Running a late 2009 iMac on the latest version of Sierra
My time machine backups have become erratic
They don't automatically backup but run perfectly if I initiate the process
This is a brand new problem
I have run disk utility for my external drive and it is fine
I have rebooted
They run on the hourly schedule for a while but then it stops
ANY help appreciated
Mark
iMac, macOS Sierra (10.12.1)
Please copy the following line (triple-click to select the entire line), and paste it in a Terminal window:
cat /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.backupd-auto.plistPost its results.
why not attempt to edit it?
Is it a process that can be stopped and re-
started?
I re-ran the command and there is no space - it is a render problem in this text box
<string>/System/Library/CoreServices/backupd.bundle/Contents/Resources/backupd-h elper</string>
thanks - my last decision is to reinstall the OS
Mine works fine now if I reboot the Mac - then it will do hourly backups FOR A WHILE
then it stops
It will allow me to do a manual backup anytime
this is very annoying
*Manual backups not updates
Did you contact Apple? If not, you should.
Just one more question - is there a process - backuphelper or backupd in the activity monitor that I can stop and restart to try to cure this issue?
thanks again
If TM isn't working, then those processes won't be running anyway.
Until I can find a system that is not backing up automatically so that I can examine it, I have no explanation.
my system has those processes running but my TM won't kick off automatically:
Post another log excerpt if you wish. It may not show anything more revealing than the previous one though.
I understand. Merely reinstalling macOS is non-destructive to your User account. It's also generally unhelpful, but justified when you are certain something caused it to be corrupted.
Isn't this what you recommended ?
Yes:
Most likely, Apple will have you repeat everything you did, ultimately followed by reinstalling macOS, so you might as well do that anyway.
thanks again John
TM has fired off 3 backups on its own since I did the reinstall
Hope this keeps up
why did you say reinstalling the OS is generally unhelpful?
time machine stopped working
