Time Machine ERROR: Cannot complete FIRST back up

Question

Hello all.
This is my sis's Mac mini, there was apparently a file or system corruption somewhere that it was not able to boot up, so send in for rescue and the tech was able to rescue all the users' data (sis & dad's)
So Mac mini came home, I reformat the hard disk, ran Disk Utility check and everything OK, and install Leopard 10.5 and iLife 08, and updated them all. Newly-installed apps like Messenger and Skype etc, Time Machine was running OK till now.
Then I started to move my sis's data (user) into the new folders - data of Mail, iTunes, iPhoto, Safari, etc. And TM starts to back up also, and here's where the problem begins:
Time Machine fails to complete back up and give this message:
_Time Machine Error_
Unable to complete backup. An error occurred while copying files to the backup volume. (OK button)
Now this is quite obvious one or more files from the old user folder must be corrupted or "simply bad" that creating this problem. I am suspecting it may be the same problem that was preventing me from previously backing up using SuperDuper while the mini was still in Tiger.
Is there a log file somewhere I can examine to find out which file to delete and not back up? Because the only other way is the start the mac afresh, but I am sure my sis wants her data back.
Thanks and cheers

Answer 1

I seem to be experiencing the exact same issue.
1. I wiped my internal and external HDs and formatted them as MacOS X Extended (Journaled), as per instructions on Support Article: TS1550, with the correct partition schemes for a PowerPC processor.
2. I re-installed MacOS X Leopard from DVD onto the internal HD, created a new admin account, ran Software Update to add all the patches. Re-installed all third party software.
3. I re-created my user account using files restored from a DVD backup.
4. Computer works well, just the same as it always did, except Time Machine cannot complete the first backup.
I have added the +Time Machine Buddy+ widget and got the following report log:
Starting standard backup
Backing up to: /Volumes/Iomega HDD/Backups.backupdb
Event store UUIDs don't match for volume: Macintosh HD
Backup content size: 136.9 GB excluded items size: 311.7 MB for volume Macintosh HD
No pre-backup thinning needed: 163.95 GB requested (including padding), 931.15 GB available
Waiting for index to be ready (-911 < 0)
Error: (-36) SrcErr:NO Copying /Applications/Address Book.app/Contents/MacOS/Address Book to /Volumes/Iomega HDD/Backups.backupdb/David Bailey’s iMac G5/2009-02-08-194015.inProgress/C9E9C68B-9FD6-474C-A2E0-BD60ADF3C011/Macintosh HD/Applications/Address Book.app/Contents/MacOS
Stopping backup.
Error: (-8062) SrcErr:NO Copying /Applications/Address Book.app/Contents/MacOS/Address Book to /Volumes/Iomega HDD/Backups.backupdb/David Bailey’s iMac G5/2009-02-08-194015.inProgress/C9E9C68B-9FD6-474C-A2E0-BD60ADF3C011/Macintosh HD/Applications/Address Book.app/Contents/MacOS
Copied 0 files (1.2 MB) from volume Macintosh HD.
Copy stage failed with error:11
Backup failed with error: 11
The external HD is an Iomega MiniMax 1TB Firewire/USB Hub HDD.
The computer is an iMac G5 1.8GHz (no iSight) with 1GB RAM.
I'm guessing that there is something weird with the Address Book app that is stopping the backup. The app itself launches and runs fine, and also syncs with MobileMe fine.
Any ideas?