Time Machine is a real killer app!!

Add me to the LONG list of adventurers that have tried every avenue to outwit TM, to no avail. Fortunately, I've got an old PC laptop, and using WD's utility, am able to re-format my "My-Book-Pro"..500 gig. fire wire/USB drive when TM kills it… something I've done at LEAST six times in the past week… but I too am putting an end to the pain, and TM well be given the burial it so richly deserves!!
I wouldn't be at all surprised to learn the TM was written by Micro Soft, as it displays all the trademarks of dysfunctional execution we have come to expect from that venue!
Overall, I wish I had just stuck with TIGER, as it worked well, and was much faster on my G5 iMac… Apple…. we expect more from you!

Very odd... as I have had no trouble with either of my MyBook drives.
I did partition each... as I see no need to use 500GB to backup a 120GB HD.
I set up a partition for a bootable clone, and one for Time MAchine - and well everything rocks!

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Time Machine Service Page in Server App says "Error Reading Settings"

I have a Mac Mini running 10.8.3.
For some reason the Time Machine Page in the Server App refuses to work properly. If I reboot the server it looks fine for about 10 minutes. It displays the backup location and the list of individual backups. Then I get this message:
25/03/2013 14:37:51.673 Server[286]: Error: The server '127.0.0.1' reported an error while processing command of type: 'readSettings' in plug-in: 'servermgr_timemachine'. Error: Error Domain=XSActionErrorDomain Code=1000 "An unknown error occurred" UserInfo=0x7fdc1b2445e0 {NSLocalizedDescription=An unknown error occurred}
Also the Time Machine page in Server Apps is blank apart from "Error Reading Settings" and the slider at the top says Time Machine is off.
However Time Machine does work for some clients.
Anyone got any idea?
I think it started having problems when I got a "The network confirguration has changed" alert.

Hi Linc Davis
here are the logs from reboot to failure to load:
26/03/2013 16:57:50.256 servermgrd[1379]: [1379] error in getAndLockContext: flock(servermgr_timemachine) FATAL time out
26/03/2013 16:59:55.633 servermgrd[1527]: [1527] error in getAndLockContext: flock(servermgr_timemachine) FATAL time out
26/03/2013 17:01:58.077 servermgrd[1546]: [1546] error in getAndLockContext: flock(servermgr_timemachine) FATAL time out
26/03/2013 17:04:03.937 servermgrd[1561]: [1561] error in getAndLockContext: flock(servermgr_timemachine) FATAL time out
26/03/2013 17:04:05.220 Server[1154]: Error: The server '127.0.0.1' reported an error while processing a command of type: 'readSettings' in plug-in: 'servermgr_timemachine'. Error: Error Domain=XSActionErrorDomain Code=1000 "An unknown error occurred" UserInfo=0x7ffac4620f20 {NSLocalizedDescription=An unknown error occurred}
26/03/2013 17:06:07.359 servermgrd[1666]: [1666] error in getAndLockContext: flock(servermgr_timemachine) FATAL time out
26/03/2013 17:06:07.829 Server[1154]: Error: The server '127.0.0.1' reported an error while processing a command of type: 'getBackups' in plug-in: 'servermgr_timemachine'. Error: Error Domain=XSActionErrorDomain Code=1000 "An unknown error occurred" UserInfo=0x7ffac480f000 {NSLocalizedDescription=An unknown error occurred}
26/03/2013 19:18:51.737 servermgrd[1678]: [1678] error in getAndLockContext: flock(servermgr_timemachine) FATAL time out
26/03/2013 19:18:51.777 servermgrd[1678]: [1678] error in getAndLockContext: flock(servermgr_timemachine) FATAL time out
26/03/2013 19:20:55.346 servermgrd[2846]: [2846] error in getAndLockContext: flock(servermgr_timemachine) FATAL time out
26/03/2013 19:20:55.381 servermgrd[2846]: [2846] error in getAndLockContext: flock(servermgr_timemachine) FATAL time out
26/03/2013 19:22:57.682 servermgrd[2861]: [2861] error in getAndLockContext: flock(servermgr_timemachine) FATAL time out
26/03/2013 19:22:57.683 servermgrd[2861]: [2861] error in getAndLockContext: flock(servermgr_timemachine) FATAL time out
26/03/2013 19:22:58.114 Server[1154]: Error: The server '127.0.0.1' reported an error while processing a command of type: 'readSettings' in plug-in: 'servermgr_timemachine'. Error: Error Domain=XSActionErrorDomain Code=1000 "An unknown error occurred" UserInfo=0x7ffac4836250 {NSLocalizedDescription=An unknown error occurred}
26/03/2013 19:25:00.016 servermgrd[2872]: [2872] error in getAndLockContext: flock(servermgr_timemachine) FATAL time out
26/03/2013 19:25:00.135 Server[1154]: Error: The server '127.0.0.1' reported an error while processing a command of type: 'readSettings' in plug-in: 'servermgr_timemachine'. Error: Error Domain=XSActionErrorDomain Code=1000 "An unknown error occurred" UserInfo=0x7ffac494c120 {NSLocalizedDescription=An unknown error occurred}
26/03/2013 19:26:02.690 Server[1154]: Error: The server '127.0.0.1' reported an error while processing a command of type: 'getBackups' in plug-in: 'servermgr_timemachine'. Error: Error Domain=XSActionErrorDomain Code=1000 "An unknown error occurred" UserInfo=0x7ffac4826a80 {NSLocalizedDescription=An unknown error occurred}
26/03/2013 19:33:51.868 servermgrd[2886]: [2886] error in getAndLockContext: flock(servermgr_timemachine) FATAL time out
26/03/2013 19:33:51.901 servermgrd[2886]: [2886] error in getAndLockContext: flock(servermgr_timemachine) FATAL time out
26/03/2013 19:35:54.539 servermgrd[2932]: [2932] error in getAndLockContext: flock(servermgr_timemachine) FATAL time out
26/03/2013 19:35:54.580 servermgrd[2932]: [2932] error in getAndLockContext: flock(servermgr_timemachine) FATAL time out
26/03/2013 19:37:56.926 servermgrd[2947]: [2947] error in getAndLockContext: flock(servermgr_timemachine) FATAL time out
26/03/2013 19:37:57.424 Server[1154]: Error: The server '127.0.0.1' reported an error while processing a command of type: 'readSettings' in plug-in: 'servermgr_timemachine'. Error: Error Domain=XSActionErrorDomain Code=1000 "An unknown error occurred" UserInfo=0x7ffac472ad50 {NSLocalizedDescription=An unknown error occurred}
26/03/2013 19:39:59.284 servermgrd[2958]: [2958] error in getAndLockContext: flock(servermgr_timemachine) FATAL time out
26/03/2013 19:40:01.135 Server[1154]: Error: The server '127.0.0.1' reported an error while processing a command of type: 'getState' in plug-in: 'servermgr_timemachine'. Error: Error Domain=XSActionErrorDomain Code=1000 "An unknown error occurred" UserInfo=0x7ffac4657ce0 {NSLocalizedDescription=An unknown error occurred}
26/03/2013 19:42:04.286 servermgrd[2973]: [2973] error in getAndLockContext: flock(servermgr_timemachine) FATAL time out
26/03/2013 19:42:04.322 servermgrd[2973]: [2973] error in getAndLockContext: flock(servermgr_timemachine) FATAL time out
26/03/2013 19:45:20.502 Server[1154]: Error: The server '127.0.0.1' reported an error while processing a command of type: 'getState' in plug-in: 'servermgr_timemachine'. Error: Error Domain=XSActionErrorDomain Code=1000 "An unknown error occurred" UserInfo=0x7ffac43f84a0 {NSLocalizedDescription=An unknown error occurred}
27/03/2013 11:56:52.191 servermgrd[110]: [110] error in getAndLockContext: flock(servermgr_timemachine) FATAL time out
27/03/2013 11:58:54.217 servermgrd[371]: [371] error in getAndLockContext: flock(servermgr_timemachine) FATAL time out

TIME MACHINE ERRORS using MIGRATION, lost apps and serials

I will try this one more time
I recently bought a 2,3gH Power Mac G5 with a 500GB Hard Drive and 16GB DDR 2 RAM and Bluetooth for $400 from Craig's List
It seemed to run fine but when running Disk Utility it had ALOT of Disk Permission issues...and when I booted from the DVD LEOPARD and hit REPAIR DISK it found two separate errors UDF...
I decided to set up an external Seagate HD and set up TIME CAPSULE and completed what I deemed to be a FULL BACKUP,,,which should have included my FINAL CUT PRO, LOGIC PRO, Multitrack Studio, and Microsoft Office 2004 among other apps which made me jump at buying the unit
The bootable LEOPARD disc gave me no choice but to do a FRESH INSTALL which went smoothly
NOW, there are 30 different backups in TIME MACHINE, and when I tried RESTORING the earliest one dated FEB 28th, the programs either will not launch correctly or are asking for
NAME
ORGANIZATION
SERIAL
If I had known about CARBON COPY I would have CLONED the whole disk
ALSO when I MIGRATeE using TIME CAPSULE, not only do the aforementioned EXPENSIVE programs not work, but there come the DISK PER
MISSIONS problems
THANK YOU IN ADVANCE
Matthew

I have used Time Machine to restore an entire hard disk and system (10.6) and it worked fine. I simply followed Apple's instructions. I have also used it successfully to do a migration to a new computer from an old one (old computer iMac with 10.5, new computer Macbook Air with 10.6) and I was very pleased with the results. Furthermore, in each case all the serial numbers and authorizations for MS-Office, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Photoshop Elements, and Adobe Illustrator etc. were preserved. In fact the ONLY thing requiring manual intervention in each of these instances was a reinstallation of Canon printer/scanner drivers for a MF8120 device.
I think the acquisition of a used, older (PPC G5) computer via Craig's list is probably a slightly risky proposition at best, but maybe worth a try if the cost is right. Often people sell their used computers when they start to act up or freeze. Sometimes those problems are not easy to fix.
Here are some suggestions for some of those serial numbers, if you still have those Time Machine backups to peruse to try to retrieve them:
Office 2004 issue. You need to find certain files from the old system (e.g. from your backup) and put them into the right places on your new system. Since at least one of these is an invisible file, and I think Spotlight won't find it easily, you can download and use EasyFind
( http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/11076/easyfind )
to search for and find these files if they aren't where I indicate below:
/Applications/Microsoft Office 2004 (or X)/Office/
    OfficePID (normally an invisible file)
Users/[Username]/Library/Preferences/Microsoft
    Carbon Registration Database
    Office Registration Cache
    Microsoft Office Settings
Get these files from your backup of the old system and put them into the same places in your new system. I THINK this will fix your Office 2004 problem. If it doesn't work, Microsoft has a support phone number to call about lost or misplaced install disks.
As for Final Cut Pro, here is where Final Cut Studio stores its serial number info, maybe there is something similar for Final Cut Pro:
Follow this path: HD >Library >Application Support> ProApps >Final Cut Studio System ID
Unfortunately, some software "hides" this registration info by putting an obscure invisible file somewhere where one might not think to look. It's to guard against piracy, but it also impedes legally registered users (like you) from doing something legitimate, like move from one computer to another or reinstall.
I think you can contact each company and explain your situation; I expect they will tell you where the file (or files) is that you need to move over. After all, you're not asking them for a new serial number. Tell you you are restoring from a full backup, you don't have the original install disks, and just need to move the correct files from the backup over to the restored disk.
This will all be easier if the account name is the same on the new disk compared to what it was on the old disk (and on the Time Machine backup).

Yosemite install deleted files from Time Machine!! Yosemite installation deleted a printer application. Went into Time Machine to restore the printer app and it was gone! Now I wonder what else is gone.

Installed Yosemite on iMac desktop. Made sure I backed up and disconnected external hard drive. Yosemite deleted a printer/scanner application. Went into Time Machine to restore it and it was gone. When external hd was remounted Yosemite went into it, probably to index, and deleted the application from all backups. Wonder what else is missing?? Besides being unbelievably SLOW now I have to see what else has been lost.

Can you simply navigate to your Time Machine backup with the Finder? Treat it like an external hardrive and just look for your old Applications folder. /Applications/
Also, quite a few apps put config and support files in ~/Library/Application\ Support/
So you may be able to get the files from there as well.

Updated powermac G5 from OSX 10.5.6 to 10.5.8 now computer boots but finder won't open can't even open time machine but most of the apps open

hello, I just updated my G5 from 10.5.6 to 10.5.8 from the combo installer and now I cant get the finder to open the dock is active but crashes if I select time machine it will open mayny of my other apps but when I go to the top to use the finder i click and get nothing I bought the computer used a few years ago and dont have the apple install disk what should I do it boots but cant access the hard drive although it appears on the desk top

First, Safe Boot , (holding Shift key down at bootup), use Disk Utility from there to Repair Permissions, test if things work OK in Safe Mode.
Then move these files to the Desktop...
/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist
/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.dock.plist
/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.systempreferences.plist
/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.sidebarlists.plist
/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.desktop.plist
/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.recentitems.plist
Reboot & test.
PS. Safe boot may stay on the gray radian for a long time, let it go, it's trying to repair the Hard Drive.

Time Machine running on Leopard killed a partitioned external HD. Is there a fix?

I partitioned the 3 TB external hard drive into four partitions to use with Leopard's Time Machine. The partition I was using for Time Machine was 300 GB. Time Machine required 55 GB for the backup. When almost finished I received the following error:
Time Machine Error
Unable to complete backup. The backup volume may have been ejected or disconnected from your computer.
After receiving the error the drive is not recognized by the computer.
Please help.

Hi BDAqua,
Returned the drive & got a new one. It is working without partitioning.
Best Buy said that Leopard won't support a partitioned external hard drive, the answer is to upgrade to Snow Leopard at a cost of $19.99. This works for me.
Thanks for you help!

Time Machine backup in real time?

I'm about to get a new Mac Mini for my girlfriend and thought about getting an additional external hard drive for Time Machine backups. I have never used Time Machine and the help topics/manuals seem to indicate you can only backup every hour. Can you set it to backup as new files are being created? Sometimes she imports files from her camera and saves them downsized for the web and forgets to "save as" so the originals get deleted. Actually, it's only happened once, but if TM was backing up everything as it was being copied over there would be no problems....I hope. If this isn't an option I might not even get an external. Thanks for any information.

Can you set it to backup as new files are being created?
No. The only way to do that would be via RAID 1 (mirroring), but that's not going to help either, because as soon as you delete (or overwrite) a file its going to get deleted (or overwritten) on the mirror, too.
Seriously, though, I think you'll find Time Machine more than handles what you want, even at the hourly invocation. You say it's only happened once before anyway, and you might be surprised at how much time passes between copying the files from the camera and accidentally overwriting the original so the chances are the files will be copied anyway.
Also think of it this way, even at an hour, there's a good chance that you will have a backup of the original. Without Time Machine (or some other automatic backup system) there is zero chance. Which would you prefer?

Does Time Machine save all of your Apps as well?

Hi,
I have a Mac Mini with Snow Leopard 10.6.7, which includes an Application called Time Machine. I have set it up to save onto an external HD and it has been doing this for months now.
I need to send my Mac in for repairs on the optical drive and was wondering if Time Machine saves everything on the External HD including Applications, so say if I were to delete an application by accident and went into Time Machine to the time before the Application was deleted, would it restore the deleted Application with its previous licence or would I have to reinstall it and enter in a new licence number?
Thank you for your time and all of your responces in advance.

Hi
This is from the Time Machine Help pages:
Initially, Time Machine makes a complete backup, including system files, applications, accounts, preferences, music, photos, documents—everything you keep on your computer, except for a few temporary files (such as web browser caches).
==
Yes, applications are included. However, one can set up Time Machine preferences so that certain files and folders don't get saved.
Bob

Time Machine in System Preferences not Apps how do I move it?

I had trouble and lost my time machine in docks and applications. Lost my airport network and had to reinstall with disc. Still had problems and ended up having to reset my time machine and everything came back except the Time Machine doesn't show up in my applications or my dock. I would like to get it listed in my applications and then I can put it back in my dock.

Hi, Yes you are correct in iPhoto Prefernces, Advanced tab editing I used to have iPhoto and "Use external editor.". It changed to iPhoto and iPhoto Library. I have einstaleed PSE 9 and downloaded the update. There is still no lkink to external editor in the drop down box. Have I done something wrong inadvertently or is there a clitch? can you reinstal iPhoto. I am new to Macs. Every thing came preinstalled. it is the top of the range system with 16 Gb of rRAM, 2 Tb hard drive to top graphics card etc. I used to be on Windows PC. Have more than 27,000 photos on the system. Much apprecite your reply and interest in this.

Does Time Machine back-up Apps?

When I first used Time Machine it copied all Apps to my external drive. But I've added Apps since and the new ones don't appear on my ext. drive.

I just checked, and Time Machine is backing up new apps on my system.

Time Machine for Mac OS X 10.4.11

I just bought a non-Mac external hard drive that a friend said I could use with Time Machine...real simple. I hooked it up and nothing happened. I feel stupid asking at this late date, but is Time Machine included in the Mac OS X 10.4.11? Is it possible to buy a copy of it?
Any help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Hi, and welcome to the forums.
As the others posted, no, you can't use Time Machine on Tiger.
But since you already have the disk, begin regular backups with another app, such as CarbonCopyCloner, SuperDuper!, or the like. All disk drives fail, sooner or later; other things can go wrong inside your Mac; and most of us make the occasional error. Without backups, when that happens (not if it happens) you may lose some or all your data.
CCC is donationware, so you can use it for a while before sending them some $$ to keep it up to date. SD has a free version, but you'll need the paid one (about $30) to do updates (rather than full replacements).
Many of us use both a clone (I use CCC) and Time Machine, to have two separate, independent backups and to get the benefits of each. When you do upgrade to Leopard or Snow Leopard, you might want to do the same.
You can find either of those via Google, and them and others via VersionTracker.com or MacUpdate.com.

Time Machine not working after upgrading to Lion

I have a Time Machine 1.2 which worked perfectly on my old iMac OSX. A few months ago I purchased a new iMac which came with Snow Leopard, and it worked well. But when Apple came to upgrade me to Lion, the Time Machine no longer works. Is it not compatible with Lion??
At one stage I was told there was no room on the disk. I then tried to delete most of the previous backups, leaving only a handful of backups - but still no luck. I think I might have messed up things by then trying to edit the "do not back up" list. I tried to exclude some programmes applications , and now I am told there are no disks available to be backed up.
It is not very clear on the "options" screen, what one should do. What does the + and - indicate, and is it necessary to remove any files at all if I want a simple regular backup procedure on my home computer.
Lastly - if I wanted to uninstall and reinstall the Time Machine - is there a procedure?? I can't find one.
I hope someone can put me right.

I was brave and did what you said. (Thanks for being patient - I am an old lady).
I erased the external drive (called Time Machine Backups) in the diskutility.app.
Now - when I restarted Time Machine I am still told that there are no disks available to be backed up, and that this can happen if all disks are in the “Do not back up” list.
So maybe I really did mess up the list of items to be excluded from backups?
How do I restore the list now to what it should be?

Retrieving calendar and contacts data from OSX Server Time Machine

Due to a system failure I went out an brought a Macbook Air. My other Mac is away being assessed by a repair shop.
By plugging in the Time Machine drive from the other Mac I have managed to recover my files, videos, photos etc. Contacts and Calendars however are proving to to more difficult.
The old Mac was setup using Mavericks Server as a workaround for the removal of Calendar and Contacts iTunes sync in Mavericks.
The Contacts and Calendars are currectly synced with an iPad and an iPhone.
Is there anyway of recovering the Contacts and Calendars data from the Time Machine backup drive, My iPad or iPhone?
Any help appreciated with this complicated problem.
John

It sounds as if it is the same, or closely related, to this thread Time Machine Service Page in Server App says "Error Reading Settings"

Time Machine seems to be deleting files from the backup disk.

My main disk has about 400 GB of data including nearly 300 GB of movie files. Since I started using Time Machine in February, the backup disk has had about 400 GB of data on it. This morning Time Machine has said on the System Preferences display that it is "finishing backup" and in the process the backup disk contains only 108 GB of something - hopefully some of my data. The file structure looks OK on the backup disk but I am not sure that the data is there.
I turned Time Machine off and back on and for awhile it seemed to be moving data to the backup disk but then it went back to the "finishing backup" mode and the amount of data on the backup disk began to decrease again. This evening I turned Time Machine off and left it off but it turned itself back on. Somehow this does not seem right. This has happened a number of times.
The net result is that I have about 400GB of data on the iMac system disk and about 108 GB on the backup disk. What can I do to get out of this trap and start getting valid backup?
For starters I will dismount the backup drive and then disconnect the backup drive and at least I will have something left on the disk.
Thanks for the help.

Well, I can't really say what the problem is. You could try to repartition (not just erase) the HD and start Time Machine over again.
Or you could check Time Machine's logs in Console.app, and maybe someone else can help you if it's putting out errors (not my area of expertise).
Message was edited by: bcr88

Intermittently using Time Machine with an External Hard Drive

Ok, Kappy answered some questions I had about how Time Machine works with an external hard drive.
After doing more reading about Time Machine, I found out that a person can, for example, leave the drive powered-off for a couple of weeks and only periodically or intermittently use Time Machine for back up. However, in the online article I read dated 2009, the author suggested that he didn't know how well Time Machine would work making up for the two weeks, or however long, no files had been backed up.
Specific questions: I have 10.6.3 SL (I have not yet been brave enough to download 10.6.4) and a 4 month old iMac. 1) Have any of you had experience with only periodically using Time Machine for back up and 2) with my current system would you think I might run into some trouble if I only intermittently backed-up using Time Machine?
Thanks for reading this and thanks if you feel my questions warrant answering.
Note: I do have another external hard drive where I occasionally manually back-up photos, gifs, music, etc.

JohnHusk wrote:
Ok, Kappy answered some questions I had about how Time Machine works with an external hard drive.
After doing more reading about Time Machine, I found out that a person can, for example, leave the drive powered-off for a couple of weeks and only periodically or intermittently use Time Machine for back up.
If you go several days between backups, Time Machine may have to do a "deep traversal," comparing every folder on your system to the backups, to determine what's changed and needs to be backed-up. This depends on the volume of changes, so can happen after an OSX update, but in other circumstances might be after several days. This isn't a big problem, but it does take longer, and the more data you have, the longer it takes.
Worse, after an extended period, Time Machine may do a new, full backup of your entire system, rapidly filling-up your TM drive.
If that's the way you want to back up, Time Machine is not the backup app for you. One of it's main features is the way it can do quick hourly backups of what's changed, so you have an excellent chance of recovering a previous version (or versions) when you change or delete something in error, or a file comes up corrupted, or your Mac fails.
Why don't you want to just leave the drive connected and Time Machine running, to protect you best, as it was designed to do?
For alternatives designed to do less frequent backups, see Kappy's post on Basic Backup.

Time Machine is a real killer app!!

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