Snow Leopard 10.6.2/10.6.3 + Xserve + Time Machine = crash

We have an Xserve (Xserve 2.1) with two 1TB internal drives. Drive 1 is configured as the root drive and has users' home directories. Drive 2 is configured as a backup. Under Leopard, we used Time Machine to backup drive 1 to drive 2. All worked well under Leopard in that regard.
However, after upgrading the Xserve to Snow Leopard, in particular 10.6.2, we began seeing hard crashes/kernel panics every few days. It took awhile to track down. I ran diagnostic tests etc, but after looking at the logs, it appeared that the slapd and Time Machine were not on good terms with one another. I disabled TM, and the crashes/kernel panics stopped. I also found out that OD was somehow hosed in this process, so I rebuilt it, and all was well there too.
I just updated the Xserve with 10.6.3 and noted that one of the improvements was in slapd/TM, so with a certain amount of hope and trepidation, I deleted all the old TM backups, verified the integrity of drive 2, and re-enabled TM.
Unfortunately much the same is happening. TM backed up quite a few GB but then ended abruptly, and drive 2 was nowhere to be seen. DiskUtilities could not find the drive to mount it, nor was I able to find it with the command line utils. It was just gone. Now when this happened in 10.6.2, a simple reboot was insufficient to bring the drive back online.
So, to get the Xserve up and running ASAP, I did a full shutdown of the Xserve. After re-powering the Xserve, the drive was back and I immediately disabled TM. I decided not to wait for the eventual crash/kernel panic to see if that would happen.
Anyone have any insight as to what is happening? What can be done? No backups is not a good idea and I would prefer to use TM, since users are used to it. At this point I am stumped.

Perhaps not the answer you are looking for but...
After my boot disk crash (see the xserver discussions) I found to be the case that my TM backups and my CCC clones of my drives often missed vital files. For example I was left with many zero byte MySQL databases. Fortunately I had copies. I always have multiple backups and different methods, but it still took me days of nerding to get 'back'.
Now before I do an update I buy an external drive that the Xserve can boot, I boot from the SL CD and I make a clone of the boot drive using Disk Utility. I test the clone and make sure it can boot, and then I run the upgrade. (A suggestion from MrHoffman on these forums, well worth adopting).
I am putting off 10.6.3 until I have done this procedure.
Drives are only a hundred units of whatever currency you use. The reassurance of having something that boots and is a bit for bit copy is priceless. Some would say I still dont do enough.
I would say these issues stop Xserves being easy to deploy (without occasional long visits) in colocation......

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I have just upgraded to Mavericks and have been using Time Machine on an external disk with Snow Leopard. Can I continue to backup with Time Machine on the same external disk or do I need a new disk since the operating system has changed?

Hi there,
I found that Time Machine in Mavericks will sort it all out for you. You shouldn't need to buy another backup drive, unless you have insufficient space left and can't afford to delete whats on there. It should just work fine.

HT201250 I use Snow Leopard and tried restore my Macbook pro using Time Machine.

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ds store wrote:
Ah that's good to hear, does this still work if TimeMachine updates to reflect the 10.7 drive?
There is no special update. After installing Lion, Time Machine will do a normal "incremental" backup, of the stuff that's new or changed. That will be relatively large and lengthy, of course, since OSX and the default Apple apps will all be backed-up.
But there's nothing else different about the TM drive. It stil contains all the past backups, including older versions of OSX.
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See Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #14, especially step (g). The sample is a bit fuzzy -- it's a photo, since you can't screenprint there, but note that the last two backups were made on Snow Leopard:
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Some info on these threads.
https://discussions.apple.com/message/23976586#23976586
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-6162

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I have a time capsule that shows all restore dates of 2009 but there is a Jan 2012 restore that is faded looking and will not open to be restored.
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See the pink box in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #15A

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Hi,
I'm trying to do a disk repair with my MBP (2010, OS X snow leopard). I tried to enter Disk Utility with my Snow Leopard install DVD by pressing down "c" during startup but it gives me a grey screen in several languages prompting me to restart again. Restarted and I get the same screen. Can anyone help me?

You are getting a (kernel) panic crash booting from the installer dvd? Hmmm. That's doesn't sound good. Try resetting smc and pram.
If that doesn't fix it try to boot the Apple Hardware Test and check your machine -- assuming that will boot?
Also look inside if you get that panic crash and see if there are any diagnostic leds lit.
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I have two users. one with a mac pro running tiger 10.4.11 and one using snow leopard 10.6.4
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cstatham wrote:
now when he tries to run the already installed apps, they return the error that the software hasnt been registered
Welcome to Apple's discussion groups.
Apparently the registration information for that software was held within the user account of the prior user. If the prior user's account files are still there, you could try to move those settings from the old user's account to the new one. They're probably in "olduser"/Library/Preferences. Since the older user's files probably can't be viewed by the new user, you may need to log in as the old user and copy the needed files to the "Shared" user folder, then move them into the new user's area.
If you aren't successful doing that, you'll need to register the applications for the new user.
One more thing to consider: Some of the applications that the old user installed (for example, Firefox) will still be owned by the old user. The new user won't be able to update them unless the ownership is changed.

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I am running snow leopard
James....
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Restart your Mac after the combo is finished installing.
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One of the partitions with 10.6 on it was used to run my old Canon FB630U scanner so Snow Leopard was as far as I could go.
Canon would have been nice had they made updates that didn't require or need Rossetta or made the jump to lion. They have versions that work in Windows 7.
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Thanks
Ted

Guess this solves the issue. Boo Hiss. Thanks
Hard to think of Leopard being associated with the Wright Brothers and Mountain Lion as a F35 but you're really referring to the hardware changes not the software.
Doubt that the roaring apps has the answer. One reason to boycott Canon products for not updating drivers of a perfectly good scanner meant to run in a Mac non intel world. Ironically intel is OK in the WONDOZE world.
Thanks
Ted

Can i install Snow Leopard 10.6 on VMPalyers3 running on a windows machine?

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I basically want to devlop iPhone applicaitons on my Windows machine only.
Thanks!

No, you can't.
(64957)

The HD had to be replaced on my MacBook Air (2009). It already had Lion, after Snow Leopard. Everything is backed up by the Time Capsule. After installing completely Lion anew, how do I transfer my data from TC to MacBook Air? basic, no?

I add: I had to re-install the original DVD (OS X 10.5.8), then upgrades, then snow (OS 10.6.8), then Lion (10.7). Now, I just need the explanation for how to put back my data onto the MacBook Air. Preferrably by ethernet. I did it once by wireless, 30 hours (and caused total blue screen, and total start over). Thanks!

This has now been answered

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All this has started in the last few days. Fine (if a little slow, too long on beach balls, but nothing like the one minute rolls I'm reading about ...) up until then. Only new update was last iTunes update! and I haven't opened iTunes?
any ideas?

Keyboard won't work after waking from sleep. Finder not working. When I hard restart, it works for a little while, but then the finder drops out on its own accord. The current app will still function nearly normally, but can't change apps. Can't quit any apps. Force Quit shows no apps?
All this has started in the last few days. Fine (if a little slow, too long on beach balls, but nothing like the one minute rolls I'm reading about ...) up until then. Only new update was last iTunes update! and I haven't opened iTunes?
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Snow Leopard 10.6.2/10.6.3 + Xserve + Time Machine = crash

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