Pondini

Q: Serious Time Machine bug on Mountain Lion

Some of us have seen a few cases of a pretty nasty problem with Time Machine backups on Mountain Lion.

 

In the worst cases, the backups could not be used to do a full system restore from recent backups -- they didn't appear on the selection screen that shows only "complete" backups.

 

Plus, they're not recognized as backups by Setup Assistant or Migration Assistant.  They don't even appear on the Select the Source or Select Your System windows.

 

In those cases, the top-level System, Library, and (hidden) private folders weren't backed-up at all (and in at least one other, Applications as well).  But all backups complete normally, and Verify Backups from the Time Machine menubar on network backups, and Verify Disk or Repair Disk via Disk Utility do not show a problem  (because what's there is intact; those can't tell what's missing.)

 

 

(In addition, we've seen a few threads where backups were unexpectedly large, sometimes all of them, sometimes just some, intermittently.  In at least some of those cases, one or more of those folders was getting backed-up in full.   We don't know if this is really the same problem, but it sure is suspicious.)

 

 

The problem seems to be with the Time Machine preferences file being damaged somehow;  the fix is easy -- do a "full reset" of Time Machine, per #A4 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting.  It won't change existing backups of course, but new ones should be ok.

 

 

However, as we have no clue as to the cause yet, we need to be sure Apple knows about this, in great detail, so I'm asking for some folks who are having these problems, and are fairly comfortable with the Finder at least, and following directions to do other things you may not be so familiar with, to help us collect information and file Bug Reports with Apple before running the fix above (as that will destroy the evidence).

 

If you're having this problem, and your Mac is still usable, and you're interested, please post back and we'll supply instructions.

 

If you're having the problem and just want to run the fix, by all means do so, but please don't post back with just a "me, too" post, unless you have something significant to add -- this thread may get long and those won't really help.

 

But if you're having a different problem, please do not respond to this thread.  Start a new one, instead.  If you're not sure how to do that, please go to the main Apple Support Communities page;  some Tutorials are listed at the right.  They'll show you how to get started.

Posted on Jun 4, 2013 6:11 AM

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Q: Serious Time Machine bug on Mountain Lion

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  • by Pondini,

    Pondini Pondini Jun 23, 2013 5:38 AM in response to fivenotrump
    Level 8 (38,747 points)
    Jun 23, 2013 5:38 AM in response to fivenotrump

    fivenotrump wrote:

     

    I am in the 'happens occasionally' camp. The last occurrence, yesterday, was directly after TM performed one of its periodic verifications. I had also just installed MacTex 2013...

    Ah, that may be a clue.

     

    Have you already run the fix?  If not, I'd like to enlist your help if possible:

     

    If you're covered by AppleCare, reporting it to them is probably the best way to get quick attention.  If so, let me know, and I'll try to provide some ammunition, as in my earlier reply to rxbudp. 

     

    If you're not covered by AppleCare, filing a Bug Report should help.  I know of at least one that's been filed with them so far, and I can provide the number so you can cross-reference.  In addition, you could run the TMdiagnostics and attach the results. 

     

    Let me know . . .

     

    p.s: I clicked This solved my question in error, instead of Go to the message in the e-mail reply to your other post . . . I've asked the Host to reverse it, but I don't know if they can.

     

    Message was edited by: Pondini

  • by rxbudp,

    rxbudp rxbudp Jun 23, 2013 8:26 AM in response to Pondini
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 23, 2013 8:26 AM in response to Pondini

    Yes, they had me run diagnostic reports on two separate occasions.  As I recall, the AppleCare advisor also had me send him the com.apple.TimeMachine.plist file.  I will contact him again on Monday since I haven't heard from him since June 15th.  I will not run the fix until AppleCare tells me they can't fix the issue.

     

     

    Thanks

  • by Pondini,

    Pondini Pondini Jun 23, 2013 9:06 AM in response to rxbudp
    Level 8 (38,747 points)
    Jun 23, 2013 9:06 AM in response to rxbudp

    rxbudp wrote:

     

    Yes, they had me run diagnostic reports on two separate occasions.  As I recall, the AppleCare advisor also had me send him the com.apple.TimeMachine.plist file.  I will contact him again on Monday since I haven't heard from him since June 15th.

    Ah, good, they should have what they need.  You might mention the points in my earlier post, about the contents of it, and the fact that I've found a few other affected folks, etc.

     

     

    I will not run the fix until AppleCare tells me they can't fix the issue.

    The only problem with that is, if those are your only backups, and something awful happens, you can't do either a full system restore, or install OSX and use Setup/Migration Assistant to recover. You'll lose your "exrtra" apps and some other things, too.

     

    Keep us posted.

  • by Pondini,

    Pondini Pondini Jun 24, 2013 6:54 AM in response to Pondini
    Level 8 (38,747 points)
    Jun 24, 2013 6:54 AM in response to Pondini

    NOTE:  This thread has gotten rather long and confusing  (and I marked it "Solved" in error )

     

    So I've started a new, updated one:  UPDATED: Serious Time Machine bug on Mountain Lion.

     

    Please respond there, instead of here.

     

    Thanks very much.

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