Change volume to non case sensitive for Time Machine?

I need to back up a drive I use to archive material. Tried to add it to list of drives time machine backs up. Found out the external drive was set up as case sensitive (must have been a default out of the box, never made this choice). Is there any way to tell an external drive "don't be case sensitive" so that I will be able to back it up with Time Machine? (That is, make the case sensitive change to the drive without erasing the drive!) Simpler way to ask question, how can I back up an exernal drive using Time Machine if that external drive was set up as case sensitive? Thanks in advance

Glenn Carter wrote:
Unfortunately, an Erase and Install is probably the only way you are going to fix this. As you have discovered, it appears that "Restore System From Backup..." reformats the destination drive to match the state in which the backups took place.
The TM backup may not have the ability to rename dupes that might occur if some files have identical names save their case.
Even a reformat and reinstall may not work unless any pseudo-identical files are first renamed.

Similar Messages

Cannot change case-sensitivity of Time Machine sparse bundle (10.7.2)

Hi everyone, I'm trying to follow this excellent guide to Time Machine backups:
http://pondini.org/TM/A8.html
The site suggests that I make my TM backup case INsensitive, so after the network sparse bundle has been initially created on my Lion 10.7.2 TM backup, I cancelled the backup, then opened up the sparse bundle in Disk Utility as per the instructions provided.
I double clicked the sparse bundle to open the Time Machine Backups volume, and then in the Erase tab I changed the format from Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled), to Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
Then I clicked on "Erase" but it returned an error and said it could not do it. Sorry I don't have the exact error message on hand at the moment but it happened again with the same error message when I tried again.
Steps 6-8 in the guide tell me to Get Info on the Time Machine Backups volume and "Ignore ownership on this volume". However when I open the Info for the volume "Ignore ownership on this volume" is not there at all in the options? I've opened up every section of the Get Info window but it's definitely not present.
Has something changed in 10.7 Lion or is there another reason I'm getting this problem? The HDD is connected as an AirDisk on an AirPort Extreme Base Station (yes I realise this is an unsupported/not recommended Time Machine solution). I haven't yet tried directly plugging the drive in via USB which will be my next step when I regain access to my computer later.
Any help or advice would be appreciated. Many thanks.

owngoal wrote:
You say your "backups still turn up corrupted now and then" - how do you know? Is it only when you try to access them that you will know this?
Sometimes a backup will fail, sometimes you can't access them, sometimes you'll get this message:
See #C13 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting for details.
And by this stage is it too late to recover anything?
Sometimes. Sometimes they can be repaired by Disk Utility. Sometimes only a heavy-duty 3rd-party disk repair app like DiskWarrior ($100) can fix them. Sometimes nothing can. Sometimes you can restore some individual items, sometimes not. Sometimes you can do a full system restore from some backups, other times not.
does it help that I am using a Gigabit WIRED connection between iMac - 10/100/1000 switch - Airport Extreme Base Station?
Probably -- you won't have WIFI interference.
But if you have an iMac, why not just connect the external HD directly to your Mac? That's much faster and more reliable (and supported).
You'd need to erase the disk in that case, since Time Machine won't bother with a sparse bundle at all on a direct backup. Just format the disk as GUID, with Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and let 'er rip!

My Time Machine backup keeps failing. I get a message the "Volume has the wrong case sensitivity for a backup". Please advise.

My Time Machine backup keeps failing. I get a message the "Volume has the wrong case sensitivity for a backup". Please advise.
Thanks, Howard

You can change the case sensitivity of the sparsebundle.. but I really doubt the error is real.
See A8 here.
http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
The sparsebundle should have case sensitivity turned on.
I cannot even fathom how it could have changed.
Let me recommend before you start fooling around with the sparsebundle.
Do a full network start.
Power everything off.. start up modem.. wait 2min.. power up the TC.. wait 2min.. power up any other network gear like switches.. wait..
Now power up the computer and try it.
If the error is the same.. I would do a factory reset of the TC.. give it all short names, no spaces and pure alphanumeric. Then reset TM .. see A4 in the same reference as above.. and do a verify of the backups.. A5 above and try the backup again..
No luck..
Then erase the TC and start over.. it is sometimes necessary as TM does get itself in a knot.

How can I backup data from a case-sensitive volume to a NON-case-sensitive volume?

The case-sensitive volume in this instance being a desktop-mounted disk image volume.
A tragi-comedy in too many acts and hours
Dramatis Personae:
Macintosh HD: 27" iMac 3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (iMac10,1), 12 GB RAM, 1 TB SATA internal drive
TB1: 1 TB USB external drive
TB2: 2 TB USB to Serial-ATA bridge external drive
Terabyte: a .dmg disk image and resulting desktop volume of the same name (sorry, I don't know the technical term for a .dmg that's been opened, de-compressed and mounted -- evanescently -- on the desktop)
Drive Genius 3 v3.1 (3100.39.63)/64-bit
Apple Disk Utility Version 11.5.2 (298.4)
Sunday morning (05/08/11), disk utility Drive Genius 3's drive monitoring system, Drive Pulse, reported a single bad block on an external USB2.0 1TB drive, telling me all data would be lost and my head would explode if I didn't fix this immediately. So I figured I'd offload the roughly 300 GB of data from TB1 to TB2 (which was nearly empty), with the intention of reinitializing TB 1 to remap the bad block and then move all its data BACK from TB 2. When I opened TB1's window in the Finder and tried to do a straight "Select All" and drag all items from TB1 to TB2, I got this error message:
"The volume has the wrong case sensitivity for a backup."
The error message didn't tell me WHICH volume had "the wrong case sensitivity for a backup," and believe me, or believe me not, this was the first time I'd ever heard that there WAS such a thing as "case sensitivity" for a drive. I tried dragging and dropping some individual folders -- some of them quite large, in the 40GB range -- from TB1 to TB2 without any problem whatsoever, but the majority of the items were the usual few-hundred-MB stuff that seems to proliferate on drives like empty Dunkin' Donuts coffee cups on the floor of my car, and I didn't relish the idea of spending an afternoon dragging and dropping dribs and drabs of 300GB worth of stuff from one drive to another.
Being essentially a simple-minded soul, I had what I thought was the bright idea that I could get around the problem by making a .dmg disk image file of the whole drive, stashing it on TB2, repairing and re-initializing TB1, and then decompressing the disk image I'd made of TB1, and doing the "drag and drop" of all the files in resulting desktop volume to TB1. So I made the .dmg of TB1, called "Terabyte," stashed that .dmg on TB2 (no error messages this time), re-initialized and then rebooted the iMac from my original Snow Leopard 10.6.1 disks and used Disk Utility to erase and initialize TB1 -- making sure that it was NOT initialized as case-sensitive, and installed a minimal system on TB1 from the same boot. Then I updated that 10.6.1 system to 10.6.7 with System Update, and checked to see that Disk Utility reported all THREE drives -- internal, 1TB, and 2TB -- as Mac OS Extended (Journaled), and no "case sensitive" BS. I also used Drive Genius 3's "information" function for more detailed info on all three drives. Except for the usual differing mount points, connection methods, and S.M.A.R.T. status (only the Macintosh HD internal, SATA 1TB drive supports S.M.A.R.T.), everything seemed to be oojah-***-spiff, all three drives showing the same Partition Map Types: GPT (GUID Partition Table.) Smooth sailing from here on out, I thought.
Bzzzzt! Wrong!
When I opened the Terabyte .dmg and its desktop volume mounted, I tried the old lazy man's "Select All" and drag all items from the desktop-mounted drive "Terabyte" to TB1, I got the error message:
"The volume has the wrong case sensitivity for a backup."
I then spent the next three hours on the phone with AppleCare (kids -- when you buy a Mac ANYTHING, cough up the money for AppleCare. Period.), finally reaching a very pleasant senior tech something-or-other in beautiful, rainy Portland, OR. Together we went through everything I had done, tried a few suggestions she offerred, and, at the end of three hours, BOTH of us were stumped. At least I didn't feel quite as abysmally stupid as I did at the beginning of the process, but that was all the joy I had gotten after two solid days of gnawing at this problem -- and I mean SOLID; I'm retired, and spend probably 12 hours a day, EVERY day, at the keyboard, working on various projects.
The AppleCare senior tech lady and I parted with mutual expressions of esteem, and I sat here, slowly grinding my teeth.
Then I tried something I don't know why I was so obtuse as to not have thought of before: I opened Apple's Disk Utility and checked the desktop-mounted volume Terabyte (Mount Point: /Volumes/Terabyte), the resulting volume from opening and uncompressing the .dmg "Terabyte".
Disk Utility reported: "Format : Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive)." Doh!
Obviously, TB1, the 1 TB USB external drive I'd actually bought as part of a bundle from MacMall when I bought my 27" iMac, and which I had initialized the first day I had the iMac up and running (late November 2009), had somehow gotten initialized as a Case-sensitive drive. How, I don't know, but I suspect the jerk behind the keyboard. Whatever the case, when I created the Terabyte disk image (the drive's original name: when I erased and re-initialized it -- see above -- I renamed it "1TB" for quick identification), the original drive's "Case-sensitive" format was encoded too. So when I tried to drag and drop EVERYTHING from the desktop-mounted volume "Terabyte" to the newly initialized and "blessed" (now THERE's a term from the past!), the system recognized it as an attempt as a total volume backup, and hit me with "The volume [the desktop-mounted volume "Terabyte" -- BB] has the wrong case sensitivity for a backup." And, of course, the reinitialized TB1 was now correctly formatted as NOT "case-sensitive."
Well, that solved the mystery (BTW, Disk Utility identified the unopened Terabyte.dmg as an "Apple UDIF read-only compressed {zlib}, which is why the .dmg file could be copied to ANY volume, case sensitive or not), but it didn't help me with my problem of having to manually move all that data from the desktop-mounted volume "Terabyte" to TB1. I tried to find a way to correct the problem at the .dmg AND opened-volume-from-.dmg level with every disk utility I had, to no avail.
Sorry for the long exposition, but others may trip over this "case-sensitive" rock in the road, and I wanted to make the case as clear as possible.
So my problem remains: other than coal shovel by coal shovel, is there any way to get all the data off this case-sensitive desktop-mounted volume "Terabyte" and onto TB1.
Not that I know whether it would made any difference or not, one of the things that got me into this situation was my inability to get "Time Machine" properly configured so it wasn't making new back-ups every (no lie) 15 minutes.
Philosophical bonus question: what's the need for this "case-sensitive," "NOT case-sensitive" option for disk initialization?
As always, thanks for any help.
Bart Brown

"Am I to understand that you have a case-sensitive volume with data that you want to copy to a case-insensitive volume? And the Finder won't let you do it? If that's what the problem is, the reason should be obvious: on the source volume, you may have two files in the same folder whose names differ only in case. When copying that folder to the target volume, it's not clear what the Finder should do."
Yes, I understand all that... NOW.
What I had (have) is a USB external 1TB drive (henceforth known as "Terabyte") that I bought with my 27" iMac. I formatted, and put a minimal (to make it bootable) system on Terabyte the same day back in late November 2009 that I set up my 27" iMac. Somehow -- I don't know how -- Terabyte got initialized as "case-sensitive." I didn't even know at the time that there WAS such a thing as "case-sensitive" or "NOT case-sensitive" format.
Sunday morning (05/08/11), Drive Pulse, a toolbar-resident utility (that's Part of Drive Genius 3) that monitors internal and external drives for physical, problems, volume consistency problems, and volume fragmentation, reported a single bad block on the volume Terabyte, advising me that it would be best if I re-formatted Terabyte ASAP. I thought I could open Terabyte in a Finder window, Select All, and drag everything on the drive to ANOTHER USB external drive of 2 TB capacity (henceforth known as TB2). When I tried to do that, I got an error message:
"The volume has the wrong case sensitivity for a backup."
First I'd heard of "case sensitivity" -- I'm not too bright, as you seem to have realized.
Oddly enough (to me), I could move huge chunks of data, including a folder of 40GB, from Terabyte to TB2 with no problem.
Then the scenario unfolded per my too-convoluted message: several hours of trying things on my own, including making a .dmg of Terabyte (henceforth to be known as Terabyte.dmg) -- which left me with the exact same problem as described in the previous 4 paragraphs; and my 3 hours on the phone with AppleCare, who at least explained this case-sensitive business, but, after some shot-in-the-dark brainstorming -- tough to do with only one brain, and THAT on the OTHER end of the line -- the very pleasant AppleCare rep and I ended up equally perplexed and clueless as to how to get around the fact that a .dmg of a case-sensitive volume, while not case-sensitive in its "image" form (Terabyte.dmg), and thus able be transferred to TB1 or TB2 with no problems whatsoever, when opened -- either by double-clicking or opening in Disk Utility -- produced a desktop-mounted volume (henceforth known as the volume "Terabyte," the original name of the case-sensitive volume from which TB1.dmg had been made) that had the same case-sensitivity as the original from which it was made.
In the meantime, having gotten the data I needed to save off the physical USB "case-sensitive" volume Terabyte in the form of Terabyte.dmg, I erased and re-initialized the physical USB "case-sensitive" volume Terabyte, getting rif of the case sensitivity, and renaming it TB1. But it all left me back at square one, EXCEPT I had saved my data from the original "Terabyte" drive, and reformatted that drive to a NON- case-sensitive data now named TB1. The confusion here stems from the fact that problem case-sensitive drive, from which I made Terabyte.dmg, was originally named "Terabyte". When I re-initialized it as a NON case-sensitive drive, I renamed it TB1. I'm sorry about the confusing nomenclature, which I've tried to improve upon from my original message -- usual text-communication problem: the writer knows what he has in mind, but the reader can only go by what's written.
So, anyway, I still have the same problem, the desktop-mounted volume "Terabyte" still cannot be transferred in one whole chunk to either my internal drive, TB1, TB2, as the Finder interprets it as a volume backup (which it is), and reads the desktop-mounted volume "Terabyte" as case-sensitive, as the original volume -- from which the disk image Terabyte.dmg was made -- had been at the time I made it.
"As long as that situation doesn't arise, you should be able to make the copy with a tool that's less fastidious than the Finder, such as cp or rsync."
I'm afraid I have no idea what "cp or rsync" are. I'd be happy to be educated. That's why I came here.
Bart Brown
Message was edited by: Bartbrn
Just trying to unmuddy the water a bit,,,

Copying folders & files from case-sensitive to non-case-sensitive volume

I'm trying to copy a rather large (60+ GB), folder and all its enclosed items from a volume that is has case sensitive file names to one that does not. The copy operation always stops when it comes across a duplicate file/folder name differing only in the case of some of the characters. The folders/files in question are actually not duplicates, so I would like to change the file name of the duplicate by appending anything to the filename.
The copy operation does not provide any choice but to abort the operation when it finds the first identical file or folder name differing only in case..
Any suggestions?

Unfortunately, that is not a viable solution, as I am tring to convert a case sensitive volume to a non-case sensitive volume.
What I would like is a method to copy files and when a duplicate occurs it asks me what to do like rename the second duplicate. However this problem is now moot, as I painstakingly renamed each offending file/folder as each error occured, and then restarted the copy.
While the question is not answered, I am marking it as such because I am now past the problem.
Thanks for your response.

The volume has the wrong case sensitivity for a backup

Updated to OS X Yosemite 10.10.1 and when trying to restore my backup (using TM) into my iMac (27-inch, Mid 2011) get the following message: "The volume has the wrong case sensitivity for a backup."
Any help would be appreciated!

That's not how you restore.
Move your data to a new Mac - Apple Support
OS X Yosemite: Recover your entire system

Would like for URLs to be non-case sensitive

How can Contribute 6.5 make URLs to be non-case sensitive?

What do you mean exactly? What are you trying to accomplish?

BI BEx & WAD F4 Search: How to search non-case sensitive

Dear Colleagues,
is there meanwhile a better and comfortable solution for this problem, or have'nt changed anything since "How to... Search non-case sensitive" paper from 2003.
Thanks and regards,
Wolfgang
Edited by: Wolfgang Taag on Aug 4, 2008 1:40 PM

Hi Gerhard,
I quote from OSS note 914303 :
The BI search requires the TREX Server as of 7.0 Support Package 06 or higher. If the search engine is not fully installed, you can still use the standard search that the system carries out in the database. However, as a result, the search takes longer, <u>it is case-sensitive</u> and it does not support the search for attributes.
Hope this helps,
Best regards,
Olav

Making search non case sensitive

Hi,
I have implemented a search help which I have copied from standard help ‘PREM’. I have created a Database view, taking that View I have created an Elementary search help and I have assign the elementary search help in the collective search help ‘ZPREM’ which is copied from ‘PREM’. In the search help I have two fields (NACHN, VORNA), which are case sensitive fields.
How to make it Non Case Sensitive?
Regards,
Jitendra

Hi ,
without checking "Lower Case" , any case(upper/lower) u are entering will be converted to upper case internally and the respective data will be displayed .
With checking the lower case check box in domain , u will get the exact case data in which u have entered .
but if ur requirement is like , if u enter a* in VORNA FIELD and it should display
a*
A* - ie. all the names starting with the both 'a' or 'A' , then
You can go for Search Help Exit . Inside the function module catch the entered name and select required records from DB as per ur requirement and insert result into RECORD_TAB[] internal table , having standard search help result list .
Regards
DJ

How to ... Search non-case sensitive?

Hello,
prior to SAP NetWeaver 2004s we implemented the How to Guide "How to ... Search non-case sensitive" in SAP BW 3.5.
This solution is no longer valid in BI 7.
Does anybody know how to implement a non-case sensitive search in SAP NetWeaver 2004s BI?
Regards,
Gerhard

Hi Gerhard,
I quote from OSS note 914303 :
The BI search requires the TREX Server as of 7.0 Support Package 06 or higher. If the search engine is not fully installed, you can still use the standard search that the system carries out in the database. However, as a result, the search takes longer, <u>it is case-sensitive</u> and it does not support the search for attributes.
Hope this helps,
Best regards,
Olav

Changed Hard Disk for Time Machine

I have a question, I've searched and can't find the answer (maybe I'm just not good at searching).
I ran out of room on my external HD for time machine backups, so I added another external HD and changed the time machine location to the new HD. I did not copy any backup files to the new HD, I figured that I'd just keep the old ones on the old HD and start from scratch.
I am using an old iMac G5 that has one (yes, one) USB2.0 port, the other USB ports are the old, slow ones. I have the new HD plugged into the USB2.0 port and the old HD plugged into one of the other ones.
Then I selected "back up now," and it's been backing up for more than 12 hours and it's only about 1/3 of the way done according to the progress report (37.4 GB of 96.9 GB).
Question -- does time machine automatically copy my old back up from the old HD to the new HD? That's the only thing that I can think of that would make this back up so slow. It shouldn't take 12 hours to back up 37 GB, right?

Thanks. I think I need to just wait until it's done and then check things out. I let it run all day while I was at work, and it's another 1/3 of the way to the end. I don't want to stop it and then find out that I just need to let it run its course.
Here is the backup log from the time machine widget:
Backing up to: /Volumes/Backup/Backups.backupdb
2010-06-22 18:33:57.446 FindSystemFiles[1245:713] Querying receipt database for system packages
2010-06-22 18:34:02.962 FindSystemFiles[1245:713] Using system path cache.
2010-06-22 18:34:03.335 FindSystemFiles[1250:713] Querying receipt database for system packages
2010-06-22 18:34:04.293 FindSystemFiles[1250:713] Using system path cache.
Event store UUIDs don't match for volume: Storage Central
Event store UUIDs don't match for volume: Alternate Storage
No pre-backup thinning needed: 116.45 GB requested (including padding), 376.49 GB available
Copied 11 files (0 bytes) from volume Storage Central.
Event store UUIDs don't match for volume: Storage Central

I cannot install ODX Yosemite over OSX Mavericks as my Mac Book Pro (early 2011) advises that the disc "Mackintosh HD" is used for Time Machine back ups. This is not the case however as I use a separate external HD for this purpose, help please ?! T

I cannot install ODX Yosemite over OSX Mavericks as my Mac Book Pro (early 2011) advises that the disc "Mackintosh HD" is used for Time Machine back ups. This is not the case however as I use a separate external HD for this purpose, help please ?!
Thanks

Check this link out...
OS X: Cannot install on a volume used by Time Machine for backups
I was apart of this thread and it helped the OP...
Re: System installer thinks my main drive is my time Machine backup and won't install.
KOT

Make standard properties non-case-sensitive

Best example: If you want to test a channel for its monotony characteristics you have to write "increasing" although the property is displayed in the data portal with the value "Increasing". A very small difference that could lead to much frustration before you finally discover it (as it has in my case). So my suggestion is to simply remove the case-sensitivity for the DIAdem standard properties (not speaking of user-defined ones).
/Phex

The way I do it is to change everything to one case i.e.
nvl(upper(value),'%') like upper(nvl('%'||:P9_VALUE||'%','%'))
using the % wildcard is just for partial searches

External drive use for Time Machine change to "Read Only"

I have an external hard drive set up for backing up with Time Machine on my Mac. It has been working well. Now when time machine tries to back up it tells me the external disk is read only. The hard drive does mount to the computer and will let me open the Time Machine folder. When I am in disk utility it also sees the external hard drive but will not let me click on repair disk permissions. Under the drive info's sharing & permissions window it said " You can only read." , After unlocking everything is grayed out, but the permission is set to read & write. Any thoughts on how to get this drive back to read and write? Its a 2TB drive with 1.79TB on disk. The drive has not been ever used on a windows machine or use on any other computer and is use only for Time Machine backups. One day it was read/write next day read only. Thanks!

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 the volume can't be repaired, you'll have to erase it and start over. Don't do that unless you have at least one other complete backup. Remember to turn TM back ON.

Why does my Mac ask for my password when I try to make a change on my external hard drive with Time Machine?

I recently formatted the hard drive to do a fresh install of Mavericks on my Macbook Pro Retina. I then formatted my Western Digital 2 TB External Hard Drive for Time Machine. I then began storing others files and folders on the external hard drive along side the TIme Machine Backup folder. Everytime I added a folder or changed a foler name it asked for my password.
This has never happened to me before using any other OSX.
I apologize if this has been resolved before, I'm new to the communities and have yet to find a solution.

It is not a good idea to be storing other Stuff on your Time Machine drive. You may need an additional separate hard drive for those things.
Once you tell Time Machine to use a Drive, Time Machine owns the Drive. You (as a User) do not have permission to put things there. If you insist, it will do it, but wants your Admin password to do it.

Change volume to non case sensitive for Time Machine?

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