Mojave time machine back up failing

Hi guys,

I'm the developer of this application.

I apologize for the inconvenience you could have with the issue.

We have prepared the application update with the bug fix and sent it to App Store. Now App Cleaner v.6.2 update is being reviewed by Apple. I hope Apple will approve and release the update to App Store in a few days.

Since update v.6.2 is released and launched the folders will be removed, the issue will disappear.

Now, there is a simple way to bypass the issue - just add the folder

"~/Library/Containers/com.nektony.App-Cleaner"

to Time Machine exclude list.

The detailed guide how to exclude the folder from backups that is available on our website

https://nektony.com/mac-app-cleaner/troubleshooting

Regards,

Serge

Happy to report my failing Time Machine Issues were resolved because of this thread. I indeed had App Cleaner and updated it on 2 separate MacBook Pros and the T M Backups for each broke around that time. Thank you Serge for providing the info on this forum and Nektony has a great page which Serge has linked that explains how to work around the issue until the fix is released. Bugs happen and I've enjoyed using App Cleaner on multiple Macs with no issues until now. It's great to see the Developer proactive and responding to issues like this and sounds like a fix is already completed and under review in the App Store.

Some helpful information I learned while troubleshooting this problem:

- As of macOS Sierra I believe, Time Machine (and likely other macOS apps) use Unified Logging, which combines memory and data stores to store log information, it's no longer stored in flat log files. backup - How to view time machine log in MacOS Sierra? - Super User

You can use the log utility to view Time Machine backup information with the following command:

log show --style syslog --predicate 'senderImagePath contains[cd] "TimeMachine"' --info

That is how I found the exact file that was tripping up my T M Backup. The error the log utility showed from running that command was this:

2018-10-13 17:23:57.595563-0500  localhost backupd[21603]: (TimeMachine) [com.apple.TimeMachine:TMLogError] Error: (-48) SrcErr:NO Copying /Volumes/com.apple.TimeMachine.localsnapshots/Backups.backupdb/Chris’s MacBook Pro/2018-10-13-144347/Macintosh HD/Users/Chris/Library/Containers/com.nektony.App-Cleaner/Data/Library/Application Support/App Cleaner & Uninstaller to /Volumes/Untitled/Backups.backupdb/Chris’s MacBook Pro/2018-10-13-144348.inProgress/59C53699-29D8-429F-AFBF-8C6E4B92EC5A/Macintosh HD/Users/Chris/Library/Containers/com.nektony.App-Cleaner/Data/Library/Application Support
2018-10-13 17:23:57.595722-0500  localhost backupd[21603]: (TimeMachine) [com.apple.TimeMachine:TMLogError] Stopping backup.
2018-10-13 17:23:57.595839-0500  localhost backupd[21603]: (TimeMachine) [com.apple.TimeMachine:TMLogError] Error: (-8062) SrcErr:NO Copying /Volumes/com.apple.TimeMachine.localsnapshots/Backups.backupdb/Chris’s MacBook Pro/2018-10-13-144347/Macintosh HD/Users/Chris/Library/Containers/com.nektony.App-Cleaner/Data/Library/Application Support/App Cleaner & Uninstaller/auth.cer to /Volumes/Untitled/Backups.backupdb/Chris’s MacBook Pro/2018-10-13-144348.inProgress/59C53699-29D8-429F-AFBF-8C6E4B92EC5A/Macintosh HD/Users/Chris/Library/Containers/com.nektony.App-Cleaner/Data/Library/Application Support
2018-10-13 17:23:58.509247-0500  localhost backupd[21603]: (TimeMachine) [com.apple.TimeMachine:TMLogInfo] Copied 2231121 items (116.33 GB) from volume Macintosh HD. Linked 0.
2018-10-13 17:23:58.527043-0500  localhost backupd[21603]: (TimeMachine) [com.apple.TimeMachine:TMLogError] Copy stage failed with error:11
2018-10-13 17:23:58.821564-0500  localhost backupd[21603]: (TimeMachine) [com.apple.TimeMachine:TMLogInfo] Unmounted local snapshot: com.apple.TimeMachine.2018-10-13-144347 at path: /Volumes/com.apple.TimeMachine.localsnapshots/Backups.backupdb/Chris’s MacBook Pro/2018-10-13-144347/Macintosh HD source: Macintosh HD
2018-10-13 17:23:58.828114-0500  localhost backupd[21603]: (TimeMachine) [com.apple.TimeMachine:TMLogError] Backup failed with error 11: 11

- As previously mentioned, Nektony provided a great workaround page here: https://nektony.com/mac-app-cleaner/troubleshooting. One thing to note is that the 2nd option of deleting BOTH the "App Cleaner & Uninstaller" folders inside "~/Library/Containers/com.nekony.App-Cleaner/Data/Library/Application Support" seems to be fine. When the App Cleaner app is relaunched, it creates a new "App Cleaner & Uninstaller" directory there. I would think that is the preferable route, since it requires no special exclusion from the Time Machine Backup. I tried both methods they listed on different machines and each resulted in successful T M Backups thereafter.

Hope this info helps the next person not have to spend so many hours trying to figure out the issue. Thanks to Marissa from Apple Tech Support who found this thread for me and helped me get to the bottom so I could once again backup my machines with App Cleaner 6.0.

After multiple failed attempts to get Time Machine to complete a full initial backup, I seem to have hit upon a workaround solution.

I noticed in Activity Monitor that two apps were always eating up a LOT of processor cycles during the failing backups - SPOTLIGHT was apparently trying to index the new backup disk as it was being written and I think NORTON SECURITY was also trying to virus-scan it at the same time.

1. I erased the old Time Machine drive with Disk Utility and gave it a new name
2. I shut off all Norton scans temporarily
3. System Preferences>Spotlight>"Excluded" the new Time Machine drive from indexing and also the entire Macintosh HD (temporarily)
4. Time Machine> unchecked "Back Up Automatically"
5. Deleted Macintosh HD>Library>Preferences>com.apple.TimeMachine.plist and emptied the Trash
6. Restarted the computer
7. Quit Norton Security
8. Double-checked to make sure everything was Excluded from Spotlight indexing
9. Time Machine> deleted the prior Time Machine drive name and replaced it with the newly created one
10. Time Machine> checked "Back Up Automatically" and started backup
11. This time the full 390GB backup ran at "light speed" and completed in about two hours (via USB 3.1)
12. Restored Norton to original settings
13. Removed the Spotlight "Exclusion" for Macintosh HD, but retained the exclusion of the new Time Machine drive
14. Restarted the computer and let it resume "business as usual".

PROBLEM SOLVED! You're welcome. :-)

I solved my TM problem.

The software ATI (Acronis True Image) has got a special feature called "Active Protection".

When you turn on this feature, two very strange files are created in /private/var/db:

-rw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 723223911544 Dec 31 10:28 atpstatdb00.db

-rw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 103115912776 Dec 31 10:28 atpstatdb14.db

Together they show a size of 769 GB.

But when I used sudo du -hs /private/var/db it showed only 6.4 GB.

In fact TM started with telling about 130 GB to backup.

But during backup TM increased this 130 GB more and more.

Obviously TM "thought" that these files had 769 GB or something like that.

I disabled the ATI "Active Protection" feature and deleted the two files.

After a reboot one of the two files have been recreated:

-rw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 812 Feb 14 21:53 atpstatdb00.db

But only with a size of 812 Byte.

After that the TM works as expected without any exclusions.

I came to this solution by creating more and more exclusions over the complete disc.

Then removing one by one until I found /private/var/db beeing the reason for the TM problem.

Same problem here, consistent failure at about the 90% point in the backup process ... but I have something to try.

After Mojave upgrade I could not get Time Machine backups to work with external USB3 and Thunderbolt connected drives on my Late 2012 iMac 27 with 3TB Fusion (automatically formatted by Mojave upgrade to APFS). I did all the usual things like trying other drives, reformatting, running First Aid drive diagnostics, etc. Then I tried backing up to my Time Capsule and it worked. But this wasn't a solution for me because my Time Capsule is needed for other Macs. Then I tried reformatting my Thunderbolt connected HDD as Mac OS Extended (Journaled, Case Sensitive) and it worked! When I started digging I learned that the Time Capsule hard disk is formatted as case sensitive out of the box. This doesn't explain why it works, but at least it is a common characteristic between the two drives that do work with Time Machine and none of my other external drives, none of which are formatted with case sensitivity. Of course I passed this along to the senior advisor I'm working with who is still analyzing the data dump I sent him. Give the Mac OS Extended (Journaled, Case Sensitive) format a try if you have an external disk drive that you can reformat without losing any data or previous backups.

Hello, I've launched this command to inspect TM logs.

log show --predicate 'subsystem == "com.apple.TimeMachine"' --info --last 30

Find that the error was linked to "App Cleaner && Uninstall" library folder that contains the "?" character. So TM/Macos can't find the correct path and throw error while saving backup.

==> I don't understand why an app editor name his app folder this way... Specials chars in file/folder are highly discouraged.

I removed/uninstall "App Cleaner & Uninstall", delete .inProgress file in the TM folder, restart TM backup and all worked fine.

Hope this can help.

The external disk that holds your Time Machine backups cannot be formatted with APFS to work with Time Machine. If you are able to erase your external disk that is used for Time Machine I suggest formatting the partition used with Time Machine as Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled) if you want it to work with Time Machine. Your Mac (boot) hard drive can stay with APFS, no problem. The Time Machine backup disk format does not have to match the format used by your Mac OS disk. It's only used for storage. I'm surprised that Mojave would convert an external hard drive that's currently being used for Time Machine to APFS. strange. I totally agree with your strategy of having two independent backup solutions but I think you can get Time Machine working again.

Hi Alex,

Thank you for the confirmation.

Yes, this approach works as well.

In short, if you had App Cleaner 5.4 and then launched App Cleaner 6.0 there two service folders were created.

The folders look like having identical names, in fact they are different, the folder's names contain correct unicode characters.

Time Machine may not create a backup when it finds such two folders.

So, for new thread readers, there are two ways to resolve such an issue:

- add the "~/Library/Containers/com.nektony.App-Cleaner" folder to the Time Machine exclude list, there is the instruction: https://nektony.com/mac-app-cleaner/troubleshooting

- or remove the "~/Library/Containers/com.nektony.App-Cleaner" folder in Finder. This solution is more reliable, and it is recommended if you use different backup software, such us Carbon Copy Cloner.

Thank you for sharing your experience and helper issue report .

Serge

I experienced the same issue with Time Machine after installing Mojave on my iMac and my MacBook Pro. Apple support offered no working solution. Each time I awaited the next call back with a "fix" from support, I tried my own experimentation. Since the problem was never repeating the same way, I looked at the terminal to see if I could spot an offending process but found nothing. I was then advised by Apple support to delete the App Cleaner & Uninstaller but that had no effect. I then remembered that support's first attempt at a fix was to reformat my LaCie external drive to APFS which turned out to be a disaster that I had to spend some effort to undo. However, that got me thinking it had to be some sort of file incompatibility issue so I tried a reformat using the "case sensitive" option. IT WORKED on my MacBook Pro so I then tried it on the iMac and it also worked. I wish I could say I was smart but there was some lucky fumbling around in the weeds involved and a little bit of searching around the forums. I wish I had seen the reply here sooner so I could've avoided the call to Apple. They were, however, VERY responsive and tried to be helpful but were mostly useless as they were more concerned about not admitting to this obvious flaw in their new OS.

This seems like a problem that needs some press coverage to get some attention within Apple to solve.

Long story short: After finding this thread, I tried reformatting my Western Digital external drive (used exclusively for Time Machine) as Mac OS Extended Journaled Case-Sensitive. Time Machine was able to complete its first backup. Success! (I hope).

The history: I have an iMac 27” (2015) with two external drives - one for media, one for Time Machine. six months ago (running High Sierra), my iMac would randomly lock up with the spinning beach ball cursor whenever Time Machine would start a backup.

I did a complete wipe-and-reinstall High Sierra from recovery. I also wiped the Time Machine drive. I couldn’t complete the first Time Machine backup without beach-balling. I thought the Time Machine drive might have been failing. I decided to replace my media drive with a higher capacity drive and repurpose the media drive for Time Machine.

Bought a new Western Digital drive and transferred the contents of my media drive. My first Time Machine backup worked. Problem solved, I thought.

A couple weeks ago, the problem resurfaced. Whenever Time Machine attempted a backup, the iMac would beach-ball. I figured it was drive failure again — fortunately, the drive was under warranty. RMA’d with Western Digital and a few days later I had a replacement. Formatted it with Disk Utility and started Time Machine.

A few hours in, the first backup failed. After that, whenever Time Machine started a backup the iMac would lock up. Even opening a Finder window from a fresh boot would cause the beachball.

Looking at the various forums and just getting desperate, over the next several days I:

• Booted into recovery and ran Disk First Aid on all drives
• NVRAM reset, SMC reset
• Wiped and reinstalled macOS Mojave
• Wiped my media drive and did a secure erase to try to identify/avoid bad blocks (that alone took 18 hours)
• Copied the contents of my media drive to my (now initialized) Time Machine drive and vice versa (no errors)
• Used an old Mac running pre-High Sierra to initialize my Time Machine drive (I don’t remember where I read this suggestion)
• Turned off (or excluded) the Time Machine drive from Spotlight
• Confirmed I was not running AppCleaner or anything else other than the bare Mojave install
• Opened a support case with Apple - spent an hour trying various troubleshooting steps to come to the conclusion that Western Digital drives are not compatible with macOS and that I should take it up with them
• Went through my media drive and found that I had previously copied an old Library folder from years ago— I threw it away in case there were any files in there that may have been causing a problem
• Reformatted the Time Machine drive as Mac OS Extended (Journaled, Case Sensitive)

One of the last two (or both) appears to have solved the problem. Time Machine was able to complete its first backup. I can open a Finder window without locking up. So far, Time Machine backups aren’t locking up the iMac.

While I’m happy that my problem appears to have been solved by one of the workarounds, it still mean the root cause needs to be solved. I’ve also reported this using Apple’s feedback page, but given how many threads I’ve found with the same issue (going back to High Sierra) and with two bug-fix releases of Mojave that haven’t fixed this, is there any other way to get some visibility on this?

I wonder how many hard drives have been neeedlessly discarded (and how much money has been spent on new drives) because people assumed it was hard drive failure?

My last post got garbled by the system! I shall try again to post the message from the Bug Reporter engineers.

'Time Machine intentionall yields to other processes in the system trying to do IO or CPU intensive tasks.  The diagnostic shows that Time Machine is heavily IO throttled because of all the other processes doing IO on your system. Most of the I/O seems to be coming from "Sync Folder Pro", but there is also significant IO from dropbox, Adobe Creative Cloud, and Clam AV (which is scanning files being synced by Syn Folders Pro and dropbox possibly?)

It's hard to tell if Sync Folders Pro is just busy or malfunctioning.

I'd suggest trying the backup again when your system is less loaded.  If you continue to have problems please try disabling Sync Folders Pro and be sure that your AV software is not scanning your backup destination drive.  (You might want to experimentally disable the AV software and see if that helps as well).'

So I turned every running application off and started a new TM backup, submitting several sysdiagnose files to Bug Reporter during its duration. 'Preparing Backup' lasted for nearly 6 hours. Then 'Backing up' began, became extremely slow at one stage, then accelerated madly to a finish about 3 hours after starting. As far as I can tell, the backup is complete.

It is clear from this whole discussion that TM's behaviour or misbehaviour varies hugely from one user's computer and its contents to another, but it does seem that, as indicated by the engineers' statement which I have now succeeded in copying and pasting (above), turning off applications — and especially other file-copying and transferring applications — may be the way to go.

My Diag and my solution

I saw that in console at the moment that Time Machine fails:

par défaut 09:42:29.051621 +0100 powerd Process backupd.1538 Summary PreventUserIdleSystemSleep "Time Machine backup" age:00:05:21 id:4295001047 [System: PrevIdle DeclUser kDisp]

par défaut 09:42:29.051799 +0100 powerd Process backupd.1538 Summary BackgroundTask "Time Machine backup" age:00:05:21 id:47244674006 [System: PrevIdle DeclUser kDisp]

erreur 09:43:53.726169 +0100 backupd Error: (-48) SrcErr:NO Copying /Volumes/com.apple.TimeMachine.localsnapshots/Backups.backupdb/japet/2019-01-22-093709/Macintosh HD/Users/jj/Library/Containers/com.nektony.App-Cleaner/Data/Library/Application Support/App Cleaner & Uninstal‌ler to /Volumes/TM Interne/Backups.backupdb/japet/2019-01-22-093709.inProgress/10E5ACEA-B435-419D-A126-45CA262B5521/Macintosh HD/Users/jj/Library/Containers/com.nektony.App-Cleaner/Data/Library/Application Support

erreur 09:43:53.734225 +0100 backupd Stopping backup.

erreur 09:43:53.734351 +0100 backupd Error: (-8062) SrcErr:NO Copying /Volumes/com.apple.TimeMachine.localsnapshots/Backups.backupdb/japet/2019-01-22-093709/Macintosh HD/Users/jj/Library/Containers/com.nektony.App-Cleaner/Data/Library/Application Support/App Cleaner & Uninstal‌ler/News2_v22/news.html to (null)

erreur 09:43:53.790576 +0100 backupd Copy stage failed with error:11

erreur 09:43:54.948295 +0100 backupd Backup failed with error 11: 11

par défaut 09:43:54.953121 +0100 backupd MessageTracer: load_domain_wh

The problem is "App Cleaner & Uninstal‌ler" creates directories and or files that are not accepted by MacOS and then can't be copied. MacOS stops time Machine

I note that "App Cleaner & Uninstal‌ler" from Nektony is'nt in Apple Store. Prehaps some others Apps have the same problem

Solutions:

Exclude the directories: /Users/jj/Library/containers/com.nektony..... from TimeMachine (use Options to see all the directories)

OR/AND

Delete : all the directories begin with /Users/jj/Library/containers/com.nektony/App Cleaner

Obviously, the Mojave OSX has a bad bug problem with its TIM, which has been known and reported for many months.

Well known problem:

Can be seen in the Console (with user administrator): search "backupd"

"erreur 09:43:53.790576 +0100 backupd Copy stage failed with error:11"

the file that cant be copied is shown. Generally it is a file from a "not apple application"

Solutions:

- Unistall the application and ALL its files

OR

- exclude from TmeMachine the directories which contain the files

Somebody said that the problem dissapeared some time later but I am not sure

I found a very simple solution, after a couple of weeks struggling with this issue: free as much space as possible on the source disk, as under Mojave the snapshots seem to be much bigger than with previous versions.

After performing all possible repairs and resets, I reviewed the console with "backupd" as suggested above, and found this:

System Policy: deny(1) file-read-data /Volumes/com.apple.TimeMachine.localsnapshots/Backups.backupdb (etc.)

The (other) culprit is my habit of never emptying the trash until I am required to do so.

Had 11 Gb available, 62 Gb in the trash. Backup size was an estimated 77 Gb in TM prefs.

Emptied the trash, now got 73 Gb available, backup went like a charm.

Maybe an explanation would be that the snapshot on the source disk requires (almost) as much space as the backup estimated size.

Hope this helps.

higherterrain wrote:

Time Machine won't back up with a corrupt snapshot.