Time Machine - backup disk disappears from desktop

My backup disk appears shortly on the desktop and then I keep getting this message:
“The disk was not ejected properly. If possible, always eject a disk before unplugging it or turning it off.
To eject a disk, select it in the Finder and choose File > Eject. The next time you connect the disk, Mac OS X will attempt to repair any damage to the information on the disk.”
How do I get to my backup disk?

If the drive has more than one interface (USB, FireWire, Thunderbolt, eSATA), try one of the other interfaces.
Check that the data cable is securely inserted at both ends.
Try a different cable.
If you're connecting the drive through a hub, connect it directly to a built-in port on the Mac.
If you're connecting it directly, try a different port.
Disconnect all other devices on the bus, or as many as possible.
Test the drive with another Mac. Test another drive with this Mac.
If the drive is bus-powered, but has an AC adapter, connect the adapter.
If the drive doesn't work under any of the above conditions, and if another drive does work with the same Mac, then the drive has failed. You may be able to salvage the mechanism by removing it from the enclosure and installing it in another one, or in a drive dock.

Similar Messages

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    Dan Mackey1 wrote:
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  • Error Dialogue: "Time Machine Backup Disk Can't be Found"

    Hello -
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    MattLat wrote:
    Hello -
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    That's the first I've heard of that. They may have been referring to the +Time Capsule Backup Update 1.0+ update several weeks ago, that some folks got but others didn't. If it finds a problem, it sends the message in this article: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4076 The existing sparse bundle is renamed and locked, and a new one made.

  • Migration Assistant won't see my Time machine backup disk

    Hi,
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    sorry, i don't know what else it could be then. if you have another external drive you can try doing a full system restore from the TM backups onto that drive and see if MA will recognize that drive and migrate from it. other than this there is always manual migration. slow and tedious but it can be done. see this link for help with that
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  • Verify Disk failed for Time Machine backup disk

    Thread <http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=7930301&#7930301> discussed a similar issue, but it was closed without an answer so I'm opening a new one.
    After a power failure I ran Disk Utility to Repair Permissions on my boot disk and Verify Disk on another that I use to store media files; neither had significant problems. Then I ran Verify Disk (verify, not repair; and disk, not permissions) on my Time Machine backup disk. It started spitting out the errors shown below. The time remaining counted up to 16 minutes, but wasn't coming down very fast so I left it running overnight. My machine is set to not sleep or spin down the disks. The next evening it was down to 12 minutes left, and was still spitting out the same errors. The second evening it was done, having failed out as shown in this log file excerpt:
    2009-06-20 22:25:48 -0400: Verifying volume “Backup”
    Starting verification tool: 2009-06-20 22:25:48 -0400
    2009-06-20 22:25:50 -0400: Checking Journaled HFS Plus volume.
    2009-06-20 22:25:50 -0400: Checking Extents Overflow file.
    2009-06-20 22:25:50 -0400: Checking Catalog file.
    2009-06-20 22:35:21 -0400: Checking multi-linked files.
    2009-06-20 23:08:17 -0400: Checking Catalog hierarchy.
    2009-06-20 23:16:59 -0400: Checking Extended Attributes file.
    2009-06-20 23:18:34 -0400: Checking multi-linked directories.
    2009-06-20 23:31:05 -0400: 2009-06-20 23:31:05 -0400: Incorrect owner flags for directory hard link (id = 3763501)
    2009-06-20 23:31:05 -0400: 2009-06-20 23:31:05 -0400: 2009-06-20 23:31:05 -0400: (It should be 0x2 instead of 0x0)
    2009-06-22 15:14:54 -0400: 2009-06-22 15:14:57 -0400: Incorrect owner flags for directory hard link (id = 7746623)
    2009-06-22 15:14:59 -0400: 2009-06-22 15:15:00 -0400: 2009-06-22 15:15:02 -0400: (It should be 0x2 instead of 0x0)
    2009-06-22 15:20:35 -0400: Checking volume bitmap.
    2009-06-22 15:20:37 -0400: Checking volume information.
    2009-06-22 15:20:39 -0400: 2009-06-22 15:20:41 -0400: The volume Backup needs to be repaired.
    2009-06-22 15:20:43 -0400: Error: Filesystem verify or repair failed.2009-06-22 15:20:44 -0400:
    2009-06-22 15:20:44 -0400: Disk Utility stopped verifying “Backup” because the following error was encountered:
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    At that point the whole system was extremely sluggish, and the access light on the backup disk was flashing steadily. The pmTool process seemed to be running away, but the system wasn't responsive enough for me to do much about it, so I held down the power button to shutdown. Upon the 2nd restart the system booted and seems to be OK, but I'm leery of running another Verify Disk.
    What's going on? Are those errors anything to worry about? Is it possible to run Verify Disk on a Time Machine backup disk? What about Repair Disk?

    John Seal wrote:
    2009-06-22 15:20:43 -0400: Error: Filesystem verify or repair failed.2009-06-22 15:20:44 -0400:
    2009-06-22 15:20:44 -0400: Disk Utility stopped verifying “Backup” because the following error was encountered:
    Filesystem verify or repair failed.
    At that point the whole system was extremely sluggish, and the access light on the backup disk was flashing steadily. The pmTool process seemed to be running away, but the system wasn't responsive enough for me to do much about it, so I held down the power button to shutdown.
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  • How do I manually erase my Time Machine backup disk?

    I have a 500GB external hard drive with only 43 GB left after years of serving as a Time Machine backup disk for another computer. I wanted to use the same disk for my new computer. The new computer's backup is 130 GB, and when I connected the old external drive, Time Machine said "The backup disk needs to be 130.37 GB for the backup but only 47.24 GB are available. Select a larger backup disk or make the backup smaller by excluding files." So I manually deleted the files I found on the external drive onto my computer's trash.
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    Try opening Disk Utility and select the highest level drive name on the external drive. Click on the Partitions tab. Remove all the partitions on the drive by selecting each and clicking the "-" sign in the lower left corner of the partition table view. Then choose 1 Partition from the dropdown of partitions to create. Make sure the format shows Mac OS Extended-Journaled. Click Apply.
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    I did find this article via Google
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  • How do I create more space on Time Machine backup disk?

    How do I create more space on Time Machine backup disk?

    since time machine in Snow Leopard stops backing up when there's no more space on the disk,
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    from : Mac 101: Time Machine

  • Can I Update Time Machine Backup Without Booting From The Source Drive

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