"The backup volume could not be mounted"

Question

Level 1

25 points

"The backup volume could not be mounted"

I have a Time Capsule connected to my router via Ethernet and Time Machine has performed flawlessly on it until the last couple of days. I am now getting TM backup failures with the message: "The backup volume could not be mounted".

By clicking "Change Disk" in TM prefs and selecting the disk again, or mounting it via a Finder window sidebar, I have been able to restore the connection and make a successful manual backup, but once it reverts to a scheduled backup it once again loses the connection.

If I run Airport Utility all the settings appear to be correct and the TC always shows the green light. The TC is also working correctly as my wireless network and appears correctly in my router's network information.

It may be coincidence but I installed the latest Security Update at the start of the week and the problem has started since then.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to why it can't hold the connection?

Powermac G5 2.0 Dual (10.5.8), MacBook Pro 2.2 (10.6), Mac OS X (10.5.8)

Posted on Mar 31, 2010 11:57 AM

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Answer 1

crutchy

Level 1

36 points

Mar 31, 2010 2:15 PM in response to Nick Burch

Hi!
Do you have any Virus Protection software installed?

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Answer 2

Pondini

Level 8

38,863 points

Mar 31, 2010 3:52 PM in response to Nick Burch

You might try Repairing the sparse bundle, per #A5 in the Time Machine - Troubleshooting *User Tip,* also at the top of the +Time Machine+ forum.

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Answer 3

crutchy

Level 1

36 points

Apr 1, 2010 12:13 AM in response to Nick Burch

The reason I asked this question (on virus protection) was because I suffered exactly the problem you describe. Working with apple support we identified the cause as being the Virusbarrier I had installed. Once I had completely removed it the "scheduled" backup has worked flawlessly for over a year.

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Answer 4

Nick Burch Author

Level 1

25 points

Apr 1, 2010 8:46 AM in response to Nick Burch

Hi and thanks for the interest.

I don't have any virus protection, but I do use Net Barrier. I'm sure this is nothing to do with it and I did try the TC without it, but to no effect.

I am currently doing a sparsebundle repair and will report back.

Two bits of information. When I lose the TC I can now only access it and remount it via my Macbook wireless connection and I have run a widget called Time Machine Buddy that gives status reports. I found this in amongst the gobbledegook:

Event store UUIDs don't match for volume: Macintosh HD
Node requires deep traversal:/ reason:kFSEDBEventFlagMustScanSubDirs|kFSEDBEventFlagReasonEventDBUntrustable|

Can anyone translate that into plain old English?

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Answer 5

Pondini

Level 8

38,863 points

Apr 1, 2010 9:11 AM in response to Nick Burch

Nick Burch wrote:
. . .
Event store UUIDs don't match for volume: Macintosh HD
Node requires deep traversal:/ reason:kFSEDBEventFlagMustScanSubDirs|kFSEDBEventFlagReasonEventDBUntrustable|

See #7 in the Frequently Asked Questions *User Tip,* also at the top of the +Time Machine+ forum.

As noted there, these are normal in some circumstances. The "deep traversal" will take a while, and even longer if your backups are corrupted.

If the +*Repair Disk+* finds and fixes some things, your backups will likely return to normal.

If it can't fix them, your only option will be to delete the sparse bundle, or erase the disk via +*Airport Utility.+* Select +*Base Station > Manual Set-Up+* from the Menubar, then Disks in the tool Bar, then Erase.

Then let Time Machine start fresh.

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Answer 6

crutchy

Level 1

36 points

Apr 1, 2010 9:24 AM in response to Nick Burch

I also had Net Barrier installed and can confirm that this did not cause a problem in any way. TM conflicted with Intego VirusBarrier. You will have noted from forums that TM conflicts with other VP software not just Intego. Normally I would not see the need to install any virus protection but banks here in the UK are insistent that customers keep their computers protected with such software if they use online banking. Touch wood the only thing I have suffered are ping attacks and two trojans both of which were my own fault because I opened a couple of mail attachments without noting the exe. file!

Good luck in solving your problem!

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Answer 7

Nick Burch Author

Level 1

25 points

Apr 1, 2010 12:02 PM in response to Nick Burch

The sparse bundle repair started promisingly and then stalled part way through. I restarted and it stalled at the same point again - showing 27 mins remaining, but stuck there for a couple of hours.

In Disk Utility in the left hand column the layout showed the disk image followed by a disk icon identically labelled 'Backup of Nick's Power Mac....sparsebundle' and then two further drive icons (identical to the icons for my Power Mac's internal hard drives) on separate lines both labelled 'disk 4'. Is that correct?

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Answer 8

Pondini

Level 8

38,863 points

Apr 1, 2010 12:19 PM in response to Nick Burch

Nick Burch wrote:
The sparse bundle repair started promisingly and then stalled part way through. I restarted and it stalled at the same point again - showing 27 mins remaining, but stuck there for a couple of hours.

It's probably hopeless, then. 😟

In Disk Utility in the left hand column the layout showed the disk image followed by a disk icon identically labelled 'Backup of Nick's Power Mac....sparsebundle' and then two further drive icons (identical to the icons for my Power Mac's internal hard drives) on separate lines both labelled 'disk 4'. Is that correct?

I suspect so. I'm backing-up to a USB drive on an Airport Extreme, which is similar but not identical. I see only the sparse bundle, followed by a disk image icon labelled "Time Machine Backups." I don't have one for a hard drive shown that way. And it's possible your backups are so corrupted that Disk Utility doesn't know what to do!

If there's nothing else on your TC's internal HD, your only option is to erase it.

If this, or other problems reoccur, it may be failing. 😟

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Answer 9

Nick Burch Author

Level 1

25 points

Apr 2, 2010 6:12 AM in response to Nick Burch

I'm trying to analyse the problem here. If I manually connect to the TC and initiate a backup the process works. When the TC goes offline I have to access it via my wireless laptop, it's not available via the Ethernet connection on my Power Mac until I make a connection on the laptop. Looking at the network info. page on my router the TC often appears several times with different IP addresses. Does this all suggest it's a specific problem with the Ethernet connection and settings?

When Time Machine prefs show the 'preparing' progress bar I can see in 'Shared' in a Finder window sidebar that the TC connection is initiated, but then fails.

Am I going to benefit from wiping the TC and starting again? Does the TC hold and interact with the connection settings, or is it controlled externally and merely contains the backup info?

In the Airport Utility panel the 'Internet Connection' info. shows 'Connect Using: Internet' and 'Connection Sharing: Off (Bridge Mode)'. The TCP/IP panel shows 'Configure IPv4: Using DHCP'. Does this all make sense?

My router info. pages shows a successful connection with the TC, also the correct MAC address and 'IP Address assignment' as 'DHCP'. The IP address is listed and has an option 'Always use this IP address' and it's set to the 'No' option.

I have tried a hard reset and going back to basics, but it still hasn't solved it.

Any further thoughts would be much appreciated.

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Answer 10

John Potts

Level 4

3,118 points

Apr 13, 2010 1:46 AM in response to Nick Burch

Nick, I have the same or a very similar problem. After 18 months of trouble-free backups, I also get the message that +the backup volume could not be mounted+. Occasionally it says that +the backup image could not be mounted.+ My set up is: TC wirelessly connected to my iMac.

I have been restoring the connection by unplugging/replugging the power on the TC - that works for about 24 hours.

Today, I was able to get TC to back up by selecting the TC in the Finder sidebar - this hasn't worked in the past. It is now backing up (or at least, preparing to back up).

I'll try to repair the sparse bundle if possible. I'll let you know how I get on.

Like you, I also installed the Security update recently, and the problem started afterwards - just a coincidence?

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Answer 11

Nick Burch Author

Level 1

25 points

Apr 13, 2010 2:27 AM in response to John Potts

John,

Thanks for the input. I have just about exhausted the possibilities now. I may try reinstalling the System Update and / or wiping the TC, but I do think these are extreme actions for what is an essentially simple problem.

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Answer 12

John Potts

Level 4

3,118 points

Apr 13, 2010 4:18 AM in response to Nick Burch

Nick

The backup that I started at 10.26 my time is still in progress at 13.10 - for just 15.3 MB of data. It's still trying to finish the backup. The +time machine buddy+ widget has this in the progress log:

No pre-backup thinning needed: 100.0 MB requested (including padding), 433.87 GB available
Waiting for index to be ready (905 > 0)
Waiting for index to be ready (905 > 0)
Waiting for index to be ready (905 > 0)
Waiting for index to be ready (905 > 0)
Waiting for index to be ready (905 > 0)
Waiting for index to be ready (905 > 0)
Waiting for index to be ready (905 > 0)
Waiting for index to be ready (905 > 0)
Waiting for index to be ready (905 > 0)
Waiting for index to be ready (905 > 0)
Waiting for index to be ready (905 > 0)
Waiting for index to be ready (905 > 0)
Waiting for index to be ready (905 > 0)
Waiting for index to be ready (905 > 0)
Waiting for index to be ready (905 > 0)
Waiting for index to be ready (905 > 0)
Waiting for index to be ready (905 > 0)
Waiting for index to be ready (905 > 0)
Waiting for index to be ready (905 > 0)
Unable to rebuild path cache for source item. Partial source path:
Bulk setting Spotlight attributes failed.
Unable to rebuild path cache for source item. Partial source path:
Copied 6743 files (15.3 MB) from volume Macintosh HD.
No pre-backup thinning needed: 716.6 MB requested (including padding), 433.86 GB available
Bulk setting Spotlight attribu (the log breaks off here)

Spotlight / indexing seems to be the issue. Do you see a similar message?

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Answer 13

John Potts

Level 4

3,118 points

Apr 13, 2010 7:22 AM in response to John Potts

Nick

The sparse bundle repair started promisingly and then stalled part way through. I restarted and it stalled at the same point again - showing 27 mins remaining, but stuck there for a couple of hours.

I see the same, except my sticks at 26 minutes remaining...

Update: now it says one hour, so maybe something is happening after all...

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Answer 14

Nick Burch Author

Level 1

25 points

Apr 13, 2010 8:39 AM in response to John Potts

John,

With a few idle minutes to spare I Googled "EventDBUntrustable", which was one of the Time Machine Buddy error messages. Apart from being my first Googlewhack it turned up this discussion at a forum hosted by Micromat, the Tech Tool people:

http://www.micromat.com/index.phpoption=comsimpleboard&id=9080&catid=6&func=sbpdf

This is all mostly beyond me, but it does involve confusion over Volume identification. My router is currently listing Time Capsule seven times in the Network Devices list so I would like to find a way to confirm the ID of the TC volume and put it right.

How did the repair go?

I haven't had anything like the log you posted.

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Answer 15

John Potts

Level 4

3,118 points

Apr 13, 2010 8:58 AM in response to Nick Burch

Nick

Still 4 hours of repairs to go, but at least the progress bar is progressing.

That list of 7 TCs can't be good. If I were you, I would post that issue as a new question and see if you can get it resolved. That may in turn resolve the original problem.

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