Time machine stopped automatic backups - works fine manually

Hi there - I checked but didn't see this issue addressed anywhere:
- I am using Time Machine wirelessly connected to an external drive through an Airport Extreme
- Previously, once I "helped" the mac recognize that the drive existed (I seemed to have to do this every time I woke the macbook up from sleep), it would happily backup every hour.
- But, now, it will not back up unless I manually go to the menu bar and select "backup now". Then it does fine, but I shouldn't have to remember to do it all the time, should I?
Anything I can do to get this back to automated?
Thanks,
Dan

Hey Dan - I found your post because I was having the same problem. I don't know if you've already resolved the issue. While mine was self-inflicted, I'm wondering if this solution will work for you, too.... there is a free application out there called Time Machine Editor that lets you custom schedule Time Machine backups. It "updates a system configuration file to change the Time Machine scheduling." I'd forgotten that I'd downloaded it and played around with it and it was overriding the schedule.... You can install it, revert the settings to default and then delete it and apparently, it's completely uninstalled...or customize your schedule and hang on to it... I hope that helps! Let me know...
Here's the link:
http://timesoftware.free.fr/timemachineeditor/
eric

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Time Machine Stopped Automatic Backup

Backing up to a capsule.
It's not backing up automatically, despite saying that it is.
Also, I need to constantly keep telling it where the capsule is; it keeps forgetting it's there.
Any tips?

nope, not shutting anything down. Time machine goes on automatically when i turn on the laptop and the capsule is always on. It might have something to do with this other annoying thing TM is doing, saying that all the back-ups took place at 07:55 - any ideas?

Time Machine stopped doing backups

All of a sudden, Time Machine won't do any more backups. I'm not getting any error messages or anything like that - it's just not backing up automatically. My last backup was OVER an hour ago. I can do a 'Back Up Now' manually, and it will work. But the *automatic* backups simply will not happen. Why is it doing this, and how can I fix it?
Yes, I've read that Pondini thing, but nowhere in it does it mention what to do if TM just decides not to automatically back up anymore.

If you have more than one user account, you must be logged in as an administrator to carry out these instructions.
Launch the Terminal application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.
Triple-click the line below to select it, then drag or copy into the Terminal window — do not type — and press return:
sudo launchctl list | grep backupd
You'll be prompted for your login password, which won't be displayed when you type it. You may get a one-time warning not to screw up. You don't need to post the warning. If you don’t have a login password, you’ll need to set one before you can run the command.
Post any lines of output that appear below what you entered — the text, please, not a screenshot.

Time Machine - stops the backup

Hi,
I am trying to do a Time Machine backup, but it stops at some point (after around 800 MB). I already tried three different USB drives, including one with former TIme Machine backups. What should I do?
Thanks in advance,
Pedro.

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

Anyone else with Macbook Pro that keeps logging out in Time Machine, stopping the backup?

Okay
My backup drive bit the dust, big time, so I got a fresh external, but cannot get Time Machine to work.
13" Macbook Pro keeps terminating Time Machine and logging out when on power cord when going to screen saver.
I've set the screen saver to start after NEVER, the computer and display sleep to NEVER in Energy Saver, as I have it on an external monitor.
Still does not stay logged in.
Any other ideas?
I seriously need to back up.
MacBook Pro
MacBookPro8,1
Intel Core i7
2.7 GHz
Processors:1
Cores:2
L2 Cache (per Core):256 KB
L3 Cache:4 MB
Memory:4 GB

From the menu bar, select
 ▹ System Preferences... ▹ Security & Privacy
If there's a closed padlock icon in the lower left corner of the preference pane, click it and enter your login password when prompted.
Click the Advanced button and, in the sheet that opens, uncheck the box marked
Log out after … minutes of inactivity

After the 10.5.6 update Time Machine stops working

After the Mac Os X 10.5.6 update Time Machine won't back up my Mac. In an effort fix the problem I deselected my Western Digital External Drive-My Book Essential Edition and then reselect it and I got the following message You do not have appropriate access privileges to save file “.001b63aae271” in folder “Time Machine External”. I also tried to repair permissions in Disk Utility, That didn't work. Then earlier today I found out I'm not the only one with these errors. How do I fix this?

Hello,
here is what I found on http://programminggems.wordpress.com/2008/12/16/mac-10-5-6/
"1. Click on the magnifying glass in the top right (Spotlight) of the menu bar.
2. In the text entry field type “Terminal” (in all these steps, type what is in the quotes, but not the quote characters themselves) and press Return.
3. In the new window that opens, type “cd /Volumes” and press Return [note the space in the command].
4. Type “ls -al” [the "l" is a lowercase "L"], press Return, and note the name of your backup volume.
5. Type “cd ” (no Return yet), type the first few letters of your backup volume name, and press the Tab key, then press Return.
6. Type “ls -alF” and press Return and note the file with a name that matches the error message.
7. Type “sudo rm ” (no Return yet), type the first few letters of the file name that is reported in the error and press Tab to get the full name on the command line, and then press Return. (Alternatively, you can change ownership as described in my comment #3.)
8. When asked for your password, enter it and press Return.
9. Type “ls -alF” and press Return and note that the file is gone.
10. Type “exit” and press Return to close Terminal (then use the menu to Quit).
11. Retry the Time Machine configuration."
It works fine for me, thanks Mr Foster!

Stopping automatic backups

Hi all,
I was wondering if someone could please tell me if it's possible to stop Time Machine doing automatic backups as it's doing them about three or four times a day and it's getting a little frustrating? If possible, I'd like to be able to manually choose to do them once a week.
Many thanks in advance,
Stu

Agree with all the post below;
I would STRONGLY reccomend that you back up regularly though; the longer you leave it, the more data you WILL loose.
Also there are 'problems' with time machine, in that longer perioeds without back up, can take a long time, if it backs up on its own every hour or so, it will run quite happily in the background, and be very quick.
Dont worry about radio waves, WiFi is very low powered, and do a 'search networks' and see how many others are 'live' all around you anyway; as for 3g/mobile phones that is whole other discussion, and you certaily can not switch those networks off !

Time Machine fails to backup HD and stalls computer when backing up to external HD (Western Digital WD5000MT) when using Firewire 800 but works fine using USB

I have a mid 2012 MBP (MacbookPro9,1) running Mountain Lion 10.8.2. When I start a Time Machine backup to an external Western Digital HD (WD5000MT) connected using a Firewire 800 cable, my open programs stop responding and in general my computer freezes up not allowing me to open activity monitor or the console utility. I can't even shut down or restart my computer and must hard boot to reset. Though removing the firewire cable that goes to the external HD can sometimes get my system working again. However, the WD external HD also has a usb port and when I connect it to my computer via a USB cable, Time Machine seems to backup my system fine without stalling my computer. This same external HD worked fine with Firewire 800 using my old late 2007 MBP running snow leopard. I should note that my brother has the exact same model WD external HD and he also had issues with the firewire port on his MBP running mountain lion. I have run the disk utility checking for disk/file permission errors and the drive itself seems fine. I initially formatted that drive as ExFAT but while troubleshooting reformatted to HFS+ and still had the same issue. I tested using a different firewire 800 cable but still had the same issue. Can't think of anything else to do. I don't have another firewire-compatible device to test if it is the HD vs the firewire port. I would prefer to use the firewire port for quicker transfer speeds but I'm stuck with USB for now. Any suggestions?

Maybe these will help:
http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH11194
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3275 (note - older article)
Have you tried looking at the Western Digital web site to see if you can find anything?
http://support.wdc.com

Time Machine options are not working. I am unable to schedule automatic backups.

Time Machine options are not working. I am unable to schedule automatic backups. The On-Off button is grayed out. I can perform a backup manually.

Thanks for responding. I have an external disk with plenty of room. It is used only for backup of my computer. I get a backup by clicking on the Time Machine icon at the top of the page and select "Back Up Now." When I click on Time Machine Preferences, there is a box labeled "Options" which allows me to exclude items from backup and notify after old backups are deleted. There is no option to schedule a backup. The "OFF/ON" box is gray. For "Next Backup:" it says "Automatic backups off." I would like to turn it on.

Time Machin does not backup automatically

First backup worked fine, and also the subsequent hourly automatic backups. But then the automatic backup stopped, and it does no longer show the next backup time. I can again manually backup but the automatic backup does not work any longer.
Who has similar problems?

I am also having problems with TimeMachine failing to continue to backup.
I have reformatted (even though disk already had correct GUID format) a couple of times.
Here are my symptoms after about a dozen hourly backups:
TM gets itself in an endless loop.
It acts like it is performing a backup
the disk indicates it is busy
a *.inProgress file is created on the backup drive
my machine slows to a crawl, and
no new backups are created.
I really like the features of Time Machine, but can't seem to find a way to make it work for more than a day.

Time Machine Stopped Working After Update

I updated the most recent OSX 10.6.3 and disk utility etc. then suddenly my time machine stopped backing up to external disk attached to Airport Extreme. I have a Seagate drive attached to the AE. I can see the drive and I can see the time machine folders. If i go to TM preferences I can select the drive. But when it goes to back up error message says "backup disk not available." Itunes library is also on same disk (partitioned) and works fine.
Any help would be very, very appreciated!

EnergyExec wrote:
I updated the most recent OSX 10.6.3 and disk utility etc. then suddenly my time machine stopped backing up to external disk attached to Airport Extreme.
As Jolly Giant says, this is +*not supported by Apple.+* It does work, sometimes, for some folks (including me), but is not especially reliable. I cannot recommend strongly enough that you keep secondary backups, probably to an external HD, via CarbonCopyCloner, SuperDuper, or the like. Also note that your iTunes library on that disk is not being backed-up by Time Machine.
It's possible your backups are corrupted (that happens on occasion via an Airport, and may be why Apple doesn't support it). Try repairing them, per #A5 in the Time Machine - Troubleshooting *User Tip,* also at the top of the +Time Machine+ forum.
If Disk Utility can't repair them, it's possible +Disk Warrior+ or a similar app can. DW costs about $100, and is probably a good investment for the future, but there's no guarantee.
Otherwise, your only choices are to delete the sparse bundle or erase the partition and start over, or back up to a directly-attached disk (a much better solution).

Time machine stop working suddenly

not sure if it's related 10.5.6 upgrade but recently, I realize that the Time Machine stops working. I'm using a USB hard disc the backup drive. It's been working perfectly for a few months. But in the past 1 or 2 weeks, it doesn't back up anything at all. It always show "Preparing Backup..."... and that's it
I don't even know how to trouble-shoot! any help?

Did you find this:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1516
Assuming you did, how much of your HD is used, and how long did the initial TM backup take?
Since the initial backup succeeded, have you disconnected and reconnected your drive, or powered-down, or anything?
And how long has it said "preparing"?
Also, it's possible you might find something in the system log.
Use the Console app, in your Applications/Utilities folder. Click on Show Log List at the upper left, then navigate in the sidebar to your system.log (current) or system.log.0.bz2, etc (previous).
Most of what's in there is just info, and not intelligible to us mere mortals.
You're looking for messages from backupd, and/or backupd.helper. Copy anything suspicions and post them here. Maybe somebody can decipher them.

I use Time Machine with an external hard disc which has worked perfectly for some years. Recently Time Machine has aborted backups if the screen saver starts when back-up is in progress. I use a Maxtor OneTouch4 back-up system. Any ideas?

I use Time Machine with an external hard disc which has worked perfectly for some years. Recently Time Machine has aborted backups if the screen saver starts when back-up is in progress. I use a Maxtor OneTouch4 back-up system. Any ideas?
Has Apple recently up-dated my OS (Lion) such that every time the screen saver starts it disables Time Machine. I have to switch-off the computer and re-start in order to undertake a back-up. I have now switched of all screen savers.

Please read this whole message before doing anything.
This procedure is a diagnostic test. It’s unlikely to solve your problem. Don’t be disappointed when you find that nothing has changed after you complete it.
The purpose of this exercise is to determine whether the problem is caused by third-party system modifications that load automatically at startup or login. Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed for the test, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards. Boot in safe mode and log in to the account with the problem. The instructions provided by Apple are as follows:
Be sure your Mac is shut down.
Press the power button.
Immediately after you hear the startup tone, hold the Shift key. The Shift key should be held as soon as possible after the startup tone, but not before the tone.
Release the Shift key when you see the gray Apple icon and the progress indicator (looks like a spinning gear).
Safe mode is much slower to boot and run than normal, and some things won’t work at all, including wireless networking on certain Macs.
The login screen appears even if you usually log in automatically. You must know your login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin.
Test while in safe mode. Same problem(s)?
After testing, reboot as usual (i.e., not in safe mode.)

Time Machine stop at 150mb of backup data.

Hello!
I have a Western Digital MyBook Live 2TB (only ethernet) and when Time Machine starts to backup data it stops at 150mb. Then the "time-to-backup" shows 5 days left but dont increase the mb of the data transferred.
I tryed it wired and wireless. I tryed removing .inprogess file but dont work.
My macbook is a Late-2008 unibody model.
Anybody can help?
Thank you!

Using a third-party network device with Time Machine is unsupported by Apple, and may be unsafe. If it doesn't work, your only recourse is to the device vendor, who will blame Apple. Apple will blame the vendor. I suggest you back up either to a locally-attached external hard drive, or to a Time Capsule, or to a shared volume hosted on another Mac.

Old computer I had is OSX Snow Leopard with Entourage. New one is OSX Mavericks. Using Mail where are my addresses and old address book. Transferred old computer backup by Time Machine and other things work? Can't see a symbol for address book.

Old computer I had is OSX Snow Leopard with Entourage. New one is OSX Mavericks. Using Mail where are my addresses and old address book. Transferred old computer backup by Time Machine and other things work? Can;t see a symbol for address book.

Where are addresses kept on MAIL? I don;t like the new format at all. Frances
Begin forwarded message:
From: Frances Topping <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: - Old computer I had is OSX Snow Leopard with Entourage. New one is OSX Mavericks. Using Mail where are my addresses and old address book. Transferred old computer backup by Time Machine and other things work? Can't see a symbol for address book.
Date: August 25, 2014 at 9:46:01 AM EDT
To: discussions-replies <[email protected]>
Old Entourage is POP and new Mavericks MAIL is IMAP I believe. I don;t know how to export in the forms you mention. Frances

Time machine stopped automatic backups - works fine manually

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