Funny bugs with Time Machine connecting to MacBook when reboot
Found a bug for Time Machine.
Reboot with TM disk connect to the MacBook. Most of the time, there will be no show of TM Disk on the desktop and connect thumb drives will not detect too. And do a normal shutdown, I can still feel the warm air venting out from the MacBook.
Have to remove the battery for a few seconds, replace it back and power up. Then everything will back to normal. If reboot with thumb drive connect, such symptoms will not appear.
dilagan wrote:
i attempted to backup the imac with time machine to an external hard drive, it began backing up, stopped and I got the same error message: "time machine error unable to complete backup an error occurred while copying files." Little help!
Yes, that message is not some of Apple's best work.
Most likely, there's a damaged/corrupted file that Time Machine is choking on. See #C3 in [Time Machine - Troubleshooting|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/Troubleshooting.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of the +Time Machine+ forum).
If you're getting a different message from the Pro, see #C2.
Similar Messages
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Backing up with time machine & other options
I have a macBook and an external drive backing up everything with time machine.
My MacBook is starting to run low on HD space (and my external drive is even worse!)
I would like to erase a lot of my photos, music and videos from my macbook, as they're already backed up on my external drive, but I'm concerned...
1) If my external drive runs out of space, won't time machine keep deleting the oldest saved date until it has room? (eventually this could delete the date I last had all my photos, music and video on my MacBook before I deleted it...)
2. The external drive is a firewire drive, so if I get another mac, it might not be compatible.
3. If the drive crashes, I lose everything anyway.
So after all that, my questions are:
Is there a way to back up all my files from time machine to DVDs before I delete the largest files?
Is there a smarter way to backup my music,pictures and videos than just time machine on an external drive?
Thanks!!!nails wrote:
I have a macBook and an external drive backing up everything with time machine.
My MacBook is starting to run low on HD space (and my external drive is even worse!)
I would like to erase a lot of my photos, music and videos from my macbook, as they're already backed up on my external drive, but I'm concerned...
Yes, you should be. With any backup app, the essential point is to have (at least) 2 copies of everything important in (at least) 2 separate places. All hard drives fail: some sooner, some later. When that happens, you may lose everything that was on it.
2. The external drive is a firewire drive, so if I get another mac, it might not be compatible.
It should be. It's possible you'd want to reformat it, but it should work.
Is there a way to back up all my files from time machine to DVDs before I delete the largest files?
No. You could archive some of the originals from your internal HD, though.
Is there a smarter way to backup my music,pictures and videos than just time machine on an external drive?
Yes. Your best bet is to get a larger (or additional) internal HD, so you can keep all the originals on your MacBook. It's much more convenient, and access is faster.
Also get a larger drive (or Time Capsule, or connect a USB drive to an Airport Extreme) for TM, as your primary backups.
Then, as Baltwo says, get another drive and put a bootable "clone" on it, via CarbonCopyCloner (which I use) or SuperDuper! as a secondary, independent backup.
Third, get something off-site. That could be your bootable "clone;" a portable external with just your home folder, or only the most important parts of it; or videos, photos, etc., archived to DVDs; and take whatever it is to your safe deposit box, workplace, relative's house, or other secure location. That way, you're also protected against fire, flood, theft, direct lightning strike, etc. -
Use PC hardrive with Time Machine
Is there any way to partition a PC hardrive (not external) to also use with Time Machine on a MacBook? Preferably over an ethernet connection.
Thanks.No, because there is no way to server the drive via Apple Filing Protocol from your PC.
Ok, I'll caveat that statement: If you can install a program that will file share from your PC using Apple Filing Protocol, then it might work. -
Problem using a WD hard Drive with Time Machine
A couple weeks ago I bought a 1TB Western Digital "Elements" Hard Drive and configured it with Time Machine on my MacBook Pro (running Mountain Lion OSX version 10.8.3). The drive was working fine until last night, when it was in the process of backing up and it got the following error:
Time Machine Error
Unable to complete backup. An error occurred while creating the backup folder.
Now whenever I try to unlock the drive, it freezes up like this:
I've tried restarting the computer and reconnecting the drive several times, and it always gets stuck in the same place. I know my password is correct, because I've tried incorrect ones, and it shakes and rejects them like it should. It's only when I enter the correct password that it freezes.
I went into the disk utility to try to verify the disk, but it gave me these two popups:
I notice it says the drive is almost full, though last night it was somewhere around a third full. I don't know what to make of that.
I had to eject the disk and reconnect it before I could try to repair it. When I did try to repair it, it worked for several minutes, then gave me this:
I notice here that the disk utility looks to have ejected the disk when it couldn't repair it. After that, I don't know what to try.
The one thing I did differently last night that may have contributed to the problem was that before I got the initial Time Machine error, I added a couple of folders to the WD drive and backed up some pictures and music manually. Does Time Machine not work if you have other things on the external drive you're using?
At any rate, I'd rather not erase the drive and start over. Is there anything else I can do at this point? Thanks.Sounds like your drive may be failing. Test it on another system first, but if the problem persists, get it replaced under warranty.
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Advice - External HD for use with Time Machine?
Hi,
Just wanted to know what's best for me to buy. Looking into what's available has only made me more confused...
I want a HD that:
- Works well with Time Machine and my Macbook
- Will copy everything from my computer rather than drag-and-drop or manual file choice (although that's more the program I use than the HD itself, right; Time Machine does that as far as I know?)
- Enough space for all of my video files from my video camera (there's quite a lot of them)
I want to start deleting some video files from my computer and my video camera but I don't want to lose them, so that's the major use really. As long as they'll all fit and if I want one back on my computer again it'll be easy enough to find it and put it back on...
Any ideas? Keep in mind that I live in Perth, Western Australia...
(And I apologise for the ignorance/lack of proper techy terms!)Hi Eleanor,
I'm from Sydney so it's great to see another Aussie on here! Welcome to the forum.
Just a couple of points that I would keep in mind in addition to the correct advice already given:
Apple recommends having a dedicated drive for Time Machine, so ideally you wouldn't use it for anything else. Also, as a guideline, they recommend having a Time Machine drive at least twice as large as the primary drive in your computer so that enough space is always available. The more space, the further back your backups will go before needing to be written over.
You can put other stuff on the drive but ideally it's better (if your budget allows) to get a second external drive for video camera files and the like. Those video files also grow pretty big as you've probably noticed, so they will need room to move as well. External drives are cheaper than ever, so two drives is the best bet.
One final recommendation/option is to go for a Time Capsule as your Time Machine drive. The benefit here is that it works wirelessly so you won't have to plug it into your USB/firewire port at all. It just backs up without any action from you whatsoever, which is what makes it ideal. If you don't yet have a WiFi network, here's your chance to dive in. If you do, it's a natural fit for your network.
So my ultimate recommendation is: 1) Time Capsule 2) USB/firewire drive.
I hope that helps!
Message was edited by: Michael271 -
Can I do it with time machine?
I have an older mac with snow leopard and I just bought a new AIR with Lion. Is there a way to transfer everything including programs that are work related on to the new machine? Can I do it with time machine?
The Macbook Air doesn't have Firewire ports, it has USB only, or wireless ethernet. (You can also use ethernet wired through a USB-ethernet adaptor but I think this is rarely done.)
I did this Migration when we got a new Macbook Air last year. The Apple Store people told me that they strongly recommended doing this Migration to the new Macbook Air through USB with the Time Machine backup. They said this was the most likely approach to be complication-free. They also told me that when someone brings in an older machine to them to be migrated to a new one (they offer this service for $75), they even create the Time Machine backup right there to use in the transfer because it works so smoothly.
I did it the way they recommended, USB between old Time Machine backup to USB on new Macbook Air. It took a few hours (200 GB to transfer) and was completely trouble free. I did have to reinstall the printer drivers for a Canon printer/scanner. Otherwise, everything was there and we didn't even have to enter serial numbers for MS-Office or Adobe software like photoshop.
So that's my recommendation to you for the Macbook Air. Wireless ethernet is another option but it's more complicated and more prone to issues, and it's much slower.
One thing you should be awae of -- certain older software runs under "Rosetta" under 10.6, but Rosetta is gone under 10.7, so those programs won't work under 10.7. One example is MS-Office 2004. On the other hand, Office 2011 works fine under 10.7. -
Kernel Panic while backing up with Time Machine - now everything is GONE!
I got a kernel panic while i tried to back up with Time Machine....when i shut down the computer, and restarted it (with the external still plugged in, and on), it came up with an error message that said
"The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer."
And my three options were to "Initialize...", "Ignore", or "Eject"...
I didn't hit either of those buttons, i was trying to contact apple for support only to find out that i am just a week past my minimum 90 day telephone support, so i am trying to scrape up enough to order the APP immediately.
However, in the meantime, everything on my external harddrive is gone...Disk Utility doesn't even see that there was once a Partition on that drive, and thus, it is not showing up on my desktop, and there is no information to be recovered...everything is gone.
This is kind of ironic because i was just reading an article about how people are losing their info on their User account after having the Guest Accounts enabled....logged into guest, and back out of guest...
I am a part of one of those statistics because i do NOT have the Guest account enabled at all...
Can anybody else help me with this?where can i find the panic.log?
I did a spotlight search with no results.
I checked /Library/Logs, and didn't see a panic.log
I also checked ~/Library/Logs and didn't find a panic.log either....i was unable to find anything related to a kernel panic log, or anything.
Could you point me in the right direction for this please? Could it be that i had a kernal panic, and it did not record the log?
So what can i do to correct this?
Disk Warrior didn't detect the drive, and zapping the PRAM didn't correct it either.
I keep getting the error message i posted previously.
I even tried to plug the drive into my old 15" PowerBook G4 running 10.4 tiger to see if i could see the drive appear on the desktop, and i also got the same error there as well.
If i go into Disk Utility, into Partition, i have to create a Partition. There is absolutely nothing on the drive at all. Everything is gone because of a kernal panic - which happened when i was trying to use Time Machine to back up the drive.
I'm 1/2 afraid to do anything at the moment because i want to figure out what happened to the data i lost on my Time Machine backup drive, and how to get it back...at the same time, i'm afraid of losing all my information on my computer as well since people are having issues with the so called Guest Account issue that wipes everybody's user account's information.
Is there another scenario for this, could it be not just Guest Accounts deleting a users home folder, but also kernal panics related to Time Machine, which end up erasing your entire Time Machine backup drive too?
Apple really needs a fix for this and should somehow reward us with something for the unprofessionalism in their own technology.
Message was edited by: tool -
Using TIme Machine on a MacBook Pro with an AFP connected External HD
I have successfully been able to setup my MacBook Pro to use TM to an external drive connected to my MacPro - however there are some interesting limitations/observations/
To make this configuration work - I had to go into the sharing system preferences and select file sharing and then add that external drive to my shared folders list.
Now if I have shut down my laptop and then come back home and plug it back into the network via Ethernet - TM will try to run the backup job at its next scheduled time but will fail! What I have to do to make it work is to open a finder window - click on my shared MacPro desktop which then pulls up all of the folders that are shared including the external TM hard drive (by the way), but it will still not be enabled via the system preference. This is especially odd since within the title bar of that finder window - it clearly states that I am connected to this computer as "William Harris" What I then have to do is double click on the folder that represents that external HD and as soon as I do that - the system preference shows the name of the external HD in bold (no longer grayed out) and the TM backup starts immediately!!! This will then continue to work without my intervention until I shut the laptop down again.
So - the fact that I must manually "re-connect" the connected AFP share point before TM will start to work again IMHO is a bug!
Anyone else seeing this function working differently?gogetgil wrote:
Run a Synology DS211 and trying to get Time Machine on my MB Pro (Lion) to work with my NAS as backup. It show work...but...My Macbook Pro doesn't recognize the NAS when opening Time Machine, it doesnt show the NAS as an option. However, in Finder it does see my NAS and I can work with it. Can somebody explain in steps (for my MB Pro and NAS) what I am doing wrong?
I don't use one, but many folks use Synology NASs with Time Machine. However, a number of 3rd-party NASs need to be updated to work witih Lion, so check with Synology to be sure your model is compatible and/or has the latest updates.
It can be a bit tricky setting them up, however, as part of it must be done on the NAS, with the NAS's software, so follow Synology's instructions very carefully. -
The first time I connected my new My Passport portable hard drive to my MacBook Pro, the message asking if I want to use the drive to back up with Time Machine did not appear. I would like to set it up to do this. What would my next step be?
Drive Partition and Format
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Apply button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Security button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.
Open Time Machine preferences to select this drive for use as the backup drive. Turn on Time Machine. -
My external hard drive (1TB WD My Book Essential) suddenly has no room to backup with Time Machine! I am using Maverick OS and wondered if it is because of a bug in the system software. I purchased a new external drive with 3 TB and wonder if I will run into a problem installing it. I don't know how to transfer my files from the previous HD to the New one. I was told to use a cable, but how do I do it? Do I connect them both to the computer and drag the old into the new? How is it done? Why did this happen, the overloading of the Time Machine?
Why has the TimeMachine drive run out of space?
With the limited amount of information you've provided it is hard to answer this question. TimeMachine should continue making backups until the drive is full and then it should erase the oldest backup(s) to retrieve enough space for the next backup. Unless your computer's hard drive has close to 1TB of space on it, you shouldn't see a message saying TM cannot backup because it is full. However if you do have more than 500GB (1/2 a TB) then I can see how that message might occur. Also, if you are using the TM drive for double duty (backing up more than one computer or storing data other than TM) you could get that message.
Will you have this problem with a 3TB drive?
I always recommend that people look at how much they'll be backing up in total, add a bit extra for the future, and then multiply that by at least 1.5 and even better to double it. That indicates how large the TM backup drive should be. The TM drive should only be used for TM backups. It is ok to use one drive to back up more than one computer but if doing so, add up the contents of all the computer drives, adjust for the future and then double it.
Moving Forward
Disconnect the old TM drive for now. Connect the new drive and let TM do its job. I don't recommend that you try to transfer the TM backup from the old drive to the new one. Keep the old drive around for a couple months just in case you find you need it and then after a few months, if you like, you can erase it and use it for something else. -
I bought a new Time Capsule 2Tb. I connected it to my internet router. I manage to set it up as base station but when i try to use it with time machine I always get the message "Check your IP addres"? What am I doing wrong? On my computer I have OSX 10.7.5
What IP address does the TC have and what IP does the computer have?
We need more info as we really have no idea what your network looks like.
Modem router, model, type of broadband?
TC setup as bridge or router?
Is the computer getting internet via the TC?
Are you using wireless or ethernet?
Have you set IPv6 correctly to local link in the computer on whichever network client is doing the connection?
Did this work the first time for backup and has now failed? If so simply reboot the TC. It is a constant bug that the TC is lost to the network. -
I have had a series of Macs. They have been backed up with Time Machine. I am trying to restore TM backup files from the older Macs using my new MacBook Pro. No go. What do I do ?
I am trying to restore TM backup files from the older Macs using my new MacBook Pro. No go.
Migration Assistant (Finder > Applications > Utilities > Migration Assistant) is the tool that you would use to restore backups from older Macs to another Mac.
Details are here: http://pondini.org/OSX/MigrateLion.html The same info applies for Mavericks and Yosemite. If you are saying that this is a "no go".....where are you getting stuck? What error messages do you see? -
hi, ive been backing up my computer to an external hard drive (with time machine). When i buy a new macbook will that hard drive put all my info on to the new computer?
When you boot the new machine for the first time, you'll be prompted to import your data from a Time Machine backup.
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I bought an external hard drive for backups to use with Time Machine, but however when I try to connect it with the other windows laptop it doesn't work ? intact it doesn't work on any other device except my MAC ?
Do not worry about it.
Time Machine needs that your external drive is formatted in HFS+, or better known as "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)". This filesystem is used by Apple on Macs and Windows cannot read or write drives formatted with this filesystem, being this the reason why all your devices do not read the external drive except your Mac.
You can only use your external drive to make Time Machine drives. If you store anything different, you may damage the Time Machine structure, so it is better not to use it as a drive to store other data. Instead, get another external drive to do it or create a second partition on the external drive formatted in FAT32 by using Disk Utility > http://pondini.org/OSX/DU3.html FAT32 can be read by Windows PCs -
Macbook won't recognize external Hard Drive and issues with Time Machine
Hello everyone,
I have just bought a new Macbook Pro with Mountain Lion and I am currently having problems with Time Machine.
The issue begun in Snow Leopard: Time Machine was taking too long to backup, and would often not finish the backup because the external hard drive would be unwillingly ejected.
Now with Mountain Lion I have reformated the drive (Mac OS Journaled) and about a third of the way through had the same issue: the drive was ejected before the backup could be finished. I restarted the machine and it happened again. However, now the computer won't even recognize the external drive when I plug it in. I have also tried to power off/on the drive itself to no progress.
I have tested the USB port with another drive and the port is fine. I have also tested the usb cable and it is fine. And Disk Utility does not recognize the drive (even when I try the >diskutil list command in terminal).
Now, I can hear the drive humming normally when I turn it on, and it is not usb-powered (my electricity current does fluctuate).
Could the interrupted backup procedures have damaged the drive? And if so, wouldn't the computer recognize it anyway?
It is a 4 year old WD 1 TB that is used exclusively for TM and has never left the house.
Thank you for your time reading this and let me know if you need any more information that could help out.
Cheers!From your description, I'd suspect a failing drive. Maybe time for a new external, especially as you've already re-formatted and it's still playing up.
I had a similar problem with one of my clone backups a few weeks ago - it failed, I erased it, re-cloned, worked a couple of times and then it failed again. Disk Utility didn't throw up any errors after re-formatting. I guess all disks die at some point.
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