"Backing up 0kb of 0kb" - backup volume is stuck at size 149.48GB

It looks like my backup is stuck. Time machine says its working, but does not know how much it needs to do.
It already did like 700 GB yesterday (3 volumes being backed up onto a 2 TB drive).
I had to stop it for a restart, after the restart, it's giving the ")kb of 0KB" message, and the backed up colume appeats to be too small.
However, the drive does indicated 1.14 TB available - that would be consistent with the 700 GB that was backed up by the time I did the restart.
how do I get this thing to work? thanks

john piscitello's alias wrote:
It looks like my backup is stuck. Time machine says its working, but does not know how much it needs to do.
It already did like 700 GB yesterday (3 volumes being backed up onto a 2 TB drive).
I had to stop it for a restart, after the restart, it's giving the ")kb of 0KB" message, and the backed up colume appeats to be too small.
Hi, and welcome to the forums.
Interrupting a huge TM backup is not a good idea. It shouldn't harm anything, but may cause the next one to be quite lengthy.
However, the drive does indicated 1.14 TB available - that would be consistent with the 700 GB that was backed up by the time I did the restart.
how do I get this thing to work? thanks
It may be working fine, but having to re-do some of yesterday's work because of the interruption. There should be more explanation in your logs. 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. Copy and post the messages from both the original and the most recent one here (be sure to get them all, as sometimes they overflow the small window).
Then we should be able to get an idea of what's going on.

Similar Messages

My time machine back up failed because it says the backup volume could not be mounted

My time machine back up failed because it says the backup volume could not be mounted. What does that mean and how do I fix it so that it backs up?

A whole lot about Time Machine for help with TM problems. Also you can select Mac Help from the Finder's Help menu and search for "time machine" to locate articles on how to use TM. See also Mac 101- Time Machine.
Use Disk Utility to repair the TM drive. If that doesn't help, and you don't find help from the above, then erase the drive and start a new TM backup.

Keep getting this message when trying to back up iMac to time Machine: Unable to complete backup. An error occurred while copying files to the backup volume.

Keep getting this message when trying to back up iMac to time Machine: Unable to complete backup. An error occurred while copying files to the backup volume. tried everything.

Pondini's Time Machine FAQ for help with TM problems. Also you can select Mac Help from the Finder's Help menu and search for "time machine" to locate articles on how to use TM. See also Mac 101- Time Machine.
Time Machine- Troubleshooting backup issues

"No such file or directory" errors on Time Machine backup volume

I remotely mounted the Time Machine backup volume onto another Mac and was looking around it in a Terminal window and discovered what appeared to be a funny problem. If I "cd" into some folders (but not all) and do a "ls -la" command, I get a lot of "No such file or directory" errors for all the subfolders, but all the files look fine. Yet if I go log onto the Mac that has the backup volume mounted as a local volume, these errors never appear for the exact same location. Even more weird is that if I do "ls -a" everything appears normal on both systems (no error messages anyway).
It appears to be the case that the folders that have the problem are folders that Time Machine has created as "hard links" to other folders which is something that Time Machine does and is only available as of Mac OS X 10.5 and is the secret behind how it avoids using up disk space for files that are the same in the different backups.
I moved the Time Machine disk to the second Mac and mounted the volume locally onto it (the second Mac that was showing the problems), so that now the volume is local to it instead of a remote mounted volume via AFP and the problem goes away, and if I do a remote mount on the first Mac of the Time Machine volume the problem appears on the first Mac system that was OK - so basically by switching the volume the problem switches also on who shows the "no such file or directory" errors.
Because of the way the problem occurs, ie only when the volume is remote mounted, it would appear to be an issue with AFP mounted volumes that contain these "hard links" to folders.
There is utility program written by Amit Singh, the fella who wrote the "Mac OS X Internals" book, called hfsdebug (you can get it from his website if you want - just do a web search for "Mac OS X Internals hfsdebug" if you want to find it ). If you use it to get a little bit more info on what's going on, it shows a lot of details about one of the problematic folders. Here is what things look like on the first Mac (mac1) with the Time Machine locally mounted:
mac1:xxx me$ pwd
/Volumes/MyBackups/yyy/xxx
mac1:xxx me$ ls -a
. .DS_Store D2
.. Documents D3
mac1:xxx me$ ls -lai
total 48
280678 drwxr-xr-x 5 me staff 204 Jan 20 01:23 .
282780 drwxr-xr-x 12 me staff 442 Jan 17 14:03 ..
286678 -rw-r--r--@ 1 me staff 21508 Jan 19 10:43 .DS_Store
135 drwxrwxrwx 91 me staff 3944 Jan 7 02:53 Documents
729750 drwx------ 104 me staff 7378 Jan 15 14:17 D2
728506 drwx------ 19 me staff 850 Jan 14 09:19 D3
mac1:xxx me$ hfsdebug Documents/ | head
<Catalog B-Tree node = 12589 (sector 0x18837)>
path = MyBackups:/yyy/xxx/Documents
# Catalog File Record
type = file (alias, directory hard link)
indirect folder = MyBackups:/.HFS+ Private Directory Data%000d/dir_135
file ID = 728505
flags = 0000000000100010
. File has a thread record in the catalog.
. File has hardlink chain.
reserved1 = 0 (first link ID)
mac1:xxx me$ cd Documents
mac1:xxx me$ ls -a | head
.DS_Store
.localized
.parallels-vm-directory
.promptCache
ACPI
ActivityMonitor2010-12-1710p32.txt
ActivityMonitor2010-12-179pxx.txt
mac1:Documents me$ ls -lai | head
total 17720
135 drwxrwxrwx 91 me staff 3944 Jan 7 02:53 .
280678 drwxr-xr-x 5 me staff 204 Jan 20 01:23 ..
144 -rw-------@ 1 me staff 39940 Jan 15 14:27 .DS_Store
145 -rw-r--r-- 1 me staff 0 Oct 20 2008 .localized
146 drwxr-xr-x 2 me staff 68 Feb 17 2009 .parallels-vm-directory
147 -rwxr-xr-x 1 me staff 8 Mar 20 2010 .promptCache
148 drwxr-xr-x 2 me staff 136 Aug 28 2009 ACPI
151 -rw-r--r-- 1 me staff 6893 Dec 17 10:36 A.txt
152 -rw-r--r--@ 1 me staff 7717 Dec 17 10:54 A9.txt
So you can see from the first few lines of the "ls -a" command, it shows some file/folders but you can't tell which yet. The next "ls -la" command shows which names are files and folders - that there are some folders (like ACPI) and some files (like A.txt and A9.txt) and all looks normal. And the "hfsdebug" info shows some details of what is really happening in the "Documents" folder, but more about that in a bit.
And here are what a "ls -a" and "ls -al" look like for the same locations on the second Mac (mac2) where the Time Machine volume is remote mounted:
mac2:xxx me$ pwd
/Volumes/MyBackups/yyy/xxx
mac2:xxx me$ ls -a
. .DS_Store D2
.. Documents D3
mac2:xxx me$ ls -lai
total 56
280678 drwxr-xr-x 6 me staff 264 Jan 20 01:23 .
282780 drwxr-xr-x 13 me staff 398 Jan 17 14:03 ..
286678 -rw-r--r--@ 1 me staff 21508 Jan 19 10:43 .DS_Store
728505 drwxrwxrwx 116 me staff 3900 Jan 7 02:53 Documents
729750 drwx------ 217 me staff 7334 Jan 15 14:17 D2
728506 drwx------ 25 me staff 806 Jan 14 09:19 D3
mac2:xxx me$ cd Documents
mac2:Documents me$ ls -a | head
.DS_Store
.localized
.parallels-vm-directory
.promptCache
ACPI
ActivityMonitor2010-12-1710p32.txt
ActivityMonitor2010-12-179pxx.txt
mac2:Documents me$ ls -lai | head
ls: .parallels-vm-directory: No such file or directory
ls: ACPI: No such file or directory
... many more "ls: ddd: No such file or directory" error messages appear - there is a one-to-one
correspondence between the "ddd" folders and the "no such file or directory" error messages
total 17912
728505 drwxrwxrwx 116 me staff 3900 Jan 7 02:53 .
280678 drwxr-xr-x 6 me staff 264 Jan 20 01:23 ..
144 -rw-------@ 1 me staff 39940 Jan 15 14:27 .DS_Store
145 -rw-r--r-- 1 me staff 0 Oct 20 2008 .localized
147 -rwxr-xr-x 1 me staff 8 Mar 20 2010 .promptCache
151 -rw-r--r-- 1 me staff 6893 Dec 17 10:36 A.txt
152 -rw-r--r--@ 1 me staff 7717 Dec 17 10:54 A9.txt
If you look very close a hint as to what is going on is obvious - the inode for the Documents folder is 152 on the local mounted case (the first set of code above for mac1), and it's 728505 in the remote mounted case for mac2. So it appears that these "hard links" to folders have an extra level of folder that is hidden from you and that AFP fails to take into account, and that is what the "hfsdebug" shows even better as you can clearly see the REAL location of the Documents folder is in something called "/.HFS+ Private Directory Data%000d/dir_135" that is not even visible to the shell. And if you look closely in the remote mac2 case, when I did the "cd Documents" I don't go into the inode 135, but into the inode 728505 (look close at the "." entry for the "ls -la" commands on both mac1 and mac2) which is the REAL problem, but have no idea how to get AFP to follow the extra level of indirection.
Anyone have any ideas how to fix this so that "ls -l" commands don't generate these "no such file or folder" messages?
I am guessing that the issue is really something to do with AFP (Apple File Protocol) mounted remote volumes. The TimeMachine example is something that I used as an example that anyone could verify the problem. The real problem for me has nothing to do with Time Machine, but has to do with some hard links to folders that I created on another file system totally separate from the Time Machine volume. They exhibit the same problem as these Time Machine created folders, so am pretty sure the problem has nothing to do with how I created hard links to folders which is not doable normally without writing a super simple little 10 line program using the link() system call - do a "man 2 link" if you are curious how it works.
I'm well aware of the issues and the conditions when they can and can't be used and the potential hazards. I have an issue in which they are the best way to solve a problem. And after the problem was solved, is when I noticed this issue that appears to be a by-product of using them.
Do not try these hard links to folders on your own without knowing what they're for and how to use them and not use them. They can cause real problems if not used correctly. So if you decide to try them out and you loose some files or your entire drive, don't say I didn't warn you first.
Thanks ...
-Bob

The problem is Mac to Mac - the volume that I'm having the issue with is not related in any way to Time Machine or to TimeCapsule. The reference to TIme Machine is just to illustrate the problem exists outside of my own personal work with hard links to folders on HFS Extended volumes (case-sensitive in this particular case in case that matters).
I'm not too excited about the idea of snooping AFP protocol to discover anything that might be learned there.
The most significant clue that I've seen so far has to do with the inode numbers for the two folders shown in the Terminal window snippets in the original post. The local mounted case uses the inode=728505 of the problematic folder which is in turn linked to the hidden original inode of 135 via the super-secret /.HFS+... folder that you can't see unless using something like the "hfsdebug" program I mentioned.
The remote mounted case uses the inode=728505 but does not make the additional jump to the inode=135 which is where lower level folders appear to be physically stored.
Hence the behavior that is seen - the local mounted case is happy and shows what would be expected and the remote mounted case shows only files contained in the problem folder but not lower-level folders or their contents.
From my little knowledge of how these inode entries really work, I think that they are some sort of linked list chain of values, so that you have to follow the entire chain to get at what you're looking for. If the chain is broken somewhere along the line or not followed correctly, things like this can happen. I think this is a case of things not being followed correctly, as if it were a broken chain problem then the local mounted case would have problems also.
But the information for this link in the chain is there (from 728505 to the magic-135) but for some reason AFP doesn't make this extra jump.
Yesterday I heard back from Apple tech support and they have confirmed this problem and say that it is a "implementation limitation" with the AFP client. I think it's a bug, but that will have to be up to Apple to decide now that it's been reported. I just finished reporting this as a bug via the Apple Bug Reporter web site -- it's bug id 8926401 if you want to keep track it.
Thanks for the insights...
-Bob

TimeMachine refuses to make backups (backup volume could not be found)

Let me start by saying that I'm new to Macs, so if you're going to make suggestions involving strange and arcane steps in Terminal (which I'm completely open to trying), please try to be as clear as possible
When I set up my new iMac, everthing worked beautifully for a few weeks, and then inexplicably, TimeMachine started failing to make backups. I have a 200g external Maxtor HD that I was using as my backup drive. TimeMachine had no problems backing up to it for a few weeks, and then suddenly it stopped. I don't know why.
I have searched these forums for a solution to my problem, and none of the suggestions work. Here's what I've tried:
-- Going into preferences, unselecting the volume, then reselecting it.
-- Turning off TM, unplugging the EHD, restarting the iMac, plugging in the EHD, and following the wizard prompts to enable TM.
-- I have verified the EHD. It reports no errors. I have tried repairing the EHD. No errors reported.
-- I have erased, formatted, partitioned, formatted again. TM still fails.
-- Following the suggestions in this thread: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1480141 I have done the following:
1. Quit all applications, open /Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app and type in the following commands:
# sudo mv /Library/Preferences /Library/Preferences.old
# sudo mv /Library/Caches /Library/Caches.old
# sudo reboot
Time Machine still failed.
2. Deleted: com.apple.TimeMachine.plist, then went through all the steps above again. Time Machine still failed.
I have tried every single solution on this forum I could find, and TimeMachine simply will not work. I would prefer to not have to spend an additional $300 on a TimeCapsule when I already have a wireless router and an EHD that TimeMachine previously had no problem making backups to.
Here's what I find in Console:
5/29/08 7:06:11 AM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[160] Starting standard backup
5/29/08 7:06:11 AM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[160] Volume at path /Volumes/Untitled does not appear to be the correct backup volume for this computer. (Cookies do not match)
5/29/08 7:06:16 AM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[160] Backup failed with error: 18
Untitled is the name of my drive after all the formatting, partitioning, erasing rigamarole. I'm incredibly frustrated right now, because it USED TO WORK. Now it doesn't. There's no reason for it not to work for what I can tell. What else is there left for me to try?

I believe I have isolated the problem as a permissions issue which I have logged as bug 5990628:
Summary:
Unable to backup over network after upgrading to 10.5.3.
Steps to Reproduce:
Configure Time Machine to back up Leopard machine over AirPort to another Leopard machine (with external drive and .Mac account configured in this case)
Expected Results:
Backups complete as usual.
Actual Results:
Backups are 'Delayed' with errors like this in the console:
6/6/08 4:25:57 AM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[2334] Volume at path /Volumes/Time Machine-1 does not appear to be the correct backup volume for this computer. (Cookies do not match)
Regression:
Yes
Notes:
There are many threads on the subject:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1538633
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1543033
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1547134
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1546079
The problem appears to relate to being unable to read the cookie:
6/6/08 4:20:23 AM System Preferences[2315] Failed to create remote cookie file at path: /Volumes/Time Machine/.001b63abcdef
And this appears to be because the cookie was owned by a different user (likely due to it wanting to connect using a .Mac username instead of a local one), per my explanation below:
I only ever used Time Machine after upgrading to 10.5.3 so my first experience with it has been fairly ordinary, as the backups were constantly being 'Delayed' with this error in the Console:
6/6/08 4:25:57 AM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[2334] Volume at path /Volumes/Time Machine-1 does not appear to be the correct backup volume for this computer. (Cookies do not match)
The first thing I discovered from a blog post was that my .Mac 60 day trial was causing it to connect using my .mac username (which appeared in the username field in the UI as a string of hex characters); disconnecting and reconnecting using a local user seemed to work but the issue remained.
I then spotted this in the console:
6/6/08 4:20:23 AM System Preferences[2315] Failed to create remote cookie file at path: /Volumes/Time Machine/.001b63abcdef
The 'random' characters are your MAC address and the binary inside is likely this 'cookie' - a random value used to transparently and reliably link backups to machines. Curiously I couldn't modify this file over the network despite apparently owning it (in Terminal):
$ cd /Volumes/Time\ Machine
$ ls -la .00*
-r-------- 1 samj staff 16 Jun 6 04:33 .001b63abcdef
But when looking at it on the Mac Mini 'server' I saw that the owner was in fact another user:
-r-------- 1 otheruser staff 16 Jun 6 04:33 .001b63abcdef
So I ran these commands:
sudo chown samj .001b63abcdef
sudo chgrp staff .001b63abcdef
And sure enough I was able to configure Time Machine as expected and it is as we speak backing up my MacBook over Airport to a USB drive attached to my Mac Mini.
Cheers,
Sam
Sam Johnston
Australian Online Solutions
http://www.aos.net.au/

Airport Extreme/Time Capsule backup volume could not be found?

I am having problem with Time Machine. When I try to backup using Time Machine, I get an error message, " The backup volume could not be found." Strangely, Time Machine recognized the drive when setting the Time Machine preferences, but not when I backup.
If i select from the 'select disk' again and try again i get Keychain Access error 25299 and have to delete that in the Keychain for it to even get to the point of counting down to start back up
I have erased my Time Capsule recently and was starting fresh but now i cannot get time machine running again...
In the shared section of the finder the time machine backup is only appearing in the network area rather than directly there...
Any ideas?
Many thanks.

Hi there.
I would suggest First Aid of your Keychain, but that hardly ever works (especially in this situation).
What I would do first, is go to ~/Library/Keychains/, grab the login.keychain and move it to the desktop. Log out, and log back in again. If that fixes it, then get the old login.keychain from the desktop and put it in the trash. (You will lose all your saved passwords for networks etc.)
If that doesn't work, unfortunately the only option would be to do an Archive & Install.
So you just need to put your 10.6 disk in again and install over the system.
Your personal data/files should still remain intact. Although I would still suggest making a backup (ironic considering the situation)
Cheers
Taylor

The backup volume could not be found

Spent a fair amount of time on the phone with Apple last night trying to get my Macbook Air to work with Time Machine/Time Capsule.
Symptoms of my problem included Time Machine Preferences giving the error "The backup volume could not be found"
Console messages complaining about not being able to find the MAC address for machine:
(console is accessed by clicking Go -> Utilities -> Console from the Finder, and then selecting All Messages)
11/7/08 11:06:13 AM System Preferences[123] *Time Machine failed to get MAC address for machine.*
11/7/08 11:13:09 AM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[1603] Starting standard backup
11/7/08 11:13:09 AM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[1603] Network mountpoint /Volumes/Time Capsule not owned by backupd... remounting
11/7/08 11:13:09 AM kernel AFP_VFS afpfs_mount: /Volumes/Time Capsule-1, pid 1604
11/7/08 11:13:09 AM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[1603] Network volume mounted at: /Volumes/Time Capsule-1
11/7/08 11:13:09 AM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[1603] *Volume at path /Volumes/Time Capsule-1 does not appear to be the correct backup volume for this computer. (Cookies do not match)*
11/7/08 11:13:09 AM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[1603] Backup requested due to disk attach
11/7/08 11:13:14 AM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[1603] *Backup failed with error: 18*
And my only network interface was showing up as en1 (instead of en0). You can check this by using Network Utilities:
- On the Finder main menu bar click Go -> Utilities -> Network Utilities
If "Network Interface (en0)" is not an option in the drop down list under "Please select a network interface for information" (mine was showing as en1), then the following steps will probably solve your problem:
1) Enable the root user
- Open the finder
- On the Finder main menu bar click Go -> Utilities -> Directory Utility
- On the menu bar click Edit -> Enable Root User
- set a password (they suggested using the same password as is used for the main user account)
2) Login as the newly enabled root user
- Click Log Out... from the Apple menu on the main menu bar
- select "Other" at the login screen
- enter the user name "root" and the password you set in step 1
3) Drag Preferences folder to the desktop
- open the finder, and click on Macintosh HD and then Library
- drag the Preferences folder onto the desktop
4) Restart the computer
- Click Restart from the Apple menu on the main menu bar
After this, the Network utility should show "Network Interface (en0)", and Time Machine should work.

Jackson,
See this article for the reasons why you see "Time Capsule-1 does not appear to be the right volume..."
[http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=8116036&#8116036]
As for the error message you are getting, here are several reasons why you would see this message...
*_"Backup Volume Could Not Be Found"_*
First, it is important to distinguish this error message from another, similar Time Machine error that states, “The backup volume could not be mounted”. This is important as the causes and cures for these two errors can be very different.
*Reselect Your Time Machine Disk*
(http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1329)
In the Finder, go up to the "Go" menu and select "Connect to Server".
Click the "Browse" button at the dialogue box.
In the Network window that opens, do you see your TM drive?
Double click it to mount the drive.
Now let's try to reselect it for Time Machine use.
Go to System Preferences --> Time Machine.
Click the "Change Disk..." button.
Select "None" and click "Stop Backing Up".
Now click "Choose Backup Disk" and reselect your drive again.
Close System Preferences and try backing-up again.
On the other hand, does your Time Machine drive NOT appear at all? Is it appearing on your desktop? If it is still connected try disconnecting the cable, waiting a few seconds and then reconnecting the cable. Does the drive mount on the desktop? Try initiating a backup now.
*Disk Fails to Wake From Sleep*
“If your external HD has a sleep function that does not wake for Time Machine backups. Time Machine will alert you that "The backup volume could not be found", and backups will not be made.” [http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1337]
*3rd-Party Disk Utilities* #
Many external hard disks come with software for maintaining/monitoring hard disk activities. It may have come on a separate CD or been installed on the drive itself. If these programs have been installed they may interfere with Time Machine backups, generate erratic behavior, or cause the drive to ‘disappear’ altogether.
You may never know these applications are there as they may be running in the background. Go to System preferences --> Accounts. Select your account in the pane on the left. Click “Login Items”. Are there any items listed there that might refer to hard disk utilities. If so remove them using the “-” button at the bottom.
*Delete Time Machine Preference .plist*
It may be that the preference list that stores the name of your designated backup disk has become corrupted.
Go to --> Macintosh HD / Library / Preferences (Note: NOT Home / Library / Preferences).
Drag the .plist file labeled,
com.apple.TimeMachine.plist
to the root level of your Macs’ hard drive.
Reboot your computer.
This .plist file is automatically recreated at startup if it is missing.
Now try choosing the external HD in the TM Prefs for backup.
*Time Capsule Has a Long Name*
“When using your Time Capsule for Time Machine backups in Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard or later, the Time Capsule backup volume may not mount and Time Machine may not be able to back up to it. This alert may appear: "Backup volume cannot be found". This can happen if the Time Capsule disk has a long name. [http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1170]
Open AirPort Utility (in /Applications/Utilities).
Click your Time Capsule's icon.
Click "Manual Setup".
Enter the password for the Time Capsule if prompted.
Click the Disks icon.
Highlight the volume name that appears under "Time Capsule Disk".
In the Name field, enter a name for the volume that is less than 27 characters long.
Click Update.
After Time Capsule restarts, on the Mac(s)using Time Machine, open Time Machine preferences and reselect the Time Capsule volume.”
Let us know if any of these suggestions help.
Cheers!

Time Machine Contradiction: "The backup volume could not be mounted"

(This is only one wireless issue I've had this year, but I'm trying to keep this brief -- hoping clarity will instigate some help.)
Recently I bought a Western Digital 500GB drive to go with my AEBS. I was intent upon using the drive as an Airdisk for Time Machine backups, but it isn't working. (I also have the WD drive partitioned in halves, but there is no reason to believe that is an issue.) When wired, the disk backs-up quickly and easily. After the initial backup, and attempting to do so wirelessly, however, it doesn't work. I get the message: "The backup volume could not be mounted."
And there's the contradiction: the disk is mounted, I'm looking at the mounted disk as I type -- I even have no problems reading and writing from the Airdisks independent of Time Machine. I have all the latest software updates and am running Leopard. I've been going at this for hours, but I would really appreciate some help.
Here are some of the things I've tried:
-checking all connections
-erasing the Airdisk and starting from scratch
-repairing disk permissions(on my internal harddrive, the one I boot on, not the WD)
-attempting to "Connect to Server" in the Finder, only to get this:
And if you look, you can see that while the Airdisks are there, they are grey and can't be selected. It
never becomes possible to select them, and "Connecting to Server" never connects.
-I've toggled every Airport Utility setting to no avail(I will admit I might have missed something though).
-I've done everything I can think of
-banged my head into walls...
-and pulled my hair out, but nothing.
I really would like to get this working. This is my worst Apple experience yet, and it is literally making me sick. You will be my God if you can help me with this. Let me know if you need anymore information. Thanks in advance.
<Edited by Moderator>

Okay, so it seems you need to do initial Time-Machine-ing over WiFi if you intend to use it that way. Why nobody at Apple mentioned this baffles me; why this is even a problem, makes me wonder if Time Machine went through adequate testing.
So my problem is solved! I am my own God!
<Edited by Moderator>

"This backup is too large for the backup volume" - Info

Hi there. I had a problem with my time machine and got an error stating "This backup is too large for the backup volume". I did noticed after logging in that TM was indexing in the upper right corner [magnifier with a flashing dot(spotlight)] for a few seconds. So then I went on to "back up now" and it was preparing and then I got the Error message described above. So I uninstalled my anti-virus (you must disable auto protection/or exclude timemachine.app and its plist file (location below)from Anti-virus preferences in the case you have a anti-virus app, otherwise it will take forever to back up.) though that was not my issue. I then turn off time machine and deleted this .plist file in Macintosh HD > Library > Preferences > com.apple.TimeMachine.plist....STOP here if this fixed your problem after restarting. Time machine External Drive in Disk Utility **THESE STEPS WILL ERASE YOUR ENTIRE BACKUPS** ( "Erase" and rename or "partition" to make more that one partition on the External Drive if you wish, and Rename) (Disk utility> Partition tab> "option" you must - guid=intel / apple partition map=PowerPC)...sorry alot of newbie out there...by deleting the "com.apple.TimeMachine.plist" = when you plug in you TM it will ask you if you want to use the drive as a TM back up automatically. This did the trick. But to let you guys know I also used Cocktail (app) and used a feature it has to erase my computers spotlight index and rebuild it. Also in Cocktail, when you have your time machine plugged in you can erase its index and disable it all together. I recommend you first disable spotlight (before the first initial TM backup) in system preferences > spotlight> Privacy (tab) and plus to add time machine ...which has to be mounted (plugged in) to add from window under "Devices".

http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?story=20090403093528353

How do I enable ownership on my external hard drive backup volume so I can copy it to a new external hard drive?

I just got a replacement external hard drive from LaCie. And, I have an older smalller LaCie external back up hard drive that I want to copy the information to the new one. But when I drag the old backup files folder to new one I get this message:The backup can’t be copied because the backup volume doesn’t have ownership enabled. How do I resolve this?

Try this:
Open the Terminal in your Utilities folder. Enter the following at the prompt:
sudo chown root:admin
Put a space after "root:admin" then drag the Desktop icon of the new drive into the Terminal window. Press RETURN. Enter your admin password when prompted. It will not be echoed to the screen. Press RETURN again.

Backup Volume cannot be mounted

Time machine stopped working for me back in July. I've looked at every post and tried nearly everything, and I cannot get it working again. The error through the Time Machine pref pane is "The Backup volume cannot be mounted." The errors in the console are the following:
Sep 4 23:19:25 tesla /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[50182]: Backup requested by user
Sep 4 23:19:25 tesla /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[50182]: Starting standard backup
Sep 4 23:19:25 tesla /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[50182]: Network mountpoint /Volumes/Backup not owned by backupd... remounting
Sep 4 23:19:26 tesla /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[50182]: Failed to remount network volume.
Sep 4 23:19:31 tesla /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[50182]: Backup failed with error: 19
This is a network volume. It's a 750GB firewire drive, formatted HFS+ with a GUID partition table connected to an iMac. The iMac can back up just fine to it. My MBP cannot. It worked before.
It appears it is failing to remount the drive as root rather than myself, as backupd runs as root. Others are having the same problem, and I've seen no resolution for this particular issue. Is Apple even aware of it? Do they even read the discussion forums?

Paul,
Give these ideas some condsideration:
First, it is important to distinguish this error message from another, similar Time Machine error that states “The backup volume could not be found”. This is important as the causes and cures for these two errors can be very different.
Give each topic separate consideration. If one does not resolve your issue, move on the next one.
*Time Machine Has Lost Its’ Backup Disk*
If Time Machine was NOT setup to recognize a hard disk for backup, and “Back up now” was selected from the Time Machine Dock icon, an error would report “No backup volume has been selected. To select a backup volume, open . . “ The Console log would report:
+Backup failed with error: 17+
But if Time Machine HAD BEEN setup to use a specific disk for backups, but if had lost its’ connection to the drive, it would report “The backup volume could not be mounted”. The Console log would say:
+FSMatchAliasBulk returned -35 while resolving alias to backup target+
+Backup failed with error: 19+
When you check the Time Machine preferences you may see the name of your backup disk greyed-out and a generic hard drive icon beside it. More than likely this means Time Machine has lost is physical connection to the drive. Either the drive is not plugged in, it’s not turned ON, the drives’ cable is bad, the drives internal controller has failed, or the drive has a sleep function that is preventing it from waking when a backup is called for.
*Airport Has Been Turned Off* (For Time Capsule / AirDisk Users) #
Look and the Airport menu at the top of the screen. Does it no longer display the radiating bands of wireless signal strength? The Airport has been turned off on this computer.
Go to System Preferences.
Select Network.
Click “Turn Airport On”
Now try backing up.
*File Sharing Has Been Disabled* (For Time Capsule / AirDisk Users) #
Launch Airport Utility.
Click "Manual Setup".
Select "Disks" in the tool bar at top of window.
Click "File Sharing".
Verify that "Enable file sharing" is checked.
If not, check it, click “Update”.
Once the Time Capsule has finished restarting, close Airport Utility and try backing up again.
*Password Has Changed/Become Corrupted* (For Time Capsule / AirDisk Users) #
[Mac OS X 10.5.3 or later: Time Machine - "Backup volume could not be mounted" after changing network volume's password]
*Proper Computer Name* #
Make sure your computer has a proper name. Go to System Preferences --> Sharing. Time Machine needs to differentiate your computer from others on your network (i.e. "Bills MacBook" or "Office iMac"). If the "Computer Name" field is blank, create a name. Realize that if this step is necessary, you will likely have to start the Time Machine backup process over again and do another full initial backup.
According to THIS article [http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1760], Time Machine may experience problems if your computer name includes certain characters. Make sure the computer name only includes ASCII characters from the following set.
(0123456789abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ)
Once a change in the computer name occurs, you should stop and restart Sharing on the affected computer. Uncheck and then recheck Sharing in the Services list on the left.
Also, if the name of your backup devise contains any special characters (like an apostrophe) consider removing them and trying a backup again.
Let is know if any of the ideas above helped.
Cheers!

Error: "This backup is too large for the backup volume."

Well TM is acting up. I get an error that reads:
"This backup is too large for the backup volume."
Both the internal boot disk and the external baclup drive are 1TB. The internal one has a two partitions, the OSX one that is 900GBs and a 32GB NTFS one for Boot Camp.
The external drive is a single OSX Extended part. that is 932GBs.
Both the Time Machine disk, and the Boot Camp disk are excluded from the backup along with a "Crap" folder for temporary large files as well as the EyeTV temp folder.
Time Machine says it needs 938GBs to backup only the OSX disk, which has 806GBs in use with the rest free. WTFFF? The TM pane says that "only" 782GBs are going to be backed up. Where did the 938GBs figure come from?
This happened after moving a large folder (128GB in total) from the root of the OSX disk over to my Home Folder.
I have reformated the Time Machine drive and have no backups at all of my data and it refuses to backup!!
Why would it need 938GBs of space to backup if the disk has "only" 806 GBs in use??? Is there anyway to reset Time Machine completely???
Some screenshots:
http://www.xcapepr.com/images/tm2.png
http://www.xcapepr.com/images/tm1.png
http://www.xcapepr.com/images/tm4.png

xcapepr wrote:
Time Machine says it needs 938GBs to backup only the OSX disk, which has 806GBs in use with the rest free. WTFFF? The TM pane says that "only" 782GBs are going to be backed up. Where did the 938GBs figure come from?
Why would it need 938GBs of space to backup if the disk has "only" 806 GBs in use??? Is there anyway to reset Time Machine completely???
TM makes an initial "estimate" of how much space it needs, "including padding", that is often quite high. Why that is, and Just exactly what it means by "padding" are rather mysterious. But it does also need work space on any drive, including your TM drive.
But beyond that, your TM disk really is too small for what you're backing-up. The general "rule of thumb" is it should be 2-3 times the size of what it's backing-up, but it really depends on how you use your Mac. If you frequently update lots of large files, even 3 times may not be enough. If you're a light user, you might get by with 1.5 times. But that's about the lower limit.
Note that although it does skip a few system caches, work files, etc., by default it backs up everything else, and does not do any compression.
All this is because TM is designed to manage it's backups and space for you. Once it's initial, full backup is done, it will by default then back-up any changes hourly. It only keeps those hourly backups for 24 hours, but converts the first of the day to a "daily" backup, which it keeps for a month. After a month, it converts one per week into a "weekly" backup that it will keep for as long as it has room
What you're up against is, room for those 30 dailies and up to 24 hourlies.
You might be able to get it to work, sort of, temporarily, by excluding something large, like your home folder, until that first full backup completes, then remove the exclusion for the next run. But pretty soon, it will begin to fail again, and you'll have to delete backups manually (from the TM interface, not via the Finder).
Longer term, you need a bigger disk; or exclude some large items (back-them up to a portable external or even DVD/RWs first); or a different strategy.
You might want to investigate CarbonCopyCloner, SuperDuper!, and other apps that can be used to make bootable "clones". Their advantage, beyond needing less room, is when your HD fails, you can immediately boot and run from the clone, rather than waiting to restore from TM to your repaired or replaced HD.
Their disadvantages are, you don't have the previous versions of changed or deleted files, and because of the way they work, their "incremental" backups of changed items take much longer and far more CPU.
Many of us use both a "clone" (I use CCC) and TM. On my small (roughly 30 gb) system, the difference is dramatic: I rarely notice TM's hourly backups -- they usually run under 30 seconds; CCC takes at least 15 minutes and most of my CPU.

"This backup is too large for the backup volume

I have a relatively small external hard drive (80 GB), but have never had a problem backing up my system. However, for a couple of weeks now, I have been unable to backup due to insufficient space. The Time Machine had been backing up usually once a week for a couple of months without deleting old backups, but now it won't back up anything. Does anyone have any idea why this all the sudden happened or and suggestions on items to take off the backup list - as I have a lot of music a pics that I can't afford to lose. Thanks!

Sometimes, this error is legitimate. The user may not realize that they need to exclude additional hard disks that TM may be seeing. This is done in the “Options…” window of the Time Machine Preferences.
Nevertheless, many times this error just doesn’t make sense, stating that not enough free space exists for a backup that is clearly smaller. (“The backup requires 45.9 GB but only 182.6 GB are available”)
The answer and fix may have been discovered by a poster in the macosxhints forums: (http://forums.macosxhints.com/archive/index.php/t-84284.html)
Essentially, while Time Machine DOES delete old backups from the sparsebundle, it DOES NOT free up the space occupied by those old backups. Eventually, "all previous backups were deleted and no space was gained. . . . What appears to be going on here is that the sparsebundle isn't self-shrinking - unused bands aren't being automagically discarded."
The solution is to compact the TM backup sparsebundle in Terminal using:
hdiutil compact yoursparsebundlefilename.
He concludes, "I gained 30+gb of space on the backup volume by compacting that sparsebundle. And now TM runs just fine, since it has plenty of space."
Obviously, this is a bug in TM. It does not appear to effect everyone, and only seems to appear under certain curcumstances.
Let us know if this works for you.

This backup is too large for the backup volume - ridiculous Size!!!

Hi .. i own a macbook 13" aluminium, I have Snow Leopard 10.6.2 , and i change my internal hard drive to a 500Gb.
I bought 1Tb Western Digital My Book USB External Drive to use it for back ups using Time machine.. at the beginning worked great, when i changed my hard drive i restore everything in lest than 2 hours.
Then one time, it said that the hard drive where going out of space, and i said to delete the oldest backups, it erase everything and kept the last back up. Since then, it came a message
*_+This backup is too large for the backup volume. The backup requires 2.73EB but only 995 Gb are available.*+_
its ridiculous, when i go to the time machine preference, it said that the full size back up it would take 83Gb only.
I tried everything, formatting the unit, taking out the partition , and making it out again, it makes the first full back up, but then the same message...
Please anyone... i am desperate
Thanks Again
Daniel

DanielFaour wrote:
*_+This backup is too large for the backup volume. The backup requires 2.73EB but only 995 Gb are available.*+_
Hi, and welcome to the forums.
That message seems to indicate that something is corrupted on your internal HD. Do a +*Verify Disk+* on it, per #A5 in the Time Machine - Troubleshooting *User Tip,* also at the top of this forum.
If that finds errors, you'll have to use the procedure in the yellow box there to Repair them.
If that does not find errors, Restart your Mac and do a "full reset" of Time Machine, per #A4 there.
I tried everything, formatting the unit, taking out the partition , and making it out again, it makes the first full back up, but then the same message...
What partition? Are there multiple partitions on your TM drive? How large is the one for Time Machine? Check the setup per #C1 of the Troubleshooting Tip.

"Backup is too large for the backup volume" error

I've been backing up with TM for a while now, and finally it seems as though the hard drive is full, since I'm down to 4.2GB available of 114.4GB.
Whenever TM tries to do a backup, it gives me the error "This backup is too large for the backup volume. The backup requires 10.8 GB but only 4.2GB are available. To select a larger volume, or make the backup smaller by excluding files, open System Preferences and choose Time Machine."
I understand that I have those two options, but why can't TM just erase the oldest backup and use that free space to make the new backup? I know a 120GB drive is pretty small, but if I have to just keep accumulating backups infinitely, I'm afraid I'll end up with 10 years of backups and a 890-zettabyte drive taking up my garage. I'm hoping there's a more practical solution.

John,
Please review the following article as it might explain what you are encountering.
*_“This Backup is Too Large for the Backup Volume”_*
First, much depends on the size of your Mac’s internal hard disk, the quantity of data it contains, and the size of the hard disk designated for Time Machine backups. It is recommended that any hard disk designated for Time Machine backups be +at least+ twice as large as the hard disk it is backing up from. You see, the more space it has to grow, the greater the history it can preserve.
*Disk Management*
Time Machine is designed to use the space it is given as economically as possible. When backups reach the limit of expansion, Time Machine will begin to delete old backups to make way for newer data. The less space you provide for backups the sooner older data will be discarded. [http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.5/en/15137.html]
However, Time Machine will only delete what it considers “expired”. Within the Console Logs this process is referred to as “thinning”. It appears that many of these “expired” backups are deleted when hourly backups are consolidated into daily backups and daily backups are consolidated into weekly backups. This consolidation takes place once hourly backups reach 24 hours old and daily backups reach about 30 days old. Weekly backups will only be deleted, or ‘thinned’, once the backup drive nears full capacity.
One thing seems for sure, though; If a new incremental backup happens to be larger than what Time Machine currently considers “expired” then you will get the message “This backup is too large for the backup volume.” In other words, Time Machine believes it would have to sacrifice to much to accommodate the latest incremental backup. This is probably why Time Machine always overestimates incremental backups by 2 to 10 times the actual size of the data currently being backed up. Within the Console logs this is referred to as “padding”. This is so that backup files never actually reach the physically limits of the backup disk itself.
*Recovering Backup Space*
If you have discovered that large unwanted files have been backed up, you can use the Time Machine “time travel” interface to recovered some of that space. Do NOT, however, delete files from a Time Machine backup disk by manually mounting the disk and dragging files to the trash. You can damage or destroy your original backups by this means.
Additionally, deleting files you no longer wish to keep on your Mac does not immediately remove such files from Time Machine backups. Once data has been removed from your Macs' hard disk it will remain in backups for some time until Time Machine determines that it has "expired". That's one of its’ benefits - it retains data you may have unintentionally deleted. But eventually that data is expunged. If, however, you need to remove backed up files immediately, do this:
Launch Time Machine from the Dock icon.
Initially, you are presented with a window labeled “Today (Now)”. This window represents the state of your Mac as it exists now. +DO NOT+ delete or make changes to files while you see “Today (Now)” at the bottom of the screen. Otherwise, you will be deleting files that exist "today" - not yesterday or last week.
Click on the window just behind “Today (Now)”. This represents the last successful backup and should display the date and time of this backup at the bottom of the screen.
Now, navigate to where the unwanted file resides. If it has been some time since you deleted the file from your Mac, you may need to go farther back in time to see the unwanted file. In that case, use the time scale on the right to choose a date prior to when you actually deleted the file from your Mac.
Highlight the file and click the Actions menu (Gear icon) from the toolbar.
Select “Delete all backups of <this file>”.
*Full Backup After Restore*
If you are running out of disk space sooner than expected it may be that Time Machine is ignoring previous backups and is trying to perform another full backup of your system? This will happen if you have reinstalled the System Software (Mac OS), or replaced your computer with a new one, or hard significant repair work done on your exisitng Mac. Time Machine will perform a new full backup. This is normal. [http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1338]
You have several options if Time Machine is unable to perform the new full backup:
A. Delete the old backups, and let Time Machine begin a fresh.
B. Attach another external hard disk and begin backups there, while keeping this current hard disk. After you are satisfied with the new backup set, you can later reformat the old hard disk and use it for other storage.
C. Ctrl-Click the Time Machine Dock icon and select "Browse Other Time Machine disks...". Then select the old backup set. Navigate to files/folders you don't really need backups of and go up to the Action menu ("Gear" icon) and select "Delete all backups of this file." If you delete enough useless stuff, you may be able to free up enough space for the new backup to take place. However, this method is not assured as it may not free up enough "contiguous space" for the new backup to take place.
*Outgrown Your Backup Disk?*
On the other hand, your computers drive contents may very well have outgrown the capacity of the Time Machine backup disk. It may be time to purchase a larger capacity hard drive for Time Machine backups. Alternatively, you can begin using the Time Machine Preferences exclusion list to prevent Time Machine from backing up unneeded files/folders.
Consider as well: Do you really need ALL that data on your primary hard disk? It sounds like you might need to Archive to a different hard disk anything that's is not of immediate importance. You see, Time Machine is not designed for archiving purposes, just as a backup of your local drive(s). In the event of disaster, it can get your system back to its' current state without having to reinstall everything. But if you need LONG TERM storage, then you need another drive that is removed from your normal everyday working environment.
This KB article discusses this scenario with some suggestions including Archiving the old backups and starting fresh [http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.5/en/15137.html]
Let us know if this clarifies things.
Cheers!

"Backing up 0kb of 0kb" - backup volume is stuck at size 149.48GB

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