Time Machine won't back up properly.

Greetings everyone,
I am running into some problems with Time Machine. For one reason or another, it won't conduct a full back up of my system to external hardrives. I have tried to back up my MBP with one old and one brand new Seagate External Hard Drive (with more than enough storage space available) yet I continue to run into the same problem. The backup stalls with roughly 50GBs or so of data remaining. I have made sure that all the necessary drive settings are correct and that my MBP HD is verified etc. Could someone advise of any issues that may be affecting this?

Trying Pondini's Time Machine Buddy. Getting this messagE- can anyone interpret these hieroglyphs?
I tried erasing and reformatting an external HD to Pondini's instructions but the initial TM back-up always fails.
Starting standard backup
Backing up to: /Volumes/Untitled/Backups.backupdb
Ownership is disabled on the backup destination volume. Enabling.
Event store UUIDs don't match for volume: Macintosh HD
Backup content size: 104.8 GB excluded items size: 7.9 MB for volume Macintosh HD
No pre-backup thinning needed: 125.75 GB requested (including padding), 465.29 GB available
Waiting for index to be ready (909 > 0)
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Applications/iWeb.app/Contents/Frameworks/iWidgets.framework/Versions/A/Resour ces/HUD-DctrlRight-N.tiff to (null)
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Applications/iWeb.app/Contents/Frameworks/iWidgets.framework/Versions/A/Resour ces/HUD-DctrlUp-H.tiff to (null)
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Applications/iWeb.app/Contents/Frameworks/iWidgets.framework/Versions/A/Resour ces/HUD-DctrlUp-P.tiff to (null)
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Applications/iWeb.app/Contents/Frameworks/SFArchiving.framework/Versions/A/Res ources/fi.lproj/Localizable.strings to (null)
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Applications/iWeb.app/Contents/Frameworks/SFControls.framework/Versions/A/Reso urces/rotate_knob_select-b.tiff to (null)
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Applications/iWeb.app/Contents/Frameworks/SFControls.framework/Versions/A/Reso urces/SFCDisclosureArrowDown.tiff to (null)
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Applications/iWeb.app/Contents/Frameworks/SFDrawables.framework/Versions/A/Res ources/French.lproj/Localizable.strings to (null)
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Applications/iWeb.app/Contents/Frameworks/SFDrawables.framework/Versions/A/Res ources/French.lproj/SFDMotionPathToolHUD.nib/keyedobjects.nib to (null)
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Applications/iWeb.app/Contents/Frameworks/SFDrawables.framework/Versions/A/Res ources/Rotate4.tiff to (null)
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Applications/iWeb.app/Contents/Frameworks/SFDrawables.framework/Versions/A/Res ources/Rotate5.tiff to (null)
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Applications/iWeb.app/Contents/Frameworks/SFDrawables.framework/Versions/A/Res ources/Spanish.lproj/Localizable.strings to (null)
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Applications/iWeb.app/Contents/Frameworks/SFDrawables.framework/Versions/A/Res ources/Spanish.lproj/SFDAutoMaskHUD.nib/keyedobjects.nib to (null)
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Applications/iWeb.app/Contents/Frameworks/SFInspectors.framework/Versions/A/Re sources/English.lproj/SFIMetricsInspector.nib/keyedobjects.nib to (null)
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Applications/iWeb.app/Contents/Frameworks/SFInspectors.framework/Versions/A/Re sources/English.lproj/SFIMovieInspector.nib/info.nib to (null)
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Applications/iWeb.app/Contents/Frameworks/SFInspectors.framework/Versions/A/Re sources/hud-icon_exposure-min.tiff to (null)
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Applications/iWeb.app/Contents/Frameworks/SFInspectors.framework/Versions/A/Re sources/hud-icon_sharpen-min.tiff to (null)
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Applications/iWeb.app/Contents/Frameworks/SFInspectors.framework/Versions/A/Re sources/Japanese.lproj/SFITextListSubInspector.nib/keyedobjects.nib to (null)
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Applications/iWeb.app/Contents/Frameworks/SFInspectors.framework/Versions/A/Re sources/zh_CN.lproj/SFIFillSubInspector.nib/keyedobjects.nib to (null)
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Applications/iWeb.app/Contents/Frameworks/SFLicense.framework/Versions/A/Resou rces/da.lproj/SACountry.strings to (null)
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Applications/iWeb.app/Contents/Frameworks/SFLicense.framework/Versions/A/Resou rces/English.lproj/License.rtf to (null)
Stopping backup.
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Applications/iWeb.app/Contents/Frameworks/SFProofReader.framework/Versions/A/R esources/Portuguese.lproj/Hyphenation.dat to (null)
Copied 89 files (2.0 GB) from volume Macintosh HD.
Copy stage failed with error:11
Backup failed with error: 11

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I need help with Time Machine - Won't back up properly

I'm new to Macs, my MBP is barely a month old, so bare with me. I do understand computers pretty well and I've been trying like **** to read up and fix this on my own, but it's starting to tick me off.
Okay so I got a "WD My Passport" external HD for Xmas and my goal is to have Time Machine back everything up on it. The problem started after a backup was halfway through and froze. I thought wiping the Passport clean and starting over would do the trick, but it was tricky figuring out how to erase "Backup In Progess Files"
I read up on the "Disk Utility" stuff and partioned the Passport, which set it back to normal it seemed like. So I tried the backup one more time, but again it froze a little less than half way through.
So now "Disk Utility" won't even let me erase the Passport or Partition it - it tries for about 10 minutes and eventually says it can't "unmount". Yet when I enter Time Machine it shows that some files have been backed up in "Star Wars Mode", but it seems like that's only saved to the MBP itself?
Please correct me if I'm wrong with my logic, and any help is much appreciated. I'll provide further input if it helps too, just let me know.

Sounds like a bad Passport may be the culprit. If Disk Utility can't erase or properly mount the drive, it may have serious problems.
I've used Passports for Time Machine with great success, but I've also had to replace 2 of them as they eventually went bad. Try another external hard drive and I'll bet it works.

Time MAchine won't back up due to not enough space, but there is

TIme Machine won't back up. Displays this:
Actual capacity of the external backup drive is 999.68 GB and available is 135 gb .
The imac internal HD capacity is 999.01GB and used space is 636.321 GB.
This problem has occured periodically in the last 12 months or so, so prior to OS version10.8 install in Jul 2012.
I previously called AppleCare, as I have a contract, and tech said I just need to reformat the external drive and start over.
I did that the last time this happened a few months ago, but I don't like that option, as it eliminates all the prior backups,
What if I needed to try to recover something I deleted 3 weeks ago, for example. I couldn't do so as all backups would have been deleted, of course, by me having refomatted the drive and basically starting over. Also, I noted in another post about a person having a problem due to using a partitioned drive. Mine is not partition, as far as I can tell. See this:
Any ideas? Thanks

The solution is essentially "simple." You need a larger hard drive for these backups or you need to use a different backup solution. By this I mean using backup software that does not preserve an archive of old copies of a file, but simply erases old copies in order to replace them with the new copies. By replacing your backup drive can always accommodate the drive it backs up if it is large enough - say the same size. I can suggest:
Backup Software Recommendations
Carbon Copy Cloner
Data Backup
Deja Vu
SuperDuper!
Synk Pro
Tri-Backup
Others may be found at VersionTracker or MacUpdate.
Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on backup and restore. Also read How to Back Up and Restore Your Files.
All of the above are capable of being scheduled. Synk Pro makes immediate backups of any changed file on the hard drive. You may configure it to archive changes (like Time Machine) or to delete prior copies.

Time Machine won't back up after system restore

I just restored my system after a failure, and now Time Machine won't back up my hard drive. It gets about 40 out of 90 Gigabytes done, and then gives me an error message that just says that there was an error while backing up, and doesn't give any other information. I ran a Verify Disk with Disk Utility, and there is nothing wrong with the backup drive, and there is more than 200 Gigabytes of space left on that drive.
Thank You.

zhoffmanster wrote:
Ok, so here's the thing: I tried backing up again today, and it worked just fine. Before, what would happen is a message would pop saying "an error has occurred during backup" (or something close to that). The point is, the message didn't give any detail.
No, the point is, you seem to have ignored this:
See the Time Machine - Troubleshooting post at the top of this forum.

Time Machine won't back up external drive to Time Capsule

I recently got a Time Capsule, and successfully set it up to back up my iMac's primary drive, but for some reason Time Machine won't back up my external drive to the Time Capsule.
I removed the external drive from the exclusion list in System Preferences > Time Machine > Options, and from what I've read this should be sufficient to make Time Machine back up the drive.
The external drive is connected to my iMac via Thunderbolt > Thunderbolt-to-Firewire adaptor > Firewire 800 input, and the Time Capsule is connected via Ethernet to my LAN.
Since I'm using Ethernet, I've disabled Wi-Fi on the Time Capusule by going to AirPort Utility > My Time Capsule > Edit > Wireless > Network Mode > Off.
The reason I believe the external drive is not being backed up is because when I click the Time Machine icon in the upper-right status bar and choose "Enter Time Machine", none of the folders on external drive show any older versions.
Furthermore, when I click Finder > Time Machine Backups > Backups.backupdb, I can see only one sub-folder which has the name of my iMac's primary drive. I can't see any equivalent folder for my external drive.
Any idea what I'm doing wrong?

I don't see anything you have done wrong.. perhaps it does backup in a different way.
Load the widget.. A1 here... http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
That will allow you to track the log of TM to see what it is doing.
I would also try rebooting the computer.. exclude the drive again.. reboot.. and remove the exclusion.
You should be able to check the actual settings of TM in plist file.
And you can do a full reset of TM as well.. See A4. Check what is in the file. Pondini lists the location for you.
Nothing surprises me with Mountain Lion ...!!

My Time machine won't back up. Recently updated to OS x 10.7.5. Error message is as follows: "The backup disk image "/Volumes/Time Machine Backup/Scott's MacBook Pro.sparsebundle" is already in use." What is wrong and how do I fix it? Thanks.

My Time machine won't back up. Recently updated to OS x 10.7.5. Error message is as follows: "The backup disk image “/Volumes/Time Machine Backup/Scott’s MacBook Pro.sparsebundle” is already in use." What is wrong and how do I fix it? Thanks.

Have you tried restarting the computer? Also, see Time Machine Error from this pages sidebar under More Like This.

After installing Mountain Lion, my Time Machine won't back up ... says the sparsebundle is in use

After installing Mountain Lion, my Time Machine won't back up ... says the sparsebundle is in use

Standard problem in ML.. apple do not seem to want to recognise.
Reboot the TC .. if that fails restart the whole network in correct order.. modem.. router/TC... clients.. with 2min gap.
There are other suggestions like changing the password.. all they do is the same as reboot.
Read C12.. most quoted Q in pondini website history. This is asked 10 times a day.
http://pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html
Here is another way to get a useful utility in ML.. rather than toyland version.
How to load 5.6 into ML.
1. Download 5.6 for Lion.
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1482
Click to open the dmg but do not attempt to install the pkg.. it won't work anyway.
2. Download and install unpkg.
http://www.timdoug.com/unpkg/
Run unpkg on the desktop.. it is very simple.. drag the AirPortUtility56.pkg file over to unpkg.. and it will create a new directory of the same name on the desktop.. drill down.. applications utilities .. there lo and behold is Airport utility 5.6 .. drag it to your main utilities directory or just run it from current location.
You cannot uninstall 6.1 so don't try.. and you cannot or should not run them both at the same time.. so just ignore the toyland version.. the plastic hammer.. and start using 5.6.. a real tool.

Time Machine won't back up onto Time Capsule

I upgraded to Mountain Lion last week, and Time Machine won't back up to my Time Capsule. When it fails, I get the message:
Time Machine couldn't complete the backup to "Tom's Time Capsule".
The backup disk image "/Volumes/Data/TomsMac.sparsebundle" could not be created (error 60)
I sometimes get the same message, but with "error 17"
I also get the following error message popup (even though the disk is the one in my Time Capsule):
The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer.
The popup offers three choices: Initialize, Ignore, Eject.
My local Apple Store Genius concluded that the problem must be with the Time Capsule, so I bought a new one. That didn't fix the problem.
Time Machine Buddy messages:
Starting manual backup
Attempting to mount network destination URL: afp://Tom%[email protected]/Data
Mounted network destination at mount point: /Volumes/Data using URL: afp://Tom%[email protected]/Data
Creating disk image /Volumes/Data/TomsMac.sparsebundle
Error 60 creating backup disk image
Failed to create disk image /Volumes/Data/TomsMac.sparsebundle, status: 60
Backup failed with error: 20
Failed to eject volume /Volumes/Data (FSVolumeRefNum: -108; status: -47; dissenting pid: 0)
I did Repair Disk Permissions and Verify Disk and everything's OK.
I erased the Time Capsule using AirPort Utility and did a hard reset on the Time Capsule.
I did a re-install of Mountain Lion and that didn't fix anything.
My MacBook Pro is accessing the Time Capsule wirelessly, as it always has.
Help!

Just to be sure, we're talking about a Time Capsule -- not an AirPort Extreme connected to an external hard drive. Right?
If so, proceed as follows.
Please read this whole message before doing anything.
This procedure is a diagnostic test. It’s unlikely to solve your problem. Don’t be disappointed when you find that nothing has changed after you complete it.
The purpose of this exercise is to determine whether the problem is caused by third-party system modifications that load automatically at startup or login. Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed for the test, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards. Boot in safe mode* and log in to the account with the problem. The instructions provided by Apple are as follows:
Be sure your Mac is shut down.
Press the power button.
Immediately after you hear the startup tone, hold the Shift key. The Shift key should be held as soon as possible after the startup tone, but not before the tone.
Release the Shift key when you see the gray Apple icon and the progress indicator (looks like a spinning gear).
*Note: If FileVault is enabled under OS X 10.7 or later, or if a firmware password is set, you can’t boot in safe mode.
Safe mode is much slower to boot and run than normal, and some things won’t work at all, including wireless networking on certain Macs.
The login screen appears even if you usually log in automatically. You must know your login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin.
Test while in safe mode. Same problem(s)?
After testing, reboot as usual (i.e., not in safe mode) and verify that you still have the problem. Post the results of the test.

Time Machine won't back-up. Why?

Time Machine won't back-up to LaCie external drive (OS 10.7.4) after I disconnected and reconnected for a road trip.
Why? How can I correct?

What is the error message?

Time machine won't back up anymore after it failed? HELP!!

Hey all,
My time machine used to back up to my hard drive fine, but after it had a fault half way through a back up, i think the cable was disconnected it won't back up or start a back up again. I've looked at the help and it actually has my hard drive in the "Don't back up" section, when i select it to remove it from that it won't let me remove it.....
Really need to back up and no idea how to get this done...
HELP

Open up Disk Utility and Verify your external had drive. It sounds as though there could be some damage from when it was unplugged in the middle of writing, which is preventing Time Machine from working properly.
Try to get Disk Utility to repair the drive if it finds any errors.
If this does not work the most likely thing is that the Disk Image being written to by Time Machine is perpetually locked. In that case, it might be worth deleting the back-ups (since they are unusable now anyway) and starting a new time machine backup from scratch.

Time Machine won't back up to drive. Five days backing up so far

A week ago I got a message saying that Time Machine could not back up to my external hard drive but that I could access my old backups. I pointed Time Machine to another hard drive and it has been backing up there for five days so far - all the time stating Time remaining 5 seconds. It is now in a cleanup mode. I have been reading about various bugs concerning Time Machine and wonder if there is a fix I can carry out so that I can use the original external hard drive again.

Stop the backup. Boot in safe mode and log in. Note: If FileVault is enabled, or if a firmware password is set, or if the boot volume is a software RAID, you can’t do this. Ask for further instructions.
Safe mode is much slower to boot and run than normal, and some things won’t work at all, including Wi-Fi on certain iMacs. The next normal boot may also be somewhat slow.
The login screen appears even if you usually log in automatically. You must know your login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin. Test while in safe mode. Same problem? After testing, reboot as usual (i.e., not in safe mode) and verify that you still have the problem. Post the results of the test.

Time Machine Won't Back up Completely

When I insert an external drive, Time Machine does not back up my whole computer. It only backs up around 4 GBs. Any solutions/tips on why that is the case? It is a brand new hard drive

jcwong15 wrote:
Actually, the issue is my "Untitled" hard drive is on the excluded list.
I somehow thought it was normal to have the hard drive there, and anything else that isn't there should be deleted. I can't remove my hard drive from the excluded list though.
What happens when you try to remove it?
If it's listed in gray, and you can't remove it, that means it's not formatted for a Mac (any variant of Mac OS Extended) and Time Machine can't back it up.
If so, you must have an SSD with OSX on it (since OSX won't install or run on a drive like that).
Even so, the system folders (Applications, Library, and System) alone on your OSX drive should add-up to at least 14 GBs.
Let's see just what's what. Start the Disk Utility app (Applications/Utilities) and screenprint the display. For each partition (indented) with a gray icon, select it and screen print that, too. Then post them all here.

Time Machine won't back up OWC external drive

Mac Mini running 10.8.5. Time Machine will not back up brand new OWC MiniStack external HD. I've trashed TM prefs, reformatted the TM drive, verified that there are no exclusions, but it won't back up the external HD which contains only data files -- no system, no applications. TM does back up the internal HD.

PROBLEM SOLVED.
Recap: Time Machine would not back up an external data drive despite being correctly formatted and settings correctly applied.
Problem was either: a) the Mac, b) the external data drive, c) the Time Machine drive, or d) the data.
I replaced both the external data drive (cloned) and the Time Machine drive, but Time Machine would back up that external drive either.
Finally, instead of CLONING (SuperDuper) the external data drive, I COPIED the data to a new HD -- root folder-by-folder. Now Time Machine again backs up my external hard drive.
SOLUTION: Problem was not hard drives or Mac, but within the data itself. Cloning the data simply passed on the problem to the new hard drive. For this problem, the solution was copying the data rather than cloning.
Thanks all.

Time machine won't back up

I just got a new MacBook Air with Lion. On my old Mac, I thought I remembered that Time Machine would only backup files that have changed since the last time I backed up my drive. I used Time Machine to transfer my old desktop to my new Air. Today when I tried to use TIme Machine to back it up, it said I did not have enough space.
I'm not clear if it's trying to back up the whole drive or just things that have changed since the install (which is all I need).
What should I do to make more room for my current back up or to instruct Time Machine only to back up items that have changed since the last backup?
Thanks.

FWIW I had this sort of problem which generally #$%^& me off. I had a brainstorm and tried somebody's MBP and it worked just as expected. So I reinstalled Leopard after erasing and formating the drive and using time machine off my external LaCie.
That didn't work worth a #$%^&
So I once again, reformatted the drive and reinstalled leopard FROM THE DVD and then used time machine as part of the migration assistant, and everything worked perfectly, and I can now use TC with my Mac Pro octo.
So something MIGHT be hosed on your system, and if you feel that you have a solid back up, reinstall off the DVD and then migrate with time machine.
Hope this helps. I spent about 2 days getting this straightened out.

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Check the More Like This section at the right particularly i upgraded my imac hard drive to a 2tb drive. how do i use time machine to get my computer back to normal?

Time Machine won't back up properly.

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