Time Machine won't back up to new hard drive

I have been using Time Machine for over a year on a few different hard drives, most recently a Lacie Rugged (500 gb). It has almost always worked perfectly.
But now, I got a Lacie Rugged XL (1000 gb) and it has been working haphazardly. It worked at first, but every so often after its been plugged in for awhlie it just gives me errors, and then it won't even let me eject it. Sometimes the computer doesn't sense it properly either. I want to use it as my Time Machine backup disk but I'm not sure about these errors.
Any ideas? Why would it be doing this? I tried reformatting it in disk utility already. It works, just not consistently.
Thanks.

Terabithia wrote:
until I plugged it directly into my laptop rather than through my little USB hub. So now I somewhat suspect that the USB hub might be part of the problem,
Yes, entirely possible, especially if it's a non-powered hub and since your drive doesn't have a separate power supply. It can seem intermittent -- if your drive is contending for power with other devices, it may be fine most of the time, but occasionally two may want an extra bit of juice at the same instant (like to start up), and there may not be enough for a short period. A powered hub may be better, or re-arranging what's connected where might work, too.
Since it wasn't mounting at all, I simply unplugged the drive, and I got no complaints about removing a device incorrectly. Does that matter if its not mounted?
No, it's only a problem if OSX has it mounted; then it can't assure it gets closed-out properly so that everything is "in sync."
I keep clicking on Options in TM settings and checking the box that says "warn when old backups are deleted" -- but then the next time I look, it has been unchecked again. Why does it keep doing that? I want to leave that setting checked, but it won't let me.
The preference file is likely corrupted. Delete the file /Library/Preferences/com.apple.TimeMachine.plist (at the top level of your internal HD, not your home folder). Then you'll have to re-select your TM drive and re-enter any exclusions.

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Time Capsule won't back-up my new hard drive

I added a new hard drive to the drives I want Time Capsule to back-up. I get an error message that says "reformat required (case sensitive disk)" when I try to add the new drive. When I exclude this drive from back-up the error message goes away, but Time Capsule doesn't back-up the disk. How do I fix that?
Message was edited by: JackAldrich

JackAldrich wrote:
I added a new hard drive to the drives I want Time Capsule to back-up. I get an error message that says "reformat required (case sensitive disk)" when I try to add the new drive. When I exclude this drive from back-up the error message goes away, but Time Capsule doesn't back-up the disk. How do I fix that?
Hi, and welcome to the forums.
The problem is, a case-sensitive disk cannot be backed-up to a case-ignorant one.
Case-sensitive disks are rare in OSX; where did you get it or why did you set it up that way? Does it have to be case-senstive? If not, do you still have the originals of the data you put on it?
If you're not sure what case-sensitive is, see the pink box in #5 of Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of the +Time Machine+ forum).
Message was edited by: Pondini

Time machine won't let me include external hard drive in backup

My memory was full on our computer so I got an external hard drive to move over our iphoto library to (I have a large iphoto library ~22,000 pictures that continues to grow). For discussion purposes I'll call this - IPhoto HD.
I also have another external hard drive that we've had for quite some time that I use as our time machine backups. (Time Machine HD).
I copied over my iphoto library to the new external HD (IPhoto HD).
I then went into my time machine under settings and wanted to make sure that the IPhoto HD was being backed up on the Time Machine HD. (after I got verification of this I was going to delete the iphoto library from our computer to free up some space).
When I go into time machine under options - the Iphoto HD is greyed out - and it won't allow me to delete it from the "do not back up" list. (however the Time Machine HD is not greyed out - I could delete it if I wanted to).
I tried searching for the answer in the forums and couldn't figure it out. I did verify that the format of the IPhoto HD is Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
I should note that both external Hard drives are WD My Book for Mac 2TB. Not sure if that makes a difference.
Thanks in advance for your assistance.

Sorry, but Time Machine does not back up reliably, if at all, to most network drives, except Time Capsules or a shared drive on another Mac running Leopard or Snow Leopard on the same local network.
Here's the criteria they must meet: Disks that can be used with Time Machine. And be careful here: just because some 3rd-party hardware claims to support Time Machine doesn't necessarily mean that Apple supports it, or that it will work in all circumstances.
The messages indicate that Time Machine found the volume, but couldn't write to it. That may be some sort of sharing or permissions error, or it may be that the device doesn't support all the things Time Machine requires, per the link above.
Are you sure that it's compatible with Snow Leopard? Some NAS devices that worked with Leopard didn't seem to work with Snow Leopard, at least when it first came out.
You may need to check with LaCie or the place you got it.

HT201250 Time machine won't overwrite on an external hard drive

My seagate 500gb external drive won't allow back ups due to capacity when it gets to 150gb of space left. Any ideas as at the moment I just erase the drive and start again each month. Not ideal. Many thanks

Sorry, but Time Machine does not back up reliably, if at all, to most network drives, except Time Capsules or a shared drive on another Mac running Leopard or Snow Leopard on the same local network.
Here's the criteria they must meet: Disks that can be used with Time Machine. And be careful here: just because some 3rd-party hardware claims to support Time Machine doesn't necessarily mean that Apple supports it, or that it will work in all circumstances.
The messages indicate that Time Machine found the volume, but couldn't write to it. That may be some sort of sharing or permissions error, or it may be that the device doesn't support all the things Time Machine requires, per the link above.
Are you sure that it's compatible with Snow Leopard? Some NAS devices that worked with Leopard didn't seem to work with Snow Leopard, at least when it first came out.
You may need to check with LaCie or the place you got it.

How to use Time Machine before and after installing a new hard drive

So basically I'm buying a new hard drive for my Macbook pro and I have a lot of files on my computer that I would like to save. I have never used Time Machine before so I need help on how to set it up before AND after installing the harddrive so my files get transferred onto the new hard drive. Thanks in advance

wjosten wrote:
Me, I would never use Time Machine to do this. What I'd suggest you do is get an exterior enclosure for your new drive. Then use either Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper to clone your existing drive to your new drive. Once done, verify your clone is bootable & all of your data present. Then swap drives & use your old drive for Time Machine backups(after erasing it). Then get another drive & exterior enclosure to regularly clone your new drive to.
Unless he was swapping for a lower capacity HDD or to a lower capacity SSD, then the old drive would make a lousy Time Machine disk. However, whenever I swap out a disk I do exactly what you do. CCC to get the ol drive onto a new one. Test by starting up to the new (but still external drive). Then replace the internal drive.
I usually just sell the old drive on eBay. My Time Machine backup is always 2X the size of the internal drive, which I believe is a bit above recommendations, but works for me. The price of large external drives is almost the same as smaller internal ones.

Time machine won't back up to windows shared drive

...I've been through all the possible solutions for this I can find on the web, but Time Machine just produces the 'error 45 message' when trying to back up to windows shared drive.
Has anyone had this prob/found a way around this?
Thanks

Hi, and welcome to the forums.
That's not a supported destination. Windoze doesn't provide the things OSX and Time Machine require. See #2 in [Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/FAQ.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum) for supported destinations.

Time Machine and File Transfer to a new hard drive -- Permissions

24May2011
Apple Discussions:
        I have a 2 TByte external hard drive that I use to back up a 1TB internal hard drive. I use time machine.
        I got a serious warning that my 2 TB drive is going bad and i need to reformat the disk AFTER I store the files on the drive.
        I bought a new 3TByte external hard drive. I copied some important non-Backup files from the defective 2TB drive, but I can not move the backup folders. I do not have permissions to copy the backup directory.
        I want to transfer ALL the data from the 2 TB drive to the new 3 TB drive. Then re-format the 2TB and use that for file storage. I want to use the copied back up folder on the 3TB and use teh 3TB to for time machine backups.
        I tried to change the permission on the Backup Directory on the 2TB. It has been two days and I have no indication that anything other than the horizonal barber pole is happening.
        How do I copy the back up folder to the new 3TB so I don't loose any old files Ihad backed up on the defective 2TB.
        Thank you for your help.

Sure that's pretty simple to do. Follow this link for the step by step instructions.
I used it about a year ago and it worked like a charm.
Regards,
Roger

TIme Machine will not back up to External Hard Drive

I reinstalled Snow Leopard on my Mac Mini after having some issues. After reinstallation, Time Machine would no longer backup to my External HD because it will not allow me to change permissions. I right click on my "Backup" drive and change the permissions to Read + Write but it just sets it back to "Custom". I'm guessing that the reinstallation changed my account information but I'm not sure how to fix this. My External HD shows in Disk Utility that it is still almost full of Time Machine backups but I have no way to access them or to continue to use Time Machine for future backups. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks!

crash888 wrote:
I reinstalled Snow Leopard on my Mac Mini after having some issues. After reinstallation, Time Machine would no longer backup to my External HD because it will not allow me to change permissions.
What message did you get? You should never change permissions (or anything else) on a Time Machine drive -- TM does that for you.
Start with #C2 in the Time Machine - Troubleshooting *User Tip* at the top of this forum.
It will show you how to locate the message(s) that describe the problem, then help you fix it.
If that doesn't help, post back with details, including all the messages, your setup (especially the destination for the backups), what you've done, and the results.

Time machine won't back up anymore after it failed? HELP!!

Hey all,
My time machine used to back up to my hard drive fine, but after it had a fault half way through a back up, i think the cable was disconnected it won't back up or start a back up again. I've looked at the help and it actually has my hard drive in the "Don't back up" section, when i select it to remove it from that it won't let me remove it.....
Really need to back up and no idea how to get this done...
HELP

Open up Disk Utility and Verify your external had drive. It sounds as though there could be some damage from when it was unplugged in the middle of writing, which is preventing Time Machine from working properly.
Try to get Disk Utility to repair the drive if it finds any errors.
If this does not work the most likely thing is that the Disk Image being written to by Time Machine is perpetually locked. In that case, it might be worth deleting the back-ups (since they are unusable now anyway) and starting a new time machine backup from scratch.

Time Machine won't back-up. Why?

Time Machine won't back-up to LaCie external drive (OS 10.7.4) after I disconnected and reconnected for a road trip.
Why? How can I correct?

What is the error message?

Time MAchine won't back up due to not enough space, but there is

TIme Machine won't back up. Displays this:
Actual capacity of the external backup drive is 999.68 GB and available is 135 gb .
The imac internal HD capacity is 999.01GB and used space is 636.321 GB.
This problem has occured periodically in the last 12 months or so, so prior to OS version10.8 install in Jul 2012.
I previously called AppleCare, as I have a contract, and tech said I just need to reformat the external drive and start over.
I did that the last time this happened a few months ago, but I don't like that option, as it eliminates all the prior backups,
What if I needed to try to recover something I deleted 3 weeks ago, for example. I couldn't do so as all backups would have been deleted, of course, by me having refomatted the drive and basically starting over. Also, I noted in another post about a person having a problem due to using a partitioned drive. Mine is not partition, as far as I can tell. See this:
Any ideas? Thanks

The solution is essentially "simple." You need a larger hard drive for these backups or you need to use a different backup solution. By this I mean using backup software that does not preserve an archive of old copies of a file, but simply erases old copies in order to replace them with the new copies. By replacing your backup drive can always accommodate the drive it backs up if it is large enough - say the same size. I can suggest:
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.
All of the above are capable of being scheduled. Synk Pro makes immediate backups of any changed file on the hard drive. You may configure it to archive changes (like Time Machine) or to delete prior copies.

After installing Mountain Lion, my Time Machine won't back up ... says the sparsebundle is in use

After installing Mountain Lion, my Time Machine won't back up ... says the sparsebundle is in use

Standard problem in ML.. apple do not seem to want to recognise.
Reboot the TC .. if that fails restart the whole network in correct order.. modem.. router/TC... clients.. with 2min gap.
There are other suggestions like changing the password.. all they do is the same as reboot.
Read C12.. most quoted Q in pondini website history. This is asked 10 times a day.
http://pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html
Here is another way to get a useful utility in ML.. rather than toyland version.
How to load 5.6 into ML.
1. Download 5.6 for Lion.
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1482
Click to open the dmg but do not attempt to install the pkg.. it won't work anyway.
2. Download and install unpkg.
http://www.timdoug.com/unpkg/
Run unpkg on the desktop.. it is very simple.. drag the AirPortUtility56.pkg file over to unpkg.. and it will create a new directory of the same name on the desktop.. drill down.. applications utilities .. there lo and behold is Airport utility 5.6 .. drag it to your main utilities directory or just run it from current location.
You cannot uninstall 6.1 so don't try.. and you cannot or should not run them both at the same time.. so just ignore the toyland version.. the plastic hammer.. and start using 5.6.. a real tool.

Time Machine won't back up onto Time Capsule

I upgraded to Mountain Lion last week, and Time Machine won't back up to my Time Capsule. When it fails, I get the message:
Time Machine couldn't complete the backup to "Tom's Time Capsule".
The backup disk image "/Volumes/Data/TomsMac.sparsebundle" could not be created (error 60)
I sometimes get the same message, but with "error 17"
I also get the following error message popup (even though the disk is the one in my Time Capsule):
The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer.
The popup offers three choices: Initialize, Ignore, Eject.
My local Apple Store Genius concluded that the problem must be with the Time Capsule, so I bought a new one. That didn't fix the problem.
Time Machine Buddy messages:
Starting manual backup
Attempting to mount network destination URL: afp://Tom%[email protected]/Data
Mounted network destination at mount point: /Volumes/Data using URL: afp://Tom%[email protected]/Data
Creating disk image /Volumes/Data/TomsMac.sparsebundle
Error 60 creating backup disk image
Failed to create disk image /Volumes/Data/TomsMac.sparsebundle, status: 60
Backup failed with error: 20
Failed to eject volume /Volumes/Data (FSVolumeRefNum: -108; status: -47; dissenting pid: 0)
I did Repair Disk Permissions and Verify Disk and everything's OK.
I erased the Time Capsule using AirPort Utility and did a hard reset on the Time Capsule.
I did a re-install of Mountain Lion and that didn't fix anything.
My MacBook Pro is accessing the Time Capsule wirelessly, as it always has.
Help!

Just to be sure, we're talking about a Time Capsule -- not an AirPort Extreme connected to an external hard drive. Right?
If so, proceed as follows.
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).
*Note: If FileVault is enabled under OS X 10.7 or later, or if a firmware password is set, you can’t boot in safe mode.
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) and verify that you still have the problem. Post the results of the test.

Time Machine won't back up OWC external drive

Mac Mini running 10.8.5. Time Machine will not back up brand new OWC MiniStack external HD. I've trashed TM prefs, reformatted the TM drive, verified that there are no exclusions, but it won't back up the external HD which contains only data files -- no system, no applications. TM does back up the internal HD.

PROBLEM SOLVED.
Recap: Time Machine would not back up an external data drive despite being correctly formatted and settings correctly applied.
Problem was either: a) the Mac, b) the external data drive, c) the Time Machine drive, or d) the data.
I replaced both the external data drive (cloned) and the Time Machine drive, but Time Machine would back up that external drive either.
Finally, instead of CLONING (SuperDuper) the external data drive, I COPIED the data to a new HD -- root folder-by-folder. Now Time Machine again backs up my external hard drive.
SOLUTION: Problem was not hard drives or Mac, but within the data itself. Cloning the data simply passed on the problem to the new hard drive. For this problem, the solution was copying the data rather than cloning.
Thanks all.

Time Machine won't back up after system restore

I just restored my system after a failure, and now Time Machine won't back up my hard drive. It gets about 40 out of 90 Gigabytes done, and then gives me an error message that just says that there was an error while backing up, and doesn't give any other information. I ran a Verify Disk with Disk Utility, and there is nothing wrong with the backup drive, and there is more than 200 Gigabytes of space left on that drive.
Thank You.

zhoffmanster wrote:
Ok, so here's the thing: I tried backing up again today, and it worked just fine. Before, what would happen is a message would pop saying "an error has occurred during backup" (or something close to that). The point is, the message didn't give any detail.
No, the point is, you seem to have ignored this:
See the Time Machine - Troubleshooting post at the top of this forum.

Time Machine won't back up to new hard drive

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