Time Machine says it will take months for the first backup.

Time Machine said it would take over a month for the first backup on my new Mac. I figured it would get its act together overnight, but when I got up this morning, it said 160 days.
Here are my specs:
Mac mini 2.3 GHz Intel Core i5 (Macmini5,1)
2 GB RAM, 500 GB internal HD
Mac OS X 10.7.2 (current on updates)
1 TB Seagate
Connected through FireWire 800
614.32 GB available
Disk Utility verifies there are no problems
I used the same drive for Time Machine on the Power Mac with no problems. And it's communicating fine with the Mac mini -- I transferred all of my music, photos, applications, and other documents very quickly. Spotlight has finished indexing -- there is no dot in the magnifying glass in the upper right corner of the screen. Activity Monitor looks normal. Right now, the CPU is between about 70 and 95% idle, inactive memory is about 225 MB, and page outs are at 148 KB.
I started Time Machine again an hour or so ago, and it said "About 3 days" right at first, but the number is going up quickly. It isn't completely stuck -- the number of items is slowly going down and the MB backed up is slowly going up (not as quickly as the number of days is going up).
Right now, it says, "Backing up 760,527 items" and "81.4 MB of 222.37 GB – About 104 days."

Benjamin McDaniel wrote:
Disk Utility verifies there are no problems
Did you run Repair Disk on your backups, and Verify Disk on your internal HD, and both said " . . . appears to be OK"?
If so, Spotlight may be indexing your backups (Lion re-indexes everything, and that may not show the dot in the Spotlight icon).
A clue may be lurking in your logs. Use the widget in #A1 of Time Machine - Troubleshooting to display the backup messages from your logs. See if there are repeated "indexing" messages. If so, the index may be damaged. See the pink box in #D2 of the same link.

Similar Messages

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

Is Time Machine under Snow Leopard faster only for the initial backup?

A few days ago, I upgraded to Snow Leopard -- via clean install, manual reinstallation of apps, etc. So understandably, the first Time Machine backup to a preexisting store on an original 500 GB Time Capsule is going to be huge and take a long time. Apple claims that TM is 40% faster on the initial backup, but are there speed improvements as well? I was surprised by the slowness; I started it before going to bed, and it wasn't nearly done when I woke up:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1770
Jan 6 01:29:52 Musa com.apple.backupd[438]: Copied 8.3 GB of 59.3 GB, 9299 of 250057 items
Jan 6 02:29:52 Musa com.apple.backupd[438]: Copied 9.6 GB of 59.3 GB, 35209 of 250057 items
Jan 6 03:29:52 Musa com.apple.backupd[438]: Copied 11.5 GB of 59.3 GB, 48441 of 250057 items
Jan 6 04:29:52 Musa com.apple.backupd[438]: Copied 12.9 GB of 59.3 GB, 109846 of 250057 items
Jan 6 05:29:53 Musa com.apple.backupd[438]: Copied 17.4 GB of 59.3 GB, 140388 of 250057 items
Jan 6 06:29:54 Musa com.apple.backupd[438]: Copied 26.1 GB of 59.3 GB, 151723 of 250057 items
Jan 6 07:29:54 Musa com.apple.backupd[438]: Copied 36.9 GB of 59.3 GB, 167431 of 250057 items
Jan 6 08:20:04 Musa com.apple.backupd[438]: Copied 219433 files (38.0 GB) from volume Gigas.
The throughput rate is quite variable, but at its best, it's only about 2.7 MB/sec. Is that to be expected, or would I have to start a new backup to see speed improvements?

Kappy wrote:
i'd say you are concerned over nothing.
Not sure I agree. Look at this system.log output:
Jan 6 19:54:22 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Starting standard backup
Jan 6 19:54:22 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Attempting to mount network destination using URL: afp://odysseus@Time%20Capsule.afpovertcp.tcp.local/odysseus
Jan 6 19:54:30 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Mounted network destination using URL: afp://odysseus@Time%20Capsule.afpovertcp.tcp.local/odysseus
Jan 6 19:54:33 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Disk image /Volumes/odysseus/Musa_002332d5c37e.sparsebundle mounted at: /Volumes/Backup of Musa
Jan 6 19:54:33 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Backing up to: /Volumes/Backup of Musa/Backups.backupdb
Jan 6 19:54:42 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Node requires deep traversal:/ reason:must scan subdirs|
Jan 6 20:00:50 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Compacting storage: 72.07 GB requested (including padding), 58.36 GB available before compacting
Jan 6 20:00:50 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Stopping backup.
Jan 6 20:00:50 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Backup canceled.
Jan 6 20:00:53 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Ejected Time Machine disk image.
Jan 6 20:00:53 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Compacting backup disk image to recover free space
Jan 6 20:01:12 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Completed backup disk image compaction
Jan 6 20:01:12 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Starting standard backup
Jan 6 20:01:12 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Network destination already mounted at: /Volumes/odysseus
Jan 6 20:01:14 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Disk image /Volumes/odysseus/Musa_002332d5c37e.sparsebundle mounted at: /Volumes/Backup of Musa
Jan 6 20:01:14 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Backing up to: /Volumes/Backup of Musa/Backups.backupdb
Jan 6 20:01:20 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Node requires deep traversal:/ reason:must scan subdirs|
Jan 6 20:07:26 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Starting pre-backup thinning: 72.07 GB requested (including padding), 58.36 GB available
Jan 6 20:10:46 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Deleted backup /Volumes/Backup of Musa/Backups.backupdb/Musa/2010-01-03-131536: 58.42 GB now available
Jan 6 20:12:10 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Deleted backup /Volumes/Backup of Musa/Backups.backupdb/Musa/2010-01-04-094152: 58.52 GB now available
Jan 6 20:13:02 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Deleted backup /Volumes/Backup of Musa/Backups.backupdb/Musa/2010-01-04-073331: 58.57 GB now available
Jan 6 20:13:02 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Stopping backup.
Jan 6 20:13:02 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Backup canceled.
Jan 6 20:13:08 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Ejected Time Machine disk image.
Jan 6 20:13:08 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Compacting backup disk image to recover free space
Jan 6 20:13:30 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Completed backup disk image compaction
Jan 6 20:13:30 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Starting standard backup
Jan 6 20:13:30 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Network destination already mounted at: /Volumes/odysseus
Jan 6 20:13:33 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Disk image /Volumes/odysseus/Musa_002332d5c37e.sparsebundle mounted at: /Volumes/Backup of Musa
Jan 6 20:13:33 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Backing up to: /Volumes/Backup of Musa/Backups.backupdb
Jan 6 20:13:41 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Node requires deep traversal:/ reason:must scan subdirs|
Jan 6 20:19:36 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Starting pre-backup thinning: 72.07 GB requested (including padding), 58.57 GB available
Jan 6 20:20:38 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Deleted backup /Volumes/Backup of Musa/Backups.backupdb/Musa/2010-01-04-071252: 58.58 GB now available
Jan 6 20:20:38 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Removed all 1 expired backups, more space is needed - deleting oldest backups to make room
Jan 6 20:25:17 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Deleted backup /Volumes/Backup of Musa/Backups.backupdb/Musa/2009-07-31-231155: 60.81 GB now available
Jan 6 20:25:17 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Deleted 2 backups: oldest backup is now Aug 15, 2009
Jan 6 20:25:17 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Stopping backup.
Jan 6 20:25:20 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Backup canceled.
Jan 6 20:25:24 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Ejected Time Machine disk image.
Jan 6 20:25:24 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Compacting backup disk image to recover free space
Jan 6 20:26:39 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Completed backup disk image compaction
Jan 6 20:26:39 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Starting standard backup
Jan 6 20:26:39 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Network destination already mounted at: /Volumes/odysseus
Jan 6 20:26:41 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Disk image /Volumes/odysseus/Musa_002332d5c37e.sparsebundle mounted at: /Volumes/Backup of Musa
Jan 6 20:26:41 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Backing up to: /Volumes/Backup of Musa/Backups.backupdb
Jan 6 20:26:49 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Node requires deep traversal:/ reason:must scan subdirs|
Jan 6 20:32:46 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Starting pre-backup thinning: 72.07 GB requested (including padding), 60.81 GB available
Jan 6 20:32:46 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: No expired backups exist - deleting oldest backups to make room
Jan 6 20:47:38 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Deleted backup /Volumes/Backup of Musa/Backups.backupdb/Musa/2009-08-15-182619: 65.12 GB now available
Jan 6 20:47:38 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Deleted 1 backups: oldest backup is now Aug 25, 2009
Jan 6 20:47:38 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Stopping backup.
Jan 6 20:47:41 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Backup canceled.
Jan 6 20:47:47 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Ejected Time Machine disk image.
Jan 6 20:47:47 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Compacting backup disk image to recover free space
Jan 6 20:49:36 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Completed backup disk image compaction
Jan 6 20:49:36 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Starting standard backup
Jan 6 20:49:36 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Network destination already mounted at: /Volumes/odysseus
Jan 6 20:49:38 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Disk image /Volumes/odysseus/Musa_002332d5c37e.sparsebundle mounted at: /Volumes/Backup of Musa
Jan 6 20:49:38 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Backing up to: /Volumes/Backup of Musa/Backups.backupdb
Jan 6 20:49:46 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Node requires deep traversal:/ reason:must scan subdirs|
Jan 6 20:55:48 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Starting pre-backup thinning: 72.06 GB requested (including padding), 65.12 GB available
Jan 6 20:55:48 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: No expired backups exist - deleting oldest backups to make room
Jan 6 21:05:11 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Deleted backup /Volumes/Backup of Musa/Backups.backupdb/Musa/2009-08-25-185228: 67.32 GB now available
Jan 6 21:05:11 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Deleted 1 backups: oldest backup is now Sep 1, 2009
Jan 6 21:05:11 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Stopping backup.
Jan 6 21:05:13 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Backup canceled.
Jan 6 21:05:22 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Ejected Time Machine disk image.
Jan 6 21:05:22 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Compacting backup disk image to recover free space
Jan 6 21:06:45 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Completed backup disk image compaction
Jan 6 21:06:45 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Starting standard backup
Jan 6 21:06:45 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Network destination already mounted at: /Volumes/odysseus
Jan 6 21:06:48 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Disk image /Volumes/odysseus/Musa_002332d5c37e.sparsebundle mounted at: /Volumes/Backup of Musa
Jan 6 21:06:48 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Backing up to: /Volumes/Backup of Musa/Backups.backupdb
Jan 6 21:06:57 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Node requires deep traversal:/ reason:must scan subdirs|
Jan 6 21:12:57 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Starting pre-backup thinning: 72.06 GB requested (including padding), 67.32 GB available
Jan 6 21:12:57 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: No expired backups exist - deleting oldest backups to make room
Jan 6 21:25:51 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Deleted backup /Volumes/Backup of Musa/Backups.backupdb/Musa/2009-09-01-060212: 69.89 GB now available
Jan 6 21:25:51 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Deleted 1 backups: oldest backup is now Sep 8, 2009
Jan 6 21:25:51 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Stopping backup.
Jan 6 21:25:53 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Backup canceled.
Jan 6 21:26:00 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Ejected Time Machine disk image.
Jan 6 21:26:00 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Compacting backup disk image to recover free space
Jan 6 21:27:30 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Completed backup disk image compaction
Jan 6 21:27:30 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Starting standard backup
Jan 6 21:27:30 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Network destination already mounted at: /Volumes/odysseus
Jan 6 21:27:33 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Disk image /Volumes/odysseus/Musa_002332d5c37e.sparsebundle mounted at: /Volumes/Backup of Musa
Jan 6 21:27:33 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Backing up to: /Volumes/Backup of Musa/Backups.backupdb
Jan 6 21:27:41 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Node requires deep traversal:/ reason:must scan subdirs|
Jan 6 21:33:37 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Starting pre-backup thinning: 72.06 GB requested (including padding), 69.89 GB available
Jan 6 21:33:37 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: No expired backups exist - deleting oldest backups to make room
Jan 6 21:45:33 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Deleted backup /Volumes/Backup of Musa/Backups.backupdb/Musa/2009-09-08-081225: 72.34 GB now available
Jan 6 21:45:33 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Pre-backup thinning completed successfully: 1 backups were deleted
Jan 6 21:45:33 Musa com.apple.backupd[7571]: Backup date range was shortened: oldest backup is now Sep 15, 2009

HT201250 which external hard drive should I choose/use as I am setting up Time Machine on my MacBook Pro 15 for the very first time?

Which external hard drive should I use/choose as I am setting up Time Machine on my MacBook Pro 15 for the very first time?

Any of these SATA HDDs that are at least the same size as your internal HDD (preferably larger capacity). In addition you will need an enclosure, preferably one with a Firewire as well as a USB connection.
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/hard-drives/2.5-Notebook/
Ciao.

HT201250 I don't store any files on my computer, I store them on a hd. Can I restore docs from my hard drive if they were backed up using time machine? And will it restore if the hd isn't even there? Like what if it got stolen or destroyed.

I don't store any files on my computer, I store them on a hd. Can I restore docs from my hard drive if they were backed up using time machine? And will it restore if the hd isn't even there? Like what if it got stolen or destroyed.

ehphotograph wrote:
Can I restore docs from my hard drive if they were backed up using time machine?
Yes.
And will it restore if the hd isn't even there? Like what if it got stolen or destroyed.
Also yes.
Directly-connected external drives (ie, USB, FireWire, Thunderbolt) are not backed-up by default. You must remove them from the exclusion list in Time Machine Preferences > Options to get them backed-up. (Network drives cannot be backed-up.)
And they must be formatted for a Mac -- any variation of Mac OS Extended.
If the drive is connected, you can browse or restore normally -- just go to the folder or document in question and Enter Time Machine.
If the drive is not connected, it's a bit different. See #E3 of Time Machine - Troubleshooting.
Message was edited by: Pondini

When I tried to back up my computer, Time Machine says 'an error occurred while creating the backup folder.' When I check the side of the partition where I manually saved old files, the folders are there, but NONE of the files are.

I haven't backed up my computer in over a year. When I tried to back it up today, Time Machine says 'an error occurred while creating the backup folder.' When I check the side of the partition where I manually saved old photos and documents (including all the pictures from the year I studied abroad/traveled a bunch), the folders are there, but NONE of the files are.
Does anyone have any idea what the problem might be, or how I could fix it? I really don't want to lose all those photos

So you were doing a time machine backup to another partition on the same hard drive? Just trying to gather some information so i can provide a helpful response.

Time Capsule and Time Machine: How can I force Ethernet Connection for the first backup ?

Hi,
How can I force the Time Capsule - Time Machine Couple to communicate via an Ethernet cable for the initial backup without changing the wi-fi configuration of the Time Capsule?
I do not want to change the wi-fi configuration of the TC because it appeared that I was not able to restaure it proprerly after a first "ethernet backup".
Please note that I do not want to use my TC to extend my wi-fi network nor create a new one. But, when I disable the wi-fi on the TC, as I want to restaure it, I only can see "expend" or "create a network" options within the wirless config page of AirPort Utlity; "Connect to a network" is not shown in the list!
Thx a lot for your attention,
François
MBP 15' mid-2010
OS X 10.8.2 (12C54)
Time Capsule end-2011 (2TB - v7.6.1)

You MUST change the TC mode to something other than join a wireless network.. because in that mode, TC turns off the ethernet ports.
The join a wireless network is hidden option because apple do not support it and it works poorly.
You can access it by holding down the option key.
You can also save the current settings and restore them after you finish the ethernet backup.
Please note using join means double hop wireless and your TC data speed to the Mac will be extremely slow.. this will also affect your other internet connections and any other computers on the wireless network as it will use most of the capacity for much longer period than directly connecting to the TC.
Basically that is why Apple do not support it.. it is lousy way to work a TC in a network.

Time Machine restore process will take 59 hours!?

I just received my iMac 17" Core Duo from my local apple store where they had replaced my LCD. Prior to taking it in, I did a full Time Machine backup (about 100GB). I booted up from the Leopard install DVD and selected from the menu-"restore system from backup" after selecting my backup drive it then proceeded to do the restore. So far (about 40 mins) its at 1.0% with *59 hours remaining*.
Is this normal???
Details: Connecting to my mac via USB with a Seagate 500GB external drive. iMac has capacity of 149 GB.
Thanks for any help!

Hi! That's probably correct though as it starts making progress the time may decrease faster than its estimates. That's the reason for having a clone, it's faster. Tom

I NEED YOUR HELP GUYS!! I WAS DOWNLOADING OSX LION WHEN MY NET CONNECTION STOPPED. THE ICON DISAPPEARED AND IT WILL TAKE 48HOURS FOR THE INTERNET CONNECTION TO BE RESTORED. WHAT SHOULD I DO? PLEASE HELP ME. IM NOT TECHIE AT ALL SO PLEASE.. PLEASE HELP ME.

The internet was working fine til 10:31am philippine time. Was downloading OSX Lion, at that time it was somewhere half. Then all of a sudden internet failed and lost connection. Called my ISP immediately and was told it would take 24-48hours for the service to be restored. THen after ending the call the OSx Lion icon disappeared. I dont know what to do. Im not techie at all. Please guys. HELP ME>

Hey allan. I dont know. Nothing seems to change. I still dont have net connection. Im at a net shop right now. (Not using mac.) What will happen to the OSX Lion that I payed for? The icon was gone. Im still in the middle of downloading it.

Time machine says: An error occurred while creating the backup folder

I noticed the time machine icon showing an error in the menu bar, and it displayed the following error message: Unable to complete backup. An error occurred while creating the backup folder.
This has happened 2-3 times. If I remount the drive the Time Machine works fine for about a day before giving me the same error again. I have Time Machine set to use one of the partitions on my 2TB external usb hard drive.
I used Time Machine Buddy to look at the logs and it says this:
Starting standard backup
Backing up to: /Volumes/TIME/Backups.backupdb
Error: (22) setxattr for key:com.apple.backupd.HostUUID path:/Volumes/TIME/Backups.backupdb/grasshopper size:37
Backup failed with error: 2

I think this is not just a problem with time machine because I had the same problem with a 4 drive raid array that was created on my MBP, then when I bought my MP i hooked it up and there were immediately problems similar to your description. First the array would spin up but was very slow to copy to. I tried to delete the array but was unsuccessful. ultimately i had to re boot the array as an incomplete (3 drives instead of 4) then zero the drives and creat a new set. I used 3 instead of 4 this time just in case it was a power issue. The new array worked fine and copied files at acceptable speeds. Then after working in itunes for about 2 hours, i started getting spinning balls which is strange for a MP 6 core with 16 gb ram and a 5870 with a striped "0" work disk. It was the raid set again. I realized that it must have something to do with conflicts between a program indirectly using the drive(mds,spotlight,time machine etc.) and the program diirectly using the drive(itunes). Anyway...this worked for me.
the instructions in the following thread fixed for the time being.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3200951?start=0&tstart=0

Time Machine says "read-only", "can't repair", & won't backup to external HD.

I really, REALLY do not want to start over a lose all my past backups. I also do not have another external hard drive this big and can't really afford a new one any time soon.
Is there a way to fix this without too much trouble?
It was running fine just a few days ago. I unplug the HD from time to time and don't always start it when I start my computer.
I'm using a Western Digital My Book Studio (I believe) hard drive.
Help?

Nope, nope, nope. I tried all that the first time everything happened. I consider myself fairly computer savvy in that I usually do the general troubleshoots first.
I shut down the computer. Restarted the computer. Nothing after 30 min. So I shut it down and restarted again. Reset PRAM. Disk Utility + Mount. Disk Utility Repair Disk. Various other tricks. Nothing.
It finally showed in the Finder for some reason and in fear I bought a new hard drive and copied my backup files. Just did that today.
I'd love to use the same hard drive, but it won't allow me do anything for some reason saying I don't have permission.
I'm just going to use the new hard drive and reformat the hard drive again from scratch.
Thanks for the reply though.

Long time computer user looking into server techs for the first time

Hello there,
I was hoping to get some guidance on if we should upgrade to a server or not. We run a small three person business from our home doing audio and video work. Our main goal is to keep things organized and digital organization is not our strong suit as artists.
So, we would need large shared space for media and project files (gigabit ethernet is fine) as well as a large shared Time Machine for our three workstation's system drives. Also, the idea of a shared ical and shared contacts would be really helpful. None of this needs to be open to the public over the internet (security from the internet is greatly preferred), all just needs to be accessed via ethernet and local wifi via AirPort (iPhones for shared contacts and ical).
The only thing stopping us is the idea that a lot of this can be done without the $500 server software and the headaches of setting up something completely new to us. I have tried asking some Apple store reps for advice but have yet to find anyone there that can give me a for sure answer, which is why I am here to get some professional opinions. So the question, do we need to go the server route to have all these features even though none of it will go though the internet?
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks all!

do we need to go the server route to have all these features even though none of it will go though the internet?
"need"? no, but you might prefer to do so.
Let me explain.
First off, there's nothing in Mac OS X Server, per se, that says it's designed for internet-facing applications. Sure, some of the services are internet-leaning, but don't think that internet/non-internet is the deciding factor of whether to use Server over client.
The fact is that much of what you describe can be done via Mac OS X Client, but it can be done much easier with Mac OS X Server. You might find that the hours you save, and the productivity you gain far outweighs the cost of Mac OS X Server.
Case in point, you have three workstations, right? Is each one used by an individual? or are they shared?
If they're shared, would it be easier for any user to be able to log on at any workstation and get their normal desktop environment, preferences, etc? That's something that's easy to do with Mac OS X Server, but not via Mac OS X Client.
You've already touched on shared iCal and contacts, neither of which are part of Mac OS X client, so you'll have to decide how much they're worth to you.
At the end of the day, you'll have to decide for yourself. Of course, you could take the easy option and defer until Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion) comes later in the summer, in which case the server functions are included as optional installs for no additional cost (i.e. buy client and get the Server for free).

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See Pondini's TM FAQs, for details.

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Hi,
Welcome to the  Discussions
Please tells us which version of iChat was moved to the new computer ?
What OS is the new computer at otherwise ?
I would guess you will have to do th Hard way
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1486891&tstart=0
and include the Support folders in any Reinstall
Please note the Post time I add to my post as it may be some time before I post again.
10:58 PM Wednesday; September 2, 2009
Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"

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