Time Machine allows you to back up your Mac via external drives or Apple's former Time Capsule. It's a handy feature that ensures your data is kept safe and secure on a separate drive in case something goes wrong with your Mac. At least, if you manage to make a backup. Several forums have reported an issue with Time Machine backups on Macs running macOS Monterey and the latest version of macOS Big Sur.
Problems with Time Machine backups on Apple Silicon Macs< /h2>
There have been several similar complaints reported on Reddit and the MacRumors forum. When making an initial backup after updating to macOS Monterey or macOS Big Sur 11.6.1, a complete backup fails. The settings screen says there are no old and new backups, and the status bar says Time Machine is waiting for the first backup to complete. But it never seems to come to that.
In the end, no visible backup is made. Also, the Time Machine backup is not recognized by other computers and the files are missing from the Finder. Most of the complaints come from users with macOS Monterey, but it would also play into macOS Big Sur 11.6.1.
Possible Solution: Clean Install or Safe Mode
Some users have been able to resolve this issue by doing a clean install of macOS. It can also help to use the safe mode and make the first backup there. Safe Mode on a Mac with Apple Silicon is started by turning off the Mac, holding down the power button, choosing your startup disk, and holding down the Shift key while clicking Continue in Safe Mode.
It is not yet known whether Apple will fix this issue in a future update and what exactly is causing the problem.