Time Machine/Capsule only restoring past folders not files!

Trying to restore a folder to my mac but only folders and not their contents are restored!
The contents of the files are visible using time machine but it only restores the folders!
I upgraded from Leopard to Snow Leopard - so the file was backed up using Leopard on a TC.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Matt, I and others have discovered that once an account has been migrated, both Time Machine and Migration Assistant won't let you recover further data from the old backup set (I intend on filing a Bug Report on this by the way).
However, there is a way around this.
First you will need to mount the backup disk image. Click the TC icon in the Sidebar. Double-click the blue share folder, and then double click the white disk image icon.
Once mounted, CTRL-Click the Time Machine icon in the Dock and select "Browse Other Time Machine Disks…".
Select your Time Machine backup drive and the 'star field' interface will launch. This approach will allow you to navigate back to the user folder or item you wish to Restore. You will likely be prompted for the username and password of the old account, but you will be able to move the data.
Once the Restore is complete You should be able to now go into this restored folder and change the permissions of the folder or item you are trying to access.
Highlight the file/folder and select Get Info from the File menu.
Click the tiny gold lock icon at the bottom. You will be asked for your current admin username and password. Now click the tiny "+" button on the left. In the resulting window select your current user account and click "Select".
This should have added your current username to the list under Sharing & Permission. Under "Privilege" change "Read only" to "Read & Write". Now, if the item you are dealing with is a folder, then click the tiny Gear icon at the bottom and select "Apply to enclosed items...".
You will be warned that you can't undo this but click OK anyways. When finished close Get Info and you should now have full access to the item in question.
(Make sure that, if it is iLife data you are moving (iPhoto, iTunes, etc), that you have run Software Update and updated your applications. Otherwise, any attempt to import the old data may result in alerts telling that it was created with a newer version.)
Let us know if this resolves your issue. Cheers!

Similar Messages

My Time Machine can only restore individual files or empty folders

Having upgraded to Snow Leopard, I find that when trying to restore a folder of files from my Time Machine HD one of two things happen: either it copies the folder but not the files within it, or it says I don't have the permissions to copy the folder, and then copies the folder anyway - albeit without its contents. If I restore an individual file, I have no problems - but this is hardly going to provide the security promised by Time Machine if I need to restore a project of files saved in a nest of folders, or worse still restore an entire HD.
I have repaired disk permissions on my Mac, I can't repair permissions on my TM drive (it is greyed out in Disc Utility) and so have erased my TM drive and done a new TM backup of my Mac under Snow Leopard hoping this would solve the problem...
It hasn't! Any suggestions?
I can however connect my G4 Powerbook running Leopard on my WiFi network to the TM drive, and restore folders to it as normal which suggests the issue is to do with the Snow Leopard upgrade...
Jog!

I solved my TM-Problem:
The problem was based on incorrect permission and owner settings in my user folder.
I created a new user and copied the files from the corrupt user folder to the new user folder and corrected the permissions and owner settings.
More information here:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2963?viewlocale=en_US
Seems that there is a more simple an efficient method:
"Note: In Mac OS X 10.5 and later, while started up ("booted") from the Mac OS X 10.5 installation disc, a user's home directory permissions can be reset using the Reset Password utility."
Message was edited by: brachi

How can I get Time Machine to only backup new and changed files?

Time machine is backing up more than just new and changed files and is filling up my back up disk too fast. How can I change it so that it will only back up the new or changed files instead of the whole drive? I used to have my backups go back months, but now it is backing up only a couple days back, since there is no room left on my back up hard drive. Each back up is like 400 gigs, instead of just the amount of the changed or new files.
Thanks for any ideas or help!
kt

Thank you Eric! I did go look at this info and tried to do a full reset of TM and I am still getting full backups of my HD instead of just new/changed files. The weird thing is that I have 9 BU's from over the last 2 days and they all seem to be around 415 gigs and my backup HD is only 750 gigs! I don't get it. It shows that I have around 75 gigs of free space on that 750 gig drive. It doesn't make sense.
So I am having the same problems even after doing the full reset of TM. I am using Mavericks 10.9.5 which they don't talk about in this info.
Does anyone have any further ideas on this? I don't understand how I could possibly have that many full BU's on my HD that is only 750 gigs.
Thank you,
kt

HT201250 Does Time Machine backup and restore Bootcamp?

I am replacing defective hard drive in an iMac that I primarily use as a pc under Bootcamp. I have to find some way to clone and restore the bootcamp partition. I was told today by a Genius at the Apple store that I should buy a 2 TB external (which I did for $150) and run Time Machine. He assured me that my bootcamp partition would be backed up along with the entire mac partition and that I would be able to restore everything perfectly on the new hd. Now that I am home and continuing my research, I can't find anywhere that says it will work. Documentation on Time Machine fails to mention bootcamp. So, does Time Machine backup and restore bootcamp or not? And will it be bootable after the restore? Help!

I think you've got it! I have never used WinClone so I cannot attest to how well it will work, but it's pretty much all lthere is. You will have to create a new Boot Camp partition on the new drive, and it should be the same size as the partition you cloned.
Be sure you prep the new hard drive:
Drive Preparation
1. Boot from your Snow Leopard 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. 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 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 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.
7. Quit DU upon completion and return to the installer. Now install Snow Leopard or restore from your Time Machine backup.

Time Machine won't restore a critical backup - disk space not sufficient error

Using Time Machine Restore Backup says my Macintosh HD has 55 GB available. I need to restore a 50GB Time Machine Backup from an external disk to the Macintosh HD device as the transfer destination of the restore copy it it gives me a message 'This Disk does not have enough space to restore your system'. In fact trying to restore all my many time backups over the past months give the same error even though the backup size is less then my Macintosh HD destination.
So I used the Time Machine software to delete many of my documents in the backup that I want to restore, now it is 30 GB through the Time machine finder, but restoring still gives me the same error. However, time machine made a new backup of my system today of 30 GB but when I go through the backup process using this, there is no error about there not being enough space.
It seems although the finder in Time Machine recognises that file is just 30 GB, in the restore process it doesn't recognise that file has been reduced to 30GB

If you're trying to add a large amount of data all at once, and you get an alert of insufficient space, then from the menu bar, select
 ▹ System Preferences... ▹ Time Machine
If the padlock icon is closed, click it to unlock the settings and authenticate. Turn Time Machine OFF, then back ON and close the preference pane. Restart the computer. Test.

Time machine allows only time capsule

I try to use a drive of another machine for backup. Time Machine has only one option, this is a time capsule. Since I don´t have it, I cannot backup my data. The option for Time Machine is being switched of everytime I try to select another drive.

Time Machine needs AFP file sharing, networked Mac running 10.5.6 or later and the Time Machine drive to be formatted with some flavor of Mac OS Extended with GUID partitioning.
Mac 101: Time Machine
Note: Every available disk that can be used to store backups is listed. If you’ve partitioned a disk, the available partitions are listed. Time Machine can’t back up to an external disk that's connected to an AirPort Extreme, or to an iPod, iDisk, or a disk formatted for Microsoft Windows (NTFS or FAT format). If you select an NTFS or FAT-formatted disk, Time Machine prompts you to reformat the disk. Choose a different disk or reformat the disk in Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format. Because reformatting erases any files on the disk, only do this if you no longer need the files or if you have copies of them on a different disk.
If your backup disk is on a network, the network server must use Apple File Protocol (AFP) file sharing and both your computer and the networked backup disk should have Mac OS X 10.5.6 or later installed.
The most common format for a Time Machine backup disk is Mac OS Extended format, but Time Machine also supports Mac OS Extended (Case sensitive, Journaled) and XSan formats.
If the disk is partitioned using the Master Boot Record (MBR) partition type, some partitions may not be available for use with Time Machine. The GUID Partition Table (GPT) or Apple Partition Map (APM) partition types are recommended.

Both my husband and I have our Macs backed up on Time Machine. I have a new Mac and want to download my files,etc. from Timeline to my new Mac. How do I ensure that Time Machine downloads only MY files, and not my husband's files?

Both my husband and I have our MacBook Pros backed up to Time Machine. I have a new MacBook Pro and want to download my files, etc. from Time Machine to my new Mac. I do I ensure that Time Machine downloads only MY files to my new Mac, and not my husband's files?

OS X uses a unique identifier so there will be no problems.

Time Machine - Permissions and Restoring

I've got a problem which is causing me serious problems. I'm working with APPLECARE and have been the the Genius Bar. Part of this problem (I know now) started with me not knowing the correct HOME User name. Thus, when I installed new HD, I created a new HOME user name. Now, when I attempt to restore, I'm not getting the "past history" of the TM backups and it's not allowing me to do current backups because it says that I do not have permission to back up the machine.
All of these accounts I've previously created have been administration accounts so, I should have permission to do whatever.
When I use my Snow Leopard disk to reinstall, I can see all of the backups from Time Machine and it allows me to chose anyone I like. The problem comes after the backup is restored, I can no longer see the "past backups" and Time Machine tells me that I do not have permission to currently back up the machine or look at previous backups.
What's a guy ta do?

Ce Dawkins wrote:
. . . continuing to reinstall the software from the Snow Leopard disk. When I do so, I'm able to see all of the backups and am able to choose one. Once I chose the date to restore and the system is restored, that is the ONLY date and information that I'm able to view. TM tells me that I DO NOT have permission to view the other information on the TM HD.
Yes, if you restore the entire system (per #14 in the link above), that's exactly what happens: the *entire system* is restored, exactly the way it was at the time of the backup. If you then do another full system restore of a different backup, yes, that will erase the previous version.
But that should restore all users, data, settings, etc., as of that date. Then if you have problems getting to some of the other users' data, you should be able to copy it (perhaps with some difficulty), from those user accounts to your.
Or, are you saying that not everything is restored?
This is my most pressing problem at this point and need a way to determine what is the user name (I should remember psw) is to view AND restore all of the incremental dates of backups.
I do not understand what you're saying here. Every TM backup is a "snapshot" of the way your *entire system* looked at the time of the backup. Each one is, in effect, a full backup.
If you didn't do a full restore, please explain exactly what you did.
If you did, but everything isn't on your system, please explain: are all the users there?
If it's on your system, but you can't copy it, we can show you how to do that.

Can I use Time Machine/Capsule more simply?

Every month, I plug in my external backup hard drive, delete all files from the last time I did a backup, and then copy my {user name} folder from my Mac to the hard drive. It takes awhile but serves my needs.
I would use Time Machine/Capsule if could be configured to be simple.
1) I don't need all the program files off my laptop, just my data (I can always re-install apps).
2) I don't need incremental backups (i.e. see the state of a file 3 months ago vs 2 months ago); I just need the last one I backed up.
Can I configure Time Machine/Capsule to do just this simply? I'm all about using Apple programs but would need it to be simple.
Thanks.

rcook349 wrote:
That makes no sense to me. I just want to back up my data folder
Why? Why not let Time Machine back up your entire system? That's what it was designed to do, and will protect you best that way. Yes, the first backup will copy everything, so it will take a long time (connect your Mac to the TC via an Ethernet cable if at all possible for this).
But thereafter, TM's hourly backups of only what's new or changed should be very quick.
Then when your internal HD fails, one simple step will recover your entire system to the exact condition it was in at the time of any backup (see #14 in the FAQ Tip below).
And the configuration is a one-time process, and quite simple.
You might want to review these:
Time Machine Tutorial
Time Machine 101
How to back up and restore your files
Time Machine Features
Apple - Support - Mac OSX v10.5 Leopard Time Machine
and perhaps browse the Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions *User Tip,* also at the top of the +Time Machine+ forum.

HT201250 Infected time machine/capsule

How does one scrub the time machine/capsule that has become infected and start afresh?

Ray-Atlanta wrote:
Are there solutions on market to protect the time capsule.
Not that I'm aware of. TimeMachine format is very complex and the volume is normally locked which prevents anything from being manually deleted. Everybody I've ever discussed this with who found a way to delete a file manually ended up with a worthless backup having caused un-repairable damage to the index.
The only thing that makes sense is when an infected file is found on any computer being backed up to have the location of the file open in the Finder and enter TimeMachine, highlight the file, then select "Delete all Backups of "<filename>" from the Action menu (Gear) in the toolbar.
The only way an infected file on your Time Capsule can get loose is by doing a restore from it, so you could just ignore it and it will eventually be deleted over time. Just make a note of the fact that there are infected files and run a scan immediately after doing a restore to clean things up.
Also concerned that the backups on the capsule were not totally erased.
Don't be, if you erased it they are gone. If somebody wants to forensically analyze the hard drive they could possible be recovered, but there is no way it could be harmful to anybody, even if used to restore. Odds are several hundred thousand to one that they were Windows malware, anyway.

Time Machine on Mavericks: restore file doesn't work

I've successfully located a file I need to restore from Time Machine backup by doing a Finder search for the filename (something.graffle, an OmniGraffle document), and when 0 items are found, I "Enter Time Machine..." and use the back arrow or click on a date some months ago. This process finds two copies of something.graffle, and I can select these and Copy them, or I can select them and click Restore. Neither, however, works. When I try Copy, then Cancel out of Time Machine, there is nothing to Paste. When I try Restore, the image of the item glides to the present-day folder and is present for a moment in the present-day Finder window after Time Machine closes, but it instantly disappears, and Find once again cannot find it.
My Time Machine backup is on an external disk connected by Firewire.
I found some other threads mentioning a bug with dual displays, so I already tried disconnecting my external displays--it didn't help. Seems to be a different problem.
Any ideas?

I solved this problem, which also appears on this thread: time machine can't restore files
The solution, for me, was to open the folder that I thought probably had the file. I knew it was probably in one of my two ~/Documents/OmniPresence folders, and in fact it was in a sub-sub-folder of OmniPresence, i.e. ~/Documents/OmniPresence/workfiles/stencils/something.graffle. This time doing the search produced 0 items, I entered Time Machine, went back to the earlier date where I'd seen it before but been unable to restore, and again Time Machine showed me two copies of the file. But this time, the files had their proper OmniGraffle document icons, and the context menus showed Restore options that hadn't been present earlier. I used Restore this file to… and successfully brought it into my presentday OmniPresence folder. From there I moved it into the workfiles/ subfolder where it belonged.
I hope this helps others.

How to prevent time machine from deleting certain backup folders?

So, I have problem undrestanding time machine. Time machine has made a backup of my files in Nov 2012 and another backup from Jan 2013. There is some files in Nov 2012 that I want to keep them forever and never be deleted. So, they were backed up by Time machine (I have deleted those files from my computer so they're no lonegr excist in my compuetr). Althought they do excist on my time machine under the Nov 2012 folder, I am not able to modify them at all for example, I'm not allowed to copy them somehwere else. Since, I can not make another copy of them, I am worried if time machine delete my Nov 2012 in future and then they will be gone. Can someone please help me in modifying/ controling my folder so it won't be deleted in future?

You are using Time Machine incorrectly, your files will be deleted from Time Machine after you delete them from your Mac, the only variable is when.
Time Machine is a backup, not a storage system.
Restore them now and copy them to long term storage (another hard drive)

Time machine won't restore back to lion

Mountain Lion is causing me big problems. My external firewire 800 hard drives will not stay mounted and my fans are running at full speed after waking from sleep. Restarting fixes these problems until it sleeps again. Sometimes it takes several restarts.
So I am trying to revert back to Lion the day before I foolishly upgraded to ML and Time Machine will not allow me to restore any of my old backup prior to ML. How can I get rid of ML without loosing data and taking up tons of my time?

Time Machine will not allow you to go back to a previous OS version, unless you are running that version. So if you are running Mountain Lion, it will only restore to ML back ups.
Others have done what you want to, if you have a OS X LION install disc/usb. You will have to manually copy over data as you should always back up your system regardless.
Source; Derek Currie https://discussions.apple.com/message/19105493#19105493
"Time Machine does not provide bootable backups. Therefore, this is not the solution.
If you bought Lion, you should be able to re-download it from the Mac App Store. (Sadly, Apple pulled the ability to actually buy Lion off the store). You should be booted to another volume other than the one you will be installing to. You may have to disable the installation on the disk you wish to move back to Lion. I'm not certain, but suspect that trashing the ML System folder would do the job. The Installer will probably notice the missing OS and allow the Lion install. If not, then you'd have to go to the root directory of that volume, make invisible files visible and trash the 'Kernel' files and try again to install Lion.
Ideally you can use the Time Machine backup to restore just about everything else. But you may find everything works fine after the install.
I beta tested 10.8 Mountain Lion and know that it had a couple remaining bugs upon release. That's what updates are for. I expect there will be a rapid release of 10.8.1 update via the Mac App Store. It may well be worth hanging in there with 10.8. It is most definitely an IMPROVEMENT over Lion, whose Finder bugs I absolutely hate. (But that problem may soon be solved with the 10.7.5 update coming soon).
If you look around the net you'll find there are instructions for creating a bootable Lion installer DVD or USB thumb drive as long as you have the Lion Installer on a hard drive. Here are a couple with illustrations:
http://osxdaily.com/2011/06/21/mac-os-x-lion-clean-install-explained/
http://mashable.com/2011/07/20/lion-clean-install-guide/"

Time Machine backups only work after restart

Hi
Getting frustrated as Time Machine backups only work after a restart. Work for a few hours and then get stuck with Backing up: XXMB of XXGB. I have left it on this for many hours ie overnight without completion
I have a Mid 2014 MBP 13 in running 10.10.2
I backup onto an external USB via a hub.
Things I have tried with review of Pondini great site which has helped with different TM backup problems.
Disk permissions and repair of SSD on MBP (were errors but did not solve issue)
Direct USB connection
Backup via Airport Extreme
Re-index spotlight
Reformat USB disk
New USB disk!
Below is log (backupd filtered) of latest backup attempts including final completed occuring after restart.
Any help gratefully received
19/03/2015 12:59:07.730 pm
com.apple.prefs.backup.remoteservice[2916]
Attempt to use XPC with a MachService that has HideUntilCheckIn set. This will result in unpredictable behavior: com.apple.backupd.status.xpc
19/03/2015 12:59:10.238 pm
com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]
(com.apple.backupd-auto) Unknown key for Boolean: ForceEnableHack
19/03/2015 12:59:10.240 pm
UserEventAgent[16]
com.apple.backupd-auto launchd job enabled
19/03/2015 12:59:10.238 pm
com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]
(com.apple.backupd-helper.status) The HideUntilCheckIn property is an architectural performance issue. Please transition away from it.
19/03/2015 12:59:10.239 pm
com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]
(com.apple.backupd-auto) This service is defined to be constantly running and is inherently inefficient.
19/03/2015 12:59:23.162 pm
com.apple.backupd[2929]
Starting manual backup
19/03/2015 12:59:23.358 pm
com.apple.backupd[2929]
Backing up to /dev/disk2s1: /Volumes/TIMEMACH/Backups.backupdb
19/03/2015 1:01:55.000 pm
kernel[0]
process backupd[2929] thread 893245 caught burning CPU!; EXC_RESOURCE supressed due to audio playback
19/03/2015 1:12:00.297 pm
com.apple.backupd[2929]
Will copy (Zero KB) from Macintosh HD
19/03/2015 1:12:00.350 pm
com.apple.backupd[2929]
Found 221479 files (439.9 MB) needing backup
19/03/2015 1:12:01.050 pm
com.apple.backupd[2929]
2.33 GB required (including padding), 554.92 GB available
19/03/2015 1:21:04.659 pm
com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]
(com.apple.backupd-status) The HideUntilCheckIn property is an architectural performance issue. Please transition away from it.
19/03/2015 1:21:04.659 pm
com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]
(com.apple.backupd.status.xpc) The HideUntilCheckIn property is an architectural performance issue. Please transition away from it.
19/03/2015 1:21:04.659 pm
com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]
(com.apple.backupd-helper.status) The HideUntilCheckIn property is an architectural performance issue. Please transition away from it.
19/03/2015 1:21:04.659 pm
com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]
(com.apple.backupd-auto) This service is defined to be constantly running and is inherently inefficient.
19/03/2015 1:21:51.062 pm
com.apple.backupd[167]
Starting manual backup
19/03/2015 1:21:51.380 pm
com.apple.backupd[167]
Backing up to /dev/disk2s1: /Volumes/TIMEMACH/Backups.backupdb
19/03/2015 1:24:40.000 pm
kernel[0]
process backupd[167] thread 7580 caught burning CPU! It used more than 50% CPU (Actual recent usage: 53%) over 180 seconds. thread lifetime cpu usage 90.616005 seconds, (29.940993 user, 60.675012 system) ledger info: balance: 90000913400 credit: 90000913400 debit: 0 limit: 90000000000 (50%) period: 180000000000 time since last refill (ns): 169146762635
19/03/2015 1:24:40.821 pm
spindump[507]
Saved cpu_resource.diag report for backupd version ??? (???) to /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/backupd_2015-03-19-132440_David-Henshaw-Work-Ma cbook.cpu_resource.diag
19/03/2015 1:34:29.100 pm
com.apple.backupd[167]
Will copy (Zero KB) from Macintosh HD
19/03/2015 1:34:29.155 pm
com.apple.backupd[167]
Found 221268 files (493.5 MB) needing backup
19/03/2015 1:34:29.235 pm
com.apple.backupd[167]
2.39 GB required (including padding), 554.92 GB available
19/03/2015 1:35:57.393 pm
com.apple.backupd[167]
Copied 5145 items (486.8 MB) from volume Macintosh HD. Linked 21319.
19/03/2015 1:36:33.451 pm
com.apple.backupd[167]
Created new backup: 2015-03-19-133632
19/03/2015 1:36:39.933 pm
com.apple.backupd[167]
Starting post-backup thinning
19/03/2015 1:36:39.943 pm
com.apple.backupd[167]
Error: Error Domain=NSOSStatusErrorDomain Code=-50 "The operation couldn’t be completed. (OSStatus error -50.)" (paramErr: error in user parameter list) deleting backup: /Volumes/TIMEMACH/Backups.backupdb/David Henshaw Work Macbook/2015-03-19-132152.inProgress/2AC908D9-122D-4267-9652-74A9DC6C8795
19/03/2015 1:36:39.944 pm
com.apple.backupd[167]
Error: Error Domain=NSOSStatusErrorDomain Code=-50 "The operation couldn’t be completed. (OSStatus error -50.)" (paramErr: error in user parameter list) deleting backup: /Volumes/TIMEMACH/Backups.backupdb/David Henshaw Work Macbook/2015-03-19-132152.inProgress/A01A1A4C-F424-4F99-9466-6A5F571CE4F5
19/03/2015 1:36:53.268 pm
com.apple.backupd[167]
Deleted /Volumes/TIMEMACH/Backups.backupdb/David Henshaw Work Macbook/2015-03-18-125436 (10.4 MB)
19/03/2015 1:37:05.844 pm
com.apple.backupd[167]
Deleted /Volumes/TIMEMACH/Backups.backupdb/David Henshaw Work Macbook/2015-03-18-115428 (20.6 MB)
19/03/2015 1:37:12.476 pm
com.apple.backupd[167]
Deleted /Volumes/TIMEMACH/Backups.backupdb/David Henshaw Work Macbook/2015-03-18-102131 (1.5 MB)
19/03/2015 1:37:12.476 pm
com.apple.backupd[167]
Post-backup thinning complete: 3 expired backups removed
19/03/2015 1:37:12.495 pm
com.apple.backupd[167]
Backup completed successfully.

1. This procedure is a diagnostic test. It changes nothing, for better or worse, and therefore will not, in itself, solve the problem. But with the aid of the test results, the solution may take a few minutes, instead of hours or days.
The test works on OS X 10.7 ("Lion") and later. I don't recommend running it on older versions of OS X. It will do no harm, but it won't do much good either.
Don't be put off by the complexity of these instructions. The process is much less complicated than the description. You do harder tasks with the computer all the time.
2. If you don't already have a current backup, back up all data before doing anything else. The backup is necessary on general principle, not because of anything in the test procedure. Backup is always a must, and when you're having any kind of trouble with the computer, you may be at higher than usual risk of losing data, whether you follow these instructions or not.
There are ways to back up a computer that isn't fully functional. Ask if you need guidance.
3. Below are instructions to run a UNIX shell script, a type of program. As I wrote above, it changes nothing. It doesn't send or receive any data on the network. All it does is to generate a human-readable report on the state of the computer. That report goes nowhere unless you choose to share it. If you prefer, you can act on it yourself without disclosing the contents to me or anyone else.
You should be wondering whether you can believe me, and whether it's safe to run a program at the behest of a stranger. In general, no, it's not safe and I don't encourage it.
In this case, however, there are a couple of ways for you to decide whether the program is safe without having to trust me. First, you can read it. Unlike an application that you download and click to run, it's transparent, so anyone with the necessary skill can verify what it does.
You may not be able to understand the script yourself. But variations of it have been posted on this website thousands of times over a period of years. The site is hosted by Apple, which does not allow it to be used to distribute harmful software. Any one of the millions of registered users could have read the script and raised the alarm if it was harmful. Then I would not be here now and you would not be reading this message. See, for example, this discussion.
Nevertheless, if you can't satisfy yourself that these instructions are safe, don't follow them. Ask for other options.
4. Here's a summary of what you need to do, if you choose to proceed:
☞ Copy a line of text in this window to the Clipboard.
☞ Paste into the window of another application.
☞ Wait for the test to run. It usually takes a few minutes.
☞ Paste the results, which will have been copied automatically, back into a reply on this page.
The sequence is: copy, paste, wait, paste again. You don't need to copy a second time. Details follow.
5. Try to test under conditions that reproduce the problem, as far as possible. For example, if the computer is sometimes, but not always, slow, run the test during a slowdown.
You may have started up in "safe" mode. If the system is now in safe mode and works well enough in normal mode to run the test, restart as usual. If you can only test in safe mode, do that.
6. If you have more than one user, and the one affected by the problem is not an administrator, then please run the test twice: once while logged in as the affected user, and once as an administrator. The results may be different. The user that is created automatically on a new computer when you start it for the first time is an administrator. If you can't log in as an administrator, test as the affected user. Most personal Macs have only one user, and in that case this section doesn’t apply. Don't log in as root.
7. The script is a single long line, all of which must be selected. You can accomplish this easily by triple-clicking anywhere in the line. The whole line will highlight, though you may not see all of it in the browser window, and you can then copy it. If you try to select the line by dragging across the part you can see, you won't get all of it.
Triple-click anywhere in the line of text below on this page to select it:
PATH=/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/libexec;clear;cd;p=(1295 ' 0.5 0.25 50 1000 15 5120 1000 25000 6 6 5 1 0 100 ' 51 25600 4 10 25 5120 102400 1000 25 1536 450 40 500 300 85 25 20480 262144 20 2000 524288 604800 5 1024 25 );k=({Soft,Hard}ware Memory Diagnostics Power FireWire Thunderbolt USB Bluetooth SerialATA Extensions Applications Frameworks PrefPane Fonts Displays PCI UniversalAccess InstallHistory ConfigurationProfile AirPort 'com\.apple\.' -\\t N\\/A 'AES|atr|udit|msa|dnse|ax|ensh|fami|FileS|fing|ft[pw]|gedC|kdu|etS|is\.|alk|ODSA|otp|htt|pace|pcas|ps-lp|rexe|rlo|rsh|smb|snm|teln|upd-[aw]|uuc|vix|webf' OSBundle{Require,AllowUserLoa}d 'Mb/s:Mb/s:ms/s:KiB/s:%:total:MB:total:lifetime:sampled:per sec' 'Net in:Net out:I/O wait time:I/O requests:CPU usage:Open files:Memory:Mach ports:Energy:Energy:File opens:Forks:Failed forks:System errors' 'tsA|[ST]M[HL]' PlistBuddy{,' 2>&1'}' -c Print' 'Info\.plist' CFBundleIdentifier );f=('\n%s'{': ','\n\n'}'%s\n' '\nRAM details\n%s\n' %s{' ','\n'{"${k[22]}",}}'%s\n' '%.1f GiB: %s\n' '\n    ...and %s more line(s)\n' '\nContents of %s\n    '"${k[22]}"'mod date: %s\n    '"${k[22]}"'checksum: %s\n%s\n' );c=(879294308 4071182229 461455494 216630318 3627668074 1083382502 1274181950 1855907737 2758863019 1848501757 464843899 2636415542 3694147963 1233118628 2456546649 2806998573 2778718105 842973933 1383871077 1591517921 676087606 1445213025 2051385900 3301885676 891055588 998894468 695903914 1443423563 4136085286 3374894509 1051159591 892310726 1707497389 523110921 2883943871 3873345487 );s=(' s/[0-9A-Za-z._]+@[0-9A-Za-z.]+\.[0-9A-Za-z]{2,4}/EMAIL/g;/faceb/s/(at\.)[^.]+/\1NAME/g;/\/Shared/!s/(\/Users\/)[^ /]+/\1USER/g;s/[-0-9A-Fa-f]{22,}/UUID/g;' ' s/^ +//;/de: S|[nst]:/p;' ' {sub(/^ +/,"")};/er:/;/y:/&&$2<'${p[4]} ' s/:$//;3,6d;/[my].+:/d;s/^ {4}//;H;${ g;s/\n$//;/s: (E[^m]|[^EO])|x([^08]|02[^F]|8[^0])/p;} ' ' 5h;6{ H;g;/P/!p;} ' ' ($1~/^Cy/&&$3>'${p[9]}')||($1~/^Cond/&&$2!~/^N/) ' ' /:$/{ N;/:.+:/d;s/ *://;b0'$'\n'' };/^ *(V.+ [0N]|Man).+ /{ s/ 0x.... //;s/[()]//g;s/(.+: )(.+)/ (\2)/;H;};$b0'$'\n'' d;:0'$'\n'' x;s/\n\n//;/Apple[ ,]|Genesy|Intel|SMSC/d;s/\n.*//;/\)$/p;' ' s/^.*C/C/;H;${ g;/No th|pms/!p;} ' '/= [^GO]/p' '{$1=""};1' ' /Of|yc/!{ s/^.+is |\.//g;p;q;} ' ' BEGIN { FS="\f";if(system("A1 42 83 114")) d="^'"${k[21]}"'launch(d\.peruser\.[0-9]+|ctl\.(Aqua|Background|System))$";} { if($2~/[1-9]/) { $2="status: "$2;printf("'"${f[4]}"'",$1,$2);} else if(!d||$1!~d) print $1;} ' ' $1>1{$NF=$NF" x"$1} /\*/{if(!f)f="\n\t* Code injection"} {$1=""} 1;END{print f} ' ' NR==2&&$4<='${p[7]}'{print $4} ' ' BEGIN{FS=":"} ($1~"wir"&&$2>'${p[22]}') {printf("wired %.1f\n",$2/2^18)} ($1~/P.+ts/&&$2>'${p[19]}') {printf("paged %.1f\n",$2/2^18)} ' '/YLD/s/=/ /p' ' { q=$1;$1="";u=$NF;$NF="";gsub(/ +$/,"");print q"\f"$0"\f"u;} ' ' /^ {6}[^ ]/d;s/:$//;/([^ey]|[^n]e):/d;/e: Y/d;s/: Y.+//g;H;${ g;s/ \n (\n)/\1/g;s/\n +(M[^ ]+)[ -~]+/ (\1)/;s/\n$//;/( {8}[^ ].*){2,}/p;} ' 's:^:/:p;' ' !/, .+:/ { print;n++;} END{if(n<'{${p[12]},${p[13]}}')printf("^'"${k[21]}"'.+")} ' '|uniq' ' 1;END { print "/L.+/Scr.+/Templ.+\.app$";print "/L.+/Pri.+\.plugin$";if(NR<'{${p[14]},${p[21]}}') print "^/[Sp].+|'${k[21]}'";} ' ' /\.(framew|lproj)|\):/d;/plist:|:.+(Mach|scrip)/s/:.+//p;' '&&echo On' '/\.(bundle|component|framework|kext|mdimporter|plugin|qlgenerator|saver|wdgt)$/p' '/\.dylib$/p' ' /Temp|emac/{next};/(etc|Preferences|Launch[AD].+)\// { sub(".","");print $0"$";} END { split("'"${c[*]}"'",c);for(i in c) print "\t"c[i]"$";} ' ' /^\/(Ap|Dev|Inc|Prev)/d;/((iTu|ok).+dle|\.(component|mailbundle|mdimporter|plugin|qlgenerator|saver|wdgt))$/p;' ' BEGIN{ FS="= "} $2 { gsub(/[()"]/,"",$2);print $2;} !/:/&&!$2{print "'${k[23]}'"} ' ' /^\//!d;s/^.{5}//;s/ [^/]+\//: \//p;' '>&-||echo No' '{print $3"\t"$1}' 's/\'$'\t''.+//p' 's/1/On/p' '/Prox.+: [^0]/p' '$2>'${p[2]}'{$2=$2-1;print}' ' BEGIN { M1='${p[16]}';M2='${p[18]}';M3='${p[8]}';M4='${p[3]}';} !/^A/{next};/%/ { getline;if($5<M1) o["CPU"]="CPU: user "$2"%, system "$4"%";next;} $2~/^disk/&&$4>M2 { o[$2]=$2": "$3" ops/s, "$4" blocks/s";next;} $2~/^(en[0-9]|bridg)/ { if(o[$2]) { e=$3+$4+$5+$6;if(e) o[$2]=o[$2]"; errors "e"/s";next;};if($4>M3||$6>M4) o[$2]=$2": in "int($4/1024)", out "int($6/1024)" (KiB/s)";} END { for(i in o) print o[i];} ' ' /r\[0\] /&&$NF!~/^1(0|72\.(1[6-9]|2[0-9]|3[0-1])|92\.168)\./ { print $NF;exit;} ' ' !/^T/ { printf "(static)";exit;} ' '/apsd|BKAg|OpenD/!s/:.+//p' ' (/k:/&&$3!~/(255\.){3}0/)||(/v6:/&&$2!~/A/) ' ' BEGIN{FS=": "} /^ {10}O/ {exit} /^ {0,12}[^ ]/ {next} $1~"Ne"&&$2!~/^In/{print} $1~"Si" { split($2,a," ");if(a[1]-a[4]<'${p[5]}') print;};$1~"T"&&$2<'${p[20]}'{print};$1~"Se"&&$2!~"2"{print};' ' BEGIN { FS="\f";} { n=split($3,a,".");sub(/_2[01].+/,"",$3);print $2" "$3" "a[n]$1;} ' ' BEGIN { split("'"${p[1]}"'",m);FS="\f";} $2<=m[$1]{next} $1==9||$1==10 { "ps -c -ouid -p"$4"|sed 1d"|getline $4;} $1<11 { o[$1]=o[$1]"\n    "$3" (UID "int($4)"): "$2;} $1==11&&$5!~"^/dev" { o[$1]=o[$1]"\n    "$3" (UID "$4") => "$5" (status "$6"): "$2;} $1==12&&$5 { "ps -c -ocomm -p"$5"|sed 1d"|getline n;if(n) $5=n;o[$1]=o[$1]"\n    "$5" => "$3" (UID "$4"): "$2;} $1~/1[34]/ { o[$1]=o[$1]"\n    "$3" (UID "$4", error "$5"): "$2;} END { n=split("'"${k[27]}"'",u,":");for(i=n+1;i<n+4;i++)u[i]=u[n];split("'"${k[28]}"'",l,":");for(i=1;i<15;i++) if(o[i])print "\n"l[i]" ("u[i]")\n"o[i];} ' ' /^ {8}[^ ]/{print} ' ' BEGIN { L='${p[17]}';} !/^[[:space:]]*(#.*)?$/ { l++;if(l<=L) f=f"\n    "$0;} END { F=FILENAME;if(!F) exit;if(!f) f="\n    [N/A]";"cksum "F|getline C;split(C, A);C=A[1];"stat -f%Sm "F|getline D;"file -b "F|getline T;if(T~/^Apple b/) { f="";l=0;while("'"${k[30]}"' "F|getline g) { l++;if(l<=L) f=f"\n    "g;};};if(T!~/^(AS.+ (En.+ )?text(, with v.+)?$|(Bo|PO).+ sh.+ text ex|XM)/) F=F"\n    '"${k[22]}"'"T;printf("'"${f[8]}"'",F,D,C,f);if(l>L) printf("'"${f[7]}"'",l-L);} ' ' s/^ ?n...://p;s/^ ?p...:/-'$'\t''/p;' 's/0/Off/p' 's/^.{52}(.+) <.+/\1/p' ' /id: N|te: Y/{i++} END{print i} ' ' /kext:/ { split($0,a,":");p=a[1];k[S]='${k[25]}';k[U]='${k[26]}';v[S]="Safe";v[U]="true";for(i in k) { s=system("'"${k[30]}"'\\ :"k[i]" \""p"\"/*/I*|grep -qw "v[i]);if(!s) a[1]=a[1]" "i;};if(!a[2]) a[2]="'"${k[23]}"'";printf("'"${f[4]}"'",a[1],a[2]);next;} !/^ *$/ { p="'"${k[31]}"'\\ :'"${k[33]}"' \""$0"\"/*/'${k[32]}'";p|getline b;close(p);if(b~/, .+:/||b=="") b="'"${k[23]}"'";printf("'"${f[4]}"'",$0,b);} ' '/ en/!s/\.//p' ' NR>=13 { gsub(/[^0-9]/,"",$1);print;} ' ' $10~/$L/&&$9!~"localhost" { sub(/.+:/,"",$9);print $1": "$9|"sort|uniq";} ' '/^ +r/s/.+"(.+)".+/\1/p' 's/(.+\.wdgt)\/(Contents\/)?'${k[32]}'$/\1/p' 's/^.+\/(.+)\.wdgt$/\1/p' ' /l: /{ /DVD/d;s/.+: //;b0'$'\n'' };/s: /{ / [VY]/d;s/^ */- /;H;};$b0'$'\n'' d;:0'$'\n'' x;/APPLE [^:]+$/d;p;' '/^find: /!p;' ' /^p/{ s/.//g;x;s/\nu/'$'\f''/;s/(\n)c/\1'$'\f''/;s/\n\n//;p;};H;' ' BEGIN{FS="= "} /Path/{print $2} ' ' /^ *$/d;s/^ */    /;p;' ' s/^.+ |\(.+$$//g;p;' '1;END{if(NR<'${p[15]}')printf("^/(S|usr/(X|li))")}' ' /2/{print "WARN"};/4/{print "CRITICAL"};' ' /EVHF|MACR|^s/d;s/^.+: //p;' ' $3~/^[1-9][0-9]{0,2}(\.[1-9][0-9]{0,2}){2}$/ { i++;n=n"\n"$1"\t"$3;} END{ if(i>1)print n} ' s/{'\.|jnl: ','P.+:'}'//;s/ +([0-9]+)(.+)/\2'$'\t\t''\1/p' ' /^ +iP.+:$/{ s/://;b0'$'\n'' };/es: ./{ /iOS/d;s/^.+://;b0'$'\n'' };/^ +C.+ted: +[NY]/H;/:$/b0'$'\n'' d;:0'$'\n'' x;/: +N/d;s/\n.+//p;' ' 1d;/:$/b0'$'\n'' $b0'$'\n'' /(D|^ *Loc.+): /{ s/^.+: //;H;};/(B2|[my]): /H;d;:0'$'\n'' x;/[my]: [AM]|m: I.+p$|^\/Vo/d;s/(^|\n) [ -~]+//g;s/(.+)\n(.+)/\2:\1/;s/\n//g;/[ -~]/p;' 's/$/'$'\f''(0|-(4[34])?)$/p' '|sort'{'|uniq'{,\ -c},\ -nr} ' s/^/'{5,6,7,8,9,10}$'\f''/;s/ *'$'\f'' */'$'\f''/g;p;' 's/:.+$//p' '|wc -l' /{\\.{kext,xpc,'(appex|pluginkit)'}'\/(Contents\/)?'Info,'Launch[AD].+'}'\.plist$/p' 's/([-+.?])/\\\1/g;p' 's/, /\'$'\n/g;p' ' BEGIN{FS="\f"} { printf("'"${f[6]}"'",$1/2^30,$2);} ' ' /= D/&&$1!~/'{${k[24]},${k[29]}}'/ { getline d;if(d~"t") print $1;} ' ' BEGIN{FS="\t"} NR>1&&$NF!~/0x|\.([0-9]{3,}|[-0-9A-F]{36})$/ { print $NF"\f"a[split($(NF-1),a," ")];} ' '|tail -n'{${p[6]},${p[10]}} ' s/.+bus /Bus: /;s/,.+[(]/ /;s/,.+//p;' ' { $NF=$NF" Errors: "$1;$1="";} 1 ' ' 1s/^/\'$'\n''/;/^ +(([MNPRSV]|De|Li|Tu).+|Bus): .|d: Y/d;s/:$//;$d;p;' ' BEGIN { RS=",";FS=":";} $1~"name" { gsub("\"","",$2);print $2;} ' '|grep -q e:/' '/[^ .]/p' '{ print $1}' ' /^ +N.+: [1-9]/ { i++;} END { if(i) print "system: "i;} ' ' NF { print "'{admin,user}' "$NF;exit;} ' ' /se.+ =/,/[\}]/!d;/[=\}]/!p ' ' 3,4d;/^ +D|Of|Fu| [0B]/d;s/^ |:$//g;$!H;${ x;/:/p;} ' ' BEGIN { FS=": ";} NR==1 { sub(":","");h="\n"$1"\n";} /:$/ { l=$1;next;} $1~"S"&&$2!~3 { getline;next;} /^ {6}I/ { i++;L[i]=l" "$2;if(i=='${p[24]}') exit;} END { if(i) print h;for(j=0;j<i;j++) print L[i-j];} ' ' /./H;${ x;s/\n//;s/\n/, /g;/,/p;} ' ' {if(int($6)>'${p[25]}')printf("swap used %.1f\n",$6/1024)} ' ' BEGIN{FS="\""} $3~/ t/&&$2!~/'{${k[24]},${k[29]}}'/{print $2} ' ' int($1)>13 ' p ' BEGIN{FS="DB="} { sub(/\.db.*/,".db",$2);print $2;} ' {,1d\;}'/r%/,/^$/p' ' NR==1{next} NR>11||!$0{exit} {print $NF"\f"substr($0,1,32)"\f"$(NF-7)} ' '/e:/{print $2}' ' /^[(]/{ s/....//;s/$/:/;N;/: [)]$/d;s/\n.+ ([^ ]+).$/\1/;H;};${ g;p;} ' '1;END { exit "find /var/db/r*/'${k[21]}'*.{BS,Bas,Es,J,OSXU,Rem,up}*.bom -mtime -'${p[23]}'s"|getline;} ' ' NR<='${p[26]}' { o=o"\n"$0;next;} { o="";exit;} END{print o|"sed 1d"} ' );c1=(system_profiler pmset\ -g nvram fdesetup find syslog df vm_stat sar ps crontab kextfind top pkgutil "${k[30]}\\" echo cksum kextstat launchctl smcDiagnose sysctl\ -n defaults\ read stat lsbom 'mdfind -onlyin' env pluginkit scutil 'dtrace -q -x aggsortrev -n' security sed\ -En awk 'dscl . -read' networksetup mdutil lsof test osascript\ -e netstat mdls route cat uname powermetrics );c2=(${k[21]}loginwindow\ LoginHook ' /L*/P*/loginw*' "'tell app \"System Events\" to get properties of login items'" 'L*/Ca*/'${k[21]}'Saf*/E* -d 2 -name '${k[32]} '~ $TMPDIR.. $ -flags +sappnd,schg,uappnd,uchg -o ! -user $UID -o ! -perm -600 $' -i '-nl -print' '-F \$Sender -k Level Nle 3 -k Facility Req "'${k[21]}'('{'bird|.*i?clou','lsu|sha'}')"' "-f'%N: %l' Desktop {/,}L*/Keyc*" therm sysload boot-args status " -F '\$Time \$Message' -k Sender kernel -k Message CRne '0xdc008012|(allow|call)ing|Goog|(mplet|nabl)ed|ry HD|safe b|xpm' -k Message CReq 'bad |Can.t l|corru|dead|fail|GPU |hfs: Ru|inval|Limiti|v_c|NVDA[(]|pagin|Purg(ed|in)|error|Refus|TCON|tim(ed? ?|ing )o|trig|WARN' " '-du -n DEV -n EDEV 1 10' 'acrx -o%cpu,comm,ruid' "' syscall::recvfrom:return {@a[execname,uid]=sum(arg0)} syscall::sendto:return {@b[execname,uid]=sum(arg0)} syscall::open*:entry {@c[execname,uid,copyinstr(arg0),errno]=count()} syscall::execve:return, syscall::posix_spawn:return {@d[execname,uid,ppid]=count()} syscall::fork:return, syscall::vfork:return, syscall::posix_spawn:return /arg0<0/ {@e[execname,uid,arg0]=count()} syscall:::return /errno!=0/ {@f[execname,uid,errno]=count()} io:::wait-start {self->t=timestamp} io:::wait-done /self->t/ { this->T=timestamp - self->t;@g[execname,uid]=sum(this->T);self->t=0;} io:::start {@h[execname,uid]=sum(args[0]->b_bcount)} tick-10sec { normalize(@a,2560000);normalize(@b,2560000);normalize(@c,10);normalize(@d,10);normalize(@e,10);normalize(@f,10);normalize(@g,10000000);normalize(@h,10240);printa(\"1\f%@d\f%s\f%d\n\",@a);printa(\"2\f%@d\f%s\f%d\n\",@b);printa(\"11\f%@d\f%s\f%d\f%s\f%d\n\",@c);printa(\"12\f%@d\f%s\f%d\f%d\n\",@d);printa(\"13\f%@d\f%s\f%d\f%d\n\",@e);printa(\"14\f%@d\f%s\f%d\f%d\n\",@f);printa(\"3\f%@d\f%s\f%d\n\",@g);printa(\"4\f%@d\f%s\f%d\n\",@h);exit(0);} '" '-f -pfc /var/db/r*/'${k[21]}'*.{BS,Bas,Es,J,OSXU,Rem,up}*.bom' '{/,}L*/Lo*/Diag* -type f -regex .\*[cght] ! -name .?\* ! -name \*ag $ -exec grep -lq "^Thread c" {} \; -exec printf \* \; -o -true $ -execdir stat -f'$'\f''%Sc'$'\f''%N -t%F {} \;' '/S*/*/Ca*/*xpc*' '-L /{S*/,}L*/StartupItems -type f -exec file {} +' /\ kMDItemContentTypeTree=${k[21]}{bundle,mach-o-dylib} :Label "/p*/e*/{auto*,{cron,fs}tab,hosts,{[lp],sy}*.conf,mach_i*/*,pam.d/*,ssh{,d}_config,*.local} {/p*,/usr/local}/e*/periodic/*/* /L*/P*{,/*}/com.a*.{Bo,sec*.ap}*t {/S*/,/,}L*/Lau*/*t .launchd.conf" list '-F "" -k Sender hidd -k Level Nle 3' /Library/Preferences/${k[21]}alf\ globalstate --proxy '-n get default' vm.swapusage --dns -get{dnsservers,info} dump-trust-settings\ {-s,-d,} -n1 '-R -ce -l1 -n5 -o'{'prt -stats prt','mem -stats mem'}',command,uid' -kl -l -s\ / '--regexp --files '${k[21]}'pkg.*' '+c0 -i4TCP:0-1023' ${k[21]}dashboard\ layer-gadgets '-d /L*/Mana*/$USER' '-app Safari WebKitDNSPrefetchingEnabled' '-Fcu +c0 -l' -m 'L*/{Con*/*/Data/L*/,}Pref* -type f -size 0c -name *.plist.???????' kern.memorystatus_vm_pressure_level '3>&1 >&- 2>&3' '-F \$Message -k Sender kernel -k Message CReq "'{'n Cause: -','(a und|I/O |jnl_io.+)err|disk.+abo','USBF:.+bus'}'"' -name\ kMDItem${k[33]} -T\ hfs '-n get default' -listnetworkserviceorder :${k[33]} :CFBundleDisplayName $EUID {'$TMPDIR../C ','/{S*/,}'}'L*/{,Co*/*/*/L*/}{Cache,Log}s -type f -size +'${p[11]}'M -exec stat -f%z'$'\f''%N {} \;' \ /v*/d*/*/*l*d{,.*.$UID}/* '-app Safari UserStyleSheetEnabled' 'L*/A*/Fi*/P*/*/a*.json' users/$USER\ HomeDirectory '{/,}L*/{Con,Pref}* -type f ! -size 0 -name *.plist -exec plutil -s {} \;' ' -F "\$Time \$(Sender): \$Message" -k Sender Rne "launchd|nsurls" -k Level Nle 3 -k Facility R'{'ne "user|','eq "'}'console" -k Message CRne "[{}<>]|asser|commit - no t|deprec|done |ect pas|fmfd|Goog|ksho|ndum|obso|realp|rned f|/root|sandbox ex" ' getenv '/ "kMDItemDateAdded>=\$time.now(-'${p[23]}')&&kMDItem'${k[33]}'=*"' -m\ / '' ' -F "\$Time \$(RefProc): \$Message" -k Sender Req launchd -k Level Nle 3 -k Message Rne "asse|bug|File ex|hij|Ig|Jet|key is|lid t|Plea|ship" ' print{,-disabled}\ {system,{gui,user}/$UID} '-n1 --show-initial-usage --show-process-energy' -r ' -F "\$Message" -k Sender nsurlstoraged -k Time ge -1h -k Level Nle 4 -k Message Req "^(ER|IN)" ' '~ "kMDItemKind=Package"' );N1=${#c2[@]};for j in {0..20};do c2[N1+j]=SP${k[j]}DataType;done;l=({Restricted\ ,Lock,Pro}files POST Battery {Safari,App,{Bad,Loaded}\ kernel,Firefox}\ extensions System\ load boot\ args FileVault\ {2,1} {Kernel,System,Console,launchd}\ log SMC Login\ hook 'I/O per process' 'High file counts' UID {System,Login,Agent,User}' services '{load,disabl}ed {Admin,Root}\ access Font\ issues Firewall Proxies DNS TCP/IP Wi-Fi 'Elapsed time (sec)' {Root,User}\ crontab {Global,User}' login items' Spotlight Memory\ pressure Listeners Widgets Parental\ Controls Prefetching Nets Volumes {Continuity,I/O,iCloud,HID,HCI}\ errors {User,System}\ caches/logs XPC\ cache Startup\ items Shutdown\ codes Heat Diagnostic\ reports Bad\ {plist,cache}s 'VM (GiB)' Bundles{,' (new)'} Trust\ settings Activity Free\ space Stylesheet Library\ paths{,' ('{shell,launchd}\)} Data\ packages );N3=${#l[@]};for i in {0..8};do l[N3+i]=${k[5+i]};done;F() { local x="${s[$1]}";[[ "$x" =~ ^([\&\|\<\>]|$) ]]&&{ printf "$x";return;};:|${c1[30]} "$x" 2>&-;printf "%s \'%s\'" "|${c1[30+$?]}" "$x";};A0() { Q=6;v[2]=1;id -G|grep -qw 80;v[1]=$?;((v[1]))||{ Q=7;sudo -v;v[2]=$?;((v[2]))||Q=8;};v[3]=`date +%s`;date '+Start time: %T %D%n';printf '\n[Process started]\n\n'>&4;printf 'Revision: %s\n\n' ${p[0]};};A1() { local c="${c1[$1]} ${c2[$2]}";shift 2;c="$c ` while [[ "$1" ]];do F $1;shift;done`";((P2))&&{ c="sudo $c";P2=;};v=`eval "$c"`;[[ "$v" ]];};A2() { local c="${c1[$1]}";[[ "$c" =~ ^(awk|sed ) ]]&&c="$c '${s[$2]}'"||c="$c ${c2[$2]}";shift 2;local d=` while [[ "$1" ]];do F $1;shift;done`;((P2))&&{ c="sudo $c";P2=;};local a;v=` while read a;do eval "$c '$a' $d";done<<<"$v";`;[[ "$v" ]];};A3(){ v=$((`date +%s`-v[3]));};export -f A1 A2 F;B1() { v=No;! ((v[1]))&&{ v=;P1=1;};};eval "`type -a B1|sed '1d;s/1/2/'`";B3(){ v[$1]="$v";};B4() { local i=$1;local j=$2;shift 2;local c="cat` while [[ "$1" ]];do F $1;shift;done`";v[j]=`eval "{ $c;}"<<<"${v[i]}"`;};B5(){ v="${v[$1]}"$'\n'"${v[$2]}";};B6() { v=` paste -d$'\e' <(printf "${v[$1]}") <(printf "${v[$2]}")|awk -F$'\e' ' {printf("'"${f[$3]}"'",$1,$2)} ' `;};B7(){ v=`egrep -v "${v[$1]}"<<<"$v"|sort`;};eval "`type -a B7|sed '1d;s/7/8/;s/-v //'`";C0() { [[ "$v" ]]&&sed -E "$s"<<<"$v";};C1() { [[ "$v" ]]&&printf "${f[$1]}" "${l[$2]}" "$v"|sed -E "$s";};C2() { v=`echo $v`;[[ "$v" != 0 ]]&&C1 0 $1;};C3() { B4 0 0 63&&C1 1 $1;};C4() { echo $'\t'"Part $((++P)) of $Q done at $((`date +%s`-v[3])) sec">&4;};C5() { sudo -k;pbcopy<<<"$o";printf '\n\tThe test results are on the Clipboard.\n\n\tPlease close this window.\n';exit 2>&-;};for i in 1 2;do eval D$((i-1))'() { A'$i' $@;C0;};';for j in 2 3;do eval D$((i+2*j-3))'() { local x=$1;shift;A'$i' $@;C'$j' $x;};';done;done;trap C5 2;o=$({ A0;D0 0 N1+1 2;D0 0 $N1 1;B1;C2 31;B1&&! B2&&C2 32;D2 22 15 63;D0 0 N1+2 3;D0 0 N1+15 17;D4 3 0 N1+3 4;D4 4 0 N1+4 5;D4 N3+4 0 N1+9 59;D0 0 N1+16 99;for i in 0 1 2;do D4 N3+i 0 N1+5+i 6;done;D4 N3+3 0 N1+8 71;D4 62 1 10 7;D4 10 1 11 8;B2&&D4 18 19 53 67;D2 11 2 12 9;D2 12 3 13 10;D2 13 32 70 101 25;D2 71 6 76 13;D2 45 20 52 66;A1 7 77 14;B3 28;A1 20 31 111;B6 0 28 5;B4 0 0 110;C2 66;D4 70 8 15 38;D0 9 16 16 77 45;C4;B2&&D0 35 49 61 75 76 78 45;B2&&{ D0 28 17 45;C4;};B2&&{ A1 43 85 117;B3 29;B4 0 0 119 76 81 45;C0;B4 29 0 118 119 76 82 45;C0;    };D0 12 40 54 16 79 45;D0 12 39 54 16 80 45;D4 74 25 77 15&&{ B4 0 8 103;B4 8 0;A2 18 74;B6 8 0 3;C3 75;};B2&&D4 19 21 0;B2&&D4 40 10 42;D2 2 0 N1+19 46 84;D2 44 34 43 53;D2 59 22 20 32;D2 33 0 N1+14 51;for i in {0..2};do A1 29 35+i 104+i;B3 25+i;done;B6 25 27 5;B6 0 26 5;B4 0 0 110;C2 69;D2 34 21 28 35;D4 35 27 29 36;A1 40 59 120;B3 18;A1 33 60 121;B8 18;B4 0 19 83;A1 27 32 39&&{ B3 20;B4 19 0;A2 33 33 40;B3 21;B6 20 21 3;};C2 36;D4 50 38 5 68;B4 19 0;D5 37 33 34 42;B2&&D4 46 35 45 55;D4 38 0 N1+20 43;B2&&D4 58 4 65 76 91;D4 63 4 19 44 75 95 12;B1&&{ D4 53 5 55 75 69&&D4 51 6 58 31;D4 56 5 56 97 75 98&&D0 0 N1+7 99;D2 55 5 27 84;D4 61 5 54 75 70;D4 14 5 14 96;D4 15 5 72 96;D4 17 5 78 96;C4;};D4 16 5 73 96;A1 13 44 74 18;C4;B3 4;B4 4 0 85;A2 14 61 89;B4 0 5 19 102;A1 17 41 50;B7 5;C3 8;B4 4 0 88;A2 14 24 89;C4;B4 0 6 19 102;B4 4 0 86;A2 14 61 89;B4 0 7 19 102;B5 6 7;B4 0 11 73 102;A1 42 86 114;j=$?;for i in 0 1 2;do ((i==2&&j==1))&&break;((! j))||((i))||B2&&A1 18 $((79+i-(i+53)*j)) 107+8*j 94 74||continue;B7 11;B4 0 0 11;C3 $((23+i*(1+i+2*j)));D4 $((24+i*(1+i+2*j))) 18-4*j 82+i-16*j $((112+((3-i)*i-40*j)/2));done;D4 60 4 21 24;D4 42 14 1 62;D4 43 37 2 90 48;D4 41 10 42;D2 48 36 47 25;A1 4 3 60&&{ B3 9;A2 14 61;B4 0 10 21;B4 9 0;A2 14 62;B4 0 0 21;B6 0 10 4;C3 5;};D4 9 41 69 100;D2 72 21 68 35;D2 49 21 48 49;B4 4 22 57 102;A1 21 46 56 74;B7 22;B4 0 0 58;C3 47;D4 54 5 7 75 76 69;D4 52 5 8 75 76 69;D4 57 4 64 76 91;D2 0 4 4 84;D2 1 4 51 84;D4 21 22 9 37;D0 0 N1+17 108;D4 76 24 88;A1 23 18 28 89;B4 0 16 22 102;A1 16 25 33;B7 16;B4 0 0 34;D1 31 47;D4 64 4 71 41;D4 65 5 87 116 74;C4;B4 4 12 26 89 23 102;for i in {0..3};do A1 0 N1+10+i 72 74;B7 12;B4 0 0 52;C3 N3+5+i;((i))||C4;done;A1 24 22 29;B7 12;B3 14;A2 39 57 30;B6 14 0 4;C3 67;A1 24 75 74;B4 1 1 122||B7 12;B4 0 0 123;B3 23;A2 39 57 30;B6 23 0 4;C3 68;B4 4 13 27 89 65;A1 24 23;B7 13;C3 73;B4 4 0 87;A2 14 61 89 20;B4 0 17;A1 26 50 64;B7 17;C3 6;D0 0 N1+18 109;D4 7 11 6;A3;C2 39;C4;} 4>&2 2>/dev/null;);C5
Copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C.
8. Launch the built-in Terminal 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 and start typing the name.
Click anywhere in the Terminal window and paste by pressing command-V. The text you pasted should vanish immediately. If it doesn't, press the return key.
9. If you see an error message in the Terminal window such as "Syntax error" or "Event not found," enter
exec bash
and press return. Then paste the script again.
10. If you're logged in as an administrator, you'll be prompted for your login password. Nothing will be displayed when you type it. You will not see the usual dots in place of typed characters. Make sure caps lock is off. Type carefully and then press return. You may get a one-time warning to be careful. If you make three failed attempts to enter the password, the test will run anyway, but it will produce less information. If you don't know the password, or if you prefer not to enter it, just press return three times at the password prompt. Again, the script will still run.
If you're not logged in as an administrator, you won't be prompted for a password. The test will still run. It just won't do anything that requires administrator privileges.
11. The test may take a few minutes to run, depending on how many files you have and the speed of the computer. A computer that's abnormally slow may take longer to run the test. While it's running, a series of lines will appear in the Terminal window like this:
[Process started]
        Part 1 of 8 done at … sec
        Part 8 of 8 done at … sec
        The test results are on the Clipboard.
        Please close this window.
[Process completed]
The intervals between parts won't be exactly equal, but they give a rough indication of progress. The total number of parts may be different from what's shown here.
Wait for the final message "Process completed" to appear. If you don't see it within about ten minutes, the test probably won't complete in a reasonable time. In that case, press the key combination control-C or command-period to stop it and go to the next step. You'll have incomplete results, but still something.
12. When the test is complete, or if you stopped it because it was taking too long, quit Terminal. The results will have been copied to the Clipboard automatically. They are not shown in the Terminal window. Please don't copy anything from there. All you have to do is start a reply to this comment and then paste by pressing command-V again.
At the top of the results, there will be a line that begins with the words "Start time." If you don't see that, but instead see a mass of gibberish, you didn't wait for the "Process completed" message to appear in the Terminal window. Please wait for it and try again.
If any private information, such as your name or email address, appears in the results, anonymize it before posting. Usually that won't be necessary.
13. When you post the results, you might see an error message on the web page: "You have included content in your post that is not permitted," or "You are not authorized to post." That's a bug in the forum software. Please post the test results on Pastebin, then post a link here to the page you created.
14. This is a public forum, and others may give you advice based on the results of the test. They speak for themselves, not for me. The test itself is harmless, but whatever else you're told to do may not be. For others who choose to run it, I don't recommend that you post the test results on this website unless I asked you to.
Copyright © 2014, 2015 by Linc Davis. As the sole author of this work, I reserve all rights to it except as provided in the Use Agreement for the Apple Support Communities website ("ASC"). Readers of ASC may copy it for their own personal use. Neither the whole nor any part may be redistributed.

Time Machine error: backup disk image could not be created

Iet up my new time capsule day and it's working great. Now that I've got everything sorted out, I'm ready to do the initial time machine back up on it. I went into preferences, changed the backup location to my TC and clicked 'back up now'. Very quickly I get a message that the backup failed: "Time Machine Error - The backup disk image could not be created".
I've searched the apple support area but haven't been able to figure this one out. Can anyone help, please? This is an initial backup. (FYI, it worked great on my old external drive.)
Many thanks

I had the same problem. I installed my Time Capsule, fired up Time Machine and got an error that said "The backup is too large for the backup volume. The backup requires 436.8 GB but only 182.2GB are available."
Coincidently, these are the same sizes as the space used and the space available on my iMac's drive.
I looked in /Volumes and saw that the sparsebundle was being created on the local disk and not on the main disk. Trying to backup again gave me the "Time Machine error: backup disk image could not be created." message.
I poked around the forums, and found a post about the machine name setting in sharing. I decided to give it a look, and lo and behold, I did not have a machine name. So I gave my box a name, kicked off Time Machine again, and it worked.

Time Machine/Capsule only restoring past folders not files!

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