Time Machine will not recognize current backup

Time Machine running on my MacBook Pro, and connected to a Drobo on a wireless network will no longer recognize the backup file. The file is a sparsebundle, and I can not reconnect it to Time Machine. I don't want to lose this backup and do not want to go thru the process of erasing the file and then starting a new Time Machine backup from scratch.
I would appeciate any help.
Thanks -
Dudley Warner

This was helpful, but was ridiculously complicated. Since this seems to happen to people periodically, it would be good to have a less complicated way to re-connect to the sparsebundle on a network volume.
Thanks -
Dudley Wanrer

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Time machine will not delete old backups

time macine will not delete old backups....is there a manual way to do it

Just let it run. It will manage itself fine, you may benefit though from reading Pondini's Time Machine FAQs

My Time Capsule is full of backups from Time Machine. Time Machine will not complete its backup. Any ideas?

My Time Machine does not complete its backup. It is using my 500 gig Time Capsule, which is full. Does anyone have a suggestion?

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 an abnormal 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 to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. 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.

Time machine will not perform initial backup

Hey,
time machine is not performing my initial backup, this is the error it gives
http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/6425/screenshot20100419at522.png
The error shows up anywhere from the first few megs to the first few gigs during the backup (and the backup is incredablly slow, I don't know why...(not like the apple videos where it goes 0.5gigs/s))
It is the second partition on a 1TB USB drive.
I tried several formats (pretty much everything in disk utilities).
How do I fix this?
Thanks
Message was edited by: Positron1234

Positron1234 wrote:
Shoot, my partition scheme is MBR and not GUID or Apple....
Is there anyway to fix this without wiping the entire harddrive (I don't have enough storage in everything that I have to store stuff to backup this entire harddrive (at least 10 years worth of stuff))
It's risky. iPartition, and perhaps some other 3rd-party apps, claims to be able to change formats and/or the partition map without erasing, but they very prominently recommend backing the drive up first. And it costs about half what a new HD will.
If the things in the other partition aren't backed-up some other way, your best bet might be to get a larger internal HD, so you can keep all your originals on it, and reformat the external and let TM start over.
Or, get a second drive, and let it back up both your internal HD and the current external.

Time Machine does not recognize previous backups in TC and starts new BUps

Time Machine (TM) seem not recognize previous back ups made in Time Capsule (TC) and begins a new copy of the back up every time, taking a lot of time.
The Time Capsule has an initial backup copy that I made several weeks ago. Subsequent backups seem to have disappear and the initial back up process is started over every time I make a backup, lasting several hours.
In the Control Panel of Time Machine, the Time Capsule disk has been selected as the place where the backup should be made.
The Time Capsule is not mounted in the desktop but can be seen as a Share resource.
Do you know why this is happening?
Is there any way that I can use the already existing initial backup in TC as a starting point for subsequent backups?
Your help will be much appreciated.

I resolved the problem of getting the computer to recognize that I had the authorization to change file names by myself. For anyone with a similar issue (insufficient authorization), the following are the steps I took to resolve the issue.
First, click on the external HD icon used for TM and chose "get info". In the info window goto the "Sharing & Permission" section where the +, - , action menu and lock are. Unlock the lock if it is locked. Verify that the Name used for the computer, user or administrator has "read & write" permission. Then go to the Action menu (the icon or design that looks like a sprocket) and choose "apply to enclosed items". In my case the HD went on noisily for a few hours before I decided to Force Quit. I then went back to the file name and changed it back to the way it was prior to my ill fated attempt to back up my other computer on the same HD.
I hope this will help anyone who has come across a similar issue.

Time Machine does not recognize older backups after restore

Leopard Server OSX.5.8, Mac Mini Intel
After a severe failure I had to restore the server (I used a fresh, spare Mini to restore to) from a Time Machine backup.
Everything went fine so far.
I tried to continue the backup on the same external harddrive, but the backup history is no more recognized by Time Machine, it want to backup the whole drive from the beginning.
The disk is full which is normally not a problem, as Time Machine deletes the oldest backups to deallocate space.
I don't want to lose the old history. What can be done to make Time Machine using this backup set again?

Hi Pondini,
I got it fixed today, thank you everyone for your help. The thing that ended up fixing it was deleting the hidden files ".com.apple.timemachine.supported" and ".002332b4a7fc" on the root directory of the time machine disk. Now my months worth of backups are viewable again!
I didn't find this on your website (maybe I didn't look hard enough). If it's not there, perhaps it would be a good thing to add to your site? Hopefully it will save a few people some frustration! Thanks for making the site - it looks like a great resource.
--Hayden

Time machine will not delete old backup when space is needed

Time machine says there is not enough space to complete backup yet will not delete old backups

Start with C4.
Time Machine Troubleshooting

Time Machine will not recognize hard drive

Time Machine tells me "You cannot open “Time Machine” preferences pane because it is not available to you at this time." My Lacie HD is on and mounted. I have erased it and repartitioned it and still get nothing. I get the would you like to set up TM prompt but then get the message above.

If you ever hear back from Lacie please post the result. I've given up on Time Machine for the time being. I've mostly given up on Leopard for the time being. I've partitioned my internal hard drive so I can boot in either Tiger or Leopard, and I figure I'll continue to work mostly in Tiger for the time being and apply updates to Leopard and maybe eventually it will work out. The other big problem I'm having with Leopard is the ability to repair permissions. Other than that, most programs seem to work well, although no big improvement over Tiger.
I am hugely disappointed and disillusioned. In June I became a convert from 20 years of Microsoft, and have been a huge Mac fanatic. My iMac was a gateway device to iPods and all things Mac. This experience brought me back to reality. I'll likely never go back MS, but the computer is just an appliance, and all things Apple are difinitely not "plug it in and it works". This is my worst experience with an upgrade ever.

Time Machine does not recognize my backup

I just did a clean install of Lion on my 2.16 GHz Intel Core Duo iMac. Before I did that, I made sure that everything was backed up on an external drive through Time Machine. Now I want to restore everything and when I enter Time Machine, all that is visible for back ups are those that were done after the clean install of Lion.
Thankfully, when I open the files on the external back up drive through Finder, I can still see all of the back ups that were completed, including the most recent that I want to use to restore my iMac.
I am considering another clean install to start the process again.
I am not sure what to do next. Any ideas?
Thanks!
Dean

I don't think that you can just "copy" a TimeMachine Backup. You certainly can't drag them to the trash and then expext to empty it. You need to use the TimeMachine Application to work with the file.
Disks you can use with Time Machine
Time Machine Server Requirements
http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/TimeCapsule_SetupGuide.pdf
Pondini's Time Machine FAQ
Pondini has the best info on TimeMachine

Time Machine will not complete initial backup

I reformatted my external LaCie USB 2.0 drive 2X now (even zeroing once and set partition map to GUID) and TM gets hung on the initial backup. I'm on my third try now, and it gets hung each time at exactly 62.3G. mdworker keeps running 98% CPU power also. This seems strange, because I have the backup drive selected in Spotlight's Privacy window not to index the drive, but it seems it keeps trying. Anyone have a clue to what's going on? I'm ready to go back to SuperDuper for backups.

Having EXACTLY the same problem with one macbook.. nothing special in any way about this one at all.. the 10.5 was a clean install and all updates are installed (10.5.2), no special characters, no disk errors, no permission errors, no volume errors, no fsck errors.. removed and rebuilt indexes, tried several different FW drives, reformatted FW drives, tried a USB drive, tried everything I could think of..
no deal.
I get an error on copying a single file right before the error 11.. but these are different random files and those specific files appear OK otherwise. (ive tried this about 30 times now)
I also (sometimes) get an kernel I/O error on the disk1s2 (the fw drive) but there is nothing wrong with it.. and since i've tried three different ones.. and I am able to run a bu from another machine to these drives.
come on apple engineers... give us an answer !

Time machine does not recognize backup disk after Yosemite

I have this issue in both macs I own, a 2010 MBP, and a 2012 Mac mini. After I upgraded to yosemite, Time Machine will not find my backup disk. I have been using the same network attached storage drive for 4 years for time machine backups. I has worked fine with all the macs I've owned until now. I can see the disk in Finder, I can go to disk utility and mount the Time Machine disk, but when I go to Time Machine preferences and try to select the list, the disk is not listed there, even though is mounted.
Any ideas?
Thanks!

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

Time Machine will not let me restore from backups after June, 2013. I can see the files on the external hard drive but Time Machine skips all of them and goes back to June, 2013. Does anyone have any idea what the problem is?

Time Machine will not let me restore from backups after June, 2013. I can see the files on the external hard drive but Time Machine skips all of them and goes back to June, 2013. Does anyone have any idea what the problem is?

rtilghman wrote:
telling me to buy a new router is NOT a solution.
And why not? Apple is selling these things like BigMacs. They can't make enough of them. You've been suffering since May because you refuse to get a decent router.
Can you imagine if a company that makes a refrigerator told me that I needed to upgrade my electrical system to rectify a problem with their device? What kind of response IS that?!?!
What if the problem with their device is that it requires a new-fangled "grounded" outlet and your circa 1890 house doesn't have grounded outlets. Would you refuse to purchase a $ 25 adapter on principle?

Time Machine will not backup Time Capsule drive

I was filling up my time capsule so I bought a new 2GB drive for my backups. It is attached as an air disk on the Time Capsule as I also use it to backup other computers in the house.
My problem is that I am now using the HDD in the time capsule for my iTunes and iPhoto library, so that they can also be shared, but they are not being backed up by TM.
I have checked my excluded drives list and the Time Capsule drive isn't in there.
Any ideas/help/advice on how to get the time capsule backed up too?

Sorry, but Time Machine will not backup a network drive (i.e. TC's HDD or any USB HDD attached to the TC). It can backup TO a NAS such as TC or a USB HDD attached to the TC. You can transfer your music to another external HDD that is connected directly to a Leopard-loaded Mac and TM can backup that up to TC/HDD attached to a TC.

Time Machine does not recognize my iMac backup. Reports: not enough space; can't back up. How do I get it to recognize the backup?

Time Machine does not recognize my 430 GB iMac backup on 1 terabyte Time Capsule. Reports: not enough space; can’t back up. How do I get it to recognize the old backup and continue backups?

Thanks for the Time Machine Troubleshooting link. Apparently things have changed since 10.7.0. Backups.backupdb doesn’t exist. Path now is: Time Capsule/Data/Daru’s iMac.sparsebundle. So I did Terminal (I usually avoid Terminal) using the instruction in B6. It does not appear to be working. It went through looking for backup, preparing backup, and is now stopping backup, and the TMBackup has disappeared from the sidebar.
Well, just now Time Machine progressed to preparing backup again; the Tiime Machine Backups appeared in sidebar, and with it Backups.backupdb/Daru’s iMac/2012-04-21-112939.inProgress. So it does exist... I’ll let it run, see what happens... But that is a strange date. Today is 28.
I’ll let you know the outcome.
Oops. Just ended! Real time report: “Backup too large for disk...“ So it is not recognizing the old backup. I’ll look at those instructions again, see if I can do the Terminal thing with the backup running. I doubt I can damage anything except the existing baackup which I'll lose anywy if I can’t achieve recognition.
Daru

Time machine will not complete backup.

Time Machine will not complete back-up - 3TB back-up is full and time machine will not automatically delete oldest back-up.

This happens from time to time. You will need to step in and decide what to do.. Delete manually.. a very slow and fraught process.. or you have to take more severe action.. eg archive off the old backups and start again. You will need a 3TB USB drive to do it.. but IMHO is well worth it. Assuming you need all that history. You can then simply do a quick erase from Airport Utility which takes a minute or two and do a fresh backup.
Try to eliminate files that are not necessary to backup.. eg the worst is any virtual disk for parallels or bootcamp.. where the slightest change to the smallest file will result in a full backup of the whole virtual disk. You must backup windows etc from inside the OS and not from TM in Mac OS.
Have you upgraded the computer btw?? I get the feeling that when you upgrade a computer.. say Snow Leopard to Lion to Mountain Lion.. TM has real issues handling the old backups. It is much better to start over.
Read up from our most productive expert.. Pondini..
http://pondini.org/TM/C4.html

Time Machine will not recognize current backup

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