Failed Time Machine backup... Invalid node structure

My Time Machine gave me a Backup Failed notice this morning. I noticed that my dedicated 1TB disk for backups is not mounting in the finder. I went into Disk Utility and it shows as greyed out. When I click on it and verify, it says I need to repair. So I click repair. I get the message below...
Verifying volume “MacPro Backup”
Checking Journaled HFS Plus volume.
Checking extents overflow file.
Checking catalog file.
Invalid node structure
The volume MacPro Backup was found corrupt and needs to be repaired.
Error: This disk needs to be repaired. Click Repair Disk.
Verify and Repair volume “MacPro Backup”
Checking Journaled HFS Plus volume.
Checking extents overflow file.
Checking catalog file.
Invalid node structure
Rebuilding catalog B-tree.
Invalid key length
The volume MacPro Backup could not be repaired.
Volume repair complete.Updating boot support partitions for the volume as required.Error: Disk Utility can’t repair this disk. Back up as many of your files as possible, reformat the disk, and restore your backed-up files.
What should I do? Any way to salvage some of the backups? Or do I just reformat the drive and go from there?

See Pondini's TM FAQs, for starters.

Similar Messages

Cloned Time Machine Drive Invalid Node Structure

My Hitachi 2TB HD I use for Time Machine started sending out S.M.A.R.T. errors earlier this month, so I sent it in to Hitachi under warranty. Before I sent it out, I was able to clone the drive to another 2TB drive using the Restore feature in Disk Utility. This worked great, I have since been using the clone as a Time Machine drive and doing regular automatic backups - smooth so far!
When I got the new drive back from Hitachi, I tried to send the data back to the new drive using the same Restore function, and it looked like it was a complete success. After the restore process finished, both drives suddenly reporting "Invalid Node Structure" in Disk Utility.
I've since tried Disk Warrior, and it tells me I'm out of RAM (I have 8GB of RAM on a 2 x 2.26 Quad-Core MacPro) and the Disk Utility Repair Disk function is failing. I've since done a complete wipe of the new drive again (I used the Certify function in SoftRAID 4.0), and voila, no errors on the new drive. I then tried simply dragging over the Backups folder from the clone, and Finder tells me "Operation Not Supported." Strangely enough, Time Machine backups still work!?
Any idea how this happened and how I can fix it? I really can't buy Drive Genius only to find out it's not going to work too...do you think it would work? I would really hate to completely lose all this valuable backup data, it's been quite valuable to have around in the past.
Thanks everyone for your help, I'm at a total loss as to what happened.

John Nightingale1 wrote:
I then tried simply dragging over the Backups folder from the clone, and Finder tells me "Operation Not Supported."
Yes, prior to Lion, you can't copy Time Machine backups with the Finder.
Are both drives formatted exactly the same, and with the GUID Partition Map scheme?
I'd be inclined to just let Time Machine start fresh on the new drive. You can always view and restore from the old one via the Browse ... option, per #17 in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions.

Any way to restore iTunes and iPhoto libraries from failed Time Machine backup?

Is there a way to restore iTunes and iPhoto libraries from an unmountable Time Machine backup?
Background: I received an update alert on my iMac (mid-2010, 1TB) from Time Machine (wirelessly connected to a Time Capsule, 2TB 2013) that it required an update and required rebooting, of course, it happened when I was in the middle of a project and I postponed the restart for later. That evening I turned off the computer and coincidentally the next morning, the iMac would not start; it loaded to the Apple logo and about an 1/8 of the progress bar would load before the iMac would turn off.
The iMac had been fine to that day (OS upgrades and all since 2010) so I was assuming something misfired when I declined the Time Machine update. I tried the PRAM and SMC resets mentioned in the forums but no dice. I then went into Disk Utility to try repairs and there were errors on the hard drive that could not be fixed. My next step was to erase the drive and restore from my Time Machine backup. Before doing that I checked Disk Utility and to my horror, it told me that my Time Machine backups were unmountable so of course my first thought was that all my files were gone.
The TC was under warranty so I called support and they referred me to the local Genius Bar. The Genius was great and showed me that my files weren't lost even though the Time Machine backup was unmountable. They recommended I erase the partitions, starting from scratch and I would have to transfer the Time Machine backup files manually by directly connecting an ethernet cable from the TC to the computer. If that didn't work, the hard drive was bad and needed replacement which they could take care of.
I followed their recommendation and the hard drive is fine. I was so relieved to hear that my files were safe that I forgot to ask about all of the metadata that was lost in iTunes (de-selected songs, playlists, rankings, play counts) and iPhoto (geotags, names, etc). Any ideas / help? I sank considerable time into my music and photos and would love to have that time back.
FWIW, I'm in the process of buying an external hard drive as a secondary backup to the TC as my confidence is a little shaken on the product line - the first time I ever actually need a backup and the backup is unmountable. My whole point of spending a little more and buying into the Apple ecosystem for a backup solution was to streamline the backup process and avoid these types of issues.

Thank you for the reply. I tried the Disk Utility to repair my TC's Time Machine backup disk with no luck, it stopped with the message:
Disk utility stopped repairing "iMac"
Disk Utility can't repair this disk. Back up as many of your files as possible, reformat the disk, and restore your backed-up files.
It took a night but I was able to copy all the TC Time Machine files to the external hard drive as a backup to a backup just in case. I'm still pretty bummed the TC's backup didn't allow for Disk Utility's restore functionality. Fortunately, the iPhoto library backup I dragged to the iMac from the Time Capsule backup worked without a hitch. On the downside, the "iTunes Library.itl" backup I dragged over is locked so now I'm checking out the forums for any ways to fix that. I temporarily created a new iTunes library with all my apps and music but plan on reverting to the old iTunes library if possible so I can start syncing my iOS devices again.

Failed Time Machine Backup

My orginial MacBook got stolen a few weeks ago and luckily my insurance bought me a new one. However, I have just managed to get hold of my external hard drive, which had my backuped time machine files on it.
So I went to my files from my time machine and this is what I did.
I went to the Time machine icon on the top of my screen and clicked on "Browse other Backup disks". I then clicked on my external hard drive and it opened Time Machine and then I found my latest update. I then clicked restored and the files got copied from my time machine to my new Mac.
The problem that I have discovered is that I restored my files incorrectly and that all I have just done is copied the files over and not restored my MacBook.
Now that I know how to restore my backuped files correctly, when I try and do it, I do not have enough space on my computer, because I still have the copied files on my Mac. I have tired to find the files without any luck on my computer. All I can think of is deleting my hard drive and start again, but I do not have the OS disks as Apple no longer supplies them when you buy a new Mac or it just didn't come with my new MacBook Pro.
Help.

Boot into Recovery by holding down the option key at the startup chime. Select your Time Machine volume as the boot device.
Note: You need an always-on Ethernet or Wi-Fi connection to the Internet to use Recovery. It won’t work with USB or PPPoE modems, or with networks that require any kind of authentication other than a WPA or WPA2 Personal password.
When the Recovery screen appears, follow the prompts to reinstall the Mac OS. You don't need to erase the boot volume, and you won't need your backup unless something goes wrong. If your Mac didn’t ship with Lion, you’ll need the Apple ID and password you used to upgrade, so make a note of those before you begin.

Time machine backup fails now that I have installed Mavericks

Time machine "backup now" used to work flawlessly. Now it doesn't work at all after installing Mavericks. I just get an interminable "preparing backup" message.
It worked flawlessly before Mavericks installation - any thoughts?

I too have had a few failed Time Machine backups since updating to Maverick. I backup to a NAS/server and didn't used to have this problem before.

Huge problems with my MacBook: Invalid Node Structure and More!

A couple days ago I was browsing the internet, and when I closed Safari, the system froze. I couldn't even force quit out of anything, so I had to shut it off manually. When I tried to turn my computer back on the next day, I couldn't get past the Apple screen. The little wheel would keep spinning, but I could never get anywhere.
Then, I tried to boot from the Leopard DVD to possibly reinstall Leopard, hoping it would work. At first, no drives would show up to install to, but for some reason, they eventually showed up. Problem is, I don't have enough free memory to reinstall Leopard. Furthermore, I've tried to fit it on the space I have, and it says that the install failed, so I can't reinstall Leopard.
I also went to Disk Utility from the DVD and tried to repair the disk. The only option available was to Verify Disk, but when I go there, that fails, and it says "invalid node structure."
I'm not sure what happened to my computer because it seemed to come from nowhere. To sum up, I cannot log in to OS X, or even XP on a separate partition, I can't reinstall Leopard, and I can't repair the disk. I've read about how DiskWarrior might help, but I can't get in to OS X. Does anyone have any idea what happened or what I can do? I haven't backed anything up, so if I'm screwed, then so be it, I guess. Just wondering if anyone has any explanations or suggestions. Thanks.

Interesting how many people have this same issue. A friend of mine has brought me her white Macbook Intel Core 2 with Leopard and it had a folder with a question mark instead of the apple at startup. I was able to boot using the Mac Install DVD and ran Disk Utility. It said something like "Invalid Node Structure" and "Cannot Repair". Unfortunately DiskWarrior will not fix this. I tried it to no avail. I'm resigned to the fact that a new hard drive is necessary.
The HD in there is a Hitachi 120GB.
It also wouldn't let me erase the disk nor partition it. Then, one morning I woke up and it was able to erase! So I erased, then installed Tiger. It seemed to be working fine. So I rebooted from the Leopard drop-in disk and installed Leopard. Then I restarted, and BAM! back to the question mark folder. Now I'm back to where I started. Other threads
I forgot to mention that my friend had photos and music on the HD that she couldn't do without and I was able to recover that data using Data Recover II. First I had to use SuperDuper to clone my own computer onto an external drive so I could use it as a boot drive.
For now the only solution is to buy a new internal hard drive and reinstall the OS. And regularly backup!!
So I guess this issue has not really been solved, but hopefully you have warranty. Unfortunately for my friend, this happened a week after her warranty expired.
Good luck.

Time Machine Backup Precautions

Hello all. I understand very well that this thread may be a duplicate of another thread, but I want to specify exactly what products I am using to be able to take the proper precautions, as I cannot afford to lose my data.
I read the reviews on the App Store for the Mavericks download, and I was rather disturbed by the excess of negative reviews mentioning corrupted and/or failed Time Machine backups. I haven't yet installed Mavericks because I want to take proper precautions, and I decided to ask here because the reviews do not contain sufficient information about each user's model.
I am using a mid-2012 13-inch MacBook Pro. I am using Mac OS 10.8.3 (Mountain Lion). I recently backed up my data using Time Machine with a brand new 2TB AirPort Time Capsule. I haven't yet checked if everything has been backed up, but I feel fairly safe that the backup has no problems. I personally do not want to take the risk of losing any of this data.
What precautions should I take before installing Mavericks? Is there a risk that the backup will not be compatible or that it could become corrupted? If so, how should I prepare? If anymore hardware of software information is required, please do not hesitate to ask.
Thanks in advance.

What exactly does it mean to have a "corrupted" backup? Does it just mean that the hard disk in the TC has lost data?
You cannot restore older backups or you cannot restore at all.
You will not be able to restore to a point before you tried to upgrade to Mavericks.
The TC has not lost data.. you simply cannot get it back. Hence corrupted.
What are the most evident signs of backup corruption?
You cannot restore.
You cannot tell from looking.. even a verify can pass.. but still cannot restore. Test a backup using verify.
See Pondini A5.
http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
But the true test is do a full restore.. only then will you KNOW the backup is 100% good.. and with TM you need to make sure all your files and libraries are accessible because they are not always restored.
How can I prevent corruption before I update (I plan on updating in about a month)?
This is not the problem.. the problem occurs when you upgrade OS and it overwrites the backup.
The best solution is to take a disk image today.. and boot from it.. buy CCC.. buy a USB drive.. total cost less than $140 for a 2TB or even 3TB drive. Then you will have a real backup. TM you can never tell if it can restore a full computer unless you test it.. all backups are proven in the restore.. nothing else .. !!
CCC (and other similar tools) can make a bootable USB disk with the full image of your existing computer install.. do it today.. do it again before you upgrade.
Each time actually boot from the image.. so you are sure the image is perfect.
Then when you upgrade.. you cannot lose any info. You can corrupt TM all you like and it will not matter one bit.. because you are not dependent on it. That is the only way to have a backup that can be depended on.

Invalid Node Structure on Time Capsule.

Hi,
I was using my time capsule (7 months old) as a temporary network drive (Until I get a new network drive) for my iTunes library. And, no, currently this is my only computer without a time machine backup. One day last week, I was listening to some music and I tried to add a video to my library. It locked up and my time capsule stopped responding. Upon restart of the device, the drive wouldn't show up int he finder.
After a call to apple support (who were most gracious even though it was out of warranty), I still couldn't mount that partition. I had about 500gb of stuff on the drive (including my 300gb iTunes library) and was eager to retrieve it. I resorted to removing the drive from the time capsule and put it in a USB case. I plugged it into my mac and low and behold the drive showed up in the finder and disk utility.... except the partition with my data.
From what I understand disk1s3 is the standard partition for the data on a time capsule. It shows up in disk utility, but fails to mount and is grayed out. When I try and repair it, I get an error stating "invalid node structure".
After searching the internet for days, I found a site that had some terminal commands that should fix it, but it didn't.
I even tried diskwarrior and after DVD boot, even it wouldn't see that partition. The other two on the disk are fine and dandy.
Now, I'm stuck with a $300 brick and no data.
I don't have the money to do a professional data recovery.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Brian

You have exhausted all the options you can at user level.. basically if the tools like disk warrior cannot recover it, then it has to go to professional disk recovery people.. who use different methods. And may still not get back data in the form you want it.
This is precisely why we tell everyone do not use TC for network storage. It is not suitable.

Time Machine backups fail with no error message

My Time Machine hasn't successfully completed a backup since 3/19. It starts the backup on schedule, indexes over 2 million objects, goes through the phase of preparing objects, and then just stops. I know that there have been many changes since that time, but it isn't backing them up. Please tell me how to fix this.

I have the same problem - Time Machine fails to backup with no error message - after a brief foray into Mavericks. Each time it tries to backup, TM creates a new folder in the "in progress" directory but fails to complete. Otherwise TM looks normal with no obvious errors. I have several HDDs. I installed Mavericks on an external drive, migrated my data over to it. Booted from it and after a day or two decided I just didn’t' like it and booted from my Snow Leopard partition. All was fine but apparently, I had forgotten to turn OFF Time Machine while booted into Mavericks. Thereafter, Time Machine failed to backup. Here's what I've done and the error logs:
Deleted the NEW directory that Mavericks created on TM
Done a full reset of TM (deleted: /Library/Preferences/com.apple.TimeMachine.plist
Re-entered the exclusions
Rebuilt the directory structure on the boot disc using DiskWarrior
Repaired the TM disc using Disc Utility
Resynced the Spotlight cache on the boot disk
TM also seems not to do a deep traversal since it just stops after checking files to backup.
Here are the error logs from the TM Buddy widget:
Starting standard backup
Error loading /Library/Plug-ins/DiskImages/VirtualPCDiskImagePlugin.bundle/Contents/MacOS/Vir tualPCDiskImagePlugin: dlopen(/Library/Plug-ins/DiskImages/VirtualPCDiskImagePlugin.bundle/Contents/Ma cOS/VirtualPCDiskImagePlugin, 262): no suitable image found. Did find:\n /Library/Plug-ins/DiskImages/VirtualPCDiskImagePlugin.bundle/Contents/MacOS/Vir tualPCDiskImagePlugin: mach-o, but wrong architecture
Cannot find function pointer MacDiskImagePluginFactory for factory 7F1FD83E-6684-11D8-968F-000A957703C0 in CFBundle/CFPlugIn 0x102f00930 </Library/Plug-ins/DiskImages/VirtualPCDiskImagePlugin.bundle> (bundle, not loaded)
Backing up to: /Volumes/Time Machine/Backups.backupdb
Event store UUIDs don't match for volume: Mac Pro Data
Forcing deep traversal on source: "Mac Pro Data" (mount: '/Volumes/Mac Pro Data' fsUUID: B4BEA50F-15B1-34BB-92F1-B7605139B852 eventDBUUID: BA019CB5-8123-4C99-9806-C9593D4EFA34), {1, 1, 1, 0}
Event store UUIDs don't match for volume: Music HDD
Forcing deep traversal on source: "Music HDD" (mount: '/Volumes/Music HDD' fsUUID: FF1EF8F5-30D0-34C0-BC02-ACDB5AD18B3A eventDBUUID: 92A95F63-5F4A-4987-90DB-5444ADF33D40), {1, 1, 1, 0}
Node requires deep traversal:/ reason:must scan subdirs|
Error: Flushing index to disk returned an error: 0
Backup canceled.
I don't know what to do next. Any ideas?
Thanks,
John

Time Machine Backup on External Drive Invalid sibling link

I've used time machine to backup macbook air for several months. From Feb 2011 without any problems until about 2 months ago. I started to get the message that backups could not be started.
I realized that the disk would not mount right away. And after about 10 minutes or more I would get the message that my disk could not be mounted. The error said my data could be backed up and I should do it right away.
Okay, so I try to copy my backup files using finder and get an error saying I don't have permissions to copy data.
My research indicates my hard drive is failing, which is unfortunate, since I bought it within the last year :-(
Okay, so now I am trying to get my months worth of backups off the drive and this is proving to be quite difficult...actually, impossible.
Here are my latest attempts at resolving my issue:
1. Ran Repair Disk - reusts:
          error: Could not repair disk and something about backing up my data and reformating the disk
2. Ran fsck_hfs -f command in terminal
     The system indicated it was executing the command and about 2 or 3 minutes, I think the command prompt appeared. No other message
3. Run repair disk again - My results:
     Checking catalog file.
     INvalid sibling link
     rebuilding catalog B-Tree
     The volume My Passport could not be repaired
     Volume repair complete
     Updating boot support partitions for the volume as required
     Error: Disk Utility can't repair this disk...disk, and restore your backed up files
4. Created a new partition on another external drive and did a restore in Disk Utility from the broken drive to the new partition on the other drive. Took a few hours. Unfortunately, I just created the same problem on that partition (invalid sibling link)
Any other ideas on how I can rescue my backup data from the My Passport drive? I can see it in finder but I can't copy it do my other drive!
Research on forums and other sites have mentioned cloning the drive using "dd" command. Is this the same as the disk utility restore?
Is there some way I can change the permissions of the disk/partitition/files to enable me to copy the data to the new external drive?
Here is what the system looks like: Mac HD is my mac mini; My book is the WD 1TB external drive usb connected; My Passport is the broken external drive with the time machine backups that I can't get access to.
unknown3c07544bc705:Volumes oshunj$ ls -ale
total 8
drwxrwxrwt@ 5 root    admin   170 Dec 4 09:40 .
0: group:everyone deny add_file,add_subdirectory,directory_inherit,only_inherit
drwxr-xr-x 29 root    wheel 1054 Dec 3 18:17 ..
lrwxr-xr-x   1 root    admin     1 Dec 3 18:10 Macintosh HD -> /
drwxr-xr-x@ 15 oshunj staff   578 Dec 3 20:46 My Book
drwxr-xr-x@ 14 oshunj staff   544 Oct 16 19:32 My Passport
unknown3c07544bc705:Volumes oshunj$ ls -Orbitlake /Volumes
total 4
     2 drwxr-xr-x@ 14 oshunj staff -       544 Oct 16 19:32 My Passport
335990 lrwxr-xr-x   1 root    admin -         1 Dec 3 18:10 Macintosh HD -> /
     2 drwxr-xr-x 29 root    wheel -      1054 Dec 3 18:17 ..
     2 drwxr-xr-x@ 15 oshunj staff -       578 Dec 3 20:46 My Book
10710 drwxrwxrwt@ 5 root    admin hidden 170 Dec 4 09:40 .
0: group:everyone deny add_file,add_subdirectory,directory_inherit,only_inherit

***Update to ask question***
I would love to setup my new mini like my MBA. Is there anything wrong with restoring my entire drive, I think it starts at /User/ level, to my mini????
You know you never know when you will need the backups. This makes me angry especially since I can see the files but can't repair the disk.
OTOH, I attempted something I just now read about, option-click on time machine icon. Funny thing, I selected other disk and my passport (original broken drive) popped up with time machine backups on it.
I, quite timidly, selected the disk, opened the time machine and traversed my broken drive with backups from feb.
hmmm. I then, selected some random pdf file to restore and behold, It was restored to my mac mini right before my eyes.
I'm confused. But I think I will go with your suggestion and just put the drive away in a closet somewhere and hope to never really need it. It is quite interesting though that I am unable to repair this disk but I can restore files from it....Odd, I tell you, odd....
Thanks

Hard Drive Invalid node structure - Disk Utility Repair Failed -

Disk Utility returns
Invalid node structure
(4, 27237)
Repair Failed Unable to unmount Drive
I can still boot from the drive. So should I start looking for a new hard drive? or is the problem not that serious.
Thanks

SuperDuper is safe and reliable backup program to clone a drive.
For 500GB I would go with a pair of WD RE2.
Makes an excellent boot RAID.
Seagate in a RAID but not for boot drive.
10.4.6 DVD? that is the latest version. 10.4.0, not so good.
Always have two backups. AND have one partition on another drive just for emergency.
Once you have a good solid system, back it up. Put it somewhere safe.
A lot of problems tend to get created and grow from cache files and folders. Fonts, system, extension cache, web browsers, even temp files left over from printing.
Put all your updaters somewhere safe on another disk.
Burn them to DVD.
Don't use Software Update.
Use standalone updates and keep them handy, then apply when you need to. Many or most can be run in succession without restarting.
Can you install OS X to the other 250GB drive? well, maybe not until you are sure it is safe, backed up etc.
From the DVD, Disk Utility, the Restore tab lets you select the source drive and destination drive and will copy everything over.
Finder: Get Info on target destination, look to be sure "Ignore Ownership" if NOT selected (won't be bootable and permissions will be wrong).
Would be nice to have a 32GB emergency boot partition (large enough for burning DVDs as well as system).
If you had a FW drive you could download and buy Disk Warrior.

Time Machine Backup fails after Restore

Had my 500GB HD on my iMac fail. After being replaced by Apple, I performed a restore from 1TB time machine backup. After this was done, I set time machine back up to back up to this 1TB drive. I want it to append to the previous backups. However, the backup fails due to "backup is too large for the backup volume". It doesn't seem to want to append to previous backups but thinks this is an entirely new backup, which I guess is mostly true. I suspect this has to do with UUIDs of the new and old drives, but I'm not sure how to correct it (I'd prefer not to just wipe the backup disk and start over). I migrated backups before from one extenal HD to another but can't remember what I did... If anyone has steps to fix this, let me know em. Thanks.
Here's the time machine log:
Starting standard backup
Backing up to: /Volumes/MyBook-Mac/Backups.backupdb
Event store UUIDs don't match for volume: Macintosh HD
Node requires deep traversal:/ reason:kFSEDBEventFlagMustScanSubDirs|
Starting pre-backup thinning: 506.55 GB requested (including padding), 502.31 GB available
No expired backups exist - deleting oldest backups to make room
Error: backup disk is full - all 0 possible backups were removed, but space is still needed.
Backup Failed: unable to free 506.55 GB needed space
Backup failed with error: Not enough available disk space on the target volume.
Message was edited by: Delmonte3161

Delmonte3161 wrote:
Had my 500GB HD on my iMac fail. After being replaced by Apple, I performed a restore from 1TB time machine backup. After this was done, I set time machine back up to back up to this 1TB drive. I want it to append to the previous backups. However, the backup fails due to "backup is too large for the backup volume". It doesn't seem to want to append to previous backups but thinks this is an entirely new backup, which I guess is mostly true. I suspect this has to do with UUIDs of the new and old drives,
yes, that's correct. TM will make a full backup after a full system restore on a new hard drive because the UUIDs of the new drive is different from the old one.
you may try the following hack to get around it
http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20090213071015789
But I make no promises about how well it works.
but I'm not sure how to correct it (I'd prefer not to just wipe the backup disk and start over). I migrated backups before from one extenal HD to another but can't remember what I did... If anyone has steps to fix this, let me know em. Thanks.
Here's the time machine log:
Starting standard backup
Backing up to: /Volumes/MyBook-Mac/Backups.backupdb
Event store UUIDs don't match for volume: Macintosh HD
Node requires deep traversal:/ reason:kFSEDBEventFlagMustScanSubDirs|
Starting pre-backup thinning: 506.55 GB requested (including padding), 502.31 GB available
No expired backups exist - deleting oldest backups to make room
Error: backup disk is full - all 0 possible backups were removed, but space is still needed.
Backup Failed: unable to free 506.55 GB needed space
Backup failed with error: Not enough available disk space on the target volume.
Message was edited by: Delmonte3161

Time Machine Backup Failed: Error (12): Link of previous volume failed

I am having troubles with Time Machine, backing up to a new Time Capsule, after I have switched one of the drives being backed up. I replaced a 250 GB external drive with a 500 GB drive, but have given it the same name (otherwise lots of links break). Now I get the following error everytime Time Machine runs:
Error (12): Link of previous volume failed for Athena Disk 2
Where 'Athena Disk 2' is an external USB drive being backed up, which was swapped with a new drive.
Disk Utility reports the drive is clean. I've seen a few other references to similar problems in the forum, but no solution. Console reports that the first (internal non-switched) drive has a bunch of files being backed up, but it seems to abort when it tries to backup the drive that was switched.
I've tried disabling backups, removing the Time Capsule disk and then setting it up again, in an attempt to 'reset' something, but to no avail.
Any ideas? I'm guessing there is a filesystem ID or something similar that Time Machine is using, and it notices that something has changed, but doesn't know what to do about it.
Thanks,
Dave Filip.

I'm having a similar problem, which seemed to start coincident with either a 10.5.6 update OR the replacement of my internal drive with a larger drive (I don't remember which...).
Time Machine backup logs now start similar to this one:
2/9/09 9:30:03 AM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[35512] Backup requested due to disk attach
2/9/09 9:30:03 AM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[35512] Starting standard backup
2/9/09 9:30:04 AM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[35512] Backing up to: /Volumes/H. G. Wells/Backups.backupdb
2/9/09 9:30:14 AM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[35512] Event store UUIDs don't match for volume: Macintosh HD
2/9/09 9:30:14 AM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[35512] Node requires deep traversal:/ reason:kFSEDBEventFlagMustScanSubDirs|
2/9/09 9:30:23 AM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[35512] Backup requested due to disk attach
All of this seems right except for that business about UUIDs, but then we get this:
2/9/09 9:48:52 AM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[35512] No pre-backup thinning needed: 113.94 GB requested (including padding), 327.41 GB available
2/9/09 10:13:23 AM com.apple.backupd[35512] CoreEndianFlipData: error -4940 returned for rsrc type FREF (id 133, length 7, native = no)
2/9/09 10:13:24 AM com.apple.backupd[35512] CoreEndianFlipData: error -4940 returned for rsrc type FREF (id 133, length 7, native = no)
2/9/09 10:13:29 AM com.apple.backupd[35512] CoreEndianFlipData: error -4940 returned for rsrc type open (id 128, length 12, native = no)
2/9/09 10:13:29 AM com.apple.backupd[35512] CoreEndianFlipData: error -4940 returned for rsrc type open (id 128, length 12, native = no)
2/9/09 10:13:40 AM com.apple.backupd[35512] CoreEndianFlipData: error -4940 returned for rsrc type FREF (id 128, length 7, native = no)
2/9/09 10:13:40 AM com.apple.backupd[35512] CoreEndianFlipData: error -4940 returned for rsrc type FREF (id 128, length 7, native = no)
2/9/09 11:43:10 AM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[35512] Copied 409803 files (94.1 GB) from volume Macintosh HD.
2/9/09 11:43:10 AM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[35512] Error (12): Link of previous volume failed for Macintosh HD.
2/9/09 11:43:10 AM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[35512] Error (12): Link of previous volume failed for Macintosh HD.
2/9/09 11:43:16 AM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[35512] Backup failed with error: 12
which leaves me with a few questions:
a) I don't have fresh backups, and that leaves my system a bit vulnerable. Can I fix this somehow?
b) I don't want to have to start over, but if I do how can I salvage the existing backups at least for the next year or so?
c) What the heck are those "CoreEndianFlipData" errors all about?
Thanks in advance.
Ron

Backups Recovery from Failed Time Machine Disk

Hello;
I have been experiencing a serious problem since this April, tried everything I can do with no sign of success. So I though to ask you guys, hopefully you will be able to help or at least guide me to whom can help.
Well, it is a long story, but not to bother you with it and since I know you are not willing to go to bed now, I will just give you a timeline and if you feel like want to know more about a scene, tell me and I will narrate...
- I have MBA 256GB and 1.5TB Seagate GoFlex for Mac, which was used mainly for Time Machine, according to "backups.backupdb" it contains 75 backups.
- Due to accidental unplugging, it failed. First I was seeing error that I have to backup this drive, then it was totally unreadable on Mac but works on Win and Linux, then after a while it stooped working even on Win, but still working on Linux.
- I tried many solutions to fix the drive/disk without formatting, since I had no alternative media to backup the drive to before formatting. None worked.
- A month ago, I bought the new 2TB Time Capsule. Then using Linux terminal I managed to copy the whole "backups.backupdb" folder to another disk; however, after copying I found its size 65.5GB And obviously when Time Machine was used to browse these bacups, it did not find any!
- Used Data Rescue 3 to clone an image for the whole Seagate disk, it is 1.5TB.
- While the Seagate is not yet formatted, I used Data Rescue 3 to scan it for the lost files inside, and it found everything already there; but the "backups.backupdb" was 14.1TB! I do know why or how!!
- I tried to format the Seagate, they reused Data Rescue 3 to scan it, and the result was the same.
- I tried to mount the cloned image, of course the drive was not mounted since it is corrupted but the disk was attached, and reused Data Rescue 3 to scan it, and the result was the same for the third time. No wonders for me, I know the three cases maybe identical.
Finally, here is what I have now:
- Formatted and readable 1.5TB Seagate disk.
- Cloned 1.5TB image from the Seagate disk, before formatting.
- 2TB Time Capsule, 1.5TB of it is occupied by the cloned image file.
- Additional 500GB and 1TB extrenal disks.
- I also have an iPhone, new wallet, and other irrelevant stuff!
And all what I think about is way to browse the cloned DMG so that I can extract my REAL "backups.backupdb" folder.
Does any of you have a clue how to do that?
Or any other method to recover my backups?
Once more, there is details for every part, just tell me if you want to know more.
Many thanks in advance.
Kind Ragards.
-MHD

Then using Linux terminal I managed to copy the whole "backups.backupdb" folder to another disk
You can't copy Time Machine backups that way, unless you used asr(8), which I don't think you did.
The "GoFlex" device accounts for a disproportionate number of reports on this site of problems with Time Machine. I suggest you stop using it for backing up.
Delete whatever you copied to the Time Capsule and start a new backup. I strongly recommend that you also back up to a locally-attached hard drive (not the GoFlex) at least some of the time, as network backups are less reliable. You should have more than one backup anyway.

Trying to use a new, larger external hard drive for my Time Machine backup. However, every time I start the backup, it gets started then fails. And, I can't delete the few files that did save on the external. Sort of a catch 22. Any ideas?

Trying to use a new, larger external hard drive for my Time Machine backup. However, every time I start the backup, it gets started then fails. And, I can't delete the few files that did save on the external. Sort of a catch 22. Any ideas?

Is it a USB hard drive? USB hard drives have the problem of not giving full speed if they are hooked up on the same bus as keyboards and mice. Double check your profiler to make sure that is not a problem. If it is Firewire, make sure there aren't other firewire devices in use at the same time. I recommend not only keeping a Time Machine backup, but also a clone, and if you do use Time Machine, to make sure the Time Machine drive or partition is at least twice the size of the original drive.

Failed Time Machine backup... Invalid node structure

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