Time machine no longer recognizes back up disk

OK TM experts, like many here, the OS stopped seeing the TM disk, with the error that it could not mount the disk. I then went and reselected the disk in TM preferences. Now, it tries to start a new back up and of course gives the message that there is not enough room. I followed many of the suggestions on this forum, including ensuring that the computer name matches the one in the backup disk, turning sharing off and on etc.
Here is the console output:
Dec 4 22:38:54 MBs-Macbook /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[1052]: Backup requested by user
Dec 4 22:38:54 MBs-Macbook /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[1052]: Starting standard backup
Dec 4 22:38:55 MBs-Macbook /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[1052]: Backing up to: /Volumes/Time Machine Backup/Backups.backupdb
Dec 4 22:38:57 MBs-Macbook /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[1052]: Event store UUIDs don't match for volume: Macintosh HD
Dec 4 22:38:57 MBs-Macbook /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[1052]: Backup content size: 124.8 GB excluded items size: 46.7 MB for volume Macintosh HD
Dec 4 22:38:57 MBs-Macbook /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[1052]: Starting pre-backup thinning: 150.06 GB requested (including padding), 7.15 GB available
Dec 4 22:38:57 MBs-Macbook /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[1052]: No expired backups exist - deleting oldest backups to make room
Dec 4 22:38:57 MBs-Macbook /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[1052]: Error: backup disk is full - all 0 possible backups were removed, but space is still needed.
Dec 4 22:38:57 MBs-Macbook /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[1052]: Backup Failed: unable to free 150.06 GB needed space
Dec 4 22:39:03 MBs-Macbook /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[1052]: Backup failed with error: Not enough available disk space on the target volume.

I have had this exact problem occur when I logged off while Mail was in TM restore state. I guess the backup is locked somehow because it was cut off while in use. I wish I could help, but I am in the same boat and I will watch this post for help.

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When backing up on time machine is get " The back up disk image'/volume/data/eric balnchard's Macbook.sparbundle"could not be accessed (error-1). what does it mean? it's a new time machine

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Expect to see this error again due to a bug in Lion (and Mountain Lion).
See # C17 in Pondini's excellent support document below, or look over to the right of this web page under the heading of More Like This
http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html

When I try to set up Time Machine, there are no back up disks displayed. Therefore, I cannot turn on Time Machine. How can I fix this?

When I try to set up Time Machine, there are no back up disks displayed. Therefore, I cannot turn on Time Machine. How can I fix this?

Thanks - let it finish, but zero out data is unnecessary. That option is intended to thoroughly erase previously recorded data so that it cannot be recovered without sophisticated data recovery techniques.
Case sensitive is OK but I suggest you simply select Mac OS X Extended since "case sensitive" may complicate things for you in the future, should it be necessary to restore files to a case-ignorant volume.
Once it finishes, make sure it appears as a selectable option in Time Machine. If it does your problems are solved, but consider using Disk Utility and reformatting it. This time don't worry about zeroing unused space, and select Mac OS X Extended (Journaled). It will only take a few seconds this time.
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I have a new 640GB exteranl drive that I bought to back up my Mac using TIme Machine. I plugged in the drive via USB (USB powered drive), then set up Time Machine and did the first back up successfully. I then plugged my exteranl drive into Airport Extreme so I could back up wireless in the future. Airport recognies the drive, and I can see the back up folders on the drive. However, Time Machine doesn't recognize those back up folders as my Mac.
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Adam1076 wrote:
I have a new 640GB exteranl drive that I bought to back up my Mac using TIme Machine. I plugged in the drive via USB (USB powered drive), then set up Time Machine and did the first back up successfully. I then plugged my exteranl drive into Airport Extreme so I could back up wireless in the future. Airport recognies the drive, and I can see the back up folders on the drive. However, Time Machine doesn't recognize those back up folders as my Mac.
I went into Time Machine SEttings, and repointed it to the same disk, and it tries to back up everything again, wirelessly. Any ideas how to get Time Machine to recognize the back up files made while I was "hard wired" to the Mac?
that's not possible. remote backups are stored differently. directly attached backups are stored directly in a folder on the drive. remote ones are stored inside a sparse bundle. you'll have to start a new backup sequence if you want to do remote backups.

Time Machine no longer finds the backup disk

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Backing up to a third-party NAS with Time Machine is risky, and unacceptably risky if it's your only backup. This is an example of what can happen.
If you want network backup with Time Machine, use as the destination either an Apple Time Capsule or an external hard drive connected to another Mac or a mini-tower (802.11ac) AirPort base station. Only the 802.11ac base station supports Time Machine, not any previous model.

Time Machine no longer recognizes backup file

Hi:
My Time Capsule was malfunctioning, and I lost my internet connection. I rebooted the Time Capsule, and had to reset the internet connection via the Time Capsule software that's part of System Preferences. When I got my internet connection back up and running, Time Machine can no longer connect to Time Capsule. When it tries to back up, I get this error message...
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It's like Time Machine thinks that my backup file on my Time Capsule belongs to somebody else. How can I get Time Machine to go back to using my old backup file on my Time Machine?

I have had this exact problem occur when I logged off while Mail was in TM restore state. I guess the backup is locked somehow because it was cut off while in use. I wish I could help, but I am in the same boat and I will watch this post for help.

Time Machine no longer recognizes backup

I have been using Time Machine to backup to a Time Capsule for a few years with no problem. Yesterday, I realized that the Time Machine menu in the menubar had an alert icon in it. I clicked on the menu and was told the last update was three days previous. When I open the Time Machine pane in the System Preferences, it tells me that I have no backups on the Time Capsule. When I mount the sparse bundle that is still on the Time Capsule, it mounts fine and I see all my backups (this current set goes back to June of this year when I did a complete reinstall of the system). The only thing that seems to be amiss is that, among the folders containing all the dated backups is a file titled "2011-09-06-181446.inProgress". Any help as to how I can get Time Machine to recognize all these backups as belonging to my system? I don't want to erase them and lose them all. Also, I have verified that the backup is using the correct machine ID, so that's not the issue (I haven't had a motherboard replaced or anything--literally, one day it worked and the next it didn't.

See the Excellent Troubleshooting Information here by Pondini
http://web.me.com/pondini/AppleTips/Index.html

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Please use Pondini's Time Machine Troubleshooting. You haven't provided any information so that's about the best we can offer at this point. Please complete your profile and be more descriptive when posting. Remember we aren't there to see your system, verison of OS X, or what you're doing so we rely on you for that info.
Good luck.

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My Macbook Pro died the other night -- it wouldn't wake from sleep and couldn't be restarted -- and it now has a new logic board. Everything seems okay, but Time Machine no longer recognizes my time machine backups. The files are all there, on the same drive they were always on. But TM doesn't see them and won't back up, giving me an error that the time machine drive can't be found.
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I've checked both the internal drive and the TM drive with Disk Utility. No problems found.
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Thanks for responding. Yes, I see. New logic board, new computer.
If I have to start over, I'd like to hold on to those old backups -- and put the new backup on the partition where the old one was. So I tried copying the whole TM backup to another partition, where I could keep it for protection.
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In that FAQ they refer you to an article that allows you to use the terminal to point the Mac back at the original backup. But it seems pretty fragile and easy to make a mistake. (http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20080128003716101)
I also called Apple support and after escalating the call I got a guy who was willing to do much the same console thing. We started and immediately got an error from the console. If the Apple guy can screw this up, maybe I should stay away.
Suggestions? Do I just give up and start over?
Thanks again,
Steve

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Thanks -
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Alton Christensen wrote:
- external drive on Airport Extreme
Sorry to have to tell you this, but backing-up that way is "iffy" and +*not supported by Apple.+* See [Using Time Machine with an Airport Extreme Air Disk|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/Airport.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).
A "full reset" of Time Machine may fix the current problem. See #A4 in [Time Machine - Troubleshooting|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/Troubleshooting.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of the +Time Machine+ forum).
Longer-term, though, you really should find a better way to back up. See #2 in [Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/FAQ.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of the +Time Machine+ forum).

I am trying to do a full Time Machine Backup to a new external disk. The backup starts, and it says "Time remaining about 4 days." That seems like a very long time, but the real problem is that the computer "logs off" after a few hours, and the b.u. stops

I am trying to do a full Time Machine Backup to a new external disk. The backup starts, and it says "Time remaining about 4 days." That seems like a very long time, but the real problem is that the computer "logs off" after a few hours, and the backup stops. The system preferences are set to "Never" for Computer sleep and Display sleep. The computer does not ordinarily log off automatically, but it has done this twice since I started the Time Machine backup.

If you have more than one user account, these instructions must be carried out as an administrator.
Launch the Console application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Console in the icon grid.
Make sure the title of the Console window is All Messages. If it isn't, select All Messages from the SYSTEM LOG QUERIES menu on the left. If you don't see that menu, select
View ▹ Show Log List
from the menu bar.
Enter the word "Starting" (without the quotes) in the String Matching text field. You should now see log messages with the words "Starting * backup," where * represents any of the words "automatic," "manual," or "standard." Note the timestamp of the last such message. Clear the text field and scroll back in the log to that time. Select the messages timestamped from then until the end of the backup, or the end of the log if that's not clear. Copy them (command-C) to the Clipboard. Paste (command-V) into a reply to this message.
If all you see are messages that contain the word "Starting," you didn't clear the search box.
If there are runs of repeated messages, post only one example of each. Don't post many repetitions of the same message.
When posting a log extract, be selective. Don't post more than is requested.
Please do not indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into this discussion.
Some personal information, such as the names of your files, may be included — anonymize before posting.

Time Machine does not recognize my iMac backup. Reports: not enough space; can't back up. How do I get it to recognize the backup?

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Thanks for the Time Machine Troubleshooting link. Apparently things have changed since 10.7.0. Backups.backupdb doesn’t exist. Path now is: Time Capsule/Data/Daru’s iMac.sparsebundle. So I did Terminal (I usually avoid Terminal) using the instruction in B6. It does not appear to be working. It went through looking for backup, preparing backup, and is now stopping backup, and the TMBackup has disappeared from the sidebar.
Well, just now Time Machine progressed to preparing backup again; the Tiime Machine Backups appeared in sidebar, and with it Backups.backupdb/Daru’s iMac/2012-04-21-112939.inProgress. So it does exist... I’ll let it run, see what happens... But that is a strange date. Today is 28.
I’ll let you know the outcome.
Oops. Just ended! Real time report: “Backup too large for disk...“ So it is not recognizing the old backup. I’ll look at those instructions again, see if I can do the Terminal thing with the backup running. I doubt I can damage anything except the existing baackup which I'll lose anywy if I can’t achieve recognition.
Daru

Time Machine no longer backs up after archive & install

I have just had something mysterious happen to my Macbook - it spontaneously shut down, then wouldn't restart past a gray screen with Apple logo. After trying every troubleshooting page I could find, I ended up doing an archive and (re)install of Leopard on my hard drive. (btw, I ran the Disk Utility hard drive diagnostic, and it said the HD is fine, though I'm skeptical because it's making new noises I've never heard before.)
I finished that install, restarted, everything seemed fine, and I re-connected the external hard drive that had been used for my Time Machine backups before. Now, every time it attempts to back up, it's stuck on "preparing" for 30 minutes, then starts copying SLOWLY and the progress bar says "6 KB of 10 GB." Well, I have a lot more than 10 GB to back up. Then the process halts and I get an error message: "Unable to complete backup. An error occurred while copying files to the backup volume." And I can't get any more specific information about the error - can't find a log file or anything.
I know that there's a troubleshooting article about Time Machine issues with only backing up 10 GB, but mine doesn't even get that far, and besides, this is not my first Time Machine backup - I have no other external drive big enough to transfer my older data to while I reformat this drive as the support article suggests.
I was thinking that perhaps a system setting got messed up somehow and that maybe I should just forget this archive & install thing I did and instead do a fresh erase & install on my Macbook hard drive and then restore from Time Machine's old backup (a day or so before my Macbook started acting weird). But 1. would that make a difference? And 2. if Leopard gives me an error while backing up in Time Machine, what if I do the erase & install and I get an error trying to restore from Time Machine? That would be a nightmare.
My Macbook has always been so reliable - I'm very confused about what's going on! Any help would be appreciated.

Hmm; the external drive had no errors, according to Disk Utility.
Here are the time machine logs from Console:
1/13/08 12:14:47 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (com.apple.backupd[301]) Exited abnormally: Bus error
1/13/08 1:10:28 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (com.apple.backupd[430]) Exited abnormally: Bus error
1/13/08 2:21:23 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (com.apple.backupd[519]) Exited abnormally: Bus error
1/13/08 4:12:57 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (com.apple.backupd[612]) Exited abnormally: Bus error
1/13/08 5:22:59 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (com.apple.backupd[818]) Exited abnormally: Bus error
1/13/08 6:24:00 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (com.apple.backupd[915]) Exited abnormally: Bus error
1/13/08 7:24:52 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (com.apple.backupd[1012]) Exited abnormally: Bus error
Also, I tried to repair permissions on my internal drive and I got the following error messages:
Warning: SUID file "usr/libexec/load_hdi" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Warning: SUID file "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/DiskManagement.framework/Versions/A/Resources /DiskManagementTool" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Warning: SUID file "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/DesktopServicesPriv.framework/Versions/A/Reso urces/Locum" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Warning: SUID file "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Install.framework/Versions/A/Resources/runner " has been modified and will not be repaired.
Warning: SUID file "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Admin.framework/Versions/A/Resources/readconf ig" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Warning: SUID file "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Admin.framework/Versions/A/Resources/writecon fig" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Warning: SUID file "usr/libexec/authopen" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Warning: SUID file "System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app/Contents/Resources/OwnerGroupTool" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Warning: SUID file "System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement/ARDAgent.app/Contents/MacOS/ARDAg ent" has been modified and will not be repaired.

Time machine no longer recognizes back up disk

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