Time Machine message - "Backup destination is a local destination, but we found an embedded server URL." Should I worry?

Hello,
I just transferred my data with Migration Assistant to a newer, used iMac from my old G5. When Time Machine finished, I saw a strange message about an "embedded server URL" and I'm wondering if I should worry.
The external drive is a LaCie 2TB hard drive connected via Firewire. My iMac is model 12,2 running the latest Mavericks.
Here is my Time Machine log with the questionable piece in bold:
Copied 113.67 GB of 235.39 GB, 1168503 of 1213037 items
Backup destination is a local destination, but we found an embedded server URL.
Copied 1140104 items (228.3 GB) from volume Macintosh HD. Linked 80321.
Will copy (424.6 MB) from Macintosh HD
Found 7210 files (444.3 MB) needing backup
2.17 GB required (including padding), 23.5 GB available
Copied 6747 items (444.5 MB) from volume Macintosh HD. Linked 7453.
Created new backup: 2014-09-24-233352
Copying OS X Recovery set
Backup completed successfully.
Thanks for any advice,
Zeus

Firewire can handle networking.. I wonder if you are or have in the past networked the LaCie.. maybe even shared it over the network??
I do not think the message is particularly problematic.. Since firewire is still not directly connected to a network.. and unless you share it, is still just a local drive.. sometimes TM comes up the strangest issues.. particularly since Mavericks.

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    Message was edited by: John Soles
    Message was edited by: John Soles

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    My main system disk "Macintosh HD", 500 GB
    Media disk is exernal disk named "Media", 1000 GB.
    My Time Machine disk is named "DeLorean" and its external 1,500 GB.
    I have about 340 GB more free space in the Time Machine disk than my data currently uses up.
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    Dec 18 01:03:48 imac com.apple.backupd[95130]: Copied 81.9 GB of 1047.6 GB, 1469 of 1156879 items
    Dec 18 02:03:49 imac com.apple.backupd[95130]: Copied 172.8 GB of 1047.6 GB, 1516 of 1156879 items
    Dec 18 03:03:50 imac com.apple.backupd[95130]: Copied 264.8 GB of 1047.6 GB, 1563 of 1156879 items
    Dec 18 04:03:50 imac com.apple.backupd[95130]: Copied 357.1 GB of 1047.6 GB, 1615 of 1156879 items
    Dec 18 05:03:51 imac com.apple.backupd[95130]: Copied 449.1 GB of 1047.6 GB, 1666 of 1156879 items
    Dec 18 06:03:51 imac com.apple.backupd[95130]: Copied 541.5 GB of 1047.6 GB, 1696 of 1156879 items
    Dec 18 07:03:52 imac com.apple.backupd[95130]: Copied 633.6 GB of 1047.6 GB, 1741 of 1156879 items
    Dec 18 08:03:52 imac com.apple.backupd[95130]: Copied 725.6 GB of 1047.6 GB, 1786 of 1156879 items
    Dec 18 08:10:55 imac com.apple.backupd[95130]: Copied 1796 files (736.3 GB) from volume Media.
    Dec 18 09:03:53 imac com.apple.backupd[95130]: Copied 773.9 GB of 1047.6 GB, 621723 of 1156879 items
    Dec 18 10:03:54 imac com.apple.backupd[95130]: Copied 803.6 GB of 1047.6 GB, 936589 of 1156879 items
    Dec 18 11:03:54 imac com.apple.backupd[95130]: Copied 878.4 GB of 1047.6 GB, 1019840 of 1156879 items
    Dec 18 12:03:54 imac com.apple.backupd[95130]: Copied 951.6 GB of 1047.6 GB, 1107382 of 1156879 items
    Dec 18 13:03:54 imac com.apple.backupd[95130]: Copied 1034.6 GB of 1047.6 GB, 1110125 of 1156879 items
    Dec 18 13:13:49 imac com.apple.backupd[95130]: Copied 1140722 files (1041.4 GB) from volume Macintosh HD.
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    Dec 18 13:13:58 imac com.apple.backupd[95130]: Copied 6 files (0 bytes) from volume Media.
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    Dec 18 13:14:17 imac com.apple.backupd[95130]: Copying Lion Recovery set
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    Dec 18 13:14:45 imac com.apple.backupd[95130]: Backup completed successfully.
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    This backup i Initiated after i woke up, with both system disk and external "media" mounted:
    Dec 18 13:22:02 imac com.apple.backupd[5781]: Starting standard backup
    Dec 18 13:22:02 imac com.apple.backupd[5781]: Backing up to: /Volumes/DeLorean/Backups.backupdb
    Dec 18 13:22:05 imac com.apple.backupd[5781]: 1.70 GB required (including padding), 340.96 GB available
    Dec 18 13:22:05 imac com.apple.backupd[5781]: Waiting for index to be ready (100)
    Dec 18 13:23:05 imac com.apple.backupd[5781]: Waiting for index to be ready (100)
    Dec 18 13:23:48 imac com.apple.backupd[5781]: Copied 6 files (0 bytes) from volume Media.
    Dec 18 13:23:55 imac com.apple.backupd[5781]: Copied 1780 files (8.6 MB) from volume Macintosh HD.
    Dec 18 13:23:56 imac com.apple.backupd[5781]: 1.37 GB required (including padding), 341.39 GB available
    Dec 18 13:23:56 imac com.apple.backupd[5781]: Copied 6 files (0 bytes) from volume Media.
    Dec 18 13:23:59 imac com.apple.backupd[5781]: Copied 1596 files (268 bytes) from volume Macintosh HD.
    Dec 18 13:24:00 imac com.apple.backupd[5781]: Starting post-backup thinning
    Dec 18 13:24:00 imac com.apple.backupd[5781]: No post-back up thinning needed: no expired backups exist
    Dec 18 13:24:00 imac com.apple.backupd[5781]: Backup completed successfully.
    Ends.. This seems to work like it should.
    Now, see the time stamps, i just toke some coffee and came back....
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    Dec 18 13:28:00 imac com.apple.backupd[5962]: Starting standard backup
    Dec 18 13:28:00 imac com.apple.backupd[5962]: Backing up to: /Volumes/DeLorean/Backups.backupdb
    Dec 18 13:28:01 imac com.apple.backupd[5962]: 1.37 GB required (including padding), 341.39 GB available
    Dec 18 13:28:04 imac com.apple.backupd[5962]: Copied 1455 files (78 KB) from volume Macintosh HD.
    Dec 18 13:28:04 imac com.apple.backupd[5962]: 1.37 GB required (including padding), 341.39 GB available
    Dec 18 13:28:05 imac com.apple.backupd[5962]: Copied 115 files (93 bytes) from volume Macintosh HD.
    Dec 18 13:28:05 imac com.apple.backupd[5962]: Starting post-backup thinning
    Dec 18 13:28:05 imac com.apple.backupd[5962]: No post-back up thinning needed: no expired backups exist
    Dec 18 13:28:05 imac com.apple.backupd[5962]: Backup completed successfully.
    Incremental backup seems to finnish ok, without the "Media" drive.
    This backup is the third one done just after couple minutes after i mounted the "Media" drive back on:
    Dec 18 13:31:49 imac com.apple.backupd[6025]: Starting standard backup
    Dec 18 13:31:49 imac com.apple.backupd[6025]: Backing up to: /Volumes/DeLorean/Backups.backupdb
    Dec 18 13:31:49 imac com.apple.backupd[6025]: Deep event scan at path:/Volumes/Media reason:must scan subdirs|
    Dec 18 13:31:49 imac com.apple.backupd[6025]: Finished scan
    Dec 18 13:31:51 imac com.apple.backupd[6025]: 884.92 GB required (including padding), 341.39 GB available
    Dec 18 13:31:51 imac com.apple.backupd[6025]: No expired backups exist - deleting oldest backups to make room
    Dec 18 13:31:52 imac com.apple.backupd[6025]: Deleted backup /Volumes/DeLorean/Backups.backupdb/imac/2011-12-18-131415 containing 8.7 MB; 341.40 GB now available, 884.92 GB required
    Dec 18 13:31:52 imac com.apple.backupd[6025]: Removed 1 expired backups so far, more space is needed - deleting oldest backups to make room
    Dec 18 13:32:02 imac com.apple.backupd[6025]: Deleted backup /Volumes/DeLorean/Backups.backupdb/imac/2011-12-18-132359 containing 736.30 GB; 1.05 TB now available, 884.92 GB required
    Dec 18 13:32:02 imac com.apple.backupd[6025]: Deleted 2 backups containing 736.31 GB total; 1.05 TB now available, 884.92 GB required
    Dec 18 13:32:02 imac com.apple.backupd[6025]: Backup date range was shortened: oldest backup is now Dec 18, 2011
    Dec 18 13:35:02 imac com.apple.backupd[6025]: Copied 526 files (4.3 GB) from volume Media.
    Dec 18 13:35:03 imac com.apple.backupd[6025]: Backup canceled.
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    OK. Couple questions:
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    - Why time machine thinks that it needs to do a 800GB worth of new backup. Those data have not changed a bit (they are movies).
    - How its related to the unmount/mounting the Media drive?
    I would really hope some answers from somebody. I have strugled with this issue almost a month now.
    Thanks!

    ECONOMAN wrote:
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    If that's no help, or they're still slow, try all the things in #D2 of the Troubleshooting Tip.
    If that doesn't help, post back with details, including all the messages, your setup (especially the destination for the backups), what you've done, and the results.

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    * How often it does a backup - The best answer I've found is "always", but I wanted to know if there was a more concrete response for this. Does the system hook into the kernel to see whenever a file gets written out so it doesn't have to continually scan the entire drive?
    * Command line restoration - Are there any good utilities for recovering via SSH, or am I going to have to VNC to the server and do the BS magic flying screen just to restore a file?
    Message was edited by: Gabetax

    For mine I have 3x500GB drives in the server, two are RAID mirror and the third is time machine backup. I just turned on time machine in system preferences and set the backup drive, and after an hour it made the first backup.
    Seems to work perfectly although I have heard a couple of rumours that the mail server causes the backup to grow forever, but havnt checked this. Im staging another machine, so perhaps will try this to make sure!
    I am expecting the backup will only be useful to a system administrator, and am not sure how a user logged into a shared directory account (i.e 'roaming profile') would access the backup, and somehow suspect they wont be able to just seamlessly use the slick interface as if the backup were their own.
    On a 2x2Ghz G5 it didnt seem to use the full load on either the CPU or the disk the first time it was run (copied at about 9MB/sec throughout). The incremental backups are very fast, and are often completed before I realise they have started. I gather it uses Apple's own spotlight API to find changed files, so isnt like an rsync which scans entire volumes. Worth checking the exclusion filters though, no point backing up any large cache/log files you may be storing.
    James

  • Can I set Time Machine to backup both my hard drive and an external hard drive?

    Hi. I've been working with a lot of family video lately and my internal hard drive has filled up significantly. iMovie doesn't seem to have a good archiving facility like Adobe InDesign which I use at work were all the relevant files are gathered together into one folder. Apple advised me to relocate my movie files to an external hard drive and herein lies my query.
    Is there a way for me to set Time Machine to backup both my iMac's internal drive and the external hard drive that would contain my movie files? I've been using Time Machine for my backups for a few years now, but backing up the external as well has me stumped. If Time Machine could be used then all the necessary file accociations etc would be safely backed up as well - that's why I don't want to have to manually backup the external.
    Anyone have any ideas? Thanks!

    7string48 wrote:
    Thanks so much Pondini!!  You just quickly answered a question that none of the Mac people in 3 stores or Apple Care have been able to answer.If you can format it HFS+ (any variation of Mac OS Extended), it will work.  If not, it won't.  
    I'm not too surprised about the Apple Stores, as they don't get much training on Time Machine.  But AppleCare sure ought to know. 
    Oh...what about if the external drive is an array...like a Drobo with it's own proprietary formatting...I guess that would not work...??
    I've never used a Drobo.  A number of folks here have used them as their Time Machine drives, but I don't recall seeing anyone try to back one up with TM, so can't say for sure.  But if you can format it as HFS+ (any variation of Mac OS Extended), it will work.  If not, it won't.
    At least part of the reason is, Time Machine uses the File System Event Store, a hidden log of changes that OSX keeps on each Mac-formatted disk/partition, to figure out what's changed and needs to be backed-up.  See How Time Machine works its Magic for details.
    See Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #32 for details and considerations of backing-up multiple volumes with Time Machine.
    However, even if it will work, that may not be your best strategy, depending on your circumstances:
    Since Time Machine keeps copies of things you've changed or deleted, the destination needs to be considerably larger than the data being backed-up.  How much larger varies widely depending on how you use your Mac, but a general "rule of thumb" is, it needs at least twice the space to be able to keep a reasonable "depth" of backups for you.
    If you have a large internal HD, fairly full, plus a large external HD, and the files on the external don't change frequently, you might want to use Time Machine for the internal, and a different app to a different disk or partition, on a different schedule, for the external.  Especially if space is a consideration, you might not need to keep previous versions of files on the externals.  See Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #27 for some alternatives.

  • Time Machine:The backup disk ran out of space unexpectedly. .....

    Hi,
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    My Hard Drive has 240 gigabytes, so 1Tb should be more than enough.
    Thank you!
    Gloria

    SuperDuper and Time Machine are two completely different backup utilities. If you want something like what SuperDuper does then don't use Time Machine. You have many other options that won't use up all the space on your backup drive:
    Backup Software Recommendations
    Carbon Copy Cloner
    Data Backup
    Deja Vu
    SuperDuper!
    Synk Pro
    Tri-Backup
    Others may be found at VersionTracker or MacUpdate.
    Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on backup and restore.  Also read How to Back Up and Restore Your Files.
    Do the following to erase your drive:
    Erase a Drive
    1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
    2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
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  • Time Machine thinks backup disk is full but its not

    I just purchased a new 1 Terabyte hard drive for backup. In the past I backed up both my internal Mac harddrive (250 Gb with 8gb free) and an external iOmega archive drive (DRIVE H 320Gb with 41Gb free) to a 500Gb Lacie drive. I purchased an iOmega 1 Terabyte drive (DRIVE G) because the Lacie drive was full. I went into Time Machine and changed the backup drive to the G one terabyte drive and did a full backup of my internal hard drive. When I did this I did not have the external H archive drive attached so Time Machine didn't back that up. I did it that way because I wanted to first backup the internal drive then do some work and then go backup the external archive drive over night. I plugged the H archive drive in, so it show up in the finder and then told Time Machine to Backup Now. It started the back up but right after doing the initial computations when it actually started backing up I got the standard error message that "the backup disk ran out of space unexpectedly..."  I've double checked that the backup disk is set correctly in Time Machine to the 1Tb G drive and when I do a Get Info on the G drive it shows Capacity: 1TB, Available: 713.54 GB.
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    Its funny how sometimes asking a question can prompt  your thinking. As soon as I finished posting this I thought "of course Disk Utility".  I ran a check disk and got the following error message:
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    I did a restore which corrected the error. Turned Time Machine back on and its backing up the rest of my data now.

  • Time Machine/Capsule backup

    I have searched the manuals and this site and I do not see my problem.  I keep getting an error "unable to complete backup Error creating backup folder". I have selected my time machine. I have two external hard drives but they are not selected. I have unplugged, and reset, and still get the same message. The problem started when I switched location of my backups from an external hard drive to the time capsule. After a week, I deleted the old backups from the external drives so I could start using them for something else.
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    I tried unplugging the external hard drives, but the error still appears.

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