Time Machine backs up but history is not visible

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Time Machine backs up but history is not visible

Here's the situation: I just got a LaCie 2Big-triple 2TB disk, connected it via FireWire-800, set it up in RAID-1 for mirroring, and made a partition for Time Machine (650GB) and one for files I'm happy just trusting to the redundancy of the RAID disk (350GB). I've got my MacBook Pro (new model 15") 320GB internal hard disk, as well as a 250 GB external USB disk. I've removed the USB disk from the TM exclusion list.

I'm a programmer, and so is my roommate, and while this is my first Mac, he's had them for years. He instructed me to create a sparse bundle on the Time Machine drive with the following command:

hdiutil create -fs HFS+J -volname "Backup of Tristan's HD" myhostname_00224126dcaa.sparsebundle

I copied it to the TM partition and all seemed to be well. The initial backup took a few hours, and copied about 240GB. After that, backups have been going as normal every hour and seem to be successful and working well.

Mounting the sparse bundle, I can see all of the backup folders time and date stamped correctly. I even moved many files around on the USB disk, and backups (in the sparse bundle image) before and after the move show them at that point in time and look great.

However, I cannot see any of this in the Time Machine history view. I only see the current version, the front folder. When I go to the USB disk, I can't see any windows "behind" the current version, even though I know there were files changed between backups, and I can even see that in the sparse bundle.

Anyone have any idea what's wrong? Did I know too much for my own good in creating a sparse bundle? I like the idea of keeping the backup in a single file, so that when we have 16TB NAS drives it will be easier to transport and isolate, and also so I can make a backup of the backup if I ever need to. But is this the wrong approach? It seems to be working great except for the History interface, so I don't think it's necessarily bad.

Is the quote in the sparse bundle drive name the issue? I read somewhere there was an issue with non-standard characters in bundle names... but it was supposed to be fixed in 10.5.5, right?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.5.5)

Posted on Oct 31, 2008 2:51 PM

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Answer 1

trisweb Author

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Oct 31, 2008 4:01 PM in response to trisweb

OK, back after some more testing.

Apparently my roommate had the same issue, so we made some discoveries:

1. Time Machine will back up to a .sparsebundle named correctly hostname_MACADDRESS.sparsebundle on a local drive if the bundle exists.
2. Time Machine apparently cannot read from that same sparse bundle if it's on a local drive.
3. Taking the same disk and moving it to the AirPort Extreme and setting it up as a network TimeMachine drive also works, and now magically TimeMachine can read the backup history from the sparsebundle.

Conclusions: Sparse bundles are supported for write-only backups when their containing volume is a local drive, but TimeMachine will not read from them or show history on a local drive. However, as is their intended purpose, they work perfectly when used on network storage for both read and write.

This may be helpful as you can create a sparsebundle locally, do the initial backup, then move the drive or sparsebundle to the network, where it will work with TimeMachine.

However, if you're using a local drive for a local TimeMachine backup, it should not be a sparse bundle, as the history view will not work.

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Answer 2

Oct 31, 2008 4:02 PM in response to trisweb

Tristan,

Consider the following...

*_Previous Time Machine Backups Are No Longer Visible_*
There are several reasons why this might be the case. Consider the following:

If Time Machine can successfully launch into its’ “time travel” interface then the software is seeing backups. It you only have two time travel windows to chose from, “Today (Now)” and a single window behind that, then Time Machine has only performed its initial full backup. You can verify this by looking at the time scale on the right. If no dates appear other than Now and the date of your first full backup then subsequent incremental backups have not been taking place.

If it has been MORE than an 1 ½ hours since the first full backup completed, then you need to determine why Time Machine has stopped backing up. It might simply be that the Time Machine Preference has been turned off.

If, on the other hand, you look at the time scale on the right and you see multiple dates going back to the time of the first full backup, but they are grayed-out, then Time Machine knows that incremental backups have been taking place. Nevertheless, only the front most window “Today (Now)” shows content. Take a look at the Sidebar of the Finder window. Among the various Devices, Shares, and Places, what is highlighted/selected? If it is the Time Machine backup disk itself that is highlighted, then click on some other location in the Sidebar to make the former backup windows appear.

You see, the Time Machine “time travel” interface displays the historical backup state of what ever location is highlighted in the Finders’ Sidebar. Since Time Machine does not back itself up, then there will be no historical backup windows visible.

Bear in mind as well, if you have added locations and items to the Time Machine “Exclude From Backup” list, then there will be no visible history of these items either if they too are highlighted or selected.

And of course, if you are looking at a file or folder that has only recently been created, then there will not be many, or any, backup copies of it depending on how long ago it was created.

*Anti-Virus Software*
If you have anti-virus software running try disabling, launch Time Machine again, and see if you can access previously backed up data. Sometimes such programs scanning processes can interfere with Time Machine.

*File Vault*
Does the User Account in question happen to have File Vault active? In another thread V.K. stated: "if you start TM from a filevaulted home directory all you'll see is present. you could browse your old backups of files outside your home directory but not anything in it."

*For Time Capsule / AirDisk users*
If you are backing up to a wireless device, and you have the Time Machine backup disk image (sparsebundle) mounted on your desktop while you are trying to access it via the Time Machine "time travel" interface, you may not be able to see any files from previous backups.

You see, if the backup disk image (sparsebundle) is already mounted on the desktop (a White drive icon) then Time Machine may conclude that the disk is “in use” and fail to mount it properly. Obviously, this is not a factor when backing up to a locally connected drive.

*SideBar is Missing / Can’t Navigate to Other Locations*
It may be that you see no backup history because the current window displayed HAS no backups. Nevertheless, there is nothing else to choose as the SideBar on the left is missing and won’t allow you to select another location on your Hard disk to explore.

Cancel out of Time Machine on the left.
Back in the Finder, go up to the “View” menu.
Select “Show Toolbar”. The Sidebar should now be visible.
Choose another location to begin exploring backups.
Now click the Time Machine Dock icon to enter the “time travel” interface again.

*Reselect Your Time Machine Disk*
Go to System Preferences --> Time Machine.
Use the slider on the left to turn “OFF” Time Machine.
Click the "Change Disk..." button.
Select "None" and click "Stop Backing Up".
Now click "Choose Backup Disk" and reselect your backup hard disk again.
Now use the slider on the left to turn “ON” Time Machine.
Close System Preferences and try viewing previous backups again using the Time Machine interface.

Let us know if the above helped.

Cheers!

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Answer 3

trisweb Author

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Oct 31, 2008 4:07 PM in response to Glenn Carter

Thanks Glenn, but the solution was a little more technical than that. That's what I get for experimenting.

The thing is, I don't understand why using TM with a local sparsebundle wouldn't be supported, so I hope Apple allows it in the future someday.

For now I'm just redoing the backup on the drive as normal, no sparsebundle.

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