Is Time Machine Working?

[richardallan]

Does anyone here use Time Machine?

Since Carbon Copy Cloner (which I have been using exclusively for backups for 7 or 8 years) can no longer do a cloned bootable backup, I thought I’d supplement it with Time Machine. I used Time Machine back when it was introduced but at one time I had some problems with it so I stopped using it.

I’ve had an M1 Mac mini for about a month (second hand running Monterey 12.1) and once I got it organised I started doing Time Machine Backups but I’m not sure it’s working properly. I did a backup earlier this afternoon and it appears it’s the only backup on there. I hasn’t recorded any of the other backups. I just put a file in my downloads folder, did another backup but it’s as though it was only the second backup I’ve done.

On the other hand, at the same time, I started doing Time Machine backups on my MBPro also. This was running Catalina until yesterday when I upgraded to 12.2 and the backups seem fine. They are all there.

Any thoughts?

 

[Fishrrman]

"Since Carbon Copy Cloner (which I have been using exclusively for backups for 7 or 8 years) can no longer do a cloned bootable backup"

STOP RIGHT THERE.

This is wrong.
CCC can still do bootable cloned backups, just as it always has.
(SuperDuper, can, too)

It's a bit more complicated to create one (particularly if you have an m-series Mac), but you still can do it.

I suggest you investigate this more thoroughly, to find out the real facts.

Which Mac do you have now?
Which version of the OS?

I believe you need to do this (for the latest Macs and OS's):
- have the latest version of CCC
- enable the "legacy clone function" (or similar named option)
- have the "target drive" erased to APFS
- enable the option in CCC to give it the ability to rename the target drive

Then... to boot from the clone (at least on m-series Macs)
- the cloned backup WILL NOT show up in the startup disk pref pane
so....
- when booting, you must press AND HOLD the power-on button until the startup options panel appears
then...
- select the cloned backup to boot from it.

I just got an m-series Mac and haven't "proofed this out" yet, but am repeating what I've heard others say in the forum -- and they were able to boot from the cloned backup successfully.

 

[richardallan]

"Since Carbon Copy Cloner (which I have been using exclusively for backups for 7 or 8 years) can no longer do a cloned bootable backup"

STOP RIGHT THERE.

This is wrong.
CCC can still do bootable cloned backups, just as it always has.
(SuperDuper, can, too)

It's a bit more complicated to create one (particularly if you have an m-series Mac), but you still can do it.

I suggest you investigate this more thoroughly, to find out the real facts.

Which Mac do you have now?
Which version of the OS?

I believe you need to do this (for the latest Macs and OS's):
- have the latest version of CCC
- enable the "legacy clone function" (or similar named option)
- have the "target drive" erased to APFS
- enable the option in CCC to give it the ability to rename the target drive

Then... to boot from the clone (at least on m-series Macs)
- the cloned backup WILL NOT show up in the startup disk pref pane
so....
- when booting, you must press AND HOLD the power-on button until the startup options panel appears
then...
- select the cloned backup to boot from it.

I just got an m-series Mac and haven't "proofed this out" yet, but am repeating what I've heard others say in the forum -- and they were able to boot from the cloned backup successfully.

Thanks for your reply but I’m really more interested in why my Time Machine backup isn’t working…

 

[JustAnExpat]

Thanks for your reply but I’m really more interested in why my Time Machine backup isn’t working…

I recommend rebooting the machine, and try to boot up or recover from the time machine backup before trying to guess if it's not working.

 

[richardallan]

Rebooting doesn’t do anything. I’m going to update to 12.2 & erase the drive & start again.

 

[richardallan]

Just an update on this if anyone is interested.

I have just updated from Monterey 12.1 to 12.2.1 and the Time Machine backup is now working. So this may have been a 12 or 12.1 problem. I didn't make any changes to the backup disk.