Time Machine fails to backup HD and stalls computer when backing up to external HD (Western Digital WD5000MT) when using Firewire 800 but works fine using USB

I have a mid 2012 MBP (MacbookPro9,1) running Mountain Lion 10.8.2. When I start a Time Machine backup to an external Western Digital HD (WD5000MT) connected using a Firewire 800 cable, my open programs stop responding and in general my computer freezes up not allowing me to open activity monitor or the console utility. I can't even shut down or restart my computer and must hard boot to reset. Though removing the firewire cable that goes to the external HD can sometimes get my system working again. However, the WD external HD also has a usb port and when I connect it to my computer via a USB cable, Time Machine seems to backup my system fine without stalling my computer. This same external HD worked fine with Firewire 800 using my old late 2007 MBP running snow leopard. I should note that my brother has the exact same model WD external HD and he also had issues with the firewire port on his MBP running mountain lion. I have run the disk utility checking for disk/file permission errors and the drive itself seems fine. I initially formatted that drive as ExFAT but while troubleshooting reformatted to HFS+ and still had the same issue. I tested using a different firewire 800 cable but still had the same issue. Can't think of anything else to do. I don't have another firewire-compatible device to test if it is the HD vs the firewire port. I would prefer to use the firewire port for quicker transfer speeds but I'm stuck with USB for now. Any suggestions?

Maybe these will help:
http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH11194
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3275 (note - older article)
Have you tried looking at the Western Digital web site to see if you can find anything?
http://support.wdc.com

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Time Machine Failed to Backup

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Starting standard backup
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Hi, TM is such a pain & the worst Backup App I've ever ebcountered outside of no backup at all, that being said the great Pondini has covered most all of it's problems here...
http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
http://pondini.org/TM/C10.html
Not that it helps much but...
unitEmptyErr = -22, /*I/O System Errors*/
What Brand/Model External drive is this?

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Time Machine fails on backup. Have verified and reformatted external. Have also run etrecheck and Time Machine Buddy.

ETRECHECK:
Problem description:
time machine will not backup
EtreCheck version: 2.1.8 (121)
Report generated March 7, 2015 7:10:23 AM EST
Download EtreCheck from http://etresoft.com/etrecheck
Click the [Click for support] links for help with non-Apple products.
Click the [Click for details] links for more information about that line.
Hardware Information: ℹ️
    MacBook Pro (17-inch, Early 2011) (Technical Specifications)
    MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro8,3
    1 2.3 GHz Intel Core i7 CPU: 4-core
    8 GB RAM
        BANK 0/DIMM0
            4 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok
        BANK 1/DIMM0
            4 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok
    Bluetooth: Old - Handoff/Airdrop2 not supported
    Wireless: en1: 802.11 a/b/g/n
    Battery Health: Normal - Cycle count 680
Video Information: ℹ️
    AMD Radeon HD 6750M - VRAM: 1024 MB
        Color LCD 1600 x 1000
    Intel HD Graphics 3000 - VRAM: 512 MB
System Software: ℹ️
    Mac OS X 10.7.5 (11G63) - Time since boot: 8 days 7:40:9
Disk Information: ℹ️
    TOSHIBA MK7559GSXF disk0 : (750.16 GB)
        disk0s1 (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB
        Seagate Backup Plus Drive (disk0s2) / : 749.30 GB (325.92 GB free) - 29 errors
        Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted> [Recovery]: 650 MB
    MATSHITADVD-R   UJ-898
USB Information: ℹ️
    Seagate Backup+ Mac SL 1 TB
        disk1s1 (disk1s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB
        External Backup Time Machine (disk1s2) /Volumes/External Backup Time Machine : 999.86 GB (681.13 GB free)
    Apple Inc. BRCM2070 Hub
        Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller
    Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad
    Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)
    Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver
Thunderbolt Information: ℹ️
    Apple, Inc. MacBook Pro
Configuration files: ℹ️
    /etc/hosts - Count: 42
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        /System/Library/Extensions
    [loaded]    com.sophos.kext.sav (9.2.0 - SDK 10.8) [Click for support]
    [loaded]    com.sophos.nke.swi (9.2.0 - SDK 10.8) [Click for support]
Launch Agents: ℹ️
    [not loaded]    com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist [Click for support]
    [loaded]    com.adobe.CS5ServiceManager.plist [Click for support]
    [running]    com.brother.LOGINserver.plist [Click for support]
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    [running]    com.sophos.common.servicemanager.plist [Click for support]
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    LogMeInSafari32: Version: 1.0.970 - SDK 10.7 [Click for support]
    Google Earth Web Plug-in: Version: 6.0 [Click for support]
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    iPhotoPhotocast: Version: 7.0 - SDK 10.8
Safari Extensions: ℹ️
    Twitter for Safari
    AllMyTube
    comicSansBeGone
    Better Facebook
3rd Party Preference Panes: ℹ️
    Flip4Mac WMV [Click for support]
    Growl [Click for support]
Time Machine: ℹ️
    Time Machine not configured!
Top Processes by CPU: ℹ️
         3%    WindowServer
         1%    Activity Monitor
         1%    activitymonitord
         0%    ps
         0%    SophosUIServer
Top Processes by Memory: ℹ️
    266 MB    mds
    180 MB    InterCheck
    120 MB    Finder
    94 MB    System Preferences
    77 MB    coreservicesd
Virtual Memory Information: ℹ️
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    1.81 GB    Active RAM
    572 MB    Inactive RAM
    1.22 GB    Wired RAM
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TIME MACHINE BUDDY
Starting standard backup
Backing up to: /Volumes/External Backup Time Machine/Backups.backupdb
Ownership is disabled on the backup destination volume. Enabling.
Backup content size: 394.3 GB excluded items size: 14.0 GB for volume Seagate Backup Plus Drive
456.36 GB required (including padding), 930.57 GB available
Waiting for index to be ready (101)
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Library/Internet Plug-Ins/Flip4Mac WMV Plugin.plugin/Contents/Resources/WmvPluginPrefix.pch.pth to (null)
Copied 50.7 GB of 380.3 GB, 637488 of 970893 items
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Users/sandi/Dropbox/Airport Packages/-Presentation/PSD originals/A-2769 Guava and java.psd to (null)
Copied 136.5 GB of 380.3 GB, 652973 of 970893 items
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Users/sandi/Library/Application Support/iLifeAssetManagement/state/pub/227354896+3231309460012822759/queue.sqli te3 to (null)
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Users/sandi/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/73a83ed2b6f5f3f74e690a2ae7b99ef7515e76ae/ec3f6fda8662 e542ac7c67f2ebcfa860d3d2e7b6 to (null)
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Users/sandi/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/73f862553779c33821fe63b50ba4008f4ae89038/59ac936d3c1e 548ac04dfc28cd80ee7e8375e71c to (null)
Copied 211.8 GB of 380.3 GB, 703468 of 970893 items
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Users/sandi/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/73f862553779c33821fe63b50ba4008f4ae89038/878f9a9e9e99 35f370ab2a09d62665cafa4f723f to (null)
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Users/sandi/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/73f862553779c33821fe63b50ba4008f4ae89038/8ca38b8456a3 80c835e4535b71a6322258f782c5 to (null)
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Users/sandi/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/73f862553779c33821fe63b50ba4008f4ae89038/9d43f27ba634 c956751fb66aadb06f955e74b3c8 to (null)
Copied 273.7 GB of 380.3 GB, 794840 of 970893 items
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Users/sandi/Pictures/iPhoto Library/Masters/2014/01/10/20140110-100023/IMG_8819.JPG to (null)
Copied 345.8 GB of 380.3 GB, 880149 of 970893 items
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Users/sandi/Pictures/iPhoto Library/Masters/2015/02/21/20150221-163320/IMG_0946.JPG to (null)
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Users/sandi/Pictures/iPhoto Library/Masters/2015/02/21/20150221-163652/IMG_0878.JPG to (null)
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Users/sandi/Pictures/iPhoto Library/Masters/2015/02/26/20150226-202057/IMG_0789.MOV to (null)
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Users/sandi/Pictures/iPhoto Library/Previews/2015/02/21/20150221-162736/aNrBUprVRiGN3Ul+Yph5Jw/IMG_1181.jpg to (null)
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Users/sandi/Pictures/iPhoto Library/Previews/2015/02/21/20150221-162736/DDfJ%BYeR1mC2WtxQXpLdw/IMG_1180.jpg to (null)
E
In making an attempt to copy my files to a different external hard drive, I ran into several issues with document files that were "read-only" so the copying stops. (they were just a couple of pdfs and photos). I deleted all of those files. I then ran back up again after verifying the external I have designated for Time Machine. (Ive also completely erased, repaired and verified this drive several times over the past few weeks) Backup failed, again.
I feel like my next move is to start deleting the "files" that are causing the errors listed above in TM Buddy (they are mostly photos in iphoto)... but then I realized that some of those errors are associated with the backing up of my iphone.
Just now, I pasted a portion of my system log into Textedit, and the application just hanged... for 2 hours. I finally force quit it.

Hi! I did exactly as you said. I was able to backup with my home folder excluded, but was not able to do so after I removed the exclusion. It crapped out 5G before finishing.
Here's the TIME MACHINE BUDDY LOG:
Starting standard backup
Backing up to: /Volumes/External Backup Time Machine/Backups.backupdb
Ownership is disabled on the backup destination volume. Enabling.
Backup content size: 394.3 GB excluded items size: 14.0 GB for volume Seagate Backup Plus Drive
456.36 GB required (including padding), 930.57 GB available
Waiting for index to be ready (101)
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Library/Internet Plug-Ins/Flip4Mac WMV Plugin.plugin/Contents/Resources/WmvPluginPrefix.pch.pth to (null)
Copied 50.7 GB of 380.3 GB, 637488 of 970893 items
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Users/sandi/Dropbox/Airport Packages/-Presentation/PSD originals/A-2769 Guava and java.psd to (null)
Copied 136.5 GB of 380.3 GB, 652973 of 970893 items
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Users/sandi/Library/Application Support/iLifeAssetManagement/state/pub/227354896+3231309460012822759/queue.sqli te3 to (null)
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Users/sandi/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/73a83ed2b6f5f3f74e690a2ae7b99ef7515e76ae/ec3f6fda8662 e542ac7c67f2ebcfa860d3d2e7b6 to (null)
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Users/sandi/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/73f862553779c33821fe63b50ba4008f4ae89038/59ac936d3c1e 548ac04dfc28cd80ee7e8375e71c to (null)
Copied 211.8 GB of 380.3 GB, 703468 of 970893 items
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Users/sandi/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/73f862553779c33821fe63b50ba4008f4ae89038/878f9a9e9e99 35f370ab2a09d62665cafa4f723f to (null)
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Users/sandi/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/73f862553779c33821fe63b50ba4008f4ae89038/8ca38b8456a3 80c835e4535b71a6322258f782c5 to (null)
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Users/sandi/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/73f862553779c33821fe63b50ba4008f4ae89038/9d43f27ba634 c956751fb66aadb06f955e74b3c8 to (null)
Copied 273.7 GB of 380.3 GB, 794840 of 970893 items
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Users/sandi/Pictures/iPhoto Library/Masters/2014/01/10/20140110-100023/IMG_8819.JPG to (null)
Copied 345.8 GB of 380.3 GB, 880149 of 970893 items
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Users/sandi/Pictures/iPhoto Library/Masters/2015/02/21/20150221-163320/IMG_0946.JPG to (null)
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Users/sandi/Pictures/iPhoto Library/Masters/2015/02/21/20150221-163652/IMG_0878.JPG to (null)
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Users/sandi/Pictures/iPhoto Library/Masters/2015/02/26/20150226-202057/IMG_0789.MOV to (null)
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Users/sandi/Pictures/iPhoto Library/Previews/2015/02/21/20150221-162736/aNrBUprVRiGN3Ul+Yph5Jw/IMG_1181.jpg to (null)
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Users/sandi/Pictures/iPhoto Library/Previews/2015/02/21/20150221-162736/DDfJ%BYeR1mC2WtxQXpLdw/IMG_1180.jpg to (null)
E

Time Machine fails to backup home space.

Summary:
I've been having problems with Time Machine since I enabled it. For some reason it refuses to backup any file in my account (/Users/ritchiem/). I have spoken with the an Apple 'Genius' and they were dumb founded. So I ask here in the hope that someone has had this issue occur and know what the cause is and how to fix it. I'm not really looking for work-arounds, though I will cover that later.
*Problem Description:*
A new 500GB external drive was erased and formatted HFS+ Journaled.
TimeMachine was then opened and enabled on this drive.
Back Up Now was selected and left to run assuming it would take a while on the 500Gb internal drive that had a around 200Gi-250Gi of used.
It ran successfully.
When entering TimeMachine, history shows the top level drive and navigating down the Users folder shows only my 'test' user account. My user account 'ritchiem' is not listed.
There was no error presented from Time Machine an the System Preferences panel reported it was successful.
Console.logs shows that backup was performed successfully.
Steps already taken to address issue:
I have verified/repaired permissions on my boot drive, a few files were changed but none in /Users/ritchiem
I have deleted the Time Machine preferences: /Library/Preferences/com.apple.TimeMachine.plist
I have tried a second external hard drive, in this case it was more interesting:
It was reported as being to small to perform the backup. So I added some exclusions such as my large iTunes library.
This allowed the Time Machine to proceed but again there was no backup performed of any file in home space.
This is where I thought I must be doing something wrong and went to the Apple Store the genius tried all the usual suspects, permissions, preferences. But no success.
It was only then that one of his colleagues picked up on discussion that it was only my user that was being skipped and suggested the risky move of renaming my user. He showed me the 'Advanced' panel in the Account System Preferences. (I never realised you could use a nice gui to do the renaming of a user in all the right Apple places.)
So I swapped users and renamed my account, and moved my home space to a new user name. mv /Users/ritchiem /Users/martin
I then logged back in to my account to verify the rename all worked and it had.
_*Time Machine now worked!*_
HOWEVER, that is a total hack. I use the username 'ritchiem' all across my local network and it was not recommended to have a user ritchiem but a home space in /Users/martin.
I renamed my account back to 'ritchiem' and Time Machine again is blocking backups of /Users/ritchiem
Somewhere on my drive there MUST be an exclusion that is preventing the first user that I created on my 2008 MacBook from being backed up. So far my grep-ing of the filesystem for 'ritchiem' has not shown any likely suspects. If anyone here knows where the mystic plist/file is that I need to zap then that would be great.
If of course you have another work-around that does not require me to rename either my account or my home space then that would be great.
Oh and I also tried to trick TimeMachine by creating a symbolic link in /Users to my home space (ln -s /Users/ritchiem /Users/martin). It resolves the link and refuses to backup the contents of my home space just as before.
Please remember here that in all backups that Time Machine performed there was no error, console.log and the UI all report success.
Now if I had a new blank machine and some time I could test out the theory that it is always the first user of a freshly installed machine. However, if other people have it working then it is perhaps not that simple.
TIA
Martin

Thank you for all your advice and suggestions. Apologies for the delay I had difficulty locating my original install DVDs.
Summary
I have performed all the steps and checked items as requested however backups are still not including my home space (/Users/ritchiem)
What I do find interesting is the output of the TimeMachine backup log (at the very end of this VERY long post) which states that 84.8 GB should be backed up but only 24.3 GB is actually backed up.
Would love to know why TM decided 60.5GB of data should not be backed up but not explained in any of the log files and a successful backup reported.
Before I go on to the details of what i've done, I should also mention in case it is important that I have of course been logged in with my user (ritchiem) whilst performing all of these backups. I assume that is normal and that you shouldn't have to log out for TM to actually backup your data. To verify this previously I have logged out user ritchiem and logged in as a test account. The path /Users/ritchiem still failed to backup. I have not tried this recently, however, I would be really surprised if you had to log out of your user account for the data to be backed up.
Detail
So to answer V.K. first: My drive did indeed have some items that it said I should repair. Hence the search for the install DVDs. I ran the Disk Utility from the Leopard installer and it repaired the drive. The verify now runs green.
As I had just rebooted the machine and it was all fresh I repeated Pondini's previous steps as well.
* Disabled TM
* Exited System Preferences
* Deleted /Library/Preferences/com.apple.TimeMachine.plist
I then also deleted the Backups.backupdb from my external drive so everything was fresh and new. I would have just formatted it (which would have been waaay faster, but I have some copies as backups on there for now.)
I started the TM prefs panel and added a few items to the disabled list to a) speed up the backup but also b) I have a 320g internal drive and only a 250g external. My total disk usage is 288 which won't fit, especially with the breathing space TM likes to have.
Here is the data from console.log from the first two backup runs:
*The first automated run that occured whilst I was still disabling items*
Jul 9 00:05:28 ramaII /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[371]: Backup requested due to disk attach
Jul 9 00:05:28 ramaII /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[371]: Starting standard backup
Jul 9 00:05:28 ramaII /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[371]: Backing up to: /Volumes/Red-5/Backups.backupdb
Jul 9 00:05:52 ramaII /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[371]: Event store UUIDs don't match for volume: ramaII
Jul 9 00:05:53 ramaII /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[371]: Backup content size: 288.2 GB excluded items size: 0 bytes for volume ramaII
Jul 9 00:05:53 ramaII /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[371]: Starting pre-backup thinning: 347.15 GB requested (including padding), 134.18 GB available
Jul 9 00:05:53 ramaII /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[371]: No expired backups exist - deleting oldest backups to make room
Jul 9 00:05:53 ramaII /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[371]: Error: backup disk is full - all 0 possible backups were removed, but space is still needed.
Jul 9 00:05:53 ramaII /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[371]: Backup Failed: unable to free 347.15 GB needed space
Jul 9 00:05:59 ramaII /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[371]: Backup failed with error: Not enough available disk space on the target volume.
*The second much smaller backup run*
Jul 9 00:06:29 ramaII /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[371]: Backup requested by user
Jul 9 00:06:29 ramaII /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[371]: Starting standard backup
Jul 9 00:06:31 ramaII /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[371]: Backing up to: /Volumes/Red-5/Backups.backupdb
Jul 9 00:06:32 ramaII /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[371]: Event store UUIDs don't match for volume: ramaII
Jul 9 00:15:57 ramaII /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[371]: Backup content size: 288.2 GB excluded items size: 203.4 GB for volume ramaII
Jul 9 00:15:57 ramaII /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[371]: No pre-backup thinning needed: 103.06 GB requested (including padding), 134.18 GB available
Jul 9 01:10:18 ramaII /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[371]: Copied 191916 files (24.3 GB) from volume ramaII.
Jul 9 01:10:19 ramaII /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[371]: No pre-backup thinning needed: 1.75 GB requested (including padding), 108.05 GB available
Jul 9 01:10:25 ramaII /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[371]: Copied 114 files (93 bytes) from volume ramaII.
Jul 9 01:10:25 ramaII /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[371]: Starting post-backup thinning
Jul 9 01:10:25 ramaII /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[371]: No post-back up thinning needed: no expired backups exist
Jul 9 01:10:26 ramaII /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[371]: Backup completed successfully.
What I find interesting is that only it only copied '191916 files (24.3 GB)' It said it was going to backup '103.06 GB requested (including padding)'.
As requested here is the hidden .exclude.plist file, I printed the contents using the Terminal rather than TinkerTool.
.exclude.plist
ramaII:~ ritchiem$ sudo cat /Volumes/Red-5/Backups.backupdb/ramaII/2009-07-09-011025/.exclusions.plist
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>sourcePaths</key>
<array>
<string>/</string>
</array>
<key>standardExclusionPaths</key>
<array/>
<key>systemFilesExcluded</key>
<false/>
<key>userExclusionPaths</key>
<array>
<string>/Users/ritchiem/Music</string>
<string>/Users/ritchiem/dev</string>
<string>/Applications</string>
<string>/Users/ritchiem/Desktop</string>
<string>/Users/ritchiem/Downloads</string>
<string>/Users/ritchiem/Movies</string>
<string>/Users/ritchiem/ritchiem.sparseimage</string>
</array>
</dict>
</plist>
This content mirrors what is in the /Library/Preferences/com.apple.TimeMachine.plist I resaved this to my desktop as a xml plist so I could print it for copying:
/Library/Preferences/com.apple.TimeMachine.plist
ramaII:~ ritchiem$ cat Desktop/com.apple.TimeMachine.plist
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>AlwaysShowDeletedBackupsWarning</key>
<true/>
<key>AutoBackup</key>
<true/>
<key>BackupAlias</key>
<data>-snipped-</data>
<key>ExcludeByPath</key>
<array>
<string>/Users/ritchiem/Library/Calendars/Calendar Cache</string>
<string>/Users/cristina/Library/Calendars/Calendar Cache</string>
</array>
<key>MaxSize</key>
<integer>0</integer>
<key>RequiresACPower</key>
<false/>
<key>SkipPaths</key>
<array>
<string>~ritchiem/Music</string>
<string>~ritchiem/dev</string>
<string>/Applications</string>
<string>~ritchiem/Desktop</string>
<string>~ritchiem/Downloads</string>
<string>~ritchiem/Movies</string>
<string>~ritchiem/ritchiem.sparseimage</string>
</array>
<key>SkipSystemFiles</key>
<false/>
</dict>
</plist>
*Other Steps*
Whilst running TM I also setup dtrace to log every file open: (http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20071031121823710)
Looking for any files in my home space that it might have opened returned none:
ramaII:~ ritchiem$ grep "/Users/ritchiem" tm.dtrace |grep "entry backupd" |wc -l
0
Yet looking for all the files backed up from the /Users directory there were 458!
ramaII:~ ritchiem$ grep "/Users/" tm.dtrace |grep "entry backupd" |wc -l
458
Dtrace also highlights the files that backupd uses unfortuately the only files it opened before it started its backup were:
0 17720 open:entry backupd /Library/Preferences/com.apple.TimeMachine.plist
0 17720 open:entry backupd /var/db/.TimeMachine.Cookie
0 18506 open_nocancel:entry backupd /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd.bundle/Contents/Res
ources/StdExclusions.plist
The only file on that list I haven't seen mentioned before is the StdExclusions but I'm sure that is the same on everyone's machines... just incase though:
ramaII:~ ritchiem$ cat /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd.bundle/Contents/Resources/StdExclusions.pl ist
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>

<key>PathsExcluded</key>
<array>
<string>/.Spotlight-V100</string>
<string>/.Trashes</string>
<string>/.fseventsd</string>
<string>/.hotfiles.btree</string>
<string>/Backups.backupdb</string>
<string>/Desktop DB</string>
<string>/Desktop DF</string>
<string>/Network/Servers</string>
<string>/Previous Systems</string>
<string>/Users/Shared/SC Info</string>
<string>/Users/Guest</string>
<string>/dev</string>
<string>/home</string>
<string>/net</string>
<string>/private/var/db/Spotlight</string> 
<string>/private/var/db/Spotlight-V100</string> 
</array>

<key>ContentsExcluded</key>
<array>
<string>/Volumes</string>
<string>/Network</string>
<string>/automount</string>
<string>/.vol</string>
<string>/tmp</string>
<string>/cores</string>
<string>/private/tmp</string>
<string>/private/Network</string>
<string>/private/tftpboot</string>
<string>/private/var/automount</string>
<string>/private/var/log</string>
<string>/private/var/folders</string>
<string>/private/var/log/apache2</string>
<string>/private/var/log/cups</string>
<string>/private/var/log/fax</string>
<string>/private/var/log/ppp</string>
<string>/private/var/log/sa</string>
<string>/private/var/log/samba</string>
<string>/private/var/log/uucp</string>
<string>/private/var/run</string>
<string>/private/var/spool</string>
<string>/private/var/tmp</string>
<string>/private/var/vm</string>
<string>/private/var/db/dhcpclient</string>
<string>/private/var/db/fseventsd</string>
<string>/Library/Caches</string>
<string>/Library/Logs</string>
<string>/System/Library/Caches</string>
<string>/System/Library/Extensions/Caches</string>
</array>

<key>UserPathsExcluded</key>
<array>
<string>Library/Application Support/SyncServices</string>
<string>Library/Caches</string>
<string>Library/Logs</string>
<string>Library/Mail/Envelope Index</string>
<string>Library/Mail/AvailableFeeds</string>
<string>Library/Mirrors</string>
<string>Library/PubSub/Database</string>
<string>Library/PubSub/Downloads</string>
<string>Library/PubSub/Feeds</string>
<string>Library/Safari/Icons.db</string>
<string>Library/Safari/HistoryIndex.sk</string>
</array>
</dict>
</plist>
Finally here is the backup log that was generated incase you spot something I haven't
Backup.log
ramaII:~ ritchiem$ sudo cat /Volumes/Red-5/Backups.backupdb/ramaII/2009-07-09-011025/.Backup.log
2009-07-09-00:06:32 - Starting backup
Previous snapshot:
None
Will traverse "ramaII" (mount: '/' fsUUID: 3E4CD731-945C-3BA3-85D5-67B401082442 eventDBUUID: FDD41B79-8CEF-4F57-810C-B1C56476640B)
=== Starting backup loop #1 ===
Will use FirstBackupCopier
Running preflight for "ramaII" (mount: '/' fsUUID: 3E4CD731-945C-3BA3-85D5-67B401082442 eventDBUUID: FDD41B79-8CEF-4F57-810C-B1C56476640B)
Excluding /Users/ritchiem/Music: 36.1 GB (6083 items)
Excluding /Users/ritchiem/dev: 20.8 GB (488641 items)
Excluding /Applications: 9.6 GB (15070 items)
Excluding /Users/ritchiem/Desktop: 26.3 GB (2444 items)
Excluding /Users/ritchiem/Downloads: 3.8 GB (1127 items)
Excluding /Users/ritchiem/Movies: 79.6 GB (167 items)
Excluding /Users/ritchiem/ritchiem.sparseimage: 27.2 GB (1 items)
Should copy 2853633 items (84.8 GB) representing 22223169 blocks of size 4096. 35174679 blocks available.
Preflight complete for "ramaII" (mount: '/' fsUUID: 3E4CD731-945C-3BA3-85D5-67B401082442 eventDBUUID: FDD41B79-8CEF-4F57-810C-B1C56476640B)
Time elapsed: 9 minutes, 25.000 seconds
Processing preflight info
Space needed for this backup: 103.1 GB (27016262 blocks of size 4096)
Finished processing preflight info
Copying items from "ramaII" (mount: '/' fsUUID: 3E4CD731-945C-3BA3-85D5-67B401082442 eventDBUUID: FDD41B79-8CEF-4F57-810C-B1C56476640B)
Finished copying items for "ramaII" (mount: '/' fsUUID: 3E4CD731-945C-3BA3-85D5-67B401082442 eventDBUUID: FDD41B79-8CEF-4F57-810C-B1C56476640B)
Time elapsed: 54 minutes, 20.000 seconds
Copied 191916 items (24.3 GB)
Gathering events since 390504228.
Needs new backup due to change in /Library/Preferences
=== Starting backup loop #2 ===
Will use IncrementalBackupCopier
Running preflight for "ramaII" (mount: '/' fsUUID: 3E4CD731-945C-3BA3-85D5-67B401082442 eventDBUUID: FDD41B79-8CEF-4F57-810C-B1C56476640B)
Calculating size of changes
Should copy 4 items (0 bytes) representing 0 blocks of size 4096. 28325806 blocks available.
Preflight complete for "ramaII" (mount: '/' fsUUID: 3E4CD731-945C-3BA3-85D5-67B401082442 eventDBUUID: FDD41B79-8CEF-4F57-810C-B1C56476640B)
Time elapsed: 1.243 seconds
Processing preflight info
Space needed for this backup: 1.8 GB (459904 blocks of size 4096)
Preserving last snapshot /Volumes/Red-5/Backups.backupdb/ramaII/2009-07-09-000552.inProgress/79ECBD8C-12 BE-4067-A202-B7033190FD82
Finished processing preflight info
Copying items from "ramaII" (mount: '/' fsUUID: 3E4CD731-945C-3BA3-85D5-67B401082442 eventDBUUID: FDD41B79-8CEF-4F57-810C-B1C56476640B)
Finished copying items for "ramaII" (mount: '/' fsUUID: 3E4CD731-945C-3BA3-85D5-67B401082442 eventDBUUID: FDD41B79-8CEF-4F57-810C-B1C56476640B)
Time elapsed: 6.147 seconds
Copied 114 items (93 bytes)
Gathering events since 406201626.
Finalizing completed snapshot
Finished finalizing completed snapshot
Backup complete.
Total time elapsed: 1 hour, 3 minutes, 54.000 seconds
*Next Steps*
I've been thinking about what i could try next and not having many ideas. So I'm really hoping someone here will have a flash of inspiration.
If I find some time at the weekend then I will try renaming my account again and verifying that it does backup under a new name.
Just incase there is something odd about the first user account created, i.e. UID:501 I will make a new 'ritchiem' account (which will have the next UID, UID:504) and see if that gets backed up, I can try this while my current account has been renamed. If that does work then I can copy my files back in to that account and verify it isn't something in my home directory that is upsetting TM. Although I doubt this is the case as it never read any files from home space during the backup process.
Here's hoping there is something in the above logs etc, that give a clue to what might be going wrong.
Cheers
Martin

Time Machine fails to backup files migrated from Windows

Hi there - I have a really annoying issue whereby I have a machine with a TC on the LAN which fails to backup.
The scenario is thus - Mac Snow Leopard server which has files migrated from an old Windows server to one specific disk. This is where all the data resides so this is the only volume I actually really need to back up.
However I keep getting the message that Time machine could not write to the device after a certain period of time with the classically unhelpful:-
Console log mumbles on about what I suspect is the path/length of path or filenames which I understand. Question is - how do I get round this? There are thousands of files in here so I cannot ask the users to go around renaming the files and shortening the folder names (to be honest it doesnt seem that they are too long to me in any case).
The files are shared using both AFP and SMB as a standard Sharepoint and the users on both Mac and PC have no problems at all accessing them, hence my confusion as to why TM has a problem with the file/folder names.
Chocolate biscuit (or equivalent for those on detox) for anyone who can throw me a bone here.
Cheers and thanks in advance,
Si

Not really sure if this is what you mean about Outlook database, but the correct answer may be in this thread's last post:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3356959?start=0&tstart=0
Basically the same information you can find here:
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/mac/forum/macoffice2011-macoutlook/help-my-ma in-identity-hosed-restore-from-time/a9992719-3ae0-479d-bf0a-7c8279653ffa
"The first time that you open Outlook after restoring a Time Machine backup, Outlook rebuilds its database to accommodate the restored items. If you have a very large database, rebuilding the database might take a long time."
Hope this helps.

TS1550 Time Machine fails to backup after I've repartitioned the external drive

Just got this new iMac running OS X version 10.8.4 and can't get Time Machine to complete the back up... It is extremely slow... makes me think of the Windows environment I'm trying to escape from... and then after several hours (only achieving about 200MB back up) I get a message that the back up failed.
I've repartitioned the 1T HP drive several times to the Mac OS as advised by the Apple on-line advisory, and have run rhe Disk utility repair function... but still can't get it to work.
? suggestions

Hi, I never use TM, but...
Have you looked through Pondini's extensive TM help site?
http://Pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html
http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
Can't imagine something not being covered there.

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

Time Machine: removing the backup drive and using it for other data

I am trying to stop the time machine backups of my data and use my External HD for other data. Ia m new to the MAC world and I need to know how to do this. Almost like I want to shut Time Machine down and reformat the disk that was being used for the backups. Thanks for the help.

The big switch in the Time Machine preference pane stops Time Machine from performing automatic backups. I would be inclined to recommend you switched that to off but left the disk assigned as designated backup disk on the Change Disk panel because, if there is nothing assigned there, Time Machine will ask you every time a disk is attached which it could use whether you wish to so assign it.

Time Machine failing to backup (Throttling respawn) OS X Server

Time machine has been backing up our server successfully for months, but now no longer works. The log entries read as follows:
7/9/09 9:37:21 AM org.amavis.amavisd[15105] Can't send SIG 0 to process [48]: Operation not permitted at /usr/bin/amavisd line 11203.
7/9/09 9:37:21 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (org.amavis.amavisd[15105]) Exited with exit code: 1
7/9/09 9:37:21 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (org.amavis.amavisd) Throttling respawn: Will start in 10 seconds
If anyone can suggest a remedy to this we'd be very grateful.

Time machine has been backing up our server successfully for months, but now no longer works. The log entries read as follows:
7/9/09 9:37:21 AM org.amavis.amavisd[15105] Can't send SIG 0 to process [48]: Operation not permitted at /usr/bin/amavisd line 11203.
7/9/09 9:37:21 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (org.amavis.amavisd[15105]) Exited with exit code: 1
7/9/09 9:37:21 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (org.amavis.amavisd) Throttling respawn: Will start in 10 seconds
If anyone can suggest a remedy to this we'd be very grateful.

Why is Time machine making a few incrementals and then only full back ups?

Is there anybody out there using Time Machine and Time capsule with a laptop? After 3 weeks I am extremely frustrated!
I made an initial full back up and everything went well for a couple of days. Then one day and I think it was after I took my laptop away on my return it started making a full back up again (takes 8 hours to do so). I let it do its thing, thinking it might for some reason not be feeling comfortable with the gap in between or that perhaps it had been at some crucial phase in its backing up and I should perhaps have stopped it making the incremental back up when I took the laptop away. So, after that I tried stopping the back up when I needed to go away. Same result: Next time I open my laptop a full back up starts.
Last Tuesday when I wanted to restore something I discovered it had not made any back up's since Sunday. Only reason I can think off the fact that I had been out of the house most of the time and perhaps hadn't connected to the time capsule long enough for it to do its thing. Yesterday I had a full back up finishing at 12.54pm, then I had incrementals until 5.54 pm and then suddenly (I did not move or close the laptop) at 6.54 it started on a full back up. I stopped that back up at 7.15 because I needed to go somewhere, but started it again at 10.30pm when I got back. I left the laptop open, but this morning it had not got any further than 5. something gb.
I should probably start all over again, but if I don't know what I am doing wrong I can see myself end up in the same pickle again.
On Tuesday I did have another interesting thing happen that may or may not have anything to do with it: I closed my laptop and opened it again and all the settings of anything that is connected through time capsule to the internet had gone as well as the content of my inbox.
Anybody any ideas?
Anneke

TM recognizes that the drive is different, so it will want to do a full backup. I believe there may be a workaround listed here:
http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/Troubleshooting.html

Time machine will not eject. And my computer won't turn off!

I have an external hard drive designated for time machine, but it won't back up. It also won't eject and my computer will not shut down unless i turn off the power to the external hard drive, which i don't want to do since i can't eject it properly!! YIKES!! I have never had so much trouble with an Apple product as i have with time machine!!!
But i'm desperate to get my stuff backed up and clean some things off my computer!! HELP!!????

I don't know. The people at the Apple store set it up.

Time Machine doesn't backup iPhoto Library (if iPhoto is open)

I just wanted to alert other people to the fact that Time Machine DOES NOT backup your iPhoto Library (that is, any of your photos), if iPhoto is open when Time Machine performs the backup (which in my case, is all of the time).
I've just posted this information to my blog: http://www.pigsgourdsandwikis.com/2010/01/timemachine-is-not-backing-up-your.htm l
But the basics are that although Time Machine promises to perform automatic backups in the background, it will skip your photos if iPhoto is open. Unfortunately, it won't tell you it hasn't done the backup and you'll be lulled into a very false sense of security, broken only when you have a problem and there's no backup to be found.
So, be sure to close iPhoto when Time Machine is doing backups and check your backed up files to make sure all your photos are there.
Please spread the word. I hate to think people are losing their photos because of this.
best,
Liz
http://www.lizcastro.com/iphotobookthemes
http://www.elizabethcastro.com

OK, ran a test with iPhoto open and got this from Time Machine Buddy:
Starting standard backup
Backing up to: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb
Node requires deep traversal:/Users/lizx/Pictures/Big iPhoto Library/iPhoto 7 Library current reason:kFSEDBEventFlagContainsChanges|kFSEDBEventFlagMustScanSubDirs|kFSEDBEven tFlagReasonFSEvent|kFSEDBEventFlagReasonMissedReservation|
No pre-backup thinning needed: 3.91 GB requested (including padding), 60.52 GB available
Copied 12483 files (50.9 MB) from volume Macintosh HD.
No pre-backup thinning needed: 1.06 GB requested (including padding), 60.47 GB available
Copied 1088 files (16.6 MB) from volume Macintosh HD.
Starting post-backup thinning
Deleted backup /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/lizxp/2010-01-14-145941: 60.54 GB now available
Deleted backup /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/lizxp/2010-01-14-095812: 60.57 GB now available
Deleted backup /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/lizxp/2010-01-14-085710: 60.60 GB now available
Post-back up thinning complete: 3 expired backups removed
Backup completed successfully.
Also, when I look on my external drive, the latest backup says it was opened on January 14, but of course, I had iPhoto open when I ran the backup (that is, it was last opened TODAY).
Now, I closed iPhoto and ran Time Machine again. I got a pretty similar message from Time Machine Buddy:
-------Starting standard backup
Backing up to: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb
Node requires deep traversal:/Users/lizx/Pictures/Big iPhoto Library/iPhoto 7 Library current reason:kFSEDBEventFlagContainsChanges|kFSEDBEventFlagMustScanSubDirs|kFSEDBEven tFlagReasonFSEvent|kFSEDBEventFlagReasonMissedReservation|
No pre-backup thinning needed: 3.90 GB requested (including padding), 60.60 GB available
Copied 10309 files (2.4 GB) from volume Macintosh HD.
No pre-backup thinning needed: 1.06 GB requested (including padding), 58.19 GB available
Copied 2935 files (16.7 MB) from volume Macintosh HD.
Starting post-backup thinning
No post-back up thinning needed: no expired backups exist
Backup completed successfully.
If there's a significant difference there, I can't see it.
On the other hand, when I go look at the backed up file, although it still won't tell me how big it is (or I'm too impatient to wait), it does say the (backed up) iPhoto Library was last opened today. Much better.
What do you think?
best,
Liz

Time Machine will not backup Lacie 1TB Rugged (Biometric) drive

I have a Lacie 1TB Rugged Drive running Lacie Safe Manager (Biometric Login). I use this for my iPhoto libraries and Final Cut Pro media and would like this to be backed up by Time Machine.
Problem is that even when the Lacie drive is unlocked and available, and removed from the Time Machine (exclude these discs) option, it still will not back up this external drive?
It seems like the only way to back stuff up is to have it on the main OS X volume? Is this correct?
Also....the Lacie drive which has been formatted Mac Journaled does not display with a firewire icon (despite the transfer speeds being nice n fast)?
Just shows up as a white disc icon?

Please read this whole message before doing anything.
This procedure is a diagnostic test. It’s unlikely to solve your problem. Don’t be disappointed when you find that nothing has changed after you complete it.
The purpose of the test is to determine whether the problem is caused by third-party software that loads automatically at startup or login, or by a peripheral device.
Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed for the test, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards. Boot in safe mode and log in to the account with the problem. Note: If FileVault is enabled, or if a firmware password is set, or if the boot volume is a software RAID, you can’t do this. Ask for further instructions.
Safe mode is much slower to boot and run than normal, and some things won’t work at all, including Wi-Fi on certain iMacs. The next normal boot may also be somewhat slow.
The login screen appears even if you usually log in automatically. You must know your login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin. Test while in safe mode. Same problem? After testing, reboot as usual (i.e., not in safe mode) and verify that you still have the problem. Post the results of the test.

Time Machine Fails When Trying to Backup Certain Files

Time Machine is having problems with some files I have copied from a Windows computer. I am a web developer and I moved my client files from a Windows PC to my iMac. Most of the files backup properly but some don't. When Time Machine tries to backup those files, it fails.
I downloaded Time Machine Buddy and it has helped me identify files that can't be backed up. However, the only solution that works is to delete the files. *Since these are client files, that is not an acceptable solution.*
When I look at "Get Info", there are several listings for admin, system, staff, owner, and everyone. Each list shows the permissions to be "Custom." I have changed some to "Read and Write" and I have changed all of them to "Read and Write." Neither of these have fixed the problem. Time Machine still fails on the same files.
I really need some smart Mac person to tell me what I can do to fix this problem. Thanks.

Csound1 wrote:
Correct, at no time did I say that this was for everyone, it is in fact for anyone who wishes to spend his time working rather than restoring.
For most folks, a hard drive failure is not exactly common. If they are to you, something is seriously wrong.
Replacing a drive in a unibody MBP is a 5 minute operation! & they are cheap!
Yes, for those who are mechanically inclined and not afraid to open up a Mac. What percentage of users do you suppose that is?
As to your second point, I suggested specifically using a TM type backup in addition to the clone, I stated that my choice is a realtime service that stores my files (a) as files that I can access from anywhere (b) with versions (including deletions) going back as far as my storage limits allow.
And how would you use that to roll back to a previous version of your entire system?
I don't want to have to deal with TM permissions/user/network/extreme/forgetting to delete till it gets full blahblahblah
Huh? Now you're adding all sorts of other things.
Permissions? A user account is a user account, and Time Machine maintains the permissions.
Network? Your clone is on a network? How do you boot up from that?
Extreme? You use an Airport Extreme for your network clone?
Forgetting to delete until it's full? Yes, that's exactly what you mentioned above: "versions (including deletions) going back as far as my storage limits allow."
PleasePondini, do it your way and I'll do it mine
Obviously.

Time Machine fails to backup HD and stalls computer when backing up to external HD (Western Digital WD5000MT) when using Firewire 800 but works fine using USB

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