Time Machine reports error, Disk Utility says disk is OK!

Hi,
Time Machine has stopped backing up giving an error message as follows:
"The backup was not performed because an error occured while copying files to the backup disk.
The problem may be temporary. Try again later to back up. If the problem persists, use Disk Utility to repair your backup disk."
I'm not sure how temporary it means, nor how much later - but this has been happening for the last few days and I have switched off and on, rebooted, closed all apps, changed usb port, changed usb cable, etc. to try and get it working again. Still get the same error.
When I run the backup disk through Disk Utility it says the disk is fine - "The volume Time Machine appears to be OK."
Anyone had this or similar before? Is there a known cause that I can fix to get the backups working again. Don't really want to lose the time machine history by formatting and starting again.
Cheers.

Fixed - looked at the error log in the console, found error messages re files it was not able to back up, excluded that folder from Time Machine. Now works OK.

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http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html

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Time Machine Volume and Disk Utility

I'm trying to figure out whether or not I can use Disk Utility's Repair Disk command on a Time Machine volume. Time machine is taking a very long time to finalize its backups. I don't know if there are directory issues that need to be addressed or if it's due to the very large size of the directory. I've been using Time Machine on this computer since last January and the Time Machine directory (the disk's catalog of files used by the OS) takes up over 7 GB of disk space! It's so large that DiskWarrior will no longer work on that volume. DiskWarrior, like all 32-bit OS X applications, has a limit of 4 GB. I can't be the only one in this situation. I don't want my Time Machine backup to get hopelessly corrupted and then have to start agin. I'm trying to be proactive about correcting any issues before they become serious.

See my reply to Steve Darden in this Topic.
You should not use Disk Utility in the normal manner. Time Machine uses hard links in a non-standard manner, which will cause normal repair utilities to complain, as Steve is finding.
If you read Time Machine: Troubleshooting backup issues you will see that it only recommends Disk Utility to "Attempt to repair the backup sparsebundle", not the actual Disk Volume itself.

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What does it mean when a box says my Time Machine back-up disk can't be found?

I clicked on my Time Machine icon on the Dock and a box popped up that says my Time Machine back=up disk can't be found. What does this mean? What should I do about it?

Have you been using Time Machine up until now?
If yes, then check that your Time Machine backup disk is properly connected and mounted. It should appear on the desktop. If it is indeed there, then open Time Machine Preferences and make sure that the disk is designated as the backup disk.
If you haven't been using Time Machine until now, check that a disk that is ~ 3 or 4 times larger than what you plan to back up is connected and mounted, and go into Time Machine prefences and designate it as your backup disk.

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

Hi,
I upgraded to Mountain Lion when it was released and yesterday I began getting this notice from Time Machine:
"The backup disk ran out of space unexpectedly. Time Machine will try to make more space available by removing expired backups during the next scheduled backup."
I have a one terra external hard drive with exclusively Time Machine. It says it has 3.4 gigabytes available, but isn't deleting old backups and making room for new, like before. I tried the "encrypting" solution, but it still keeps on giving me this message. Should I erase and format? If so, what option should I chose to format?
My Hard Drive has 240 gigabytes, so 1Tb should be more than enough.
Thank you!
Gloria

SuperDuper and Time Machine are two completely different backup utilities. If you want something like what SuperDuper does then don't use Time Machine. You have many other options that won't use up all the space on your backup drive:
Backup Software Recommendations
Carbon Copy Cloner
Data Backup
Deja Vu
SuperDuper!
Synk Pro
Tri-Backup
Others may be found at VersionTracker or MacUpdate.
Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on backup and restore. Also read How to Back Up and Restore Your Files.
Do the following to erase your drive:
Erase a Drive
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.

"Your Time Machine back up disk cannot be found." What does this mean?

I have an external hard drive that has never been disconnected from my iMac.
About 3 weeks ago, I started noticing that some of my iTunes library songs had "!" in front of them, and I wasn't able to find them to play. Over time, more and more iTunes songs had this problem. Someone recommended that I look in the hard drive library, for individual titles, and sure enough, there they were! I've been dragging them back to iTunes but this is going to take forever, because I'm a music teacher and I have a lot of songs in my library.
In this process, I decided to see if the songs were still on the external hard drive, the Time Machine. However, I get the message "your time machine back up disk cannot be found." I have no idea what this must mean, because the Time Machine has been plugged in for a couple of years now. But somehow, the computer doesn't recognize it any more.
Are the two problems related? And what should I do?

There is no relation.
Time Machine backups : my opinion is that this is a real waste of disk space, usefull for a few number of files but that's all ! In case of a reinstallation, everyone is performing a fresh installation ... In addition, after a certain time, TM erases the oldest files.
I personnaly backup only on mediums (CDs, DVDs, DVDs) etc ... then i'm always sure to find again what i'm searching for.
iTunes : a "!" means that you have moved from one place to another an audio file (or erasing it by error) and iTunes has just stored a link to the file and not the file inside its own folders. Probably you have never consolidated you library. The question is : where are you storing your files ? inside your mac plus inside external drives ? Please make sure, if you are managing often files in iTunes, to consolidate them in order for iTunes to copy them inside its own folders, else it becomes quickly a nightmare.
iTunes manages files on 3 different ways now :
- real files inside it
- links to files out of its folders
- files from iTunesMatch

Does Time Machine back up disk information in addition to all files?

Hi
I want to know if Time Machine back up disk information of my current Apple computer.
These information may include GUID/Apple Partition Map (such as partition names and layout). I check my backups in the Time Capsule, and it seems that only files in the hard drive have been backed up. I kind of know Partition Map doesn't reside in files, but hidden in the hard drive, so I wander if Time Machine does back up them? If so, where are they?
Thank you in advance!

DavidCQ wrote:
Thank you for your information! It seems that Time Machine can only do with Apple OS, and for other OS such as Windows , we need use other tools.
If it's Windows as a guest in a virtual machine, the backing file will get archived. That's certainly a backup, but a woefully inefficient one as it'll drag the whole backing file out each time. Most folks will thus disable that file in Time Machine.
If it's Windows via Boot Camp or Linux in a GPT partition, that'll require using Windows- or Linux-focused tools.
One of the few available OS-agnostic approaches for backing up data is a disk image. Time Machine is not an OS-agnostic backup tool.
As for Windows or Linux or OS X or most any other operating system, each has its own tools and requirements for performing an operating system backup and for recovering and restoring, and it's very rare for any other operating system around really has any clue what those requirements are for a given OS.

My newish MacBook Air was just lost to a coffee spill, and I need to migrate back to my MacBook Pro using a recent back-up (Time Machine to external disk). Can I do this?

My newish MacBook Air was just lost to a coffee spill, and I need to migrate back to my MacBook Pro using a recent back-up (Time Machine to external disk) for a few weeks. This same disk was used to back-up the Pro earlier, and to migrate from the Pro to the Air. Can I do this "back-migration" from the Air to the Pro? Is it maybe better just to migrate the specific folders (Outlook email, Office docs) I am sure I need?

Do not attempt to copy files/folders from a Time Machine backup. Only use the Time Machine application to restore from the backup.
Click on a Finder window and select Help from the Finder's Help menu. Search for "restore" and select "restore items backed up with time machine" from the hints list. You will find these two articles:
Recover items using Time Machine and Spotlight
If you use Time Machine to back up your Mac, you can use Time Machine with Spotlight to recover lost or deleted items.
Note: You can retrieve earlier versions of TextEdit documents from within TextEdit. For more information, see:
View and restore past versions of documents
Open a Finder window and type a search word or phrase in the search field in the upper-right corner.
Select a location to search in the location bar.
Refine the results by specifying search criteria. Narrow down Spotlight search results
Open the Time Machine menu in the menu bar, then choose Enter Time Machine.
Use the arrows and timeline to browse the Time Machine backups. Your search is performed in every window.
When you find the item you want to restore, select it, then click Restore.
The restored item is returned to its original location. For example, if the item was found in the Documents folder, it’s returned to the Documents folder.
Restore items backed up with Time Machine
If you use Time Machine to back up your Mac, you can easily bring back lost items or recover older versions of files.
You can use Time Machine within many apps. If the iCloud Documents & Data feature is turned on, you can recover older versions of iCloud documents as well as regular documents.
Open a window for the item you want to restore.For example, if you accidentally deleted a file from your Documents folder, open the Documents folder. To recover an email message, open your inbox in Mail. To recover an iCloud document, open the document’s app, choose File > Open, then click iCloud to view the iCloud documents for that app.If you’re missing an item from the desktop, you don’t need to open a window.
From the Time Machine menu in the menu bar, choose Enter Time Machine. A message may appear while your Mac connects to the backup disk.
Use the arrows and timeline to browse the snapshots and backups.White tick marks represent snapshots stored on your internal drive (portable computers only). Pink tick marks represent backups stored on your backup disk. If a tick mark appears dimmed or grayed, there’s no backup available or the backup disk is not connected.
For more information about an item, double-click it.The windows in Time Machine behave just like Finder windows, so you can open folders, click items in the sidebar, and use the search field in the upper-right corner of the window.
When you find the item you want to restore, select it, then click Restore. You can restore individual items, multiple items, folders, or your entire hard disk.The restored item is returned to its original location. For example, if the item was found in the Documents folder, it is returned to the Documents folder.

I'm trying to set up time machine to back up on an external HD connected t my airport extreme, but the disk doesn't show as an option in the time machine selecting a disk, any suggestion anyone? My mac "sees" the airport extreme ??

I'm trying to set up time machine to back up on an external HD connected t my airport extreme, but the disk doesn't show as an option in the time machine selecting a disk, any suggestion anyone? My mac "sees" the airport extreme ??

The first important thing to consider here is that Apple does not support Time Machine backups to a drive at the USB port on the AirPort Extreme, so that may likely have something to do with your difficulties.
If you want to continue to try this, the drive must be formatted in Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and you almost always have to use a powered USB hub with a drive at the port of the Extreme...even if the hard drive has its own power supply....because the port on the Extreme is under powered.
Most users who try this unsupported method have corruption difficulties sooner or later, but we do hear from some users who seem to be able to make it work.
The bottom line is that there is no support from Apple on this if you have difficulties, so you may want to consider a secondary backup plan for your important data.

"Can't connect to a current Time Machine back up disk"

OS X Yosemite, version 10.10.1
Macbook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Late 2013)
Processor 2.6 GHz Intel Core i5
Memory 8 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
Computer is supposed to seamlessly back up to Time Capsule via wi-fi, but ever since upgrading to Yosemite it's been broken. "can't connect to a current Time Machine back up disk" is the message that pops up, just after it shows me the files on my Time Machine for a split second. So it sees them, for a moment, then it pops up the message and freezes my computer. I have to do a hard reboot. I tried the instructions here: OS X Yosemite: If Time Machine can’t find your backup disk, and various instructions I've found on the internet regarding fixes from deleting plist files to whatever.
This is very annoying, I'd like to fix the problem. And also vent, this *****, this isn't why I purchase Apple products, it's a known problem and they aren't publishing a fix. Apple isn't very elegant anymore, it's cumbersome, troublesome, and I'm wondering why I'm spending the extra when those were the benefits I was paying for.

Apple isn't very elegant anymore, it's cumbersome, troublesome, and I'm wondering why I'm spending the extra when those were the benefits I was paying for.
Don't upgrade next time until the following version is out.. I updated not long ago to Mountain Lion.. and it works very nicely. Apple is playing MS game.. don't fix the problems.. just release a new fangled OS. So issues that have existed over Mavericks and all its updates are still there and in fact exacerbated in Yosemite.
To fix your issue.. You may need to do some major work.. did you upgrade or clean install Yosemite??
I guess it is too much to ask if you still have your previous OS install intact?? Making a bootable clone before updating is a necessity now IMHO.
TM does not really allow you to go back to the previous OS.. but you can clean install Mavericks or whatever you used and then recover your files.
To fix Yosemite a clean install can be a big help. Especially as wireless is a major flaw.
Do you own the thunderbolt to ethernet adapter? It is like $35 and a well worthwhile gadget to own.. since I think your mac has no ethernet port.
See if it works ok by ethernet.
Otherwise factory reset the TC and try mounting it manually in finder by IP address, not name.
ie in Finder use Go, Connect to server and type in the IP.. thusly
SMB://10.0.1.1 (replace with actual IP)
It is a bit tricky if the IP is not static.. but start there and see what happens.
Remember to save the password to the TC in the keychain when asked.

Can I encrypt the time machine back up disk?

I have about 62GB on my time machine back up disk. It just occured to me that anybody who gets a hold of my back up disk, has all my info. Is there anyway to encrypt the back up disk, and password protect it?
If there is will I still be able to use this back up in case of data loss from my computer?
Thanks.

You can't restore a Time Machine backup made with Snow Leopard onto a system with Tiger. You can, but you will damage Mac OS X.
In order to restore your Time Machine backup, you should have your Snow Leopard disc. Then, insert it and hold the C key while your MacBook Pro is starting. Finally, choose your language, go to Utilities menu (on the menu bar), choose the option to restore the backup and follow its steps, so you will recover Mac OS X Snow Leopard

Time Machine reports issue backing up to Time Capsule

Ever since I have upgraded to 10.6.4, I have been unable to complete a Time Machine backup. My backup volume is contained on a 2TB Time Capsule. Paraphrasing the error message, "Time Machine reports that it is unable to backup due to a problem with the disk, this problem may be temporary, try again later."
Has anyone seen this? Any suggestions?

The exact error message reported:
The Backup was not performed because an error occurred while copying files to the backup disk.
The problem may be temporary. Try again later to back up. If the problem persists, use Disk Utility to repair your backup disk.
I used Disk Utility on the external disk, and also ended up just erasing the volume on this disk, and attempting a fresh backup. Still no go.
The Time Capsule is connected directly to the iMac via Ethernet.

Time Machine reported 'volume is read only' & rolled back to old state

I've been in love with Time Machine ever since Leopard arrived. This has all come crashing down over the last few days...
Firstly I got a new 1tb drive, so I mirrored my old TM drive (using SuperDuper), and all seemed to be fine – backups were chugging along for a week or so as normal on the new, bigger drive.
A few days ago I got a time machine error stating that "The backup volume is read only". I thought this was strange as the drive was working without issue for a week. I checked permissions, format, etc and all were set correctly. I restarted and Time Machine kicked back in and all seemed to work fine other the fact that there seemed to be no backups created for 6 hours before I got the error message. Then I made a scary realisation, somehow the files on my computer had been restored to a state from 6 hours prior, all the work I'd done for the morning was gone.
I put this down to a one off glitch (stupid, stupid, stupid). I've today got the same "backup volume is read only" message again, and this time around my files have been restored to a state from 3 days ago. Fortunately this time around Time Machine has a backup of the important stuff a few hours ago.
I am now very worried about using the same disk with Time Machine. I also have no idea if Time Machine is the culprit (but logic tells me with the rolling back of files it must be). What should I do? How can I figure out what is going on?

This may fix the "read only" problem:
What to do if Time Machine reports you don't have permission
This was posted in the Apple Discussions by V.K. I have only modified it slightly to be more generic.
The problem seems to be that 10.5.6 changes permissions on a file so that even the root user doesn't have write peivileges. I have no idea why they did this. The workaround suggested in [an]other post will probably work, too, but i did something less drastic. Instead of deleting the file I changed permissions on it, and it worked just fine. An added benefit is that the permission change seems to stick, so you don't have to delete the file every time you change a drive.
[Open the Terminal application in your Utilities folder. At the prompt [enter] the following command:
sudo chmod 644 /volumes/"TM drive name"/.xxxxxxxxxxxx
The name of the file .xxxxxxxxxxxx is based on the MAC address of your computer and will be different for every computer. Put the name of the TM drive in the above and keep the quotes.
You'll have to enter your admin password (which you won't see) which is normal.
This was edited by Kappy just for cleanup.
Enable Finder to Show Invisible Files and Folders
Open the Terminal application in your Utilities folder. At the prompt enter or paste the following command line then press RETURN.
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE
To turn off the display of invisible files and folders enter or paste the following command line and press RETURN.
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles FALSE
Alternatively you can use one of the numerous third-party utilities such as TinkerTool or ShowHideInvisibleFiles - VersionTracker or MacUpdate.

Time Machine reports error, Disk Utility says disk is OK!

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