New Logic Board - Time Machine wants to create a new backup

This has me stumped. I just got a new hard drive and logic board from Apple. Plugged my external hard drive into my computer, turned time machine off and 'Entered Time Machine' to copy files over back to my computer. All worked as advertised.
Once I had some of my files copied over, I went to turn time machine on. Time Machine informed me that I didn't have enough space on my hard drive (it wants ~94 gigs free and it has 30 free, but it should have been able to delete the oldest backup, free up some space, and we should have moved on). At no point did it ask me if I wanted to reuse the backup or not.
I then wondered if it needed to get further along the backup process before prompting me to reuse the volume or not. So, I excluded like 98% of my hard drive and made the backup ~3 gigs. The backup happened, but now in my Backups.backupdb I have a MyComputer which contains all of my old time machine backups, and a MyComputer_2 which contains this last backup.
I trashed the MyComputer_2 folder and 'Entered Time Machine'. It pulled from the correct place and I saw my backups trailing back into history, but apparently I no longer have permission to view the desktop folder as well as the other 'protected' folders in my backed up home folder. I repaired permissions on the off chance that it would fix it, but it didn't.
Something is clearly broken, do the masses have any suggestions? I found multiple suggestions for how to deal with this under 10.5, but nothing about 10.6.
Thank You,
Zac

zac850 wrote:
But what if I want to reuse my backup? How would I go about doing that? I trashed the time machine plist file (the only one i found was "Macintosh HD/Library/Preferences/com.apple.TimeMachine.plist") in the hopes that after a restart I would be prompted to reuse the backup. No luck.
I don't know why you didn't get the "reuse" prompt, but that wouldn't prevent a new, full backup. You have a new internal HD. Even if it has the same name as the old one, Time Machine knows it's a different disk, so will back up everything on it. You cannot prevent that.
Your first problem is, you didn't transfer things onto the new drive properly (Apple Stores often give bad or misleading advice on that.)
And, you may have corrupted your backups by "trashing" the MyComputer_2 folder. Apple doesn't do a very good job of warning folks: +*never move, change, or delete anything in your backups+* via the Finder.
Try to repair them, per #A5 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).
If that works, your best bet is probably to do a full system restore, per #14 in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).
You obviously had a problem with your Mac; depending on what happened and when, it's possible that damaged your installation of OSX and/or some of your data. If your last backup(s) were done after that started, the corruption may have been backed-up.
If that's a possibility, and you do the restore properly, but it fails, try it again, but select an earlier backup.

Similar Messages

Time Machine wants to do a full backup. How do I point it to my previous backups so it will do an incremental backup?

I lost my wireless connection to my backup drive for a short time. Now time machine wants to do a full backup. It doesn't know that I have previous backups. How do I point it to the previous backups so that time machine continues to do incremental backups rather than doing another full backup.

I did some more reading and I found that Time Machine would find the older backups once a new backup is completed. The backup ended up being a little larger than previous backups (2.65 GB vs typical incremental backups of several MB's) but when it completed, time machine updated the last backup time/date and the oldest backup time/date properly. So I guess, I don't have a problem.

Time machine: can i create a separate backup for an external hard drive?

I am already backing up my internal hard drive to External Hard Drive A
I would like to back up another external hard drive (External Hard Drive B) to another hard drive (Hard Drive C). Is this possible with Time Machine in Mac OS 10.7.5. If so, where might I find instructions?
Thank you!

Sounds like you (or somebody) encrypted the disk with FileVault2.
When you enabled FileVault2, you should have received a message similar to the following:
WARNING: You will need your login password or a recovery key to access your data. A recovery key is automatically generated as part of this setup. If you forget both your password and recovery key, the data will be lost.
(That's the wording when encrypting the boot volume in Security & Privacy preference. The wording when creating an encrypted non-boot disk with Erase in Disk Utility is slightly different, but also includes red-letter WARNING about data loss if you forget the password.)
If the disk is encrypted with FileVault, better hope you can remember the password. As the help says, "The disk encryption in Mac OS X uses the government-approved encryption standard, the Advanced Encryption Standard with 128-bit keys (AES-128)."

Time Machine doesn't recognize old sparsebundle after new logic board

Installed new logic board in pre-Isight 20" iMac due to capacitor swelling and kernel panic. I had also erased the internal HD. I was able to restore all my files to internal HD from Time Machine backup on the 1TB Time Capsule. Now I'm trying to back up my restored iMac to Time Capsule, but there is insufficient space. Time Capsule has three sparsebundle files: one for the 20"iMac prior to new logic board, one for a Powerbook, and one for a newer 24"iMac. Time Machine wants to create a new sparsebundle for the restored iMac, but there is not enough room and I would like it use the residing sparsebundle so that I will have backups prior to the point the new logic board was installed. I tried just changing the name of the old IMac Time Capsule sparsebundle file to the new sparsebundle filename that Time Machine creates when attempting backup, but that did not work. Any suggestions?

1. I thought of just deleting the old sparsebundle in order to make room, but it was a less elegant solution because: a) I'd have to do a complete (i.e. lengthy) backup when really only a few things have changed (mostly software updates) since the restore. b)if something should go wrong with that process, then I've lost my backup file to restore the computer. True, I could archive the old sparsebundle to another drive, and then delete it from the time capsule, but somehow I think there should be a quicker, less labor intensive way that doesn't involve bringing in another hard drive.
2. I believe you can restore any Mac with any time machine backup. If you boot from the system disk, go to utilities, and select restore from time machine backup, it then allows you to pick any of the files on the disk that time machine has backed up to. After all, even though Time Machine thinks this is a new computer, the restore that I just did makes it essentially the same computer that I had before the failure of the logic board--the desktop looks exactly the same. BTW, the Apple authorized service center that did the logic board replacement had put a clean version of 10.6 on the internal hard drive, and I was unable to use that system to do the restore--it just hung up. I had to do the restore using my system disk CD (and basically downgrading to system 10.5.8)

Will time machine do a full backup of external volume (extra storage) after new logic board?

I have a MacBook Pro running leopard, that just had the logic board replaced. I haven't picked it up yet, but I am told that my hard drive and data were not touched.
I have read Pondini's very helpfull info/site, so I know that time machine will want to start a new set of backups.
Here is my question, based on my setup: in addition to the internal HD, I have a firewire drive for additional storage of files. Time machine backs up both volumes to another, larger, FireWire drive
Now, after the new logic board, will time machine make a whole new copy of the external storage drive as well as the internal? Or just the internal?
Basically, I know time machine will think it's on a new machine, but will it treat the external storage as if it were new as well?
I would appreciate any help or advice you can give me. Thanks.

Still no answer? I do have the same trouble on my iMac G5 PPC with 10.5.8: I just replaced the MOB and Time Machine insists to create a new bkup! Attempted with "tmutil" command but doesn't work on my OS...it is really impossible to tell the machine to learn the new address? I DON'T want to believe it!
Tks for any help

HT1175 Time Machine wants to start with a new, full backup instead of using the existing one

Hi, my Time Machine wants to start a new, full backup, instead of continuing with the existing one on the time Capsule.
Looking a the Troubleshooting guide, I've found the following piece of info, which is, as 99% of the times with the troubleshooting guides, totally useless to resolve my problem...
Message: Time Machine starts a new, full backup instead of a smaller incremental backup
There are three reasons why this may occur:
You performed a full restore.
Your Computer Name (in Sharing preferences) was changed--when this happens, Time Machine will perform a full backup on its next scheduled backup time.
If you have had a hardware repair recently, contact the Apple Authorized Service Provider or Apple Retail Store that performed your repair. In the meantime, you can still browse and recover previous backups by right-clicking or Control-clicking the Time Machine Dock icon, and choosing "Browse Other Time Machine disks" from the contextual menu.
It should be noted (hence the uselessness of the guide) that:
-I haven't performed ANY full restore
- I havent changed my computer name
- My computer has not had ANY repair, much less a hardware repair. Neither recently, nor in the 9 months I've owned it.
Which puts me back to square one, with the marginal improvement that now I have a way of browsing my old backups.
In the event I decide to start all over again, will there be a way for me to "sew" the two backup files?
Or will I always have to go the silly way around?
Anybody has any idea?
Thank you for your time (machine/capsule, your choice;-)

Hi John,
no, that doesn't have anything to do with my problem.
Just look at the image below.
Time Machine thinks that the disk I've always used to do my backups has none of them.
If I open the disk with Finder, obviously they are where they should be.
It is even possible to navigate them as per the instruction reported above, but even following Pondini's advice #s B5 and B6 (which are more applicable to my problem) didn't solve the problem.
Actually, not being a coder, I'm always scared of doing more damage than good when I have a Terminal window open.
My question is: how is it possible that Apple hasn't thought of some kind of user command to tell the idiotic Time Machine software that a hard disk backup is a hard disk backup, no matter what?
Estremely frustrating and annoying: I'm wasting HOURS in trying to find a solution to a problem that should not have arisen in the first place...
Have a nice weekend
Antonio

Time Machine from old Mac to new Mac

I recently changed my Macbook Pro (mid 2010) to one of the newer models.
I use an external HD via an Airport Extreme (I know its not recommended, but its been working perfectly for over 18 months)
I attempted to use a time machine backup to setup the new Macbook, but had to opt for using the Migration Assistant. I was able to restore from my last backup, but now Time Machine inisists on creating a new backup, instead of continuing to use the previous backup.
I've noticed that within the actual HD that it has a SparseBundle for the old Macbook, which can be mounted, but I cannot access any of the files due to restricted priveleges?
When TM begins creating the new backup, it creates the Backups.backupdb folder as expected, so I'm just wondering if theres anything I can do to try clean all this up so I can continue to use the same backup hierarchy as from the previus Macbook?
Apologies if I'm missing anything here or lack clarification, but I'm a first time user of the communities

Hi, and welcome to the forums.
Just change the new Mac's +Computer Name+ in System Preferences > Sharing.

My MacBook Pro randomly freezing ever since new logic board?

My mid 2012 MacBook Pro 13" keeps ok randomly freezing ever since I've had a new logic board fitted after my macbook needed a new one (it was fixed through stormfront which is an official apple retailer). It will just freeze, won't be able to move the mouse or anything, and sometimes when I turn it off by holding down the power button, I can most of the time hear a click, but not everytime. Sometimes it freezes when starting up, sometimes it lasts a while before freezing, but recently it's been more like every 5-10 minutes. Can anyone help me as to why this is happening and what the problem may be? I'm running OS X Mavericks. Thankyou.

If You are european then even if youtube out of warrenty then in most countries, its sos that if any element was repaird under warrenty its warrenty is counting from the moment it was repaired. If you are us You have to read warrenty laws.

HT3275 My New Time Machine is saying 129 Days to BackUp!

I recently upgraded to Mountain Lion. The time machine disk was full after it's first backup, so I bought a new drive for Time Machine. First, I copied the BackUP's file to the new drive after reformatting correctly. When hooked up, it was just stuck in Preparing mode for a couple of days. So I ended that, thinking that can't be right. I decided to just just trash the old Backup's file and forget about the months of backups I kept. I reformatted the drive and then made it the main Time Machine back up starting from scratch. This things been running for 2 days and it's still saying 129 Days of time to back up. It's got like 5G of 620Gig backed up..
Anyway, this can't be right.. should back up overnight or even 1 day, correct? Why is it sooooooo slow, and only has 5G of the drive backed up after a full day?
Also, I bought a new iMac so that's coming in next week anyway.. but thought I'd get this backed up for now.

I need some clarification.
This discussion area is about Time Capsule..
When you say Time Machine disk was full do you mean Time Capsule?
But the prcess you describe of copying the backup from one disk to another is unlikely.. this is more likely an external drive.
How is this external drive plugged in? How is it formatted?
Please copy one very large file to it and get a peak transfer speed from Activity Monitor.. to make sure it is working ok.
If the internal drive of the computer is corrupt or low reading.. it can be extremely slow to copy files for TM.
Please run a verify of the main drive. To do it properly you should boot from original OS dvd so you can do full disk scan using disk utility.
See A5 here. http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
Fill in the details and then we have some hope of understanding the issue.

Time Machine wants to do complete backup after restore

I had to restore my system from a Time Machine backup because of a recurring problem. Now Time machine wants to backup my entire drive as if I'm actually starting over. I've got 300GB left on my backup drive and this complete backup will use 133GB of it. I have had to do this in the past but I don't remember that Time Machine wanted to do a complete backup before. Is there something I can do to prevent it?
Thanks,
Frank

See User Tips for Time Machine for help with TM problems. Also you can select Mac Help from the Finder's Help menu and search for "time machine" to locate articles on how to use TM. See also Mac 101- Time Machine.
Might find something helpful in the above.

Time machine fails to complete/maintain a backup

Time machine is driving me nuts!:
The last successful backup was one month ago. Since that time it seems to have been stuck in a perpetual loop of trying but never successfully completing a backup, no matter what I try. Here is the history:
I bought a new iMac 6 months ago with OS X Lion (1Gb HDD). Set up Time Machine over wireless network with a 1Gb WD MyBookLive attached to a new BT Homehub 3 router (UK). Lion successfully backed up my system (total size approximately 159Gb) over a two day period, but every 4-6 weeks Time Machine would tell me it needed to create a new backup. Frustratingly, this meant that the backup history never stretched very far in the Time machine 'starfield window' but at least I had a backup of some sort.
I upgraded to Mountain Lion 3 months ago, in the hope that it would fix the error and, briefly, things were going well. Time Machine didn't need to create a new backup from scratch after upgrade, and continued to add to the existing backups & history for 2 months. Then i got the dreaded 'Time Machine needs to create a new backup' message and, 1 month later, it hasn't been able to finish the process yet!
After about 6 days it was about 30% complete (just over 50Gb) which didn't sound right given how long it previously took. I stopped the backup using the TM dialog box , reset my mac, router and MyBookLive and started again. Time machine automatically started again, and after several days of crawling I got the message that the 'sparsebundle was already in use'. I followed the suggested tips regarding unmounting the drive, reset everything and tried again. TimeMachine took about another 4 days to get to about 30Gb, then stopped itself with the message that the backup had failed. I tried deleting the preferences files for TM as several sources suggest, but this doesn't seem to have helped, TM just takes days to crawl along and then terminates saying either simply that the 'backup has failed' or that the sparsebundle is already in use. About 5 days ago I used the WD browser-based administration tools to create a new, separate, share for TM (presumably because this ensures that there can be no record of any previous backups on the backup device which TM sees) and set up TM from scratch. All seemed well, it took only 23 hours to back up 103Gb - then it failed, saying that the 'sparsebundle is already in use'. I set the backup away again overnight and it managed about 12Gb before the same message appeared. TM now estimates 5 days to backup the remaining 40Gb.
Somebody please tell me what is going wrong and how to get TM to actually complete a full backup then maintain it without constant intervention!!!
Some further points worth mentioning:
1) My iMac is located too far from my router to backup using ethernet cable.
2) I have used iStumbler to determine that the signal strength is 36% (surely strong enough?) with only 3% noise. (802.11n Gigabit Ethernet).
3) WD MyBookLive plugged into the GigE port on the router, and firmware is up to date.
4) I've searched Pondini's tips, from start to finish looking for a solution, as well as the Western Digital and BT forums, but none of the common solutions seem to work.
Help! and thanks.

Thanks, Linc, for your response. I will also seek advice from the manufacturers of the other devices, however, I fear that every party will foot the blame at the door of others.
I don't agree with your suggestion that this shouldn't be my only backup, given the marketing literature of both Apple and Western Digital. Apple state on their website:
"Connect the drive, assign it to Time Machine, and start enjoying some peace of mind. Time Machine automatically backs up your entire Mac, including system files, applications, accounts, preferences, music, photos, movies, and documents."
Similarly, Western Digital state about their MyBook Live:
"Mac users can utilize all the features of Apple Time Machine backup software to protect their data."
So where, I wonder, does the fault lie? At the end of the day I am a home user and 'consumer' - just your average Joe looking for a robust home computing solution, not an IT boffin with an in-depth understanding of the nuts and bolts. I expect both products to do what they say on the box. Not surprisingly BT (the supplier of the router) state "The wireless 'N' technology in the BT Home Hub ensures you get a more reliable wireless connection throughout your home at all times."
To me, the advantage with my set up (should it ever work) is that, should the unthinkable happen and my computer is stolen, the likelihood of my backup device disappearing with it (as might be the case with a locally attached device) is greatly reduced because the NAS is hidden away elsewhere.

Time Machine Restore After New Logic Board

Older iMac (2009) had hard drive and logic board replaced. Running latest system (10.10.2) before and after logic board replacement.
When attempting to restore from a Time Machine backup made prior to the new logic board, although the iMac sees the Time Capsule and the "Data" file, attempts to proceed with the restore are met with error message "There was a problem connecting to the server [name of Time Capsule] - contact your administrator."
Any experience with this issue? Anybody successfully perform a restore following a new logic board?
Thanks very much.

I would refer you to visit Pondini's Time Machine FAQ for help with Time Machine and full system restore. It also provides instruction on how to restore a backup from another system or Time Machine backup drive.

Getting this error: Time Machine completed a verification of your backups. To improve reliability, Time Machine must create a new backup for you.

I keep getting this error on my new Macbook Pro w/ Retina.
"Time Machine completed a verification of your backups. To improve reliability, Time Machine must create a new backup for you."
Connected to a wifi network and QNAP storage system. There are 5 computers on this network, and each backs up just fine. The issue is isolated to this one machine.
This error shows up every week or so.

A third-party NAS is unsuitable for use with Time Machine, especially if it's your only backup. I know this isn't the answer you want. I know Time Machine accepts the NAS as a backup destination. I know that the manufacturer says the device will work with Time Machine, and I also know that it usually seems to work. Except when you try to restore, and find that you can't.
Apple has published a specification for network devices that work with Time Machine. None of the third-party NAS vendors, as far as I know, meets that specification. They all use the incomplete, obsolete Netatalk implementation of Apple Filing Protocol.
If you want network backup, use as the destination either an Apple Time Capsule or an external storage device connected to another Mac or to an 802.11ac AirPort base station. Only the 802.11ac base stations support Time Machine, not any older model.
Otherwise, don't use Time Machine at all. There are other ways to back up, though none of them is anywhere near as efficient or as well integrated with OS X. I don't have a specific recommendation.
If you're determined to keep using the NAS with Time Machine, your only recourse for any problems that result is to the manufacturer (which will blame Apple, or you, or anyone but itself.)

I have the new 2011 macbook pro, with lion preinstalled. I want to change the harddrive. I have backed up everything on time machine. when i put my new blank hard drive in will the lion screen startup.How do i get the lion dmg when i am already using lion

I have the new 2011 macbook pro, with lion preinstalled. I want to change the harddrive. I have backed up everything on time machine. when i put my new blank hard drive in will the lion screen startup.How do i get the lion dmg when i am already using lion

NicholasLiban -
When you use the Lion restore as described, it does a fresh install on the hard drive that you can select at the beginning of the process. This provides a complete install of the very latest version of Lion, including the recovery partition. The drive that you choose for the installation destination winds up like what you would have on a brand new computer from Apple.
- Randy

New Hard Drive installed - Time Machine wants to start over!?

Info: My MacBook Pro is the old version. Plus I have not upgraded to Snow Leopard.
I was running out of hard drive space so I took my MacBook to MacTown where I bought it on Monday night and they put in a 500GB hard drive for me. I asked if it would affect anything such as Time Machine, etc. They said it would not.
When I plugged it in Tue. night (after I picked it up) I got a message saying that it needed about 300GB for the backup and it only had 200GB available (I use a 500GB external drive for my Time Machine backups). I called yesterday and asked if it had to do with the new hard drive. The guy said no, I just had too much stuff on my backup and needed to delete some of it.
Well, last night I messed around with it and a)saw that Time Machine is supposed to delete old backups if it gets too full so this should not be the problem. b)I went into Time Machine and it does not show any old backups. It only has Feb. 1, 2010 as the last one. So, my conclusion: It does not recognize the old backup and wants to start over with my new hard drive.
I called back today and spoke with the guy who did the work. I told him this and he said I should just delete the old backups from my external drive and start over (if I am sure there is nothing I will ever want on it). He said to go to Disk Utility and re-format it.
My question: I am sure I don't need anything from the old backups, but am I not thinking of anything? Is there a chance they didn't copy something over, etc.?
Any advice would be appreciated. I am not impressed with the MacTown people right now.
Thanks,
Peace

Guitar Dude 7 wrote:
Info: My MacBook Pro is the old version. Plus I have not upgraded to Snow Leopard.
I was running out of hard drive space so I took my MacBook to MacTown where I bought it on Monday night and they put in a 500GB hard drive for me. I asked if it would affect anything such as Time Machine, etc. They said it would not.
Tell them about this Apple article: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1338
It does say may, not will, but it always does for me, and there are lots of similar posts in these forums. (This was supposed to be fixed in Snow Leopard, but it still does it.)
Well, last night I messed around with it and a)saw that Time Machine is supposed to delete old backups if it gets too full so this should not be the problem.
That depends. It won't delete the last remaining backup. To do a new full backup requires as much space as the data it's backing-up, plus 20% for workspace, etc., on the TM drive.
I went into Time Machine and it does not show any old backups. It only has Feb. 1, 2010 as the last one. So, my conclusion: It does not recognize the old backup and wants to start over with my new hard drive.
I called back today and spoke with the guy who did the work. I told him this and he said I should just delete the old backups from my external drive and start over (if I am sure there is nothing I will ever want on it). He said to go to Disk Utility and re-format it.
Correct. It is a new drive after all, and Time Machine's main role in life is to back-up anythng that's new or changed.
That's your only choice (although you can just erase it).
My question: I am sure I don't need anything from the old backups, but am I not thinking of anything? Is there a chance they didn't copy something over, etc.?
No, most likely, that's your only option.
Any advice would be appreciated. I am not impressed with the MacTown people right now.
Unfortunately, even the Geniuses at Apple Stores don't know a lot about Time Machine; in some cases, the AppleCare folks aren't a lot better.
You might want to review these:
Time Machine Tutorial
How to back up and restore your files
Time Machine Features
and perhaps browse the Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions *User Tip* at the top of this forum.

New Logic Board - Time Machine wants to create a new backup

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