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orbitalpunk

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 14, 2006
547
304
I did a fresh install of Mojave on my nMP and in the past I could reconnect my Time Machine from the previous OS without having to start over. But this time I am getting an error. Has anyone experience similar issues? Usually I can go into terminal and use the following command

sudo tmutil associatedisk -a /

the full command would be like this:

sudo tmutil associatedisk -a / /Volumes/Harddrive/Backups.backupdb/Mac\ Pro/2018-09-26-235241/Macintosh\ HD

But now I get the following error:

Failed to gather snapshots for /Volumes/Harddrive/Backups.backupdb/Mac Pro
 

Howard2k

macrumors 601
Mar 10, 2016
4,299
3,746
I did a clean install and had a Time Machine volume on my NAS and it had no issue opening it directly from the GUI. No CLI. I just opened the Time Machine prefs and added the drive through there I think.

I was really impressed how smooth that was.
 

Mr.Chow

macrumors member
Jan 27, 2013
49
3
Austria
I did a fresh install of Mojave on my nMP and in the past I could reconnect my Time Machine from the previous OS without having to start over. But this time I am getting an error. Has anyone experience similar issues? Usually I can go into terminal and use the following command

sudo tmutil associatedisk -a /

the full command would be like this:

sudo tmutil associatedisk -a / /Volumes/Harddrive/Backups.backupdb/Mac\ Pro/2018-09-26-235241/Macintosh\ HD

But now I get the following error:

Failed to gather snapshots for /Volumes/Harddrive/Backups.backupdb/Mac Pro

I'm getting the same error when I try to inherit a backup. Time machine seemed far more stable in the last beta...
 

interstella

macrumors 6502
Sep 29, 2013
250
142
Suffolk, England
After installing Mojave I took a chance and deleted my TM backups off my NAS and started again. What I have noticed is that, previously, every hourly backup had the NAS drives working furiously and noisily. With Mojave, the backup process is barely noticeable.
 

Ronis_BR

macrumors newbie
Jun 4, 2017
20
8
I did a fresh install of Mojave on my nMP and in the past I could reconnect my Time Machine from the previous OS without having to start over. But this time I am getting an error. Has anyone experience similar issues? Usually I can go into terminal and use the following command

sudo tmutil associatedisk -a /

the full command would be like this:

sudo tmutil associatedisk -a / /Volumes/Harddrive/Backups.backupdb/Mac\ Pro/2018-09-26-235241/Macintosh\ HD

But now I get the following error:

Failed to gather snapshots for /Volumes/Harddrive/Backups.backupdb/Mac Pro

Hi @orbitalpunk,

I am having this exactly same problem! In my case, I have a HFS+ partition in which I deleted and copied all the data to a volume inside the APFS container. In this case, I needed to associate the new volume with the old one. The command `sudo tmutil associatedisk -a ...` failed with the same error message. My only solution after trying for one hour was to format the external time machine HD and start again.
[doublepost=1538407921][/doublepost]I submitted a Feedback to Apple.
 
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RabidMacFan

macrumors 6502
Jun 19, 2012
326
116
California
I had the opposite issue. I did a fresh install of Mojave and when I plugged in my High Sierra time machine disk, it automatically started comparing the previous backup and made the adjustments in the same parent folder.

I would have preferred that time machine started from scratch with a new backup directory.
 

Mr.Chow

macrumors member
Jan 27, 2013
49
3
Austria
I was getting this error. I went into System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy and added Terminal to the Full Disk Access panel. Worked for me. Hope it helps!
Thank you for the advise. Worked for me too.
 

Cal_Ed

macrumors newbie
Nov 23, 2018
1
0
I was getting this error. I went into System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy and added Terminal to the Full Disk Access panel. Worked for me. Hope it helps!
Worked for me as well, thanks zikken
 

dredlew

macrumors regular
Jun 30, 2014
122
168
Japan
I was getting this error. I went into System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy and added Terminal to the Full Disk Access panel. Worked for me. Hope it helps!
Worked for me as well, thanks! It takes a while for it to "prepare the backup" but eventually it will only back up new files.
 

sig_eigei

macrumors newbie
Oct 10, 2019
5
1
Hi All,

I just made a fresh install of Catalina to expunge 10 years of orphaned files. I tried following the instructions above, including turning on Full Disk Access for Terminal, and a restart, but it didn't work. I have two volumes on my MacBook Pro. I believe I do it correctly, but I still have a message that Time Machine is not configured correctly. I would appreciate any ideas.
 

madrich

macrumors 6502a
Feb 19, 2012
581
101
World Class City of Chicago
I am not an expert but if you installed Catalina you will not be able to access the sparse bundle of the prior OS X because they were created by a different OS X. You should still be able to use the migration assistant to transfer data and apps from the Time Capsule to your PC.
 

sig_eigei

macrumors newbie
Oct 10, 2019
5
1
I am not an expert but if you installed Catalina you will not be able to access the sparse bundle of the prior OS X because they were created by a different OS X. You should still be able to use the migration assistant to transfer data and apps from the Time Capsule to your PC.

Thanks for your reply. Actually there is no bundle because it's a local external disk. I specifically did not want to use migration assistant as I wanted to get rid of 10 years of updates and vestigial files.

After a lot of research, I believe the old tricks don't work because of how 10.15 now manages APFS volumes and roles for hidden partitions. Anyway, in the end I gave up and reformatted the drive and started a new TM backup.
 
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madrich

macrumors 6502a
Feb 19, 2012
581
101
World Class City of Chicago
Thanks for your reply. Actually
there is no bundle because it's a local external disk.
I specifically did not want to use migration assistant as I wanted to get rid of 10 years of updates and vestigial files.

After a lot of research, I believe the old tricks don't work because of how 10.15 now manages APFS volumes and roles for hidden partitions. Anyway, in the end I gave up and reformatted the drive and started a new TM backup.
I am glad it worked out for you. However, I think you should have still seen the TC sparse bundles as long as the Time Capsule was pointed to the backup external disk; otherwise how did the Time Capsule save it there?
 

sig_eigei

macrumors newbie
Oct 10, 2019
5
1
I am glad it worked out for you. However, I think you should have still seen the TC sparse bundles as long as the Time Capsule was pointed to the backup external disk; otherwise how did the Time Capsule save it there?
I am not using Time Capsule. I am using Time Machine to an external disk. With a local hard drive the folder is called Backups.backupd, not .sparsebundle.
 

Ruggy

macrumors 6502a
Jan 11, 2017
926
591
The Time Machine is the Time Capsule, and the backups are the sparse bundle.
Like he said- you have to use the same OS and be sure not to change your user name in any way when you do a new install because it's linked to the user name it'll think you are someone else so won't have access.
 
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