Can Time Machine under Snow Leopard (10.6) backup to a wired drive?

I have just upgraded to 10.6 and when I try to run Time Machine the wired drive I was using is not visible. So I run Time Machine Setup and it only offers me the ability to setup wireless drives via AirPort. I don't have a wireless hard drive... What am I doing wrong?

Hi, and welcome to the forums.
Check the TM drive's *Partition Map Scheme* and Format via the instructions in item #C1 of the Time Machine - Troubleshooting *User Tip.*

Similar Messages

Backing up an encrypted drive with Time Machine under Snow Leopard

In a nutshell, my question is “Can I back up an encrypted drive using Time Machine under Snow Leopard, and if so, how do I access its data from a previous day?”
I have a 1Tb USB drive connected to my MacBook, which runs Snow Leopard. The drive is formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled). This drive is included in the drives that Time Machine backs up. I used Disk Utility to create an encrypted drive on the USB drive (998Gb), also formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled). The encrypted drive is not on TimeMachine’s list of excluded files/drives.
When I go into Time Machine, I can see the USB drive and the encrypted drive in the side bar. I can access the files on the encrypted drive as long as I’m looking at how it stands now. But if I move backward in time, the encrypted drive is grayed out and inaccessible. If I click on the USB drive, I get a window that tells me it is 75.9Gb in size, and nothing else is available to me.
When I open the back-up drive in Finder and navigate to Backups.backupdb > macbook name > some date and time, I see my MacBook’s hard drive and the USB drive. The encrypted drive is not shown. When I click on the USB drive, I see an entry for drivename.sparsebundle. When I click on that I’m prompted for the password for the encrypted drive. When I enter it, I get a warning telling me that the disk image could not be opened and that the encrypted drive has no mountable file systems.
Is my encrypted drive really be backed-up and if so, how do I access the backed-up data?

Having received a bunch of views but no replies over the last 5 days, I decided to venture into my local Apple store and ask this same question. The response I got from the geniuses was that you can't get a reliable back-up of an encrypted drive using Time Machine under Snow Leopard. So, my only alternative is to copy the encrypted drive's contents elsewhere, unencrypt the drive, and then copy the contents back. This is what I expected, but not what I wanted to hear.

Is Time Machine under Snow Leopard faster only for the initial backup?

A few days ago, I upgraded to Snow Leopard -- via clean install, manual reinstallation of apps, etc. So understandably, the first Time Machine backup to a preexisting store on an original 500 GB Time Capsule is going to be huge and take a long time. Apple claims that TM is 40% faster on the initial backup, but are there speed improvements as well? I was surprised by the slowness; I started it before going to bed, and it wasn't nearly done when I woke up:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1770
Jan 6 01:29:52 Musa com.apple.backupd[438]: Copied 8.3 GB of 59.3 GB, 9299 of 250057 items
Jan 6 02:29:52 Musa com.apple.backupd[438]: Copied 9.6 GB of 59.3 GB, 35209 of 250057 items
Jan 6 03:29:52 Musa com.apple.backupd[438]: Copied 11.5 GB of 59.3 GB, 48441 of 250057 items
Jan 6 04:29:52 Musa com.apple.backupd[438]: Copied 12.9 GB of 59.3 GB, 109846 of 250057 items
Jan 6 05:29:53 Musa com.apple.backupd[438]: Copied 17.4 GB of 59.3 GB, 140388 of 250057 items
Jan 6 06:29:54 Musa com.apple.backupd[438]: Copied 26.1 GB of 59.3 GB, 151723 of 250057 items
Jan 6 07:29:54 Musa com.apple.backupd[438]: Copied 36.9 GB of 59.3 GB, 167431 of 250057 items
Jan 6 08:20:04 Musa com.apple.backupd[438]: Copied 219433 files (38.0 GB) from volume Gigas.
The throughput rate is quite variable, but at its best, it's only about 2.7 MB/sec. Is that to be expected, or would I have to start a new backup to see speed improvements?

Kappy wrote:
i'd say you are concerned over nothing.
Not sure I agree. Look at this system.log output:
Jan 6 19:54:22 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Starting standard backup
Jan 6 19:54:22 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Attempting to mount network destination using URL: afp://odysseus@Time%20Capsule.afpovertcp.tcp.local/odysseus
Jan 6 19:54:30 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Mounted network destination using URL: afp://odysseus@Time%20Capsule.afpovertcp.tcp.local/odysseus
Jan 6 19:54:33 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Disk image /Volumes/odysseus/Musa_002332d5c37e.sparsebundle mounted at: /Volumes/Backup of Musa
Jan 6 19:54:33 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Backing up to: /Volumes/Backup of Musa/Backups.backupdb
Jan 6 19:54:42 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Node requires deep traversal:/ reason:must scan subdirs|
Jan 6 20:00:50 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Compacting storage: 72.07 GB requested (including padding), 58.36 GB available before compacting
Jan 6 20:00:50 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Stopping backup.
Jan 6 20:00:50 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Backup canceled.
Jan 6 20:00:53 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Ejected Time Machine disk image.
Jan 6 20:00:53 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Compacting backup disk image to recover free space
Jan 6 20:01:12 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Completed backup disk image compaction
Jan 6 20:01:12 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Starting standard backup
Jan 6 20:01:12 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Network destination already mounted at: /Volumes/odysseus
Jan 6 20:01:14 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Disk image /Volumes/odysseus/Musa_002332d5c37e.sparsebundle mounted at: /Volumes/Backup of Musa
Jan 6 20:01:14 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Backing up to: /Volumes/Backup of Musa/Backups.backupdb
Jan 6 20:01:20 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Node requires deep traversal:/ reason:must scan subdirs|
Jan 6 20:07:26 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Starting pre-backup thinning: 72.07 GB requested (including padding), 58.36 GB available
Jan 6 20:10:46 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Deleted backup /Volumes/Backup of Musa/Backups.backupdb/Musa/2010-01-03-131536: 58.42 GB now available
Jan 6 20:12:10 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Deleted backup /Volumes/Backup of Musa/Backups.backupdb/Musa/2010-01-04-094152: 58.52 GB now available
Jan 6 20:13:02 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Deleted backup /Volumes/Backup of Musa/Backups.backupdb/Musa/2010-01-04-073331: 58.57 GB now available
Jan 6 20:13:02 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Stopping backup.
Jan 6 20:13:02 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Backup canceled.
Jan 6 20:13:08 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Ejected Time Machine disk image.
Jan 6 20:13:08 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Compacting backup disk image to recover free space
Jan 6 20:13:30 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Completed backup disk image compaction
Jan 6 20:13:30 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Starting standard backup
Jan 6 20:13:30 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Network destination already mounted at: /Volumes/odysseus
Jan 6 20:13:33 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Disk image /Volumes/odysseus/Musa_002332d5c37e.sparsebundle mounted at: /Volumes/Backup of Musa
Jan 6 20:13:33 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Backing up to: /Volumes/Backup of Musa/Backups.backupdb
Jan 6 20:13:41 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Node requires deep traversal:/ reason:must scan subdirs|
Jan 6 20:19:36 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Starting pre-backup thinning: 72.07 GB requested (including padding), 58.57 GB available
Jan 6 20:20:38 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Deleted backup /Volumes/Backup of Musa/Backups.backupdb/Musa/2010-01-04-071252: 58.58 GB now available
Jan 6 20:20:38 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Removed all 1 expired backups, more space is needed - deleting oldest backups to make room
Jan 6 20:25:17 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Deleted backup /Volumes/Backup of Musa/Backups.backupdb/Musa/2009-07-31-231155: 60.81 GB now available
Jan 6 20:25:17 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Deleted 2 backups: oldest backup is now Aug 15, 2009
Jan 6 20:25:17 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Stopping backup.
Jan 6 20:25:20 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Backup canceled.
Jan 6 20:25:24 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Ejected Time Machine disk image.
Jan 6 20:25:24 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Compacting backup disk image to recover free space
Jan 6 20:26:39 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Completed backup disk image compaction
Jan 6 20:26:39 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Starting standard backup
Jan 6 20:26:39 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Network destination already mounted at: /Volumes/odysseus
Jan 6 20:26:41 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Disk image /Volumes/odysseus/Musa_002332d5c37e.sparsebundle mounted at: /Volumes/Backup of Musa
Jan 6 20:26:41 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Backing up to: /Volumes/Backup of Musa/Backups.backupdb
Jan 6 20:26:49 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Node requires deep traversal:/ reason:must scan subdirs|
Jan 6 20:32:46 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Starting pre-backup thinning: 72.07 GB requested (including padding), 60.81 GB available
Jan 6 20:32:46 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: No expired backups exist - deleting oldest backups to make room
Jan 6 20:47:38 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Deleted backup /Volumes/Backup of Musa/Backups.backupdb/Musa/2009-08-15-182619: 65.12 GB now available
Jan 6 20:47:38 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Deleted 1 backups: oldest backup is now Aug 25, 2009
Jan 6 20:47:38 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Stopping backup.
Jan 6 20:47:41 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Backup canceled.
Jan 6 20:47:47 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Ejected Time Machine disk image.
Jan 6 20:47:47 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Compacting backup disk image to recover free space
Jan 6 20:49:36 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Completed backup disk image compaction
Jan 6 20:49:36 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Starting standard backup
Jan 6 20:49:36 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Network destination already mounted at: /Volumes/odysseus
Jan 6 20:49:38 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Disk image /Volumes/odysseus/Musa_002332d5c37e.sparsebundle mounted at: /Volumes/Backup of Musa
Jan 6 20:49:38 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Backing up to: /Volumes/Backup of Musa/Backups.backupdb
Jan 6 20:49:46 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Node requires deep traversal:/ reason:must scan subdirs|
Jan 6 20:55:48 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Starting pre-backup thinning: 72.06 GB requested (including padding), 65.12 GB available
Jan 6 20:55:48 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: No expired backups exist - deleting oldest backups to make room
Jan 6 21:05:11 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Deleted backup /Volumes/Backup of Musa/Backups.backupdb/Musa/2009-08-25-185228: 67.32 GB now available
Jan 6 21:05:11 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Deleted 1 backups: oldest backup is now Sep 1, 2009
Jan 6 21:05:11 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Stopping backup.
Jan 6 21:05:13 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Backup canceled.
Jan 6 21:05:22 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Ejected Time Machine disk image.
Jan 6 21:05:22 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Compacting backup disk image to recover free space
Jan 6 21:06:45 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Completed backup disk image compaction
Jan 6 21:06:45 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Starting standard backup
Jan 6 21:06:45 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Network destination already mounted at: /Volumes/odysseus
Jan 6 21:06:48 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Disk image /Volumes/odysseus/Musa_002332d5c37e.sparsebundle mounted at: /Volumes/Backup of Musa
Jan 6 21:06:48 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Backing up to: /Volumes/Backup of Musa/Backups.backupdb
Jan 6 21:06:57 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Node requires deep traversal:/ reason:must scan subdirs|
Jan 6 21:12:57 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Starting pre-backup thinning: 72.06 GB requested (including padding), 67.32 GB available
Jan 6 21:12:57 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: No expired backups exist - deleting oldest backups to make room
Jan 6 21:25:51 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Deleted backup /Volumes/Backup of Musa/Backups.backupdb/Musa/2009-09-01-060212: 69.89 GB now available
Jan 6 21:25:51 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Deleted 1 backups: oldest backup is now Sep 8, 2009
Jan 6 21:25:51 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Stopping backup.
Jan 6 21:25:53 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Backup canceled.
Jan 6 21:26:00 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Ejected Time Machine disk image.
Jan 6 21:26:00 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Compacting backup disk image to recover free space
Jan 6 21:27:30 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Completed backup disk image compaction
Jan 6 21:27:30 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Starting standard backup
Jan 6 21:27:30 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Network destination already mounted at: /Volumes/odysseus
Jan 6 21:27:33 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Disk image /Volumes/odysseus/Musa_002332d5c37e.sparsebundle mounted at: /Volumes/Backup of Musa
Jan 6 21:27:33 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Backing up to: /Volumes/Backup of Musa/Backups.backupdb
Jan 6 21:27:41 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Node requires deep traversal:/ reason:must scan subdirs|
Jan 6 21:33:37 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Starting pre-backup thinning: 72.06 GB requested (including padding), 69.89 GB available
Jan 6 21:33:37 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: No expired backups exist - deleting oldest backups to make room
Jan 6 21:45:33 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Deleted backup /Volumes/Backup of Musa/Backups.backupdb/Musa/2009-09-08-081225: 72.34 GB now available
Jan 6 21:45:33 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Pre-backup thinning completed successfully: 1 backups were deleted
Jan 6 21:45:33 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Backup date range was shortened: oldest backup is now Sep 15, 2009

HT1277 Mail has gone crazy. Header's and messages are mixed up. New Mac Book Pro. Migrated files from Time machine running snow leopard. Reinstall or new computer needed?

Mail has gone crazy. Header's and messages are mixed up. New Mac Book Pro. Migrated files from Time machine running snow leopard. Reinstall or new computer needed?

Ok; I'm not sure what you're doing. 36 hours is rather long. Seems like a new migration. Not what I intended.
Here's what I intended: from the newly-migrated and apparently-corrupt environment, create a new user, not related to any existing user, nor any migration-created user, or any other user for that matter. That is, use  > System Preferences > Users and Groups, authenticate yourself by clicking on the padlock, and then click the + and create a wholly new user. Then log in under that user and establish the mail access.
36 hours? I'm wondering if there's an error or an exceedingly slow network here? Or a really, really slow disk? Or a sick backup? (WiFi isn't the path I'd usually choose, either.)
Failing the attempted second migration, I'd try a different tactic. Does your existing (old) system work? If so, I'd bypass the backup and connect an external (scratch) USB disk drive to the (old) sstem and then boot and use Disk Utility booted from the installer DVD disk or boot and use Disk Utility from the recovery partition or booted from a recovery partition created on some other external storage (details here vary by the OS X version and what hardware you have), and perform a full-disk backup of your original internal disk to (scratch) external storage. (Make sure you get the source and target disks chosen correctly here; copying the wrong way — from the scratch disk to your existing disk — will clobber your data!) In esssence, this will clone your existing boot disk. Then dismount the (formerly-scratch) external disk, transfer it over to the new system, and use it as the source of the migration, by performing a fresh OS X installation on the new system.
Target Disk Mode is also sometimes an option for accessing the disk for a migration, but that requires the right cable, and requires systems that have the same external connection; newer MacBook Pro systems use Thunderbolt for this, and older systems tend to use FireWire. And I'm guessing you don't have compatible hardware.
The details here can and do vary by your OS X versions and your particular Mac systems — if you'll identify the specific models and hardware, somebody might be able to better tailor the above (fairly generic) sequence to your particular configuration.

Can I view photos and movies from my external hard drive? I used Time Machine and a WD Passport for backup. Since my drive on my MacBook Pro is filling up I was planning to delete some of the movies and photos.

Can I view photos and movies from my external hard drive? I used Time Machine and a WD Passport for backup. Since my drive on my MacBook Pro is filling up I was planning to delete some of the movies and photos. I wanted to see if I could view them from the hard drive. Thanks

Hello, eco1.
Thank you for visiting Apple Support Communities.
This sounds like you are wanting to move your iTunes media folder to an external drive and have iTunes this folder from this location. If this is the case then I would recommend taking a look at the article below.
iTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Media folder
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1449
Cheers,
Jason H.

Time Machine in Snow Leopard much better but still problematic

I've found Time Machine backups to a Time Capsule to be much faster under Snow Leopard than under previous versions of the OS, and I've found that TM seems to avoid some of the extra backups that always seemed to get scheduled:
Jan 8 11:27:01 Musa [0x0-0x188188].backupd-helper[3527]: Not starting Time Machine backup after wake - less than 60 minutes since last backup completed.
Jan 10 20:33:34 Musa com.apple.backupd-auto[14230]: Not starting scheduled Time Machine backup - less than 10 minutes since last backup completed.
But the question is, why would Time Machine try to backup less than 60 or 10 minutes after the last backup in the first place?
In addition, TM doesn't always avoid the extra, unnecessary backup:
Jan 11 07:01:29 Musa com.apple.backupd[14508]: Starting standard backup
Jan 11 07:01:29 Musa com.apple.backupd[14508]: Attempting to mount network destination using URL: afp://odysseus@Time%20Capsule.afpovertcp.tcp.local/odysseus
Jan 11 07:01:37 Musa com.apple.backupd[14508]: Mounted network destination using URL: afp://odysseus@Time%20Capsule.afpovertcp.tcp.local/odysseus
Jan 11 07:01:39 Musa com.apple.backupd[14508]: Disk image /Volumes/odysseus/Musa.sparsebundle mounted at: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups
Jan 11 07:01:39 Musa com.apple.backupd[14508]: Backing up to: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb
Jan 11 07:01:51 Musa com.apple.backupd[14508]: No pre-backup thinning needed: 1.07 GB requested (including padding), 331.17 GB available
Jan 11 07:03:08 Musa com.apple.backupd[14508]: Copied 9532 files (60.6 MB) from volume Gigas.
Jan 11 07:03:08 Musa com.apple.backupd[14508]: No pre-backup thinning needed: 1.00 GB requested (including padding), 331.17 GB available
Jan 11 07:03:18 Musa com.apple.backupd[14508]: Copied 734 files (201 KB) from volume Gigas.
Jan 11 07:03:19 Musa com.apple.backupd[14508]: Starting post-backup thinning
Jan 11 07:03:19 Musa com.apple.backupd[14508]: No post-back up thinning needed: no expired backups exist
Jan 11 07:03:19 Musa com.apple.backupd[14508]: Backup completed successfully.
Jan 11 07:03:23 Musa com.apple.backupd[14508]: Ejected Time Machine disk image.
Jan 11 07:03:23 Musa com.apple.backupd[14508]: Ejected Time Machine network volume.'
11 minutes later:
Jan 11 07:14:52 Musa com.apple.backupd[14563]: Starting standard backup
Jan 11 07:14:52 Musa com.apple.backupd[14563]: Attempting to mount network destination using URL: afp://odysseus@Time%20Capsule.afpovertcp.tcp.local/odysseus
Jan 11 07:15:00 Musa com.apple.backupd[14563]: Mounted network destination using URL: afp://odysseus@Time%20Capsule.afpovertcp.tcp.local/odysseus
Jan 11 07:15:04 Musa com.apple.backupd[14563]: Disk image /Volumes/odysseus/Musa.sparsebundle mounted at: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups
Jan 11 07:15:05 Musa com.apple.backupd[14563]: Backing up to: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb
Jan 11 07:15:32 Musa com.apple.backupd[14563]: No pre-backup thinning needed: 1.00 GB requested (including padding), 331.17 GB available
Jan 11 07:16:30 Musa com.apple.backupd[14563]: Copied 8407 files (1.4 MB) from volume Gigas.
Jan 11 07:16:30 Musa com.apple.backupd[14563]: No pre-backup thinning needed: 1.00 GB requested (including padding), 331.17 GB available
Jan 11 07:16:38 Musa com.apple.backupd[14563]: Copied 510 files (53 KB) from volume Gigas.
Jan 11 07:16:40 Musa com.apple.backupd[14563]: Starting post-backup thinning
Jan 11 07:16:40 Musa com.apple.backupd[14563]: No post-back up thinning needed: no expired backups exist
Jan 11 07:16:40 Musa com.apple.backupd[14563]: Backup completed successfully.
Jan 11 07:16:43 Musa com.apple.backupd[14563]: Ejected Time Machine disk image.
Jan 11 07:16:44 Musa com.apple.backupd[14563]: Ejected Time Machine network volume.
These were the first two backups that occurred after my MacBook Pro had been sleeping all night. Why does another backup happen so soon?

odysseus wrote:
I've found Time Machine backups to a Time Capsule to be much faster under Snow Leopard than under previous versions of the OS, and I've found that TM seems to avoid some of the extra backups that always seemed to get scheduled:
Jan 8 11:27:01 Musa [0x0-0x188188].backupd-helper[3527]: Not starting Time Machine backup after wake - less than 60 minutes since last backup completed.
When OSX wakes from sleep, Time Machine immediately checks to see if a backup is needed. Since one was done less than an hour before, it doesn't do another one. This message is just telling you why it didn't do a backup upon wake. (Under Leopard, it would do one automatically, which some folks complained about. So Apple changed it.)
Jan 10 20:33:34 Musa com.apple.backupd-auto[14230]: Not starting scheduled Time Machine backup - less than 10 minutes since last backup completed.
Most likely, you did a manual backup a few minutes before this. That does not re-set the schedule; but when the next scheduled backup time arrives, TM checks, and if less than 10 minutes has elapsed, resets the schedule and tells you why it didn't do the scheduled backup. Another thing foks complained about under Leopard that Apple changed.

When I try to enter a time machine with Snow Leopard backups Lion I get an error code -6584 ... how to fix?

Hi.
I had a first gen time machine with backups all on Snow Leopard.
This died (power supply), and I bought a new time capsule, because to fix the old one would cost nearly the same amount.
Since, I have started using Lion, and backed up onto my new time capsule in Lion.
Unfortunately, there was a file I deleted that I really need for a Logic Audio project, that is only present on the old time capsule.
I got the old time capsule fixed, so it powers up. I even extended my current wireless network with it. I can see inside it -- all the data that I dragged onto its HD in the past is present, and the "Sparse Bundle" containing the data for the time capsule save-states is present too.
Now, when I try to "Enter" my old time capsule, I get this error message:
I tried entering the time machine via WiFi and via ethernet, to no avail.
Can anyone help me to access these old save states on my old "snow leopard" time capsule?
I was thinking maybe I need to try to access it from a machine with Snow Leopard?
Please help.
Thanks in advance.
JM

I have the same issue. Does anybody know why this has happened

TIme Machine and Snow Leopard

I'm getting a problem. I updated to SL last week, backed up before I updated just in case. The update went without a hitch.
I went to do a weekly backup using Time Machine (I had turned off automatic backup under 10.5.x as it was taking over the machine and stopping me working), but could not get it to go past 40Mb before it stalled. This has happenned constantly. When I look at Timemachine none of the previous back-up records are there, and my Finder now seems to crash too.
I am getting really fed up with Time Machine. It is nearly as bad as a Windows experience, and now with this new OS upgrade it will not work at all.
I'd appreciate some word from Apple admitting to a problem.

Philip Grifffiths wrote:
I'm getting a problem. I updated to SL last week, backed up before I updated just in case. The update went without a hitch.
I went to do a weekly backup using Time Machine (I had turned off automatic backup under 10.5.x as it was taking over the machine and stopping me working), but could not get it to go past 40Mb before it stalled. This has happenned constantly. When I look at Timemachine none of the previous back-up records are there, and my Finder now seems to crash too.
Start with the Time Machine - Troubleshooting *User Tip.*
It will show you how to locate the message(s) that describe the problem, then help you fix it.
If that doesn't help, post back with details, including all the messages, your setup (especially the destination for the backups), what you've done, and the results.
It sounds like you were having problems on Leopard, too, so it's unclear just what started when.
I am getting really fed up with Time Machine. It is nearly as bad as a Windows experience, and now with this new OS upgrade it will not work at all.
I'd appreciate some word from Apple admitting to a problem.
Then you need to talk to Apple, not us: this is a user-to-user forum. Call AppleCare, and be sure to tell them what you've done to diagnose and solve your problem, since it doesn't appear to be widespread.

Problem with Time Machine, running Snow Leopard

Hi all,
Last week I had a new hard drive fitted into my iMac 8,1, after which Snow Leopard was reloaded (10.6.3 from the disc, updated to 10.6.8), followed by the restoration of data via Time Machine from my external hard drive. Whilst my Mac is now running beautifully, I am having problems backing up with Time Machine.
When I run a backup, it prepares about 100,000 items, then starts to backup, usually about 650mb. It crawls along in kb until it gets to about 1mb, then jumps quickly to the end, but then it adds extra mb on the end. Then it suddenly starts again "preparing x items....." and off it goes again.
I have tried repairing the backup disc, and it appears to be ok. I even erased it and started again. Time Machine did a full backup (139gb) in about 2 hours, then immediately added another 640mb at the end - strange, but I do at least have a full backup from yesterday. But now, everytime I run backup, it looks for the same sort of figure (650-700mb) and then goes round in circles.
Any help would be very much appreciated!
Thanks, David

Hi Eric
Thank you for your reply. Here are the screenshots for each change:
Having prepared about 95,000 items, the backup of 612mb begins
14 minutes later a message appears
Another 3 minutes and another message. You will see from this screenshot that the backup figure has changed to 613.1mb
Another 30 seconds and it all begins again....
And finally, 7 more minutes pass, another 96,000 items are prepared, and another 604.8mb backup begins.
I might add, that between posting this morning, and your reply, I also went into disk utility, chose the top leve of the external drive, clicked on the partition tab, charged current to 1 partition, renamed the drive, erased it, and did a full back up of 139GB. After 137GB it started again, looked for 602mb, backed them up and finished the backup, which is why TM states that the last back up was at 18:16 today.
Thanks again
David

Can I dual boot Snow Leopard and Mountain Lion on one hard drive?

I want to make a new partition and be able to boot to either OS. Is this possible, if so, how? I would think just make a new partition and install the dmg file to that new partition.

@jimmyk11: AppleCare has actually informed me that "No - this MacBooPro9,1 cannot boot Snow Leopard".
It originally came with lion 10.7.4 installed. I have since upgraded to Mountain Lion 10.8 and (today, after a week or so of ML) I reverted to Lion 10.7.4. But now I find I can no longer boot into Lion 10.7.4 from my external FW800 drive (for troubleshooting and housekeeping). So it looks as if the "boot problems" are not confined to Snow Leopard 10.6.8.
Interestingly, I can use this same external drive to boot my iMac (10.7.4) and my older MBP8,3 (10.8) into 10.7.4 - but not the newer MBP9,1.
The MBP9,1 with Lion and Mountain Lion is turning into a disaster when it comes to external booting. If I could, I'd demand a return and a refund. After bottle-feeding Lion for a year, 10.7.4 seems basically stable and can still boot into Snow Leopard and Lion from my external drives if needed. But now I see I have a worse problem: Crippled Hardware. I suspect this bug needs a firmware update - if it is fixable at all.

Time Machine... WILL NOT BACKUP an INCLUDED hard drive but backs up an INCLUDED external drive

I have read Mr Pondini's excellent posts... followed them carefully but still in trouble...
The System preferences for Time Machine.... indicate that a full backup..approx . 760 Gigs is being done ( part from an external drive. and part from the Hard ( approx 450Gigs )drive ( approx 270 gigs )...
The External drive backs up.... With Time machine..... and then Skips the Hard drive although is was NOT EXCLUDED in the TM preferences...
I have deleted the plist several times,.... Formatted the Time machine drive several times.... ( renaming the partition each time.... and am at a loss
Anybody any ideas......PLEASE

If you have more than one user account, these instructions must be carried out as an administrator.
Launch the Console application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Console in the icon grid.
Make sure the title of the Console window is All Messages. If it isn't, select All Messages from the SYSTEM LOG QUERIES menu on the left. If you don't see that menu, select
View ▹ Show Log List
from the menu bar.
Enter the word "Starting" (without the quotes) in the String Matching text field. You should now see log messages with the words "Starting * backup," where * represents any of the words "automatic," "manual," or "standard." Note the timestamp of the last such message that corresponds to an abnormal backup. Now
CLEAR THE WORD "Starting" FROM THE TEXT FIELD
so that all messages are showing, and scroll back in the log to the time you noted. Select the messages timestamped from then until the end of the backup, or the end of the log if that's not clear. Copy them to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. Paste (command-V) into a reply to this message.
If all you see are messages that contain the word "Starting," you didn't clear the text field.
If there are runs of repeated messages, post only one example of each. Don't post many repetitions of the same message.
When posting a log extract, be selective. Don't post more than is requested.
Please do not indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into this discussion.
Some personal information, such as the names of your files, may be included — anonymize before posting.

HT201250 Can I back up multiple volumes using Time Machine on Snow Leopard?

I have a fault with my time machine software where it is no longer able to perform incremental back ups of the volumes (partitions) I have created on my internal hard drive - every attempt results in a full back up. However incremental back up of the Mac HD is working. I have had it working perfectly in the past. I'm backing up to a dedicated external hard drive.
I have just been told by an apple support manager that Time machine on OS 10.6.8 is not designed to back up multiple volumes (partitions) on my internal hard drive, only the current Mac HD drive - is this correct? He said it shouldn't be backing up the other volumes and the reason it is doing so and has done so in the past is because of bug!
Surely this is not the case?

I would read and try this. Pondini is very knowledgeable about Time Machine:
http://pondini.org/TM/32.html
Ciao.

Time Machine on Snow Leopard just doesn't work.

So I've had huge nightmares over the past few days over Time Machine.
So I've always been a big proponent of Time Machine. I always tell everyone that you NEED a backup solution, and while Time Machine may not be the be all and end all, it's a great starter solution for those that don't want any fuss.
But perhaps not anymore.
It just works, right? Well apparently not.
So a little while ago I performed a Time Machine-assisted hard drive swap for a MacBook (not mine). That is, I install a new drive, boot from SL DVD, perform a HD wipe, then restore from Time Machine. It seemed to go well.
Fast forward to more recently, I went on a trip overseas (Taiwan). While there, I obviously took a lot of photos, and it became that time again - purchase a new hard drive with more capacity for my MacBook Pro! HD were a little cheaper where I visited, so I not only bought a new drive for my MBP, but also a new drive for my wife's MB, as well as new external drives to upgrade our Time Machine drives.
While I was there, I decided to update my own Time Machine first - following the instructions from Apple's own knowledge base on the matter:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1427
I transferred my existing backups to the new drive to continue my Time Machine. I didn't notice any problem at the time.
Then I returned to my home country (New Zealand). First thing I did when I got back was to perform the Time Machine-assisted HD swap after making sure the OS were up-to-date as were their respective backups, on both my own MBP and my wife's MacBook.
That's when the troubles started.
First off, I noticed that a few images from my Aperture Library were missing. The album data and everything were there, but the actual files were not. They also did not exist anywhere on the Time Machine drive and as such never made it over to the new HD. Weird, I thought. They were there, clear as day on my original drive. They simply weren't backed up.
Now I'm aware of a few TM niggles, such as the false backups after verifying a disk, but I hadn't done that.
The second issue was much more major. My Wife's MB would be endlessly stuck on the white boot screen with the grey Apple logo. As it turns out, it's exactly this issue here:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2738620?threadID=2738620&tstart=74
In short, the fresh Time Machine backups I made before transferring to the new HD showed no sign of updating the /System/Library/Framework/Security.framework/Versions/A/Security package, which is REQUIRED for the Mac to boot into 10.6.7 (it had an old one from before).
Great, I thought, but maybe I can fix that by installing a fresh 10.6.7 combo update on the MB via target disk mode.
No dice. On trying, it goes all the way to the end, and then fails installation. I had to resort to copying over the correct, more recent security package just to get it to boot.
After booting, what to do? Who knows what other files Time Machine failed to update, and what consequences they would have. After putting back the original security package, I tried updating 10.6.7 again. Nope, no dmgs would open - i HAD to use the new Security package for anything to open. Fair enough, but even with that, the installation would inevitably fail.
Problem with the package? Nope. Tried a fresh download, and checked the SHA and everything.
Time to do some blitzing. I pulled out my trusty Snow Leopard DVD and did a reinstall on top. That's gotta get my problem, right? Well, nope. After resetting to 10.6.0, the 10.6.7 combo updater STILL failed on installation. Furthermore, the updater no longer worked on MY MBP either.
What gives?
As it turns out, it was related to this:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/11317470?messageID=11317470
In short, some files had the user immutable flag switched on, preventing changes from being made to those files (manifests as a little lock icon on the file icon). They included (and I'm sure not limited to) the Acknowledgement.rtfs in /Library/Documentation/, as well as a majority of the fonts in /Library/Fonts.
Checking back in the backup drives, it was clear that Time Machine was the culprit - instances of those files in the backups were also locked. When did that happen? Looking back, it looks like it happened when I transferred the backups from one Time Machine drive to another. But it wasn't all at once - in the first backup on one drive, one of the Acknowledgement.rtf files was locked, and the other one wasn't, but in the second onwards, both were. It was clear that Time Machine seemed to be doing it to those files. Which files and why? I have no idea.
So removing the uchg flag with "sudo chflags -R nouchg /" in terminal finally allowed me to apply the 10.6.7 combo update without failure.
So were the troubles over then?
Nope.
While checking if everything was fine, I noticed iPhoto on the MB had all the thumbs missing - after rebuilding, they weren't back, and only a .plist trashing fixed it (I consider this pretty normal - probably looking for the files on the old UUID drive or something).
But what gives? ALL the photos taken on the trip were gone! Not just the thumbs - the actual files were missing from the iPhoto Library! The data in the albums existed, just the actual files, just like my instance in Aperture on my own MBP.
Checked the Time Machine - again, it was clear Time Machine had completely stuffed up - the files were nowhere to be found on the Time Machine drive.
So currently, I've returned the original internal drive to the MacBook, performing a FRESH on new reformatted disk Time MAchine, and will use THAT to restore.
Nightmares, indeed. It's several days of work doing all the restores, considering I have limited drives to work with. And yes, rest-assured, I was doing enough permission repairs, and PRAM resets to ensure they weren't issues.
It occurs to me there are several faults with the most recent version of Time Machine (maybe 10.6.6 or something as that's when people had some of the issues above):
1) At some point in time, Time Machine may not update a necessary Security package (and probably other files too - I believe the files around it were also not updated), meaning that if you use that Time Machine to restore, the outdated package will cause your computer to fail to boot.
2) Transferring your backups to a new destination Time Machine drive may cause certain files to become user immutable or 'locked', with one consequence being you cannot update the OS.
3) Time Machine may fail to backup image files with the Aperture or iPhoto Library. Trying to remember back, I *think* this may be related to the fact that we changed time zones, as the unupdated image files were after the zones were changed. Strangely, every other file within the Library packages were updated, as album data was updated - just not the actual image files and folders.
Conclusion? I no longer trust Time Machine. The basic foundation of a backup service is that you trust it to do what it's supposed to do. After all this, how can I?
You might think they are isolated incidents, but they were occurring on two Macs that I have, and they same errors can be found in others.I think I have detailed some root causes, but who really knows.
At any rate you should keep an eye on at least these files I have detailed. Would love to hear Pondini on the matter, as I know he knows a lot about Time Machine.

Someone has suggested just installing Snow Leopard on the machine. Will that work?
If you can find a copy of the workstation version of Snow Leopard shipped with the same model of Mac mini, yes. Apple has not, to my knowledge, shipped a retail version of Snow Leopard new enough to boot your mini.
I've also heard there is a way to install SL while connected to my old Powerbook in order to suck the entire old drive onto the new machine in an operable manner. Is this accurate, and can this be done if my old machine is the Powerbook on the old apple chip when the new machine is intel based
No, it's not accurate. The OS on your PowerBook will not boot your mini.
what are the differences between the single pack and the family pack?
If you mean single and family pack of Mac OS X, the single pack is licensed for installation on one computer only, while the family pack is licensed for installation on up to five Macs.
Regards.
Message was edited by: Dave Sawyer

Time Machine: Missing Snow Leopard backups after Lion Upgrade.

I regulary use Time Machine for backups to my WD drive through my network. After I upgraded to Lion I could not back up to my network drive I learned through various forums that my WD drive required a firmware update, to work with Lion. I upgraded the firmware and now I no longer have my Time Machine backups from Snow Leopard, only backups from Lion, any idea how I can locate my Snow Leopard backups?

Pondini wrote:
I'd be the first to agree that keeping two sets of backups, one a "clone," is prudent.
But if you have a Snow Leopard clone, then upgrade to Lion, the next time you update the clone you'll lose the Snow Leopard version entirely.
Yes, I was caught out early, so I have a selection of backup drives now to keep everything backed up as safely as possible. Although at the moment, I'm not seeing any reason to go back to Snow Leopard, and all my media is safe. Hopefully in the near future my SL backups can go and I can get ready for the next OS when it comes along.
Thanks

Time Machine and Snow Leopard installation problem

I'm trying to install Snow Leopard, but keep getting an error saying that my hard drive is used for time machin back ups. I have unplugged my external device, turned off time machine, yet this keeps happening. What am I doing wrong? I have been able to install Leopard on the computers that I haven't used time machine.

BusyChris18 wrote:
1) Do I have to do anything special with Time Machine BEFORE I install SL? I have been doing regular backups with TM.
Do a "final" backup and turn TM off.
2) should Time machine disc be off/disconnected when I do the install?
It's safest to eject and disconnect it, "just in case."
3) After I reconnect TM disc after SL install, do I have to "migrate" stuff from TM? OR will it just do a new backup and work like normal from that point forward.
If you do the normal install, there's no migration needed. 99.9 % of everything will be fine. In some rare cases of 3rd-party apps putting things in unusual places, there may be a problem, and you may need to re-enter some 3rd-party app purchase codes.
If you erase the drive, then install SL, then yes, of course, you'll have to transfer your data. There should be no reason to do that, but some folks seem to do it out of habit. If you do that, when your Mac boots up again, you can transfer your data from the TM backups. And if you do that, I'd strongly recommend making a separate full backup on a second external drive, again "just in case," preferably a "bootable clone." CarbonCopyCloner and SuperDuper are the most common. (There was a post here just last week where someone did this, the restore got to 99%, then BAM! the TM disk failed.)
TM backups should just continue normally, although there will almost certainly be a long "Calculating Changes" phase (used to be called "Preparing"). And they've added a progress bar, which doesn't seem to be particularly accurate.
However, it may try a new, full backup. If it does, cancel the backup and do a Restart. That may reset whatever confused it. If not, there's nothing you can do to prevent it.
4) Will I be able to access files that were backuped when I have just Leopard?
Yes.

Can Time Machine under Snow Leopard (10.6) backup to a wired drive?

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