Interesting problem with Time Machine and Spotlight

As I was searching for spotlight problems in time machine, I came across many discussions about the indexing and whether or not to include your external Time Machine back up drive. My drive has always been indexed and one day when I plugged it in, it ran a quick index which hadn't happened before. I put it in the Spotlight Privacy Tab in Preferences not really knowing what I was doing, and after that whenever I opened Time Machine I couldn't search for files on my external HD - it just wouldn't find them even though I could navigate backward without using spotlight and find the specific files myself.
Thinking all I needed to do was take my Time Machine drive out of the privacy tab, I did so but am still encountering the same problem. Although - it seems to be a little bit better. Say I have a file on my desktop labeled "First Draft" - I backup TM, delete the file from my main comp, then back up TM again to simulate a lost file over time. I search in spotlight "First Draft" click the back arrow and am easily taken to my missing file - exactly how TM should work.
However, I have a folder named "First Draft" that I backed up a while ago, deleted, and now replaced with a new folder with the same name but with different files in them, then Time Machine can only seem to find my current folder. I search "First Draft" in spotlight in TM and then click back, but it can't seem to find it - it just goes back to the first backup date with a blank window. I know it's there because when I take off the search words and navigate through a certain day, I can see the files. Does anyone else have this problem? It's such a detailed problem - sorry it took a long time to explain. I hope you understand my problem. Thanks for your time!

Nevermind - what's even stranger is that right after I posted this - it fixed itself. Wow I hate when that happens...

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HT1338 problems with time machine and parallels desktop, mac osx mountain lion 10.8

have a good day, i have been problems with time machine and parallels desktop, dont work in mac osx 10.8, i upgrate two mac´s (macbook air, imac), in the two machines shows problems, could you help me please.
two machines have good ram memory (macbook air 11.1 2010 early , imac 2009 late).
i am waiting for your help.
thanks.
Jesus.

Take a look here:
http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
Specifically, you'll probably want to try item #A5 on that page, but there's a lot of other info there that may be useful.

I am having problems with Time Machine and having enough space to finish my last back up.

I am having problems with Time Machine and having enough space to finish my last back up.

Take a look at this link, http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1427

Problems with time machine and external hard drive

Hi all
In 2009 with my imac I bought a WD external hard drive which the computer says is 148GB formatted. I recall that the hard drive contained folders with files for the running of the hard drive when I bought it - and after it had been plugged in to a mac and used as a time machine, it no longer worked on windows computers.
Now I have used 195 GB on my computer's internal hard drive and wish to stop using the external hard drive as a time machine and instead use it for swapping files between computers and the like.
How can I wipe the time machine back ups and start using it as per usual again? do i need to obtain the WD files from somewhere?
thanks in advance
Nick

Hi Nick,
Avoid the WD files completely, not needed & often a problem.
You need to erase the Drive, & to use it on both Format it MS-DOS/FAT32, on the Mac or PC, but will have a 4 GB filesize limit, as well as other limitations.
One option not mentioned yet is MacDrive for your PCs... allows them to Read/Write & Format HFS+, so no need to reformat it...
http://www.mediafour.com/products/macdrive/

Macbook Pro sleep Problems with Time Machine and Time Capsule

I recently installed a time capsule as a Router and a Time Machine backup device for 2 macs in the house.
Unfortunately, I found that my 2011 macbook pro 15' updates the time machine backups even when the lid is closed and in sleep.
When I wake the macbook pro, it hangs and I have to reset the mac to restart.
This did not happen when I was using a firewire hard drive with the time machine.
My question is:
Is there a way to prevent the time machine to backup when the macbook pro is in sleep mode?
My mac is not equiped with power nap so it is not suppose to be doing this.
Thanks
Other info: OS Mountain Lion, regular hard drive, 8 Gig Memory

Edwin,
I assume that since the repair of the sparsebundle failed you still cannot open the sparsebundle in Finder and get the message:
The following backups could not be opened:
Imac of E.sparsebundle because there are no activatible filesystems
If the sparsebundle cannot be opened in Finder, then the chances that Time Machine can open them are nil in my opinion. Time Machine, in effect is just going to open the sparsebundle as Finder is attempting to dot, then it gives you a fnacy display, but the underlying issue with the sparesbundle is the same for both methods of access.
Do you, by chance hav a bootable backuo of your Snow Leopard system?
If so can you access the TM backups with it??
You didn't change the Time Capsules Network Password did you?? see this.
I looked to see if I could find anythng about the error codes you mentioned in your original post and so far can;t find anything about them.
Steve

Persistent problems with Time Machine and Time Capsule

I've upgraded to the most recent firmware, the green light stays on, and from the finder's point-of-view, the drive is connected (and I can browse it, etc.). After an initial backup apparently succeeding, subsequent attempts by Time Machine fail. I've removed the file and started from scratch, but then the failures keep happening.
I've gotten both: "Unable to complete backup. An error occured while creating the backup directory." and "Backup disk image could not be mounted." I believe one of the times there was another failure message.
Is this a dud drive? A problem that is typical? I'm approaching the point of giving the drive back, which would really be too bad.
Message was edited by: jrucker1076

Theoretically if the drive was a dud, it wouldn't be able to read/write files. Try dragging files onto it to see if they will stay on there and if you can access them from it. Could be a time MACHINE problem, or a problem elsewhere. If the problem persists, take it to the apple store/call apple care!

Time Machine and Spotlight

I've been having mixed results with Time Machine and Spotlight. It seems to be able to find any files that were indexed before the original backup, but it doesn't find anything that was added after the original (ie from incremental backups). I don't have the Time Machine drive in Privacy in Spotlight prefs.
Also, I can't search in Mail in Time Machine. Once I enter Time Machine mode, the search box goes gray for both the Now entry, and for all past backups too.
Thanks for any help.

I second that. By default both Spotlight and Time Machine should be off. Or at least it should be possible to configure that, which comes handy when installing a new system, updating, etc. I do not want Spotlight or Time Machine to work until all is installed and updated.
On the other hand, it would be great if Spotlight did not require to re-index a new disk when all its contents have been copied from an older disk using the Migration Assistant. After all, the Spotlight index is also on the old disk, so copying such index should be quicker. Likewise, for the Time Machine volume: it should not be necessary to re-index the Time Machine volume, since copying the Spotlight index of the booting disk should be enough.
That way, the slow down and incompatibilities between Spotlight and Time Machine would we wiped out for ever.

Another problem with Time Machine

This is the second time I have experienced the following problem with Time Machine. After 2 months of backups it gets to a point where backups fail and I cannot enter time machine. In each instance I have only used 110GB of the 500GB space.
Is there a better solution to fixing this problem than deleting the sparsebundle? That seems to be the only way to get it to back up again.

backup is failing again:
Oct 28 08:39:58 MBA /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[8307]: Starting standard backup
Oct 28 08:40:02 MBA /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[8307]: FSMatchAliasBulk returned 0 while resolving alias to backup target
Oct 28 08:40:07 MBA /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[8307]: Backup failed with error: 19
Oct 28 09:22:57 MBA /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[8464]: Starting standard backup
Oct 28 09:22:58 MBA /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[8464]: Network mountpoint /Volumes/MPTC not owned by backupd... remounting
Oct 28 09:22:59 MBA /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[8464]: Network volume mounted at: /Volumes/MPTC-1
Oct 28 09:22:59 MBA /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[8464]: Backup requested due to disk attach
Oct 28 09:23:28 MBA /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[8464]: Disk image /Volumes/MPTC-1/MBA_001f5bd2c764.sparsebundle mounted at: /Volumes/Backup of MBA
Oct 28 09:23:32 MBA /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[8464]: Backing up to: /Volumes/Backup of MBA/Backups.backupdb
Oct 28 09:23:32 MBA /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[8464]: Backup requested due to disk attach
Oct 28 09:25:44 MBA /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[8464]: No pre-backup thinning needed: 242.1 MB requested (including padding), 351.94 GB available
Oct 28 09:41:34 MBA /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[8464]: Copied 990 files (72.4 MB) from volume MacBook Air HD.
Oct 28 09:41:35 MBA /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[8464]: No pre-backup thinning needed: 159.6 MB requested (including padding), 351.94 GB available
Oct 28 09:44:09 MBA /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[8464]: Bulk setting Spotlight attributes failed.
Oct 28 09:46:13 MBA /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[8464]: Copied 879 files (2.2 MB) from volume MacBook Air HD.
Oct 28 09:47:18 MBA /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[8464]: Starting post-backup thinning
Oct 28 09:49:15 MBA /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[8464]: Deleted backup /Volumes/Backup of MBA/Backups.backupdb/MBA/2008-10-27-090710: 351.94 GB now available
Oct 28 09:50:46 MBA /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[8464]: Deleted backup /Volumes/Backup of MBA/Backups.backupdb/MBA/2008-10-27-061332: 351.94 GB now available
Oct 28 09:52:53 MBA /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[8464]: Deleted backup /Volumes/Backup of MBA/Backups.backupdb/MBA/2008-10-27-050805: 351.94 GB now available
Oct 28 09:52:53 MBA /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[8464]: Post-back up thinning complete: 3 expired backups removed
Oct 28 09:52:53 MBA /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[8464]: Backup completed successfully.
Oct 28 09:53:11 MBA /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[8464]: Attempt to eject diskimage failed with status: -47, dissenting pid: 0
Oct 28 10:23:16 MBA /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[8603]: Starting standard backup
Oct 28 10:23:19 MBA /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[8603]: Network volume mounted at: /Volumes/MPTC-1
Oct 28 10:23:27 MBA /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[8603]: Disk image /Volumes/MPTC-1/MBA_001f5bd2c764.sparsebundle mounted at: /Volumes/Backup of MBA
Oct 28 10:23:27 MBA /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[8603]: Backing up to: /Volumes/Backup of MBA/Backups.backupdb
Oct 28 10:23:28 MBA /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[8603]: Error: (-50) Creating directory 2008-10-28-102328.inProgress
Oct 28 10:23:28 MBA /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[8603]: Failed to make snapshot container.
Oct 28 10:23:33 MBA /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[8603]: Backup failed with error: 2
Oct 28 10:23:33 MBA /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[8603]: Attempt to eject diskimage failed with status: -47, dissenting pid: 0
Oct 28 11:23:16 MBA /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[8729]: Starting standard backup
Oct 28 11:23:16 MBA /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[8729]: Network volume mounted at: /Volumes/MPTC-1
Oct 28 11:23:20 MBA /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[8729]: Disk image /Volumes/MPTC-1/MBA_001f5bd2c764.sparsebundle mounted at: /Volumes/Backup of MBA
Oct 28 11:23:20 MBA /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[8729]: Backing up to: /Volumes/Backup of MBA/Backups.backupdb
Oct 28 11:23:21 MBA /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[8729]: Error: (-50) Creating directory 2008-10-28-112321.inProgress
Oct 28 11:23:21 MBA /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[8729]: Failed to make snapshot container.
Oct 28 11:23:26 MBA /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[8729]: Backup failed with error: 2
Oct 28 11:23:26 MBA /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[8729]: Attempt to eject diskimage failed with status: -47, dissenting pid: 0
Oct 28 11:24:05 MBA /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[8729]: Stopping backupd to allow ejection of backup destination disk!
Oct 28 11:24:11 MBA /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[8747]: Backup requested by user
Oct 28 11:24:11 MBA /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[8747]: Starting standard backup
Oct 28 11:24:11 MBA /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[8747]: Network volume mounted at: /Volumes/MPTC-1
Oct 28 11:24:12 MBA /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[8747]: Disk image /Volumes/MPTC-1/MBA_001f5bd2c764.sparsebundle mounted at: /Volumes/Backup of MBA
Oct 28 11:24:12 MBA /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[8747]: Backing up to: /Volumes/Backup of MBA/Backups.backupdb
Oct 28 11:24:12 MBA /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[8747]: Error: (-50) Creating directory 2008-10-28-112412.inProgress
Oct 28 11:24:12 MBA /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[8747]: Failed to make snapshot container.
Oct 28 11:24:17 MBA /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[8747]: Backup failed with error: 2
Oct 28 11:24:17 MBA /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[8747]: Attempt to eject diskimage failed with status: -47, dissenting pid: 0

I have a mid 2010 Macbook Pro running Snow Leopard and foolishly upgraded to Yosemite. Is it possible to go back in time with Time Machine and reinstall Snow Leopard. Then upgrade to Lion or Mavericks? Any other ideas on how I can exit Yosemite?

I have a mid 2010 Macbook Pro running Snow Leopard and foolishly upgraded to Yosemite. Now have numerous problems. Is it possible to go back in time with Time Machine and reinstall Snow Leopard? Then upgrade to Lion or Mavericks? Any other ideas on how I can exit Yosemite?

Once you get yourself back to Snow Leopard, if you still want to upgrade somewhat, I would suggest the following:
1. Get an external hard drive that you can use for experiments with new OS versions. You could partition it into 2 or 3 partitions. You could then clone your existing Snow Leopard system to one partition using Carbon Copy Cloner (well worth $40) or SuperDuper ($25).
2. Buy OS X Mountain Lion for $20, through the Apple online store (I don't think it's available through the App Store). Apple has decided to make it very difficult for anyone to get Mavericks unless they have already downloaded it.
You will receive two e-mails from Apple, one containing a PDF with a redemption code, and one with the password you will need to unlock the PDF. Using the code, you will download Mountain Lion from the App Store, where it will appear among your Purchased items.
After ML finishes downloading, its installer app will launch itself. When you see this launch screen, QUIT the install app immediately! Go to your applications folder, find the Install OS X Mountain Lion app, and copy it to a safe location outside of your Applications folder. Keeping one or more copies will allow you to reinstall without unnecessary aggravation if you later need or want to do that. At this point, you can re-launch the Installer in the Applications folder and let it run. You can install it on a clean partition on your external HD, or you can allow it to upgrade the Snow Leopard clone you created on your external drive, or you can do both. This should allow you to test how everything works for as long as you like.
3. If you left yourself a free partition on your test drive, try a clean install of Yosemite and set everything up from scratch (do not migrate anything). This will allow you to see whether your problems with it were related to something in your Snow Leopard system.

Has anyone had had success with Time Machine and Airport Express 6th gen?

For the last six months I have attempted to use the Time Machine product to provide first level backup for my two MacBook Airs and iMac. Tryed a number of powered USB drives, tryed all of the current 10.8, 10.9 OSX software. The Time Machine product seems to work for about a month to six weeks and then fails with message about the file integrity or access problems. In all cases I can acess files on the drive and the only application that struugles with the AE usb drive is Time Machine.
You would think that if it works for a month it should work for a year?
I have purchased Carbon Copy Cloner and it seems to function without a problem and I think that I am probably better off with a once a day clone than a Time Machine with data integrity problems.
Has anyone had long term success with Time Machine and AE sixth gen?

You are connecting a USB hard disk to the new 802.11ac AirPort Extreme, not an Express, correct? If so, it works fine with both bus powered and self-powered drive enclosures, and I have no immediate explanation for what's going on.
You would think that if it works for a month it should work for a year?
Yes, besides the passage of time the only thing that is changing is the amount of available space on the backup volume, which could be a factor. Are you using separate drives for each Mac, or are they all being backed up to the same drive? If it's only one drive, is it partitioned or are they all sharing a single partition?
Are you sharing backup volumes with other, non-Time Machine files? That shouldn't cause the problem, but it's not a good idea.
What errors are being logged in system.log? Filter for backupd to find all Time-Machine related entries.

Recently my MacBookPro locked up on startup. Could not get past a certain point of progress bar. I had upgraded to Yosemite few weeks back, with no issues. I ended up doing a Recovery with Time Machine and I got all my apps, photos, documents, etc. back o

Recently my MacBookPro locked up on startup. Could not get past a certain point of progress bar. I had upgraded to Yosemite few weeks back, with no issues. I ended up doing a Recovery with Time Machine and I got all my apps, photos, documents, etc. back okay --- except I got error messages that my "registration for Photoshop (I use CS4 Extended) and Photo Mechanic are no longer working". I worked on Photoshop first, and tried (several times) to fix it with their online help suggestions. Nothing worked.
Is there a simpler way to "get my licenses/registrations back"??? I am also going to contact Camera Bits about the Photo Mechanic issues. Thanks

Same problem and for months now. I haven't been able to find a solution, but I suspect that's because I don't know exactly what's wrong.

Issue with Time Machine and WD Elements external drive

I am experiencing continuous problems with Time Machine set to back up to a WD Elements 1TByte external disk; appears to backup files perfectly but I'm plagued by recurring message 'The disk was not ejected properly...'. Dealer assures me that the disk is fine. No problem if Time Machine is disabled. But then I have no back up...

christopherfromadelaide wrote:
In fact, when I turn off Time Machine, I still get the ... message, which flashes up every 30 secs or so, and only goes away when I unplug the external drive.
That indicates that the problem may not involve Time Machine at all.
To be sure everything else is ok, verify your internal HD and repair the WD drive, per #A5 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting
If the problems persist, try different port(s), cables, and combinations of the two (a plug that works fine in one port may only make marginal/intermittent contact in another). Also make sure the WD's power cable is snug and secure, and it's plugged-in to a good power source.

Partitioning an External 320gb drive for use with Time Machine and...

I want to be able to use my Western Digital 320GB external drive for use with Time Machine and to use as extra storage space on both my Mac and when I boot into Windows Vista.
Is this possible?
I was playing around in Disk Utility and would I partition the part I want to use for Time Machine with the Mac OS Journaled, and whatever I want as space for windows, use a MS - DOS format?
Has anyone done this before?
Cheers-

Unless you are using 64 bit version of MSWindows (64 bit XP/Vista), it won't be able to handle a disk with GUID partition table (GPT). Disks with Apple Partition Map (APM) or GUID partition table are the only ones that Time Machine will work with (not MBR disks). Note also that the MBR/APM/GPT are at the DISK level and not the partition level, so don't mix the format with partitioning scheme. Time Machine disks are meant to live in the Mac universe (for now, anyway) and sharing with the MSWindows 32-bit universe is not possible.
See http://img87.imageshack.us/my.php?image=macpcdiskdd06sv8.png for some additional background.

Can I backup with Time machine and continue to use my mac?

Hi I backed up my complete system with time machine and left the system alone. My question is when I do future backups can I continue to use the computer whilst the backup is happening or should I leave it alone whilst the backup is happening?
Thanks!

The automatic backups aren't nearly as noticeable as the initial backup. Time Machine is designed to do its thing politely in the background while you use your computer. I rarely even notice it. However, if you are using resource intensive apps you might want to turn off Time Machine in System Preferences until your are finished so your apps have access to all available horsepower.

Am replacing airport extreme with Time Machine and want to upgrade from Tiger to Snow leopard. Am told I should manually back up into T Machine before OS update but set up utility won't allow anything with OS below 10.5 and I'm 10.4.11. What to do?

Am replacing airport extreme with Time Machine and want to upgrade from Tiger to Snow leopard. Am told I should manually back up into T Machine before OS update but set up utility won't allow anything with OS below 10.5 and I'm 10.4.11. What to do?

I think you mean you are replacing your Airport Extreme with a Time Capsule. Time Machine is software integrated into OS X 10.5 & 10.6 used to automatically backup a system to an external HD. Time Capsule is an Airport Extreme that has a hard disk integrated into it that can be used for storage or as a Time Machine backup drive.
Because you are currently on Tiger 10.4.x you can backup to a external HD using SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Cloner. Having a backup is very wise before doing any major system update. After you have created the backup and have successfully upgraded to Snow Leopard you can still use the external HD for many things. The strategy I'd recommend is to use the new Time Capsule as your Time Machine backup and then use the external HD as backup using SuperDuper or CCC. Redundant backups is wise because backups can (and do) fail too! In addition both SD and CCC are bootable clones, this is useful in that if your internal HD crashes you can boot from a cloned drive and continue working until the internal HD is replaced.
Below are some links to some articles from MacWorld, I would recommend reading them where you find a common theme, redundant backups. Backup Plan I, Backup Plan II & Backup Plan III.
Roger

Interesting problem with Time Machine and Spotlight

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