HD needs to be repaired, Time machine is failing

My mac os x 10.5.8 has been acting very wierd. The other days after restarting it, it would not go past the apple/grey screen. Then i retried while holding (i believe commn, alt, p &R) and it worked. Howevere, my mac has been acting very badly/freezing. I just ran "verify disk" and got the message "first aid failed... the volume Macintosh needs to be repaired".
So sicne i figure i should back everything up on my time machine, i just got an error message from time machine saying that it has failed as well.
Please help! I also do not have my mac osx install disk with me as i moved and it is overseas
thanks

Hi Mary, you do not want to try to backup a bad drive usually.
Tough without the Install disc, but some things to try...
Does it boot to Single User Mode, CMD+s keys at bootup, if so try...
/sbin/fsck -fy
Repeat until it shows no errors fixed.
(Space between fsck AND -fy important).
Resolve startup issues and perform disk maintenance with Disk Utility and fsck...
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214
If that consistanly fails to fix the Disk, you'll need something stronger...
Your best bet is DiskWarrior, you need the CD/DVD though.
http://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/
But others that may work…
Drive Genius…
http://www.prosofteng.com/products/drive_genius.php
TechTool Pro…
http://www.micromat.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=83

Similar Messages

Disk utility can't repair time machine disk - File system check exit code is 8

i have a WD My Passport 2Tb external hard drive that is split in to 2 volumes (1.5 & .5 TB). I use the smaller volume as my Time Machine disk. A couple of days ago I started getting an error that the Time Machine back up had failed and to use Disk Utility to repair the disk. So I launched DU and ran Verify Disk in the Time Machine volume. It quit verifying and told me to run Repair Disk EXCEPT the Repair Disk button was still greyed out. If I select the physical drive, Repair Disk becomes available but gives me the above error. The other (larger) volume continues to work just fine.
The he Time Machine volume is read only now.
I'm running Yosemite 10.10.1.
Hoping ting someone has a fix because I would prefer not to lose a years worth of Time Machine data.
Mahalo for for any help.
Steve Hudson

i'm afraid that the disk is too corrupt to repair. This could be because the drive is failing or you will need to erase the partition (which may not succeed unless you also repartition the drive.) If you must repartition the drive then you will lose data on both partitions. This is an important reason why you should not mix storage and backup on the same drive.
You will need to erase your Time Machine volume to see if that fixes the problem. You will lose all the backup data unless you get another external drive to which you can clone the backup volume before erasing it.

How big a hard drive do I need for iMac and Time Machine?

Sorry if this has been answered elsewhere already. I am going to buy an iMac, probably the new 24" with a 320G internal HDD. I already have one Lacie external 320G HDD so I was wondering whether I can use this for Time Machine backups, or do I need to buy a bigger one? If so, how big? Is there a rule of thumb for working out how much hard drive space you need to have for Time Machine, for instance if I were to buy the 500G iMac what would I need?
thanks.

I agree with the "double the size" rule of thumb. You should also consider how much of the 320GB you are actually using and are likely to use in the next year or two. After all, it's the amount of storage you use that matters, not the size of the disk. Disks will very likely be cheaper soon. You should also keep in mind that TM deletes old archive data when it runs out of disk space. So as long as you have more disk space than you have data to back up, TM will work, though you will lose older versions of your data.
So if your 320GB drive only has 100GB used and you're not the kind of person who eats up disk like there's no tomorrow, the 320GB drive should be fine for now. If you expect that 320GB disk to be full soon then a 750GB TM disk is more like what you need.
The same logic applies to a 500GB iMac. If you only expect to use 250GB in the next year or two then a 500GB TM disk should be OK. A 1TB drive will be a lot cheaper next year or the year after.

I need a refresher on time machine. Have an older I Mac that is limited to OSX 5.8 that I want to back up upping time machine.

I need a refresher on Time Machine. Want to do a good backup on an Older IMac running osx10.58 (before loading on a newer IMac)

I left your post for others to answer because I only entered the Apple world at 10.6
TM on 10.5 was a bit primitive and I am not sure how well it works with later versions.
Anyway the method is simple.. get a suitable sized USB drive.. plug it into your Mac and start TM and point it to the USB drive.. start.
TM is not hard.
Please read the info in Pondini who has been there since Leopard.
http://pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html
When you start the new Mac.. you can simply migrate the files from the old mac without a TM backup at all. Never get rid of the old machine until the new machine is fully operational.
See Pondini on migrate.
Down the end of the main home page.. http://pondini.org/TM/Home.html
He covers migrate from a number of different OS and usually includes info on mix and match to new OS.
The guy who wrote all this died before Yosemite.. so it is somewhat out of date but still very useful.

365 gig used, 1TB external HD-Time Machine bu fail -claims to need 1.3TB...

I have an iMac with a 500 gig internal hard drive. We have used close to 365gig of that.
I originally tried to set Time Machine up with a couple of older/smaller external HD's. Time Machine told me that it needed 800gig to back up.
I purchased a 1TB LaCie external hard drive.
Tonight when I tried to set up Time Machine it failed and said it now needed 1.3TB.
I have now read through various discussions on sizing the drive for backup and generally it is suggested that 2 to 3 times is fine.
It is also noted that there is no way to restrict this size other than by excluding items. I would prefer to not do this as the point is to back up our entire music, photo and video libraries.
Also, it appears that once set up Time Machine works with the size of back up drive you have and deletes older backups.
I am reluctant to now purchase an additional hard drive, to find that it now needs even more space as the space required seems to be growing exponentially.
I seem to be locked into a catch-22 situation of Time Machine requiring space at a faster rate than I can buy a hard drive.
Any advice?
My ideal solution is telling Time Machine to restrict the size of the back up somehow. I realize, based on previous discussions that this does not seem possible.
1.3TB of back up for a 365gig seems excessive.

How many disks are connected to the system?
Is it possible that Time Machine is trying to backup more than
one disk (if there is more than one)?
Dave

After upgrading to 10.7.2 Time Machine has failed

Hi everybody,
After upgrading to Lion 10.7.2 Time Machine has failed and won't mount the Time Machine drive.
I use a WD My Book Studio LX for my Time machine and also have a smaller WD My Book daisy chained through it in to the iMac with 2 partitions.
Both of the partitions on the My Book are loading fine and the Studio LX Drive is on and functioning ... the light is blinking away like a good'un ... but the drive won't mount on to the Desktop.
Has anyone else experienced this or have any possible solutions for it?
Thanks
Simon

I znever realized that you need to add firmware updates, since Apple sells this but doesn't provide any instruction or information on use. I had my WD external since about May and just looked into adding necessary firmware. This was my second drive and was not aware of this necessary upgrade. If failed to recognize my drive so I contacted Westen Digital and after a series of emails they said sorry but Lion is not supported! I was dumbfounded and in disbelief. They tried to
Get me to upgrade to another model but didn't tell me about any cost. I called the Apple store where I purchased it and talked to. Manager who brought on the phone a genius. He told me he has one and it does work with Lion! He walked me through adding the firmware and there you go Apple knew more than the Tech support at WD! I am hoping someone at Apple will read this and contact WD management and tech support to get their act together.
Regards,
Barry

Time Machine Backup Failed - on three Macs. Used to work fine.

"*+Time Machine Error*+
+Unable to complete backup. An error occurred while copying files to the backup volume.+"
Last week all three machines were running fine. The Time Machine disk is hooked up to an Airport Extreme running 7.3.2 firmware. I updated it today to 7.4.1 in hopes of fixing the problem. All Macs are on 10.5.6 and have been for a month or more.
When "Backup now" is selected all machines stick on Preparing backup" for a few minutes and then fail.
I'm bummed that this is happening now. I used to use SilverKeeper (free from LaCie). It's faster and more comprehensive, but somehow I got sucked in by Apple's futuristic (historic?) interface. Now, in order to use SilverKeeper I need to erase the Time Machine drive - all 1.2TB.
I don't feel TM is ready for storage of important data. A commercial product would never make it to market if it continually had issues like this. Nearly 10,000 topics in this forum, and a good portion have just plain bad things to say.
I'm sure a lot of people have run into this on their own setups. Has anyone solved the issue? Please help.

Yes, perhaps we're missing something. But I'd rather stick with what works. Here's a software review that pretty much echo's my feelings:
*+I've tried to love Time Machine. I really have. It was one of the reasons I was in an all-fire hurry to upgrade to 10.5. I spent the cash, installed the OS, and immediately set up TM. Or at least I tried to. My new Airport Extreme wasn't allowed to access the USB disk for this purpose.+*
*+But I found a hack and things were good. For about a day. "To **** with it" I thought and went back to Carbon Copy Cloner. An excellent and free app that got me thru years of work with no loss of data. But wait! Now that I upgraded to 10.5 CCC no longer works.+*
*+So I played with it for a few weeks and eventually, I got it to work.... Until Apple released the official software upgrade that allowed Airport Extreme disks to work with TM and it broke again. Another 4 days of playing and reinstalling, and reformatting, and shuffling data. Still nothing.+*
*+****, you should have seen the look on their eyes when I showed up to the Apple store toting my G5 PowerMac Dual, AirPort Extreme, MacBook Pro, wife's MacBook, and two USB drives. AND my Apple ProCare card.+*
*+I took up half the Genius Bar for about 2 hours and still left with a backup scheme that would only partially work. Then, upon arriving home, the IP addresses had changed so I had to repeat half of the steps I barely remembered (and the Genius made up on the fly).+*
*+Finally all was good in the world. Until last week. My wife asked me to send her a picture I took of her with our new puppy at our new house about 6 months ago. I pulled up iPhoto and couldn't locate the picture. "No problem, I've got Time Machine" I thought.+*
*+The story is getting long and you can see where it's going. Not only was the picture missing, but 4 months of pictures were missing. 4 months starting when I stopped using CCC and, even though TM was running, it deleted the oldest files without any warning, any notification, or any reason. In fact the TM drive still had over 400GB free.+*
*+Yes, I had to replace a drive in that 4 month window and yes, I made sure I pulled the data off of Time Machine. HUGE pain in the @ss - it took nearly 4 days to copy the data from TM to the new drive, and apparently a big chunk was lost.+*
*+Finally, the end of my little story. I'm back using CCC. v3 is out and it works with 10.5 and reportedly, 10.6. Four years of using CCC and I've never lost so much as an email (much to the chagrin of my old landlord that emailed me that dogs were perfectly fine, only to try to sue me later).+*
*+For all of those who trust Time Machine, go ahead and try to find a file from a few months ago. It's not as easy as the interface makes it look, and it may not be there at all.+*
*+Time Machine - go sparse yourself. And thanks Bombich software for a superior product in Carbon Copy Cloner.+*

Time machine sometimes fails with no space left

Hi,
I'm beginning to notice that sometimes Time Machine is failing to backup saying there is no space left on the Time Machine backup disk. I'm using OS X 10.9.4 .
My understanding is that when there is not enough space left, Time Machine will automatically delete older backups to make space? Sometimes this happens, sometimes not.
For example:
Aug 10 18:39:49 Barney.local com.apple.backupd[9571]: Starting automatic backup
Aug 10 18:39:50 Barney.local com.apple.backupd[9571]: Backing up to /dev/disk6s2: /Volumes/TimeMachine/Backups.backupdb
Aug 10 18:40:04 Barney.local com.apple.backupd[9571]: Will copy (1 MB) from Macintosh HD
Aug 10 18:40:04 Barney.local com.apple.backupd[9571]: Will copy (Zero KB) from HD5
Aug 10 18:40:04 Barney.local com.apple.backupd[9571]: Will copy (Zero KB) from HD2
Aug 10 18:40:04 Barney.local com.apple.backupd[9571]: Found 64 files (1 MB) needing backup
Aug 10 18:40:04 Barney.local com.apple.backupd[9571]: 1.74 GB required (including padding), 7.41 GB available
Aug 10 18:40:26 Barney.local com.apple.backupd[9571]: Copied 70 items (1 MB) from volume Macintosh HD. Linked 709.
Aug 10 18:40:33 Barney.local com.apple.backupd[9571]: Copied 1 items (Zero KB) from volume HD5. Linked 2.
Aug 10 18:57:34 Barney.local backupd[9571]: Metadata.framework [Error]: server port invalidated for uid 0
Aug 10 19:01:02 Barney.local com.apple.backupd[9571]: Stopping backup.
Aug 10 19:01:02 Barney.local com.apple.backupd[9571]: Error: (-34) SrcErr:NO Copying /Volumes/HD2/Users/gj/Documents/2013.partial.mbox/mbox to /Volumes/TimeMachine/Backups.backupdb/Barney/2014-08-10-184001.inProgress/38868 CAA-6167-40B8-8F15-BF798FADF283/HD2/Users/gj/Documents/2013.partial.mbox
Aug 10 19:01:03 Barney.local com.apple.backupd[9571]: Copied 9 items (16.82 GB) from volume HD2. Linked 21.
Aug 10 19:01:03 Barney.local backupd[9571]: Metadata.framework [Error]: MDBackupCancel failed:-1 (4) (os/kern) invalid argument
Aug 10 19:01:03 Barney.local com.apple.backupd[9571]: Copy stage failed with error:28
Aug 10 19:01:04 Barney.local com.apple.backupd[9571]: Backup failed with error 28: 28
What I'm interpreting here is that initially TM says there isn't anything to copy from HD2, but then spends about 3.5 minutes copying a very large file from HD2 and then files due to being out of space.
Why did TM not realise this file existed in the first place?
Thanks for any help.
Steve

About TM "Backup Drive is Full"
Alert TM only deletes older files if they have been deleted from the source and when TM needs space on the backup drive for a new incremental backup. Time Machine "thins" it's backups; hourly backups over 24 hours old, except the first of the day; those "daily" backups over 30 days old, except the first of the week. The weeklies are kept as long as there's room.
So, how long a backup file remains depends on how long it was on your Mac before being deleted, assuming you do at least one backup per day. If it was there for at least 24 hours, it will be kept for at least a month. If it was there for at least a week, it will be kept as long as there's room.
Note, that on a Time Capsule the sparsebundle grows in size as needed, but doesn't shrink. Thus, from the user's view of the TC it appears that no space has been freed, although there may be space in the sparsebundle.
Once TM has found it cannot free up enough space for a new backup it reports the disk is full. You can either erase the backup drive and start your backups anew or replace the drive with a larger drive.

Time Machine backup fails because "volume could not be found".

I just had my logic board replaced in my Macbook Pro and went to do a backup (yeah, I didn't do this right before it crashed) and now Time Machine backup fails with the message "volume could not be found" Under Time Machine/Choose Disk, it appears that the drive is the one selected. The computer "sees" the drive and I can read files on it. The only other thing that has happened in the meantime is that a friend helped pull a file off the hard drive that I needed for a project. No apparent issues there. Any suggestions?

You might try going to /Library/Preferences, then drag the file com.apple.TimeMachine.plist to the Desktop. Reboot your Mac, then try declaring the backup disk for Time Machine. It might help if you mount the backup disk first.
Are you using Time Machine to write its backups to the disk of a Time Capsule? If not, since this discussion section is for Apple's Time Capsule AirPort base station, a discussion involving Time Machine should be held on the discussion section for whatever version of OSX that you're using.

Time Machine restore fail - best method to reinstall OS?

I've just had a Time Machine restore fail on me, startup gets to blue screen but no further. Also tried the next previous backup. Trying to decide whether to reinstall Snow Leopard on my not-quite-restored drive and then do the combo update to the last OS version, or whether to do a clean install (wipe drive) and then use the Migration Assistant to import everything.
I have a ton of software / plugins authorised which will take me an age to reinstall, hoping that whichever method will retain all the pref files in macintosh hd/library and user/library. That being said I was in the process of trying to fix my intermittent system freezes, it was happening at the last TM backup so maybe aiming to return to duplicate system / user folders is a bad idea?
Many thanks for any help.
Harry

hazza26 wrote:
Hi again
I have ended up having to erase my drive and do a fresh install of SL. When I get to the welcome page I opt to import all my setting from my TM backup. It started ok this morning but the progress bar has been stuck at "4 hours 46 mins left" for the whole day. How best to proceed now?
Cancel it. You'll probably have to turn your Mac off via the power button.
Can I do a disk repair on the backup data, and if so how?
Yup. See #A5 in [Time Machine - Troubleshooting|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/Troubleshooting.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum). Then you'll have to erase your OSX volume and install OSX again, since the transfer was incomplete.
Or, if the repair finds and fixes problems, you might want to try a full restore again (much less likely to have problems with transferred apps), but perhaps from an earlier backup, before the problems started. If that seems to complete normally, but won't boot, then just install a fresh version of OSX over the old one, then download and install the "combo" update and repair permissions.
Or should I try to mount the backup and manually pull off all my critical data?
Only as a last resort. You may have all sorts of permissions problems that way, and of course will have to reinstall all your 3rd-party apps.
Thanks again for your much appreciated support
You're quite welcome. Hang in there!

Time machine backup fails; error creating folder. Western Digital drive requires password which is perhaps/likely the issue. I can't eliminate the password/encryption.

Time Machine backup fails on new WD external drive (My Passport Studio); error creating folder (after several hours of Time Machine apparently working).
Background: I purchased a Western Digital drive from an Apple Store to use for Time Machine backup. I followed the Western Digital instructions that came with the drive for Mac. I didn't get the Time Machine prompt which the instructions indicated I would receive--namely to select whether I want to encrypt my Time Macine backups. (I already have a Time Machine backup I use at another location, which is perhaps why I didn't receive a prompt.)
I decided to install the Western Digital utilities and security software that comes on the disk--with a view to potentially encrypting the disk (since I still wanted to have an encrypted backup since I was mobile). I forgot that (from experience 2-years previous) that I shouldn't install Western Digital software because it just makes life really complicated.
I tried several times to do a Time Machine backup with failures each time (error creating the backup folder). I tried to get help from WD but I don't think the technicians were following what my issue was. Potentially I was not helpful in explaining it. I deleted the WD applications from my system after the first contact with WD. However the problem persisted--I still had an encrypted hard drive. After three phone sessions with three different WD techs I still could not get a solution. (By the second call I was not at all interested in having an encrypted drive--I just wanted to format and restore the drive to an unencrypted state so that I could have SOME kind of Time Machine backup.)
I still don't have a solution--either to get Time Machine working with the WD encryption/password on the drive, or to remove the encryption so I can backup. Right now my options are to return the drive to the Apple Store -- or get a return authorization from WD. Seems crazy since the drive is fine and I have the working password.

Never install "helpful software" provided by WD and Seagate (or any HD mfg.)
All such stuff is fluff and nonsense that interferes with normal HD operation.
Always when you buy a new HD, format it for Mac and then use it to TM backup or clone a HD, or archive data.
Less is more on HD new out of box. A "blank brick", no fluff and cotton candy software

I recently upgraded to Mavericks and the time machine is failing to backup. Time Machine began only backing up twice a day and now has stopped.

I recently upgraded to Mavericks and the time machine is failing to backup. Time Machine began only backing up twice a day and now has stopped.

This is the error message I got:
2014-03-18 17:02:30 -0400 com.apple.backupd[4971]: Error: (22) setxattr for key:com.apple.backupd.HostUUID path:/Volumes/TOSHIBA EXT/Backups.backupdb/Quincy‚Äö√Ñ√¥s iMac size:37
2014-03-18 17:02:30 -0400 com.apple.backupd[4971]: Backup failed with error 2: 2

Copying Mac App Store Apps may cause Time Machine to fail

Hey folks,
My Time Machine backups started failing the other day with the "error occurred while copying files" error (asking me to run Disk Utility). I ran DU and the drive checked out fine. I eventually checked the backupd logs (Console> filter "backupd") and found that TM was stopping with Error: (-41) SrcErr:No Copying /Path/to/a/file/inside/aMacAppStoreApp. Then saying the backup stopped with error:11.
So I deleted the App and ran the backup again. This time it gave me the same error on another MacAppStore App that I had installed. So I deleted that one too and then TM backup run successfully.
Background:
- There were only two MAS Apps installed (the two referenced above: Quick Note, ARD).
- Both were installed after being downloaded to a different computer, copied to this one, and then a copy made into the Applications folder. They were working fine.
- When I "installed" the Apps, I did not do a drag/drop copy, I did a copy/paste.
- There were two copies of the each App on the filesystem. 1 copy in my "software installers" folder and 1 copy in the Applications folder. Only the copy in the Applications folder failed to backup. The unused copy in the installers folder backed up fine.
Once the backups were working. I then moved the Apps from the "software installers" folder to the Applications folder. I opened the applications and they worked fine. I then ran the backup and it worked fine as well.
So I'm not sure if Time Machine was failing because of my unusual way of copying them into the Applications folder or what? Thoughts? Either way, it seems like a strange thing to cause TM to completely fail.

It's not copy protection issue since after I recopied the App (using drag/drop) the backup worked fine.
You are allowed to copy MAS Apps from one computer to another and run them as long as the target computer is either authorized for the same MAS account or you login to the account that purchased the App.

Time Machine backup fails in extended network

Dear all,
I've recently setup an extended network using 2 additional AirPort Express units connected to the main Airport Extreme modem (all working well). I'm using the Extreme for Time Machine Backups, which used to work just fine as well.
However, when connected to the Expresses, the Time Machine Backups fail with the message that the backup file is already in use. I'm guessing the Express modem tries to connect to the backup file, while the Extreme is keeping the file stand-by or something.
Does anybody know a fix to this problem?
Kind regards,
Dennis

It took a Snow Leopard a while but after 2 days it started working again. I've checked whether the connection was directly to the Extreme, but the connection actually went through one of the bridged Expresses.
I guys one just has to hope for the best ;-)
I've upgraded to Lion last week and backup works fine with the new operating system as well.

Time machine backup fails in my seagate 3tb external drive

Time machine backup fails in my seagate 3tb external drive

Without any specifics it's impossible to assist you, however the best tool for debugging TM failures is using Pondini's Time Machine Troubleshooting guide.
Good luck.

HD needs to be repaired, Time machine is failing

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