I am running 10.7.5. Time Machine has stopped backing up to my external drive

I am unable to get my time machine to do a backup. When I plug my external drive into the macbook, there is no message to ask me if I want to backup my laptop. The external drive mounts, but nothing happens. I have done a "repair disk" and a "verify" disk and found no problems.

Has that drive already been setup (and/or used) as a Time Machine target for this computer? If so, you can click on the Time Machine icon on the top menu bar, and click on the "Backup Now" option. If, for whatever reason, the drive cannot be used, it'll at least give some kind of error message to help in troubleshooting.
Another thing to try is to go to the Time Machine preferences and "re-select" the external drive that you're using as a target.

Similar Messages

My Time machine has stopped backing up saying there are some read only files.

My Time machine has stopped backing up and says that ther are some read only files preventing this. What steps do I need to take to fix it?

If you have more than one user account, these instructions must be carried out as an administrator.
Launch the Console application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Console in the icon grid.
Make sure the title of the Console window is All Messages. If it isn't, select All Messages from the SYSTEM LOG QUERIES menu on the left.
Enter the word "Starting" (without the quotes) in the String Matching text field. You should now see log messages with the words "Starting * backup," where * represents any of the words "automatic," "manual," or "standard." Note the timestamp of the last such message. Clear the text field and scroll back in the log to that time. Post the messages timestamped from then until the end of the backup, or the end of the log if that's not clear.
Post the log text, please, not a screenshot. If there are runs of repeated messages, post only one example of each. Don't post many repetitions of the same message.
When posting a log extract, be selective. Don't post more than is requested.
Please do not indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into a message.
Some personal information, such as the names of your files, may be included — edit that out, too, but don’t remove the context.

Time machine has stopped backing up to time capsule. message is that sparse bundle is in use

Time machine suddenly stopped backing up to time capsule returning this message:
The backup disk image “/Volumes/Data-1/xxnymacbooknamexx MacBook.sparsebundle” is already in use.

Complex procedure that will almost always solve this bug:
Pull the power cord from the back of the Time Capsule
Count to ten
Plug the power cord back into the back of the Time Capsule
Wait a few minutes, then try a backup again.

HT3275 My Time Machine has stopped backing up and now it errors out everytime I make another attempt.

My Time Machine has stopped working and now errors out everytime I try to re-connect ?

What is the error.. ??
We cannot help much without details.
Look at the pondini troubleshooting.
http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
The vast majority of issues are C12 or C17.. especially with ML.. which rather than fixing issues left over from Lion exacerbated them.

Time machine has stopped backing up to my Western Digital Network Drive

I have a WD 1TB World Edition drive which pretty much worked plug 'n' play when I bought it in early Jan backing up with with Time Machine instead of the bundled software. I've had a few troubles backing up, but largely due to router problems. Time machine has worked great with the drive, as promised.
Until a few days ago, when it stopped backing up altogether. The usual backup icon stopped appearing on the desktop and it came up with error message saying the backup file cannot mount or something like that. Strangely, the shared folders on the drive still show up and I can access all the mp3 files, etc I have loaded up. So, I checked the router, cabling to the drive, rebooted the drive, resetted the drive and checked the settings using MyBookWorld. This stopped the error message showing when I tried to backup and the backup icon now shows on the desktop again. But it won't backup !!! It just stalls and in Time Machine says its configuring without doing anything. I have tried hooking up to the drive directly, still no joy.
I'm now at the end of my tether. Does anyone have any ideas? I have asked WD support and they were next to useless. Thanks !

Hi, and welcome to the forums.
Time Machine does not back up reliably, if at all, to most network drives, except Time Capsules or a shared drive on another Mac running Leopard or Snow Leopard on the same local network.
Here's the criteria they must meet: Disks that can be used with Time Machine. And be careful here: just because some 3rd-party hardware claims to support Time Machine doesn't necessarily mean that Apple supports it, or that it will work in all circumstances.
We've seen a number of problems reported with that drive. Have you downloaded the firmware update that's supposed to make it work?
with error message saying the backup file cannot mount or something like that.
The exact message might help.
Time Machine says its configuring
Is the word "configuring" or is it "Calculating changes"? "Configuring" sounds more like a message from WD, or perhaps your router, than one coming from Time Machine.
Click here to download the +Time Machine Buddy+ widget. It shows the messages from your logs for one TM backup run at a time, in a small window. Navigate to the backup in question, then copy and post all the messages for that run here.
You might also try to Repair the backups. I don't know exactly how you'd get to them on a NAS, but try the procedure for a Time Capsule in #A5 of the Time Machine - Troubleshooting *User Tip,* also at the top of this forum.

HT201250 my time machine has stopped backing up on time capsule. It is plugged into my network

My time machine is set to back up my mac using time capsule.. It has stopped backing up. When I check the icon, says "skip this back up". Before that it said it could not back up. Not sure what changed.
Said it has not backed up in a month. I cannot access anything to tell me what is going on. Please advise.

says last back up was Dec 5. Ugh.

Would someone please help me figure out why Time Machine has stopped backing up?

Hi, I am a Macbook Pro User running 10.6.8. I recently moved all of my photos, music and videos over to a 1TB Western Digital HD that I attach via usb. I believe that this is when the problem started. When I enter Time Machine, the last backup was on Feb. 17th, which I believe might have been the date that I moved everything.. Thankfully, I just happened to catch that my 2TB iomega HD that I had been using with Time Machine was no longer working, even though I have received no indication otherwise. I've poured over many queries on this site, as well as many others. I've tried deleting the TM plist file in my main file folder to no avail, reset TM and reselected the backup disc as well, but nothing seems to correct the problem. I have noticed, incidentally (or not), that my first backup date was one day short of a year before the last one. Maybe just a coincidence, maybe not, but worth noting, I thought.
I just tried a backup, and got this from Console:
Apr 18 14:50:07 Doyle-Hinsons-MacBook-Pro com.apple.backupd[1399]: Starting standard backup
Apr 18 14:50:07 Doyle-Hinsons-MacBook-Pro com.apple.backupd[1399]: Backing up to: /Volumes/Untitled 1/Backups.backupdb
Apr 18 14:50:08 Doyle-Hinsons-MacBook-Pro com.apple.backupd[1399]: Event store UUIDs don't match for volume: Macintosh HD
Apr 18 14:50:08 Doyle-Hinsons-MacBook-Pro com.apple.backupd[1399]: Forcing deep traversal on source: "Macintosh HD" (mount: '/' fsUUID: BB64A636-C7FA-3269-9643-D253B36CAEB5 eventDBUUID: 5C700854-D109-4ADA-970E-9DA378F0CBB5), {1, 1, 1, 0}
Apr 18 14:50:08 Doyle-Hinsons-MacBook-Pro com.apple.backupd[1399]: Node requires deep traversal:/ reason:must scan subdirs|require scan|
Apr 18 14:56:26 Doyle-Hinsons-MacBook-Pro com.apple.backupd[1399]: Error: Flushing index to disk returned an error: 0
Apr 18 14:56:26 Doyle-Hinsons-MacBook-Pro com.apple.backupd[1399]: Backup canceled.
I'm a bit of a novice at this, so explanations in laymen's terms would be greatly appreciated, and I express my deepest appreciation in advance to anyone willing to try and help.
Many thanks!

Thanks for your response, Linc. I have everything important to me i.e. pics, music, files, etc backed up elsewhere. Being that this is the backup drive I've used since the beginning, do I need to worry about losing other data that is on the drive, if I plan on backing up with a different one? In other words, is there irreplaceable data on the drive that a new backup won't be able to replace (data that's imperative to my computer's functions)? Thanks again!

Time Machine has stopped backing up

Time Machine repeatedly will not backup since I started backing up to an external disk configured with Drobo. Sometimes it does backup, sometimes not. When it does not backup, I get a window that says the backup did not happen because of an error "copying the files". The last time it wouldn't backup I copied this message from Time Machine Buddy:
Starting standard backup
Backing up to: /Volumes/Drobo Large Partition/Backups.backupdb
Error: (22) setxattr for key:com.apple.backupd.ModelID path:/Volumes/Drobo Large Partition/Backups.backupdb/Anthony Siciliano’s Mac Pro size:9
Failed to create progress log file at path:/Volumes/Drobo Large Partition/Backups.backupdb/Anthony Siciliano’s Mac Pro/2010-10-12-162007.inProgress/.Backup.308619180.303191.log.
Error: (-50) Creating directory D4108B79-DB3F-49BE-AD06-A32A14894F0B
Failed to make snapshot.
Error: (22) setxattr for key:com.apple.backupd.ModelID path:/Volumes/Drobo Large Partition/Backups.backupdb/Anthony Siciliano’s Mac Pro size:9
Backup failed with error: 2
Any help would be appreciated.

Those are all problems writing to the TM volume.
Make sure it's set up properly (with the GUID or APM *Partition Map Scheme* and +Mac OS Extended (Journaled)+ or +Mac OS Extended (Case sensitive, journaled)+ Format.
If that doesn't help, a few folks have had problems backing-up to Drobos. You might want to search this forum for Drobo for possible fixes.

Time Machine has stopped backing up new files, but it creates an folder as if it tried to back up?

I went use Time Machine and my file from 2 days ago was not available to me. I have worked on this file for over 2 weeks and expected time machine to keep my old version but it jumped to a folder 5 weeks back before the folder was created.
I an using a 3TB drive and and have 1.2TB available.

Because you are using Mountain Lion which has the network proficiency of tins cans and wet string.
See https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3123920?tstart=0
Normally a simple restart of the whole network in correct order will fix this.. modem.. router/TC.. clients.. 2min gap.

TS1550 My time machine has stopped backing up. I get a message that says it cannot complete backup due to an error that occurred while creating the folder.

How do I get my time machine to complete a backup?

Hello Dee,
http://pondini.org/TM/C10.html

Time Machine has stopped backing up to my Seagate Backup Plus.

My external drive is formatted for Mac OS and has worked since January with no problem. Now, all of a sudden, it will not backup and I cannot see any of my backups for the last 30 days. I have tried using disk utility to verify the disk, but keep getting the error message that the disk needs to be repaired, but when I try, it says the disk cannot be unmounted. I am hoping there is some way that I can fix this. Please help!

Take a look at this link, Take a look at this link, http://pondini.org/OSX/Home.html

How can I get Time Machine to back up an external hard drive (iPhotos) that is attached to airport extreme base station. Note: Time machine is usb to macbook pro and external drive with iphotos is usb to airport extreme base station. Help please. Thanks!

How can I get Time Machine to back up an external hard drive (iPhotos) that is attached to airport extreme base station. Note: Time machine is usb to macbook pro and external drive with iphotos is usb to airport extreme base station. Help please. Thanks!

Once you have the drive connected to your Mac, click System Preferences (gear icon) on the dock
Click Time Machine
Click Options
Be default, the hard drive will be Excluded from backups. Click the drive to highlight it, then click the "-" (minus) button at the bottom of the list to remove the drive from Excluded items.
The drive will be backed up on the next Time Machine pass
Everything above assumes that the hard drive has been formatted in Mac OS Extended (Journaled) as Time Machine will only backup drives in that format.

HT201250 how do I disable time machine? I want to use my external drive as additional storage. But it mirrors everything I edit. If I remove a document, it removes it from the external drive as well.

how do I disable time machine? I want to use my external drive as additional storage. But it mirrors everything I edit. If I remove a document, it removes it from the external drive as well.
I purchased a 1 TB WD passport drive, formatted for Mac. I set it up originally (mistakenly) to backup time machine. I went back and set it to "do not backup" It still backs up evey document I edit. If I add a document when the drive is disconnected, it automatically adds it to the external drive the next time connect to the passport drive. If I remove a document the same thing happens.
I need additional storage to free up space on my laptop hard drive. This is not working the way I want it to. Help!

Do not backup your startup volume to another partition on the same drive. If the drive fails you have nothing. Always backup to another drive or volume on another drive.
The I/O error usually means there's a problem with the drive. Clone ASAP, then repartition and reformat the main drive. Then restore the clone. Here's the basic process:
You will have to backup your OS X partition to an external drive, boot from the external drive, use Disk Utility to repartition and reformat your hard drive back to a single volume, then restore your backup to the internal hard drive.
Get an empty external hard drive and clone your internal drive to the external one.
Boot from the external hard drive.
Erase the internal hard drive.
Restore the external clone to the internal hard drive.
Clone the internal drive to the external drive
Open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder.
Select the destination volume from the left side list.
Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
Check the box labeled Erase destination.
Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to the Source entry field.
Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
Destination means the external backup drive. Source means the internal startup drive.
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager appears. Select the icon for the external drive and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
After startup do the following:
Erase internal hard drive
Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
After DU loads select your internal hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed. Do not quit Disk Utility.
Restore the clone to the internal hard drive
Select the destination volume from the left side list.
Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
Check the box labeled Erase destination.
Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to the Source entry field.
Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
Destination means the internal hard drive. Source means the external startup drive.
Note that the Source and Destination drives are swapped for this last procedure.

My Time Capsule has stopped backing up. I have an Apple Time Capsule which backs up by wireless. For the last 3 days it has not backed up. I get this message: "The backup was not performed because an error occurred while copying files to the backup disk.

My Time Capsule has stopped backing up.
I have an Apple Time Capsule which backs up by wireless. For the last 3 days it has not backed up. I get this message:
"The backup was not performed because an error occurred while copying files to the backup disk."
I have gone into Mac Help and followed this down to stage 4:
under shared it lists my time capsule and my husband's iMac - both use the time machine but we have switched his off temporarily. Clicking on my Time capsule I get "Connected" and "Sharepoint" - I didn't have to enter connect or password
I don't understand stage 5: how and where do I select the disk or volume that contains Time Machine backups ? How do I know which it is? My disk utility lists 160.04 TOSHIBA MK... with sub-heading Macintosh HD. It also lists (with a "CD" icon) HL-DT-ST DVDRW GS22N
Under stage 6, how and where do I Locate your backup ? I try dragging my Time capsule from Finder to the Disk Utility side panel but it won't go. What is my computer's name?
Please someone help! I'm completely stumped.
Thanks,
Maggie
Mac Help says:
If you back up to a Time Capsule or network disk:
Open the Time Machine pane of System Preferences, and slide the switch to Off.
Open Time Machine preferences
Open Disk Utility, which is in the Utilities folder in the Applications folder.
Open Disk Utility
Make sure the Time Capsule or network disk is turned on and available.
Open a Finder window, select your Time Capsule or network disk in the Shared section of the sidebar, and click Connect. If necessary, enter your user name and password.
On the Time Capsule or network disk, select the disk or volume that contains Time Machine backups. Depending on how your Time Capsule is set up, there may be one or more disks or volumes.
Locate your backup, and drag it to the Disk Utility sidebar.You can identify your backup by looking for your computer’s name in the backup’s filename.

Hello,
Thanks to the great Pondini...
http://pondini.org/TM/C3.html

Time Machine 1 iMac, 1 Macbook and one external drive

This must be a very simple question as I cannot find anyone else that seems to have this problem.
I have a Macbook that is just a few months old and a very new iMac each running Leopard. I have an external drive connected via Firewire 800 to the iMac. I have shared the drive on the iMac so the Macbook can access it. I mount the drive under Devices in Finder on the Macbook. In Time Machine preferences on the Macbook I select the drive to be used by Time Machine. When I do a Back up Now I get the Preparing message for a few seconds and then get a Failed message. The status is: 'Latest Backup: Delayed'.
Oh and I have just clicked on the red I next to the Failed message and am told:
Time Machine Error The backup volume could not be mounted.
Is Time Machine an idea before its time (I speak as an old Windows user that is used to stuff being released before it is stable - and I am beginning to wonder if I should have stuck with the devil I know)

See this article: Mac OS X 10.5- Time Machine - "The backup volume could not be mounted" alert.

I am running 10.7.5. Time Machine has stopped backing up to my external drive

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