Automatic Time Machine backups aren’t scheduled to run at precise times, but when it’s convenient. This explains how, and what to do if goes wrong.
backup
What is Time Machine best at doing? What are its current limitations in macOS Sonoma, when backing up to APFS? A draft list.
Two different errors when backing up two different Macs, a recursive RTFD document, and APFS path length limits. But what’s this about FileProvider?
How well can Time Machine back up other volumes, such as those on external drives? Can it restore them when the original disk fails or goes missing?
How should you restore a whole volume, or an old version of a document to a different folder? Includes details of backup structure.
How to use the Time Machine log extract in Mints to check whether its backups are working normally, and what are expected errors.
APFS checks file system metadata, not file data. Consistency Scan has gone missing, verifying checksums doesn’t appear to verify data, and Verify Integrity seems to do something altogether different.
The most frequent error written to the log during my backups concerns a rogue RTFD that went recursive on me 4 years ago, and has come back to haunt me.
Detailed account and explanation of the sequence of phases during an automatic backup in Sonoma 14.0 and 14.1, with tear-out chart.
First released 16 years ago, it was destined for Time Capsules, and relied on hard links in HFS+. It soon used APFS snapshots, and now uses them as the basis for its backups.
The Eclectic Light Company 