Time Machine Case-Sensitive Error

I've read several posts about people who encounter the Time Machine error that arises when TM thinks that one of the volumes (source or destination) is case-sensitive while the other is not. Some people encounter this error genuinely, by which I mean that there is in fact a discrepancy between the file systems; this is not the situation I wish to address.
There are other people - myself included - who have been using TM successfully for months or longer until one day the error crops up. When we check Disk Utility, both source and destination are shown to be case-insensitive. Many approaches have been suggested, from rebooting to reformatting, and many people have reported success; however, it appears to me that the problem has not been solved, since the cause of the problem has not been identified.
In my own experience rebooting sometimes fixes the problems temporarily (for a few weeks) before it later reappears. But I would rather not reboot repeatedly, repeatedly Verify the disks using Disk Utility (finding no errors every time), or reformat unless I am sure that it will fix the problem once and for all. With that in mind, does anyone know of a permanent fix to this problem?
Details:
- TM thinks that the source volume Macintosh HD is case-sensitive
- Disk Utility says that both the source and the external Firewire destination are case-insensitive

Hi, and welcome to the forums.
I've not seen any such posts here (and I read at least the title of every post in both the Leopard and Snow Leopard Time Machine forums).
There are problems, on occasion, when there's a case-sensitive disk image of some kind on the internal HD (some downloaded software comes on case-sensitive disk images, for some reason); but that doesn't seem to be what you're experiencing.
What, exactly, does the message say?
There might be some sort of problem with your internal HD. When this happens, does the disk show it's S.M.A.R.T. status as Verified? Does +Verify Disk+ ever show an error?
I'd be inclined to try a "full reset" per #A4 in the Time Machine - Troubleshooting *User Tip,* also at the top of this forum. It's possible the preference file that directs you to is corrupted. This is a long shot, of course, but worth a try.
If this happens again, look for any disk images, and try to get the exact message. You may also want to look in your system.log for messages.

Similar Messages

Problems retrieving backup from Time Machine, Case-sensitive HD

Hello.
I'm trying to manually retrieve the information I got in a Time Machine, but for some reason I kept getting an error saying that there were files that were going to the same location were named in the same way. After checking a couple of things I noticed that, somehow, the external HD was Case-sensitive, so I'm assuming that, instead of +File, File 01 File 02+ it's sorted out like +File, file, filE+, and since the computer's HD is normal it's having a conflict with those file names.
That being said, is there a way to fix this? What I'm trying to move is an iTunes and iPhoto Library, "probably" iTunes could be done manually, but in iPhoto there's over 10 GB of pictures and I'd probably take a looooong while to fix it manually.
Any work around?
Thanks!

Hi Adrian ...
Let me see if I can help ...
I'm trying to manually retrieve the information I got in a Time Machine, ...
How? With the TM App or from the Finder?
but for some reason I kept getting an error saying that there were files that were going to the same location were named in the same way.
It's just letting you know that the original file, on the System HD, still exists and wants your permission to over write the original file with the TM file. Backing up your System HD to TM should not have changed any of the original file names. If TM had changed the Case when backing up from your System then TM Restore would have duplicate these files/folders without even asking you.
That being said, is there a way to fix this?
Yes. After you have restored the files/folders that you want to keep you can reformat the TM HD. Or try one of my tricks which is to just reformat the free space. Use the Mac OS X Extended (Journaled).
Good Luck.
Buzz

Time Machine: Case Sensitivity?

On a mission of relative innocence, i ran into a (COPY) Error Message that made me wonder if more serious problems lay down the road.
I don't have Time Machine on, or my external drive connected, all the time, I prefer to back up about once a week. Today, I wanted to rename my latest backup, "Final 2010 Backup," but when I tried to drag that folder from the ext drive to the Mac, the following message appeared:
"COPY
The volume has the wrong case sensitivity for a backup"
Does anyone know what this means? Will it affect my ability to restore in the future? Is there another, better way to accomplish my original mission? Thanks!

Chris Field wrote:
I tried to drag that folder from the ext drive to the Mac
Be very glad it stopped you. That would have made a complete copy of your entire system!
And you should +*Never, ever move, change, or delete anything in your backups+* via the Finder or Terminal. That can corrupt them, perhaps beyond repair.
They have a very complex and unusual structure, and cannot be modified except by Time Machine. See [How Time Machine works its Magic|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/Works.html].

Time Machine Case Sensitive Restore to Non-Case Sensitive

I have a MacBook 2.4GHz white laptop with OS X 10.5.5. Previously I formatted the drive as Mac OS Extended Journaled Case Sensitive. I have determined that I cannot install Photoshop CS3 onto this drive without doing some fairly tricky work-arounds.
To fix this problem "fast", I used my Time Machine backup to restore my primary drive after I had reformatted it as Mac OS Extended Journaled. However, as part of the restoration process, time machine formatted the drive again (as case sensitive) and copied the software. This puts me back where I started.
Is there a way to alter the settings of time machine such that it does not format the drive or does not format the drive as case sensitive?
Is the only way for me to do this to reinstall OS X 10.5 on the formatted drive (not case sensitive) and copy the files over from time machine? Is is possible to copy (not restore) files from the time machine drive?
I would appreciate any help. Thanks for your time.

Glenn Carter wrote:
Unfortunately, an Erase and Install is probably the only way you are going to fix this. As you have discovered, it appears that "Restore System From Backup..." reformats the destination drive to match the state in which the backups took place.
The TM backup may not have the ability to rename dupes that might occur if some files have identical names save their case.
Even a reformat and reinstall may not work unless any pseudo-identical files are first renamed.

Time Machine warning: An error occured while creating a backup folder. What to do???

Time Machine warning: An error occured while creating a backup folder. What to do???

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 Read only error launches airport

I have a partitioned external and use Time Machine on an OSX10.5, and SilverKeeper for the OSX10.4.11 Mac. Everything's been fine until yesterday. Backed up the 10.4 machine with the designated partition, drive 'hung', computer crashed. So, now, the partition for the Time Machine computer doesn't work, the MAC Silverkeeper appears fine and I get the "Time Machine Read only error" on the MacB Pro 10.5. I can "read/write" for the other partitioned, can verify and repair. No go to repair the "Time Machine" partition. And here's the best part: If I choose "NONE" in Time Machine Preferences to unchoose that particular drive, The computer launches the Airport Express Utility and offers my Airport express as a choice for a drive. What's up with that?

I have a partitioned external and use Time Machine on an OSX10.5, and SilverKeeper for the OSX10.4.11 Mac. Everything's been fine until yesterday. Backed up the 10.4 machine with the designated partition, drive 'hung', computer crashed. So, now, the partition for the Time Machine computer doesn't work, the MAC Silverkeeper appears fine and I get the "Time Machine Read only error" on the MacB Pro 10.5. I can "read/write" for the other partitioned, can verify and repair. No go to repair the "Time Machine" partition. And here's the best part: If I choose "NONE" in Time Machine Preferences to unchoose that particular drive, The computer launches the Airport Express Utility and offers my Airport express as a choice for a drive. What's up with that?

When I tried to back up my computer, Time Machine says 'an error occurred while creating the backup folder.' When I check the side of the partition where I manually saved old files, the folders are there, but NONE of the files are.

I haven't backed up my computer in over a year. When I tried to back it up today, Time Machine says 'an error occurred while creating the backup folder.' When I check the side of the partition where I manually saved old photos and documents (including all the pictures from the year I studied abroad/traveled a bunch), the folders are there, but NONE of the files are.
Does anyone have any idea what the problem might be, or how I could fix it? I really don't want to lose all those photos

So you were doing a time machine backup to another partition on the same hard drive? Just trying to gather some information so i can provide a helpful response.

When attempting a restore from Time Machine I get error code -8004. What is this and how can I correct it? Thanks

when attempting a restore from Time Machine I get error code -8004. What is this and how can I correct it? I use OX 10.9.3
Thanks

Run it in compatibility mode and input the credentials.
Mylenium

I keep getting this when trying to open Time machine: An unexpected error occurred (error code -6584).

I keep getting this when trying to open Time machine: An unexpected error occurred (error code -6584). time machine wont even open up. My Time capsule has a green lite and appears fine
Thaks,

This often means the backup is corrupted.
First of all reboot the network.. turn everything off and restart in order.. modem.. TC.. clients.
If you still have issues, hold the option key when you click the Time Machine icon on the top menu and it will bring up verify backups.
Do that.
Read this thread if you need more..
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3123920?tstart=0
It seems to be a fairly complex problem if the above don't work.

TS1550 Back up to time machine failed. Error, "Files can't be copied onto the backup disk because it appears to be read-only". Back up has been working. drive is not read only. How do I fix this?

Back up to time machine failed. Error, "Files can’t be copied onto the backup disk because it appears to be read-only". Back up has been working. drive is not read only. How do I fix this?

Hello,
http://pondini.org/TM/C6.html

After a full restore from Time Machine, I get "error code -6584" when trying to go into TM.

I took our iMac in, at the direction of Apple, to have the hard drive replaced. When we got it back, I restored from Time Machine (on Time Capsule). One file on the desktop, a spreadsheet file, has reverted to a version five months old, with the loss of considerable data, so I don't know which files I can now trust. Also, when I try to go into Time Machine, I get "error code -6584" and am unable to access my backups
This is potentially very very bad. What can I do?

Solved:
sudo chflags 0 /Volumes/"FCP Time Machine BU"
sudo chown 0:80 /Volumes/"FCP Time Machine BU"
sudo chmod 775 /Volumes/"FCP Time Machine BU"
sudo chmod -N /Volumes/"FCP Time Machine BU"

Time machine back up error -1?

How do you cure the Time machine back up error -1?

See Pondini's TM FAQs, for details.

Case sensitivity error

My external hard drive for my time machine broke. I can copy but not write. So I need to backup my data onto a new drive. For some reason, my old time machine is formatted "case-sensitive".
I bought a new drive and formatted it for Extended Journaled and I unchecked the "ignore ownership on this volume". When I drag the backup folder from old to new I get an error that says "the volume has the wrong case-sensitivity for a backup".
Ok, well I just want to get my data off before my old time machine fries. So I changed the volume on the new time machine to be "case-sensitive" so it is the same as the old. Now when I drag the backup folder I get an error that says the volume is the wrong type for a backup.
With either formatting on the new time machine, I am able to manually copy a file to it.
What do I to do to move my backup folder from the old time machine to the new time machine?
Thank you!! If it makes any difference the old time machine is a 1TB seagate and the new one is a 2TB seagate.

Anne McKinnell wrote:
I tried to repair and got "invalid node" error.
That's the problem. The +file system+ is damaged.
I'm glad I have another copy of my important files on a different external hard drive.
Yes, "secondary" backups are always a good idea. See #27 in [Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/FAQ.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum) for some suggestions.
I just started a brand new time machine and I'm going to put the old one in a box and hope I never need it. I think it's fried for good now. I probably should have backed it up when it started making clicking sounds.
Yup, it sure sounds like it. There's a chance a heavy-duty 3rd-party app like +Disk Warrior+ could repair the file system problem, but if the disk is failing physically, it's very unlikely anything can resurrect it.

Hard drive and Time Machine "Invalid Node" Error

All,
I have a late 2006 iMac, which I know must be at the end of its life now, but at the weekend my main internal HD developed an error, and it wouldn't boot, even from the recovery partition.
I managed to find my old Snow Leapard disks and ran Disk Utility on my HD (when it actually saw it) and the error it came back with was "Invalid Node". After trying many things, I had to reformat and reinstall from my Time Machine back up, which went really well.
However, once all restored it tried to do a backup and it failed. I then went into Disk Utility again and it found the same error on the Time Machine drive.
Therefore, my question is, could the back up process have copied an 'error' to my back up? Or is this a fault somewhere else (Disk Management etc) that I need to watch in case it cases errors with my other drives that have important information on?
Any help would be appreciated.

Since the internal drive has failed, it's possible that some files were corrupted or not saved at all before it failed completely. There's no way of knowing which ones. After replacing the drive (or the computer) and restoring from a backup, you'll have to check the integrity of important files by opening them. Damaged files may be intact in an older snapshot.

Time Machine read only error & dissapears

I have been running time machine on a MacBookPro MacOS x 10.5.8 for 2 years.
Last week for the first time I got the "External Drive is Read Only" error. I followed the instructions in Troubleshooting on verify and repair but it didn't work (details below). I bought a new external drive configured for MAC OS Extended Journaled format and it worked for 5 days before giving me the same error and the same problems reported on verify. I don't want to use the install disk again because it didn't work last time (and it is 10.4.9 not Leopard - I upgraded by download).
I am at my wits end here. Given that the problem occurred on two different external drives I suspect a problem with my OS.
Details of errors (more or less the same both times):
Time Machine Error - Time Machine "Backup volume is read only"
Finder initially showed that the back up folder was read/write for my user ID and the drive was read/write for the system (not sure because the drive now doesn't appear in finder or in Time Machine ("storage location cannot be found" message)
Disk Utilities: Repair disk option was unavailable Verify disk was available
Verify disk showed a lot error messages including a lot in red: e.g. "Incorrect number of directory hard links" "Incorrect number of threads" "Invalid Directory Item Count" "Invalid volume file count" - on the second drive (not the first) it could not complete the verify - error message Verify disk failed: Error: 'Filesystem verify or repair failed.'
Repair disk was available on the Installation disk (10.4.9) - I ran it on the first external drive but it could not repair ANY of the errors. I haven't tried to run it on the second drive

mysteryrare wrote:
I upgraded to Leopard by going to the Apple site and purchasing the upgrade from there. It was a download.
I never heard of that. I've always been told that OSX isn't available that way. (It must have been a massive download!)
I will try Apple support but I am in Australia and it can take a while for things to get here.
Yes, but if you ever have to reload, or even do a +*Repair Disk+* on your boot drive, you'll need it.
The Disk utility is v 11.1 (252.4) dated 2007.
Yes, that's the right one (I was afraid you had a Tiger version).
I did not format the second drive myself. I purchased it as a Mac only external drive. I checked the format before and in Disk utility - it is definitely Mac OS Extended (Journaled) in both the disk and the partition. The Partition Map Scheme is "Apple Partition Map" which is supposed to be alright for an intel machine (which mine is). Should I change it to GUID?
No, that's fine for TM. Only if you want to install OSX on it do you really need GUID. It's likely not a problem here, but most drives come with various software from the makers, often backup and/or management apps. On occasion, some will be running occasionally or constantly, interfering with TM or other things. That's why we usually recommend that a new drive be erased and reformatted.
I did format the first drive myself before I used it. My memory of how I set it up is a little fuzzy but it worked for a long time. After the Time Machine failure, the Disk Utilities showed different format for the drive and the partition - which bothered me a little and was one of the reasons I bought a new drive. I was thinking about reformatting the drive but now I won't until I know what has gone wrong.
That could have been part of the problem with the first one, but it's doubtful.
So what do we do now?
I don't recall hearing that DU wouldn't even offer +*Repair Disk+* on a drive it could recognize. But if DU won't repair the file system, and you don't have +Disk Warrior+ or other such apps, your only choice is to erase it and let TM start over. In this case, it's probably worth the time to see if DU can write to the entire disk.
Select the top line of the drive, then click the Erase tab. Then click +Security Options+ at the bottom, then +Zero Out Disk+ and OK on the next screen, then confirm.
That will, of course, take quite a while. If it fails, the disk is toast. But it should be covered by warranty, at least.
If the zero-out succeeds, it doesn't necessarily mean the disk is good, but since it's new, it probably is. TM will, of course, do a new, full backup, which will also take a while.
What sort of disk is this? LaCie had a run of bad power supplies lately (your symptoms don't seem to be the same, though), and WD has some firmware updates. You might want to check with the maker for driver and/or firmware updates.

Time Machine Case-Sensitive Error

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