"Repairing Time Machine Backup (Issue Resolved): Time Machine Backup Failed, Damaged, or Missing"

Time Machine Backup/Restore Failed Translation: Time Machine Backup or Restore Failed

Mac users running macOS Catalina or Mojave are reporting issues with Time Machine. Essentially, the problem lies in Time Machine failing to back up scheduled files to the designated backup disks, whether it's a Time Capsule drive or a third-party drive. Consequently, the focus of our discussion will be on how to repair Time Machine backup.

You can continue reading or skip directly to the issue and solution that concerns you the most.

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Issue 1: Unable to Backup or Restore Your Mac Using Time Machine

One manifestation of a Time Machine backup failure is the inability to back up or access an existing Time Machine backup, or when restoring from an earlier backup doesn't work. As per Apple's official guidelines (available at https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204157), if you encounter issues with Time Machine, check the following if you receive an alert stating that Time Machine can't back up your data, or if you're unable to select your backup disk in Time Machine preferences.

Fix 1: Check Time Machine System Requirements

• External hard drive connected to a USB, FireWire, or Thunderbolt port on your Mac
• Time Capsule or macOS Server on your network
• External hard drive connected to the USB port of an AirPort Extreme Base Station (802.11ac) on your network

Fix 2: Check Your Mac

1. Ensure that your Mac software is up to date. 2. Restart your Mac and check if the issue persists.

Fix 3: Check your AirPort Base Station

1. If you're using an AirPort Time Capsule or a drive connected to an AirPort Extreme Base Station, ensure that your AirPort firmware is up to date. 2. Restart your base station and check if the issue persists. To restart, unplug the base station from the power outlet for 5 seconds, and then plug it back in.

Fix 4: Check Your Network Connection

If you back up to a server, AirPort Time Capsule, or drive connected to your AirPort Extreme Base Station, make sure your Mac is connected to the same network as your backup drive. You can choose your wireless network from the Wi-Fi status menu.

Fix 5: Verify Your Backup

If you back up to a server, AirPort Time Capsule, or drive connected to your AirPort Extreme Base Station, make sure that your current Time Machine backup isn't experiencing any issues that could interfere with additional backups:

1. While keeping the Option key pressed on your keyboard, click the Time Machine icon in the menu bar, and then select Verify Backups. 2. If Time Machine detects an issue with your backup, it will show a message with details. Follow the on-screen instructions to address the problem.

Fix 6: Check Your Drives

• If you're using a drive connected to a port on your Mac or AirPort Extreme Base Station, make sure that the drive is turned on.
• If you're using a USB hub or a similar device, try connecting the drive directly to your Mac or base station.
• If you're backing up to an external third-party drive, check with the drive manufacturer to ensure that the drive's firmware is up to date.
• If you're backing up to an external drive, verify the drive's formatting. Time Machine requires that an external drive be formatted like a Mac startup disk: Mac OS Extended (Journaled) with a GUID Partition Table (GPT). If you choose a differently formatted drive for use with Time Machine, your Mac will automatically prompt you to erase it for Time Machine.
• Reformatting a disk will erase all data stored on it, so you may want to move important files to another disk before doing this.

If your drive is already formatted correctly, turn off Time Machine, then check it for problems:

1. To examine the hard drive of an AirPort Time Capsule, follow the steps to verify an AirPort Time Capsule drive. 2. To inspect an external drive connected to your Mac, launch Disk Utility from the Utilities folder within your Applications folder. Utilize the First Aid function in Disk Utility to verify your disk. Perform this process for your startup disk as well. 3. You can re-enable Time Machine after successfully verifying or repairing your drives.

Issue 2: Time Machine Backup Is Corrupted

What is a corrupted Time Machine backup? Here are some signs of backup corruption:

• Unable to finish Time Machine backup
• Access to Time Machine backups is denied
• Time Machine continually prompts to create new backups
• Searching for Time Machine backups takes an eternity
• Time Machine disk or external device becomes unrecognizable

How to fix a corrupted Time Machine backup? According to some seasoned users and tech experts, when Time Machine becomes corrupted, it can be resolved using the following four troubleshooting techniques.

Fix 1: Create a New Backup

If Time Machine continues to prompt you to create new backups, click Create new backup to initiate the new backup process. This ensures smooth functioning之后.

Fix 2: Restart Time Machine

Restarting Time Machine several times might also help. You might need to switch Time Machine to On-Off-On, and then reboot Time Machine again.

Fix 3: Replace the Hard Drive

Another solution to fix Time Machine is to set up a new external hard drive and use it as a backup disk with Time Machine.

Fix 4: Repair Corrupted Time Machine Backup with Terminal Command

If Time Machine fails to respond or doesn't work on your Mac, repairing the corrupted Time Machine can be challenging but still solvable with Terminal commands.

1. Step 1: Open Terminal on your Mac and type: $ sudo su -, then press Return. 2. Step 2: Type: $ chflags -R nouchg "/Volumes/.sparsebundle" and press Return. 3. If you're unsure of the Time Machine name, go to Time Machine Preferences to check, or type: $ ls "/Volumes/" and press Return. 4. Step 3: Type: $ hdiutil attach -nomount -readwrite -noverify -noautofsck "/Volumes/.sparsebundle" and press Return. 5. Step 4: Enter the following commands one by one, followed by Return each time: /dev/disk5 GUID_partition_scheme
/dev/disk5s1 EFI
/dev/disk5s2 Apple_HFS 6. Step 5: Type: $ fsck_hfs -drfy /dev/diskxs2 and press Return. If you see 'The volume was repaired successfully', congratulations. If Terminal displays 'The volume could not be repaired', proceed to the next command without worry. 7. Step 6: Type: $ fsck_hfs -p /dev/diskxs2 and press Return. 8. Step 7: Type: $ fsck_hfs -drfy /dev/diskxs2 and press Return. Wait for the process to finish. 9. Step 8: Type: $ vi "/Volumes//.sparsebundle/com.apple.TimeMachine.MachineID.plist" and press Return. In the file, change the value of the integer from 2 to 0.

Issue 3: Missing Time Machine Backups

When you're unable to access Time Machine or if it's corrupted, it's highly advisable to first retrieve your backup data. How can you do this?

Solution 1: Recover Missing Backup Image with Software

If the Time Machine backup disk can be accessed but no backups are visible, the ideal solution is to scan and recover all lost Time Machine's Backups.backupdb files. We recommend trying the Data Recovery Wizard for Mac, a tool that supports restoring all lost data from various scenarios with just three simple steps. Download Data Recovery Wizard for Mac now to restore your Time Machine backups:

Step 1. Search for Missing Files

Select the disk location to search for lost files (this can be an internal HDD/SSD or an external hard drive) where you experienced data and file loss. Click the "Search for lost files" button.

Note: Before proceeding with data recovery, it's recommended to click "Disk Backup" from the left sidebar to create a backup of your HDD/SSD to prevent any potential further data loss. Once the backup is done, the software can retrieve data from the backup, and you can continue using your HDD or SSD safely.

Step 2. Review the scanning results

This software will immediately scan your selected disk volume and display pictures, documents, audio, videos, and emails on the left pane.

Step 3. Select the file(s) and recover

Click on the data to preview it, and then click the "Recover" button to restore them.

Moreover, if you lose files on your Mac or external storage devices, you can also use Mac data recovery software to easily recover files on Mac without a Time Machine backup.

Fix 2: Repair Unrecognized Time Machine Drive

When the Time Machine backup disk or external hard drive becomes unrecognizable, resulting in missing backups, you can first attempt to mount it on your Mac and then run First Aid on the Time Machine disk using the Disk Utility.

Step 1: Connect the Time Machine backup external hard drive to your Mac. Launch Disk Utility and check the external hard drive in the left panel.

You'll see that the external hard drive is grayed out and labeled "Untitled" (which means it's not mounted on a Mac).

Step 2: Choose the untitled external hard drive and click the "Mount" button from the Disk Utility toolbar.

Step 3: In the Disk Utility app, select the Time Machine drive at the volume level in the left panel, then run First Aid.

Step 4: Select the Time Machine drive at the volume level and run First Aid.

Wait for the process to complete, then check if your Mac can recognize the backup disk and open it in Time Machine again.

Conclusion

Regarding the issue "Time Machine backup failed" and inquiries about "how to fix Time Machine backup," we have compiled a comprehensive list of solutions to assist you in addressing various problems with Time Machine on your Mac. If you encounter additional Time Machine issues, feel free to explore more Time Machine guidance from the compilation below.

• Recover Deleted Time Machine Backup
• Backup Mac without Time Machine