Time Machine error - can't make first backup

I can't get Time Machine to make the first back up: I tried wirelessly and it reported a "Time Machine Error" after about 112GB of 270GB transfer, so I tried again via ethernet cable and again it failed with the same error message at about the same point.
So what do I do now? There is no way that I can see to know what is causing the error - there is no error number nor detail in the error message: +Time Machine Error. Unable to complete backup. An error occurred while copying files to the backup volume.+
Any help gratefully received.

joecmac wrote:
How can you search the system log to figure out what is causing the failure?
Hi joemac
First open the Utilities folder and then open the Console. You'll see various logs - I took the system log, so that I could see what had happened across the whole system. There's a mass of info, going back in time, so it's very very helpful if you know approximately what time the event took place. I did, because the backup failed before my eyes at 10.02 PM.
I saw this message - I've edited out my computer's name and highlighted the location and the file name that caused the failure:
8/28/08 10:02:59 PM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[26663] Error: (-36) copying /Users/~/Library/Preferences/IsmTempFile/ns14426860.tmp to /Volumes/Backup of ~ iMac/Backups.backupdb/~ iMac/2008-08-28-164831.inProgress/.../Macintosh HD/Users/~/Library/Preferences/IsmTempFile
I googled the file name to see what it was - it turns out to be something generated by my scanner and not critical according to posters on various forums.
I then went to the location (User/~/Library/Preferences), and deleted the file.
Then I tried another initial backup and it worked.
Hope this helps.

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    8/19/13 5:20:00.506 PM mds: (Error) DiskStore: No block in wakeup
    8/19/13 5:20:00.506 PM mds: (Error) DiskStore: No block in wakeup
    8/19/13 5:20:00.506 PM mds: (Error) DiskStore: No block in wakeup
    8/19/13 5:20:00.506 PM mds: (Error) DiskStore: No block in wakeup
    8/19/13 5:20:00.506 PM mds: (Error) DiskStore: No block in wakeup
    8/19/13 5:20:00.506 PM mds: (Error) DiskStore: No block in wakeup
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    8/19/13 5:20:00.507 PM mds: (Error) DiskStore: No block in wakeup
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    Each message in the log begins with the date and time when it was entered. Note the timestamp of the last "Starting" message that corresponds to the beginning of an 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 into a reply to this message by pressing command-V.
    ☞ If all you see are messages that contain the word "Starting," you didn't clear the text field.
    ☞ The log contains a vast amount of information, almost all of which is irrelevant to solving any particular problem. When posting a log extract, be selective. Don't post more than is requested.
    Please don't indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into this discussion.
    Please don't post screenshots of log messages—post the text.
    ☞ Some private information, such as your name, may appear in the log. Anonymize before posting.

  • Time Machine error fix: "Unable to complete backup"

    I first started the Time Machine initial backup and noticed it was incredibly slow then retried later to find this error message to appear: "Unable to complete backup..." This may not work for all but for me and a friend this worked perfectly.
    Turn TM off then open the backup hard drive and remove the folder "Backups.backupdb" then remove this from the trash can. then start TM again and start a back up.
    Not only did this remove the error message but it speeded up the backup ALOT!!!
    From 300 MB per hour to about 1 GB per minute (Firewire 400)
    Hope this works. please leave feed back
    Jake Aston

    It's a bit self-defeating to keep deleting the Time Machine backup files.
    I've found that I get the problem because my read/write speed to my external drive slows down now and then. Time Machine will give up if the connection's too slow. So, a simple fix is to unmount the drive, unplug/plug the power and everything's fine when the external drive mounts again.
    If I shut down my Mac regularly, I rarely get this problem. It seems using sleep all the time in lieu of a proper power-down is the culprit. (Good old fashioned restarts never hurt nobody!)
    That's my non-destructive suggestion for now.

  • Time Machine freezes at onset of first backup

    I took one of my external Lace disk drives (250 MB - with 200+ MB available) and designated it as the target drive for Time Machine. I've used this drive for over a year with no issues. Time Machine starts up, does its calculations and starts its initial backup. There is a Backups.backupdb folder created on the drive. In that folder another folder is created bearing the name of my system and within that folder there's a time stamped file (i.e., 2007-10-31-150019.InProgress) of the Kind "package". The file gets to a nominal 38.8 MB in size and that's it. I let this sit for over an hour with no progress. Attempting to stop the back up in the Time Machine System Preferences window results in a "Stopping..." message with the application just spinning its wheels. Any suggestions? Log files I can look at? Etc? Thanks!

    I am not sure what to make of this, but it appears that Time Machine is probably running into a locked file or something. I have had my backup running just fine all day, but it's currently frozen as I type this, trying to backup 20.5 MB or so of changes on my main drive.
    I have no idea how to troubleshoot this. I can see in the Console messages that Backupd started, but just gets stuck (no error) in the middle. Like so:
    10/31/07 11:48:10 PM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[689] Backup requested by automatic scheduler
    10/31/07 11:48:10 PM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[689] Starting standard backup
    10/31/07 11:48:17 PM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[689] Backing up to: /Volumes/Backup/Backups.backupdb
    10/31/07 11:48:19 PM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[689] No pre-backup thinning needed: 200.0 MB requested (including padding), 351.60 GB available
    ... and that's it. No further messages.
    What it OUGHT to look like (when working):
    10/31/07 10:48:10 PM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[608] Starting standard backup
    10/31/07 10:48:17 PM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[608] Backing up to: /Volumes/Backup/Backups.backupdb
    10/31/07 10:48:18 PM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[608] No pre-backup thinning needed: 240.3 MB requested (including padding), 351.68 GB available
    10/31/07 10:48:44 PM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[608] Copied 2565 files (72.3 MB) from volume Kidd.
    10/31/07 10:48:45 PM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[608] No pre-backup thinning needed: 188.7 MB requested (including padding), 351.60 GB available
    10/31/07 10:48:47 PM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[608] Copied 1172 files (90 KB) from volume Kidd.
    10/31/07 10:48:49 PM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[608] Starting post-backup thinning
    10/31/07 10:48:49 PM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[608] No post-back up thinning needed: no expired backups exist
    10/31/07 10:48:49 PM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[608] Backup completed successfully.
    When this occurs, I cannot stop the backup from the UI. I can kill backupd the 'hard way' with Activity Monitor and an Administrator force quit, but afterwards Time Machine will not backup again without more drastic measures (minimum reboot).
    I am curious if the condition will eventually fix itself once the file becomes unlocked, but I dunno if it will.

  • Time Machine error message "Unable to complete backup....."

    I just purchased Time Capsule and attempted to do my initial backup. I had to stop during the middle of the process. When I returned to resume the backup I get the following error message: "Unable to create backup. An error occurred creating the backup directory." Has anyone else gotten this error message? If so, any suggestions on how to fix this. I tried doing everything that Setup Guide suggested with no success.
    After reading some of the posts here, I've made sure that my Time Capsule name is short and without special characters but nothing has worked. Any help would be appreciated.

    My initial backup (350GB on WiFi N 5Ghz wide-channel) seemed like it would take 3 days (which is fine), but after 1 day, I too got that error. I started the backup again and it went for an hour, then the same error. Started again, went for 5 minutes, same error. Now I can't even start it again--I've tried many times and the error is now instantaneous.
    The first time the error happened, the backup seemed to pick up where it left off. After that, though, all progress each time was lost.
    The network itself has never gone down, and the light has stayed green. And the 2Wire DSL router it's attached to seems to be fine as well.
    I'm wiping the drive (with the zero option in the hopes of catching and physical defects early) and will try again tomorrow.
    All software and firmware is up-to-date: I made sure before turning on the Time Capsule.
    Ethernet is not really an option--I'd have to run a long cord though a high-traffic area, and accidents would happen.

  • Time Machine Error--Can't create directory

    I'm not a happy Time Machine user right now. Maybe someone can help me. Bought a 1 TB hard drive for backup of laptop internal hard drive and two external hard drives. Worked okay originally, but seems to cause some slow application loads and file transfers. Today started to get error message (this is not verbatim) "Can't run Time Machine because of directory problem." Great! What do I do now?
    Thanks
    P.S. I wish Time Machine had an archive ability to external medium such as data DVDs. Anyone else agree? Are there work-arounds? Maybe I uninstalled Intego's Personal Backup too soon?

    Welcome to Discussions.
    It sounds like you might have a disk problem with either your internal disk or the Time Machine disk. Launch Disk Utilities which is on the dock or, if you removed it, in the Applications > Utilities folder. Click on your Time Machine disk in the left pane and then click on the Repair Disk button. If any errors are found repeat Repair until Disk Utility gives the disk a clean bill of health.
    Then click on your internal disk and click on Verify Disk. The Repair button will be grayed out because you can't repair a disk you are booted from. If any errors show up you will need to shut down and boot from the Leopard install DVD. Insert the Leopard install DVD, turn the computer on and hold down on the "c" key until you see the spinning gear. It will take awhile. Choose a language and select Disk from the Utilities menu at the top of the screen. Repair your internal disk and repeat until there are no errors.
    Discussions is a user-to-user forum. If you would like for Time Machine to support archiving to CD/DVD or have any other suggestions for future features post them to Feedback as it is unlikely that anyone from Apple will read your post in Discussions but they do read Feedback.
    http://www.apple.com/macosx/feedback/

  • Time Machine error- backup directory

    Yet another person with the same error: Time Machine backup has been working just fine for about 2 months to a Time Capsule. Suddenly, all I get is "Time Machine Error. Unable to complete backup. An error occurred while creating the backup directory." No matter what I do, I get the same thing. I've done many of the things listed in other postings:
    - turning time machine and laptop on and off (repeatedly!)
    - clicking on the Change disk and re-choosing my Time Machine/capsule
    - reinstalling the latest 10.5.3 update.
    I don't know what else to do- I'd really rather not go nuclear and reinstall the whole dang computer. Help! Any other ideas (not cryptic, please, explain, for me and everyone else out there with this problem)?
    Thanks

    First make sure that the disk is still good. Use Disk Utility on it. Since I don't have a TC I'm not sure of the exact procedure. You may be able to do it over Ethernet.
    If the top level directory checks out, then mount the sparseimage (fire up TM from the dock and then cancel out) and then use Disk Utility to Verify the disk image.
    - gws

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