Time Machine error

[svenmany]

or that the problem occurs from interaction between unexpected relationships between components.

Excellent point. Also, those separate components might be very well developed by different teams. A particular bug might be higher priority for one team and lower for another team. All parties have to coordinate on a final solution.

The current bug is probably challenging for Apple to solve quickly, or else it would already be done. On one hand, there's Time Machine, which cannot cope with the some files being locked. On the other, they have some file locking strategy that many components depend on. Certain files becoming inaccessible to certain processes after the user interface is locked could be due to some new security posture. They might have to think very carefully how to resolve it and how to coordinate the release of the solution across the involved components.

 

[kagharaht]

Just got the message with the updated Mac OS 15.5

 

[kirbyrun]

Just got the message with the updated Mac OS 15.5

View attachment 2510858

Yeah, me, too. After a couple of months of smooth sailing, it looks like updating to 15.5 set me back again.

I swear, this is the most annoying bug...!

 

[kagharaht]

Yeah, me, too. After a couple of months of smooth sailing, it looks like updating to 15.5 set me back again.

I swear, this is the most annoying bug...!

Yeah, it's sad that it's no a Priority for Apple it seems. More Emoji, that one for sure is #1 Priority.

 

[kirbyrun]

Yeah, it's sad that it's no a Priority for Apple it seems. More Emoji, that one for sure is #1 Priority.

I mean, what really gets me is that I'll coast along for months with no problem! So, they get it right...and then it messes up again!

 

[svenmany]

I mean, what really gets me is that I'll coast along for months with no problem! So, they get it right...and then it messes up again!

Have you checked the logs to see what program is causing this in your case? For me, the recent lock up was the result of me doing something new, running a program I hadn't run in a long time.

Checking is as simple as running

log show --last 8h --predicate 'process=="backupd"' | grep "Failed to acquire"

in Terminal. "--last 8h" means "during the last 8 hours" and assumes the error happened within that window of time.

 

[kagharaht]

Have you checked the logs to see what program is causing this in your case? For me, the recent lock up was the result of me doing something new, running a program I hadn't run in a long time.

Checking is as simple as running

log show --last 8h --predicate 'process=="backupd"' | grep "Failed to acquire"

in Terminal. "--last 8h" means "during the last 8 hours" and assumes the error happened within that window of time.

For me it's the same as every single time. The Findmy widget items hangs it up.

 

[kirbyrun]

Have you checked the logs to see what program is causing this in your case? For me, the recent lock up was the result of me doing something new, running a program I hadn't run in a long time.

Checking is as simple as running

log show --last 8h --predicate 'process=="backupd"' | grep "Failed to acquire"

in Terminal. "--last 8h" means "during the last 8 hours" and assumes the error happened within that window of time.

In part:

/Library/Containers/com.apple.findmy.FindMyWidgetItems/Data/SystemData/com.apple.chrono/snapshots/com.apple.findmy.FindMyWidgetItems/systemSmall--8356914023065474060----164.00w--164.00h--20.00r--0f--0.00t-0.00l-0.00b0.00t.chrono-timeline' (assertion state: <dropped>), error: Error Domain=NSPOSIXErrorDomain Code=1 "Operation not permitted"

So, it looks like the FindMy widget.

Except...

I don't run the FindMy widget!

 

[kagharaht]

In part:



So, it looks like the FindMy widget.

Except...

I don't run the FindMy widget!

I don't run it either.

 

[svenmany]

I don't run it either.

I don't run it either.

I did an experiment. I rebooted and looked in Activity Monitor for process names starting with "findmy". There were a few, but none of them mentioned widgets. I then selected "Edit Widgets" from the context menu on the desktop. I did nothing else - I didn't search for anything or even scroll in the list. I then went back to activity monitor and a new process was there named "FindMyWidgetItems".

So, user behavior unrelated to running the widget can trigger that problematic process to be launched. In my case, I'm guessing that a general query for available widgets triggered it.

Oh well. Certainly it's easy to work around the problem by excluding the directory containing the blocked files from Time Machine backups.

 

[kagharaht]

I don't run it either.

I did an experiment. I rebooted and looked in Activity Monitor for process names starting with "findmy". There were a few, but none of them mentioned widgets. I then selected "Edit Widgets" from the context menu on the desktop. I did nothing else - I didn't search for anything or even scroll in the list. I then went back to activity monitor and a new process was there named "FindMyWidgetItems".

So, user behavior unrelated to running the widget can trigger that problematic process to be launched. In my case, I'm guessing that a general query for available widgets triggered it.

Oh well. Certainly it's easy to work around the problem by excluding the directory containing the blocked files from Time Machine backups.

Also aside from just the annoying message, it doesn't seem to corrupt or damage the backup. It eventually get's it done without causing any other issues, eventually.

 

[svenmany]

Also aside from just the annoying message, it doesn't seem to corrupt or damage the backup. It eventually get's it done without causing any other issues, eventually.

Interesting. For me, when the error happens, the backup aborts and never resumes. Eventually, after logging in and getting the files unlocked, I see a backup start, but it seems to be a full, new backup.

 

[gilby101]

Eventually, after logging in and getting the files unlocked, I see a backup start, but it seems to be a full, new backup.

When all is happy, TM uses file system events (since last backup) to decide what needs to be backed up. After an error, TM will do a more thorough check on what needs to be backed up. So it will take longer.

 

[kagharaht]

This version of Mac OS 15.5 is actually worse for Time Machine. Every morning now when I use the iMac M3, which is not sleeping, but the screen is off and locked, the Time Machine failed backup alert comes up. Every Morning now. Before it would be ok for days or weeks but now it's every day. I can't understand how Apple Engineers are not seeing this or don't care at all.

 

[gank41]

This version of Mac OS 15.5 is actually worse for Time Machine. Every morning now when I use the iMac M3, which is not sleeping, but the screen is off and locked, the Time Machine failed backup alert comes up. Every Morning now. Before it would be ok for days or weeks but now it's every day. I can't understand how Apple Engineers are not seeing this or don't care at all.

I'm seeing this same issue on my M1 MBP, but not on my 2018 Intel Mac mini

 

[YatBob]

I am seeing the opposite before 15.5 I was seeing failures daily, since the update I see successful updates for days, but then I will have an unsuccessful update and the cycle continues

 

[kagharaht]

I am seeing the opposite before 15.5 I was seeing failures daily, since the update I see successful updates for days, but then I will have an unsuccessful update and the cycle continues

Wife M2 MBA 15" doing the same thing.

 

[gank41]

Not only are my Time machine backups failing overnight when my M1 MBP isn't being used, but it looks like backups aren't completing during the day, either!

The top backup that's running now never finishes. The time remaining gets longer and longer, then it fails over to the Seagate drive. I don't even know why the other one hasn't backed up fir a few days now.. This is pretty lame.

 

[osplo]

I wonder whether you guys have good (or bad) news about this.

 

[gank41]

I wonder whether you guys have good (or bad) news about this.

I've had to keep my screen active and in use for the backups to finish. As soon as my Screensaver comes on, the backups stop.

 

[kagharaht]

I've had to keep my screen active and in use for the backups to finish. As soon as my Screensaver comes on, the backups stop.

May26 through June 5, no Time Machine Error. I almost got 2 weeks of TM error free...then it occurred 2 days in a row. June 8 today I start the countdown again.

 

[osplo]

Is there any possibility that you guys are using any non-standard app or have anything special in your setups? I remember once when I had a rare error and the culprit was a (completely unrelated) app that was capturing keystrokes. It was an app coming from a solo developer, not the Mac app store.

 

[svenmany]

Is there any possibility that you guys are using any non-standard app or have anything special in your setups? I remember once when I had a rare error and the culprit was a (completely unrelated) app that was capturing keystrokes. It was an app coming from a solo developer, not the Mac app store.

It's trivial for a user to find out which files are locked in their case; that will probably provide enough clues to tell which process is causing the problem.

In my case, it would happen the night after I ran some camera software from Eve Home. That's non-standard. But it also happens when some standard bluetooth framework leaves some files locked. The variability relates directly to how a computer is being used.

 

[Richdmoore]

I just replaced my Time Machine drive, and am now getting this error.

I excluded the findmywidget (which I wasn't using) and see some of the Milo files others mentioned, but so far having problems finding the files to exclude. I will just check and see if it keeps happening before trying further.

I was looking into time capsule replacements with the upcoming os stopping support, so I need to get a reliable backups working.

 

[Richdmoore]

For what it is worth, I had the error again just now, and looking at the log posts above determined it was the milod directory. (I previously excluded the widget listed in previous posts.) I used theses instructions to exclude it, as just doing it via the gui time machine did not work (Hidden file?)

https://www.reddit.com/r/applehelp/comments/1imxi0h/timemachine_fails_to_backup_as_some_files_were