(New?) Time Machine: smart or lazy?

[Sciuriware]

Hello, since I upgraded to macOS 10.12.4, Time Machine ceased to backup every hour, but only when
there is some activity on the machine.
Is that a bug or an unpublished feature?
;JOOP!

 

[cobracnvt]

How is your time machine hard drive connected to your machine? Direct connection or via your network?

 

[Sciuriware]

It's a TimeCapsule, UTP connected; unchanged for 4 years.
;JOOP!

 

[macs4nw]

Hello, since I upgraded to macOS 10.12.4, Time Machine ceased to backup every hour, but only when
there is some activity on the machine.
Is that a bug or an unpublished feature?
;JOOP!

When you enter the Time Machine, what entries does your timeline (right-side of your screen) show?

 

[Sciuriware]

As expected: huge intervals at night or when I was away from home.
;JOOP!

 

[cobracnvt]

Is your computer set to go to sleep when it isn't being used? It will not wake up from sleep to do a backup.

 

[Sciuriware]

My computer never sleeps ....
;JOOP!

 

[Sciuriware]

I stand corrected, I should have read all the news about Sierra:

https://eclecticlight.co/2016/10/03/flexitime-machine-how-sierra-changes-backups/

Case closed, I think.
;JOOP!

 

[mic j]

Thanks for that link. Very interesting! My wife has Sierra on her MBP (my MBP is too old to upgrade) and she is constantly getting backup error messages, most often the one where the sparse bundle can't be verified and you have to start over. Yesterday got a message that the backup could not be completed and to use Disk Utility to verify and repair the drive or just wait and it may work fine at the next backup (sort of a strange message, lol). I'm on El Capitan and have no problem at all with TM backups. My wife does not use the Storage Optimization mentioned in the article and he does think that the variable backup schedule only happens when Storage Optimization is turned on.

 

[Sciuriware]

Storage Optimization is NOT switched on with me.
Problems with the sparse bundles might be caused by bad connections/bad cables or
by untimely closing the lid of the laptop in the midst of a backup.
Just let backups finish.
And in your case: start all over again with backups.
;JOOP!

 

[macs4nw]

Storage Optimization is NOT switched on with me.
Problems with the sparse bundles might be caused by bad connections/bad cables or
by untimely closing the lid of the laptop in the midst of a backup.
Just let backups finish.
And in your case: start all over again with backups.
;JOOP!

Closing the lid while a backup is in progress shouldn't make a difference as the backup cycle supposedly finishes up, or is paused. Having said that, I wish we would get the spinning TimeMachine symbol back for a visual confirmation of its activity, so the chance of possible file corruption could be minimized.

 

[Sciuriware]

Having said that, I wish we would get the spinning TimeMachine symbol back for a visual confirmation of its activity, so the chance of possible file corruption could be minimized.

I totally agree; there is enough room on the top bar for visual notifications.
Then again, you can easily make some script or program that peeps into the /Volumes and displays something.
;JOOP!