Time Machine keeps disabling itself in Ventura!

[usagora]

I've been using Time Machine ever since it came out without any issues until Ventura. Now it just randomly stops working every few days or weeks. I set it up to back up every hour. This evening, I click on the Time Machine in the top menu bar, and it says the latest backup was January 27! It should be an hour ago today. So I click on "Open Time Machine Settings..." and the settings appear as if no Time Machine disk has even been selected:

This has happened countless times now. I even completely reformatted the disk being used (4TB Seagate BarraCuda HDD) twice when re-adding it over the last few months, yet the problem persists. Yes, the drive is mounted and can be opened and browsed just like any other external drive I have connected. Yes, I've rebooted many times.

And here's another bizarre thing. When I add the backup disk again, it won't let me select a backup frequency. Every time I try to select one, it instantly changes back to "Manual." Only after rebooting will it let me select a frequency. But then after that's set and it's working normally again, after a few days or weeks, the whole thing will reset again as I mentioned, showing no backup disk selected (as if I've never set up Time Machine). Rinse and repeat.

Anyone else having this issue? Be sure to check your latest backup time, because if you haven't needed to restore anything in a while, you might just be assuming Time Machine is working when it's not!

Anyone have a clue why this is happening--what the problem could be? I'm at a loss and this is a very critical issue that could result in permanent data loss!

Here's a video showing that bug where it won't let me select a backup frequency (until I reboot)...also just found out it won't let me remove any of the excluded disks...when I select one and then click the - button, nothing happens):

 

[zargap]

You're not alone, I just noticed exactly this behavior. Looks like I haven't had a backup in 2 weeks and can't get them to start again.

 

[kirbyrun]

Exact same issue here. What a clusterf*ck on Apple's part.

ETA that rebooting seems to reconnect the drive and reset the timing, but I shouldn't have to do that, Apple!

 

[zargap]

13.2 fixed it for me, glad I didn't have any incidents for the few weeks I had no backups.

 

[Cyprusian]

I've experienced a different Time Machine issue since installing Ventura......

I had Time Machine configured to back up to my Synology DS218j NAS (2 x HDD configured as Synology Hybrid RAID).

I experienced no issues with my Time Machine until some time after installing Ventura on my Mac Mini M1 16/512 when the back up drive kept being reported as disconnected and my NAS reported an escalating drive re-identification count that rose to 14.

An extended SMART test reported the drive as healthy.

I switched my Time Machine backup to an external USB HDD and have experienced no issues since - either with my NAS or the external USB drive.

 

[kirbyrun]

Bumping just to say that this is still happening to me in 13.2.1.

And weirdly, the Time Machine drive spins up multiple times a day on its own, but the "Latest Backup" in the Time Machine menu is always from a day or two previous.

This is ridiculous.

 

[usagora]

Bumping just to say that this is still happening to me in 13.2.1.

And weirdly, the Time Machine drive spins up multiple times a day on its own, but the "Latest Backup" in the Time Machine menu is always from a day or two previous.

This is ridiculous.

So far it's working for me on 13.2.1, but I'm keeping a close eye on it!

 

[usagora]

It's happened again! Was working for weeks, but just realized Time Machine has failed since Feb. 27!

This is INFURIATING.

And once again, click on Open Time Machine Settings... shows that Time Machine isn't even set up.

How can a bug this major not be fixed ASAP?!?!

 

[kirbyrun]

In addition to the outright unacceptable "Time Machine just stops working" bug, there also seems to be a reporting bug. I noticed today that the menu bar icon is reporting my last backup as yesterday morning. But when I actually go to my Time Machine drive, I can see more recent backups. See my attached image.

Has anyone filed a bug report or spoken to Apple Support about this? I'm going to call them, but just haven't been able to block out the requisite time on my schedule.

ETA: typo fix

 

[usagora]

In addition to the outright unacceptable "Time Machine just stops working" bug, there also seems to be a reporting bug. I noticed today that the menu bar icon is reporting my last backup as yesterday morning. But when I actually go to my Time Machine drive, I can see more recent backups. See my attached image.

Has anyone filed a bug report or spoken to Apple Support about this? I'm going to call them, but just haven't been to block out the requisite time on my schedule.

I'll have to check my TM drive when I get home. I think I filed a report back when I first discovered this, but I'll probably file again just to be sure.

 

[kirbyrun]

Bumping yet again to confirm that the exact same behavior persists in 13.3. Holy Galactus, what a cluster. This is BACKUP! It needs to be flawless!

I've filed a bug report with Apple and I guess I'll also end up calling them to see if I can get escalated. I've had some luck with that in the past.

 

[GTDaveMac]

Yup. Same here. I have reformatted my drive multiple times, but I am sure this is a Ventura issue.

 

[ElderMacMan]

as a result of noticing this post and thread I discover I’ve had no backup in eight days. Also have no schedule option. Currently on 13.3.1. >>>>>> ok, schedule seems indicated when one goes into Setting > General > Time Machine. Reboot and some research to discover this. Criminy!

 

[HDFan]

What devices are you backing up to? I run 5 TM backups to both a NAS and local drives and haven't seen a problem.

 

[Fofer]

Hmm, are these external drives formatted as APFS or Mac OS Extended? And does it matter if when it comes to Time Machine in macOS Ventura?

 

[usagora]

What devices are you backing up to? I run 5 TM backups to both a NAS and local drives and haven't seen a problem.

As mentioned, a 4TB Seagate BarraCuda HDD

Hmm, are these external drives formatted as APFS or Mac OS Extended? And does it matter if when it comes to Time Machine in macOS Ventura?

APFS.

Just checked, and my latest backup was an hour ago, so currently it's working. We'll see how long it lasts.

 

[GTDaveMac]

8TB Seagate Backup+. System settings thinks there are no backups setup (TM prefs blank) until reboot.

 

[gilby101]

This is not a widespread problem, so those of you losing your TM disk are going to have to inspect the logs to try and discover what is happening when your backup disk disappears. You may get some help in filtering the logs by using Mints (Time Machine button) and The Time Machine Mechanic. I am not saying it is easy to do, but these apps may help. That is how I would start.

 

[GTDaveMac]

Interesting. Will take a look. However, I also submitted a bug report and logs using the Feedback Assistant app and recommend others due the same.

 

[kirbyrun]

I submitted feedback as well, but I've downloaded Mints and will see if I can learn anything there to supplement.

 

[GTDaveMac]

I tried one more thing which may have worked, and I will report back... I have BackBlaze backups so no problem starting Time Machine from scratch. I previously tried deleting all the preference .plist files in my user library, but never tried deleting /Libary/Preferences/com.apple.TimeMachine.plist. Doing so wiped out all Time Machine inheritance (so save the file so you can remember your excluded paths). Some of mine were no longer in existence, so maybe that was the problem.

EDIT: Too optimistic. Settings forgot about the disk. TheTimeMachineMechanic reports competed backup.

 

[kirbyrun]

I tried one more thing which may have worked, and I will report back... I have BackBlaze backups so no problem starting Time Machine from scratch. I previously tried deleting all the preference .plist files in my user library, but never tried deleting /Libary/Preferences/com.apple.TimeMachine.plist. Doing so wiped out all Time Machine inheritance (so save the file so you can remember your excluded paths). Some of mine were no longer in existence, so maybe that was the problem.

EDIT: Too optimistic. Settings forgot about the disk. TheTimeMachineMechanic reports competed backup.

Yeah, I should have mentioned that I tried this, too, a while back. New disk and everything. Still get the failures.

 

[anon103]

I have the same problem on 13.3.2 & 13.3.1

Backups have been running fine for years and years, thru so many versions of Mac OS

Ventura is the first ever death blow to Time Machine

This is ridiculous !!

 

[anon103]

I couldn't get my TM drives to mount for my user, resetting passwords didn't help - whatever I set it to was not recognized

So I have set my Western Digital My Cloud devices to Public Access for my TM shares -- that let me add them [finally] as backup destinations and the schedule is back to every hour

Hopefully this will work.... I can't connect those drives locally, they have no option for that...

 

[usagora]

Ok, so I just clicked on the Time Machine icon in the menu bar, and it was actually in progress of a backup and nearly complete. Once complete, however, it stated my latest backup was April 19, 2023 instead of today??? I'm so confused!