Time Machine/Drobo backup problem

I've been looking around on these forums for a clear answer but haven't found one so I figured I would just post my exact problem and see what answers people might have.
I had been using my Drobo S as a time machine backup for about almost a year with incident. At the beginning of November I received a message that "The backup was not performed because an error occurred while copying files to the backup disk. The problem may be temporary. Try again later to backup." As trying again later never worked, I started a dialogue with Drobo support to see if it could be something with the machine. After a lot of troubleshooting it became clear that it wasn't the Drobo - furthermore, it seems that other people who have had similar issues have had them because of something with time machine. I was hoping someone might be able to start me on the course towards figuring this all out. Thanks.

zacn wrote:
Yes, I have tried all of the suggestions in the troubleshoot. No, not all of the files are from FCP or Adobe although the vast majority of the problem files are from my Library.
If you've tried everything in the pink box in #C3, it's possible there's a problem with your installation of Snow Leopard. I'd suggest downloading and installing the 10.6.6 "combo" update. That's the cleverly-named combination of all the updates to Snow Leopard since it was first released, so installing it should fix anything that's gone wrong since then, such as with one of the normal "point" updates. Info and download available at: http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1349 Be sure to do a +Repair Permissions+ via Disk Utility (in your Applications/Utilities folder) afterwards.
If that doesn't help, reinstall OSX from your Snow Leopard Install disc (that won't affect anything else), then apply the "combo" again.
How are you connected to the Drobo?
If all else fails, then it must be a problem with the Drobo, the connection to it, or perhaps it's not compatible with the version of OSX you're on.
As for my question about support, I'm just wondering if your computer is out of it's apple care support period, do they provide any additional support to resolve issues if it turns out to be a problem with the time machine and not the drobo? If it is drobo, I am still under warranty with them.
If there's a general hardware problem, Apple will extend coverage, but rarely beyond 3 years. Sometimes an Apple Store or AppleCare will replace hardware after that period, but it's on a case-by-case basis, and appears to be fairly unusual. And this doesn't look like an Apple hardware problem (but of course, you never know).

Similar Messages

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    The next day I turned Time Machine back on. I expected it would want to perform a complete backup of the restored machine. It appeared to start okay, calculating changes and deleting old backups. But then it started doing that in a loop: checking changes, deleting backups, cleaning up, checking changes, deleting backups, etc. After about five cycles I just left work and let it do its thing. Twelve hours later when I got home it still hadn't done a backup, and appeared to be stuck in 'deleting old backups.' So I went ahead and stopped Time Machine.
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    blevenstein wrote:
    Earlier this week the HD in my iMac died. I had the drive replaced and performed a full restore from my Time Machine backup. The four hour restore went fine.
    The next day I turned Time Machine back on. I expected it would want to perform a complete backup of the restored machine. It appeared to start okay, calculating changes and deleting old backups. But then it started doing that in a loop: checking changes, deleting backups, cleaning up, checking changes, deleting backups, etc.
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  • Can I use Time Machine to backup ONLY an external drive?

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  • Using Time Machine to backup a iMac G5 and restore to an intel iMac

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    /Home /Library/iTunes (copy the whole folder)
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  • Can I set Time Machine to backup both my hard drive and an external hard drive?

    Hi. I've been working with a lot of family video lately and my internal hard drive has filled up significantly. iMovie doesn't seem to have a good archiving facility like Adobe InDesign which I use at work were all the relevant files are gathered together into one folder. Apple advised me to relocate my movie files to an external hard drive and herein lies my query.
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    7string48 wrote:
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  • Trouble getting time machine to backup latest numbers file.

    I'm able to use Time Machine to backup my macbook wirelessly to an external hard drive attached to my iMac. However, I recently noticed that I am failing to back up the latest version of a numbers file.
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  • Time Machine hourly backup seems a tad large

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    !http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/4988/picture2gih.png!
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    !http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/3739/picture3m.png!
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    !http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/9339/picture5.png!
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    Hi,
    I had the same problem today as well. The last backup was done this morning at 2 a.m. When I turned my PowerBook G4 on again this afternoon, the backup size continually grew, just like on your machine, Rob. I aborted the backup a couple of times, deleted the inProgress file, but it always got bigger and bigger. After downloading Time Machine Buddy and Time Tracker, I just let Time Machnine "do it's thing". Luckily, I had enough free space on my WD MyBook 500 GB I use for the backups, because it stopped only at 24.8 GBs, after initially displaying 61,3 MB in the menu bar, and requesting 1.05 GB according to Time Machine Buddy.
    Time Machine Buddy protocol:
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    Deleted backup /Volumes/My Book/Backups.backupdb/Claas Olthoffs PowerBook/2009-03-05-192342: 7.37 GB now available
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    Deleted backup /Volumes/My Book/Backups.backupdb/Claas Olthoffs PowerBook/2009-03-05-113526: 7.38 GB now available
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  • Time Machine restarts backup of external drive

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    The problem can be caused by backing up a volume on a drive that doesn't have a GUID or CoreStorage partition table. Time Machine doesn't work reliably with other partition types.
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  • Time machine network backup really ***** (truly)

    Ok I've said it..
    Ok I've had enough..
    Come on Guy's. Apple really has to take some flack here. No more excuses. You advertised timemachine backup to a network share would work easily. You advertise apple software works without a hitch (unlike MS windows)...but I've had nothing but hastles setting up time machine to backup to a mac server attached usb drive. I've BEEN a windows user before and I tell you this is just like going back to the dark side!
    And another thing
    No I'm not trying to use an airport extreme mount
    No I'm not trying to use a NAS
    No I'm not trying to back up a linux or PC volume
    I'm being a good little customer. It's all using mac to mac. Yes, it's Leopard to Leopard...
    Hastle one:
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    Hastle two:
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    Apple needs to take a cold shower on time machine.
    Where is the help on this? Where is the customer apologies? Where are the solutions?
    Obviously there was not pre release testing. Wait a minute WE are the pre-release testing!
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    I give it a rating of 1 out of 10 on this.
    Come on guys lift you game!
    Message was edited by: sfsfsfs
    Message was edited by: sfsfsfs

    I have had nothing but problems with Time Machine. We are wasting our valuable time with a product that SIMPLY DOES NOT WORK. Apple needs to weigh in here. We are wasting our "TIME" on our "MACHINES" Now I see why Apple calls it TIME MACHINE!

  • Time machine - "the backup disk image could not be mounted"

    SInce a few days, I am unable to backup via Time Machine.
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    Use OS X 10.5.5
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    Rosy,
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  • Time Machine - Preparing backup - It's endless

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    Are Lacie really that bad? I thought that the main reason they are mentioned in these forums is that Lacie are one of the only brands of external storage that apple actively promote through their own web stores so there a good chance that quite a few Mac users will buy one. Anyway I can't afford to buy another Hard Drive at the moment and the lacie works perfectly apart from Time Machine.
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  • Time machine fails backup

    Can anyone advise me?
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    Thank you for your response which is very helpful. I have changed the dmg to a sparse bundle and Time Machine appears to be handling the backup better.
    Initially I was confused about the difference between a sparse image and a sparse bundle but read in https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2001162?start=0&tstart=0 what the difference is and see that the sparse bundle appears to have been developed by Apple for exactly my kind of problem.
    You say that "… be aware that disk image files are not backed up at all while the image is mounted."
    I do not wish to disagree but when I was backing up the vanilla dmg and also last night backing the sparse bundle dmg the back up has worked and did work on the mounted disk. In my case the disc is always mounted as it contains the bulk of the files I work on. Perhaps I have misunderstood what you were saying.
    Thank you again for your response.

  • Time Machine same backup size every time

    Anyone have any idea why Time Machine would backup the same amount every time? Every hour mine backs up 1.8 GB, unless I've added more than that to my hd.
    I only back up the internal drive on my macbook to a 500 GB Time Capsule via wifi (802.11n only, 5GHz). Not that I figured it would make a difference, but it still does it if backed up via ethernet.
    I've also noticed that as soon as it completes the backup, it will backup all over again - and not because an hour has passed. I'm not sure if it does this every time (but I think i does), or if it does it more than twice when it happens.
    Thanks in advance!

    See if the following might give you some ideas as to why...
    *_Incremental Backups Seem Too Large!_*
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    *Events-Based Backups*
    Time Machine does not compare file-for-file to see if changes have been made. If it had to rescan every file on your drive before each backup, it would not be able to perform backups as often as it does. Rather, it relies on a process called FSEvents. This is a system log that records changes that occur with all the directories on your Mac. Moving / copying / deleting / & saving files and folders creates events that are recorded in this log. At the beginning of each backup, Time Machine simply looks at this log to determine what has changed since the last backup. [http://arstechnica.com/reviews/os/mac-os-x-10-5.ars/14]
    Installing new software, upgrading existing software, or updating Mac OS X system software can create major changes in the structure of your directories. Every one of these changes is recorded by the OS as an event. Time Machine will backup every file that has an event associated with it since the installation.
    Files or folders that are simply moved or renamed are counted as NEW files or folders. If you rename any file or folder, Time Machine will back up the ENTIRE file or folder again no matter how big or small it is.
    George Schreyer describes this behavior: “If you should want to do some massive rearrangement of your disk, Time Machine will interpret the rearranged files as new files and back them up again in their new locations. Just renaming a folder will cause this to happen. This is OK if you've got lots of room on your backup disk. Eventually, Time Machine will thin those backups and the space consumed will be recovered. However, if you really want recover the space in the backup volume immediately, you can. To do this, bring a Finder window to the front and then click the Time Machine icon on the dock. This will activate the Time Machine user interface. Navigate back in time to where the old stuff exists and select it. Then pull down the "action" menu (the gear thing) and select "delete all backups" and the older stuff vanishes.” (http://www.girr.org/mac_stuff/backups.html)
    *TechTool Pro Directory Protection*
    This disk utility feature creates backup copies of your system directories. Obviously these directories are changing all the time. So, depending on how it is configured, these backup files will be changing as well which is interpreted by Time Machine as new data to backup. Excluding the folder these backups are stored in will eliminate this effect.
    *Backups WAY Too Large*
    If an initial full backup or a subsequent incremental backup is tens or hundreds of Gigs larger than expected, check to see that all unwanted external hard disks are still excluded from Time Machine backups. Time Machine will attempt to backup any hard disk attached to your Mac, including secondary internal drives, that have not been added to Time Machines Exclusion list.
    This includes the Time Machine backup drive ITSELF. Normally, Time Machine is set to exclude its’ own backup disk by default. But on rare occasions it can forget. When your backup begins, Time Machine mounts the backup on your desktop. (For Time Capsule/AirDisk users it appears as a white drive icon labeled something like “Backup of (your computer)”.) If, while it is mounted, it does not show up in the Time Machine Preferences “Do not back up” list, then Time Machine will attempt to back ITSELF up. If it is not listed while the drive is mounted, then you need to add it to the list.
    *Recovering Backup Space*
    If you have discovered that large unwanted files have been backed up, you can use the Time Machine “time travel” interface to recovered some of that space.
    Launch Time Machine from the Dock icon.
    Initially, you are presented with a window that represents “Today (Now)”. DO NOT make changes to file while you see “Today (Now)” at the bottom of the screen.
    Click on the window just behind “Today (Now)”. This represents the last successful backup and should display the date and time of this backup at the bottom of the screen.
    Now, navigate to where the unwanted file resides.
    Highlight the file and click the Actions menu (Gear icon) from the toolbar.
    Select “Delete all backups of <this file>”.
    *FileVault / Boot Camp / iDisk Syncing*
    Note: Leopard has changed the way it deals with FileVault disk images, so it is not necessary to exclude your Home folder if you have FileVault activated. Additionally, Time Machine ignores Boot Camp partitions as the manner in which they are formatted is incompatible. Finally, if you have your iDisk Synced to your desktop, it is not necessary to exclude the disk image file it creates as that has been changed to a sparsebundle as well in Leopard.
    Let us know if this resolved your issue.
    Cheers!

  • Time Machine Slow Backup

    I use Time Machine to backup to a G-Technologies 4TB external HD.  The backup is extremely slow, many times saying it will take 69,000 days to back up.  I have almost a TB to backup.  The G-Technology HD will go off line.  I'm not sure if this is a HD problem or Time Machine problem.  My iMac is a IntelMac with 2.4Ghz Core 2 Duo, 4GB of Ram, OSX 10.8.2.  Any thoughts?

    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:
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    ☞ 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
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    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. Clear the text field and scroll back in the log to that time. 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 (command-C) to the Clipboard. Paste (command-V) into a reply to this message.
    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 error - backup fails due to sparsebundle already in use

    Since upgrading, Time machine reports backup error:
    TIme Machine Error
    The backup disk image ...sparsebundle is already in use.
    Any thoughts?

    Thanks russ. After the initial upgrade to Mt Lion, no backups have been made. Every attempt reports the sparsebundle error. I recently updated to 10.8.1 and a whole new set of problems have shown up which is having me question the wisdom of continuing to invest in Apple product.
    I have decided to pack it in with regard to the timecapsule product, as it is just too unreliable, and certainly not worth the continued time and effort it has been taking to try and get it to work. I have instead gone with an online backup service, Crashplan. I have the backup service I am seeing and I am no longer frittering away valuable time on something that ought to just work.
    Problem solved.

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