Time Machine IS killing or corrupting disks

To all those " This is just coincidence" guys.
I have heard about several people being unable to mount their harddrives,
I had a email traffic with a couple of them and told them to to a manual fsck
everyone of these guys has a corrupted super block...
I work with harddrives for about 10 years now, as i do with unix.
Time Machine IS corrupting, at least, some hard drives.
I have seen TM corrupting the volume headers and super blocks on 3 brand new external hard drives and one internal harddrive
Extended read/write tests on this HD's don't show any errors
Reformating to HFS+, fire up TM and boom, corrupted hard disk
They had the same issues with TM over Airport, and now they turned it off
but... it happens to wired hard drives too.
Apple, fix this!
Message was edited by: ruebezahl
Message was edited by: ruebezahl

The volume structure on an HFS+ volume that is comparable to the superblock of a UFS volume is the volume header, or volume information block (VIB).
Apple has a detailed description of the HFS+ Volume format:
http://developer.apple.com/technotes/tn/tn1150.html
Micromat posted in the MacFixIt Forums some instructions for viewing the text representation of the volume header, using the free utility hfsdebug:
Use hfsdebug to view volume header:
syntax given on page 1494 of “Mac OS X Internals” by Amit Singh.
Using your browser, go to http://www.osxbook.com/software/hfsdebug/ . Download hfsdebug from the link at the bottom of the page. After the download is complete, double-click the .dmg file you downloaded. When this disk image mounts, you see a free utility named hfsdebug. Copy the hfsdebug file to your desktop.
Open Terminal, located in /Applications/Utilities. Type the following three commands, each on its own line, and press the Return key at the end of each line:
cd ~/Desktop
chmod u+x hfsdebug
sudo ./hfsdebug -d /dev/rdisk1s10 -v
Enter your administrative password at the prompt.
Here is a sample of the output:
MMT3s-Computer:~ MMT3$ cd ~/Desktop
MMT3s-Computer:~/Desktop MMT3$ chmod u+x hfsdebug
MMT3s-Computer:~/Desktop MMT3$ sudo ./hfsdebug -d /dev/rdisk1s10 -v
Password:
# HFS Plus Volume
Volume size = 9699188 KB/9471.86 MB/9.25 GB
# HFS Plus Volume Header
signature = 0x482b (H+)
version = 0x4
lastMountedVersion = 0x4846534a (HFSJ)
attributes = 00000000000000000010000100000000
. kHFSVolumeUnmounted (volume was successfully unmounted)
. kHFSVolumeJournaled (volume has a journal)
journalInfoBlock = 0x1993a3
createDate = Tue Oct 11 20:35:24 2005
modifyDate = Wed Oct 11 21:23:41 2006
backupDate = Fri Jan 1 00:00:00 1904
checkedDate = Tue Oct 11 20:35:24 2005
fileCount = 178583
folderCount = 47879 /* not including the root folder */
blockSize = 4096
totalBlocks = 2424797
freeBlocks = 693970
nextAllocation = 2343707
rsrcClumpSize = 65536
dataClumpSize = 65536
nextCatalogID = 265932
writeCount = 8163599
encodingsBitmap = 00000000000000000000000000000000
00000010000000000000000000001111
# Finder Info
# Bootable system blessed folder ID
finderInfo[0] = 0x1f7ca (LaCie_Boot:/System/Library/CoreServices)
# Parent folder ID of the startup application
finderInfo[1] = 0
# Open folder ID
finderInfo[2] = 0
# Mac OS 9 blessed folder ID
finderInfo[3] = 0
# Reserved
finderInfo[4] = 0
# Mac OS X blessed folder ID
finderInfo[5] = 0x1f7ca (LaCie_Boot:/System/Library/CoreServices)
# VSDB volume identifier (64-bit)
finderInfo[6] = 0xcd566ff7
finderInfo[7] = 0x351c415f
# File System Boot UUID
UUID = 38178E0C-3CC2-37E3-8E87-B5C2662DCF95
# Allocation Bitmap File
logicalSize = 659456 bytes
totalBlocks = 161
fork temperature = /* Metadata Zone */
clumpSize = 356352 bytes
extents = startBlock blockCount % of file
0x74b86 0xa1 100.00 %
161 allocation blocks in 1 extents total.
161.00 allocation blocks per extent on an average.
# Extents Overflow File
logicalSize = 5242880 bytes
totalBlocks = 1280
fork temperature = /* Metadata Zone */
clumpSize = 5242880 bytes
extents = startBlock blockCount % of file
0xa98c9 0x500 100.00 %
1280 allocation blocks in 1 extents total.
1280.00 allocation blocks per extent on an average.
# Catalog File
logicalSize = 92274688 bytes
totalBlocks = 22528
fork temperature = /* Metadata Zone */
clumpSize = 11534336 bytes
extents = startBlock blockCount % of file
0x148dde 0x5800 100.00 %
22528 allocation blocks in 1 extents total.
22528.00 allocation blocks per extent on an average.
# Attributes File
logicalSize = 0 bytes
# Startup File
logicalSize = 0 bytes

Similar Messages

How to restore a time machine backup from a corrupted disk

Hi.
I have quite a problem. I recently downgraded to os x 10.5.4 due to the requirements of Digidesign's Pro Tools. I did so with a clean install in order to have the most optimized computer possible without loads of unused data. I had backed up my data using Time Machine on an external hard-drive (LaCie, 1 TB) so I wasn't worried about losing important data.
However, when I inserted my external hard-drive after the clean installation it turns out to be corrupted in some way. It is only recognized in Disk Utility, it doesn't mount on my desktop.
Disk Utility is unable to repair the disk. The errors are:
+Verify and Repair volume “Kristoffer's back-up disk”+
+Checking Journaled HFS Plus volume.+
+Invalid node structure+
+Volume check failed.+
+Error: Filesystem verify or repair failed.+
I went out and bought "Data Rescue II" at once to try to recover my data. It works fine with the stuff I've manually dragged to the disc but the Time Machine backup folders seem compressed in some way (It's only about 86 MB). And when I click a file restored from one of the Time Machine folders it seems like it's just a shortcut to an "original file". I get this error when double-clicking such a file:
+The alias "filename" could not be opened, because the original item cannot be found.+
Is there some way for me to get Time Machine to understand the back up disk even though it's corrupted? Or some other way to retrieve my data?
I have TONS of extremely important data on the disk so it would cost me a huge amount of work to format the disk and start from scratch.
ANY help is greatly appreciated

ohnoono wrote:
Hi.
I have quite a problem. I recently downgraded to os x 10.5.4 due to the requirements of Digidesign's Pro Tools. I did so with a clean install in order to have the most optimized computer possible without loads of unused data. I had backed up my data using Time Machine on an external hard-drive (LaCie, 1 TB) so I wasn't worried about losing important data.
However, when I inserted my external hard-drive after the clean installation it turns out to be corrupted in some way. It is only recognized in Disk Utility, it doesn't mount on my desktop.
Disk Utility is unable to repair the disk. The errors are:
+Verify and Repair volume “Kristoffer's back-up disk”+
+Checking Journaled HFS Plus volume.+
+Invalid node structure+
+Volume check failed.+
+Error: Filesystem verify or repair failed.+
I went out and bought "Data Rescue II" at once to try to recover my data. It works fine with the stuff I've manually dragged to the disc but the Time Machine backup folders seem compressed in some way (It's only about 86 MB). And when I click a file restored from one of the Time Machine folders it seems like it's just a shortcut to an "original file". I get this error when double-clicking such a file:
+The alias "filename" could not be opened, because the original item cannot be found.+
Is there some way for me to get Time Machine to understand the back up disk even though it's corrupted?
no, that's quite impossible. you may try using Disk warrior on that drive. it's known to be able to fix the kind of error that DU is reporting. if that doesn't work your only hope is data recovery. If Data Rescue II doesn't work you can try other data recovery software like Filesalvage or try professional data recovery services (those can can a fortune).
Or some other way to retrieve my data?
I have TONS of extremely important data on the disk so it would cost me a huge amount of work to format the disk and start from scratch.
ANY help is greatly appreciated

Best approach for Time Machine / Entourage / FileVault / sparse bundle disk

I am looking to set up Time Machine belatedly on my G5 to provide hassle-free backup for me and my family. I use Entourage. I also want to provide a small amount of encrypted storage. I’ve scoured the obvious places which have plenty of ideas, but nothing which pulls it all together.
My thoughts so far have been:
1. Time Machine doesn’t work well with Entourage as Entourage uses a monolithic single file (which in my case is several GB big) – backing this up every hour will bring my machine to its knees, fill up the backup disk and will possibly give a corrupt backup as the file could be accessed by Entourage or the MS daemon process during the backup.
2. I thought of turning FileVault on which would automatically contain the Entourage file. This would mean:
a) the sparse bundle format (8 MB bands) of FileVault would limit the volume of changed Entourage data which would be backed up each time by Time Machine and
b) the backup would only occur during logout (which is fine with me) when Entourage and the MS daemon are not running so that the backup won’t be corrupt.
3. However I am not hearing good things about the reliability of FileVault (comments?) and don’t want all the data in my Home folders lost – I don’t need that much encryption anyway.
4. So I thought about setting up a couple of encrypted disk images made of sparse bundles – one for the Entourage data (symbolically linked to the right place for Entourage to pick the folder up) and the other for the other small number of files I need encrypted. This could be auto-mounted at login.
5. However I think that using disk images rather than FileVault loses the automatic backup by Time Machine at logout. Maybe there is a way to get Time Machine to automatically backup these disk images during logout.
6. Perhaps there is another way to get the disk images backed up at logout other than using Time Machine.
So my questions are:
A. What is the best overall approach to providing a low-maintenance reliable backup which deals appropriately with Entourage and provides a small amount of encrypted space?
B. Can Time Machine be made to backup disk images other than FileVault disk images at logout? (for example is there a particular location / filename format for FileVault images which I could emulate with the other disk images to fool Time Machine into backing them up?)
C. When Time Machine runs at logout, have MS Entourage and the daemon process already been shut down and the disks unmounted, to prevent corruption?
D. Is there another way of backing up the sparse image disks at logout?
C. Is this all going to get magically fixed in Snow Leopard?
D. Will MS come up with a sensible storage format for Entourage?
Any thoughts greatly appreciated.

I don't know if there is a complete solution, but here are some things you could consider.
1. TM does not run automatically at logout unless FileVault is enabled.
2. You can change the backup period using third-party utilities like TimeMachineEditor - VersionTracker or MacUpdate.
3. You can exclude the Microsoft User Data folder from the TM backup and back it up separately using third-party backup software.
4. You can use third-party backup software instead of TM, such as:
1. Retrospect Desktop (Commercial - not yet universal binary)
2. Synchronize! Pro X (Commercial)
3. Synk (Backup, Standard, or Pro)
4. Deja Vu (Shareware)
5. Carbon Copy Cloner (Donationware)
6. SuperDuper! (Commercial)
7. Intego Personal Backup (Commercial)
8. Data Backup (Commercial)
9. SilverKeeper 2.0 (Freeware)
10. Tri-Backup (Commercial)
11. Apple Backup (requires a .Mac account with Apple both to get the software and to use it.)
Apple's Backup is a full backup tool capable of backing up across multiple media such as CD/DVD. However, it cannot create bootable backups. It is primarily an "archiving" utility.
Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on backup and restore. Also read How to Back Up and Restore Your Files.
Third-party backup utilities can run backups on schedules you set up. Thus, you can schedule your backups to occur at a time when you do not use the machine such as early in the AM for example.

Time Machine cannot mount remote backup disk (ReadyNAS NV+)

Hello,
I own a ReadyNAS NV+ which I use as an external backup. It has a "Time Machine" backup daemon, so the iMac see's it over network. I used it for a couple of months without issues.
A couple of days ago I had to change the physical location of ReadyNAS. Now there are 2 switches between my iMac and the readyNAS.
Since I changed the physical position of the ReadyNAS I try to backup using time machine but it's not possible. Time machine hangs up when trying to up at "Making Backup Disk Available". Using the terminal I can clearly see that AFP has issues mounting the disk:
afp_4pcsta0oyhi62C4wJd3Bx6yh-1.2e00000b on /Volumes/ReadyNAS (afpfs, nobrowse)
angel:log root# dmesg
6a800!
jnl: disk3s2: journal_open: Error replaying the journal!
hfs: early jnl init: failed to open/create the journal (retval 0).
disk3s2: 0x5 (UNDEFINED).
0 [Level 3] [ReadUID 0] [Facility com.apple.system.fs] [ErrType IO] [ErrNo 5] [IOType Read] [PBlkNum 2] [LBlkNum 2] [FSLogMsgID 1814855696] [FSLogMsgOrder First]
0 [Level 3] [ReadUID 0] [Facility com.apple.system.fs] [DevNode devfs] [MountPt /dev] [Path /dev/disk3s2] [FSLogMsgID 1814855696] [FSLogMsgOrder Last]
AFP_VFS afpfs_unmount: /Volumes/ReadyNAS, flags 524288, pid 285
AFP_VFS afpfs_mount: /Volumes/ReadyNAS, pid 872
jnl: disk4s2: replay_journal: from: 8247296 to: 4564992 (joffset 0x962000)
ASP_TCP dothreadread: no reqInfo found for reqID 5
ASP_TCP Disconnect: triggering reconnect by bumping reconnTrigger from curr value 0 on so 0xa258660
AFP_VFS afpfs_DoReconnect started /Volumes/ReadyNAS prevTrigger 0 currTrigger 1
ASP_TCP CancelOneRequest: cancelling slot 22 error 89 reqID 3256 flags 0x29 afpCmd 0x3D so 0xa258660
ASP_TCP CancelOneRequest: cancelling slot 23 error 89 reqID 3257 flags 0x29 afpCmd 0x22 so 0xa258660
ASP_TCP CancelOneRequest: cancelling slot 24 error 89 reqID 3258 flags 0x29 afpCmd 0x22 so 0xa258660
ASP_TCP CancelOneRequest: cancelling slot 25 error 89 reqID 3259 flags 0x29 afpCmd 0x22 so 0xa258660
ASP_TCP CancelOneRequest: cancelling slot 26 error 89 reqID 3260 flags 0x29 afpCmd 0x22 so 0xa258660
ASP_TCP CancelOneRequest: cancelling slot 27 error 89 reqID 3261 flags 0x29 afpCmd 0xB so 0xa258660
ASP_TCP CancelOneRequest: cancelling slot 28 error 89 reqID 3262 flags 0x29 afpCmd 0x22 so 0xa258660
ASP_TCP CancelOneRequest: cancelling slot 29 error 89 reqID 3263 flags 0x29 afpCmd 0x22 so 0xa258660
0 [Level 5] [com.apple.message.domain com.apple.afpfs.reconnect] [com.apple.message.signature Reconnect failed - socket failed to start reconnect] [com.apple.message.value 1297443679] [Message afpfs_DoReconnect: socket failed to start reconnect 61 /Volumes/ReadyNAS
AFP_VFS afpfs_DoReconnect: posting to KEA to unmount /Volumes/ReadyNAS
0 [Level 3] [ReadUID 0] [Facility com.apple.system.fs] [ErrType IO] [ErrNo 6] [IOType Write] [PBlkNum 8] [LBlkNum 8] [FSLogMsgID 1662666978] [FSLogMsgOrder First]
0 [Level 3] [ReadUID 0] [Facility com.apple.system.fs] [DevNode afp_4pcsta0oyhi62C4wJd3Bx6yh-1.2e00000a] [MountPt /Volumes/ReadyNAS] [Path /Volumes/ReadyNAS/angel.sparsebundle/bands/0] [FSLogMsgID 1662666978] [FSLogMsgOrder Last]
disk4s2: 0x5 (UNDEFINED).
0 [Level 3] [ReadUID 0] [Facility com.apple.system.fs] [ErrType IO] [ErrNo 5] [IOType Read] [PBlkNum 11744] [LBlkNum 11744] [FSLogMsgID 1726805554] [FSLogMsgOrder First]
0 [Level 3] [ReadUID 0] [Facility com.apple.system.fs] [DevNode devfs] [MountPt /dev] [Path /dev/disk4s2] [FSLogMsgID 1726805554] [FSLogMsgOrder Last]
jnl: disk4s2: updatefsblock: error reading fs block # 11744! (ret 5)
disk4s2: 0x5 (UNDEFINED).
0 [Level 3] [ReadUID 0] [Facility com.apple.system.fs] [ErrType IO] [ErrNo 5] [IOType Read] [PBlkNum 27379] [LBlkNum 27379] [FSLogMsgID 1933006271] [FSLogMsgOrder First]
0 [Level 3] [ReadUID 0] [Facility com.apple.system.fs] [DevNode devfs] [MountPt /dev] [Path /dev/disk4s2] [FSLogMsgID 1933006271] [FSLogMsgOrder Last]
jnl: disk4s2: dojnlio: strategy err 0x5
jnl: disk4s2: replay_journal: Could not read journal entry data @ offset 0x46a800!
jnl: disk4s2: journal_open: Error replaying the journal!
hfs: early jnl init: failed to open/create the journal (retval 0).
disk4s2: 0x5 (UNDEFINED).
0 [Level 3] [ReadUID 0] [Facility com.apple.system.fs] [ErrType IO] [ErrNo 5] [IOType Read] [PBlkNum 2] [LBlkNum 2] [FSLogMsgID 800265459] [FSLogMsgOrder First]
0 [Level 3] [ReadUID 0] [Facility com.apple.system.fs] [DevNode devfs] [MountPt /dev] [Path /dev/disk4s2] [FSLogMsgID 800265459] [FSLogMsgOrder Last]
AFP_VFS afpfs_unmount: /Volumes/ReadyNAS, flags 524288, pid 285
AFP_VFS afpfs_mount: /Volumes/ReadyNAS, pid 933
jnl: disk5s2: replay_journal: from: 8247296 to: 4564992 (joffset 0x962000)
angel:log root#
Finally Time Machine exists with error "Backup disk cannot be accessed. error 109".
Can someone give me a hint or two on how to solve this issue?
regards

Not a NAS-specific issue. The OS is trying to read a block of the sparse disk image, and the read is failing. Basically, the sparse bundle is damaged. You'll need to rename it and then try backing up again to a clean sparse bundle.
That said, make sure you're running a version of the ReadyNAS firmware that actually supports Time Machine. There are several AFP commands that were added for Time Machine that *must* be supported for correct operation, and older AFP implementations did not implement them. The reconnect errors suggest to me that maybe the firmware you are running doesn't support the Reconnect UAM, in which case it probably also doesn't support the replay cache, etc. If that's the case, then things probably won't work correctly without a firmware update even after you fix the corrupted sparse bundle.
Edit: actually, on further searching, it might be a NAS-specific issue. Certain buggy network switches do not properly support jumbo frames in mixed networks, which can cause read errors similar to what you are seeing when working with AFP. (This might have been your post on the other board.) In the Network prefs pane, choose Ethernet, click "Advanced", click the Ethernet tab, change Configure to Manually, and set the MTU to Standard (1500).

I have just upgraded to Mavericks and have been using Time Machine on an external disk with Snow Leopard. Can I continue to backup with Time Machine on the same external disk or do I need a new disk since the operating system has changed?

I have just upgraded to Mavericks and have been using Time Machine on an external disk with Snow Leopard. Can I continue to backup with Time Machine on the same external disk or do I need a new disk since the operating system has changed?

Hi there,
I found that Time Machine in Mavericks will sort it all out for you. You shouldn't need to buy another backup drive, unless you have insufficient space left and can't afford to delete whats on there. It should just work fine.

How to use Time Machine with newly cloned source disk?

I've got an iMac (10.6.8) which I'm using with a Time Capsule and Time Machine.
Recently, the iMac's internal disk started to fail. Instead of going through the effort and expense of replacing it in a fairly old computer, I added an external FireWire disk, cloned the internal disk onto it using Carbon Copy Cloner, and then unmounted the internal disk. Now I'm running the exact same system off the external FireWire disk (with no obvious performance loss, I'm happy to say).
When Time Machine saw the new disk, it started to prepare to copy everything on it. I don't know if it was going to treat it as a separate set of backups (like a separate computer), or treat it as a massive update to all the files on the same computer.
Here's what I want to happen, in order of preference:
(1) Get Time Machine to treat the new disk as the same filesystem as the old disk, and update only the files that have changed.
(2) Have Time Machine start a new backup folder. The initial backup will be slow of course.
(3) Time Machine treats the new filesystem as continuous with the old one, but with 300GB of sudden "changes" (because all the files are "different"). This is my least preferred option.
Can anyone advise me as to what my options are, and to what Time Machine will do if left to its own devices?

I think that the way that Time Machine works, you will either have to go with your option (3) [inefficient from the perspective of disk space usage] or simply erase the backup drive and start anew with a new Time Machine backup process [efficient from a space usage perspective but you lose all the verisoning info from previous backups].
Time Machine will see the cloned drive as a physically different drive with lots of files that it has never backed up. I think the only way it could tell that they were the same files content wise as what you had backup up earlier would be to do a bit by bit comparison (which Time Machine does not do). I think Time Machine might look at some file meta data and there might be a way to spoof it so it thinks what you want it to think, but imagine the work required to do this for hundreds of thousands of files. Some disk clone software claims to try to do this and some have bit by bit cloning options, but Time machine will still see that external drive as a physically different (never backed up) drive from the internal one that it has backed up. It might be nice to have a Time Machine option so you could tell it what you want it to assume and do, but Time Machine has a fairly simple interface and doesn't present the user with such an option (to my knowledge).
If it were me, I would buy a new Time Machine backup drive and use that to backup the external cloned drive (now your primary drive), while saving the original Time machine backup drive as an archive with all its versioning, which provides you with additional backup redundancy and history. After some time has passed, you could eventually decide to erase that (by then, older) Time Machine backup drive and use it for some other purpose.

My time machine does not want to save any more the data from my powerbook 13" Snow Leopard; i get the message "Time Machine could not suppress the disk image of saving "Volumes/Time Capsule Disk/PowerBook _2011_03_21_123627 sparsebundle" What should I do?

My time machine does not want to save any more the data from my powerbook 13" Snow Leopard; i get the message "Time Machine could not suppress the disk image of saving "Volumes/Time Capsule Disk/PowerBook _2011_03_21_123627 sparsebundle" What is the problem? What should I do?
Thanks !!
Alain

Could that read " . . . could not access . . ."? If so, try repairing your backups, per #A5 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting.
If not, or if that doesn't help, see #A1 there. Use the TM Buddy widget it details to copy and post the messages here.

HT3275 Can some HELP, I keep getting this error with my Time Machine Back up, "The backup disk image "/Volumes/JKPN Safe/JKPN IMAC.sparsebundle" is already in use.

Can some one HELP me , I keep getting this error with my Time Machine Back up, "The backup disk image “/Volumes/JKPN Safe/JKPN IMAC.sparsebundle” is already in use.

See > http://pondini.org/TM/C12.html

The error that I am getting is this "Time Machine can't use the disk image because it can't be written to." Any ideas on the fix for this?

The error that I am getting is this "Time Machine can't use the disk image because it can't be written to." Any ideas on the fix for this? When I go to the Time Capsule my Macbook Pro shows that it is locked, I think I did something wrong, but can't figure how to unlock it to see if that fixes it.

As far as we know, Time Machine cannot write to a disk image. It needs to write directly to the Time Capsule disk.

Time Machine can't use the disk image because it can't be written to.

Time Machine can't use the disk image because it can't be written to. help!

VictorSMiller wrote:
I just started getting the same message. I'm using a Western Digital My Book 3TB disk. Normally I have the backups done with the disk attached to Airport Extreme.
I hate to have to tell you this, but backing-up that way is unreliable and not supported by Apple. See: Using Time Machine with an Airport Extreme Air Disk.
Backup failed with error: The target disk image volume is read-only.
Most likely, you got this message before all this started:
What that doesn't explicity say is, the backups failed the verification. When that happens, Time Machine marks the sparse bundle as damaged and won't back up to it anymore (even if Repair Disk can't find the problem). See #C13 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting for details.

Time Machine backing up an Airport Disk

I've read that Time Machine will back up mac journaled formated external drives, unless you exclude them. That's all well and good, but my situation is a little different. Here's my setup.
15" MBP, 120GB HDD
AEBS
RAID 0 1TB WD My Book Pro II drive on the network as an airport disk.
500 GB WD Pro drive on firewire 800.
The 500 gig is going to be used as my *time machine* drive. The *1TB Airport Disk* drive is mostly media. The only thing I want backed up is some important document folders as well as my music folder. But when I go to exclude the folders I don't want backedup on my 1TB airport disk drive, I find that the entire contents of the drive isn't selectable to be excluded. I don't really have any space on my internal drive to store these files. All drives are mac journal extended formatted.

UPDATE
I tried using iTimeMachine to see if it will allow Time Machine to access my AP Disk. I believe it just runs the terminal command that activates the default setting for Time Machine and network compatibility. Either way, when opening up Time Machine's preferences, I now see my 1TB drive as a drive I can back up to. However, unlike the thousands of threads out there, I don't want to back up to it, I want to back up some folder from it. As usual, when opening up the exclusion options, all of the folders on my AP Disk are greyed out, which tells me that Time Machine won't back up that disk.
Thoughts?

Time Machine couldn't complete the backup to "Time Machine Backups". The backup disk is not available.

I have received an error message today - Time Machine couldn't complete the backup to "Time Machine Backups". The backup disk is not available.
I am using a WD 1.5tb Help!!! Everything is on there and the files are not showing. The WD SmartWare icon is on the Desktop but the Time Machine icon is not. When I save a file I open the Time Machine file and save it in there. What do I do? How do I get my files back?? I do not keep anything on the macbook pro. Help PLEASE!!!

Hi Yaann,
Thank you for your reply. Yes I did try that, but no luck.
After several hours of calls to a very unhelpful WD and further calls to Applecare, there was nothing anyone could do. Out of frustration when holding the WD 1.5TB hard drive, I smacked it (NOT recommended). Well, to my surprise the WD reappeared on my devices list. Let me tell you, I pulled my files off as fast as I could on to my MacBook Pro. I breathed a huge sigh of relief when I confirmed that everything transferred back to the MacBook Pro fine. I spoke with the Applecare tech and he talked me through the set up on a new Lacie hard drive.
What I can say is that after further research into external hard drives and now personal experience - Lacie is the top of the line and you get what you pay for. I would NEVER ever recommend a WD to anyone. Given one, I would still through it away.
I was LUCKY.
I must say the support and understanding I received from Applecare was outstanding!! I would never own a apple product without applecare and from long term experience it is worth every penny.
All the best,

Time Machine Backup error - The backup disk image "/Volumes/Data/Extreme.sparsebundle" could not be accessed (error -1).

I am getting a Time Machine backup error "The backup disk image “/Volumes/Data/Extreme.sparsebundle” could not be accessed (error -1)."
Then a Finder window pops up with the backup directory in it. When I open it I see all the backups that were completed successfully and then the one there is simply always shows the data and .inProgress. I thought that maybe if I could delete the one that is perpetually in progress it would start a new one and run fine, but I won't let me delete it.

Reboot the TC.. or go to the 5.6 utility.. and disconnect all users.. to force it to reconnect.
C17 in troubleshooting.. to give more specifics to Kappy's comment.
http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html

All media files vanished. When time machine backup attempted it says disk full? Confused help.

I recently upgraded from osx leopard to snow leopard on my 2008 macbook to sync my new iphone data smoothly. After the installation it was v slow as anticipated and a time machine full restore was done successfully. Now however all my media files have vanished namely precious music videos and pictures. I tries reverting back in time machine but it says no disk space. Also i have 1000 new pictures last uploaded which gas also been backed up by time machine with the computer showing the rest of the files erased. How do i recover both sets of data the old and the new?

How much free space on your internal drive and how much free space on the Time Machine drive? You can use Disk Utility in Applications/Utilities to find free space. If Time Machine gets too full it could delete your backups. I suggest your turn off Time Machine in System Preferences until you get your files restored.
Rather than enter Time Machine using the Time Machine interface, go to the extrernal drive and drill down in the backups.backupdb folder. Go to a date when you know the files existed. Select Macintosh HD > Users > You > Pictures. Do you see the data. Check size? Do the same for Music.
You can drag from these folders to your Desktop as long as you have space on your internal drive.
I suspect you'll need to erase your Time Machine and start new or you'll need to purchase a larger drive. It's recommended that your Time Machine drive is 3X larger than internal drive.

HT3275 time machine error says: The backup disk image "/Volumes/Data/Apple 's iMac G5.sparsebundle" could not be accessed (error -1).

While backing up to Time Machine, I receive this message: time machine error says: The backup disk image “/Volumes/Data/Apple ’s iMac G5.sparsebundle” could not be accessed (error -1).

Welcome to Apple Support Communities
That message is caused by several reasons. Read the Pondini's site to fix the problem > http://pondini.org/TM/C17.html

Time Machine IS killing or corrupting disks

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