Time Machine: Backup was not performed because an error occurred...

I have tried 4-5 different USB/Firewire backup disks. None work.
I keep getting the message "The backup was not performed because an error occurred while copying files to the backup disk."
Any ideas?
Server 10.6.4

I started to get the same error about a week ago... thought my 4 year old 1TB firewire WD was finally dead... bought a 3TB one to replace it over the weekend. Well, still had the error... found this post... and sure enough, deep within one of my development websites a folder had some crazy permissions.
Changed those and TimeMachine is back to normal.
Here is an example from the all messages console log, filtered for "backupd"
11/15/10 7:54:42 AM com.apple.backupd[870] Error: (-41) SrcErr:NO Copying /Volumes/Macintosh 500GB/johnharte/Sites/PasswordSelfService/webapps/adssp/jsp/admin/layout/fields to /Volumes/TimeMachine 3TB/Backups.backupdb/John Harte’s MacBook Pro/2010-11-13-180904.inProgress/B6E2472B-64AE-482E-9103-A7A56F5FF179/Macintosh 500GB/johnharte/Sites/PasswordSelfService/webapps/adssp/jsp/admin/layout

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Time Machine Error: The backup was not performed because an error occurred

G'day (from Queensland, Australia)
Not for the first time Time Machine has broken down - originally in September 08 (I just can't recall how I fixed it!!).
Now it has failed after 14 months of faultless performance.
There seems to be little help available, but searching for solutions finds plenty of problems.
I get the message "The backup was not performed because an error occurred while copying to the backup disk.
The problem may be temporary. Try again later to back up. If the problem persists, use Disk Utility to repair you backup disk."
(I have a Time Capsule as my backup disk)
Disk Utility runs and finds-
Verifying volume “Backup of xxxxxx’s iMac”
2010-01-25 12:16:09 +1000: Starting verification tool:
2010-01-25 12:49:21 +1000: The volume Backup of xxxxxx’s iMac appears to be OK.
2010-01-25 12:49:21 +1000: Repair tool completed:
So I search and find "Fix for broken Time Machine backups under Snow Leopard"
(http://www.andrewgrant.org/2009/09/22/fix-for-broken-time-machine-backups-under- snow-leopard.html) - downgrading to 7.4.1 of the Airport Extreme / Time Capsule firmware.
But still have the same Time Machine error!
On to http://forums.macosxhints.com/showthread.php?t=103919&highlight=TimeMachineError
and try-
"... suggesting would be something like renaming the existing TimeMachine file on your backup disk - e.g. add a date to the end of it.
And then go onto Time Machine preferences and set it up as if it were the first time you used it. (Renaming the file on the backup disk should make Time Machine think that you are starting fresh.)"
So, using Finder, I opened my Time Capsule and renamed "xxxxxx’s iMac_00224135e6fb.sparsebundle" as "091222xxxxxx’s iMac_00224135e6fb.sparsebundle091222"
And finally, this worked - I have my backups to 22 December and a complete backup as at today and hopefully for at least another 14 months!

pjh42 wrote:
G'day (from Queensland, Australia)
Not for the first time Time Machine has broken down - originally in September 08 (I just can't recall how I fixed it!!).
Now it has failed after 14 months of faultless performance.
There seems to be little help available, but searching for solutions finds plenty of problems.
On the contrary. At the top of this forum are four *User Contributed Tips,* including one on Troubleshooting that would have saved you a great deal of time.

Using Time Machine to back up two systems, OS10.8.3, and OS 10.6.8. Sometimes it backs them up, sometimes I receive this: Backup was not performed because an error occurred while copying files to the backup disc. The problem may be temporary...

Using Time Machine to back up two systems, OS10.8.3, and OS 10.6.8. Sometimes it backs them up, sometimes I receive this: Backup was not performed because an error occurred while copying files to the backup disc. The problem may be temporary...

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

Time Machine reporting "The backup was not performed because an error occurred while copying files to the backup disk". Anyone have any idea what's gone wrong?

After months of working OK Time Machine is reporting "The backup was not performed because an error occurred while copying files to the backup disk". Anyone have any idea what's gone wrong?

asknrobson wrote:
Wierd!
I followed #C3 and loaded Time Machine Buddy, which was defnitely helpful, then deleted the file that the backup failed at, but after 3 more attempts I stopped deleting or excluding files as this wasn't improving the situation.
The recommendation is to exclude those files from being backed-up, not to delete them!
Updating boot support partitions for the volume as required:
Yes, that's a bit misleading. It just means that will be done, if it's required, which it isn't on your backups.
I have no idea if anything actually was changed however just when I had given up and walked away, TM has started working after a week of failing.
It probably did find and fix something. Just for reference, Disk Utiltiy usually shows the progress and repair messages in the center part of the window, but often doesn't when repairing a sparse bundle on a network. You can see the messages at any time by clicking the Log icon in the toolbar, or select Window > Show Log from the menubar.
Anyway, glad it's sorted out!

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

The backup was not performed because an error occurred while copying files

One Time Capsule, Two MacBook's, OS10.6.6
One MacBook can backup no problem, The other cannot backup says: the backup was not performed because an error occurred while copying files to the backup disk.
Using a Time Machine Buddy widget gives:
Starting standard backup
Attempting to mount network destination using URL: afp://Rachel%[email protected]/Data
Mounted network destination using URL: afp://Rachel%[email protected]/Data
QUICKCHECK ONLY; FILESYSTEM CLEAN
Disk image /Volumes/Data/Rachel Feuchtwang’s MacBook.sparsebundle mounted at: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups
Backing up to: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb
No pre-backup thinning needed: 4.70 GB requested (including padding), 721.52 GB available
Indexing a file failed. Returned 200 for: /Applications/Dashboard.app, /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/Rachel Feuchtwang’s MacBook/2011-01-12-115852.inProgress/F82EB140-616F-4213-9B4A-072C2C98B556/MAC/A pplications/Dashboard.app
Aborting backup because indexing a file failed.
Stopping backup.
Copied 5 files (84 bytes) from volume MAC.
Copy stage failed with error:11
Backup failed with error: 11
Ejected Time Machine disk image.
Ejected Time Machine network volume.
Who would be so kind to point me in the direction to make thsi work again?
Thanks! Hugo

This could very well have to do with ACLs.
I bumped into the same problem:
5/8/11 10:43:22 PM com.apple.backupd[7126] Error: (-41) SrcErr:NO Copying /Users/SA/Public/Drop Box/HandBrake.app/Contents/Frameworks/Sparkle.framework/Versions/A/ Resources/de.lproj/SUAutomaticUpdateAlert.nib/classes.nib to /Volumes/Local Backup/Backups.backupdb/Server/2011-05-08-221524.inProgress/88ACE716-0660-44C8- A128-CF01046FC2F8/Macintosh HD/Users/SA/Public/Drop Box/HandBrake.app/Contents/Frameworks/Sparkle.framework/Versions/A/ Resources/de.lproj/SUAutomaticUpdateAlert.nib
Using DD or CCC is no option for me, I don't want downtime and I want incremental backups. So I started to investigate.
I repartitioned my external Time Machine drive, did the backup again. It didn't work. Then I blocked the culprit file mentioned in the logs from being backed up with TM. That helped, only to find that a bit later it found another file with issues.
So i looked at the files an found they had ACLs on them that somehow prevented them from being copied.
SOLUTION:
remove the ACL from the file.
If you want to remove all ACLs in a directory, use Terminal and navigate to that directory. Then issue this command:
sudo echo | sudo chmod -R -E ./*
If you would like to remove ACLs from a single file or package (e.g. an application), issue this:
sudo echo | sudo chmod -R -E <nameoffile>
You might have to this several times since there might be multiple files affected. Unlike previous solutions, this one does not require you to delete the file.
I got the command to remove ACLs from http://osxadmin.blogspot.com/2008/01/chmod-acl-removal.html

I am receiving a backup error message" ther backup was not performed because an error occurred while copying files to the backup disk"

I am receiving an error message: " the backup was not performed because an error occurred while copying files to the backup disk". I have used the Disk Utility tot "Repair Disk" and it appears that there are no problems with the back up file..
I continue to receive the error message. What can anyone suggest I do?

One of Apple's less-than-informative messages.
Most likely, there's a damaged file on your system; see #C3 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting. It will show you how to locate the message(s) that describe the problem, then help you fix it.

The backup was not performed because an error occured while copying files to the backup disk

I continually see the error message "The backup was not performed because an error occured while copying files to the backup disk" when my time capsule attempts to backup. I have been receiving this message since 14/08/13. I have attempted to locate the file which is preventing the back up and I have not been able to locate it. Any help will be appreciated
Thanks

Do a verify on the local disk and on the TC..
See the info here.
A5 http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html

What does this mean: "the backup was not performed because an error occurred while copying files to the backup disk?

Our time capsule isn't working...we keep getting the message: "The back up was not performed because an error occurred while copying files to the backup disk."

This means you are probably not running snow leopard as your profile shows.
What OS are you running?? Mavericks.. is the most likely as it has the most network bugs.
See Pondini.
http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
C3 .. but the error might have nothing to do with the real problem.. ie bad networking.
If your MBP has ethernet have you tried turning off wireless and attempting the backup by ethernet??
No luck give me more info.

The backup was not performed because an error occurred while copying files to the backup disk

Heeeelp!!!
MBP Lion, Back up using time machine to an external HD 1T Seagate connected by USB, plenty of space left. Everything worked well, until it didn't!
I can use Time machine to go back in time, and I can see/access/play movies from the library on the external HD. It all works except the backup. I have rebooted everything, I have verify'ed and 'repair disk teh HD several times, I have done the same to my Mactintosh HD + repair permissions. I was earlier getting a different error message and used time machine buddy to ID a file that was behaving, actually an old application that I have listed in options in time machine preferences to exclude. Note that there is also the name of the back up destination on this list but it is greyed out.
SMART status is 'not supported'.
Error now reads unable to complete back up, An error occured while creating the back up folder.
The time machine buddy log is copied below;
Starting standard backup
Backing up to: /Volumes/JAMIE BKUP/Backups.backupdb
Error: (22) setxattr for key:com.apple.backupd.HostUUID path:/Volumes/JAMIE BKUP/Backups.backupdb/Jamie‚Äôs MacBook Pro 15" size:37
Backup failed with error: 2
Does this mean that I list as an exception the back up volume? Is it trying to back up the back up?
Appreciate any advice thanks. Jamie

It's still a drive malfunction. The drive hasn't necessarily failed in the usual sense. Those drives just don't seem to work well with Time Machine. I don't know why, and I don't know why it worked until now.

HT3275 the backup wad not performed because an error occurred while copying files to the backup disk.

the backup wad not performed because an error occurred while copying files to the backup disk.
The problem may be temporary.try again later to backup.if the problem persists,use disk utility to repair your backup disk.any body help me...!

realtek wrote:
the backup wad not performed because an error occurred while copying files to the backup disk.
The problem may be temporary.try again later to backup.if the problem persists,use disk utility to repair your backup disk.any body help me...!
Not one of Apple's better messages.
If you haven't found it yet, see #C3 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting. TM is likely having a problem with a file, and that will show you how to find and fix it.

I keep getting this message: "The back up was not performed because an error occurred while copying files to the backup disk. The problem may be tempory. Try again later to back up. If the problem persists, use Disk Utility to repair your backup disk."

I've repeatedly "tried again" over the past month with no luck. I'd rather not delete everything if that's what "repairing" the back disk involves.

On a time capsule the error message is meaningless. That would only apply to an external drive...TC is a network drive.
I recommend you just reboot the whole network.. from off..
Restart in order.. modem.. TC.. clients. Wait 2 min between each one.
If the disk still won't mount give us more info..
Are you using wireless or ethernet?
How is the TC configured?
What sort of internet?

Clean installed Snow Leopard, but Lion Time Machine backup was not recognized.

I erased the Macintosh HD and clean installed the Snow Leopard. But when I try to use the Time machine backup to recovery my documents, the external hard disk can not even be recognized. It says "To use this disk, connect it to a Mac with Mac OS X v10.7 or later. The format of the disk was created using Lion which can not be read by Snow Leopard." The fact is that the format of the disk is Mac OS Extended (journaled) and was indeed created by Lion from windows format. So how can I read the disk using Snow Leopard? Thanks.

I it a general problem, affecting e.g. a Mac with multiple partitions. I get the same with trying to mount 10.7 from 10.6.8.
Not ideal. Hope a fix will be found. I'd suggest to report this to Apple.

Time Machine backups have not worked since upgrade to Lion OS X

I get the following error message when trying to use Time Machine - "The backup was not performed because an error occurred whilecopying files to the backup disk. The problem may be temporary. Try again later to back up. Ifthe problem persists, use Disk Utility to repair your backup disk."

Not one of Apple's better messages.
It's having a problem with a particular file, but there's no hint of that.
See #C3 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting.

Time Machine backups do not migrate from iMac to MacBook Pro

I just moved from a iMac G5 to a MacBook Pro. I love Apple's migration tool, but it seems that Time Machine backups do not migrate.
I checked with support, and did a basic amount of searching, and it seems that I need to erase and reformat the backup drive, losing all of my backups.
Can this be true? That's a pretty screwy backup solution.
Is it possible to rename the backup folder from "iMac G5" to "MacBook Pro"?
Is it possible to add a MacBook Pro backup folder to the one already there?
Any help is appreciated.

I'm not quite sure what you mean. It sounds like you successfully migrated, and got everything set up properly on the new Mac.
Now you want TM to just continue backing-up the new Mac to the old Mac's backups?
If so, then no, that's not going to work. TM keeps the backups for each Mac completely separate. This is usually an advantage, so you can back up two or Macs to the same drive without any conflicts.
Plus, the version of OS on your new Intel laptop is very different from the one from your old PPC desktop; a whole different set of drivers, and of course code for Intel vs. PPC.
So TM on the new Mac cannot treat the old backups as if they were from the new Mac. It must start a whole new "sequence" of backups for the new Mac. If there's room on the disk, you can leave the old backups there until you're sure you don't need them, but that presents another problem: when you want to delete them, you can do it only one at a time, via TM, using the procedure in item #12 of the Frequently Asked Questions *User Tip* at the top of this forum. That's rather tedious and time-consuming, so most folks just erase the TM drive and let it start fresh.
If I've misunderstood, please clarify the situation.

Time Machine: Backup was not performed because an error occurred...

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