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

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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.

Time Machine backups failing (error 22) on Time Capsule

Hi
I've been happily using my Time Capsule as a Time Machine backup for the last year or so. Two MacBooks have worked just fine on there, along with a network drive to store some of the wife's files which won't all fit on her Air.
Last night the firmware was updated on the TC and now whenever I try to do a backup on either my MacBook Pro or the MacBook Air I get the following error:
The backup disk image “/Volumes/Data-2/Adrian’s MacBook Pro.sparsebundle” could not be created (error 22).
The backups have always gone into a folder "Data" on the TM previously, and whenever a TM backup began I got a dark green TM disk icon on the desktop. Now this doesn't happen and the above error shows after the TM tries to prepare the disk.
I've tried deleting the .com.apple.timemachine.plist file from the Library Preferences to recreate that, no good. I've tried rebooting both TC and MBP. I've tried moving my old backup to a different folder to start afresh. Nothing has helped.
I also cannot access the old backups - I get this error:
An unexpected error occurred (error code -6584).
I have 1TB space remaining on my 2TB TC, so that shouldn't be an issue. I've tried rolling back the firmware using the Airport Utility as well, but this hasn't helped either.
I'm running OS X Lion 10.7.3 on moth MBP and MBA.
And with that I'm stumped as to why something that was so reliable should now suddenly stop working. The last backup was showing as yesterday at 21:22, which would have been just before I did the update. The only other thing I may have done last night was to map a network drive on the MBA so the wife can connect to her folder on the TC more easily.
Any ideas/solutions gratefully received! Thanks in advance!

Sounds like the backups may be damaged. Try to Repair them, per #A5 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting

Time Machine Backup Failed: Error (12): Link of previous volume failed

I am having troubles with Time Machine, backing up to a new Time Capsule, after I have switched one of the drives being backed up. I replaced a 250 GB external drive with a 500 GB drive, but have given it the same name (otherwise lots of links break). Now I get the following error everytime Time Machine runs:
Error (12): Link of previous volume failed for Athena Disk 2
Where 'Athena Disk 2' is an external USB drive being backed up, which was swapped with a new drive.
Disk Utility reports the drive is clean. I've seen a few other references to similar problems in the forum, but no solution. Console reports that the first (internal non-switched) drive has a bunch of files being backed up, but it seems to abort when it tries to backup the drive that was switched.
I've tried disabling backups, removing the Time Capsule disk and then setting it up again, in an attempt to 'reset' something, but to no avail.
Any ideas? I'm guessing there is a filesystem ID or something similar that Time Machine is using, and it notices that something has changed, but doesn't know what to do about it.
Thanks,
Dave Filip.

I'm having a similar problem, which seemed to start coincident with either a 10.5.6 update OR the replacement of my internal drive with a larger drive (I don't remember which...).
Time Machine backup logs now start similar to this one:
2/9/09 9:30:03 AM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[35512] Backup requested due to disk attach
2/9/09 9:30:03 AM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[35512] Starting standard backup
2/9/09 9:30:04 AM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[35512] Backing up to: /Volumes/H. G. Wells/Backups.backupdb
2/9/09 9:30:14 AM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[35512] Event store UUIDs don't match for volume: Macintosh HD
2/9/09 9:30:14 AM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[35512] Node requires deep traversal:/ reason:kFSEDBEventFlagMustScanSubDirs|
2/9/09 9:30:23 AM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[35512] Backup requested due to disk attach
All of this seems right except for that business about UUIDs, but then we get this:
2/9/09 9:48:52 AM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[35512] No pre-backup thinning needed: 113.94 GB requested (including padding), 327.41 GB available
2/9/09 10:13:23 AM com.apple.backupd[35512] CoreEndianFlipData: error -4940 returned for rsrc type FREF (id 133, length 7, native = no)
2/9/09 10:13:24 AM com.apple.backupd[35512] CoreEndianFlipData: error -4940 returned for rsrc type FREF (id 133, length 7, native = no)
2/9/09 10:13:29 AM com.apple.backupd[35512] CoreEndianFlipData: error -4940 returned for rsrc type open (id 128, length 12, native = no)
2/9/09 10:13:29 AM com.apple.backupd[35512] CoreEndianFlipData: error -4940 returned for rsrc type open (id 128, length 12, native = no)
2/9/09 10:13:40 AM com.apple.backupd[35512] CoreEndianFlipData: error -4940 returned for rsrc type FREF (id 128, length 7, native = no)
2/9/09 10:13:40 AM com.apple.backupd[35512] CoreEndianFlipData: error -4940 returned for rsrc type FREF (id 128, length 7, native = no)
2/9/09 11:43:10 AM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[35512] Copied 409803 files (94.1 GB) from volume Macintosh HD.
2/9/09 11:43:10 AM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[35512] Error (12): Link of previous volume failed for Macintosh HD.
2/9/09 11:43:10 AM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[35512] Error (12): Link of previous volume failed for Macintosh HD.
2/9/09 11:43:16 AM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[35512] Backup failed with error: 12
which leaves me with a few questions:
a) I don't have fresh backups, and that leaves my system a bit vulnerable. Can I fix this somehow?
b) I don't want to have to start over, but if I do how can I salvage the existing backups at least for the next year or so?
c) What the heck are those "CoreEndianFlipData" errors all about?
Thanks in advance.
Ron

Time Machine Backup Failing - error 27

Hi there,
I was backing up my Macbook to my external hard drive using time machine when someone disconnected the hard drive mid-backup. The backup failed and every subsequent backup now fails - time machine buddy spits out an error 27, which I think is a new one to this forum... output below:
Starting standard backup
Backing up to: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb
No pre-backup thinning needed: 743.2 MB requested (including padding), 26.30 GB available
Waiting for index to be ready (917 > 0)
Stopping backupd because the backup volume was ejected!
Error writing to backup log. NSFileHandleOperationException:* -[NSConcreteFileHandle writeData:]: Input/output error
Copied 0 files (0 bytes) from volume Mac HD.
Error writing to backup log. NSFileHandleOperationException:* -[NSConcreteFileHandle writeData:]: Input/output error
Backup failed with error: 27
Can anyone assist? I have a feeling that subsequent backups are working but the backup log needs resetting somehow...
Thanks

greetings Deacs !
have you seen the Time Machine - Troubleshooting user tip ?

Why does time machine backup fail, error type -1

We have two Macbooks (2009 and 2010) running 10.6.8. My wife's computer came loaded with 10.5 and was upgraded to 10.6 while my mine came with 10.6 installed. Two months ago our time machine stopped doing backups of my wife's internal 120G(approx) hd while continuing to backup my 250G internal hd. My wife's hd was almost full so I thought that might be the problem. I replaced the hd with a much larger one but it still fails to make new backups. I was able to access the time machine to migrate information to the new hd. The time machine tries to backup but always fail to complete the backup due to a type -1 error. During the migration process I did not migrate applications in case the time mach app was corrupted. Both Macbooks are running time machine version 1.1.

The time machine tries to backup but always fail to complete the backup due to a type -1 error.
There are various things that can cause this error, so there are various solutions.
For some possible solutions, see #C17 in Time Machine guru Pondini's Time Machine -- Troubleshooting.
http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html

Time Machine Backups Failed/Delayed

After I had my NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics processor replaced, I have been unable to back up my files on Time Machine. I am using a Western Digital My Book Essential Edition external hard drive with 1TB with a USB port. I have 771.4GB of 931.2GB available. I used Disk Utility on my hard drive to see if it needed to be repaired and it said it was ok. Also when I want to retrieve a file it will not let me go through Time Machine only if I open the icon and pull the file by folder (hope that makes sense).
Thanks.

sassyshang wrote:
Thanks. I tried the Browse...option and Time Machine did start a new set of backups. I selected the original folder but it defaults to the new folder to back up.
Yes. Time Machine thinks you got a new Mac.
I read the instructions from the page you recommended http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20080128003716101 and do not understand what a terminal is. I typed in terminal under Help on the menu bar and still didn't get it. Sorry I am not technically savvy
Yes, you do not want to try that if you're not comfortable with UNIX and the Terminal app. Even those of us with limited familiarity have tried it, and messed it up somehow (I did, twice!).
but at least now I can enter Time Machine to retrieve my files from the first folder.
Right. The one problem you'll have, eventually, is that Time Machine won't delete anything from the old set of backups when it runs out of room. Instead, it will delete the oldest backup from the new set that started about July 23.
What I would suggest is, check the +Warn when old backups are deleted+ box in +Time Machine Preferences > Options.+ (If it's already checked, remove the check, quit System Preferences, then go back and check it again.)
Then, eventually, when your Time Machine disk gets full, you'll get a message like the one in the tan box in #C4 of Time Machine - Troubleshooting (unless you've upgraded to Snow Leopard by then. Snow Leopard handles it differently, with a warning after it starts deleting things, per the blue box in #C4).
Then you'll need to start deleting the backups from the old set manually, per the procedure in #12 of Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum). That's a tedious process, but the only way to get rid of them.

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 backup fails--not enough room.

I have a 2 TB drive in a Mac Pro running Yosemite (10.2) that I have been using for Time Machine backups. I have a 1 TB drive as my main hard drive that is about 2/3 full and another drive with less than 200 GB used. Unit recently, Time Machine has been working as it should. However, in the last week, I have been getting an error message saying there is not enough room (321 GB available). As I understand the process, older backups should be deleted when there is no longer enough room. Additionally, it should only be updating the backup and there should be enough room for that. Why can I not get a backup?

Try C4 in the 1st linked article.
Time Machine Troubleshooting
Time Machine Troubleshooting Problems

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 Failed even though I still have 1.9TB of a 2TB Time Capsule. I am using Yosemite.

Time Machine Backup Failed even though I still have 1.9TB of a 2TB Time Capsule. I am using Yosemite 10.10.3 on an iMac (mid 2010)

The recent update in Yosemite (10.10.3) is causing some issues for some users.
Try a complete network power cycle as follows:
Power off each and every device on your network......modem, Time Capsule, computers, printers, etc......in any order that you want
Wait a minute
Power up the modem and let it run 2-3 minutes
Then, power up the next device that is connected to the modem an let it run a full minute
Then, continue to power up devices one at a time about a minute apart until everything is back up
Check the network
Wait for a backup to occur and report on your results

How does one SUCCESSFULLY transfer Time-Machine backup to a new (larger) hard disk drive using OSX 10.5.8

I have read a number of articles about how to transfer a complete Time-Machine backup to a new (larger) hard disk-drive. Some of these articles are specifically for OSX10.6 users, which are not applicable to me since I am operating with OSX 10.5.8.
However, I have tried several times to use the Disk Utility 'Restore' function, dragging my old time-machine volume into the 'Source:' box and my new volume into the 'Destination:' box. This works, of sorts, BUT the newly created volume on the new larger hard disk-drive remains the same size as the original volume on the old Time-Machine HDD, with no apparent way of increasing the new volume's size. So I am not really any better off:
E.g. the total capacity of my new HDD is stated by 'Disk Utility' to be 465.8 GB, of which I'm told 228.2 GB is used for the Backups.backdb folder, but only 4.6 GB of free space is actually available. Yet under the 'Partition' tab of 'Disk Utility' it tells me that there is still 236.4 GB of available space.
Does anyone know how to resolve this issue without upgrading to OSX 10.6?

First, how did you prepare your new drive? See:
Drive Preparation
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder. If you need to reformat your startup volume, then you must boot from your OS X Installer Disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu.
2. After DU loads select your 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.
3. 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 (for Intel Macs) or APM (for PPC Macs) then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.
If you plan to partition this new drive then be sure you create a larger partition for TM than your old volume.
Next, clone your old TM volume:
Clone using Restore Option of Disk Utility
1. Open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder.
2. Select the destination volume from the left side list.
3. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
4.Check the box labeled Erase destination.
5. Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
6. Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to the Source entry field.
7. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
Destination means the external backup drive. Source means the internal startup drive.

I cannot load Maverick on my iMac HD. It reports that my HD is used for Time Machine backups and will not load to that drive. I do not use this drive for backups. Help.

I cannot load Maverick on my iMac HD. It reports that my HD is used for Time Machine backups and will not load to that drive. I do not use this drive for backups. I use an external 1 TB WD My Book for backups as well as Super Duper Backups. Can anyone offer advice. Thanks.

Welcome to Apple Support Communities
You have got the "Backups.backupdb" folder in the root level of your hard drive. This is the folder used by Time Machine to save backups to, and the OS X Mavericks installer thought that your hard drive is being used to store Time Machine backups
To fix this, open a Finder window, select the Go menu (on the menu bar) > Go to Folder, and type:
Then, delete "Backups.backupdb" and empty the Trash. Finally, open the Mavericks installer from the Applications folder and follow the steps

Is it possible to use an external hard drive for time machine backup and also as a regular hard drive?

Is it possible to use an external hard drive for time machine backup and also as a regular hard drive?

I am using an external drive in the exact way that you described. You just keep it plugged in to the computer when you want to access the movies and files. In order to put files on it, just go to finder open up the drive under devices and drag and drop files onto the drive. It is just like using a usb drive with a terabyte of space.

Time Machine Backup Fails With Error 36 on Music Folder?

Hi. I've been having backup errors since a clean install of Leopard (and immediate upgrade to 10.5.2). I keep getting a pop up that says time machine has failed. I started isolating my user folders (Pictures, Downloads, Music), and turns out its my iTunes Music folder that has files that are causing Time Machine to fail. If I exclude Music, the backup works perfectly. If I include it, it recognizes that it has 19 GB more to backup, but then I get the following errors (this is just a subsection):
Feb 24 01:38:50 jordan-martons-imac /usr/sbin/ocspd[592]: starting
Feb 24 01:40:22 jordan-martons-imac kernel[0]: disk0s2: 0xe0030005 (UNDEFINED).
Feb 24 01:40:22 jordan-martons-imac kernel[0]:
Feb 24 01:40:22: --- last message repeated 1 time ---
Feb 24 01:40:22 jordan-martons-imac /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[204]: Error: (-36) copying /Users/jordanmarton/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music/Maroon 5/Songs About Jane/12 Sweetest Goodbye.mp3 to (null)
Feb 24 01:40:42 jordan-martons-imac kernel[0]: disk0s2: 0xe0030005 (UNDEFINED).
Feb 24 01:40:42 jordan-martons-imac kernel[0]:
Feb 24 01:40:54: --- last message repeated 1 time ---
Feb 24 01:40:44 jordan-martons-imac /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[204]: Error: (-36) copying /Users/jordanmarton/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music/Martin Page/In the House of Stone & Light/01 In the House of Stone and Light.mp3 to (null)
Any idea what is going on?

Hi. I've been having backup errors since a clean install of Leopard (and immediate upgrade to 10.5.2). I keep getting a pop up that says time machine has failed. I started isolating my user folders (Pictures, Downloads, Music), and turns out its my iTunes Music folder that has files that are causing Time Machine to fail. If I exclude Music, the backup works perfectly. If I include it, it recognizes that it has 19 GB more to backup, but then I get the following errors (this is just a subsection):
Feb 24 01:38:50 jordan-martons-imac /usr/sbin/ocspd[592]: starting
Feb 24 01:40:22 jordan-martons-imac kernel[0]: disk0s2: 0xe0030005 (UNDEFINED).
Feb 24 01:40:22 jordan-martons-imac kernel[0]:
Feb 24 01:40:22: --- last message repeated 1 time ---
Feb 24 01:40:22 jordan-martons-imac /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[204]: Error: (-36) copying /Users/jordanmarton/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music/Maroon 5/Songs About Jane/12 Sweetest Goodbye.mp3 to (null)
Feb 24 01:40:42 jordan-martons-imac kernel[0]: disk0s2: 0xe0030005 (UNDEFINED).
Feb 24 01:40:42 jordan-martons-imac kernel[0]:
Feb 24 01:40:54: --- last message repeated 1 time ---
Feb 24 01:40:44 jordan-martons-imac /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[204]: Error: (-36) copying /Users/jordanmarton/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music/Martin Page/In the House of Stone & Light/01 In the House of Stone and Light.mp3 to (null)
Any idea what is going on?

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.

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