we need to help them....users tend to omit critical details including misrepresenting things regarding their systems. You can easily find samples of EtreCheck reports posted on this forum if you want to see the information they contain.
The EtreCheck app is from a developer Apple recognizes & is in good standing....their app is signed & notarized so Gatekeeper and macOS security will allow it to run.
I do understand your hesitation especially since it is not your system. You could present the case to the owner and ask if it is Ok for you to use this app on their computer.
Without an EtreCheck report it is hard to know if there is something with their macOS setup which is causing the problem. The following may help us move forward:
How many external drives are involved? And are they all TM backup drives? I'm asking because if one of them is a regular data drive, then you could test the data drive on another Mac to compare results.
If it is only a TM drive with the problem, then you can try creating a new APFS volume on that TM drive to see if that is possible. If a new APFS volume can be created, then see if you can transfer any files to the new volume.
From the original post:
The MacBook uses File Vault by default. The Time Machine backup is set to not use encryption and gives a very quick message about that when the backup starts.
Just curious what this message says.
