Time Machine fails with “error occurred while creating the backup folder”

Carl, try one more thing for us. Open your Sharing Preferences.
What is the name you have in "Computer Name"? It might be something like "Carl's iMac".

Take out any spaces in the name so that the above example would look like this "Carl'siMac". Close the Sharing Preferences.

Now initiate a backup and see if it is successful.

If Glenn's naming suggestion doesn't work, try removing the apostrophe, too.

They're sometimes implicated in this sort of thing.

The TM volume is 1TB is size, only used for TM, currently has ~223M occupied.

Lemon:~ carlmuckenhirn$ diskutil list
/dev/disk0
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: GUID partitionscheme *250.1 GB disk0
1: EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1
2: Apple_HFS Lemon 249.6 GB disk0s2
/dev/disk1
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: GUID partitionscheme *1.5 TB disk1
1: EFI 209.7 MB disk1s1
2: Apple_HFS LemonDisk 499.9 GB disk1s2
3: Apple_HFS LemonTimeMachine 1000.0 GB disk1s3
Lemon:~ carlmuckenhirn$ diskutil info /dev/disk1
Device Identifier: disk1
Device Node: /dev/disk1
Part Of Whole: disk1
Device / Media Name: ST315003 41AS Media

Volume Name:
Escaped with Unicode:

Mounted: No

File System: None

Partition Type: GUID partitionscheme
Bootable: Not bootable
Media Type: Generic
Protocol: USB
SMART Status: Not Supported

Total Size: 1.5 TB (1500301910016 Bytes) (exactly 2930277168 512-Byte-Blocks)
Volume Free Space: Not Applicable

Read-Only Media: No
Read-Only Volume: Not applicable (no filesystem)
Ejectable: Yes

Whole: Yes
Internal: No
OS 9 Drivers: No
Low Level Format: Not Supported

Lemon:~ carlmuckenhirn$ diskutil info /dev/disk1s3
Device Identifier: disk1s3
Device Node: /dev/disk1s3
Part Of Whole: disk1
Device / Media Name: Untitled

Volume Name: LemonTimeMachine
Escaped with Unicode: LemonTimeMachine

Mounted: Yes
Mount Point: /Volumes/LemonTimeMachine
Escaped with Unicode: /Volumes/LemonTimeMachine

File System: Case-sensitive Journaled HFS+
Type: hfs
Name: Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled)
Journal: Journal size 81920 KB at offset 0x1d1d000
Owners: Enabled

Partition Type: Apple_HFS
Bootable: Is bootable
Media Type: Generic
Protocol: USB
SMART Status: Not Supported
Volume UUID: 94C3BC64-E61B-3E02-9ECA-E8B1F01D836D

Total Size: 1000.0 GB (999957934080 Bytes) (exactly 1953042840 512-Byte-Blocks)
Volume Free Space: 777.1 GB (777084743680 Bytes) (exactly 1517743640 512-Byte-Blocks)

Read-Only Media: No
Read-Only Volume: No
Ejectable: Yes

Whole: No
Internal: No

There are no reported firmware updates for the drive (Barracuda 7200.11, firmware vs. CC1H) nor for the drive enclosure (Thermaltake Blacx ST005U). Drive is direct-connected to USB:

JM20336 SATA, USB Combo:

Capacity: 1.5 TB (1,500,301,910,016 bytes)
Removable Media: Yes
Detachable Drive: Yes
BSD Name: disk1
Product ID: 0x2336
Vendor ID: 0x152d (JMicron Technology Corp.)
Version: 1.00
Serial Number: 931388888888
Speed: Up to 480 Mb/sec
Manufacturer: JMicron
Location ID: 0xfd300000
Current Available (mA): 500
Current Required (mA): 2
Partition Map Type: GPT (GUID Partition Table)
S.M.A.R.T. status: Not Supported
Volumes:
LemonDisk:
Capacity: 499.87 GB (499,865,784,320 bytes)
Available: 461.12 GB (461,124,620,288 bytes)
Writable: Yes
File System: Journaled HFS+
BSD Name: disk1s2
Mount Point: /Volumes/LemonDisk
LemonTimeMachine:
Capacity: 999.96 GB (999,957,934,080 bytes)
Available: 777.08 GB (777,084,743,680 bytes)
Writable: Yes
File System: Case-Sensitive Journaled HFS+
BSD Name: disk1s3
Mount Point: /Volumes/LemonTimeMachine


I'm not filtering only for backupd messages, but looking at "all messages" in Console. I occasionally see a single "Disk I/O" error that seems to correspond to the drive waking. At 3:40 and 4:40 when backupd attempted to run this is the Console entry:

12/13/09 4:40:15 PM com.apple.backupd[59055] Starting standard backup
12/13/09 4:40:23 PM kernel disk1s3: I/O error.
12/13/09 4:40:23 PM kernel
12/13/09 4:40:23 PM kernel
12/13/09 4:40:25 PM com.apple.backupd[59055] Backing up to: /Volumes/LemonTimeMachine/Backups.backupdb
12/13/09 4:40:26 PM com.apple.backupd[59055] Error: (-50) Creating directory 2009-12-13-164026.inProgress
12/13/09 4:40:26 PM com.apple.backupd[59055] Failed to make snapshot container.
12/13/09 4:40:31 PM com.apple.backupd[59055] Backup failed with error: 2

I just ran DiskUtility "Repair Disk" on the entire drive, this is the output:

Verifying volume “LemonDisk”
Checking Journaled HFS Plus volume.
Checking extents overflow file.
Checking catalog file.
Checking multi-linked files.
Checking catalog hierarchy.
Checking extended attributes file.
Checking volume bitmap.
Checking volume information.
The volume LemonDisk appears to be OK.

Verifying volume “LemonTimeMachine”
Performing live verification.
Checking Journaled HFS Plus volume.
Detected a case-sensitive volume.
Checking extents overflow file.
Checking catalog file.
Checking multi-linked files.
Checking catalog hierarchy.
Checking extended attributes file.
Checking multi-linked directories.
Checking volume bitmap.
Checking volume information.
The volume LemonTimeMachine appears to be OK.

c.

The machine's name is "Lemon" with sharing name of "Lemon.local."

What has me completely confused is that this is a bog-standard TM installation. Attached new drive, formatted it, opened TM and set it as the back up drive. Nothing exotic.

My MBP backs up to a "MyBook Studio" in the same manner. The only real difference between these is that I have more concurrent users on the iMac.

c.

Carl Muckenhirn wrote:
. . .
3: Apple_HFS LemonTimeMachine 1000.0 GB disk1s3
. . .
12/13/09 4:40:23 PM kernel disk1s3: I/O error.

Disk I/O errors are never good!

I can't swear to it, but this looks like a problem either with your external disk, or it's wake-up routine.

Do you see I/O errors every time you also get one of the +Error (-50)+ messages?

If so, see if there's a sleep or "spin down" mode on the drive that you can adjust or disable.

Try un-checking the +Put the hard drive(s) to sleep . . .+ option in System Preferences > Energy Saver temporarily.

One other possibility: what version of OSX are you on? If 10.6.1, there was an update that might help: http://support.apple.com/kb/DL947

I'm running 10.6.2, after setting the drive to "don't sleep" everything appears fine. So I'll chalk this up to a problem between TM and waking the Barracuda from sleep.

c.

Carl Muckenhirn wrote:
I'm running 10.6.2, after setting the drive to "don't sleep" everything appears fine. So I'll chalk this up to a problem between TM and waking the Barracuda from sleep.

Aha! Progress is always good. 🙂

You might want to check with the maker for an updated driver and/or firmware. I know the drive is new, but it may have been in stock somewhere for a while, and not have the latest and greatest stuff for Snow Leopard.

I might be stating the obvious but when I went in to the Disk Utility I noticed that “Enable Journaling” was not selected. It has always been formatted "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)” but I wonder if not having it enabled was my problem.

Open the disk utility and along the top there is a green button to “Enable Journaling”. I did this a couple of days ago and I have not experienced the error.

Carl & Kalmdown, are yours selected as enabled?

shwa wrote:
I might be stating the obvious but when I went in to the Disk Utility I noticed that “Enable Journaling” was not selected. It has always been formatted "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)” but I wonder if not having it enabled was my problem.

Open the disk utility and along the top there is a green button to “Enable Journaling”. I did this a couple of days ago and I have not experienced the error.

That (and the option in the File menu) should be enabled only if the partition is not journaled; if it's journaled, the menu option and toolbar item should be disabled.

Journaling makes recovery much faster after an abnormal disconnection (including a power failure). So in theory it shouldn't make any long-term difference; if there's a problem, OSX will detect it when the disk is reconnected, and fix it (but it may take a long time).

In practice, it's certainly best to have it turned on, of course. This explanation by Bob Harris is the best I've seen: http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=8817319#8817319

Karl, if you indeed have the HD in question highlighted on the left of DU, then more than likely that means Journaling is already enabled.

Same problem here and I have been investigating this for some time now without a solution.

Time Machine worked fine on my older (circa April 2008) MacBook Pro 15" using Snow Leopard and an external 500 Gb USB HD.

Now I have a new MacBook Pro 15", all Snow Leopard updates installed. Using a brand new 1 Tb Samsung HD103SJ in a Thermaltake BlacX Duet USB enclosure. This drive is formated Mac OS Extended Journaled Case Sensitive.

Time Machine works fine for a while upon reboot. Then after a few backups, I get this message:

[Loop]
"Unable to complete backup. An error occurred while creating the backup folder."

The External HD cannot be Ejected, as it is "In Use". I can Shutdown the MacBook, turn off the USB drive, Start the MacBook, Start the External HD, run Time Machine and all is well again...for a few backups and then...
[End Loop]

I have checked the disk, reparied permissions, made sure it is formatted with the recommended format, blah, blah, blah...

This is certainly a Time Machine issue, albeit (potentially) with my particular USB drive. But the predictable nature and intermittent success lead me to believe that this is definitely a Time Machine and/or Snow Leopard issue.

I love Time Machine and this is sooo not an Apple-like response to an obvious problem.

Anyone know where I can report, what I believe to be a bug?

I'm beginning to suspect that the Thermaltake enclosures are the problem...

Try setting the drive to "not sleep" in "Energy Saver" that worked for me.

While not ideal, it should work since you have to disconnect (through finder) the drive to disconnect it.

c.