Time Machine reports, "backup failed." What do I do?

Time Machine reports, "backup failed." What should I do?

See if Pondini's great site helps...
http://Pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html

Similar Messages

  • Time machine error - backup fails due to sparsebundle already in use

    Since upgrading, Time machine reports backup error:
    TIme Machine Error
    The backup disk image ...sparsebundle is already in use.
    Any thoughts?

    Thanks russ. After the initial upgrade to Mt Lion, no backups have been made. Every attempt reports the sparsebundle error. I recently updated to 10.8.1 and a whole new set of problems have shown up which is having me question the wisdom of continuing to invest in Apple product.
    I have decided to pack it in with regard to the timecapsule product, as it is just too unreliable, and certainly not worth the continued time and effort it has been taking to try and get it to work. I have instead gone with an online backup service, Crashplan. I have the backup service I am seeing and I am no longer frittering away valuable time on something that ought to just work.
    Problem solved.

  • HT3728 My time capsule reports Backup Failed

    After a year of more of faultless backups, suddenly my TC reports Backup Failed. I have tried to restart, dismount and remount, but it still reports Backup Failed. I have a 2T TC and use it to backup two Macbooks.

    Any ideas?
    Wireless Interference
    Might be caused by a cordless phone in the vicinity. To give you an example, my neighbor.....across the street...used to be able to literally crash my wireless network if he was in his front yard talking on his cordless phone.
    I discovered this by accident one day after spending weeks trying figure out why my network would crash at random times.
    Other possibilities include a wireless security/camera system near you
    Still other things might be an amateur ham radio operator....which should not interfere....but again from experience, I know that this can occur.
    Yet another possibility is another wireless network near you that is being turned on and off at random times. Some users power up their modem/router only when they want to do so and leave it off otherwise.
    Some general rules to help avoid interference:
    Move any cordless phones that you might have as far away as possible from the Time Capsule and/or your computer(s)
    Avoid placing other electronic devices....computer, television, amplifier, satellite receiver, etc. near the Time Capsule and/or your computer(s)
    Avoid metal surfaces near the Time Capsule and/or your computers
    Elevate the Time Capsule as much as possible. Think of it as a water sprinkler....you want to get the room as wet as possible
    Experiment with different wireless channels on the Time Capsule. To do this:
    Open AirPort Utility
    Click on the Time Capsule
    Click Edit
    Click the Wireless tab
    Click Wireless Options
    Start with Channel 11 on the 2.4 GHz band and work your way down
    It is unlikely that you are picking up interference on the 5 GHz band since there are.....for now at least.....far fewer networks using this frequency.

  • Time Machine reports backup disc needs to be 8.78 Tb.  I only have a 250Gb system drive???

    Thought I'd do a TM backup before installing Mavericks.  It messed up big time!
    I backup manually depending on how much stuff has accumulated.  It varies between a few Mb to 3 or 4 Gb sometimes more.  Today Time Machine decided that it wanted to reorganise the backup in some way.  I watched as the available space on the TM disk went up as TM set about the task.  After a couple or three hours TM actually started to do the backup.  The size of the backup being 500Gb or something like that.  Several hours later of listening to my fans working flat out I cancelled the back up with TM reporting that there was 200 odd Gb to go.  No warning from TM to say this was a bad idea.  It had been chuntering away for something like 5 hours.
    After halting the backup I thought I'd start the backup again just to see how much more needed to be done.  This is when I got the report that the backup disk needed to be in the order of Tb. And the oldest backup is now Nov 2013.  The oldest backup before this was way back in June 2012 (MacBookPro Rertina mid 2012) when I first bought the computer.
    Entering TM I find that even that is not complete. All but a couple of applications have dissapeared as have many other files.
    Trouble is I use it as an archive and happily delete files on my hard drive knowing that there is a copy in a backup that pre dates the deletion. 
    There is also an earlier backup from my previous machine - again as a rarely accessed archive.  So that's another reason not to reformat.
    I'm pretty sure all is lost and I think I just have to bite the bullet and risk not needing anything from the archive.  After all I have CD and DVD backups/archives that go back to the late '90s and I have rarely needed to access them over the years.  The biggest loss will be photos.  ****!
    Anyway.  What happened?  Why has TM gone off the rails?  I have done nothing different to what I have done in 5 years or so.  Is this normal behaviour?  If I hadn't have cancelled the back up would TM have slowly rebuilt all my backups as was?
    Andy

    Trouble is I use it as an archive and happily delete files on my hard drive knowing that there is a copy in a backup that pre dates the deletion.
    Before going any further please understand that's a very bad idea. It's beyond Time Machine's scope to do that. It is not an archival system and cannot be made to become one. Time Machine guarantees nothing other than one complete copy of the source volume's contents. Anything erased from the source becomes fair game for Time Machine to delete from the backup, the moment it requires the space it occupies.
    Next: I have no idea why the problem occurred, but a first and harmless troubleshooting step is to reset Time Machine by doing the following:
    Turn off Time Machine first, and make sure a backup is not in progress.
    Triple click to select the entire line, then control-click and select Services > Reveal in Finder. Drag the selected file to the Desktop, or directly to the Trash:
    /Library/Preferences/com.apple.TimeMachine.plist
    This will not delete your existing backups.
    Turn on Time Machine and reselect your backup volume. The effect of deleting that file will cause erroneous values to be shown in the "backing up xxx of yyy" messages until the subsequent backup.
    If it's any consolation, terminating Time Machine as you did is not an abnormal user action and did not cause the problem. It may have resulted in inaccurate information being written to the property list, which you will fix by deleting it. It's quite possible that your backups have remained intact. Just remember that anything you delete from the source may no longer exist following the subsequent backup, and that is to be expected.

  • Time Machine initial backup fails OS 10.5 with no reason but 'bus error'

    I ran into an error on the last system update and had to go back to Leopard 10.5 just to see my stuff. I managed to move my home directory into the newly installed system and all my files are intact. Now I'm trying to get a Time Machine backup before I proceed (my initial mistake was not keeping up with them in the first place).
    I had some trouble early on and at one point decided to reformat the external drive (a Fantom Drives GreenDrive, usb, 500Gb). I formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) as recommended, no partitions, and then tried my first initial Time Machine backup.
    It predictably spent a long time 'preparing...' and I followed along in the system log. Eventually, the copying began but early on (within the first 45 min) the backup failed with almost no indications in the log as to why. I've pasted the system log below.
    One thought I had was that it was weird that there was an automatic request for backup at 12:36:54. I also included the CrashReport, but I can't make any sense out of it.
    any ideas?
    System log:
    6/23/10 11:57:30 PM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[1190] Backup requested by user
    6/23/10 11:57:30 PM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[1190] Starting standard backup
    6/23/10 11:57:30 PM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[1190] Backing up to: /Volumes/Deep Green/Backups.backupdb
    6/24/10 12:15:13 AM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[1190] No pre-backup thinning needed: 173.94 GB requested (including padding), 453.71 GB available
    6/24/10 12:15:13 AM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[1190] MDBackupBegin() returned result (910) > 0, waiting
    6/24/10 12:36:54 AM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[1190] Backup requested by automatic scheduler
    6/24/10 12:42:17 AM ReportCrash[1431] Formulating crash report for process backupd[1190]
    6/24/10 12:42:18 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (com.apple.backupd[1190]) Exited abnormally: Bus error
    6/24/10 12:42:24 AM ReportCrash[1431] Saved crashreport to /Library/Logs/CrashReporter/backupd2010-06-24-004204dylan-boyds-macbook.crash using uid: 0 gid: 0, euid: 0 egid: 0
    CrashReport:
    Process: backupd [1190]
    Path: /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd
    Identifier: backupd
    4 backupd 0x00007525 0x1000 + 25893
    5 backupd 0x00002332 0x1000 + 4914
    8 backupd 0x00015028 0x1000 + 81960
    9 backupd 0x0000ea64 0x1000 + 55908
    10 backupd 0x00008bfe 0x1000 + 31742
    11 backupd 0x00004c10 0x1000 + 15376
    12 backupd 0x000057b8 0x1000 + 18360
    0x1000 - 0x3dffb backupd ??? (???) <f50411bdb241b61699aa81b2f3dfb7d1> /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd

    I should have added that I've been through about half a dozen sites (including sanctioned apple sites) and their recommendations for getting Time Machine to work properly. I did format the drive once (with extended journaled format and GUID partition scheme, but I didn't zero it out. I'm trying that now and I'll try TM again in about 4 hours.
    This morning I tried turning Time Machine's automatic backups off (moved the slider to off in the preferences pane) and manually started a backup (right-clicking the TM icon in the dock and selecting "Backup Now"). It ran further along than before, but stopped again. This time, it gave an error, and I've pasted the log below. I looked but didn't find much helpful on "error 11."
    system log:
    Jun 24 09:14:08 dylan-boyds-macbook /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[444]: Backup requested by user
    Jun 24 09:14:08 dylan-boyds-macbook /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[444]: Starting standard backup
    Jun 24 09:14:08 dylan-boyds-macbook /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[444]: Backing up to: /Volumes/Deep Green/Backups.backupdb
    Jun 24 09:14:08 dylan-boyds-macbook /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[444]: Event store UUIDs don't match for volume: Macintosh HD
    Jun 24 09:14:08 dylan-boyds-macbook /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[444]: Node requires deep traversal:/ reason:kFSEDBEventFlagMustScanSubDirs|
    Jun 24 09:47:13 dylan-boyds-macbook /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[444]: No pre-backup thinning needed: 175.31 GB requested (including padding), 453.11 GB available
    Jun 24 10:13:46 dylan-boyds-macbook /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[444]: Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Previous Systems.localized/2010-06-22_2236/Applications/iPhoto.app/Contents/Resources/Po intOfInterest.db to (null)
    Jun 24 10:13:46 dylan-boyds-macbook /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[444]: Error: (-36) SrcErr:NO Copying /Previous Systems.localized/2010-06-22_2236/Applications/iPhoto.app/Contents/Resources/Po intOfInterest.db to /Volumes/Deep Green/Backups.backupdb/Dylan Boyd’s MacBook/2010-06-23-231048.inProgress/E3294B86-62B0-4ABF-9B2B-F5D46B82736D/Macin tosh HD/Previous Systems.localized/2010-06-22_2236/Applications/iPhoto.app/Contents/Resources
    Jun 24 10:13:46 dylan-boyds-macbook /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[444]: Stopping backup.
    Jun 24 10:13:46 dylan-boyds-macbook /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[444]: Error: (-8062) SrcErr:NO Copying /Previous Systems.localized/2010-06-22_2236/Applications/iPhoto.app/Contents/Resources/Po intOfInterest.db to /Volumes/Deep Green/Backups.backupdb/Dylan Boyd’s MacBook/2010-06-23-231048.inProgress/E3294B86-62B0-4ABF-9B2B-F5D46B82736D/Macin tosh HD/Previous Systems.localized/2010-06-22_2236/Applications/iPhoto.app/Contents/Resources
    Jun 24 10:13:57 dylan-boyds-macbook /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[444]: Copied 13360 files (1.5 GB) from volume Macintosh HD.
    Jun 24 10:13:57 dylan-boyds-macbook /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[444]: Copy stage failed with error:11
    Jun 24 10:14:03 dylan-boyds-macbook /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[444]: Backup failed with error: 11

  • Time machine - Last backup failed - how i fixed it...

    I woke up this morning to see that time machine had failed to backup. It has been a couple of days since installing 10.5.3, so I'm not sure if it's related to the update or if it's just the way that time machine works.
    I ran diskwarrior, www.alsoft.com
    and it came back with more file structure errors than i have ever seen on a hard drive! instead of tell you, here is an picture.
    needless to say, once i replaced the directory time machine began working again, and it's way faster than it ever has been before.

    I promise this thread is not an ad for diskwarrior
    it has just saved my *** so many times that i wanted to share the information. apple disk utility does not do as good of a job at repairing HFS+.
    here is a link to get latest version (4.1 for 10.5)...
    http://thepiratebay.org/tor/4000433/DiskWarrior4.1___serial_for_Leopard10.5

  • Time Machine. Backup failed with error code: 21

    Hi,
    I recently upgraded to Leopard 10.5.4 mainly for the time machine backup. I'm using a DNS-323 in a RAID1 configuration as the TM backup drive. Also I have the DNS-323 connected to my Airport Extreme through the ethernet to give NAS ability to my home network.
    After much hunting around the forums I got the sparsebundle created and copied to the DNS-323 share volume. See http://www.flokru.org/2008/02/29/time-machine-backups-on-network-shares-in-leopa rd/ My thanks to flokru.
    However, TM is still not working. The console messages have the following:
    Network mountpoint /Volume/Volume_1 not owned by backupd... remounting
    Network volume mounted at /Volume/Volume11
    Failed to mount disk image /Volume/Volume1_1/MacBook001b6334c307.sparebundle
    Backup failed with error: 21
    It would appear this error lies in the way TM is trying to mount the volume, specifically that Volume_1, the DNS-323 volume name, is not owned by TM. TM then tries to create a new volume, Volume11 and stick the sparebundle on it.
    Is there a way of making TM "own" the volume, Volume_1?
    Has anybody else seen this error or better yet, got a fix for it?

    James,
    It would appear this error lies in the way TM is trying to mount the volume, specifically that Volume_1, the DNS-323 volume name, is not owned by TM. TM then tries to create a new volume, Volume11 and stick the sparebundle on it.
    Is there a way of making TM "own" the volume, Volume_1?
    Actually, it is not TMs failure to mount the volume that is causing your failure to backup. I have received the same Console message using a Time Capsule. However, Time Machines' attempt to 'remount' the volume always succeeds and the backup goes through. That appears not to be your experience, but it is NOT because the volume is not being mounted. It is.
    *Mount Point Conflict (TMDisk-1)*
    NOTE: the following distinguishes “network drive” (the physical hard disk) from “disk image” (the sparsebundle file TM uses to backup to).
    First of all, I am convinced that the second mount point that is created (in your case Volume11) is due to the fact that you already had the network drive mounted on your desktop at the time of the attempted backup. Was that the case?
    When you manually mount a network drive the system creates a mount point in the /Volumes folder (Let’s call it TMDisk ). While that exists any attempt by Time Machine to mount the same disk will created a second mount point ( TMDisk-1 )
    Nevertheless, as I have observed, this doesn't seem to prevent backups from taking place successfully, at least on the Time Capsule. And according to your Console logs it appears that your volume is being ‘remounted’ successfully.
    *”The Backup Disk Image Could Not Be Mounted”*
    The real issue is Time Machines' failure to mount the disk image (sparsebundle) contained on your network drive.
    +Failed to mount disk image /Volume/Volume1_1/MacBook001b6334c307.sparebundle+
    +Backup failed with error: 21+
    More often than not this is due to having the Time Machine backup disk image (sparsebundle) mounted on your desktop during a backup attempt.
    Eject the backup disk image (sparsebundle) by either clicking the little Eject icon to the right of the disk image in the Finders’ Sidebar, or Ctrl-Click the drive icon on the desktop and select “Eject” from the contextual menu. Now try backing up again or launching Time Machine to view previous backups.
    For more information, see an article on this here:
    [http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1715977]
    Alternatively, a backup disk image can fail to mount if there is a problem with your computer name.
    *Proper Computer Name* #
    Make sure your computer has a proper name. Go to System Preferences --> Sharing. Time Machine needs to differentiate your computer from others on your network (i.e. "Bills MacBook" or "Office iMac"). If the "Computer Name" field is blank, create a name. Realize that if this step is necessary, you will likely have to start the Time Machine backup process over again and do another full initial backup.
    According to THIS article [http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1760], Time Machine may experience problems if your computer name includes certain characters. Make sure the computer name only includes ASCII characters from the following set.
    (0123456789abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ)
    Once a change in the computer name occurs, you should stop and restart Sharing on the affected computer. Uncheck and then recheck Sharing in the Services list on the left.
    Let me know if any of this helps.
    Cheers!

  • Time Machine: Latest  Backup: Failed  (Unable to complete backup)

    Unable to complete backup. An error occurred while copying files to the backup volume.
    some messages from the console log:
    6/22/08 6:15:23 kernel disk3s2: 0x23 (UNDEFINED).
    6/22/08 6:15:25 kernel HFS resolvelink: can't find iNode87587
    6/22/08 6:15:26 kernel HFS resolvelink: can't find dir_487832
    6/22/08 6:15:54 /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[61444] No pre-backup thinning needed: 80.00 GB requested (including padding), 300.19 GB available
    6/22/08 6:15:54 /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[61444] Waiting for index to be ready (915 > 0)
    6/22/08 6:18:59 mds[39] (Error) DiskStore: Unable to create/find index location
    6/22/08 7:21:27 kernel AirPort: Roam (Beacons Lost)
    6/22/08 7:21:40 /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[61444] Waiting for index to be ready (915 > 0)
    6/22/08 7:21:42 kernel AirPort: Roam (Beacons Lost)
    6/22/08 8:10:00 com.apple.launchd[1] (0x10d550.cron[62330]) Could not setup Mach task special port 9: (os/kern) no access
    Any ideas?

    robrobrobrob wrote:
    Aug 14 18:33:28 iMac mds[44]: (Error) DiskStore: Unable to create/find index location
    While you got the same type of message as while(fork()) it's not clear to me that they represent the same underlying problem.
    In your case the Time Capsule and the actual Backup seem to mount OK as seen here:
    Aug 14 18:33:20 Robert-Schattners-iMac /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[301]: Network volume mounted at: /Volumes/Time Capsule
    Aug 14 18:33:25 iMac /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[301]: Disk image /Volumes/Time Capsule/ iMac_001ff3543f94.sparsebundle mounted at: /Volumes/Backup of iMac
    Aug 14 18:33:25 iMac /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[301]: Backing up to: /Volumes/Backup of iMac/Backups.backupdb
    What follows indicates to me that the backup proceeded. Once it decides to do a deep traversal,it take s Loooonng time.
    Aug 14 18:33:31 iMac /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[301]: Node requires deep traversal:/ reason:kFSEDBEventFlagMustScanSubDirs|kFSEDBEventFlagReasonEventDBUntrustable|
    What happened after this?

  • My time machine back up failed because it says the backup volume could not be mounted

    My time machine back up failed because it says the backup volume could not be mounted.  What does that mean and how do I fix it so that it backs up?

    A  whole  lot  about  Time  Machine for help with TM problems.  Also you can select Mac Help from the Finder's Help menu and search for "time machine" to locate articles on how to use TM.  See also Mac 101- Time Machine.
    Use Disk Utility to repair the TM drive.  If that doesn't help, and you don't find help from the above, then erase the drive and start a new TM backup.

  • Time Machine starts backup then fails

    I'm trying to use Time Machine to backup wirelessly to Time Capsule. It starts but then fails after about 40 Mb, telling me an error occurred.
    I've browsed these forums and tried reading Console Messages, but they don't mean much to me.
    This is the first of 6 similar messages.
    07/03/08 7:11:02 com.apple.backupd[49744] 2008-03-07 07:11:02.298 diskimages-helper[49755:1603] Error loading /Library/Plug-ins/DiskImages/VirtualPCDiskImagePlugin.bundle/Contents/MacOS/Vir tualPCDiskImagePlugin: dlopen(/Library/Plug-ins/DiskImages/VirtualPCDiskImagePlugin.bundle/Contents/Ma cOS/VirtualPCDiskImagePlugin, 262): no suitable image found. Did find:
    Does anyone have any suggestions ? Am I on the right track ?

    I'm trying to use Time Machine to backup wirelessly to Time Capsule. It starts but then fails after about 40 Mb, telling me an error occurred.
    I've browsed these forums and tried reading Console Messages, but they don't mean much to me.
    This is the first of 6 similar messages.
    07/03/08 7:11:02 com.apple.backupd[49744] 2008-03-07 07:11:02.298 diskimages-helper[49755:1603] Error loading /Library/Plug-ins/DiskImages/VirtualPCDiskImagePlugin.bundle/Contents/MacOS/Vir tualPCDiskImagePlugin: dlopen(/Library/Plug-ins/DiskImages/VirtualPCDiskImagePlugin.bundle/Contents/Ma cOS/VirtualPCDiskImagePlugin, 262): no suitable image found. Did find:
    Does anyone have any suggestions ? Am I on the right track ?

  • HT1218 I am receiving the following error on my time machine, does anyone know what it means? Error message = The backup disk image "/Volumes/Data/Richard's MacBook Pro.sparsebundle" is already in use.

    I am receiving the following error on my time machine, does anyone know what it means? Error message = The backup disk image “/Volumes/Data/Richard’s MacBook Pro.sparsebundle” is already in use.

    Please look over the right of this page under the heading of More Like This for multiple answers and solutions for this bug.

  • I'd like Time Machine to backup my personal account's files separately from my guest account's files. Both have big files.  What's the best way to do this?  Should I connect 2 external HD to my new iMac, one for each account?

    I'd like Time Machine to backup my personal account's files separately from my guest account's files. Both have big files.  What's the best way to do this?  Should I connect 2 external HD to my new iMac, one for each account?

    NeuroBrain wrote:
    Since my new external hard drive is have a lot of space, I'm thinking of splitting it for Time Machine and external storage.
    This is a common mistake and I highly advise against it.
    1: TimeMachine saves states of changes and thus requires more room on the TM drive than the boot drive it's backing up.
    2: Something happens to the TM drive, loss, theft, dropped, power surge, etc., you lose both backups.
    3: The storage drive might become a portable need, with it being on the TM drive, now your increasing the risk to the TM backup that something could happen to it along with the storage drive, due to increased movement.
    Seriously, have a read,
    Most commonly used backup methods
    it's ASC User Tip that saves us regulars all the trouble of having to repeat ourselves over and over again in the posts, because we tend to forget things too, or not here sometimes etc.
    "Plan for the worst and the good will take care of itself" - Donald Trump

  • HT3275 Time machine error, backup disk image "/volumes/data-1/.sparesbundle " already in use. I don;t know what this means, can someone help?

    My Mac mini time capsule is showing an error Time machine error, backup disk image "/volumes/data-1/.sparesbundle " already in use. I don;t know what this means, can someone help?

    I had a similar problem and I solved it as follows -
    In Time Machine - > I deselected time capsule Data Disk as a destination.
    Then I pulled the power plug on the Time Capsule, twiddled my thumbs for 15 secs, plugged the power back in.
    Went back t Time Machine -> Re-Added the Time Capsule Data Disk as destination. And then tested by selecting Backup Now.
    All went well and the backup picked up from before the problem.
    BTW - I also have a USB drive connected to Time Capsule that is an alternate disk for Time Machine to backup.
    In Mountain Lion the GUI lets you add more than one Time Machine backup destinations very easily so I think it a good idea to have redundancy.
    Hope this helps.

  • Just bought a 3TB Time Capsule for a small office. Will have 4 users with MacBooks. What would ne the best setup for time machine individual backups and internet sharing in a secure way?

    Just bought a 3TB Time Capsule for a small office. Will have 4 users with MacBooks. What would ne the best setup for time machine individual backups and internet sharing in a secure way?

    Set up each Mac for Time Machine backups in the normal way.  Time Machine will keep each backup separate on the Time Capsule, so users will only be able to see the backups of their own Mac.
    Yes....there are convoluted workarounds that might allow one user to see the backups of another.....IF...they know the administrator password of the "other" Mac.
    As far as Internet sharing, all users will have access to the Internet if they have a wired or wireless connection. If a Mac connects using wireless, it is possible to limit the time that they are allowed to connect to the network.
    For example, you might limit the ability to connect to the wireless from say each Weekday from 8 AM to 6 PM.
    With a wired Ethernet connection, you cannot limit access times to the Internet.

  • Can I use Time Machine to backup ONLY an external drive?

    I am having problems with the internal HD on my iMac and Disk Utility is telling me I need to reformat the drive and restore from backup. Only problem is that my 3TB Lacie Thunderbolt drive I was using for Time Machine recently failed (think it may have happened during an electrical storm brownout). Yep, I know, ***** to be me
    The issues with the internal HD are preventing the iMac from booting and I would prefer not to have to purchase various repair software to find one that really works such as Disk Warrior or similar ((despite it getting very good reviews). I suspect it make be HFS corruption but no way to really tell that I am aware of.
    I have setup an external drive with Yosemite and booted from that so now my old internal drive is seen as an "external drive".
    I am using Disk Utility to make an image copy to a new 3TB external drive I purchased. Writing the DMG is going to take some time.
    What I would like to do is to set up Time Machine to backup to a separate external 3TB hard drive (the second one I purchased) and have TM create a backup of ONLY the old internal drive - not the new system as well as the old internal unit.
    Is this possible and if so can anyone advise how to do this. Does not seem I can exclude the system drive I am now booted from so that it is not backed up. (This makes sense that TM would be designed this way given its primary purpose is to backup a system).
    If TM cannot be configured in this way, is there another option I can use?
    Thanks
    Andrew

    Thanks for that advice. I have heard of it but a friend who does IT support at a University nearby suggested using Disk Utility to save an image - hence this is currently underway at present. Once this is finished I will try Carbon Copy Cloner.
    I have another friend who has an older version of CCC - do you know if an old version will work ok or if only the latest supports Yosemite?
    Also once I have the clone completed from CCC, is the process then to reformat the old internal drive and then clone from the CCC external drive back to the internal and then reboot and trust all is well?
    Appreciate your help Csound1.
    Regards
    Andrew

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