New MBP 2016 Crashing During Time Machine Backup

[Kn!ghthawk]

Having the same problem on my 15". Tried transfering over 500GB from one external (WD My Passport) to a Samsung SSD. It crashes after roughly 350-365 GB transferred. I'm trying transferring with smaller file sizes and see if that makes any difference. I haven't been watching it to see if it's an elapsed time or amount transferred that triggers it or if there is any consistency at all. I guess while I'm on my overnight shift at the first aid squad I'll play around with it and contact Apple. I'll hop on here with what I figure out.

Update: I tried copying files over for the third time this time just folder at a time trying to keep the file sizes smaller & the system locked up with no inputs working and then restarted itself. Contacted Apple who recommended an appointment in the Apple Store & a possible replacement as a solution. I'll let everyone know what I come up with after my appointment tomorrow. At the moment I'm seeing if copying files over to the MBP and then moving those files to the other external drive makes any difference whatsoever.

Second Update: I was able to watch for the error message that preceded the shut down and it was an image file (raw CR2). I copied that over to the desktop and then tried copying that over to the other external and it crashed again. Tried opening it in Photoshop CC 2017 & it gave me an error message about the graphics acceleration and needing to update the graphics driver. Once I removed that file from the folder I was trying to copy I had no more issues.

 

[David58117]

Grrr, I'm getting this too, except I'm not using Time Machine.

I have the base non-TB 13", I'm trying to install about 300gbs of samples from a manufacturer supplied external hard drive, onto a USB-C 1TB hard drive. A few minutes into writing to disk, it's like there's not enough power supplied to the laptop and it turns off.

The screen freezes, the "disk did not eject properly" notification pops half way on the screen then freezes, and the trackpad stops working (like it's off). Then about a minute later, the screen turns off.

I've done this transfer before for a few years now, and never had an issue. I'm having to use my 2015 15" for the installation to the external drive, and it's writing fine (just as it's done before).

Something is seriously wrong with these ports...

 

[Apple_Robert]

Got 3 WD My Passport External Drives (4TB each) today and connected them via a hub to my Airport Extreme. I have been able to do 2 Time Machine backups to 2 of the drives without problem thus far, and am currently transferring 1TB+ to the other WD (4TB) drive, which will be used as my iTunes media drive for the Apple TV. Haven't had a chance to try CCC again. Will do that tomorrow afternoon and report back how it went.

 

[David58117]

Got 3 WD My Passport External Drives (4TB each) today and connected them via a hub to my Airport Extreme. I have been able to do 2 Time Machine backups to 2 of the drives without problem thus far, and am currently transferring 1TB+ to the other WD (4TB) drive, which will be used as my iTunes media drive for the Apple TV. Haven't had a change to try CCC again. Will do that tomorrow afternoon and report back how it went.

Are they USB-C drives?

 

[Apple_Robert]

Are they USB-C drives?

No. They are 3.0. Before I got the drives today, I previously tried a TM backup with another brand new WD My Passport For Mac (3TB) drive connected to the USB-C port, and it stalled out about 90% done. Had to reboot and start over.

Edited to add: MBP 13" TB locked up during transfer and rebooted on its own. I was moving several large files at once when it happened.

 

[Kn!ghthawk]

Grrr, I'm getting this too, except I'm not using Time Machine.

I have the base non-TB 13", I'm trying to install about 300gbs of samples from a manufacturer supplied external hard drive, onto a USB-C 1TB hard drive. A few minutes into writing to disk, it's like there's not enough power supplied to the laptop and it turns off.

The screen freezes, the "disk did not eject properly" notification pops half way on the screen then freezes, and the trackpad stops working (like it's off). Then about a minute later, the screen turns off.

I've done this transfer before for a few years now, and never had an issue. I'm having to use my 2015 15" for the installation to the external drive, and it's writing fine (just as it's done before).

Something is seriously wrong with these ports...

Did it give you an error message stating an issue with one of the files? That's what I got & as soon as I removed that file it worked flawlessly.

 

[David58117]

Did it give you an error message stating an issue with one of the files? That's what I got & as soon as I removed that file it worked flawlessly.

There shouldn't be an error with the files. The hard drive is full of instrument samples from a pretty big name company. I've used this drive for years without issue, and haven't heard of complaints about the drive the company shipped.

After I got the error, I used my 2015 15" MacBook Pro to make the disk, which it did fine.

The error I got was the: CATERR detected! No MCA data found.

 

[Kn!ghthawk]

There shouldn't be an error with the files. The hard drive is full of instrument samples from a pretty big name company. I've used this drive for years without issue, and haven't heard of complaints about the drive the company shipped.

After I got the error, I used my 2015 15" MacBook Pro to make the disk, which it did fine.

The error I got was the: CATERR detected! No MCA data found.

I've got an early afternoon appointment at apple so I'll see what they have to say about it...most likely nothing much but still need to check off all of their boxes. When I get a chance I'll run that file on my other MBP (2009) and see if it trips it up at all as well as the windows work machine. Truly strange happenings since these files worked on both of the other machines without issue.

 

[shareef777]

Anyone try a clean install backup. That's what Apple has asked I do, but don't have the time to do so.

 

[Marcus1011]

Clean install does not change anything, still crashes all the time. I found out that System Integrity protection was disabled by default on my new MB. I enabled it through recovery console and started another Time Machine backup. Will let you know if that changes anything...

 

[steve-p]

I did a clean install as soon as I got my MBP, and the (USB-C) disk I have the problem with was brand new from the Apple Store. It's been 6 days since I reported it now.

 

[Ianbuckley]

My first backup to an existing Airport time Capsule, via a Belkin Ethernet adapter connected to USB-c port, worked without failure as did further updates using this method. All has since been ok via wifi.
I then decided to create a secondary Time Machine backup to a WD MyPassport Ultra via USB-C using a Belkin USB(b) to USB-C cable. This failed 3/4 the way through and the system crashed. Repeated attempts to complete the backup also failed.
I then connected the external drive to USB port on the Time Capsule and it started a new backup from scratch. I left it overnight and awoke to find that the system had crashed (reason unknown). I reloaded and the backup completed successfully.

UPDATE
All automatic hourly updates to both the Airport Time Capsule and its connected WD external drive have so far been successful.

Backing up to a network connected drive (i.e. Time Capsule) even with an Ethernet to USB-C adapter works for me, but a directly connected disc to USB-C always fails.

 

[steve-p]

From what I can gather, most or perhaps all of the rest of you are getting the restart crash when either copying/moving a file, or when doing a TC backup. My crash is slightly different. My first TC backup appeared to complete (overnight), but since then, just plugging the drive in causes the MBP to restart almost immediately. No further backups or file copying are required (or even possible).

 

[Marcus1011]

Hmm... After enabling SIP I finally successfully made a TM backup (110 GB) with Synology NAS. Now I will test with local USB C drive backup. Will report how that goes...

 

[Peppery]

15" TB model, exactly the same issue with a LaCie rugged drive & a Seagate backup drive. At first I though it could be the $2 USB-C to Micro-B cable I bought off eBay causing issues, but it does the same with an Apple adapter. It's crashed with the LaCie drive doing nothing, then was fine with the Seagate for a while, and now the entire machine locks up the second I plug in the drive. I do have Google Drive attempting to download to the Seagate drive, which is probably causing the high I/O issues as I have thousands of small files in there.

My machine shipped with SIP off and was subsequently turned on, but that doesn't seem to have made a difference.

 

[Marcus1011]

so, SIP does not bring any good news, local USB drive crashes with TM after about 70% of 110GB. So it must be some USB C problem not related to the files on disk because TM works over LAN/NAS...

So, now I also tested a second USB C to DisplayPort cable for connecting my Asus 4K monitor. The first cable works for some time, then the mac crashes. The new cable will let crash the mac within seconds.

For me it is 100% safe to claim problem is related to USB C driver but not only drive related. Hopefully Apple finds the kernel bug ASAP...

 

[steve-p]

so, SIP does not bring any good news, local USB drive crashes with TM after about 70% of 110GB. So it must be some USB C problem not related to the files on disk because TM works over LAN/NAS...

Yes I suspect it's a USB-C driver or firmware issue. The silence from Apple is not good, though. Presumably there are a growing number of people out there (as well as the ones who found this thread) who do not presently have a satisfactory backup solution because of this issue.

 

[Marcus1011]

Yes I suspect it's a USB-C driver or firmware issue. The silence from Apple is not good, though. Presumably there are a growing number of people out there (as well as the ones who found this thread) who do not presently have a satisfactory backup solution because of this issue.

Backup problem is bad, but not having access to any USB disk with Final Cut pro data is even worse. No drive works realiable under any circumstances.

 

[InVinoVeritasty]

Add me to the list. 2TB model. Two crashes yesterday. Problem is when I am wired into Thunderbolt displays at office. Not convinced yet it is the cause, but time machine backup in process. Also, second Thunderbolt displays blinks randomly. Never blinked with prior macbook pro.

 

[janezblond]

Unsure if this is related, but my (wireless) network backup randomly fails on the MBP 2016 a few times per day, whereas my old MBP and my iMac have no such issue. Makes me think there is an issue with the backup process, not the hardware.

 

[mgw38]

This is interesting. A couple of people have suggested that the issue might be related to the transfer speed, so I decided to put a USB 2.0 hub in between the MacBook and the Time Machine drive to bring down the speed. And this might be a coincidence but it allowed time machine to complete successfully on my system. Did anybody experience a similar behavior? Did anybody have crashes with an old USB 2.0 drive?

And I would also be interested to hear if anybody had any success at the Genius Bar? Did anybody resolve the issue by exchanging systems? I have an appointment tomorrow I would like to know if that has any chance of success.

 

[Sohappy]

Having the same problem on my 15". Tried transfering over 500GB from one external (WD My Passport) to a Samsung SSD. It crashes after roughly 350-365 GB transferred. ...

Second Update: I was able to watch for the error message that preceded the shut down and it was an image file (raw CR2). I copied that over to the desktop and then tried copying that over to the other external and it crashed again. Tried opening it in Photoshop CC 2017 & it gave me an error message about the graphics acceleration and needing to update the graphics driver. Once I removed that file from the folder I was trying to copy I had no more issues.

That's interesting. Was it the only CR2 file you had, or have you plenty, and only this one shows a problem and makes the MacBook Pro crash ?
Do others who had crashes also have CR2 files ? Other brand raw files ?

 

[Marcus1011]

I gave Apple support a call today and they (in Dublin) are not aware of this issue so far. The guys from Apple got a screenshot of the crash report from me and promised to escalate this to apple engineering (they speculated it might be firmware related). Should last about 2-3 business days until I get some answer. But they also told me that all people having this problem should report to Apple to put pressure on this (as Mike from CCC already told)

 

[AppleMBP]

Anyone try a clean install backup. That's what Apple has asked I do, but don't have the time to do so.

Yes...did not help. And did not migrate either...had to bring over stuff piecemeal.
[doublepost=1480611493][/doublepost]Even have an issue with Wacom Intuos plugged into USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adapter - Apple. When I plug in external monitor via HDMI and regular USB cable to Intuos drawing pad that has a battery, crash takes place after some period of time.
Guess is USB issue not so much a copy x amount of data issue.

 

[Kn!ghthawk]

That's interesting. Was it the only CR2 file you had, or have you plenty, and only this one shows a problem and makes the MacBook Pro crash ?
Do others who had crashes also have CR2 files ? Other brand raw files ?

It wasn't the only CR2 file I had however it was the only one with that error. It was on a file I was copying over with roughly 550GB of photos. Pretty even mix between jpg and CR2. Funnily enough the photo itself opened up just fine on the MBP when I copied it direct to the desktop. Gave an issue in photoshop about graphics acceleration but still proceeded smoothly. Only hung up when I tried copying that file over to a second USB-C external.