got space, no errors, but time machine stops after backing up 11 bytes

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got space, no errors, but time machine stops after backing up 11 bytes

I've been successfully backing up with a WD external hard drive and Time Machine for over a year, but tonight I am stuck. The Time Machine Preferences window says my drive has 37 of 160 GB available, and it is trying to back up 477 MB. I don't get any errors, but the window just sits there for hours saying that it's backing up 11 bytes of 477 MB. If I stop the backup and start again, sometimes it says 12 KB, but usually it says 11 bytes. I disconnected and reconnected the drive, but I got the same result.

Any clue what's gone wrong and how to get the backup to proceed?

Thanks!

Mac Book Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.2)

Posted on Jun 7, 2010 12:01 AM

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Answer 1

Jun 7, 2010 4:07 AM in response to arizonarocks

Hello a:

May or may not be relevant, but there have been a number of posts from people with problems that have WD drives.

There might also be a corrupt file that TM is unable to handle. If you do not have it, TM buddy (widget) gives you a look at the log file information for TM. I had a corrupt file once that TM could not handle. It was a painfully slow process, but I eventually isolated it.

I would probably run repair disk on the external drive. After that, I would probably erase and then format the external drive and require TM to make a new backup.

Barry

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Answer 2

arizonarocks Author

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5 points

Jun 7, 2010 7:11 PM in response to Barry Hemphill

Thanks, Barry, I'll try your suggestion and see how that goes....

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Answer 3

arizonarocks Author

Level 1

5 points

Jun 7, 2010 7:54 PM in response to Barry Hemphill

Go figure! I installed Time Machine Buddy. I also did Verify Disk for the WD drive, and it came out fine. Then I tried backing up again, and it worked just like normal!

Thanks for your suggestions!

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