Mojave time machine back up failing

I thought about that but then the total size to backup would grow during the entire process.

With TM it starts growing forever only once it has backed up about 95% of the disk. Before that, target size doesn't grow.

After I set Filesystem Protections: disabled

the backup was very slow, but after about 4 hours it suddenly speeded up.

The idea of "Filesystem Protections: disabled" did not change anything:

TM still came into the "endless growing" situation.

Now I see errors like this:

2018-12-31 18:22:51.067749+0100 localhost backupd-helper[104]: (TimeMachine) [com.apple.TimeMachine:TMLogError]

Failed to remove '/Volumes/com.apple.TimeMachine.localsnapshots/Backups.backupdb/Ollis MacBook Air/2018-12-30-083856/Macintosh HD/.MobileBackups.trash',

error: Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=642 "You can’t save the file “.MobileBackups.trash” because the volume “Macintosh HD@snap-97108” is read only."

UserInfo={NSFilePath=/Volumes/com.apple.TimeMachine.localsnapshots/Backups.backupdb/Ollis MacBook Air/2018-12-30-083856/Macintosh HD/.MobileBackups.trash, NSUserStringVariant=(

I switched back to

# csrutil status

System Integrity Protection status: enabled.

Then started a TM backup. Now I am back to this kind of error messages:

2019-01-01 16:32:13.564064+0100 localhost backupd[2174]: (TimeMachine) [com.apple.TimeMachine:TMLogError]

Failed to remove attribute 'com.apple.backupd.SnapshotVolumeLastFSEventID' from 'file:///',

error: Error Domain=NSPOSIXErrorDomain Code=1 "Operation not permitted"

Still the problem of "endless growth" persists.

:-(

I have no more ideas what to test and I am waiting for an Apple bug fix desperately.

Now I submitted a feedback on

https://www.apple.com/feedback/timemachine.html

and I got:

Thank you for your feedback on the Time Capsule.

We cannot respond to you personally, but please know that your

message has been received and will be reviewed by the Time Capsule Team.

If we need to follow up with you on your ideas for improving the Time

Capsule, we will contact you directly.

We appreciate your assistance in making the Time Capsule better.

Time Capsule Team

Apple

So wait and see ......

I submitted feedback as well. Hopefully there is a Time Machine team that's reading it. I thought they disbanded the Time Capsule team that the feedback form referred to, but that may explain why this problem still exists.

It looks like you need a Developer's account to access the Apple Bug Reporter?

No, you don't need a Developer's account, rtm808. As far as i remember, I just had to use my Apple ID and password — same as you need to post in these Discussion pages. I have posted a number of different bugs in the Bug Reporter in the last year or two, and I certainly am no Developer or pundit of any kind.

I have a 2018 MacBook Pro with the same TM problems. The same error message and the same attempts to resolve it with no resolution. I bought a new LaCie 2 TB drive and TM has never worked on it to do an entire backup.

I get an "account not found" error when I attempt to log in to the Bug Reporter with my Apple ID (same one I use here). On the Bug Reporter page, it mentions signing in with a developer account, so I'm guessing that's why I can't sign in.

Apple Bug Reporter is a web-based tool that developers can use to report issues with Apple software and services, request enhancements to APIs and tools, and track the status of their feedback. To access Apple Bug Reporter, sign in with the Apple ID associated with your developer account.

In any case, hopefully those who have reported it via the Bug Reporter will get more traction with the defects with Time Machine.

Yes, I've tried entering my Apple ID several times with the same result. It's the same Apple ID that I use to sign in here, which I did right after my failed attempt to reach the Bug Reporter, so I know my username and password work.

You may require (or have required) a Developer Account, sjordi. I did not require a Developer Account, I have not got a Developer Account, I do not need a Developer Account, I am not a Developer and I do not intend to get a Developer Account.

As for having to produce and submit a sysdiagnose file, I mentioned this earlier in this string. I at first failed to do so, and the Apple people replied, both in the Bug Reporter and by email, asking for one (proving that they do read these bug reports), which I then did create and submit, twice over, at two stages during the very lengthy TM backup process.

Interesting because I could not submit a bug as long as I wasn't logged with my dev account.

And I couldn't send the bug report as long as the sysdiag file was not attached. Only that operation made the submit button available (without attach, it was just grayed out). Funny

Anyway, as much as more people post a bug, no matter which account or technics, the better.

Yes, that’s a very odd inconsistency. I can see why they would (attempt to) limit it to developers where you would expect a certain level of expertise prior to reporting a “bug.”

I can only imagine what they receive on their public feedback page. :)

Hopefully, the efforts those of you with access to the Bug Reporter have been putting in will help Apple squash this fairly serious bug.

I thought my problem was solved with the reformat as case-sensitive tip, but my iMac is freezing again when a TM backup begins. It's not every backup -- and it had been working fine for a couple of weeks.

I'm just turning TM off for now. Defeats the purpose of automated, incremental backups, but I'm tired of troubleshooting. It's interesting to read how many hours of time, and purchases of new hard drives, have been incurred by TM users.

Yeah, thanks, but I'll stick with SUPER DUPER from now on. It works, and the disk can also be used as a startup disk. This workaround, above, is a bit too "nerdy" for this 83 year-old. (It sounds to me like Apple's new OSX is suffering from an autoimmune disease. Why should it fight itself?) ;-)

Today (16 January) I tried backing up with TM again, but only closing SyncFoldersPro first. This time TM got stuck when 174.9 MB of 5.41 GB had been backed up. I have reported this in Bug Reporter, attaching a sysdiagnose. 

I shall wait for the next MacOS update in the hope that this TM problem will have been solved, and in the meantime shall rely on Carbon Copy Cloner. But it might be worth trying to disable System Security Protection before running TM as suggested by someone else in this string. Or even starting up in Safe Mode?