Time Machine - Repeated errors while making first backup

I have been trying to use Time Machine on my MacBook Pro for the first time with no success. I’ve tried probably about 10 times and each time it tells me “the backup was not performed because an error occurred while copying files to the backup disk”
I’ve downloaded Time Machine Buddy, and this is the report for the two most recent backups that failed:
First failed backup:
Starting standard backup
Backing up to: /Volumes/Time Machine/Backups.backupdb
Error parsing SystemMigration.log to determine source volume of system migration.
No pre-backup thinning needed: 46.70 GB requested (including padding), 279.58 GB available
Stopping backup.
Error: (-41) SrcErr:NO Copying /Users/Gina/Documents/Teaching/English 110.01/Lesson Plans/AU06-WI07 Lesson Plans/Day 1 Lesson Plan.pages/Contents/PkgInfo to /Volumes/Time Machine/Backups.backupdb/Gina Gemmel’s MacBook Pro/2010-11-29-222031.inProgress/751E22E6-9980-486F-83ED-1A6FE3585559/Macintosh HD/Users/Gina/Documents/Teaching/English 110.01/Lesson Plans/AU06-WI07 Lesson Plans/Day 1 Lesson Plan.pages/Contents
Copied 1114 files (5.2 GB) from volume Macintosh HD.
Copy stage failed with error:11
Backup failed with error: 11
Second failed backup
Starting standard backup
Backing up to: /Volumes/Time Machine/Backups.backupdb
Error parsing SystemMigration.log to determine source volume of system migration.
No pre-backup thinning needed: 46.70 GB requested (including padding), 274.35 GB available
Stopping backup.
Error: (-41) SrcErr:NO Copying /Users/Gina/Documents/Teaching/English 110.01/Lesson Plans/AU06-WI07 Lesson Plans/Day 1 Lesson Plan.pages/Contents/PkgInfo to /Volumes/Time Machine/Backups.backupdb/Gina Gemmel’s MacBook Pro/2010-11-29-222031.inProgress/5E5FBA96-AF24-4D99-ADE4-650DFA08CEA2/Macintosh HD/Users/Gina/Documents/Teaching/English 110.01/Lesson Plans/AU06-WI07 Lesson Plans/Day 1 Lesson Plan.pages/Contents
Copied 496 files (836.6 MB) from volume Macintosh HD.
Copy stage failed with error:11
Backup failed with error: 11
The messages look the same. In between these two backups, I followed the steps in C3 in the Troubleshooting guide.
Prior to following the steps in C3, I tried:
-restarting my computer
-doing a reset of Time Machine by deleted the preferences list from the library
-repairing the drive using disk utility (it said there were no problems)
-verifying my internal drive (again, no problems)
-erasing the disk and starting over (this is my first backup, so I don’t have any prior information that would have gotten deleted)
-verifying that I’m using the correct formats – I’m definitely using the GUID format and Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format for my drive
-excluding folders that contained files that seemed to be associated with the errors. At first, they all seemed to be files in my husband’s backup folders, some of which were empty system folders from Windows. I thought this might be the issue, so I just excluded his backup folders to see if I could get it to work. The most recent failure seems to have involved a Pages file, though, so that theory was out the window.
-using a different USB port
I’m using a Seagate 320GB internal SATA drive that I’ve put in an enclosure to make it external, so it connects via USB. I’ve read here that external SATA drives won’t work with Time Machine, but I don’t think this applies to my situation since it’s an internal drive that’s connecting via USB with the enclosure. I have a MacBook Pro with the latest version of OSX.
I’m thinking maybe I need to get a new hard drive, but wanted to check here before spending any more money.
Message was edited by: Sibilance7

Yes, I meant to say folders had been transferred back and forth. I deleted that DS_Store file, and while doing so, I noticed that it was listed as a Unix Executable file, while most of the others were just listed as documents, and that it changed to document when it re-created itself after I deleted it. So I found all the ones that were listed as unix executable files and deleted them, letting them re-create themselves as documents. Then I tried to backup again, but no dice:
Starting standard backup
Backing up to: /Volumes/Time Machine Backup/Backups.backupdb
Error parsing SystemMigration.log to determine source volume of system migration.
No pre-backup thinning needed: 58.99 GB requested (including padding), 283.32 GB available
Stopping backup.
Error: (-41) SrcErr:NO Copying /Users/Gina/Documents/Dropbox/Teaching/Literature/English 200/Student Writing/Haroun Drafts/Second Section/done/.DS_Store to /Volumes/Time Machine Backup/Backups.backupdb/Gina Gemmel’s MacBook Pro/2010-12-12-185125.inProgress/C1BCA9C0-5727-46D1-980E-B4918B5977CC/Macintosh HD/Users/Gina/Documents/Dropbox/Teaching/Literature/English 200/Student Writing/Haroun Drafts/Second Section/done
Copied 1015 files (700.8 MB) from volume Macintosh HD.
Copy stage failed with error:11
Backup failed with error: 11
I excluded that folder and tried again, but got an error on another DS_Store file:
Starting standard backup
Backing up to: /Volumes/Time Machine Backup/Backups.backupdb
Error parsing SystemMigration.log to determine source volume of system migration.
No pre-backup thinning needed: 59.00 GB requested (including padding), 282.61 GB available
Stopping backup.
Error: (-41) SrcErr:NO Copying /Users/Gina/Documents/Misc/Ben's Backup/iTunes/iTunes Music/Music/Aireline/.DS_Store to /Volumes/Time Machine Backup/Backups.backupdb/Gina Gemmel’s MacBook Pro/2010-12-12-185125.inProgress/DE6590AB-A82A-4BE0-A38E-E6D7BDFE39FA/Macintosh HD/Users/Gina/Documents/Misc/Ben's Backup/iTunes/iTunes Music/Music/Aireline
Copied 3099 files (1.6 GB) from volume Macintosh HD.
Copy stage failed with error:11
Backup failed with error: 11
So excluded both of those folders, and then I got this:
Starting standard backup
Backing up to: /Volumes/Time Machine Backup/Backups.backupdb
2010-12-21 21:39:37.870 FindSystemFiles[37237:907] Looking for system packages
2010-12-21 21:39:42.927 FindSystemFiles[37237:907] Using system path cache.
Error parsing SystemMigration.log to determine source volume of system migration.
No pre-backup thinning needed: 58.99 GB requested (including padding), 280.04 GB available
Stopping backup.
Error: (-41) SrcErr:NO Copying /Users/Gina/Documents/Misc/Computer Stuff/Installation Stuff/2fingerscroll/ALPS Glidepad Driver.pkg/Contents/Archive.bom to /Volumes/Time Machine Backup/Backups.backupdb/Gina Gemmel’s MacBook Pro/2010-12-12-185125.inProgress/C638FC3D-E2D8-4840-84E3-63D553E123D8/Macintosh HD/Users/Gina/Documents/Misc/Computer Stuff/Installation Stuff/2fingerscroll/ALPS Glidepad Driver.pkg/Contents
Copied 1383 files (4.6 GB) from volume Macintosh HD.
Copy stage failed with error:11
Backup failed with error: 11
Excluded the folder that was in and got this:
Starting standard backup
Backing up to: /Volumes/Time Machine Backup/Backups.backupdb
2010-12-21 22:14:43.210 FindSystemFiles[37464:907] Looking for system packages
2010-12-21 22:14:48.647 FindSystemFiles[37464:907] Using system path cache.
Error parsing SystemMigration.log to determine source volume of system migration.
No pre-backup thinning needed: 59.01 GB requested (including padding), 270.81 GB available
Stopping backup.
Error: (-41) SrcErr:NO Copying /Users/Gina/Documents/Miscellaneous/Benjamine/ATS/ATS 2006-2007/Fall 2006/Christian History I/Aya_sofya.jpg to /Volumes/Time Machine Backup/Backups.backupdb/Gina Gemmel’s MacBook Pro/2010-12-12-185125.inProgress/BAB3CD73-3F0C-457E-816C-863AE4CC546E/Macintosh HD/Users/Gina/Documents/Miscellaneous/Benjamine/ATS/ATS 2006-2007/Fall 2006/Christian History I
Copied 1570 files (1.2 GB) from volume Macintosh HD.
Copy stage failed with error:11
Backup failed with error: 11
So, it just keeps having errors and doesn't seem to respond to much of anything. I did the same processes I outlined above with this drive - repaired it, verified internal disk, reset Time Machine, etc. Nothing seems to work, so I'm guessing at this point I need to make a visit to the Genius Bar.

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Time Machine: Repeated errors when backing up for the first time using a new external firewire drive

My Iomega 500GB firewire external drive failed on me last week and I have just replaced it with an identical model. I used to use the old drive with Time Machine on my MacBook Pro running 10.5.8 with no issues, until the drive had a hardware failure and stopped spinning up, hence the replacement.
Two days ago I tried using Time Machine for the first time with the replacement external drive. The backup failed and each subsequent backup attempt has failed since then with a different error each time. The drive cannot be ejected using Finder (Finder says disk is in use and cannot be ejected even when no processes are running except for Finder and Time Machine has been disabled), by dragging it to the dock (hangs computer which can only be fixed by a hard reboot), in Disk Utilities (drive cannot be unmounted) or in Terminal ("no such file or directory").
The first backup attempt failed after 3 hours of "preparing" with the message "The backup was not performed because an error occured while creating backup directory".
I tried repairing the disk in Disk Utilities and Disk Utilities said the drive was OK ("the volume Time Machine Backups appears to be OK"). I tried ejecting the drive (hard reboot of computer and disconnecting the drive), plugging it back in again and trying again.
This time it started backing up, then failed after a few minutes with the message "an error occured while copying files to the backup volume". I had a look at the troubleshooting suggested on http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/C3.html and followed instructions. It failed again, so I did a full reset as per http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/A4.html.
It failed again, so I tried reparing the drive again in Disk Utilities and again it said it was OK. I tried using different cables and ports (Firewire 400 instead of Firewire 800), and backups still fail.
I have turned off anti-virus scanning (Sophos). I have tried excluding it from Spotlight but this causes an error message from Spotlight. I have tried trashing the com.apple.TimeMachine.plist file and rebooting. I have tried selecting deselecting the drive as the back up in Time Machine preferences, selecting "None", then "Stop Backing Up" then quitting preferences, rebooting, disconnecting the drive, reconnecting the drive and selecting the drive again as the backup disk in Time Machine preferences. I have tried erasing the drive completely, rebooting, and trying to back up again.
None of these have worked. This is a brand new drive and I do not want to have to replace it again if I do not have to.
Does anyone have any suggestions? Thank you.

Hello, some possible clues...
Should you click “Start New Backup”? Not yet! If you see the dialog above, your existing Time Machine backup is corrupt, and you might not be able to recover data from it. But you can save a copy of the corrupt bundle and, perhaps, extract some data from it if needed.
Ask yourself if Time Machine has saved data you might need before deciding what to do next:
If you are sure you won’t need anything backed up before today, click “Start New Backup” and let Time Machine do its thing.
Otherwise, click “Back Up Later” and save a copy before letting Time Machine start a new backup. Just look for a file called “computername.sparsebundle” (for network backups) or “Backups.backupdb” (for local ones) and create a copy with a different name. You can open sparsebundle files with DiskImageMounter and browse them like any other disk. More information is available here.
There you go. If you click “Start New Backup” when you see this dialog box, Time Machine will erase all of your old backup data and start a new bundle. It won’t be corrupt, but it will be empty.
Note that you can manually initiate a Time Machine backup integrity check by option-clicking the “Time Machine” icon in the menu bar and selecting “Verify Backups.”
http://blog.fosketts.net/2010/08/11/time-machine-completed-verification-backups- improve-reliability-time-machine-create-backup/
According to This Time Machine resource “This appears only on Snow Leopard, and started with the Time Capsule Backup Update 1.0 in mid-May of 2010. It also seems to have been included in the 10.6.3 v1.1 update and 10.6.4.”
So, what can you do about it? Grin and bear it, it seems, until Apple fixes it.
One thing you can do to make the backup take less time is to connect your machine to your Time Capsule or other backup drive via Ethernet for the duration of the initial backup.
http://www.theinternetpatrol.com/the-dreaded-time-machine-has-completed-a-verifi cation-of-your-backups-to-improve-reliability-time-machine-must-create-a-new-ba c kup-for-you-message-and-why-you-are-seeing-it/
Time Machine: About "Time Machine completed a verification of your backups. To improve reliability, Time Machine must create a new backup for you."...
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4076
Or a different/better solution in my experiences...
Get carbon copy cloner to make an exact copy of your old HD to the New one...
http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html
Or SuperDuper...
http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/
Or the most expensive one & my favorite, Tri-Backup...
http://www.tri-edre.com/english/products/tribackup.html

Time Machine - strange behavior while deleting old backups

Not sure if this is the right place, because this is actually not on Time Capsule, but on a Time Machine on an external USB drive.
In any case, I searched the web for "time machine delete old backups" and found many discussions of various aspects of this task. My objective is to clean up a partition on a the external drive that I no longer use for active TM backups, but to retain a small set of backups in case I need to go back to them. The partition now has other uses and I need the space. My main TM backup is now on a separate Time Capsule.
So again my objective is not to remove all backups, but just most of them.
It appears that the well-discussed procedure is the following:
Go into Time Machine.
Select the Macintosh HD.
Go back to one of the oldest backups.
Click on the Gear > click Delete Backup.
This procedure will remove one Backup at a time, and it seems to take 5 - 10 minutes for each backup.
Here is what I noticed that was "strange":
You could delete a selected backup using the above procedure.
For the first selected backup so deleted, there is a confirmation dialog with a warning message that it is not undoable.
After clicking OK on the warning message, the display backs up to the "Present" backup, and the administrative password is requested.
After the administrative password is entered, the backup starts but control is passed back to the user interface, and another backup can be selected to be deleted.
However, after the second backup is selected and deleted, there is no warning dialog, and no request for the administrative password. At this point the user interface is busy and nothing more can be done until the backup delete is completed. Except that the Time Machine can be exited by first pressing Escape, then Cancel on the lower left of the screen.
If the time machine is exited, there is a Delete Backups progress dialog with a progress bar for each backup so far requested. If the second backup was requested, as in the steps above, there would be two backups.
I discovered by playing around that either you had to wait within Time Machine for the deletion to complete, or alternatively exit Time Machine. While I was not sure what was going on, I kept starting one backup, then exiting Time Machine and re-entering Time Machine and requesting another delete operation. Each time after entering Time Machine, the warning/admin password sequence occurred and I was able to exit. And then immediately re-enter Time Machine and request another backup. Only by exiting and re-entering could another delete request be made.
When out of Time Machine, I thus saw the Delete Backups dialog with any number of concurrent "Delete One Backup" progress bars.
Because of the nature of the hard links used to indicate backups, I was wondering if these multiple delete operations could possibly be hung in a deadly embrace, so I decided to only do one at a time. Some further study to see if the multiple delete operations were all able to complete would be needed to know if this would be a good way to "queue up" multiple delete requests.
Bottom line: seems like kind of an odd implementation. Would be really nice if you could select many (say 30) individual backups and delete them all at once, rather than taking 5 - 10 minutes each. Again, this is because I am trying to reclaim disk space, but not delete all the backups from a Time Machine backup set that is not in active use.
Also, the method of "queuing up" backup delete requests is kind of odd, but seems to work, with the proviso that I have not yet confirmed that doing more than one at a time actually works.

Heinz-G?uenter Arnold wrote:
since the upgrade to SL it seem that Time Machine has problems to completely remove old backups completely. The "removed" backups do not show up in Time Machine anymore, but the backup folders and part of their contents can still be seen in Finder.
Hi, and welcome to the forums.
That happens occasionally, in both Leopard and Snow Leopard, sometimes after something was deleted from the Finder, but also after an abnormal shutdown or improper disconnection of the TM disk.
Run a +*Repair Disk+* on it via Disk Utility, in your Applications/Utilities folder. If it finds errors, but can't fix them all, run it again (and again) until it either fixes them all, or can't fix any more.

Time Machine freezes at onset of first backup

I took one of my external Lace disk drives (250 MB - with 200+ MB available) and designated it as the target drive for Time Machine. I've used this drive for over a year with no issues. Time Machine starts up, does its calculations and starts its initial backup. There is a Backups.backupdb folder created on the drive. In that folder another folder is created bearing the name of my system and within that folder there's a time stamped file (i.e., 2007-10-31-150019.InProgress) of the Kind "package". The file gets to a nominal 38.8 MB in size and that's it. I let this sit for over an hour with no progress. Attempting to stop the back up in the Time Machine System Preferences window results in a "Stopping..." message with the application just spinning its wheels. Any suggestions? Log files I can look at? Etc? Thanks!

I am not sure what to make of this, but it appears that Time Machine is probably running into a locked file or something. I have had my backup running just fine all day, but it's currently frozen as I type this, trying to backup 20.5 MB or so of changes on my main drive.
I have no idea how to troubleshoot this. I can see in the Console messages that Backupd started, but just gets stuck (no error) in the middle. Like so:
10/31/07 11:48:10 PM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[689] Backup requested by automatic scheduler
10/31/07 11:48:10 PM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[689] Starting standard backup
10/31/07 11:48:17 PM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[689] Backing up to: /Volumes/Backup/Backups.backupdb
10/31/07 11:48:19 PM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[689] No pre-backup thinning needed: 200.0 MB requested (including padding), 351.60 GB available
... and that's it. No further messages.
What it OUGHT to look like (when working):
10/31/07 10:48:10 PM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[608] Starting standard backup
10/31/07 10:48:17 PM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[608] Backing up to: /Volumes/Backup/Backups.backupdb
10/31/07 10:48:18 PM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[608] No pre-backup thinning needed: 240.3 MB requested (including padding), 351.68 GB available
10/31/07 10:48:44 PM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[608] Copied 2565 files (72.3 MB) from volume Kidd.
10/31/07 10:48:45 PM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[608] No pre-backup thinning needed: 188.7 MB requested (including padding), 351.60 GB available
10/31/07 10:48:47 PM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[608] Copied 1172 files (90 KB) from volume Kidd.
10/31/07 10:48:49 PM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[608] Starting post-backup thinning
10/31/07 10:48:49 PM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[608] No post-back up thinning needed: no expired backups exist
10/31/07 10:48:49 PM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[608] Backup completed successfully.
When this occurs, I cannot stop the backup from the UI. I can kill backupd the 'hard way' with Activity Monitor and an Administrator force quit, but afterwards Time Machine will not backup again without more drastic measures (minimum reboot).
I am curious if the condition will eventually fix itself once the file becomes unlocked, but I dunno if it will.

Time Machine don't make a full backup

I just started with Time Machine. I made my first backup with a USB cabel of my Mac book Pro (28 gb used) but the Time Machine folder is only about 22 gb - how can that be?
Time Machine haven't come up with any errors but I think there is something wrong anyway.
Do one of you have any ideas?
Thanks in advance
/Kudsk

My first backup was with a usb cable but then I went wireless I wanted to use Time Machine but this time it made a new file called "Lars Kudsks computer_001b63b12c5a.sparsebundle" instead of using the "Backups.backupdb" folder. - How can that be?
And my mac book pro only finds the external drive if I open the Finder window (and in some way show "Time Machine" where to find the external drive - if you understand what I mean).

Time machine: An error occurred while copying files. The problem could be temporary. If the problem persists, use Disk Utility to repair your backup disk.

Time machine backups are failing. I've followed the instructions I found on the Time Machine troubleshooting page (http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html) but have gotten to where I don't know what to do next.
Sequence of events:
The main error message is always:
An error occurred while copying files. The problem could be temporary. If the problem persists, use Disk Utility to repair your backup disk.
Yesterday, I opened Disk Utility and verified the disk. Got this error:
Error: This disk needs to be repaired using the Recovery HD. Restart your computer, holding down the Command key and the R key until you see the Apple logo. When the OS X Utilities window appears, choose Disk Utility.
I ran Disk Utility and repaired the hard drive. Then I manually started the backup before going to bed, figuring it was going to take a long time to run. When I got up this morning, the backup had failed with the same "could be temporary" error. I checked the log, which says:
Starting manual backup
Attempting to mount network destination URL: afp://Tery%20Griffin;[email protected]/Tery%20Griffin's%20Time%20Ca psule
Mounted network destination at mount point: /Volumes/Tery Griffin's Time Capsule using URL: afp://Tery%20Griffin;[email protected]/Tery%20Griffin's%20Time%20Ca psule
Disk image /Volumes/Tery Griffin's Time Capsule/Tery Griffin’s Computer (44).sparsebundle mounted at: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups
Backing up to: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb
Event store UUIDs don't match for volume: Macintosh HD
Error: (-36) Applying backup protections to /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/Tery Griffin‚Äôs Computer (44)/2014-03-05-201742.inProgress/ABB10CF2-F041-4DE5-B6AE-3C228B59ADCC
Error: (5) setxattr for key:com.apple.backupd.SnapshotStartDate path:/Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/Tery Griffin‚Äôs Computer (44)/2014-03-05-201742.inProgress/ABB10CF2-F041-4DE5-B6AE-3C228B59ADCC size:17
Error: (5) setxattr for key:com.apple.backupd.SnapshotState path:/Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/Tery Griffin‚Äôs Computer (44)/2014-03-05-201742.inProgress/ABB10CF2-F041-4DE5-B6AE-3C228B59ADCC size:2
Deep event scan at path:/ reason:must scan subdirs|new event db|
Finished scan
Found 145601 files (11.88 GB) needing backup
16.1 GB required (including padding), 620.77 GB available
Copied Zero KB of 11.88 GB, 0 of 145601 items
Copied 0 files (Zero KB) from volume Macintosh HD.
Copy stage failed with error:11
Backup failed with error: 11
Ejected Time Machine disk image: /Volumes/Tery Griffin's Time Capsule/Tery Griffin’s Computer (44).sparsebundle
Ejected Time Machine network volume.
Starting automatic backup
Attempting to mount network destination URL: afp://Tery%20Griffin;[email protected]/Tery%20Griffin's%20Time%20Ca psule
Mounted network destination at mount point: /Volumes/Tery Griffin's Time Capsule using URL: afp://Tery%20Griffin;[email protected]/Tery%20Griffin's%20Time%20Ca psule
Disk image /Volumes/Tery Griffin's Time Capsule/Tery Griffin’s Computer (44).sparsebundle mounted at: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups
Backing up to: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb
Event store UUIDs don't match for volume: Macintosh HD
Error: (-36) Applying backup protections to /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/Tery Griffin‚Äôs Computer (44)/2014-03-05-201742.inProgress/9F8E7957-9C50-49C3-8314-880E5203E3D9
Error: (5) setxattr for key:com.apple.backupd.SnapshotStartDate path:/Volumes/Time Machine Backups/
Does anyone know what the problem is here and what I should do?
Thanks,
Tery

You have repaired your boot drive (which is good) but have you repaired your time machine drive? I don't own a Time Capsule so I don't know if disk utility can operate on it. If it can, you should repair it as well. You may need to erase it and start a new backup. That happens to time machine volumes from time to time and is why people who are serious about their data never rely on a single source of backup.

Time Machine will not complete a system backup and terminates with "Unable to complete backup. An error occurred while copying files to the backup volume. This follows a problem when Time machne terminated when the volume was almost full.

On 11/1/2011, Time Machine (TM) terminated with an error message I did not record. I noted that the drive was full and decided to do a separate complete bootable system backup using Carbon Copy Clone (CCC), before clearing the TM volume and trying to start it over clean. Part way through the full system backup CCC put up a message that there was a Physical Problem "Library/Application Support/Techtool Protection/McIntosh HD/Directory Backup 2011-11-01-16-28-16". That was about the time that TM malfunctioned, so I assumed they were related. After starting CCC over a couple of times, and getting the same error message, I let it go through to completion of the backup, which took three or four hours. I then ran tests using Disk Utility and verified that there was nothing physically wrong with both the internal hard drive and the TM volume. I also erased and reformatted the TM volume. However, every time I started Time Machine, it would record a few GB and terminate with "Unable to complete backup. An error occurred while copying files to the backup volume". I restarted the computer with no change in results. Note that prior to starting the CCC backup, I "Repaired Permissions", "zapped the PRAM" and "re-set the SMC", hoping to have a clean bootable system on the backup. I ran Techtool and no problems were found.
I'm running this on an Intel iMac under 10.5.8 and recording to a 500GB My Passport drive. My hard drive is only about half full at 246 GB. My assessment is that something happened at 16-28-16 on 11/1/2001 to screwup the Backup Directory in the file at "Library/Application Support/Techtool Protection/McIntosh HD/Directory Backup 2011-11-01-16-28-16". My question is, how do I fix it?
I had just completed writing everything above here, explaining the problems I had been encountering for the past 24 hours. I had the Time Machine window standing open on the desktop where I could see it, having recentlycleared it after the last termination. As I was proofing what I had written, I looked at the window and noted that the clock had started a new run for a full back up, since all prior efforts had failed and the TM volume was empty. As I watched and waited for it to fail again, as it had been doing at about 13 GB, it kept going and going until it just finished a complete backup, about 4.5 hours later, with my having done nothing. Now my question would have to be - what could possiibly have happened to make it perform this way? It will be interesting to see if it continue to operate normally, or if the problem will return, in a later backup run.

jcm21 wrote:
CCC put up a message that there was a Physical Problem "Library/Application Support/Techtool Protection/McIntosh HD/Directory Backup 2011-11-01-16-28-16"
You should not keep those files for long, and probably shouldn't back them up (if you need them at all -- since you do regular backups, I'm doubtful just how worthwhile that feature is).
"Unable to complete backup. An error occurred while copying files to the backup volume".
One of Apple's maddeningly incomplete messages. Most likely, there's a problem with a file (quite possibly the one CCC didn't like). See #C3 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting for details and instructions on finding and fixing it.
If you continue running the Directory Protection app, be sure to exclude your Time Machine drive from it (as it will just take up lots of room, and won't help repair your backups if there's a problem); and exclude the folders it creates from being backed-up by Time Machine (as they'll create large backups, and you probably can't use the backed-up folders anyway), per #10 in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions.

While making a backup copy in Itunes of my Iphone I receive the following error message: While making a backup copy of this Iphone (-35) an error has occurred. Do you want to continue with altering this Iphone? When you continue al the material on this I

While making a backup copy in Itunes of my Iphone I receive the following error message: While making a backup copy of this iPhone (-35) an error has occurred. Do you want to continue with altering this Iphone? When you continue al the material on this Iphone will be lost.
I reinstalled iTunes but that dit not help. After synching iTunes with my iPhone it also asks to authorize my pc and when i Click on ok, it says it is already authorized.
Please can somebody help me, so I can make backup.
Greetz,
Derk

It's likely that your backup is corrupt. Try deleting the backup, then right click on the name of the phone in iTunes and choose "back up". To delete go to iTunes Preferences, Devices tab. Highlight and delete the most recent backup. Note that sometimes deleting this way leaves some garbage around that can still interfere with a new backup, so you should verify that the backup folder is empty.
from: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4946
The folder where your backup data are stored varies depending on the computer's operating system. Make sure the backup folder is included in your periodic data-backup routine.
iTunes places the backup files in the following places:
Mac: ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/
Windows XP: \Documents and Settings\(username)\Application Data\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\
Note: To quickly access the Application Data folder, click Start, and choose Run. Type %appdata% and click OK.
Windows Vista and Windows 7: \Users\(username)\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\
Note: To quickly access the AppData folder, click Start. In the search bar, type %appdata% and press the Return key.

Time machine fails backing up with a "backup disk not found" error after upgrade to Lion 10.7.2

Time machine fails backing up with a "backup disk not found" error after upgrade to Lion 10.7.2. I've erased and reformatted the drive; reconnected Time Machine(it saw it) and began a new backup. The backup starts again but fails before completing with backup drive not found error. I used the 10.7.2 combo update. Any help on how to fix this problem would be appreciated.

Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!
After waiting since October for a fix, I have now upgraded the firmware on the Time Capsule and installed the new Airport Utility, released yesterday, and the situation is even worse.
Up until now, the Airport Utility had an option to disconnect all drives manually and the Time Capsule would then work until the next reboot – a temporary (?) work-around.
Now that option does not exist in the new-look Airport Utility. And the Airport Utility installation can’t be rolled back and the old utility won’t restore.
The sparesbundle is still not accessible. Anyone worked out a work-around in the new environment yet?
I have another Time Machine backup working fine to a trusty old Lacie Drive so erased the one on my Time Capsule to see if that works. I have renamed the Capsule and the Time Capsule Drive. But to build another full backup will take at least two days and I shall be away from tomorrow and am reluctant to leave the Capsule and computer up and running for a week. And I’ll bet the sparsbundle will still be nowhere to be found.
How can Apple screw up so badly when they are to become the richest company in the entire world and – soon – will have more cash in the bank than the entire United States? Can’t they afford someone who really can sort this out? Especially when a Firewire connected hard drive – my trusty and simple LaCie – works fine.
Words, almost, fail me.

Getting this error: Time Machine completed a verification of your backups. To improve reliability, Time Machine must create a new backup for you.

I keep getting this error on my new Macbook Pro w/ Retina.
"Time Machine completed a verification of your backups. To improve reliability, Time Machine must create a new backup for you."
Connected to a wifi network and QNAP storage system. There are 5 computers on this network, and each backs up just fine. The issue is isolated to this one machine.
This error shows up every week or so.

A third-party NAS is unsuitable for use with Time Machine, especially if it's your only backup. I know this isn't the answer you want. I know Time Machine accepts the NAS as a backup destination. I know that the manufacturer says the device will work with Time Machine, and I also know that it usually seems to work. Except when you try to restore, and find that you can't.
Apple has published a specification for network devices that work with Time Machine. None of the third-party NAS vendors, as far as I know, meets that specification. They all use the incomplete, obsolete Netatalk implementation of Apple Filing Protocol.
If you want network backup, use as the destination either an Apple Time Capsule or an external storage device connected to another Mac or to an 802.11ac AirPort base station. Only the 802.11ac base stations support Time Machine, not any older model.
Otherwise, don't use Time Machine at all. There are other ways to back up, though none of them is anywhere near as efficient or as well integrated with OS X. I don't have a specific recommendation.
If you're determined to keep using the NAS with Time Machine, your only recourse for any problems that result is to the manufacturer (which will blame Apple, or you, or anyone but itself.)

HT3275 2 problems: All files are locked - how to globally unlock on the backup drive? I am backing up large video files 500GB on a 2 TB machine. Time Machine repeatedly copies everything using up all of disk space. I only need 1 copy not, twenty. What to

2 problems: All files are locked - how to globally unlock on the backup drive? I am backing up large video files 500GB on a 2 TB machine. Time Machine repeatedly copies everything using up all of disk space. I only need 1 copy not, twenty. What to do?

2 problems: All files are locked - how to globally unlock on the backup drive? I am backing up large video files 500GB on a 2 TB machine. Time Machine repeatedly copies everything using up all of disk space. I only need 1 copy not, twenty. What to do?

Time Machine ejecting internal hard drive during backup

I originally posted this in the Time Machine group. It was suggested I post to the Xserve group.
We have an XSERVE running 10.6.4 server. It has 2 internal 1TB drives. The plan is to use one as the main drive and the second as a Time Machine backup. This used to work in 10.5, but since about 10.6.2 or so, it has not worked correctly.
Time machine will come on, begin the backup, and then error off with a message that the drive has been ejected. I have erased the drive, but still no joy. I have partitioned the drive, still no joy. I have verified the drive repeatedly, and all is fine. I can copy files to and from the drive until the cows come home, and all works fine, which means I do not think it is the drive itself. Activate TM, however, and it will fail before the first backup is completed. The only way to get the drive back is to do a complete power down and then power up. Needless to say, that is not a good thing for a server that we rely on.
Any ideas?
10/14/10 10:41:27 AM com.apple.backupd1230 Backup content size: 542.8 GB excluded items size: 474.1 GB for volume Server HD 10/14/10 10:41:27 AM com.apple.backupd1230 No pre-backup thinning needed: 82.46 GB requested (including padding), 930.13 GB available 10/14/10 10:41:27 AM com.apple.backupd1230 Waiting for index to be ready (101) 10/14/10 10:41:27 AM mds70 (Normal) DiskStore: Creating index for /Volumes/backup/Backups.backupdb
10/14/10 10:47:38 AM kernel FusionMPT: Notification = 22 (SAS Discovery) for SCSI Domain = 0 10/14/10 10:47:38 AM kernel Discovery condition = 0x000f0001 10/14/10 10:47:38 AM kernel FusionMPT: Notification = 18 (SAS Phy Link Status) for SCSI Domain = 0 10/14/10 10:47:38 AM kernel SAS Phy Link Status: PhyNum = 0, old link rate = 8, new link rate = 0, SASAddress = 50080007002e8c04
10/14/10 10:48:10 AM kernel SCSIPressurePathManager: Timed out waiting for inactive/error path to become active, loops = 0 10/14/10 10:48:10 AM kernel  10/14/10 10:48:10 AM kernel disk0s2: media is not present.
10/14/10 10:48:10 AM com.apple.backupd1230 Stopping backupd because the backup volume was ejected!  10/14/10 10:48:10 AM com.apple.backupd1230 Error writing to backup log. NSFileHandleOperationException:* -NSConcreteFileHandle writeData:: Input/output error 10/14/10 10:48:10 AM com.apple.backupd1230 Error writing to backup log. NSFileHandleOperationException:* -NSConcreteFileHandle writeData:: Input/output error 10/14/10 10:48:10 AM com.apple.backupd1230 Error writing to backup log. NSFileHandleOperationException:* -NSConcreteFileHandle writeData:: Input/output error 10/14/10 10:48:10 AM com.apple.backupd1230 Copied 13416 files (4.0 GB) from volume Server HD. 10/14/10 10:48:10 AM com.apple.backupd1230 Error writing to backup log. NSFileHandleOperationException:* -NSConcreteFileHandle writeData:: Input/output error 10/14/10 10:48:10 AM servermgrd64 servermgr_backup: TimeMachinePostBackupHook called. 10/14/10 10:48:10 AM servermgrd64 servermgr_backup: TimeMachinePostBackupHook done. 10/14/10 10:48:11 AM kernel jnl: disk0s2: close: journal 0xffffff8012b15d20, is invalid. aborting outstanding transactions  

No, it is not always at the same point/file/bytes transferred. It will vary from a few GB (say 3GB) to quite a few GB (say 30GB). I would add amongst the things I have done was to:
Perform numerous Disk Utility Checks. Never any errors found.
Erased the backup drive on multiple occasions. Double checked the GUID and format.
Partitioned the drive and tried backing up to a new partition. (No joy there either)
Copied lots and lots of data from the root disk to said partitions to test them. All went fine.
It really is Time Machine that is causing the issue. I can use the drive all day long as long as TM does not run. When it does, I eventually get a failure message that the drive has been ejected.
While I have not tried making a partition on the home drive (I'd rather not, lots of data there, make users mad, and since TM is not working, I have no backups at present), I do limit the data that is being backed up to JUST that of the system. /Users is being excluded at the moment. So I doubt there is anything out of the ordinary in the system. And, yes, I did a disk check on the root disk and all is fine there too.

Time machine always propose a new fresh backup

Hi all,
I am running an iMac 21.5" Late 2012, with an Intel Core i5 at 2,7 GHz, 8Gb RAM. I have recently (some months) moved from Mavericks to Yosemite (by the way, experimenting a general slow down is the system, I have brought my mac to an Apple Store and, after their checks, they told me that the computer i perfectly fine...) and since then I am having problems with Time Machine backups. After the first backup, time machine correctly performs following backups for a while and then (say, generally after a couple of days of seemingly correct functioning) asks me for a fresh backup as the verification of the actual backup seems to be not not reliable enough.
Technically, the message I get is the following:
Time Machine completed a verification of your backups. To improve reliability, Time Machine must create a new backup for you.
What I can't really understand is why is this happening so frequently... It is quite boring to have my machine backing-up a large amount of data (I have a 1TB HDD connected to an Airport Extreme, to which my mac connects via wi-fi) almost every two days...
Let me just add that I was NOT having such problems when running Mavericks on the very same iMac...
Is there any reported problem of this kind? What does it depend from? Is there any possible solution to this?
Any help would be very welcome!
Thanx, best regards
Stefano

Start with C13 in the 1st linked article.
Time Machine Troubleshooting
Time Machine Troubleshooting Problems

Time Machine -- can't access parts of backups

Prior to upgrading my MacBook Air to Yosemite, I made a Time Machine backup, removed temporary stuff I didn't think I'd need any more, and made a bootable clone of Mavericks using SuperDuper! The upgrade went fine, but after a while I realized one of the things I'd removed (Adobe Lightroom catalog, having transferred all the image files from the MacBook Air to my desktop machine) contained some information I needed. My attempts to restore it have run into an odd problem, and I'm hoping someone has some ideas that can help me.
I have the backup disk connected, and when I start up the Time Machine application it shows the expected backups in the "ruler" along the right-hand edge of the screen. However, for the most part, I cannot "go back in time" to find the files I want from before I deleted them. What I mean is that, for most locations I select from Finder's sidebar, the "backwards and forwards" buttons are grayed-out and inaccessible. For a few locations (Desktop, and the system Applications folder) the buttons work as expected and I can access any backup date I wish. For a few others (e.g. "All My Files") the "backwards" button is available but clicking it takes me to the very first backup stored (8 months old) and "forwards" takes me to "Today (Now)". None of the intervening backups are available for that location.
I've used the Terminal app to navigate down the directory hierarchy of the backups on the Time Machine volume. I can find the files I want there, so it's not like Time Machine had failed to back them up. However, it refuses to show them. I tried using the Terminal to copy the files back under my home directory, but the filesystem ACLs and extended attributes were causing problems (Lightroom thought it didn't have write permission). Deleting the ACSs and xattrs got Lightroom to run, but it's clearly confused (shows blank thumbnails, has exif data but not captions) so something's not right.
Wondering if this is a Yosemite issue, I rebooted the machine onto the Mavericks clone and tried running Time Machine there. I get the same results.
Someone at work suggested that leaving the Time Machine app running for an extended period of time might fix the problem. I've had it running for 7 hours now and while a few more locations started working, the ones I want aren't.
Anyone know what's going on and how to fix it?

Even weirder -- the problem I described above happens only with certain windows. WIth others, I can open the earlier backups.

Time Machine will not do a full backup when set up

I am trying to set up time machine for the first time on a external HDD, but it just won't do a full backup in the first time I set it up, I knew I had a problem when I entered the time machine and it would only show today and now, I had the time machine set up for about a week. I already checked the time machine options and it says full backup should be 178 GB, but when I set it up it does not do the full backup just a partial, the time machine disk is always empty, I see no errors in the time machine preferences and also formatted the external HDD the HDD Mac OS Extended, Mac OS Extended (Journaled), Mac OS Extended (Case Sensitive), Mac OS Extended (Case Sensitive Journaled) and even tried a different HDD and I always get the time thing, no full backup when I set it up, also fixed permissions on all my disks and no luck... can anyone help???

this is the message I got;
Starting standard backup
Couldn't find en0.
Unable to determine UUID for host. Error: 35 Resource temporarily unavailable
* Terminating app due to uncaught exception 'NSInvalidArgumentException', reason: '* -[NSCFArray initWithObjects:count:]: attempt to insert nil object at objects[0]'\n* Call stack at first throw:\n(\n 0 CoreFoundation 0x00007fff833c05a4 __exceptionPreprocess + 180\n 1 libobjc.A.dylib 0x00007fff887d2313 objcexceptionthrow + 45\n 2 CoreFoundation 0x00007fff8336b317 -[__NSPlaceholderArray initWithObjects:count:] + 407\n 3 CoreFoundation 0x00007fff8337fc68 +[NSArray arrayWithObjects:count:] + 56\n 4 CoreFoundation 0x00007fff8338adb1 -[NSArray arrayByAddingObject:] + 193\n 5 backupd 0x000000010000989b 0x0 + 4295006363\n 6 backupd 0x000000010000a510 0x0 + 4295009552\n 7 backupd 0x0000000100006d00 0x0 + 4294995200\n 8 Foundation 0x00007fff80f04f65 _NSThread__main_ + 1429\n 9 libSystem.B.dylib 0x00007fff80876f66 pthreadstart + 331\n 10 libSystem.B.dylib 0x00007fff80876e19 thread_start + 13\n)
terminate called after throwing an instance of 'NSException'
2009-11-08 22:50:42.463 ReportCrash[235:2503] Saved crash report for backupd[146] version ??? (???) to /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/backupd2009-11-08-225042localhost.crash

Time Machine - Repeated errors while making first backup

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