Time Machine can no longer write to drive

I have been using Time Machine to back up my iMac G5 for over a year. About two weeks ago the computer started acting really strange so I actually restored the entire system from my Time Machine backup. Everything was working great until today. The external hard drive that I've been using all this time is suddenly "read only". How do I change it back to "read/write" so Time Machine can access the hard drive properly?

BobMeister wrote:
I have been using Time Machine to back up my iMac G5 for over a year. About two weeks ago the computer started acting really strange so I actually restored the entire system from my Time Machine backup. Everything was working great until today. The external hard drive that I've been using all this time is suddenly "read only".
It's very important to know exactly what you or the computer was doing just before this happened. Usually, things do not happen on their own.
How do I change it back to "read/write" so Time Machine can access the hard drive properly?
Changing it back when it's not clear why it changed in the first place is not always a good thing to do for several obvious reasons.
Right-click on the TM drive icon and select "Get Info"
Under Sharing & Permissions, you should see:
Your name (Me) Read & Write
(unknown) Read & Write
everyone Read only
Post back what you see and we can attempt to proceed.

Similar Messages

Time machine can no longer see USB drive connected to airport extreme

According to what I read, as of March, a year ago March, with update 7.3.1 Time Machine will see the USB hard drive connected to the Airport Extreme. This was working fine. It no longer does. I had the latest airport extreme software and firmware updates. I tried going back to 7.3.1.
Does any one have any idea how to make Time Machine work again when connected to my airport extreme?

bradleydad wrote:
According to what I read, as of March, a year ago March, with update 7.3.1 Time Machine will see the USB hard drive connected to the Airport Extreme. This was working fine. It no longer does. I had the latest airport extreme software and firmware updates. I tried going back to 7.3.1.
Does any one have any idea how to make Time Machine work again when connected to my airport extreme?
what exactly do you mean when you say that TM doesn't see the drive? do you mean you can not choose it as the destination TM drive in TM system preferences? do you see the airport drive mounted in finder? if yes, connect it directly to your mac and repair the disk (not permissions) with disk utility. then move it back to AEBS. see if that helps. if not try the following terminal command
defaults write com.apple.systempreferences TMShowUnsupportedNetworkVolumes 1
it should not be necessary with drives connected to AEBS but it might work.

Time Machine can't copy my hard drive

Time Machine can't copy my hard drive, it says that it can't complete the safety copy because an error occured when files were copied to the safety copy. Does anyone recognise this problem? All I could find in System notifications about Time Machine is this: "localhost kernel[0]: Security policy loaded: Safety net for Time Machine (TMSafetyNet)"

John Galt wrote:
... Are you unable to select the external HD as a backup device?
pres92 wrote:
that's the problem -- my hard drive ("startup disk) is not listed, so I can't select it.
The reason is that the startup volume is not a valid selection for its own Time Machine backup.
The only drive listed is the Time Machine external drive. Obviously, I don't want to back up the time machine drive.
By default, a Time Machine backup volume is excluded from being backed up.
The appearance you describe is correct, otherwise I'm completely misunderstanding your problem.

My Time Machine will no longer find the drive I used to use to backup

For the past few months I have been using a partitioned LaCie 1tb hard drive as a Time Machine back up for my MacBook Air. The drive is plugged into a MacMini that is at my house and whilst at home my MacBook Air is connected via a wifi network and was backing up fine. After a recent software update on my MacMini I can no longer get Time Machine to work to that drive. I can connect to the drive through finder and even see the 'TimeMachine' file there, but the Time Machine itself will not find the drive so won't back up. Now, trying to set it up again to that drive it won't locate it.
I have been reading forums and have checked the following things:
My Lacie drive is mounted to the MacMini
The file sharing is set to AFP on both the MacBook Air and the MacMini
The Lacie drive is formated to Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
I have done a 'Verify Disk' and it cam eup fine
There is ample space available
There are no other files on that part of the drive
I can access the other partitioned drive just fine (e.g. my iTunes library is based on that drive and music is playing)
I only recently purchased this hard drive so I could get extra storage space and partion it for Time Machine. It all worked fine until recently.
Does anyone have any other ideas on how to get Time Machine to find this drive again?
Thanks in advance!
K

the ipod is likely to be on automatically syncing currently. plug the ipod into a different computer and it will warn you that if you choose to sync with the new computer, the songs will be erased. when this warning pops up, select no. after the ipod appears in itunes and has not updated, go to the ipod options and you can select manually organize songs.
Go here for more information:
How to use your iPod to move your music to a new computer
Windows XP Pro Intel Core 2, 4GB RAM, SLi Configuration, 1.5TB

Time Machine can not be mounted - external drive

I have an external Maxtor USB drive that's been my time machine since forever. Yesterday I noticed that it's not mounting. I KNOW it was mounting the day before because I had to use it. But now the drive is not mounting, and I don't know why.
The drive is on, the light is on, but it's not mounting. Out of curiosity, my husband hooked it up to his Vista PC and he was able to browse to it all dandy. But then back on my computer, it's not being recognized.
It's not showing up in disk utility, though my other external drive, my iphoto drive, is having no problems. It's not the USB port, as my ipod works on either port, as does my iphoto drive.
Can anyone help?
I've unplugged it, plugged it back in. Rebooted the computer without it attached.

I solved my problem. I tried plugging it into another computer and it popped up on the screen. AHA! Before I tried that, I had ONLY unplugged the drive but had NOT crawled under the desk to unplug it from the main power source. It just needed to be TOTALLY unplugged and left alone for a few minutes. Those little green men obviously can bunch up anywhere and need a total disconnect, for several minutes at least, to unbind. Ahh, sort of like un-constipating the system?
KC
Message was edited by: KCChoirgirl

HT201250 Time Machine can no longer back up files

I was using Time Machine to back up files to a WD Elements hard drive. Lately I started to get error messages the back-up failed. Previously Finder would list back-up files for that drive, but now it only shows empty folders. Get Info still shows 60 GB of used space on the external drive. Can I retrieve those files, or is all lost and I must reformat the hard drive?

I would connect the Time Machine HDD to your Mac and open Disk Utility and select First Aid, Verify the disk and run a Repair if necessary. If that does not solve the problem, I suspect that the HDD is failing. Then I suggest transferring the backup data to another HDD, or perhaps just start from square one with a new HDD and back up the entire internal HDD.
Ciao.

New TC but now Time Machine can't find network backup drives

I had a 2 GB TC replaced under warranty (many thanks to LaPastenague who suggested I may be able to get a replacement under warranty). Configured the TC using Airport Utility, and after a bit of messing around (had to delete and re-find the USB printer) everything seemed to be working fine. However ....
I have a MyBookWorld network drive as an alternate Time Machine backup disk, and my MacBook found both the TC and MBW and backed up to them alternately just fine.
However on another MacBook I removed the MBW drive as a backup disk in TM preferences, and now I can't add it back to that Macbook's list of backup drives. I get the "can't find that server" error dialogue. Which is crazy because the other shares on the MBW drive are visible - it's just the backup partition (WD_Backup) that isn't found. I figure it's trying to connect to the IP address of the previous TC, which probably changed when I replaced the TC, or something.
Help please !
TIA ... John.

Manually mount the directory in finder.
This is so much more important on Mavericks than it used to be due to its default to SMB networking.
I guess I also do not know if you should mount this via AFP or SMB but try both.
So in Finder.. Go.. connect to server.
Type in the actual name or IP of the device.
AFP://MBW.local/WD_Backup (where MBW is the network name of the device. local is the domain (assuming it is connected to the TC))
No luck try AFP://MBWIPaddress where you simply type in the IP.
You might find it is easier to pick up the directory from the other Mac where it is working.
Click on Get Info and look at the directory URL info.
If no luck use SMB://MBW.local etc.
Come back to us if it still does not show up.

Time machine can't mount disk ,hard drive,after its been formatted for windows

i want to use time machine but it can't mount disk as it has been used with windows

You will need to repartition and reformat the drive for use with OS X:
Drive Partition and Format
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. 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. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Apply 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 Security 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.

The print driver for HP Laserjet 3380 that was print only was removed from my iMac, and now when try to download driver, it states to contact manufacturer. I have old driver on Time Machine, can I reinstall that old driver that worked?

The print driver for HP Laserjet 3380 was for print only, was removed and when I went to download from apple, it stated to contact manufacturer. I have old driver in Time Machine, how do I reinstall from Time Machine that driver that worked?

Hi,
Trible post. Please use:
http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Printer-All-in-One-Install-Setup/HP-solution-center/m-p/4790405
Regards.
BH
**Click the KUDOS thumb up on the left to say 'Thanks'**
Make it easier for other people to find solutions by marking a Reply 'Accept as Solution' if it solves your problem.

Time Machine can no longer complete backups? How to fix it?

I aborted a download of Maverick after reading reviews and problems. I have an older imac intel. Since then any attempts by time machine to perform backups fail.
Help!

If you have more than one user account, these instructions must be carried out as an administrator.
Launch the Console application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Console in the icon grid.
Make sure the title of the Console window is All Messages. If it isn't, select All Messages from the SYSTEM LOG QUERIES menu on the left. If you don't see that menu, select
View ▹ Show Log List
from the menu bar.
Enter the word "Starting" (without the quotes) in the String Matching text field. You should now see log messages with the words "Starting * backup," where * represents any of the words "automatic," "manual," or "standard." Note the timestamp of the last such message that corresponds to an abnormal backup. Now
CLEAR THE WORD "Starting" FROM THE TEXT FIELD
so that all messages are showing, and scroll back in the log to the time you noted. Select the messages timestamped from then until the end of the backup, or the end of the log if that's not clear. Copy them to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. Paste (command-V) into a reply to this message.
If all you see are messages that contain the word "Starting," you didn't clear the text field.
If there are runs of repeated messages, post only one example of each. Don't post many repetitions of the same message.
When posting a log extract, be selective. Don't post more than is requested.
Please do not indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into this discussion.
Some personal information, such as the names of your files, may be included — anonymize before posting.

Time Machine can no longer find backup disk

I have a USB drive hooked up to my airport extreme that I used to use as a TimeMachine backup for my MacBook Pro. I use another external drive to back up my iMac, but it is connected to the iMac directly. The drive on the airport extreme used to back up my MacBook Pro flawlessly. Suddenly, about a week ago it stopped recognizing it as a TimeMachine back up drive. I can access the drive via both my iMac and MacBook Pro and I have a small data base that I use on both Macs there as well as the "sparse bundle.." back up for the MacBook Pro. I go to TimeMachine preferences and "select backup drive". Highlighted is the external drive on the airport extreme. Underneath on the list is the red "do not enter" sign and NONE. But only the drive is in blue. I select and it begins a countdown to back up on the drive (even says the name of the drive name and location "airport extreme".) But when the back up begins it quits and gives me the message "Back Up disk not available". But I can go to that drive and open up the small data base that is there, immediately.
I have now deleted the sparsebundle from that drive and tried to start over, but for some reason it can't use that drive for back ups. What could have changed to make this drive "not available" as a TimeMachine back up?

Ron Bird wrote:
Sorry to have ended so quickly. After doing the whole repair thing
Try repairing the +sparse bundle,+ not just the partition. With the disk connected directly, drag the sparse bundle into Disk Utility's sidebar, select it, and click +*Repair Disk.+*
and re-connecting the drive and going to TM I did select the drive (after opening it up and it appearing in the list) and then it went to the 120 second countdown BUT after the time expired I got the same message that the drive was unavailable.
Are you connected via Ethernet or WIFI? If WIFI, try Ethernet. If that works, you've probably got a WIFI problem.
If it happens over Ethernet, the combination of the problems repairing it, and not being able to connect to the sparse bundle once it was repaired, may mean the drive is failing. How old is it?
And, don't forget, backing-up this way is "iffy" and +*not supported by Apple.+* I've had exactly the same scenario occur; in my case it worked fine for about 3 months, then every few days the sparse bundle would come up corrupted. On occasion Disk Utility could fix it, on occasion Disk Warrior could, but usually I had to erase and start over. That went on for a couple of weeks; since then it's been fine, although very slow on occasion. That's all with the same hardware in the same locations, and a very good WIFI connection. If you browse the +Airport Extreme+ forum (in the +Digital Life+ section at http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=1135 , you'll see a number of similar stories.
That's why I don't recommend it, and keep secondary backups as well.

Time Machine cannot access the external WD drive - help!

Help!
I have installed Lion OS on my newish iMac (naively thinking that Apple was diferent from Microsoft in not fully testing their OS releases) but now I am without backup because Time Machine can no longer access the NAS drive.
It seems Apple has changed the Authentication Protocol and now most drive manufacturers' products are not compatible with Time Machine, including WD, Iomega, and LaCie.
These drive manufacturers are working on firnmware upgrade solutons but are reportedly weeks away from a fix, does anyone have a workaround?
It is a shock to me (as a new Mac user) that Apple would miss this rather important problem, and not forewarn potential upgraders that they will not be able to backup using time machine.
Clive

You have just learned a valuable lesson - no matter who is writing the software it is often better to let others go first. To be fair to Apple, Lion has been in the hands of developers for months and many have been testing their software and hardware to be ready for opening day. Others waited until Lion shipped and typically it is hardware developers who wait.

Can Time Machine back up a failed hard drive, and how long will it take to prepare?

1. The hard drive in my 2009 MBP has failed. My Time Machine external drive failed about three weeks ago, and I don't know if I'll be able to restore from it. Is it ever possible to backup a failed hard drive with Time Machine? The machine boots, it just comes up beach balls if I use any applications for very long.
2. I'm trying to back it up right now. I have Time Machine running to a new external drive. It has been stuck on "preparing backup" for about 20 minutes. Everyone says that preparing a first backup takes some time, but no one says if "some time" is 15 minutes or one hour or more. What is a typical length of time for preparing first backup? At what point should I walk away?
If it's not worth trying to back this drive up myself anymore, I'd love to just drop the thing off and get the hard drive replaced -- but if it's worth doing, I'll take the extra day to back up what I can.

You might have better luck using a clone.
Clone - Carbon Copy Cloner (Often recommended as it has more features than some others)
Clone – Data Backup
Clone – Deja Vu
Clone - SuperDuper
Clone - Synk
Clone Software – 6 Applications Tested
Commonly Used Backup Methods

Time Machine takes very long time to back up with new large drive

I started using Time Machine on my 17" MBP about a month ago. I was using a 250 GB Samsung drive. When I discovered that TM will back up other external drives (I have several firewire pocket drives), I purchased a 500 GB Cavalry drive with USB 2.0 and eSATA connections. The first backup of my MBP drive (about 85 GB) took several hours (4-6?). I backed up one of my pocket drives (about 60 GB), which took 3-4 hours. Then, when I changed the back-up drive in Time Machine to the new 500 GB drive with the eSATA connection, I stopped it after an hour, because only 2 GB had been backed up. I erased the drive and restarted using the USB connection. It backed up 3 GB in an hour. So, now I'm back to using the original back-up drive. I've performed benchmark tests on all drives (the Samsung 250, Cavalry USB and eSATA 500 GB, and the MBP internal drive) with Xbench. The USB speeds on the Samsung and Cavalry drives came out about the same with a slight edge to the Cavalry drive. The eSATA connection with the Cavalry drive operated at over twice the speed of the USB connections and at about twice the speed of the MBP internal drive (which is a 1.5 Gb/s SATA drive). Basically, I can't figure out why Time Machine takes so incredibly long to back up when I switched to the new drive. Any ideas?
Jeff

It took me 20 hours to backup 32GB out of 65. I don't know why. Using carbon copy clone to download to another backup drive I did it perfectly in about 30 minutes. I expect that those appllications which show applicatiions are at fault and will try later getting rid of apps such as F-10 and pathfinderfor the first download. I have no idea why this is so slow. Everything is so slow.

I have an IMAC and I'm running OSX 10.9.2. I'd like to store my Aperture /IMovie Libraries to an external hard drive. In addition, I'd like to partition the external hard drive so that Time Machine can use it to both back up my IMac and the externa

I have an IMAC and I'm running OSX 10.9.2. I'd like to store my Aperture /IMovie Libraries on an external hard drive. In addition, I'd like to partition the external hard drive so that Time Machine can use it to both back up my IMac and the external library drives. Is this possible? Can I set up a RAID 5 format for redundancy?

I'd like to store my Aperture /IMovie Libraries on an external hard drive.
That is fine and recommended.. use the fastest disk you can afford.. ie Thunderbolt>USB3>FW800>USB2.
In addition, I'd like to partition the external hard drive so that Time Machine can use it to both back up my IMac and the external library drives.
Let me be clear.. you want to partition the one disk.. use it for TM and move your files to the external disk.. and then backup to the same disk.. You can do it.. but that is not a backup.. that is an experiment in how long you can get away with running files and backups on the same disk before you lose everything.. like Russian Roulette.. pull the trigger enough times and laws of probability will do you in.
You must have backups on a different disk .. otherwise it is pointless.
Can I set up a RAID 5 format for redundancy?
No.. you can buy special USB and Thunderbolt external drives that support RAID..
BUT that is still not a backup.. let me show why.. you make a silly move and corrupt your file in aperture.. it is not that rare.
Raid will corrupt all copies of the files.. it is replicated across all disks.
Delete a photo it is deleted across all disks.. you have no recovery.
Alway, always consider RAID system one disk.. backup onto another disk.. and if the photos or movies are at all important to you.. ie your family .. make another copy and store in a relatives house.. There is no such thing as too much redundancy.

Time Machine can no longer write to drive

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for