TimeMachine network backup crashing my computer

I have a USB drive attached to my router and available via samba. I've followed the instructions available from multiple sources online on how to set this drive up as a TM backup, and it works fine. However, every so often, I will notice that fsck_hfs is running, eating up 20% or more CPU, with kernel_task taking another 10-15%. When I disable TM or turn off airport, this problem ceases. If I leave fsck_hfs go long enough, my system locks up and I need to hard reboot.
Two questions: a) is this a known bug, and if so is there a workaround? b) can I tell my system not to run fsck_hfs on remote drives? I consider (b) a viable option and I really don't care about the consequences - I would much rather rebuild my TM sparsebundle every month then have my computer crash every day.

jdidion wrote:
BTW, are you saying that if I instead attach this drive to my linux server and attach TM via AFP that Apple will support this in the event that the fsck_hfs problem still occurs?
If it meets this criteria: +*If your backup disk is on a network, the network server must use Apple File Protocol (AFP) file sharing, and both your computer, and the networked backup disk, should have Mac OS X 10.5.6 or later.+*
It's way beyond my level of expertise, but this post in another forum may contain the key:
The technical reason why Apple limits Time Machine to 10.5 AFP volumes appears to be to prevent disk image corruption. There were additional features added to AFP in 10.5 to support Time Machine. These presumably allow the disk image engine to force disk image journal data to write out all the way to the disk. Without such features, a network interruption can result in a corrupted filesystem on the disk image despite journaling. Remember, journaling relies on the journal being written all the way to disk before the changes take place. If you can't guarantee that (e.g., because of network/NAS buffering) then the journal is useless. Time Machine appears to rely heavily on disk journaling to deal with network drop-outs, interrupted backups, and the like. Take this away and your data is at risk.
If the NAS you are using supports these features it should report them to the OS and you should natively be able to choose that volume. If you have to trick the OS to use the volume it means the NAS does not support it.
To summarize: if you care about your backup data you should avoid using non-natively supported AFP servers.

Similar Messages

Timemachine & network hard crash

I'm wondering if anyone else is having something like this happen. My mid-2010 macpro is hard crashing about once a week when time machine is backing up. I figured out it was during time machine by looking at the kernel logs and seeing that the logs stopped after time machine launched, but I just caught it right now when it crashed.
I hadn't been using the laptop for a bit and went to refresh my email -- which said it couldn't reach the server. I noticed that the time machine icon was spinning and that the wireless network icon had no bars. I opened the drop down and it showed no networks available. I was about the turn netowrk on/off again when the laptop just went dead. Black screen, no response. This is how I usually find it.
In the kernel logs, I see something about airport ink down ("Reason 8 (Disassociated because station leaving)."). The last message is "IOSurface: buffer allocation size is zero"
The backup drive is a network drive attached to my mac mini (the mini is set to never sleep, but the attached drive will auto sleep).
Dec 8 09:05:20 localhost kernel[0]: PMAP: PCID enabled
Dec 8 09:05:20 localhost kernel[0]: Darwin Kernel Version 11.2.0: Tue Aug 9 20:54:00 PDT 2011; root:xnu-1699.24.8~1/RELEASE_X86_64
Dec 8 09:05:20 localhost kernel[0]: vm_page_bootstrap: 2006602 free pages and 74166 wired pages
Dec 8 09:05:20 localhost kernel[0]: kext submap [0xffffff7f8072e000 - 0xffffff8000000000], kernel text [0xffffff8000200000 - 0xffffff800072e000]
Dec 8 09:05:20 localhost kernel[0]: zone leak detection enabled
Dec 8 09:05:20 localhost kernel[0]: standard timeslicing quantum is 10000 us
Dec 8 09:05:20 localhost kernel[0]: mig_table_max_displ = 73
Dec 8 09:05:20 localhost kernel[0]: AppleACPICPU: ProcessorId=1 LocalApicId=0 Enabled
Dec 8 09:05:20 localhost kernel[0]: AppleACPICPU: ProcessorId=2 LocalApicId=1 Enabled
Dec 8 09:05:20 localhost kernel[0]: AppleACPICPU: ProcessorId=3 LocalApicId=4 Enabled
Dec 8 09:05:20 localhost kernel[0]: AppleACPICPU: ProcessorId=4 LocalApicId=5 Enabled
Dec 8 09:05:20 localhost kernel[0]: AppleACPICPU: ProcessorId=5 LocalApicId=0 Disabled
Dec 8 09:05:20 localhost kernel[0]: AppleACPICPU: ProcessorId=6 LocalApicId=0 Disabled
Dec 8 09:05:20 localhost kernel[0]: AppleACPICPU: ProcessorId=7 LocalApicId=0 Disabled
Dec 8 09:05:20 localhost kernel[0]: AppleACPICPU: ProcessorId=8 LocalApicId=0 Disabled
Dec 8 09:05:20 localhost kernel[0]: calling mpo_policy_init for TMSafetyNet
Dec 8 09:05:20 localhost kernel[0]: Security policy loaded: Safety net for Time Machine (TMSafetyNet)
Dec 8 09:05:20 localhost kernel[0]: calling mpo_policy_init for Sandbox
Dec 8 09:05:20 localhost kernel[0]: Security policy loaded: Seatbelt sandbox policy (Sandbox)
Dec 8 09:05:20 localhost kernel[0]: calling mpo_policy_init for Quarantine
Dec 8 09:05:20 localhost kernel[0]: Security policy loaded: Quarantine policy (Quarantine)
Dec 8 09:05:20 localhost kernel[0]: Copyright (c) 1982, 1986, 1989, 1991, 1993
Dec 8 09:05:20 localhost kernel[0]: The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
Dec 8 09:05:20 localhost kernel[0]: MAC Framework successfully initialized
Dec 8 09:05:20 localhost kernel[0]: using 16384 buffer headers and 10240 cluster IO buffer headers
Dec 8 09:05:20 localhost kernel[0]: IOAPIC: Version 0x20 Vectors 64:87
Dec 8 09:05:20 localhost kernel[0]: ACPI: System State [S0 S3 S4 S5] (S3)
Dec 8 09:05:20 localhost kernel[0]: PFM64 (36 cpu) 0xf10000000, 0xf0000000
Dec 8 09:05:20 localhost kernel[0]: [ PCI configuration begin ]
Dec 8 09:05:20 localhost kernel[0]: AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement: Turbo Ratios 0035
Dec 8 09:05:20 localhost kernel[0]: AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement: (built 21:08:10 Aug 9 2011) initialization complete
Dec 8 09:05:20 localhost kernel[0]: console relocated to 0xf10030000
Dec 8 09:05:20 localhost kernel[0]: PCI configuration changed (bridge=3 device=2 cardbus=0)
Dec 8 09:05:20 localhost kernel[0]: [ PCI configuration end, bridges 7 devices 16 ]
Dec 8 09:05:20 localhost kernel[0]: Sleep failure code 0x00000000 0x11006900
Dec 8 09:05:20 localhost kernel[0]: [ PCI configuration begin ]
Dec 8 09:05:20 localhost kernel[0]: PCI configuration changed (bridge=3 device=2 cardbus=0)
Dec 8 09:05:20 localhost kernel[0]: [ PCI configuration end, bridges 8 devices 22 ]
Dec 8 09:05:20 localhost kernel[0]: FireWire (OHCI) Lucent ID 5901 built-in now active, GUID dc2b61fffec3f548; max speed s800.
Dec 8 09:05:20 localhost kernel[0]: mbinit: done [96 MB total pool size, (64/32) split]
Dec 8 09:05:20 localhost kernel[0]: Pthread support ABORTS when sync kernel primitives misused
Dec 8 09:05:20 localhost kernel[0]: com.apple.AppleFSCompressionTypeZlib kmod start
Dec 8 09:05:20 localhost kernel[0]: com.apple.AppleFSCompressionTypeDataless kmod start
Dec 8 09:05:20 localhost kernel[0]: 2.4.4 Little Snitch: starting
Dec 8 09:05:20 localhost kernel[0]: com.apple.AppleFSCompressionTypeZlib load succeeded
Dec 8 09:05:20 localhost kernel[0]: com.apple.AppleFSCompressionTypeDataless load succeeded
Dec 8 09:05:20 localhost kernel[0]: AppleIntelCPUPowerManagementClient: ready
Dec 8 09:05:20 localhost kernel[0]: BTCOEXIST off
Dec 8 09:05:20 localhost kernel[0]: wl0: Broadcom BCM4353 802.11 Wireless Controller
Dec 8 09:05:20 localhost kernel[0]: 5.100.98.75
Dec 8 09:05:20 localhost kernel[0]: USBMSC Identifier (non-unique): 000000009833 0x5ac 0x8403 0x9833
Dec 8 09:05:20 localhost kernel[0]: rooting via boot-uuid from /chosen: 5D4916BA-90E2-34CC-9D96-0D55D9BDB656
Dec 8 09:05:20 localhost kernel[0]: Waiting on <dict ID="0"><key>IOProviderClass</key><string ID="1">IOResources</string><key>IOResourceMatch</key><string ID="2">boot-uuid-media</string></dict>
Dec 8 09:05:20 localhost kernel[0]: Got boot device = IOService:/AppleACPIPlatformExpert/PCI0@0/AppleACPIPCI/SATA@1F,2/AppleIntelPchS eriesAHCI/PRT0@0/IOAHCIDevice@0/AppleAHCIDiskDriver/IOAHCIBlockStorageDevice/IOB lockStorageDriver/OCZ-VERTEX3 Media/IOGUIDPartitionScheme/Macintosh HD@2
Dec 8 09:05:20 localhost kernel[0]: BSD root: disk0s2, major 14, minor 2
Dec 8 09:05:20 localhost kernel[0]: jnl: unknown-dev: replay_journal: from: 6987264 to: 10278400 (joffset 0x37e000)
Dec 8 09:05:20 localhost kernel[0]: jnl: unknown-dev: journal replay done.
Dec 8 09:05:20 localhost kernel[0]: Kernel is LP64
Dec 8 09:05:20 localhost kernel[0]: [IOBluetoothHCIController::setConfigState] calling registerService
Dec 8 09:05:20 localhost kernel[0]: hfs: Removed 51 orphaned / unlinked files and 12315 directories
Dec 8 09:05:21 localhost kernel[0]: BCM5701Enet: Ethernet address c8:bc:c8:97:28:ed
Dec 8 09:05:21 localhost kernel[0]: AirPort_Brcm4331: Ethernet address c8:bc:c8:da:bd:de
Dec 8 09:05:21 localhost kernel[0]: IO80211Controller::dataLinkLayerAttachComplete(): adding AppleEFINVRAM notification
Dec 8 09:05:21 localhost kernel[0]: IO80211Interface::efiNVRAMPublished():
Dec 8 09:05:22 localhost kernel[0]: Created virtif 0xffffff80178c4200 p2p0
Dec 8 09:05:22 localhost kernel[0]: AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 8 (Disassociated because station leaving).
Dec 8 09:05:22 localhost kernel[0]: fNumVRAMBlocks is 4
Dec 8 09:05:22 localhost kernel[0]: NVDANV50HAL loaded and registered.
Dec 8 09:05:22 localhost kernel[0]: Previous Shutdown Cause: 3
Dec 8 09:05:22 localhost kernel[0]: AGC: 3.0.16, HW version=1.9.21, flags:0, features:20600
Dec 8 09:05:22 localhost kernel[0]: DSMOS has arrived
Dec 8 09:05:23 Macintosh kernel[0]: macx_swapon SUCCESS
Dec 8 09:05:24 Macintosh kernel[0]: nstat_lookup_entry failed: 2
Dec 8 09:05:24: --- last message repeated 1 time ---
Dec 8 09:05:24 Macintosh kernel[0]: nspace-handler-set-snapshot-time: 1323363925
Dec 8 09:05:25 Macintosh kernel[0]: en1: 802.11d country code set to 'US'.
Dec 8 09:05:25 Macintosh kernel[0]: en1: Supported channels 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 36 40 44 48 52 56 60 64 100 104 108 112 116 120 124 128 132 136 140 149 153 157 161 165
Dec 8 09:05:25 Macintosh kernel[0]: AppleLMUController found an AG vendor product (0x9cbb), notifying SMC.
Dec 8 09:05:26 Macintosh kernel[0]: vmmon: Loaded @ 0xffffff7f821eafb4: Info 0xffffff7f821f7a00 Name com.vmware.kext.vmx86 Version 3.1.2 build-332101 at Nov 30 2010 16:05:54
Dec 8 09:05:26 Macintosh kernel[0]: vmmon: Service start
Dec 8 09:05:29 Macintosh kernel[0]: vmnet: bridge-en1: wireless interface detected.
Dec 8 09:05:29 Macintosh kernel[0]: vmnet: bridge-en1: up
Dec 8 09:05:29 Macintosh kernel[0]: vmnet: bridge-en1: attached
Dec 8 09:05:29 Macintosh kernel[0]: vmnet: Invalidating peer info for hub: 0, port: 0
Dec 8 09:05:29 Macintosh kernel[0]: vmnet: VNetUserIfFree: freeing userIf at 0xffffff8019fcf000.
Dec 8 09:05:34 Macintosh kernel[0]: nstat_lookup_entry failed: 2
Dec 8 09:05:58: --- last message repeated 1 time ---
Dec 8 09:05:58 Macintosh kernel[0]: IOSurface: buffer allocation size is zero
Dec 8 09:05:59 Macintosh kernel[0]: nstat_lookup_entry failed: 2
Dec 8 09:06:10 Macintosh kernel[0]: IOSurface: buffer allocation size is zero

Are you sure the Mini is never set to sleep? There is a sleep error listed.
Dec 8 09:05:20 localhost kernel[0]: AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement: (built 21:08:10 Aug 9 2011) initialization complete
Dec 8 09:05:20 localhost kernel[0]: console relocated to 0xf10030000
Dec 8 09:05:20 localhost kernel[0]: PCI configuration changed (bridge=3 device=2 cardbus=0)
Dec 8 09:05:20 localhost kernel[0]: [ PCI configuration end, bridges 7 devices 16 ]
Dec 8 09:05:20 localhost kernel[0]: Sleep failure code 0x00000000 0x11006900

Can't find my data from Time Machine network backup

Migration assistant shows inconsistent sizes for applications, computer settings and other files/folders, about 30GB when I had 270 GB only in pictures.
I did a clean Mavericks install.
How do I find my data from the TimeMachine network backup?
The size of the TimeMachine backup is consistent with what I had before ( >300 GB)...so how do I recover it?.
I'm using a new user account name in the clean installation.
Thanks

Read a few threads about this being a problem with account access, so I renamed the account in my new installation to the account name used to create the backup and found the old accounts....now when trying to proceed it told me there was a conflict with the account name and i had to use a different one!!.
Apple has stopped to be simple...
So how are we suppose to use the migration assistant if either way there is a problem? ( using same or different account name )...

TM Network Backups Freezing up Host computer....

In my workgroup we have set up a 10.6 Mac Mini as a network backup for several other macs. There's three of us backing up our 10.6 Macs to a RAID1 array connected to the Mini via Firewire.
Everything works great as long as the Mini is available, but we're running into a problem any time someone logs out or shuts down their machine while Time Machine is backing up. The host machine (the Mini) freezes up when this happens and has to be rebooted each time.
Since not all of our users are tech savvy, we're not sure that simply training them to stop a backup job first before logging out is going to work.
Has anyone else dealt with this? Is there any way to make the host Mini more robust in dealing with a dropped backup job?

normally, TM should stop a backup cleanly when the computer shuts down and users don't need to do this manually. logging out should not interrupt a TM backup at all. but try using this link
http://systemsboy.com/2008/04/time-machine-after-logout.html
I know it works with external drives but I'm not sure if it will help with a network backup like yours.

Elements 10 full backup crashes computer @ ~70%

I am running Elements 10 on Windows 7. I am trying to do a full backup of a catelog and it crashes my computer somewhere between 60 and 80% complete. I left the computer overnight so it isn't just "taking a long time".
I have successfully done backups in the past using Elements 10 backup on this computer.
Tried it to the local drive as well as a USB Drive. Nothing else running at the time. Done a catalog repair (no errors found) as well as an optimization.
Elements 10 was the first version I had so shouldn't be a catalog conversion issue.
Any ideas?
Thanks.

Did you tried on the different locations of the hard drive, sometimes in the specific location there is a limited perssimison issue.
Also, check if you have any videos on your catalog, if so please try to move them into a different catalog and try only with images.
Harshit

The network backup disk could not be accessed because there was a problem with the network username or password.

Hardware Information:
          MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro6,2
          1 2.66 GHz Intel Core i7 CPU: 2 cores
          4 GB RAM
Video Information:
          NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M - VRAM: 512 MB
          Intel HD Graphics - VRAM: 288 MB
Startup Items:
          HP Trap Monitor - Path: /Library/StartupItems/HP Trap Monitor
System Software:
          Mac OS X 10.6.8 (10K549) - Uptime: up 0:0:48:37
Disk Information:
          TOSHIBA MK5055GSXF disk0 : (465.76 GB)
                    (null) (disk0s1) <not mounted>: 200 MB
MacBook Pro HD (disk0s2) /: 465.44 GB (440.47 GB free)
          MATSHITADVD-R   UJ-898
Have tried…
re-setting Time Capsule (soft and hard) and power disconnect
re-setting modem
changing passwords in all relative locations
deleteing file://localhost/Library/Preferences/com.apple.TimeMachine.plist
deleteing all mention of Time Capsule in Keychain Access
running KeyChain First Aid (no problem found)
Restarting computer
Time Capsule has a green light, other MacBook Pro backs up OK but this machine continues to receive above error message and will not Enter Time Machine producing the error message Your Time Machine backup disk can’t be found. Maybe I need to do something over or in a particular order? All help is appreciated!

With the TC plugged by ethernet into the computer.. still in full isolation to the network and with factory reset.. you can do another to be sure.
Please open the network preferences.. and check the IP the ethernet is getting from the TC.
It should be 10.0.1.2
I set it to this manually
Don't worry about all the rest.
If you open airport utility can it see the TC?
YES
If not then I think you have a major network issue on the computer.
Assuming you can see the TC in airport utility.. go to manual setup and the disk tab. Does the disk register any issues.. SMART should show it has verified.
Shows verified
Now go to finder..
Mount the drive manually via the top menu.. Go.. Connect to server.
And type in the address.. SMB://10.0.1.1
Did NOT work, however 10.0.1.2 did
That should discover the drive and ask you for credentials which after a factory reset will just be public as the password. The drive should mount and you can then see it in finder.
Yes, but I have been able to do this with the IP address being set automatically
I would deliberately use SMB. The other alternative is AFP://10.0.1.1 but that seems to be more problematic at times..
Once mounted point TM to the drive and see if it can find it and start the backup.. if it fails I think you have need to use the A5 in pondini's troubleshooting and see what you can do.
It failed and A5 makes NO difference.
A drive that won't mount is obviously not going to work.
Pondini is welcome to make comments... sometimes my Mac terminology gets a bit loose.. !! My recent convert status is visible .. !!
My other solutions.. since these are fairly old products.. the TC is more than 3years in all likelihood so outside warranty.. get a USB drive and plug it into the Mac and use TM to backup to that. If that works.. I would erase the hard disk in the TC and start over with both computers.. you will need to backup the other computer before you erase of course. Erasing and starting over does seem to help.
If there are no other suggestions, I guess I will try erasing and starting over. Thank you both for ALL your advice.

I need to crash my computer .... how do I save my library ?!?!?

Due to problems with my computer, I will be crashing my computer so I can start from scratch.
Does any one know if I can save my library to a disc so I dont lose it ... ?
Most of the songs are from different CD's and would take far too long to put them all back on again ...
If anyone know's ... please answer or email me : [email protected]

Well, you can Use iTunes for Backing up your Music.
It works fine for music files but, I prefer more control over my backup process, and it is also important to note that a large limitation of using iTunes to manage the backup is that the iTunes method does not maintain the two meta-data files (iTunes Library.itl & iTunes Music Library.xml) where your Playlists, Ratings, Playcounts, etc. are stored. See: What are the iTunes Library files?
If you are heavily invested in your Library data (playlists, playcounts, ratings, last played, date added, etc.), then it is critical that you also make multiple backups of your ‘iTunes Library.itl’ file.
If your music is located under one common Folder (e.g.-‘iTunes’), then it is easiest to physically copy that folder and all its sub-folders in one simple process. It can be done quickly, and incrementally – several times a day, when necessary.
In the case of any data loss, just re-copy your entire (or partial) music library back to wherever it was, placing it in the main Folder that the previous iTunes expected. Along with the .ITL meta-data file, this completes a full ‘restore’ of your music to the time of your last backup.
Use of a backup software program will greatly help. It will allow you to easily perform incremental backups of only the files that have changed. WinXP has such a facility built-in. I use a free program (FileSync: http://www.fileware.com ). There are many out there. Some use Zipped files or proprietary formats, others use standard file formats. I like FileSync as it uses normal file formats that can be viewed/managed via any Windows program or utility.
Here's a list of possible ways to copy your music files from your main iTunes computer to another storage medium for backup purposes.
1) Use an External Hard Drive to store the complete iTunes meta-data files and underlying Music Folder structure and songs from your main computer. They are quite cheap now, for their storage volume.
2a) If you have two computers, connect them through a router -- or – use a Direct (w/Mac) or Crossover (PC/PC) Ethernet cable (See: http://www.ifelix.co.uk/tech/3001.html). Copy files from one computer to the other.
2b) Or - Connect the two computers via a USB-to-USB Network Bridge. See: http://www.usbgear.com/link/index.html as an example.
Use the second PC as your backup repository.
3) Burn several DVDs (at 4.7+ GBs each) with the music data files and store them safely. Re-writable ones are good for backup purposes (if your DVD drive can manage these).
4) Burn 6x more on CDs (at 700MB each) than in #3 above and store them safely in more space Re-writable ones are good for backup purposes (if your CD drive can manage these).
5) Use a larger USB Flash drive (1GB - 4GB) to store the files only if you have a small amount ripped music or have multiple and/or jumbo USB drives at your disposal that will fit your music library.
6) Use the second internal hard drive (if available) of your PC -- not optimum, as you really want to physically separate the storage of backups from the originals, but good as a tertiary storage device.
By keeping only one copy of your music (other than on the iPod), you are not truly 'backed-up' and are running a high risk of losing your music.
It is a good policy to backup all your important data. It is a very smart policy to back it up on more than one medium.
External hard drives now run less than $100 for 200-250GBs of storage. Very cheap backup insurance.

Epson printer software update 2.11 crashing my computer!

Hi there
Thanks in advance for the help. I have been trying for a few days to download and install the latest software update called "epson printer software update 2.11"
It will not finish installing and ends up crashing my computer. I have OS 10.7.4.
Additionally my Epson Stylus NX420 will not print from my computer. I get an unknown error message. The printer does work however. I can make copies and scan. The Network diagnostics from the printer states that there are no issues.
Any ideas?

I had the same problem and after untold hours working with Apple & Epson we got to the problem with the Apple software update 2.14. I was told I had to decide if I wanted my 9900 to work or my office printer (Workforce 610) to work. I was incredulous that I would be forced to make this choice but of course chose to get my 9900 back up and running. This fix was given to me 3 weeks ago tomorrow and we still no resolution from Apple / Epson? Are you kidding me? I am considering throwing my Epson 610 in the trash and buying another brand of office printer so I will have no conflict with my 9900. Seems like a pretty stupid solution I must admit.
I called Epson back again on Friday and got a horrible run-around. The guy from the Pro Graphics group (techs for the professional series printers) insisited I needed to talk to the consumer printers group. Once I got to them it was clear they had no clue about this issue. I left the phone totally frustrated and angry. I ended up emailing a very capable guy from the Pro Graphics group I had worked with 3 weeks ago and he was nice enough to reply. The answer however was there is still no fix to the Apple update. At t his point I am not sure how to know if the update has been fixed. The message I get from Epson is just keep checking back. The problem is that it seems few at Epson are aware of the problem so you have to go through a long explanation only to hope you find someone that is aware.
Nothing like running a printing company and telling your customers you cannot print their invoice because your printer doesn't work! Thanks Apple for the quick fix on this!

Hard drive backup - then network backup

I created a full backup of my macbookpro to a connected firewire drive (150g). I then hooked this same hard drive up to another leopard computer (imac). The macbookpro sees the drive and is willing to back-up to it.... but it wants another 150g; as if it's starting over from scratch.
Is it using two different methodologies for backing up? Do you have to stick with one methodology when backing up? Backing up 150g over the network is not really an option - hence the reason I wanted to do it as mentioned above. Thank you!

It seems to be that on a locally-connected drive, Time Machine backs up into a simple folder structure, whereas if you are connected remotely, it backs up into a .sparsebundle file named after the connected computer. For now, probably best to stick with one method or the other until someone figures out how to convert between the two.
I suspect you could convert the local backup and package it in a .sparsebundle, but my network backup is nowhere near finished, so can't try it yet.

Bootable tape/dvd/cd/network backup

I usually work with AIX based systems that has a feature called mksysb. It lets me make a on the fly system backup while system is in full production, to a tape, CD, disk, DVD of file.
The backup contains: the OS, boot information, kernel adjustments, user data (if I want to), device configuration, OS logical volume (slice/partition) and filesystem settings (like mirroring, location on disk and user modifications and additions on that matter including enlarged OS root filesystems and user created filesystems).
The backup is made by a very simple command line execution or a menu driven execution (can be done by somebody without any UNIX knowledge whatsoever).
The backup is used for a variety of things: like
- cloning a system to another system (whereby the target hardware does NOT have to be identical). The only thing that?s matter is that there should be enough disk space.
- Crash recovery a system from scratch to bring it back like the state it had during the backup. The system is usually recovered within 20 minutes (even if the hardware config and device config is totally different on disk, cpu, memory and network level).
- Defragment and optimize logical volumes and filesystems
- Reducing the size of logical volumes and filesystems to the exact use of capacity
- Creating Alternate bootdisks to test new maintenance releases
- Install systems (like jumpstart) over the network
The crash recovery restore process is as simple as the backup process (can be done without UNIX knowledge).
I have reviewed and tested the JumpStart but that does not offer what I want. First of all jumstart has to be maintained. If I change something in the OS on AIX it is automatically backuped up with the mksysb tool (bootable/cloneable backup). With Solaris I have to manually add the changes to the jumpstart configuration. Second it does not create a portable bootable backup on other media than a network so cloning a system in a remote area (without network) is impossible. Third it is not suited for creating day by day backups on the fly.
The other utils that Solaris offers to create backups like ufsdump and fssnap are way to basic.
So correct me if I'm wrong but I suspect there isn't such util like AIX's mksysb or is there?
Regards,
themissingfeature.

if you are looking for the bare metal recovery or cloning part of mksysb you can have a look at flarcreate. It can make an image to a streamer while the system is in production. To recover the image you need a Solaris installation CD. This is the best thing I found so far since I looked for something similar like HP's Ignite make recovery...

Simple home network backup strategy ?

I have a simple home network of 4 machines on a router, all running Arch. None of the boxes are a server. I do not have NFS nor Samba running. I want a simple, incremental cron-based weekly backup process, to be backed up to a spare hard drive on one of the computers (eg hostname "master"). I believe rsync with ssh might be the easiest way to go, something like: "rsync -e ssh -varuzP /home/whoever master:/mnt/tmp/backups".
The cron job would first of all make sure the master computer is online, or send a message to the user to that effect. My problem is I do not know how to remotely mount, from a cron job, the second hard drive on "master". I suppose I could ensure that "master" auto mounts that drive each session but I would prefer not to do that. Any ideas appreciated.

Another strategy for you to consider...
At a slightly different time each night (or whatever interval you want), have each computer on your network create a backup archive of itself. I recommend xz compression for this because it is slow to compress and small, but fast to decompress. eg
include="$include /root"
include="$include /home"
exclude="$exclude --exclude=/home/*/.mozilla/firefox/*/*Cache/*"
exclude="$exclude --exclude=/home/*/.mozilla/firefox/*/bookmarkbackups/*"
exclude="$exclude --exclude=/home/*/.mozilla/firefox/*/urlclassifier3.sqlite"
datestamp="$(date +%Y-%m-%d-%H%M%S)"
tar --ignore-failed-read $exclude -cf - $include | xz > "/backups/backup-$HOSTNAME-$datestamp.txz"
Next, if the security is needed, have the computer encrypt the archive using a GPG public key created for this purpose. (By using a public key, you don't need to be there to type in the password, and you don't need to include a password on the command line.)
gpg --always-trust -r 0xAAAAAAAA -o "/backups/backup-$HOSTNAME-$datestamp.txz.gpg" -e "/backups/backup-$HOSTNAME-$datestamp.txz"
(Where "0xAAAAAAAA" is your public key ID)
You can then delete the .txz original.
Then have each computer copy its backup file to each of the other computers on the network. You can do this by sharing an NFS backup folder on each computer, rsync, or using any other method or protocol. In some cases you could alternatively have a computer fetch a backup from another computer.
You can write a single script to do all of this on every computer, and have it read the $HOSTNAME variable so it can determine what machine it is running on.
Later in the night, have each computer run a separate script that checks that all the backups for today are present in its own backup folder, including those from all other computers. If there is a problem, have it send an admin alert, perhaps using local email or a CLI smtp client like msmtp. If there isn't a problem, have each computer run a cleanup routine to delete old backups. eg
# Remove backups older than 10 days
find -L /backups/ -type f -mtime +10 -name "backup-*.gpg" -execdir rm {} \;
This strategy is good for relatively low-volume dynamic data, like a /home folder and /etc. I find I like having separate backups from each of the past 10 days, rather than one incremental backup. For larger static data (music, movies, etc) you may want to use an incremental backup.
Advantages:
Redundancy - every computer keeps backups of all the others
Decentralized - no need for, or reliance on, a dedicated master
If the network is down, each computer at least creates a local backup.
With static tar archives instead of incremental, you have snapshots of the folders as they were several days or weeks ago. This way if you discover a problem later, you can go further back than an incremental backup allows.
Each computer can backup a custom set of folders for itself. And each computer can store backups for a different number of days, depending on its storage capacity.
Issues:
Be sure to have a copy of the GPG secret key! If the only backups of it you have are encrypted with the public key, you're in trouble. One way to avoid this is to have your backup script support a manual mode which encypts with a conventional passphrase instead of the public key. You can run this manual mode to create a static backup occassionally, and it will prompt you for the passphrase. The backup will thus contain an accessible copy of the key pair used for the automatic backups.
Sometimes NFS will hang for hours rather than producing an error. This is why it's good to have a separate script on a separate cron job which checks if the backups were created successfully and sends an admin alert.
Always test backups! It is terrible to discover your backup wasn't being created as you expected when you go to use it. Test to make sure you can decrypt and decompress it, and that it contains everything you expect.
Last edited by IgnorantGuru (2010-04-06 14:31:22)

Network backup disk does not support the required AFP features

I have a mac mini with two (4T) hard disks each set as target in TimeMachine. Backups have been made on both for some time. This afternoon one of the disks is being rejected as target volume, with the "network backup disk does not support the required AFP features" error.
The sparse image on the disk that is the actual time machine target shows a modification tim of 13:09, time machine reports the last backup on that volume as made on 13:08. It seems the last successful backup was made at that time. The other TimeMachine target volume on the same min reports a last backup at 15:28
So why an error now? What has happend in the last hour, or so, to cause the disk to no longer be suitable? Why only on one virtual disk?
The mac mini runs OS X 10.9.4 (13E28), the disk with the failing backup volume is formatted with Case-Sensitive Journaled HFS+, the still working disk Journaled HFS+.
This may be related: A couple of month ago I lost the complete backup on that disk, when time machine conclude that the contents of the target volume was corrupt. At the time I blamed that at a failed backup when I had accessed the mini over ssh using SLINK when traveling. Maybe that conclusion is wrong and this is part of the same problem.
Any pointers on how to get my second backup disk working again would be much appreciated.
Eduard de Jong

The error message has disappeared!
Earlier this morning the disk has been used as target for a backup by time machine without triggering the error message. A backup 8 hours earlier has also been made to the same sparse image (looking at the folder names).

The network backup disk does not support the required AFP features.

I am trying to set up timeMachine on my new mac book pro over a regular home network on a shared network drive. I have tried everything but I keep getting "The network backup disk does not support the required AFP features." I am on lion with the lateset unpdate (10.7.4). I have even tried creating sparebundles on from tutorial that I have found online, but non of the hacks that I have tried seemed to work. Have anyone figured out a way around this? If so, can you share, it will be greatful. I could just buy the time capsule that apple sells but I already have a 2TB internal HDD in an old pc that's hosting my file server so no need for the time capsule hardware. Let me know if there is a way around this thank.

ookakaa wrote:
1) Apple time capsule
Or USB drive connected to a Time Capsule
2) NAS with the latest firmware
Not just any NAS. It has to support the communications protocols used by Time Machine (some involving security, some about error detection and handling). Some NASs never supported TM; some that worked on Leopard never got updated for Snow Leopard; and some that worked on Snow Leopard still haven't been updated for Lion.
4) Another networked mac (not a pc)
A Mac running Leopard 10.5.6 or later.
Are these the only options?
Those are the only options supported by Apple. Some other destinations may work, to some degree, in some circumstances. Some require "hacks" or other workarounds. Most are somewhat unreliable, and, may stop working at all on the next OSX upgrade.
Side note. I've been seeing some online post of how some people are setting up TM on a networked PC drive by setting up a sparsebundle like this site:
Any thoughts? I have tried some of these examples and it don't seem to work...
Some of those may have worked at one time, in some circumstances (2 are dated before Lion was released, the other is undated).
Wireless backups are tricky enough to a supported destination, with all the security and error detection and handling Apple has been able to employ. If your backups are important to you, don't trust them to a marginal scheme.
And, in any event, don't trust your backups to a single piece of hardware or software. See Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #27 for an explanation and some suggestions.

Access Time Machine backup through different computer

Hi, I have a 1TB Time capsule and I have my Macbook pro and my mother's macbook pro backing up to it. If one of our computers were to crash, could we go about getting a file from time machine through the other computer? I tried the right-clicking on time machine and selecting 'browse other time machine disk', but that only shows the backup for the computer im using, not anybody elses. any help?

Try mounting the "sparsebundle" file for the other computer before you invoke the "browse other ..." option. If that works, please let me know.

Crash of computer - need to synchronise from Iphone to new Itunes

Hello, My computer crashed and I had to buy a new one. I have then a empty itunes. I would like to synchronise my Iphone with itunes (and not the opposite), how is that possible? Thanks

Your computer backs up your iPhone, not the other way around. You lost your backup when your computer crashed.
You can download everything you bought from Apple again, without having to pay again, provided that everything you bought is still available in the iTunes Store or App Store. Without a backup though, you will face difficulties extracting non-Apple content from your iPhone to a new computer.
Due to their affinity for viruses and other junk, Windows computers crash with disturbing regularity.
iTunes: How to move your music to a new computer
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527
Here is what to do for your non-Apple content:
Syncing to a new computer, crashed hard disk, no backup? See wjosten's procedure here:
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3141

TimeMachine network backup crashing my computer

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