My time capsule is perpetually "waiting to complete first backup."

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14 points

My time capsule is perpetually "waiting to complete first backup."

My timecapsule recently informed me that my backup was corrupted and it needed to remake it. Fine, but after several days it was still "Waiting to complete first backup."

I followed the advice of many threads and deleted the .plist file

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

That didn't work.

So I formatted the disk AND deleted the .plist, cleaned out my trash and rebooted. Let the backup run for days. Still waiting to complete first backup.

I run the following command in terminal:

clear; printf '\e[3J' && log show --predicate 'subsystem == "com.apple.TimeMachine"' --info --last 24h | grep -F 'eMac' | grep -Fv 'etat' | awk -F']' '{print substr($0,1,19), $NF}'

And get this result:

2018-06-24 22:45:04 Copied 1.1 MB of 104.9 MB, 726177 of 6150231 items

2018-06-24 22:59:58 Not starting scheduled Time Machine backup: Backup already running

2018-06-24 23:28:56 Not starting scheduled Time Machine backup: Backup already running

2018-06-24 23:45:50 Copied 896.3 MB of 896.3 MB, 1056224 of 6150231 items

2018-06-24 23:57:18 Not starting scheduled Time Machine backup: Backup already running

2018-06-25 00:18:12 Unexpected result from MDBackupIndexFile (1) for: /Volumes/com.apple.TimeMachine.localsnapshots/Backups.backupdb/BriMacPro/2018-0 6-24-204440/Macintosh HD/System/Library/Frameworks/AddressBook.framework/Versions/A/Resources/ko.lpro j/ABPeoplePicker.nib, /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/BriMacPro/2018-06-24-204440.inProgress/1D304C5F-67AC-4 F2D-B3B1-AA09AB89DB7B/Macintosh HD/System/Library/Frameworks/AddressBook.framework/Versions/A/Resources/ko.lpro j/ABPeoplePicker.nib

2018-06-25 00:18:12 Stopping backup.

2018-06-25 00:18:12 : Input/output error

2018-06-25 00:18:12 Error: (-34) SrcErr:NO Copying /Volumes/com.apple.TimeMachine.localsnapshots/Backups.backupdb/BriMacPro/2018-0 6-24-204440/Macintosh HD/System/Library/Frameworks/AddressBook.framework/Versions/A/Resources/ko.lpro j/ABLabelsAndProperties.strings to /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/BriMacPro/2018-06-24-204440.inProgress/1D304C5F-67AC-4 F2D-B3B1-AA09AB89DB7B/Macintosh HD/System/Library/Frameworks/AddressBook.framework/Versions/A/Resources/ko.lpro j

2018-06-25 00:18:12 Copied 423682 items (2.21 GB) from volume Macintosh HD. Linked 721261.

2018-06-25 00:18:12 : Input/output error

2018-06-25 00:18:13 : Input/output error

2018-06-25 00:18:13 Copy stage failed with error:28

2018-06-25 00:18:14 Unmounted local snapshot: com.apple.TimeMachine.2018-06-24-204440 at path: /Volumes/com.apple.TimeMachine.localsnapshots/Backups.backupdb/BriMacPro/2018-0 6-24-204440/Macintosh HD source: Macintosh HD

2018-06-25 00:18:14 : Input/output error

2018-06-25 00:18:14 Backup failed because the network destination disk was ejected or disconnected unexpectedly!

2018-06-25 00:18:14 Backup failed with error 26: The connection to the server was interrupted.

2018-06-25 00:18:14 FSGetVolumeInfo returned: -35

2018-06-25 00:18:14 Failed to eject volume (null) (FSVolumeRefNum: -134; status: -35; dissenting pid: -1)

2018-06-25 00:18:14 Failed to eject Time Machine disk image: /Volumes/BackupsNotHiccups/BriMacPro.sparsebundle

2018-06-25 00:27:18 Starting automatic backup

2018-06-25 00:27:18 Attempting to mount network destination URL: afp://Brian;AUTH=SRP@TimeCapsule._afpovertcp._tcp.local./BackupsNotHiccups

2018-06-25 00:27:25 Mounted network destination at mount point: /Volumes/BackupsNotHiccups using URL: afp://Brian;AUTH=SRP@TimeCapsule._afpovertcp._tcp.local./BackupsNotHiccups

2018-06-25 00:27:34 Checking for runtime corruption on /dev/disk3s2

2018-06-25 00:31:09 Failed to mount disk image: Error Domain=com.apple.backupd.ErrorDomain Code=21 "(null)" UserInfo={MessageParameters=(

2018-06-25 00:31:09 Failed to eject volume (null) (FSVolumeRefNum: -136; status: -36; dissenting pid: -1)

2018-06-25 00:31:10 Waiting 60 seconds and trying again.

2018-06-25 00:31:11 Backup canceled.

2018-06-25 00:31:11 FSGetVolumeInfo returned: -35

2018-06-25 00:31:11 Failed to eject volume (null) (FSVolumeRefNum: -136; status: -35; dissenting pid: -1)

I see so many candidates for the problem in there I don't know where to begin. Can anyone who is fluent in diagnostics see where I should start?

MacBook Pro with Retina display, macOS Sierra (10.12.6)

Posted on Jun 24, 2018 11:48 PM

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Answer 1

Jun 25, 2018 2:43 AM in response to Brianfit

As long as you have local snapshots turned on the system will try to use them.. I recommend since you do have a USB backup turn off the local snapshots.

About Time Machine local snapshots - Apple Support

Does't have much actual info.. typical of Apple documentation these days.

Disable local snapshots in High Sierra with APFS

Frankly our recommendation to people now is give up on Time Machine. ie fix the snapshot problem by turning off Time Machine.

It is utterly unreliable in High Sierra.. and especially with APFS.. simply download and use alternative like carbon copy cloner.. it may not be as swish.. but then again a good working backup beats hands down the backup with a 1000 extra globlies?? .. and doesn't actually work at all.. or reliably.. after seeing the annual TM has shat in its own nest yet again and needs to delete and start over.. I changed over to what was my secondary backup.. (since I have long mistrusted TM).. CCC.

It has yet to ever DELETE its very own backup.

The regular output you can expect from TM.

I do keep TM running to another network backup just to keep track of its ill natured self deletion.. which happens on aprox 8 week rotation now. It is to a rather different target though.

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Answer 2

Jun 25, 2018 12:56 AM in response to Brianfit

I see so many candidates for the problem in there I don't know where to begin.

I agree.. loads of issues..

There are too many major errors to point out one in particular. Any of them would kill the backup.

What model and how old is the TC?

It might simply be dying!!

2018-06-25 00:18:14 Backup failed because the network destination disk was ejected or disconnected unexpectedly!

You generally won't see errors like that without a major network issue.. and mostly hardware.

There are known major issues with Sierra if you install AV software.. extra security software.. or some adware.

But without those I would say it is too hard to track it.. and better to plug a USB disk into the laptop and just make sure you have at least one working backup.

Give us the info on the TC and we can work from there.

Possibly a different network configuration would help. Does your laptop have ethernet or do you have the ethernet dongle?

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Answer 3

Brianfit Author

Level 1

14 points

Jun 25, 2018 1:51 AM in response to LaPastenague

3 TB Airport Time Capsule 2015 vintage.

I use a mix of the Thunderbolt dongle for Ethernet along with WiFi to connect my MacBook Pro (High Sierra 10.13.5).

The WiFi is served up both from the Airport and a third party router (Fritz Box 7249) using the same SSID. The Airport is in Bridge Mode and connects using DHCP assigned from the Fritz Box (configured to assign the same IP every time).

I had an issue, recently resolved, in which I was using a DNS of 8.8.8.8 on my MacBook Pro. The rest of the Network, including the Airport, was using the Router address to fetch DNS (192.168.0.1). As a result, my MacBook couldn't resolve anything in the fritz.box domain, which may have been causing a connection failure when plugged into Ethernet. But I'm now using 192.168.0.1 as my DNS and the report above was generated under that assignment. I do wonder if I don't have backup images somewhere on the mac that the Time Capsule is trying to fetch that might have been made in that corrupt network environment. Even after I wipe the TC completely, the system is fetching snapshots from somewhere. Can I remove those and really, really start from scratch on a new backup?

No AV software running.

I've got a good USB backup so there's no core data danger, but every day without a new backup makes me nervous, and I really want the security and ease of that Time Capsule running silently in the background.

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My time capsule is perpetually "waiting to complete first backup."

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