Folding Forum

While CPU folding, Time Machine (MacOS backup software) ceases to backup automatically.
I need to manualy initiate the backup for Time Machine to do it's thing.
If I pause folding, Time Machine resumes automatic backups.
Does anyone else experience this ?

MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015)
MacOS High Sierra, version 10.13.6 (17G5019)
Folding@home Client Control Version 7.5.1
Backing-up to an external USB-3 device (500GB SSD or 2TB HDD x2)

I don't have a Mac, but by design, FAHCore_A* is supposed to run at a very low priority. It makes sense that TimeMachine would also run at a very low priority. Both would compete for a similar pool of CPU resources when nothing more important is running. To manage this issue manually, you can tell FAHClient that you want FAHCore* to use fewer of your CPU threads, leaving some resources for TimeMachine. FAHClient allows you to specify how many of your threads are to be used. The first couple of pages in FAH's log diagnose your hardware and it will tell you how many CPU threads are detectable in you system (if you don't know that already). FAH's default setting is "-1" which means "all".

Say you have 4. You can manually set it to 3. Say you have 8. Do NOT set it to 7 since the number must be a multiple of 2 and/or 3.