What do I fix so time machine will recognize the backup file it created on my external drive?

I use a 1TB Toshiba external HDD (MacOS extended, journaled format) for Time Machine and have had no problems for a year or so. Shortly before my video circuit died and I had to have the logic board replaced, TM stopped backing up with the "backup volume could not be found" error or the "insufficient disc space" error. When I open TM it shows no backup files available. I don't recall making any changes around the time this cropped up, but who knows? Any suggestions on reconecting TM with its old "Backups.backupdb" ?

Thank you for the pointer. I somehow didn't find all the links to begin with, so mea culpa for troubling folks before doing enough homework. For those bumbling around like me with older MBPs that get new logic boards late in life, the problem is nigh insoluble since the new board looks to TM as a new computer, which it is. Best to borrow another disk to copy the old backup if needed and then to start clean with a new TM backup.

Similar Messages

  • I am trying to get space on an external hard drive which has some old time machine back up files that I do not need but can not eliminate, even by going into the time machine, clicking on the backup file to be eliminated and using the drop down eliminate

    I am trying to get space on an external hard drive which has some old time machine back up files that I do not need but can not eliminate, even by going into the time machine, clicking on the backup file to be eliminated and using the drop down menu with the gear box symbol to eliminate

    I cannot find this 300GB "Backup" in the Finder, only in the Storage info when I check "About This Mac".
    You are probably using Time Machine to backup your MacBook Pro, right? Then the additional 300 GB could be local Time Machine snapshots.  Time Machine will write the hourly backups to the free space on your hard disk, if the backup drive is temporarily not connected. You do not see these local backups in the Finder, and MacOS will delete them, when you make a regular backup to Time Machine, or when you need the space for other data.
    See Pondini's page for more explanation:   What are Local Snapshots?   http://pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html
    I have restarted my computer, but the information remains the same. How do I reclaim the use of the 300GB? Why is it showing up as "Backups" when it used to indicate "Photos"? Are my photos safe on the external drive?
    You have tested the library on the external drive, and so your photos are save there.  
    The local TimeMachine snapshot probably now contains a backup of the moved library.  Try, if connecting your Time Machine drive will reduce the size of your local Time Machine snapshots.

  • Time machine will not open backup file

    Error shows the backup volume (on a WD Backup drive attached to airport extreme, is in use.  WIl not open the backup file.  Any ideas?

    Item C 12:
    Time Machine Troubleshooting
    Airport Utility 5.6 - Download to Downloads Folder and leave download there.
    Run Terminal command:
    cd ~/Downloads && pkgutil --expand ./AirPortUtility56.pkg ~/Downloads/AirPortUtility56 && gunzip -c./AirPortUtility56/AirPortUtility56Lion.pkg/Payload | sudo tar -C / -xvf - "./Applications/Utilities/AirPort Utility 5.6.app"
    Check Applications/Utilities for Airport 5.6. Then see: Pondini again.

  • Time Machine will not restore backup files.

    trying to restore a backup to a new internal hard drive and time machine sees the  external hard drive with the backup but no folders. tried a couple of different  external hard drives and even installed new OS on the new internal drive. the original OS and the new are both Maverick and after three days of swaping drives and installing fresh installs of maverick and talking to tech support, i'm convinced the issue is in Maverick. anyone have a suggest without buying a third party package like Carbon Copy?

    I got something simular. I restored the whole TM backup and the mail messages from august '08 till 15 jan '09 didn't import. I can see them clearly sitting in Time machine but the restore button won't lit up. And I cannot go back in time cause it only ofers me the today option. What to do?
    Sakshin.

  • Time Machine will not properly backup to new 8TB glyph drive.

    Time Machine will not properly backup to new 8TB glyph drive. Folder reads ".inProgress". Can't see any files.
    How can I set it up to do proper, regular backups?

    8TB? holy cow.
    It's likely overwhelmed and doesn't know what it's looking at.
    Try using Carbon Copy Cloner instead, at least it will be bootable to use the computer.
    Most commonly used backup methods

  • Time Machine will not delete backups

    I am running 10.8.2 and have a recurring message every couple of weeks from Time Machine that says the backup disk is full and the backup could not be completed.  I am attempting to have about 750G backed up onto a 1000G Gsafe external drive.
    I do notice that everytime my Backup drive is mounted, there are what appears to be 3 old backups in my trash that will not delete when I empty the trash.  The system asks me if I want to remove all items or only unlocked items.  I select "all items", and the files remain in the trash.  I am sure this has something to do with the Time Machine error.
    Any ideas?

    The backup volume was full. That shouldn't happen, because TM is supposed to manage disk space by deleting snapshots as needed to make room for a new one, up to the last complete snapshot, which is never removed automatically.
    One possibility is that you were writing other data to the volume during the backup. Apple recommends that no other data be stored on a backup volume.
    Otherwise, I suggest you clear possibly corrupt data from the TM preference file. Open the Time Machine pane in System Preferences. Click the padlock icon in the lower left corner, if necessary, to unlock it. Scroll to the bottom of the list of backup drives and click Add or Remove Backup Disk. Remove the problem disk, then add it back. Quit System Preferences. Test.

  • After having the logic board replaced, Time Machine will no longer backup my computer to the same backup files as before.

    After having the logic board replaced due to bad NVidia chip, my Time Machine will no longer backup my computer to the current backup. Is there a way to reset something to get Time Machine to continue to use the same backup files as before for this laptop?

    As far as TM is concerned you have a new computer, so it will make a new backup. If you don't have the space for both backups then erase your backup drive before backing up the computer.

  • HT3275 I received this message and I'm unsure how to fix it "Time Machine couldn't complete backup to Time Capsule the backup disk image"/Volumes/The Vision Board/Alex Parry.sparsebundle" is already in use

    I received this message and I'm unsure how to fix it "Time Machine couldn't complete backup to Time Capsule the backup disk image“/Volumes/The Vision Board/Alex Parry.sparsebundle” is already in use

    Look at the more like this on the right column of the web page.
    This is the most common error here.. we answer it 5-10times every day.
    Simple method.. pull out the TC power cord .. count to 10.. plug in the TC power cord.
    Look at the other references for more info.

  • HT201250 Can I use Time Machine on two different Macs to back up to one external drive?

    Can I use Time Machine on two different Macs to back up to one external drive?
    I have one 1T Western Digital backup drive that works well with Time Machine and my MacBook Pro.  I now want to back up my wife's MacBook Air using Time Machine on her Mac and want to know if I can use the same WD external drive or if I need to get a 2nd back up drive?  If I can use one external drive for the two Macs do I need to do something special on the drive or will Time Machine do it automatically?

    Yes. You will need to configure Time Machine preferences on each computer to backup to the same drive. Note that you cannot connect the backup drive to both machines at the same time.

  • HT3275 time machine error says: The backup disk image "/Volumes/Data/Apple 's iMac G5.sparsebundle" could not be accessed (error -1).

    While backing up to Time Machine, I receive this message: time machine error says: The backup disk image “/Volumes/Data/Apple ’s iMac G5.sparsebundle” could not be accessed (error -1).

    Welcome to Apple Support Communities
    That message is caused by several reasons. Read the Pondini's site to fix the problem > http://pondini.org/TM/C17.html

  • Hallo. My time machine cant do the backup.  It cant make the folder for the safety-backup. How do I solve this?

    Hallo. My time machine cant do the backup.  It cant make the folder for the safety-backup. How do I solve this?

    Have a look at Pondini's Time Machine information pages: http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html

  • HT3275 Can some HELP, I keep getting this error with my Time Machine Back up, "The backup disk image "/Volumes/JKPN Safe/JKPN IMAC.sparsebundle" is already in use.

    Can some one HELP me , I keep getting this error with my Time Machine Back up, "The backup disk image “/Volumes/JKPN Safe/JKPN IMAC.sparsebundle” is already in use.

    See > http://pondini.org/TM/C12.html

  • Time machine will not begin backup -- uuid's don't match

    I'm trying to use time machine for the first time to backup my macbook pro, but whenever time machine appears to begin, it will only say that it is backing up however many files, but there is no progress on the progress bar and it shows that 0kb of 53.8 gb have been backed up. It remains this way even after leaving my external hard drive connected overnight for +9 hours. What do I need to do so that time machine will work properly?
    Here is what the computer is telling me:
    Starting standard backup
    Backing up to: /Volumes/Iomega/Backups.backupdb
    Event store UUIDs don't match for volume: Macintosh HD
    Backup content size: 53.8 GB excluded items size: 7.9 MB for volume Macintosh HD
    No pre-backup thinning needed: 64.54 GB requested (including padding), 266.83 GB available

    Start with item #C1 in the Time Machine - Troubleshooting post at the top of this forum.
    As it says, the most common cause of an initial backup failing is an improperly formatted TM drive/partition.
    After using it's instructions to verify the setup, if you're sure it's correct, then do all the things recommended in item #D2.

  • Time machine will not complete backup.

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

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

  • Time Machine Deleted ALL the backups!

    Today, TM was cleaning up the old backups as it does every so often, however it inadvertently deleted ALL of the backups.
    1) Can I recover my backups?
    2) If so, how can I recover said backups?
    3) How can I prevent this from happening again?
    Thanks.
    What a bummer....

    TheChemist wrote:
    May 30 15:12:50 francoisimac com.apple.backupd[500]: Starting pre-backup thinning: 423.93 GB requested (including padding), 123.83 GB available
    The "padding" is workspace, etc., that TM needs on the backup drive. It's about 20%, so Time Machine estimates it needs to back up about 350 GB. That's the symptom: there isn't enough room for that.
    The one question I would love answered is what would trigger a pre-backup thinning?
    Not enough room for the new backup. In that case, Time Machine first deletes "expired" backups, then your oldest ones.
    Unfortunately, there's no way to tell what that 350 GB was. After a backup finishes successfully, you can see what was backed-up, but not before.
    So, you need to start with #D4 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum). Something you're running is apparently causing a very large, but not full, backup (a full one would need about the 500 GB that's on your internal HD, plus another 100 GB temporarily).
    If you still can't figure it out, erase the drive and do a full backup. Then immediately do another. If it's quite large, see #A2 in Troubleshooting to download +Time Tracker+ or BackupLoupe to see what's causing the huge backups.
    If it's small, turn Time Machine off. Periodically, run a backup manually. (Select +Back Up Now+ from the TM icon in your menubar, or by right-clicking the TM icon in your Dock). Sooner or later, you should see a very large one, and hopefully it will complete so you can see what caused it, via +Time Tracker+ or BackupLoupe.

Maybe you are looking for

  • Read SAP table content through VBA  why  Chinese characters display as '#'

    Hi , I meet a problem . I want to get sap table content through RFC in excel  VBA. now  i have solve it . It can got table content . when  i change a new  system , it can get table content ,but chinese characters display as '#' ( it works well in sap

  • About Loops?

    As I didn't have much space left in my HD (1.24 Gb) I decided to move all my loops in an external disc. PROBLEM.Garageband now cannot find them.It does not even ask me where they are so I can direct it to the right folder. What can I do? Taking them

  • Query For Open Items

    Hi, We are trying to create a query for the open items (purchase orders ) in order to add some fields useful for users. Would you be able to advise with the query needed to show us only the open items? Best regards, MB

  • Weird spacey buzz sound while moving around in iTunes store?

    I noticed it today while browsing the iTunes store.  It is really annoying.  I've checked all the preferences and even my account profile to see if there is anything that can be turned on/off for alerts or sounds. Can anyone tell me how to turn it of

  • Why won't the movie I purchased on itunes not download to my ipod?

    why won't the movie I purchased on itunes not download to my classic ipod. In ipod's summary, I checked "all" under sync for movies. I have the classic 160 gig ipod and have plenty of space. I unchecked "HD" and chose the 720 resolution. What next?