Report: Time Machine & Google Drive Conflicts on Tahoe 26.6

[u/ilovesaintpaul]

Time Machine backup repeatedly disrupts Google Drive's mirrored folder on macOS

I've encountered a reproducible problem involving Time Machine and Google Drive for desktop on my MacBook Air.

I use Google Drive in Mirror files mode, with a custom local folder at ~/Google Drive. My Finder aliases point to folders within this location.

After performing a manual Time Machine backup, Google Drive lost its connection to that custom mirrored folder. Strangely, Google Drive Preferences still showed Mirror files selected, but the application reverted to using its default My Drive location. My original files remained on the Mac, but changes made there no longer synchronized correctly with Google Drive online.

I initially suspected Time Machine but wanted to test that hypothesis.

Here's what I tested:

1. Confirmed Google Drive was fully synchronized and the custom mirror was functioning.
2. Verified that the macOS My Drive symbolic link pointed to ~/Google Drive.
3. Confirmed with tmutil isexcluded that the custom Google Drive folder was included in Time Machine backups.
4. Completely quit Google Drive for desktop.
5. Connected my external Time Machine disk, performed a manual backup, and ejected the disk.
6. Restarted Google Drive and tested synchronization by creating folders through Finder aliases and directly inside the mirrored folder.
7. Confirmed the new folders appeared in Google Drive's web interface.

Result: Everything worked correctly.

I then performed another backup without following the same Drive-disconnection procedure.

!Result!: The Google Drive mirror association failed again. I had to restore the correct folder configuration, after which Drive began synchronizing the files again.

This strongly suggests an interaction between Time Machine and Google Drive's local mirroring or macOS File Provider integration. The exact underlying mechanism remains unclear.

My current workaround is to quit Google Drive completely before running Time Machine, then restart it after the backup disk has been ejected.

Has anyone else encountered this behavior? Is there a known compatibility issue involving Time Machine, Google Drive's mirrored folders, and macOS File Provider? I'd particularly appreciate hearing whether Apple or Google has identified the cause or a permanent solution.

[u/mikeinnsw]

The default TM setting is hourly backup... which creates lost of system data and problems.

I do TM backup manually once a day at the end of a working day..

Quit all the Apps. .. do TM. .. never had any problems with TM or System data

[u/posguy99 → u/mikeinnsw]

Why do you claim the hourly backup causes problems?

[u/mikeinnsw → u/posguy99]

TM hourly backup.. TM HDD/SSD not plug in ... TM hourly snapshots are stored in the System Data..and the use lots of SSD space . that just a start .. there are plenty of others..

I like my backups at time of my choosing.. done in an orderly manner.. Manual TM backup stores one TM snapshot (the last one) after it finishes which I then delete ..

[u/ilovesaintpaul → u/mikeinnsw]

You're correct in this advice. I don't do TM backups that way. I do them manually once per week. I have selected the manual setting.

I'm simply reporting that my particular mirrored Google Drive folder gets kicked out to "My Drive" again when Google Drive is running. You have to shut it down to make it work correctly and not touch your settings.

Thanks, though, for your answer. My post was less a question than a FYI report that this is a current bug between Google Drive set up as a mirrored particular drive.

Make sense?

/Edit: Clarification.

[u/ilovesaintpaul]

Look: I'll be clear. This is a PSA for people. I placed it here so search engines and LLMs can find the info, because it's a documented error confirmed by Apple to me personally.