10.5.6 - spotlight wants to index the Time Machine backup

Since I upgraded to 10.5.6, spotlight keeps trying to index the Time Machine backup. It won't let me add it to the privacy list - I get an "unknown error". Any ideas how to stop it doing that?
It seems that while spotlight's trying to index, Time Machine won't go any further than "preparing backup".

Spotlight does often seem to interfere with large TM backups.
Apparently it has to do with Spotlight busily indexing things that TM has just put on the drive, but maybe hasn't completely released or finished with. Exact cause unknown.
But it won't hurt to exclude your TM drive/partition from spotlight -- you'll find several threads in the Time Machine forum where this has helped greatly. After it's done, remove the exclusion if you want. Note that the TM disk may not get indexed until your next restart.
Also, download the +Time Machine Buddy+ widget. It shows the messages from your logs for one TM backup run at a time, in a small window. Then you'll get a bit more info on what it's doing.
If you see a message about a "deep traversal," when nothing seems to be happening, just be patient. This means TM must examine ever file and folder on your system to figure out what needs to be backed-up, so it will be a very lengthy process.

Similar Messages

  • My Fantom backup drive is failing. I want to copy the time machine contents to a new backup drive and continue on as if nothing has happened.  Can I do this and if so how?  I have intel iMac running Mountain Lion.  Fantom Drive via Firewire 800.

    My Fantom backup drive is failing and I have to send it in for warranty repair.  Before I do that I want to copy the time machine contents to a new drive and then use it for the backup, continuing on as if nothing had gone wrong with the first drive.  Can I do this?  Is it as simple as duplicating the first drive and replacing it with the second? New drive arrives Tuesday PM and both drives have dual firewire 800 ports.  

    I have used the Disk Utility to verify the contents of the backup drive so I don't think I have any corrupt files.  The drive just takes a minute or so to spin up to speed.  If I turn it off and then back on, it beeps at me for a few seconds and then starts it's slow process of trying to spin.  I think it's a power problem not a data problem.  I have my fingers crossed that it holds on until Tuesday PM when the new drive arrives.  I'm thinking that my two options are to duplicate the bad drive or partition the new drive and put the old backups on one partition and start afresh on the second partition.  Any input?
    And thanks to both of you for the valuable information so far!

  • Restore can't find the time machine backup

    I am trying to restore my system from a time machine backup and the Restore option doesn't recognize my time machine backup. Any ideas on how to force it to see it?
    Some background:
    I am running Mountain Lion on a 2008 iMac. About 1 week ago, my internal HD failed. I had the hard drive replaced and then hooked up my external HD time machine back-up to restore my system. I started the computer with the command-R option and selected restore from time machine backup. It recognized the hard drive itself, but when I get to the screen to select the backup, it tells me there are no backups on the selected volume. I have run the repair in Disk Utility and the drive checked out ok. I have since installed Mountain Lion again on the internal drive, but didn't bring any files.
    Also, while the main computer was down I connected the external drive to another computer and used the show hidden files steps to find some files on the time machine backup and copied them to the other computer.
    I don't know if this relates, but I want to share all of the info: Back when the HD originally failed, the computer froze. When my son restarted the computer, it then asked what language he wanted. Then it began a restore process and asked him to select a volume to restore the system to. This is the bad part- He selected a partitioned drive where I had stored some files that didn't fit on the hard drive. It erased that drive and began restoring the system. Of course he didn't tell me about any of this until about 2 hours later, so we lost the contents on that drive. This partitioned drive is the same drive where my time machine backup resides. One partition is the Time Machine backup and the other was external data.
    Any ideas? I know I can manually restore the files, but it would be nice to be able to automatically do it. Also, is there a way to read the excluded list? I found the file that this is on...
    Thanks,

    Inherit a Backup
    Inherit a Backup (2)

  • Can the Time Machine backup drive be Internal?

    Does the backup HD for Time Machine HAVE to be an external drive?
    I want to install an 2nd internal drive into my 2006 Mac Pro and use that as the Time Machine backup for the main boot/storage drive.
    An internal drive would save space and eliminate the extra cables and power supply.

    Kappy is correct, of course.
    But I'd add a strong recommendation that you also do some sort of secondary backups, so if something truly awful happens to your Mac, you don't lose everything.
    See Kappy's post on Basic Backup, complete with links to the web sites of each product.

  • Time Machine only shows the current copy of the file I am trying to restore. There is none of the time machine backup histories shown. I am running OSX 10.7.5. I see the backup files on my external Time Machine hard drive. Help

    Time Machine only shows the current copy of the file I am trying to restore. There is none of the time machine backup histories shown. I am running OSX 10.7.5. I see the backup files on my external Time Machine hard drive in the Backups.backupdb folder.
    Time Machine does show the history of my Macintosh HD, but when I try to navigate to the folder I wish to restore the backup history disappears. I've been searching for answers and I have not found one that works for me.

    Time Machine only shows the current copy of the file I am trying to restore. There is none of the time machine backup histories shown. I am running OSX 10.7.5. I see the backup files on my external Time Machine hard drive in the Backups.backupdb folder.
    Time Machine does show the history of my Macintosh HD, but when I try to navigate to the folder I wish to restore the backup history disappears. I've been searching for answers and I have not found one that works for me.

  • How can I use the Time Machine Backups from my Old Computer?

    I have two months of Time Machine backups made using my old Macintosh computer which died and I no longer have. I have now purchased a new computer and am trying to use the Time Machine back ups from the original computer, but it will not recognise them. How can I get my new MacBook Pro to use the Time Machine Backups from my old Computer? I phoned the Apple help line and they said I cannot use them and would have to delete them. This sounds crazy if you can only use the Time Machine back up file with one computer and have to delete it when you buy a new Mac. Surely there must be some way to transfer ownership (not files) from an old to the new Mac?
    Thanks
    Richard

    Thanks Kevin for the suggestion posted on MacOSXHints how to "Repair Time Machine after logic board changes".
    http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20080128003716101
    It seems as though I am not alone with my frustration with the way Time Machine uses the MAC address of a computer to tell one system from another. This means that if you have your Mac repaired with a new logic board, or replace your system with a new one, you can't resume backups where you left off. Reading through the readers who used the fix using Terminal, it appears that the fix does not always work. I contacted Apple again, but they were no help. Surely Apple should come out with a solution as more and more people use Time Machine/Time Capsule.
    It is CRAZY that after a change computers or a switch in the computer logic board that you cannot resume your Time Machine back ups.

  • HT201250 My MacBook Pro (using OSX 10.7.5) suddenly can't find the Time Machine backup disk, which is on the harddrive of my desktop iMac. What to do?

    My MacBook Pro (using OSX 10.7.5) suddenly can't find the Time Machine backup disk, which is on the harddrive of my desktop iMac. What to do?

    Inherit a Backup
    Inherit a Backup (2)

  • I have a Seagate Freeagent 1TB external drive that ejects it's self in the middle of the time machine backup, then disappears and can't be found unless I turn it off and back on again

    I have a Seagate Freeagent 1TB external drive that ejects it's self in the middle of the time machine backup, then disappears and can't be found unless I turn it off and back on again. Any ideas?

    Hmmm.. sorry to jump in but...
    I Wish I had seen this before I got mine.
    Mine has been doing this auto eject stuff too.
    I think I just plugged it in and TM let me select it but is it possible
    I should have reformatted it with DU first, like with all the WD drive problems ?
    Is it too late for that ?
    Or just try to return it or get rid of it ?
    TIA

  • Restore using Time Machine to new hard drive, but last "full" backup was 2012.  how do I restore the rest of the Time Machine backups, particularily IPHOTO libraries for each user?

    Restore using Time Machine to new hard drive, but last "full" backup was in 2012.  How do I restore the rest of the Time Machine backups, particularily IPHOTO libraries for each user? 
    I entered Iphoto for my user and only photo up until 2012 were in the library.  I thought the restore would do the incremental Time Machine backups too.....
    Running 10.8.2

    It usually means you are running Mavericks but have an earlier version of iPhoto. Open the App Store and upgrade your version of iPhoto to the Mavericks version.
    The iWork apps are free with a new iOS device since 1 SEP 2013. They are free with a new Mac since 1 OCT 2013. They are also free with the upgrade to OS X Mavericks 10.9 if you had the previous version installed when you upgraded.The iWork apps are free with a new iOS device since 1 SEP 2013. They are free with a new Mac since 1 OCT 2013. They are also free with the upgrade to OS X Mavericks 10.9 if you had the previous version installed when you upgraded.
    iWork and iLife for Mac come free with every new Mac purchase. Existing users running Mavericks can update their apps for free from the Mac App Store℠. iWork and iLife for iOS are available for free from the App Store℠ for any new device running iOS 7, and are also available as free updates for existing users. GarageBand for Mac and iOS are free for all OS X Mavericks and iOS 7 users. Additional GarageBand instruments and sounds are available for a one-time in-app purchase of $4.99 for each platform.

  • I dragged some of the Time Machine backup folders into the Trash and now I can't empty them out of the trash because it says the applicaiotns ar ruining - what can I do?

    I have dragged soem of my Time Machine folders into the Trash. Now when I try to empty the Trash it says it cannot empty some of the files because the applicaitons are running.
    What can I do to delete them and completely empty the Trash.
    NOTE: the Trash is on my iMac, not the Time Machine backup drive.
    Thanks!

    Greetings Dennis,
    Time Machine handles file deletion of its backups or you can use the Time Machine window to tell Time Machine to delete specific files: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1427
    Follow the steps here: http://Pondini.org/TM/E6.html
    Cheers.

  • Tried to restore my mac pro, now it`s not working, can i use the time machine backups?

    Tried to restore my mac pro, now it`s not working, can i use the time machine backups?

    Yes.

  • Include a network drive in the Time Machine backup?

    I have a USB drive connected to the Airport Extreme. I would like its contents be included in the Time Machine backup.
    Is this possible?

    Yes. Make sure you have the network drive connected and go to System Preferences > Time Machine > Options. Select the network drive and click the – button. This will include the drive in your backups, although, depending on the speed of your network and the size/quantity of files being backed up, it may take a long time for TIme Machine backups to complete. Also be aware that the drive must be mounted (that is, you must be connected to the drive) for Time Machine to back it up, although once you have performed the steps above, all you will need to to do is connect to the drive for it to be backed up in the future.

  • After replacing a failed hard drive with new one I inadvertently created a different account name(home/user) than the one in the Time Machine backup. Now I cannot restore the photos in iPhoto. What are my options?

    After replacing a failed hard drive with new one I inadvertently created a different account name(home/user) than the one in the Time Machine backup. Now I cannot restore the photos in iPhoto. What are my options?

    The best thing to do would be to start over. Use Setup Assistant this time.
    Boot into Recovery, launch Disk Utility, and erase the startup volume. This operation will destroy all data on the volume. Quit Disk Utility and install OS X. If your Mac was upgraded from an older version of OS X, you’ll need the Apple ID and password you used to upgrade, so make a note of those before you begin.
    When you reboot, you'll be prompted to go through the initial setup process. That’s when you transfer the data from one of your backups. For a walkthrough, see here:
    Using Setup Assistant
    Don't transfer the Guest account, if it was enabled on the old system.
    Note: You need an always-on Ethernet or Wi-Fi connection to the Internet to use Recovery. It won’t work with USB or PPPoE modems, or with proxy servers, or with networks that require a certificate for authentication.

  • I want to use my time machine backup to go back to Snow Leopard

    I can't live without having my great old golf game (Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2003) readily available, and playable, which I always had on my iMac with Snow Leopard. Since upgrading to Mavericks - and using Parallels with Mac OS X 10.6 Server - I am told there's a color/display problem (something about 16-bit color) and I can't get the game to play even though it's the same computer, only upgraded to Mavericks. Parallels says it's an Apple (Mac OS X Server 10.6) problem but from what I can see the server version of this OS is exactly the same as the non-server version - at least insofar as the display/color/graphics is concerned - and Parallels either doesn't want to help (with an appropriate graphics controller) or can't.... so I'm left with having to go back to Snow Leopard from Mavericks. What a huge disappointment! Can I use - and how do I do it - my Time Machine backup of my Snow Leopard OS, apps, documents, iTunes, etc. to wipe out Mavericks?

    Yes, the machine came with Snow Leopard but not sure where the install disc(s) are. Perhaps they got lost in the shuffle as we moved a few months ago. I do have a Snow Leopard install disc - can I use that and if so, is there a different way to do the install than if I was using the original install discs that came with the computer? Maybe I will jsut have to try it and see what comes up....
    But for the computer's inability to play the game, I would have stayed with Mavericks. Now I'm installing a trial version of VMware Fusion but probably the results will be the same as for Parallels. I'll report back in a few minutes!

  • How do I copy the Time Machine backup folder to another folder? (Mac 10.7.5)

    Short version:  I like to make an initial backup of my Mac OS before I start installing stuff...just in case I need to get back to square one down the road.  I travel as a freelancer for work, so every couple of months, I'm on a new rented system.  But I need to move that initial backup folder to a sub-folder so that I can continue to run TM without ever deleting anything from that initial backup.  When I go to move or copy it to another folder or drive, it tells me I don't have permission. How do I get permission to move it?
    I've tried changing the permissions on the folder itself... It won't let me select any other users, and admins are not on the "write" list.  No dice.
    Any ideas?
    I'm on a Mac Pro 8-core
    MacPro3,1
    OS 10.7.5
    Thanks!

    Yeah, sorry...but there doesn't seem to be a "Time Machine" forum anywhere, this was the closest I could find.  I could have posted in OS 10.7 forum...but I was worried the traffic would be much lighter there.  If I should move my question there, I will.
    Ok, so my Time Machine has backed up to my external drive which I have split into two separate partitions.  I do not have automatic backups on.  I just ran it once to get the "footprint" before I start to alter things to my needs.  I'd like to compress and put away the backup on that first partition as sort of a general "back to square one" backup.  I chose to use Time Machine because I can literally restore it back to all the original settings, etc.  This is just a fire plan, but I really want to lock it off.
    Then, I want to set my second partition on that same drive as my incremental Time Machine backup.  That way, once I run out of space and it begins deleting the old stuff (and I will run out of space...I export several hundred gigs of video files per day), I can always retain that initial backup.
    The problem is, when I go to move that backup....AFTER I've pointed Time Machine to the new partition...or any other drive for that matter... It tells me that either the folder doesn't have "ownership rights" or it simply "cannot do that."  (I'll snag you a screen grab next time I'm by it if you want.)
    So, how do I get it to move where I want it so that I can make a new one?

Maybe you are looking for

  • Plz Help for nokia 5530 xpress music

    ast day there is major problem that i found my nokai 5530.the two option Telephone and contacts that is show in screen can not work i mean when i touch the telephone option it can not show my phone dialup or Contacts In Menu they show contacts.i chec

  • How to show total pages in a report

    Hi Experts, I have to show the pages in the formart current page/ Total pages. I am not able to claculate the total pages. Please help me and give the code. Thanks a lot. Krishan

  • Unsynced items availble when iTunes is open?

    Supposedly this is true. But the only items that are available are the items that were in iTunes the last time I synced it. Is there a setting or something that controls this? Or some way of making syncing not take 5+ hours?

  • What does this Apple pop up message mean?

    One thing Apple really needs to do is make their pop up messages that appear when doing certain things more user friendly.  Start by making them understandable to someone that didn't invent the dang iPhone, therefore, doesn't know everything about th

  • Getting out of the cloud

    I just had a hard restore @ the "genius" bar.  How to I retreive my info out of the cloud?