Time Machine won't mount file

I have a new 2.0 GHz PowerBook having a problem connecting to my existing Time Capsule. I transferred the files from my older PowerBook (which was backed up on the Time Capsule) to the new Powerbook. The Time Capsule shows as a shared device in the left column when clicking on the hard drive image of the new computer. When clicking on Time Capsule preferences and clicking on change disk the Time Capsule shows up but when you to select it as the back up disk, it says disk image not found. If you try to just enter time machine, the message is can't load disk image. In summary, although the Time Capsule shows up, it isn't accessible to back up files or view previously backed up files.
Any help would be appreciated.

To +Browse Other Time Machine disks+ (ctrl-click the TM icon on the Dock), you first need to mount the TM disk image. Open Finder and go to --'s Time Capsule -> Time Capsule Disk -> --.sparsebundle. Double click the sparsebundle. When prompted, click skip. Now ctrl-click the TM icon on the Dock. The TM back should now be available to browse.

Similar Messages

Time Machine won't mount the disc on my Time Capsule

So here's the deal, I've got a Time Capsule which is connected to my Macbook, But everytime I try to back it up, it won't mount the disc. I've tried restarting it (but not resetting). It's not completely dead; it does deliver Internet (quite well actually, as my house router has crapped out twice and my Time Capsule is still pumping out Internet). Any help/advice?

Welcome to the discussions!
Try the following steps to see if that will get things going.
Open System Preferences and open Sharing. Make sure that your computer name appears correctly.
Open AirPort Utility and click on Manual Setup. Click the Time Capsule tab below the icons. Make sure that your Time Capsule name appears correctly.
Also while in AirPort Utility, click the Disks icon, then click the File Sharing tab just below. Make sure there is a check mark next to "Enable File Sharing"
Click in an open area of your desktop to show the Finder menus at the top of the screen. Click on Finder and then click on Preferences and then the General tab. Under the heading of "show these items on the desktop", make sure there is a check mark next to "Connected Servers"
Power down the Time Capsule and wait a few moments, then power it back up.
Now click System Preferences and Time Machine. Choose Change Disk and click your Time Capsule to highlight it and then click Use For Backups.
If this is your first backup, the process will go much faster and reliably if you attach an ethernet cable from one of the LAN ports on the Time Capsule to your computer. Subsequent backups can be wireless since they will be much smaller.

My HDD died and my Time Machine won't mount, what can I do?

My late 2011 MBP lost its drive due to some mystery physical damage, so I popped it out and replaced it with a Crucial SSD. I thought it was weird that I couldn't reboot from my time machine backup on a WD My Book 3TB external, I had to get a friend to make a bootable Mountain Lion flash drive for me. That worked like a charm, but the problem is actually with the time machine disk... it's dead too.
What's happening is that when I plug it in it will mount for maybe 30 seconds... I can see one or sometimes both partitions and it will sometimes appear in Disk Utility, sometimes not. Sometimes the files appear on the drive, sometimes not. Whenever I try to do any action on the disk, whether its open a folder or repair permissions or whatever, the computer hangs up until it's disconnected. No matter what I do, the disk will dismount "improperly" after 1-2 minutes.
The drive itself is an ex-government USB 3.0 external. I have a spare identical drive around, so I took that apart and used its SATA hookup on my time machine drive, which didn't fix anything. This extra drive fully assembled also mounts and works fine. So that rules out the computer and the SATA connection, I think.
So what can I do to save my data short of mailing in to a recovery place? Are there any utilities that can pull data from an unmounted drive? Any tricks to keep it from dismounting? Running out of ideas here. Thanks for any help you guys can give.

This seems to be a common occurance with Western Digital external drives. More than like the physical drive inside the enclosure is fine, maybe not, but the enclosures electronics are failing. Only way to tell is to remove the drive from the enclosure and connect it to your Mac with a SATA to USB adapter. If the drive is fine you will then be able to read from it and restore your Mac from it.
NOTE:
The late 2011 model and beyond can use the Apple Online Internet Recovery system. That is where you boot the system from the Apple server from over the internet. To use that you have to hold down the Command + Option/Alt + r keys at startup and keep them held down until you see a globe on the screen.

External USB disk (time machine) won't mount or unmount... can't acces data

I have a recently bought FreeCom external USB drive for backups to Time-Machine.
And just today time machine gave an error “backup failed” and the disk appeared unmounted.
I tried mounting it.. but it wasn’t there. I disconnected it. Restarted the whole computer.
Now, it shows up in Disk Utility sometimes... but the actual volume of the disk is invisible.
Only the option “unmount” is available, but that fails. Neither can I "verify" or "repair" or anything.
I hear it starts up and shuts down, it semi-shows up in disk utility... what can I do to acces it again???
There are some important files on there (besides the backup) that I need.
(This disk has never travelled or fallen/bumped.. it always sits stationairy under my desk.)
Message was edited by: Inofaith

Oddly enough, I attempted to post an answer to your question earlier, but it seems to have not been posted.
Have you tried a different cable or a different USB port?
Have you tried the drive on a different Mac?
Does the drive get its power from the USB port, or does it have an independent power supply?
Does the drive have any security features?
Since I am not familiar with this particular drive, I looked it up, and see that there are several models, and I don't know exactly which one you have. So I will be guessing as to what could be wrong.
If the drive gets its power through the USB port and draws too much power, it could be overloading the USB port and the USB port will shut down rather than allow too much power to be drawn. If you shut down the computer, it can "reset" the USB hub so that it will work again. If this is a possibility, you could try a powered USB hub or powering the drive with a independent power supply. Mac USB ports are very picky about anything drawing too much voltage.
It's possible that you have a faulty USB cable, so it would be worth trying a different cable.
It's possible, although I think less likely, that the enclosure itself could be faulty.
If there is a security feature, it may need to be reactivated in order to connect with the drive.
Hopefully the drive and its data are intact. It sounds to me more like a problem connecting with the drive than a problem with the drive itself. The intermittent nature of the problem lead me to suspect a problem with the cable or the USB port, as the connection itself is what seems to be flakey.
Good luck!

Time Machine won't mount Firewire 800 drive after restart / Finder crashes

I've been having problems with Finder crashes. I first suspected Spotlight might be the problem because sometimes when I started typing a search, it would display the first 3 characters and then lock up. I could force quit the Finder, but it wouldn't relaunch and required the computer to be shutdown and restarted with the power button. Once restarted, I had no keyboard and no mouse click (the mouse would move across the screen but I could not click on anything). After waiting several minutes (3-5) the mouse and keyboard worked properly.
After some research suggested the Spotlight index might be corrupt, I forced Spotlight to rebuild the index (add the drive to the exclude list under "Privacy" and then remove it from the list) and then repaired disk permissions. After that Spotlight was noticeably snappier and I thought my Finder crashes had been solved until........
Part 2: I have been using Time Machine (connected to a Fantom GreenDrive via Firewire 800) for several months now and ever since the beginning, I have noticed that the drive will NOT mount after a restart. I must turn the drive off and back on again to get it to mount. After that Time Machine picks it up and seems to work fine.....well, that is until this Finder crashing thing started several weeks ago. Anyway, I inadvertently set up an experiment last weekend when I installed some software update and forgot to remount the Time Machine drive after the restart. That was last Sunday night. The computer did not crash all week long. I thought my Spotlight fix had finally solved my problems, but now it seems I was wrong. This morning (Saturday, six days later), I noticed my Time Machine drive was not mounted. I mounted it, told Time Machine to "Back Up Now" and went away for a few hours. When I came back the Finder was locked up.
So guess my question is this: Are there any know problems with using Firewire 800 with Time Machine? and What can I do to fix this? In the meantime I'm trying another experiment - I've disconnect the Firewire 800 connection and replaced it with USB.

shaneeudy wrote:
So guess my question is this: Are there any know problems with using Firewire 800 with Time Machine?
Hi, and welcome to the forums.
Not in general. Some drives don't always wake or "spin up" fast enough; often that's seen when the system wakes from sleep, though, not so much after a system Restart. Many Western Digitals do that; I don't recall seeing any posts here about yours, but you might want to search the forums for Fantom
In the meantime I'm trying another experiment - I've disconnect the Firewire 800 connection and replaced it with USB.
Good plan - that may provide a clue.
Also, check with the maker -- there may be a firmware or driver update.
And try verifying your internal HD, and repairing your backups, per #A5 of Time Machine - Troubleshooting (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum). Either might cause that.

Time Machine won't restore file in lion - don't have permission

I can't restore files in my document folder now that I upgraded to Lion. I get an error message to the effect you don't have write permission. I'm god **** admin for god sake.

Well I kept on tring to figure out what was going on and I got further.
The problem is on the TM side. The error is saying I (actually my wife because I was loged in in her accout) doesn't have permission to copy the file from the TM drive. When I did a Get Info she had RW and everyone had Read permissions.
The file is the data file for Quicken Essentials. Now this gets crazy to me. She's the one who does Quicken so it was created by her and placed in her Documents folder where TM backed it up. So if anyone should have access it should be her and she is and Admin.
I loged into my account and traversed the TM drive looking for the file. Once found I could drag n drop it to my desktop once I gave my Admin password. I tried doing the same on her account and I still got the same error message.
There are other files my wife can restore from TM just fine. This has got me very nervous about TM. If it can happen to my wife on some file I'm sure it's happening with me on other files that I just don't know about until the time comes.

New MBP and Time Machine won't let me search out my NAS to save too. Any ideas?

When trying to set up time machine and using a NAS drive in my wireless network Time Machine won't let me search and select the storage device. I can access the storage and save/retrieve files so I can see and use it. Anyone got any ideas please?
Brand New MBP running Mavericks.

I'm having the same issue with Mavericks - and it appears to be Mavericks specific. I don't have this problem with Mountain Lion. Mountain Lion can see both of my NAS drives.
Additionally, with Mavericks Time Machine won't see your backup properly. It may only see the most recent backup. Though in my case it wouldn't load either one (I had two on different drives). To recover some files I had to use a machine running Mountain Lion to mount a backup file then I was able to extract the files to a USB drive, which I then moved to the Mavericks machine.
I've tried using terminal to run tmutil commands without luck. I have mounted the volume I want to use - it shows when I do "ls -l /Volumes". Then when I do sudo tmutil setdestination /Volumes/VOLUMENAME the system seems to go into an infinite loop. I have to ^c to get back to terminal.
Clearly with Time Machine on Mavericke Apple has really screwed the pooch.
MacBook Pro 2.3GHz i7 with DVD drive and standard resolution display.

I bought a new external hard drive for backups, but time machine won't do a full back up. I think it is remembering backing up onto previous external hard drives, which I don't own anymore. How do I do a new full backup?

I bought a new external hard drive for backups, but time machine won't do a full back up.
I think it is remembering backing up onto previous external hard drives, which I don't own anymore. How do I do a new full backup?
When I bought the new (used) iMac, I also bought an external hard drive for backups. It worked fine, but my husband stole it.
Then I bought a new external hard drive (Seagate) and it worked fine for three weeks, then died.
So I just got a new external hard drive, which was put together from an internal hard drive and a hard drive enclosure.
Time machine did the first backup today, and it should have taken 9 hours like it did on the previous first time full back up. Instead, it took 30 minutes. That can't be right. I want to start over and do a full backup to make sure everything gets onto my new external hard drive, but I can't figure out how to do that. Please help.

Triple-click anywhere in the line below to select it:
tmutil compare -E
Copy the selected text to the Clipboard (command-C).
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.
Paste into the Terminal window (command-V).
The command will take at least a few minutes to run. Eventually some lines of output will appear below what you entered.
Each line that begins with a plus sign (“+”) represents a file that has been added to the source volume since the last snapshot was taken. These files have not been backed up yet.
Each line that begins with an exclamation point (“!”) represents a file that has changed on the source volume. These files have been backed up, but not in their present state.
Each line that begins with a minus sign (“-“) represents a file that has been removed from the source volume.
At the end of the output, you’ll get some lines like the following:
Added:
Removed:
Changed:
These lines show the total amount of data added, removed, or changed on the source(s) since the last snapshot.

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.

Time Machine won't back up external drive to Time Capsule

I recently got a Time Capsule, and successfully set it up to back up my iMac's primary drive, but for some reason Time Machine won't back up my external drive to the Time Capsule.
I removed the external drive from the exclusion list in System Preferences > Time Machine > Options, and from what I've read this should be sufficient to make Time Machine back up the drive.
The external drive is connected to my iMac via Thunderbolt > Thunderbolt-to-Firewire adaptor > Firewire 800 input, and the Time Capsule is connected via Ethernet to my LAN.
Since I'm using Ethernet, I've disabled Wi-Fi on the Time Capusule by going to AirPort Utility > My Time Capsule > Edit > Wireless > Network Mode > Off.
The reason I believe the external drive is not being backed up is because when I click the Time Machine icon in the upper-right status bar and choose "Enter Time Machine", none of the folders on external drive show any older versions.
Furthermore, when I click Finder > Time Machine Backups > Backups.backupdb, I can see only one sub-folder which has the name of my iMac's primary drive. I can't see any equivalent folder for my external drive.
Any idea what I'm doing wrong?

I don't see anything you have done wrong.. perhaps it does backup in a different way.
Load the widget.. A1 here... http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
That will allow you to track the log of TM to see what it is doing.
I would also try rebooting the computer.. exclude the drive again.. reboot.. and remove the exclusion.
You should be able to check the actual settings of TM in plist file.
And you can do a full reset of TM as well.. See A4. Check what is in the file. Pondini lists the location for you.
Nothing surprises me with Mountain Lion ...!!

HT1338 Purchased a used macbook pro with Mountain Lion. My old Mac runs Snow Leopard is backed up to Time machine. How do I register the operating system to me and how do I use Time Machine to move my files to the new used computer?

Purchased a used macbook pro with Mountain Lion. My old Mac runs Snow Leopard is backed up to Time machine. How do I register the operating system to me and how do I use Time Machine to move my files to the new used computer?

If you look at the User Tips tab, you will find a write up on just this subject:
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-4053
The subject of buying/selling a Mac is quite complicated. Here is a guide to the steps involved. It is from the Seller's point of view, but easily read the other way too:
SELLING A MAC A
Internet Recovery, and Transferability of OS & iLife Apps
Selling an Old Mac:
• When selling an old Mac, the only OS that is legally transferable is the one that came preinstalled when the Mac was new. Selling a Mac with an upgraded OS isn't doing the new owner any favors. Attempting to do so will only result in headaches since the upgraded OS can't be registered by the new owner. If a clean install becomes necessary, they won't be able to do so and will be forced to install the original OS via Internet Recovery. Best to simply erase the drive and revert back to the original OS prior to selling any Mac.
• Additionally, upgrading the OS on a Mac you intend to sell means that you are leaving personally identifiable information on the Mac since the only way to upgrade the OS involves using your own AppleID to download the upgrade from the App Store. So there will be traces of your info and user account left behind. Again, best to erase the drive and revert to the original OS via Internet Recovery.
Internet Recovery:
• In the event that the OS has been upgraded to a newer version (i.e. Lion to Mountain Lion), Internet Recovery will offer the version of the OS that originally came with the Mac. So while booting to the Recovery Disk will show Mountain Lion as available for reinstall since that is the current version running, Internet Recovery, on the other hand, will only show Lion available since that was the OS shipped with that particular Mac.
• Though the Mac came with a particular version of Mac OS X, it appears that, when Internet Recovery is invoked, the most recent update of that version may be applied. (i.e. if the Mac originally came with 10.7.3, Internet Recovery may install a more recent update like 10.7.5)
iLife Apps:
• When the App Store is launched for the first time it will report that the iLife apps are available for the user to Accept under the Purchases section. The user will be required to enter their AppleID during the Acceptance process. From that point on the iLife apps will be tied to the AppleID used to Accept them. The user will be allowed to download the apps to other Macs they own if they wish using the same AppleID used to Accept them.
• Once Accepted on the new Mac, the iLife apps can not be transferred to any future owner when the Mac is sold. Attempting to use an AppleID after the apps have already been accepted using a different AppleID will result in the App Store reporting "These apps were already assigned to another Apple ID".
• It appears, however, that the iLife Apps do not automatically go to the first owner of the Mac. It's quite possible that the original owner, either by choice or neglect, never Accepted the iLife apps in the App Store. As a result, a future owner of the Mac may be able to successfully Accept the apps and retain them for themselves using their own AppleID. Bottom Line: Whoever Accepts the iLife apps first gets to keep them.
SELLING A MAC B
Follow these instructions step by step to prepare a Mac for sale:
Step One - Back up your data:
A. If you have any Virtual PCs shut them down. They cannot be in their "fast saved" state. They must be shut down from inside Windows.
B. Clone to an external drive using using Carbon Copy Cloner.
1. Open Carbon Copy Cloner.
2. Select the Source volume from the Select a source drop down menu on the left side.
3. Select the Destination volume from the Select a destination drop down menu on the right
side.
4. Click on the Clone button. If you are prompted about creating a clone of the Recovery HD be
sure to opt for that.
Destination means a freshly erased external backup drive. Source means the internal
startup drive.
Step Two - Prepare the machine for the new buyer:
1. De-authorize the computer in iTunes! De-authorize both iTunes and Audible accounts.
2, Remove any Open Firmware passwords or Firmware passwords.
3. Turn the brightness full up and volume nearly so.
4. Turn off File Vault, if enabled.
5. Disable iCloud, if enabled: See.What to do with iCloud before selling your computer
Step Three - Install a fresh OS:
A. Snow Leopard and earlier versions of OS X
1. Insert the original OS X install CD/DVD that came with your computer.
2. Restart the computer while holding down the C key to boot from the CD/DVD.
3. Select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu; repartition and reformat the internal hard drive.
Optionally, click on the Security button and set the Zero Data option to one-pass.
4. Install OS X.
5. Upon completion DO NOT restart the computer.
6. Shutdown the computer.
B. Lion and Mountain Lion (if pre-installed on the computer at purchase*)
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible because
it is three times faster than wireless.
1. Restart the computer while holding down the COMMAND and R keys until the Mac OS X
Utilities window appears.
2. Select Disk Utility from the Mac OS X Utilities window and click on the Continue button.
3. After DU loads select your startup volume (usually Macintosh HD) from the left side list. Click
on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
4. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Optionally, click on the Security button
and set the Zero Data option to one-pass.
5. Click on the Erase button and wait until the process has completed.
6. Quit DU and return to the Mac OS X Utilities window.
7. Select Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion and click on the Install button.
8. Upon completion shutdown the computer.
*If your computer came with Lion or Mountain Lion pre-installed then you are entitled to transfer your license once. If you purchased Lion or Mountain Lion from the App Store then you cannot transfer your license to another party. In the case of the latter you should install the original version of OS X that came with your computer. You need to repartition the hard drive as well as reformat it; this will assure that the Recovery HD partition is removed. See Step Three above. You may verify these requirements by reviewing your OS X Software License.

Time Machine disk not mounting after sleep

Greetings,
I am having a problem with the external USB disk (500GB Iomega) that I have set up for Time Machine not remounting after my iMac wakes back up. Nothing I have tried, short of rebooting, seems to cause the Mac to notice the drive. I have tried turning the drive off and back on, but that didn't work, and neither did unplugging and re-plugging the USB cable. (I suppose obviously) Time Machine won't do any backups and complains that "The storage location for Time Machine backups can't be found." Time Machine Set Up says "Next Backup: When Disk is Connected." If I reboot, the disk will show up and Time Machine will commence backups, but then, after the machine sleeps, I have the same problem again.
When I first plugged the drive in last night the computer immediately recognized it, mounted it, and asked me if I wanted to use it for Time Machine. I didn't have to do anything. I then successfully started Time Machine and it did its initial and several hourly backups as expected. Then the machine went to sleep and the disk never came back (short of a reboot).
The computer is a brand new 24-inch, 2.8Ghz, iMac with Leopard installed from the included DVD immediately after opening the box - I did nothing before installing Leopard.
This is my first Mac (I am a Unix refugee) so I may very well be doing something entirely stupid, but surely external disks should still be mounted (or automount) after the computer returns from sleep. What am I doing wrong? I also don't see any way to force Leopard to mount the drive, but I probably just don't know where to look.
To be completely clear... the drive is plugged directly into the iMac on USB, no external hub. There is no networking involved with this disk. I didn't make any kind of settings to the disk (either to the disk itself- there aren't any, or on the iMac when I plugged the disk in). The only thing I did was answer "Yes" when Time Machine popped up a window asking if I wanted to use the new disk for backups. Last time the disk was mountet (before the computer went to sleep again) I ran the Disk Utility and it said the drive was fine.
Thanks,
Mark
P.S. I'm sorry if this has been discussed elsewhere but I couldn't find it. Like I say, I'm new to the Mac and to these forums, so please forgive me if this post is redundant.

Greetings,
intelligenceresigned wrote:
Ok, I went into console, and forced my iMac to sleep to see what the console would show was actually happening. I am not a very computer savvy person, but this is what the console said:
Nov 8 21:50:27 steve-freunds-computer kernel[0]: USBF: 48332.754 AppleUSBEHCI[0x52ab000]::Found a transaction past the completion deadline on bus 0xfa, timing out! (Addr: 3, EP: 2)
I believe this may be related to the problem. The AppleUSBEHCI appears to identify the offending driver/controller as the EHCI controller (Enhanced Host Controller Interface), or the controller that handles usb 2.0 High Speed (usually usb 1.1 and 2.0 Full Speed are handled by something that would be called a UHCI or Universal Host Controller Interface) USB High Speed is the fastest of the three usb speeds and although the interface is compatable with the slower speeds, works rather differently than the other two. Beyond that I'll have to look into what this message means (I'm brand new to the Mac - I've only had this one a couple of weeks).
*Could others that are seeing this problem please post how many usb ports on the computer, not total devices connected to hubs or anything, but actual, physical ports on the computer that they are using?* Experimenting a little, on mine at least, I have not had the problem discussed in this thread when only two (out of the three available) of the physical USB ports on the Mac are used. Again on mine at least, it also doesn't seem to matter what, with the exception of external hubs, is plugged into the ports. Replacing the external drive with a flash drive or iPod Touch produces the same results, so it doesn't appear to have anything to do with the Iomega drive that I started seeing the problem with - it may be that that was just the third thing I plugged in (or not - I realize that I am a sample of one).
It also seems to be that things connected to an external hub continue to work after the other two ports have failed. This is probably why most keyboards (mercifully) keep working - they are usually hubs (Apple's external ones are). I can't guarantee this however because I haven't really tested it - just observed it so far to be the case for me so far. Hubs do work differently than ordinary usb "functions" as the usb spec calls them.
Lastly...
If you have Xcode installed (assuming you have it installed in the default /Developer location) there is a tool in /Developer/Applications/Utilities called "USB Prober" that can provide some useful USB information.
In my case, once a device stops working I see the status of the non-functioning devices reported as:
High Speed device @ 2 (0xFA200000): ............................................. External HD (did not respond to inquiry - 0xe00002ed, might be Suspended)
High Speed device @ 3 (0xFA400000): ............................................. HP Color LaserJet 2605dn (did not respond to inquiry - 0xe0004051, might be Suspended)
And indeed the usb ports in question do appear to be behaving as if the host (the Mac) has them suspended - but I can't be entirely sure. I will try to look into this some more later if I can.
Thanks,
Mark
P.S. To save questions: I've tried all the easy stuff: Switched cables, swapped out the hub I have on one of the ports, tried different devices in the ports (so far an HP printer, Iomega external disk, iPod Touch, and Sony usb flash drive). Nothing resolved the issue. My keyboard and mouse are connected to a 2.0 High Speed hub. I've tried using another hub, but it didn't make any difference.

Time Machine Won't Continue Old Backup

My computer was being repaired at Apple for a few weeks and I just got it back. No hard drive data was modified during the repair; the optical drive needed work. Anyway, I plugged in my external hard drive a few moments ago and it's backing up the whole system and won't let me return to the previous backups that I already have. I'm trying to recall a few files and Time Machine won't let me find them even though they're on the external drive. I did, however, accidentally rename the external hard drive when I was using it without Time Machine a few days ago.
Is there a way for me to continue where I left off with my old Time Machine backups? I'd hate to lose them all and I don't want to re-install the entire system from a previous one from a month or so ago; I just need to look at a few old files. Thanks for any help!
Greg

So, here's what happened.
Time Machine uses the xattr system to assign specific folders hidden attributes. Time Machine sets each folder up in its hierarchy with a xattr tag for the Ethernet MAC address of the machine it is backing up. This is all done invisibly. So, when I got a logic board, and a new MAC address, it wouldn't treat the old archive as concomitant with the new machine. So, here's how you fix this:
- remove the ACLs from the Time Machine DB
- use the xattr command at Terminal to put your new MAC address on the folder.
Full details are available here:
http://www.tombridge.com/rta/2008/01/after-the-apple.html

Possible solution: Time Machine can not mount disk

Like many of you, my Time Machine started acting up after working fine for months.
I have an external USB (Western Digital 500GB) drive connected to a Airport Extreme (N-speed) as an AirDisk.
I have an iMac (iSight 160GB) connected via ethernet to the AEX and a MacBook (60GB) connected to the AEX. Both have less than half HD usage.
After a few months, the MacBook would fail to backup properly: “Unable to Mount” message after the TM process was going for a few minutes. I could access the WD drive in R/W mode otherwise from the same machine. I read on these boards that I should erase the sparsebundle on the WD drive associated with the MacBook. I did that, and all was then well.
Fast forward a few months, again the same problem on the same machine. I ran DiskWarrior against the WD drive to ensure permissions were fine. Mind you that the iMac TM backup’s have been working fine all along.
Yesterday I solved my problem by reading various tips on these boards:
- Always mount the AirDisk via “==> Go ==> Connect to Server” within the Finder
o As per Apple KnowledgeBase article
- *Proper Computer Name*
o Ensure that your computer has a proper name in the Sharing Preference pane.
o Go into System Preferences --> Sharing.
o Is the box labeled “Computer Name” empty? If it is blank, you need to put in a name for your computer. Otherwise Time Machine won’t be able to perform backups. Additionally, Time Machine needs to differentiate this computer from others on your network (i.e. "Bills MacBook" vs "Office iMac"). As a result, no two Macs should have the same name. If the "Computer Name" field is blank, create a unique name for this Mac.
o Also, Time Machine may experience problems if your computer name includes certain characters. Make sure the computer name only includes ASCII characters from the following set.
o (0123456789abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ)
o Once a change in the computer name occurs, you should stop and restart Sharing on the affected computer. Uncheck and then recheck Sharing in the Services list on the left.
The combination of these two steps has my MacBook working smoothly once again with Time Machine, Airport Extreme and an AirDisk.
GOOD LUCK

Most likely, the power interruption corrupted the sparse bundle containing your backups.
Try to repair them per #A5 in the Time Machine - Troubleshooting *User Tip,* also at the top of this forum.

I baught Seagate Backup plus 2T hard drive to use as my Backup time machine. But its not working when i connect to time machine its not coping files, it keep saying preparing files. Can someone help me please...

i baught Seagate Backup plus 2T hard drive to use as my Backup time machine. But its not working. when i connect to time machine its not coping files, it keep saying preparing files. Can someone help me please...

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 the test is to determine whether the problem is caused by third-party software that loads automatically at startup or login, by a peripheral device, by a font conflict, or by corruption of the file system or of certain system caches.
Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed for the test, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards, if applicable. Start up in safe mode and log in to the account with the problem. You must hold down the shift key twice: once when you turn on the computer, and again when you log in.
Note: If FileVault is enabled, or if a firmware password is set, or if the startup volume is a Fusion Drive or a software RAID, you can’t do this. Ask for further instructions.
Safe mode is much slower to start up and run than normal, with limited graphics performance, and some things won’t work at all, including sound output and Wi-Fi on certain models. The next normal startup may also be somewhat slow.
The login screen appears even if you usually login 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?
After testing, restart as usual (not in safe mode) and verify that you still have the problem. Post the results of the test.

Time Machine won't mount file

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