Suddenly my Time Capsule says I have to delete everything and start over.

"Time Machine detected that your backups on "Data" can not be reliable restored. Time Machine must erase your existing backup history and start a new backup to correct this."

What's going on?!!

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 13.3

Posted on May 13, 2023 09:17 AM

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Posted on May 18, 2023 08:28 AM

During a normal check, Time Machine detected that your backup file has become corrupted and is no longer useable. Backup files that include backups going back over a year or more are particularly susceptible to corruption. Appears to be a nature of beast situation with Time Machine and a Time Capsule.


On average, I see this message every 12-18 months or so on both of my Macs.


Click the Erase button to erase the current backup file and start over again with a new backup.


Your backups would be a lot more reliable if you connect a USB drive directly to your Mac and back up that way. I've gone for 5 years plus with no issues backing up this way.

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

May 18, 2023 08:28 AM in response to lightinggirl

During a normal check, Time Machine detected that your backup file has become corrupted and is no longer useable. Backup files that include backups going back over a year or more are particularly susceptible to corruption. Appears to be a nature of beast situation with Time Machine and a Time Capsule.


On average, I see this message every 12-18 months or so on both of my Macs.


Click the Erase button to erase the current backup file and start over again with a new backup.


Your backups would be a lot more reliable if you connect a USB drive directly to your Mac and back up that way. I've gone for 5 years plus with no issues backing up this way.

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Suddenly my Time Capsule says I have to delete everything and start over.

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