Backup weak variable error

Outstanding!

This took a bit more sleuthing than the average user is capable of, had to console search and/or grep var/log/system.log for backupd, find the error:

"Jan 2 14:36:35 XXXXX-MacBook-Air backupd[3763]: objc[3763]: __weak variable at 0x7fe27d718680 holds 0x7fe27d710003 instead of 0x7fe27d718880. This is probably incorrect use of objc_storeWeak() and objc_loadWeak(). Break on objc_weak_error to debug."

Then I Googled that to get there, but at least the issues is resolved.

All the direct error dialogue tells me the useless "there was an issue backing up".

That said, this thread saved me, and all is well in my tiny universe.

Thank you!

THANK YOU @theperlarsen, i have been trying to solve this for weeks now - your solution is brilliant, and did the trick! apple really needs to fix this bug (cropped up for me when i upgraded to sierra)

In PathFinder I indeed seem to have a memory leak, cause or not caused by this error message. Sometimes my machine stops to a crawl and I have no other solution but to press the reset button as my machine becomes irresponsive because the memory usage is completely in the red zone.

I got this similar error message after updating to High Sierra about 10 days ago:

__weak variable at 0x7f8077e041a0 holds 0x7f8077e00003 instead of 0x7f8077e04020. This is probably incorrect use of objc_storeWeak() and objc_loadWeak(). Break on objc_weak_error to debug.

Not sure when this problem started as I'm so used to Time Machine working flawlessly that I don't check the backup message on my dashboard app and it only went back to 6AM today. I turned off the iCloud Drive and did a backup now. It seemed to run properly but the message was :

__weak variable at 0x7fc28f72de60 holds 0x7fc28f410003 instead of 0x7fc28f41f290. This is probably incorrect use of objc_storeWeak() and objc_loadWeak(). Break on objc_weak_error to debug.

It seemed like the backup was OK after but I can't be sure. It's annoying to have this happen so I hope someone at Apple is reading these threads and is going to have the problem fixed.

I have been frustrated by this issue for some time. I entered the command as suggested and got this response:

$ log show --predicate 'subsystem == "com.apple.TimeMachine"' --info --last 4h | grep Error

2018-01-05 10:56:14.895151-0800 0x4af425 Error 0x0 19858 14 backupd: (TimeMachine) [com.apple.TimeMachine:TMLogError] Couldn't get volume info for unmounted disk 'disk0s3'

2018-01-05 11:58:02.983719-0800 0x4b7b30 Error 0x0 19980 14 backupd: (TimeMachine) [com.apple.TimeMachine:TMLogError] Couldn't get volume info for unmounted disk 'disk0s3'

2018-01-05 12:57:55.972214-0800 0x4bcf32 Error 0x0 20085 14 backupd: (TimeMachine) [com.apple.TimeMachine:TMLogError] Couldn't get volume info for unmounted disk 'disk0s3'

2018-01-05 13:58:36.835014-0800 0x4c221c Error 0x0 20182 14 backupd: (TimeMachine) [com.apple.TimeMachine:TMLogError] Couldn't get volume info for unmounted disk 'disk0s3'

2018-01-05 14:29:26.372678-0800 0x4c9377 Error 0x128b5a 20542 14 backupd: (TimeMachine) [com.apple.TimeMachine:TMLogError] Couldn't get volume info for unmounted disk 'disk0s3'

This is quite different from your response so I think I have a different problem. Disk Utility didn't list 'disk0s3' (because it's unmounted?) and Spotlight didn't find it either. Do you have another suggestion to resolve this error? I sure hope so. Gerry

Hello Mike,

It means an Apple programmer did something wrong in the code. Beyond that, I have no idea. It may lead to memory leaks, Time Machine crashes, or no problem at all.

I'm seeing the sam ething:

Nov 14 08:09:43 Paratools-SV-MBPro backupd[34842]: objc[34842]: __weak variable at 0x7ffbc2c07e90 holds 0xffff0015 instead of 0x7ffbc59073d0. This is probably incorrect use of objc_storeWeak() and objc_loadWeak(). Break on objc_weak_error to debug.

I have seen issues when running disk utility. I wonder if the SSD is finally showing its age.

MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2014)

uname -a

Darwin Paratools-SV-MBPro.local 16.1.0 Darwin Kernel Version 16.1.0: Thu Oct 13 21:26:57 PDT 2016; root:xnu-3789.21.3~60/RELEASE_X86_64 x86_64

Hello srinathV,

No. This is a software error, not a hardware error.

Bump to this. Anyone else seeing the same issue? I'm having it repeatedly on Sierra with an iMac backing up to a hard disk attached to an AirPort Extreme.

I have the same error messages showing up. However, I am seeing that the time machine backup is failing. I am getting the following message back from Time Machine:

The backup disk image “/Volumes/TimeMachineBackup/Mark’s Mac mini.sparsebundle” is already in use.

I can get it to work for about a day if a delete the target and then reconfigure TM to use it it again. But even this can be tricky as often when I am trying to "reselect" the drive it it fails with this message:

The disk image “Mark’s Mac mini.sparsebundle” is in use.

Then I have to reboot the system to be able to add it back in.

If have this exact same issue. However, Time Machine is backing up as it should, eventhough the drop-down in my menu bar states that the latest backup took place some one month ago. By going into Time Machine, everything is in order, so on my end this error does not affect the actual backups taking place, only the information relayed.

I have this exact issue Passionless Cupid, since upgrading to Sierra. My Time Machine also shows that it's last backup was days ago, but I can go into Time Machine and restore from an hour ago. It will say it's next backup is in one hour, and the hour passes, seems to have no backup, and then it says it's in an hour from now. Sometimes it has backed up and sometimes it hasn't. When I run Verify Backup, it hangs at 69% each time. Im hoping this will be fixed; it's unnerving to see your last backup days ago, and manually run the backups rather than using it as intended. I would feel better if the verify backup would complete, but it hangs. Does yours complete? I don't get the sparsebundle is in use error.. just the weak notations in the console.

SOLVED: Turning off iCloud Drive fixed the issue for me.

The weak variable error in the console is misleading. The logging mechanism was changed for macOS Sierra. Use the paste command into a terminal to view time machine errors:

log show --predicate 'subsystem == "com.apple.TimeMachine"' --info --last 4h | grep Error

I saw lines containing starting with:

Error: (-34) SrcErr:NO Copying Copying /Users/myusername/Library/Mobile Documents/ ...

The mobile folder is used by iCloud drive, so I turned that off. That allowed the backup to complete. Hope this helps others that are experiencing this issue. Hopefully the final version of 10.12.3 fixes this.

Same issue here - for the last month or so. Is there a simple and reliable way to check the backup of TM - besides trying to use it for retrieving something ??

Any way to get it error to go away - e.g. reformat the HD?

Hi dwright_97, interesting that you have notices the hang up - that was lead me to check the TimeMachine Widget messages - but I have also experienced that this computer - MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Early 2015) - did not perform the backups as expected.

Wonder if it would be better to delete the old sparse.image and start over again with a new?