Feed
 

Time Machine Catalina

Avatar David Moon
I updated iMac to Catalina and then wanted to retrieve a year old file via Time Machine only to find Time Machine only went back to the start of Catalina. Looking online it appears that Catalina changes the Time Machine file to .backupbundle in place of the previous .sparsebundle. When I restarted Mac on Mojave clone it could not find time Machine. It's not the end of the World in my case but a nasty surprise. Here is a link on the subject.

https://www.macworld.com/article/3445481/can-t-find-your-time-machine-backup-after-upgrading-to-catalina-look-for-a-backupbundle.html

Re: Time Machine Catalina

Avatar David Moon
John Marriot confirms that he has updated to Catalina and his TimeMachine works perfectly back into 2018 so perhaps my post should have been more precise. I use a Synology NAS server not a simple dedicated external drive. Still it would be interesting to know why the difference.

Re: Time Machine Catalina

Avatar Euan Williams
You may find part of the explanation in these articles:
Back up your files with Time Machine on Mac_Apple support

Change Time Machine Configuration preferences on Mac_Apple support

and here: Time Machine and backing up in Catalina

Re: Time Machine Catalina

Avatar Mick Burrell
Just a long shot David - as you did a clean install and didn't import your user data, is it possible Time Machine doesn't realise that the Catalina using DM is the same person as the Mojave using DM so won't allow you access to the other DM's data?

Re: Time Machine Catalina

Avatar David Moon
After our telephone call, I realised that the problem had been on Linda's iMac which was a standard upgrade to Catalina but when I looked at the Server her TimeMachine file is now a .backupbundle as oppose to the previous .sparsebundle

I will search more on NAS servers and TimeMachine.

If I set up a brand new SSD connected USBC to act as my TimeMachine should it be APFC for Catalina?

Re: Time Machine Catalina

Avatar David Moon
Simple answer from Apple Support:-
Important: You can back up from an HFS+ or APFS-formatted disk to an HFS+ disk; however, Time Machine can’t back up to an APFS-formatted disk. If you select a back up disk formatted as APFS, Time Machine offers to reformat it as HFS+.

Re: Time Machine Catalina

Avatar Tony Still
Time Machine is currently only supported on (traditional) HFS+ (aka macOS Extended) formatted disks, not APFS.

However, you suggested that you were backing up to a NAS, being a third-party TM server. I assumed that was the problem but are you now seeing the problem with a directly connected external drive?

I'm still a Catalina-free zone due to my (careless) continuing reliance on some 32-bit items do I can't offer any personal experience.

Re: Time Machine Catalina

Avatar Georgia Cheer
Hi with help from Euan and also Apple support I have restored my father’s iMac (In Florida on my November visit) from Catalina update BACK to Mojave 10.14.6 using his Time Machine back ups. As with Tony (but for same and different reasons) Dad wants to stay on Mojave. Now I have to make sure no auto-updates happen. Thank goodness for Time machine backup external drive I set up 2 years ago on both Mom and Dad’s iMacs. My iMac at Poundbury is also on Mojave as it’s too old to go higher. I’m happy on Mojave BTW.

Re: Time Machine Catalina

Avatar David Moon
Tony

Thank you for your email pointing to me the redoubtable Howard Oakley. For anyone interested about Time Machine on NAS here is the article to which Tony referred.
 
Feed