Time machine backup not running

Anyone seeing this issue pop up again on 10.12.2? I just noticed this week that my backups were not running every hour. Again, same symptoms as before - random backup times.

So I did what we learned to do before - I unplugged my UPC USB cable, rebooted, then plugged the cable back in. Sure enough, the last 5 hours TM has been backing up each hour.

-Kevin

I have the same problem on 10.12.5 with a CyberPower 1000PFCLCD UPS. Automatic backups were being skipped with no information in the logs until I unplugged the USB cable fro my UPS and rebooted. Automatic backups have been working fine since then. It's unfortunate to have to forego the communication between the UPS and the Mac that allows for graceful shutdown in the event of an extended power outage, but I'd rather have working automatic backups right now. Before this I tried updating the TM prefs file with the RequiresACPower boolean and that did not seem to have any effect. Hopefully this will be fixed in a future release of macOS.

I have a 2009 iMac with this exact issue. "Back up Now" works perfectly, but is not a viable workaround. I even decided to format and start clean but that was a waste of time.

I wonder how many people have this issue and have no idea. Huge bug if you ask me. I have reported it to Apple through the public beta feedback, but I have no idea whether this will prioritize the issue.

Out of curiosity, are you backing up to directly attached external hard drive? In my case, I am using a QNAP NAS as a network destination. This has never been an issue before.

<Edited By Host>

This simple procedure will clear your Time Machine settings, including the list of excluded items. The backups themselves won't be affected. If you have a long exclusion list that can't be recreated easily, you may prefer a more complicated procedure that preserves the list. In that case, ask for instructions. Otherwise, see below.

Triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it:

/Library/Preferences/com.apple.TimeMachine.plist

Right-click or control-click the highlighted line and select

Services ▹ Reveal in Finder (or just Reveal)

from the contextual menu.* A Finder window should open with a file selected. Copy the file to the Desktop. Then move the original (not the copy) to the Trash. You'll be prompted for your administrator password.

Restart the computer and recreate your settings in the Time Machine preference pane. It will falsely show that you have no backups. Don't worry; your backups haven't been touched. Add only the USB drive as a destination—not the NAS, which is unsuitable for use with Time Machine, despite what the manufacturer says.

The next backup may take much longer than usual. If TM now performs as expected, delete the file you copied to the Desktop.

*If you don't see the contextual menu item, copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combinationcommand-C. In the Finder, select

Go ▹ Go to Folder...

from the menu bar and paste into the box that opens by pressing command-V. You may not see what you pasted because a line break is included. Press return.

This seems to be a bug in El Cap. Same for me I started 2 topics here:

Time Machine not running since El Cap install

http://forums.macrumors.com/threads/time-machine-not-running-since-el-cap-instal l.1924825/

@Linc Davis

Deleting the plist has no affect on this issue. I even went so far as to wipe the TM disk and start over. I've personally seen it on 2 machines, and have heard of others. It seems as if there is some bug in El Cap where the timer runs each hour, but the actual backup task never starts.

The other thing someone found which I confirmed......if you sleep your machine, TM will do a backup upon resuming from sleep (assuming the time between backups has passed).

I have opened a bug report with Apple so hopefully they are aware.

-Kevin

Just for reference on the 2 machines I've seen with the issue:

First machine is a 2010 Mac Pro and the TM drive is internal

Second machine is a 2013 iMac and the TM drive is USB external

With no errors and no warnings, I'd say a LOT of people probably don't realize yet. Plus those that sleep their machines will at least get a backup each time they wake. My Mac Pro is on 24x7.

-Kevin

I'm having the exact same issue on a 2009 MacPro.

As netnothing indocated deleting the plist file has no effect. I'm interested to hear that wiping the backup doesn't work. That at least saves me trying that next.

Also, note that no errors or references to backupd (the time machine process) show up at n Consile when the hourly time coned around. It's like the scheduled backup is simply never executed. This definitely seems to be an error (if somewhat obscure, who knows what triggers it) in El Capitan.

I highly recommend filing a bug report with Apple.

@Chris Kohuch

Wiping the drive does nothing either. I did.....and 1.3TB later, still have the issue.

I did file an official bug report with Apple. Yeah....it's like the timer goes off each hour but someone commented out the line to actually run the backupd process.

-Kevin

I too can confirm that wiping the TM drive does nothing to fix this specific issue.

Not sure what exactly has happened to Apple's quality control. This is such a fundamental component of OS X and should just work.

Apple responded to my Bug Report asking for typical logs etc. Makes me think this is the first they are hearing about this (usually my bug reports are closed as duplicates).

-Kevin

Another data point, TM is working for me on a MacPro5,1 using an external drive BUT I have had the event store ID change so that a deep scan was required. The deep scan may take a looonnnnng time to complete. I have also noticed the disk icon not changing from the generic yellow to the green TM icon but the TM backups do appear to complete eventually. Most TM runs appear normal.

I did have a serious problem with Apple Mail but that is another issue.

Good luck

So my bug report was closed as a duplicate today. Clearly someone else reported this earlier. Let's hope they get a fix out for it quickly.

-Kevin

Your solution does not work. I am not the only one who tried your solution to no avail. Any other ideas?