Time Machine Preference Pane Thinks Disk Isn't Connected...Even Though It Is

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Level 3

569 points

Time Machine Preference Pane Thinks Disk Isn't Connected...Even Though It Is

I noticed, in the last few days, my Time Machine preference pane doing something odd. The "Next backup" field, usually, displays the scheduled time that the next backup will be performed. Now, it says "When disk is connected".

However, the disk IS connected...and mounted and fully navigable in the Finder. Backups are accessible and recoverable through the TM interface. My hourly backups are, also, working just fine, as they should, and without my intervention. In short, TM is functioning perfectly...no issues. It's just the preference pane that is misbehaving.

If I let a backup complete while the preference pane is open, it will display a scheduled time for the next backup. Likewise, if "When disk is connected" is displayed, I can deselect, then, reselect the "Back Up Automatically" checkbox and a scheduled next backup time will be displayed. However, if I close the preference pane and reopen it, the field reverts back to "When disk is connected".

I tried a reset of Time Machine -- i.e. Turned off "Back Up Automatically", closed the preference pane, deleted the TM preferences file from the System library, reopened the preference pane, and reselected my TM drive as the backup destination -- that didn't fix it.

Has anyone else seen this behavior and know how to correct it?

MacBook Pro (15-inch Mid 2010)-OTHER, macOS High Sierra (10.13.3)

Posted on Feb 24, 2018 9:26 AM

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Answer 1

Cerebro Author

Level 3

569 points

Mar 17, 2018 10:43 AM in response to MichiganBanjoMan

Well, that's interesting, MichiganBanjoMan. I wouldn't have thought that HOW the preference pane was accessed would make a difference. But, yes, I'm seeing the exact same thing. If I access the pane from System Preferences, the "Next backup" info displays correctly. If I access it from the Menu Bar, it doesn't. I had only been doing the latter, of late, so I never noticed this quirk. Definitely, an odd bug.

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Answer 2

Mar 17, 2018 10:32 AM in response to Cerebro

How are you accessing the preference pane? I have seen the same behavior that you describe when I access the preference pane from the Menu Bar. However, if I access the preference pane from System Preferences, the correct next backup time is displayed.

You would think that the preference pane would display exactly the same information no matter which way it is accessed. However, they don't. The anomaly occurs on both my iMac and my MacBook Pro, both recently upgraded to High Sierra. The issue was not there prior to the upgrade.

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Answer 3

Feb 24, 2018 9:29 AM in response to Cerebro

Cerebro wrote:

Has anyone else seen this behavior and know how to correct it?

Yes, I've seen it. No, I don't know how to correct it. It's something Apple has to fix. It doesn't seem to affect the functioning of Time Machine.

Let Apple know…

Feedback - macOS - Apple

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Answer 4

rtw916

Level 1

50 points

Feb 24, 2018 10:02 AM in response to Cerebro

I have the same issue. Time Machine preferences shows the next back-up will occur when the disk is connected. I see the disk in the Finder. I can open the disk and view the back-ups and have even restored some files. Everything performs like it should and backs up every hour.

I contacted Apple Support and they had me do the "standard" procedures. We captured logs, took screen shots but no resolution. The response from the engineers "It is just a glitch. Everything works so you really do not have an issue." Apple Support says a fix might be in a future update.

If I unlock the Time Machine Preference pane, it changes and I see when the next back-up will occur. But this is just temporary.

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Time Machine Preference Pane Thinks Disk Isn't Connected...Even Though It Is

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