Backup failure, read only message

I've been using a time capsule for about 6 mo. Recently I have been getting a backup failure message from Time Machine, saying that the backup volume, my Time Capsule, is read only. I reset the Time Capsule settings and still am having problems. Does anyone know why I would get a "read only" message about the Time Capsule?

I'd run /Utilities/Disc Utility and re-format it yourself, it most likely came formatted for PC not Mac ...

Similar Messages

Get read only message about time machine.

I have a 500 Iomega hard drive as a backup drive. Both the imac and the backup drive were unplugged for about a week while I was on vacation. When I returned and plugged the machines in again I began getting repeated time machine error messages informing me that the backup is read only. Also the time machine is not updating. The last time it updated was Oct. 5.
Can anybody help.
Thanks.

Sounds as if the external is failing, can you check the power brick and see if it's working? Do you have another brick that you can use to see if the original one failed? Try using a different cable to connect with the external drive. If none of this works, try connecting another drive to your iMAc and see if TM will back up to it.

Why r we not use tablespce begin backup with read only tablespace

why r we not use tablespce begin backup with read only tablespace

Please learn English prior to posting. The schools in India are not that bad!
Please RTFM.
Please stop asking doc questions at lightning speed.
Please go figure
Sybrand Bakker
Senior Oracle DBA

Backup drive read only. Can I copy onto new backup drive?

It looks like my 500GB Maxtor drive Time Machine uses to back up has given up the ghost. It has become a "read only" and disk utility can't repair it. The error message said there's an invalid node structure. Then it tells me to back up as many files as possiible, reformat the disk and restore the backed up files.
I will buy a new backup drive but I can't enter Time Machine. Is there a way to get the old Time Machine files onto a new backup drive or are they gone forever?
I don't fancy reformating the the failed external hard drive and using that again because it's obviously clapped out.
Any and all advice much appreciated.

Jane Garcia wrote:
I am able to access the folders but it has nothing past 2008, which I think must have been when I bought it. It's as though everything since then has gone.
Is there any chance Data Rescue could pull up more recent files? I haven't tried running Disk Repair from the startup disk.
please bear in mind that time machine automatically deletes old data if there is not enought free space to back up new data. i think buying a recovery software cannot fix this.
can you check how much free space is left on the disk?

Time Machine backup failed - "Read Only" - does that mean external HD is full?

Just received an error message re: Time Machine -
Time Machine Could not complete the Backup.
Files can't be copied onto the backup disk because it appears to be "read only"
Does this mean I have to try and repair the external HD OR can it mean the external HD is full (which I was expecting) and I need to start a new one?
When I open Preferences, it says "Available: 2.04 of 319.94 GB
Oldest Backup - (blank)
Latest Backup - Failed
I have turned it off and don't want to do something stupid.
So, should I follow directions to try to reformat the disk using Disk Utility? Does it mean everything on there is potentially lost?
Thanks for any directions . .

The backup drive has malfunctioned and corrupted itself. If that has ever happened before, or if it ever happens again, replace the drive. You may want to consider replacing it anyway for the safety of your data.
You should start another backup now, on another drive, if you don't already have one. One backup is never enough to be safe.
If you choose to keep using the problem drive, turn Time Machine OFF temporarily in its preference pane, then launch Disk Utility, select the backup volume, and run Repair Disk. This operation may take several hours. If that action doesn't solve the problem, you'll have to erase the volume and start over. Don't do that unless you have at least one other complete backup. Remember to turn TM back ON.

Keep getting a read only message and have to save with different name

I am editing some pdf files, and every time I save I get the message: "The file may be read only, or another user may have it open. Please save the document with a different name or in a different folder."
However, when I right click the file and click properties, it is not listed as a read only file. Nor is the directory read only. Having to save each file as a different name is driving me nuts. Is there a fix?

Is this file saved on a network drive, or a shared folder?
If so, it's possible someelse in the network has it open at the same time as you.

Backup Volume Read Only error 99% solution

After about 2 months of the "Back Up Volume Read Only - select different volume..." issue, I found a 99% solution - or perhaps a fluke (I'm a mac newbie).
My computer would back up about 1/2 of the 20gig's of files before failing. After removing the apostrophe, erasing, etc. I went to options and chose most of my files as "do not back up". What do you know, it finally worked.
Then I went back and added the rest of the files back to the backup -- didn't work again.
Long story short, after a few, fun filled hours, I triangulated down to one file in Documents (a circus pony notebook file) that will cause my backup to fail. If that file is in there, no backup. Take it out, no problem. btw, I have other notebook files that backup fine.
Anyone have any suggestions besides leaving that file out forever?

After about 2 months of the "Back Up Volume Read Only - select different volume..." issue, I found a 99% solution - or perhaps a fluke (I'm a mac newbie).
My computer would back up about 1/2 of the 20gig's of files before failing. After removing the apostrophe, erasing, etc. I went to options and chose most of my files as "do not back up". What do you know, it finally worked.
Then I went back and added the rest of the files back to the backup -- didn't work again.
Long story short, after a few, fun filled hours, I triangulated down to one file in Documents (a circus pony notebook file) that will cause my backup to fail. If that file is in there, no backup. Take it out, no problem. btw, I have other notebook files that backup fine.
Anyone have any suggestions besides leaving that file out forever?

Backup Disk Read Only

Hey,
Jus got my new MacBook Pro couple of weeks ago.. and trying to use the time machine for backup and it seems to always end up with an error.. it successfully finishes the initial backup.. once the backup drive is ejected and reinserted it becomes read only and the time machine brings up the error saying it is unable to write as the disk is read only
i've reformatted the disk many a times and ended up the same result...
any solutions???
Pls Help!!
Thanks

What to do if Time Machine reports you don't have permission
This was posted in the Apple Discussions by V.K. I have only modified it slightly to be more generic.
The problem seems to be that 10.5.6 changes permissions on a file so that even the root user doesn't have write peivileges. I have no idea why they did this. The workaround suggested in [an]other post will probably work, too, but i did something less drastic. Instead of deleting the file I changed permissions on it, and it worked just fine. An added benefit is that the permission change seems to stick, so you don't have to delete the file every time you change a drive.
[Open the Terminal application in your Utilities folder. At the prompt [enter] the following command:
sudo chmod 644 /volumes/"TM drive name"/.xxxxxxxxxxxx
The name of the file .xxxxxxxxxxxx is based on the MAC address of your computer and will be different for every computer. Put the name of the TM drive in the above and keep the quotes.
You'll have to enter your admin password (which you won't see) which is normal.
This was edited by Kappy just for cleanup.
Enable Finder to Show Invisible Files and Folders
Open the Terminal application in your Utilities folder. At the prompt enter or paste the following command line then press RETURN.
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE
To turn off the display of invisible files and folders enter or paste the following command line and press RETURN.
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles FALSE
Alternatively you can use one of the numerous third-party utilities such as TinkerTool or ShowHideInvisibleFiles - VersionTracker or MacUpdate.

Read only message

Hi all,
I downloaded a selection data from a PA in prod server using the button'save locally' and then tried to upload the same file into the similar PA in a sandbox. But it is saying that the file is read only so is not saving any data. Can anybody suggest a solution on this? I made all appropriate settings like save foe uploading later and all while saving the CSV file.
-Neha

Hi Neha,
Do you have any time periods in the past which are for display only and not ready for input???
If yes, I think the system is trying to copy values into the time periods in the past which are only in display mode. But I tried doing the same on my system, it just gives me a warning but it still copies data into all ready for input cells. The warning message i get is /SAPAPO/SDP_UPLOAD014 - 'Contents of a cell from a file are not transferred; read-only'.
Is the system giving you a warning or an error. If you are getting the same warning message, then I guess you are fine as all the editable cells are being copied. If you want to copy data into the past time periods as well, then you might have to change the setting in Planning book and make the past time periods ready for input as well.
Hope that solves your problem.
Regards,
Shiv.

Data warehouse backups and read only tablespaces

Hi all,
I am working on a data warehouse database with following specs:
Version: Oracle 10.2.0.3 Enterprise
OS: Solaris
App: Data warehouse
We use RMAN to take 'level 0' & 'level 1' backups. We have block change tracking enabled and RMAN backups up data files and archive logs straight to tape.
I am exploring ways of reducing the 'level 0' backups and was specifically focussing on using read-only tablespaces for this purpose.
I have often seen it mentioned that a best practice in D/Ws is to store the old static partitions of fact tables in read only tablespaces so as to reduce the backup size.
In case you have already implemented such a scheme, I would like to know how you have implemented it.
I am thinking of the following mechanism:
-- Start using backups at tablespace level rather than 'level 0' at database level.
-- Record the latest SCNs of all datafiles prior to back up.
-- If the latest SCN has not changed since last backup and the tablespace is in read only mode then
-- Check if a backup copy of the tablespace has been done within the recovery window and is accessible.
-- If the copy exists then don't backup that tablespace, else backup the tablespace.
-- If the tablespace is read/write then back it up.
I haven't delved into the low level details, but this seems to be lot of work. So just wanted to know from you if there's any ready made feature which makes all this easier.
Many thanks in advance.

Thank you so much for your help.
Backup optimization was indeed the thing I was looking for. To be honest I had done a bit of RTFM, but I didn't check the advanced user guide.
Although my specific question has been answered, it would be interesting to know what other things other people are implementing to reduce backups etc.
I am also thinking of following options:
-- Turn on index monitoring to get rid of unused indexes.
-- Stop the backups of 'index' tablespaces.
-- Archive off old data.
Any other ideas for reducing DW backup size?
Many thanks.

"Read-only" message when saving edited PDF

When I try and save editing in an existing PDF I get a pop-up window saying it could not be saved becase it may be read-only. This is true even on files that I have saved myself that are not read-only. How can I get rid of this?? The only option I have is to save the file under a different name which leaves me with the same file.

Hi ILM100213,
What version of Acrobat are you using (and have you installed the latest updated)? And what operating system? Have you double-checked the file permissions on those files to make sure that you have read-write access? And, do you know whether any of those files have document permissions assigned in Acrobat?
I look forward to hearing back from you.
Best,
Sara

Continuous 'read-only' message Word

Dear all,
I am new to this community and have tried looking for an answer to my question (e.g. Shared Excel/Word files corrupting/becoming read only on 10.9.1 Server, 3.0.2), but as I am not a computer buff at all, I didn't understand whether encountered topics applied to my question, let alone understand the answers.. So here goes!
Working on my thesis (a 917 KB document), my Word document has started to give a similar error every 5-10 minutes, saying: "this file is read-only. To save a copy, click OK, and give the document a new name in the Save dialog box" (Word Work File A_ ...... asd). I've tried this many times, but the error keeps on popping up, regardless of whether I save the document to a memory stick or to my hard drive. Any clues on what might cause it and how I could solve it? Kind of afraid this will cause problems at some point (and in any case, the continuous errors are quite annoying..).
I am working on a MacBook Air, 2012, OS X Mavericks version 10.9.4, Microsoft Word for Mac 2011 version 14.0.0.
Thanks in advance!!
Nienke

Thanks for your reply CT!
I hadn't in fact - but have now .
Also found a thread that my problem may be related to an excess of left-over temp files.. but am not sure that's the case, and also not sure how to remove them on a Mac (found this: http://www.gmayor.com/what_to_do_when_word_crashes.htm, but it applies to Windows users).. I have deleted my history (incl. cookies and buffer) in Firefox now, but it has not made a difference, so I don't think it helped.. Conclusion: still very happy with any tips/advice! Cheers!
Nienke

Since hard drive restore, backup gives Disk Repair, Read-only errors

Hi all -
After a hard drive crash last week, I restored the new HD using my historically reliable wireless Time Capsule (TC) with Time Machine (TM). But ever since, backups have ceased to work. Now, TM spins for about an hour before returning the following errors in sequence:
(1) DISK REPAIR: "The disk 'Backup of [my name] Macbook' was not repairable by this computer. It is being made available to you with limited functionality. You must back up your data and reformat the disk as soon as possible."
(2) TIME MACHINE ERROR: The backup volume is read only. To select a different volume, open System Preferences and choose Time Machine."
I very much doubt there is an actual problem with the TC disk itself; my wife's iBook G4 continues to backup to it without any problem whatsoever. Related threads have suggested:
a) doing clever things with Preferences, such as deleting the com.apple.TimeMachine.plist file and re-booting. However, for some reason (perhaps related to the source of the problem?) I have no such file...
b) using Disk Utility to re-format and/or re-partition (these terms mean little to me) the TC disk. But my Disk Utility doesn't see the TC. (Perhaps related, I no longer actually see the little backup disk icon on the desktop.) And as I've said, I doubt very much it's the TC disk itself that it is the problem.
I have of course tried re-booting everything, as well as un-mounting and re-mounting the TC: Computer, heal thyself! No luck.
Any guidance is appreciated...
(PS If there's a log file I should post that might help with diagnostics, just let me know where to find it.)

I have suffered the same error messages, but without a hard disk crash before it.
I copied the backup-file from the TC to a separate drive, erased the TC, re-installed it, copied the backup-file to the TC en re-initiated TM only to be welcomed with the 'The backup volume is read only'-message again.
Beats me why this happened. Most frustrating part, however, is that I am not able to restore from the backup-file. Any suggestions are highly appreciated!

Time Machine "read-only" error across multiple drives

Hello,
I've been having an ongoing problem for more than a year now. I continually get a "read-only" error message from Time Machine. To be specific, the message is: "Time Machine could not complete the backup. Files can’t be copied onto the backup disk because it appears to be read-only. You may need to repair or reformat the disk using Disk Utility. If the disk can’t be repaired, you must use a different disk for backups. Open Time Machine preferences to select a different backup disk."
The problem is, this has happened with three separate backup drives. They are all G-Tech 2TB 4th Generation G-Drive external hard drives. So I'm wondering if there may be a Mac OS software problem, or perhaps a hardware problem.
There's a lot to this story, so if you're game, read on.
First, about a year ago, I noticed that my Mac Pro frequently spontaneously ejected the backup drive, for no apparent reason. I didn't deal with the problem right away because I was having other, pressing troubles with my display (which took forever to solve).
In early-mid 2013, I tried a few disk repairs of my backup disk, as well as erasing the disk (and correctly formatting as Mac OS Extended Journaled). The disk was failing to mount at that point, so G-Tech sent me a replacement drive (a refurbished drive of exactly the same type).
With the replacement drive, I was getting the same "read-only" message. So I tried a few times erasing/reformatting/repartitioning this drive. No luck.
So I was sent yet another replacement drive. I experienced the same problems, and in addtion, I once got a message saying the backup drive was full when it actually wasn't. So I tried a) using a different firewire cable, b) using this different cable on a different port. Same problems.
In the meantime, I did some backups with an old Glyph drive, using the same FW800 port, and the same cable (the 2nd cable), and I had no problems. The reason I don't use this Glyph drive as my normal backup drive is that it is only 500 GB and not large enough to back up all three of my MP internal drives.
A couple other items of note: back in August of 2013, one of my MP's internal hard drives had to be replaced (it was determined to be having multiple input/output errors). Also, I've had a intermittent problem with the MP spontaneoulsy ejecting a couple different Lexar USB flash drives, even after I reformatted them repeatedly (but this has never happened with my ADATA flash drives). I suppose these things may be unrelated, but for the sake of completeness, I thought I'd include them.
So it seems like maybe it's a compatibility issue the G-Tech Drives? I'd be surprised...but I'm stumped. Anyone have any ideas?
Thanks.

Hello,
I've been having an ongoing problem for more than a year now. I continually get a "read-only" error message from Time Machine. To be specific, the message is: "Time Machine could not complete the backup. Files can’t be copied onto the backup disk because it appears to be read-only. You may need to repair or reformat the disk using Disk Utility. If the disk can’t be repaired, you must use a different disk for backups. Open Time Machine preferences to select a different backup disk."
The problem is, this has happened with three separate backup drives. They are all G-Tech 2TB 4th Generation G-Drive external hard drives. So I'm wondering if there may be a Mac OS software problem, or perhaps a hardware problem.
There's a lot to this story, so if you're game, read on.
First, about a year ago, I noticed that my Mac Pro frequently spontaneously ejected the backup drive, for no apparent reason. I didn't deal with the problem right away because I was having other, pressing troubles with my display (which took forever to solve).
In early-mid 2013, I tried a few disk repairs of my backup disk, as well as erasing the disk (and correctly formatting as Mac OS Extended Journaled). The disk was failing to mount at that point, so G-Tech sent me a replacement drive (a refurbished drive of exactly the same type).
With the replacement drive, I was getting the same "read-only" message. So I tried a few times erasing/reformatting/repartitioning this drive. No luck.
So I was sent yet another replacement drive. I experienced the same problems, and in addtion, I once got a message saying the backup drive was full when it actually wasn't. So I tried a) using a different firewire cable, b) using this different cable on a different port. Same problems.
In the meantime, I did some backups with an old Glyph drive, using the same FW800 port, and the same cable (the 2nd cable), and I had no problems. The reason I don't use this Glyph drive as my normal backup drive is that it is only 500 GB and not large enough to back up all three of my MP internal drives.
A couple other items of note: back in August of 2013, one of my MP's internal hard drives had to be replaced (it was determined to be having multiple input/output errors). Also, I've had a intermittent problem with the MP spontaneoulsy ejecting a couple different Lexar USB flash drives, even after I reformatted them repeatedly (but this has never happened with my ADATA flash drives). I suppose these things may be unrelated, but for the sake of completeness, I thought I'd include them.
So it seems like maybe it's a compatibility issue the G-Tech Drives? I'd be surprised...but I'm stumped. Anyone have any ideas?
Thanks.

Time Machine reported 'volume is read only' & rolled back to old state

I've been in love with Time Machine ever since Leopard arrived. This has all come crashing down over the last few days...
Firstly I got a new 1tb drive, so I mirrored my old TM drive (using SuperDuper), and all seemed to be fine – backups were chugging along for a week or so as normal on the new, bigger drive.
A few days ago I got a time machine error stating that "The backup volume is read only". I thought this was strange as the drive was working without issue for a week. I checked permissions, format, etc and all were set correctly. I restarted and Time Machine kicked back in and all seemed to work fine other the fact that there seemed to be no backups created for 6 hours before I got the error message. Then I made a scary realisation, somehow the files on my computer had been restored to a state from 6 hours prior, all the work I'd done for the morning was gone.
I put this down to a one off glitch (stupid, stupid, stupid). I've today got the same "backup volume is read only" message again, and this time around my files have been restored to a state from 3 days ago. Fortunately this time around Time Machine has a backup of the important stuff a few hours ago.
I am now very worried about using the same disk with Time Machine. I also have no idea if Time Machine is the culprit (but logic tells me with the rolling back of files it must be). What should I do? How can I figure out what is going on?

This may fix the "read only" problem:
What to do if Time Machine reports you don't have permission
This was posted in the Apple Discussions by V.K. I have only modified it slightly to be more generic.
The problem seems to be that 10.5.6 changes permissions on a file so that even the root user doesn't have write peivileges. I have no idea why they did this. The workaround suggested in [an]other post will probably work, too, but i did something less drastic. Instead of deleting the file I changed permissions on it, and it worked just fine. An added benefit is that the permission change seems to stick, so you don't have to delete the file every time you change a drive.
[Open the Terminal application in your Utilities folder. At the prompt [enter] the following command:
sudo chmod 644 /volumes/"TM drive name"/.xxxxxxxxxxxx
The name of the file .xxxxxxxxxxxx is based on the MAC address of your computer and will be different for every computer. Put the name of the TM drive in the above and keep the quotes.
You'll have to enter your admin password (which you won't see) which is normal.
This was edited by Kappy just for cleanup.
Enable Finder to Show Invisible Files and Folders
Open the Terminal application in your Utilities folder. At the prompt enter or paste the following command line then press RETURN.
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE
To turn off the display of invisible files and folders enter or paste the following command line and press RETURN.
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles FALSE
Alternatively you can use one of the numerous third-party utilities such as TinkerTool or ShowHideInvisibleFiles - VersionTracker or MacUpdate.

Backup failure, read only message

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