As I type this, we are up to macOS Sequoia 15.2 which was just released to the public. And I have to say that when it comes to backing up your Mac, things are worse than when Sequoia was first released.
Let’s start with the inability to back up using Time Machine. When I wrote this, Time Machine Backups to be frank were inconsistent. And as I type this, I can say that what 15.2 has marginally improved backups via Time Machine. By that I mean that I only see the message that it has failed to back up less often. But I still see it. Now there is the possibility that a fix that I recommended in my original article to disable Time Machine throttling is also responsible for that improvement. But I am not 100% sure about that as I have another Mac that does not have Time Machine throttling disabled, and it has seen the same marginal improvement. That kind of implies that Apple might have done something to make things better. If they did, they in typical Apple fashion aren’t saying anything. I continue to monitor the situation and I will post any updates that may be of value to you here.
By the way, while I have your attention, some of you emailed me about that the fact that the ability to disable throttling of Time Machine only lasts until the next reboot is a bit of a problem. That’s fair and I perhaps should have pointed that out in my original post. But I do have a fix for that. This guy has a method of having this setting remain persistent after a reboot. I’ve done this and it does work without an issue. So you can give that a shot.
So, now you’re wondering why I am saying that if things have had a marginal improvement, why am I also saying that things are getting worse? Well, if you use a third party backup tool, macOS Sequoia seems to have broken two of the most popular ones. SuperDuper is one of those apps, and 15.2 broke the ability to create bootable backups, according to the app’s chief developer Dave Nanian. There are also reports of CarbonCopyCloner having worse issue. With them it’s not just bootable backups, but non-bootable backups as well was also affected were also failing according to this post. Also in the post was the assertion that 15.2 will wipe out Time Machine backups. Now I haven’t seen that, but that doesn’t mean that the problem doesn’t exist. But if that is accurate, this absolutely qualifies as things getting worse.
You have to wonder at what point Apple will get serious about addressing these issues so that things are better and not worse. Right now Apple hasn’t commented of this at all. And the silence suggests that they don’t want to admit to a problem until they come up with a fix, which is typical Apple behaviour. But given that they have effectively impaired at best, broken at worst their customers ability to properly protect their data, they need to do way better than what they are doing right now. Because the status quo is not acceptable.
The AbilityTo Back Up A Mac Running Sequoia Has Gotten Worse And Not Better
Posted in Commentary with tags Apple on December 22, 2024 by itnerdAs I type this, we are up to macOS Sequoia 15.2 which was just released to the public. And I have to say that when it comes to backing up your Mac, things are worse than when Sequoia was first released.
Let’s start with the inability to back up using Time Machine. When I wrote this, Time Machine Backups to be frank were inconsistent. And as I type this, I can say that what 15.2 has marginally improved backups via Time Machine. By that I mean that I only see the message that it has failed to back up less often. But I still see it. Now there is the possibility that a fix that I recommended in my original article to disable Time Machine throttling is also responsible for that improvement. But I am not 100% sure about that as I have another Mac that does not have Time Machine throttling disabled, and it has seen the same marginal improvement. That kind of implies that Apple might have done something to make things better. If they did, they in typical Apple fashion aren’t saying anything. I continue to monitor the situation and I will post any updates that may be of value to you here.
By the way, while I have your attention, some of you emailed me about that the fact that the ability to disable throttling of Time Machine only lasts until the next reboot is a bit of a problem. That’s fair and I perhaps should have pointed that out in my original post. But I do have a fix for that. This guy has a method of having this setting remain persistent after a reboot. I’ve done this and it does work without an issue. So you can give that a shot.
So, now you’re wondering why I am saying that if things have had a marginal improvement, why am I also saying that things are getting worse? Well, if you use a third party backup tool, macOS Sequoia seems to have broken two of the most popular ones. SuperDuper is one of those apps, and 15.2 broke the ability to create bootable backups, according to the app’s chief developer Dave Nanian. There are also reports of CarbonCopyCloner having worse issue. With them it’s not just bootable backups, but non-bootable backups as well was also affected were also failing according to this post. Also in the post was the assertion that 15.2 will wipe out Time Machine backups. Now I haven’t seen that, but that doesn’t mean that the problem doesn’t exist. But if that is accurate, this absolutely qualifies as things getting worse.
You have to wonder at what point Apple will get serious about addressing these issues so that things are better and not worse. Right now Apple hasn’t commented of this at all. And the silence suggests that they don’t want to admit to a problem until they come up with a fix, which is typical Apple behaviour. But given that they have effectively impaired at best, broken at worst their customers ability to properly protect their data, they need to do way better than what they are doing right now. Because the status quo is not acceptable.
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