Time Machine Verification Issue

DROBO is/was GUID OS X Extended Journaled. Attached directly to server via Firewire

The USB 1T drive is also OS X Extended Journaled GUID attached to the server via USB.

One laptop accesses the server via Ethernet and the other via WiFi to a Linksys router. Using the standard Server Admin GUI to configure AFP I enabled Time Machine on both drives. Both are giving me periodic problems.

+"Yes but unfortunately there don't seem to be any detailed messages about what [Time Machine] found [during verfification]"+ is the root of my frustration.

Dean

I'm not very familiar with what support comes with the Server product, but have you tried AppleCare (or whatever support is included)?

Not weekly - but once in every 3 months 😟

During creation of the new backup I'm without a safety net at all ..

And without all past changes, correct?

Harald Felgner wrote:
Not weekly - but once in every 3 months 😟

What are you backing-up to? Time Capsule? USB drive on a Time Capsule? USB drive on an Airport Extreme? Shared drive on another Mac? A NAS device?

During creation of the new backup I'm without a safety net at all ..

Correct. It's always a good idea to keep "secondary" backups, but especially if your primary backups are "iffy." See #27 in [Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/FAQ.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).

Hello everyone,

I too got this message, and there are several things odd about it.

1) I am not using an external hard drive, but rather a 1TB Time Capsule.

2) It has been (at least) a week since any software updates were installed.

3) This error came up on my screen when I was connecting to the campus network in my office, but my TC is at home.

4) I'll have to double-check, but I don't think my wife got this message on her MB and we both back up to the same TC.

Is there a chance that this is just a fluke, or does this message guarantee that my backups will be erased and replaced with a fresh full backup the next time that I connect to my home network?

Also, being that I am running Time Machine on a unibody MBP over a wireless Apple network to Time Capsule - what could be the problem? Does that narrow the issue down to my TC's HD?

Thank you all in advance for your replies!

Peace,
Jason Weaver
Kansas City

jason.weaver wrote:
. . .
1) I am not using an external hard drive, but rather a 1TB Time Capsule.

Yes, the verification is run on any network backup.

2) It has been (at least) a week since any software updates were installed.

Updates are not involved. The verification found a problem with your backups.

3) This error came up on my screen when I was connecting to the campus network in my office, but my TC is at home.

That is odd; apparently it found something that looked like your backups.

4) I'll have to double-check, but I don't think my wife got this message on her MB and we both back up to the same TC.

Again, you only see the message when the verification finds a problem, and your backups are kept separate from hers (there's a "sparse bundle" for each Mac on the TC).

Is there a chance that this is just a fluke, or does this message guarantee that my backups will be erased and replaced with a fresh full backup the next time that I connect to my home network?

As stated in the message, there are two options: +Back Up Later,+ which stops all backups and repeats the message daily; and +Start New Backup+ which deletes the current ones and starts over. See #C13 in [Time Machine - Troubleshooting|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/Troubleshooting.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).

Also, being that I am running Time Machine on a unibody MBP over a wireless Apple network to Time Capsule - what could be the problem? Does that narrow the issue down to my TC's HD?

We do not know the cause; just that the backups are corrupted beyond repair.

Your best bet is to simply turn Time Machine OFF while at your office; see what happens when you turn it ON when in range of your TC.

Hi All

I've just started with the verification problem and I thinks its down to a change in 10.6.4. I'm using an airport extreme with 2x USB drives and its worked fine until now. I will reformat the drives and try again - like other people I was unaware that time machine couldn't be used on an airport extreme with external USB HDs. What annoys me is that when I set it up originally there was no warning message.

benh78 wrote:
Hi All

I've just started with the verification problem and I thinks its down to a change in 10.6.4.

Running the verification started with the 10.6.3v1.1 update in mid May. Unless you looked at your logs and found the "QUICKCHECK ONLY; FILESYSTEM CLEAN" messages, you wouldn't have noticed until it found something wrong.

I'm using an airport extreme with 2x USB drives and its worked fine until now.

Yeah, there are many, many posts like that here and in the Airport Extreme forum. The only difference is, now you get the message; before, backups would fail.

I will reformat the drives and try again

Since you have a Mini, give up trying to use the Airport - it's just not reliable. Connect the drive(s) to it, and back the Mini up directly. If you have laptop(s) you're backing-up via the Airport, you can back them up to the external(s) on the Mini, via your network. See #22 in [Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/FAQ.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).

- like other people I was unaware that time machine couldn't be used on an airport extreme with external USB HDs. What annoys me is that when I set it up originally there was no warning message.

And there's nothing on the Apple Store site (I've requested that several times, to no avail), and we see many reports of Apple Store employees telling folks it will work.

Pondini Thanks for the tips. I suppose if I'm going to the effort of reformatting I should put them on the Mac Mini. It was just a cooler solution on the extreme because it was all in the loft so if our house was ever broken into it would be unlikely my backup drives would be stolen with the MacMini - which is our home server for photos, movies, music and tv recordings. Not that it's a rough area I just take backing up especially photos pretty seriously.

I still don't understand why I can't use the Airport Extreme drives as a time machine backup if I highlight one of the folders on the drive and do Get Info (command I) it lists the server as afp://Extreme-etc so it is using the Apple File Share protocol just as it would be on the mac mini.
At work I've set up an iomega iconnect which shares USB drives over the network and about 6 Macs running 10.6.4 backup to that via Time Machine fine so you'd think an apple product would just work.
Also this error never occurred before 10.6.4. If I let the computers redo their backups which runs overnight (500 GB + in the case of the mac mini) it does the backup which I can browse and restore from and then comes back with verification error the next time it tries to do a backup.

benh78 wrote:
Pondini Thanks for the tips. I suppose if I'm going to the effort of reformatting I should put them on the Mac Mini. It was just a cooler solution on the extreme because it was all in the loft so if our house was ever broken into it would be unlikely my backup drives would be stolen with the MacMini - which is our home server for photos, movies, music and tv recordings. Not that it's a rough area I just take backing up especially photos pretty seriously.

Do separate, "secondary" backups of at least your photos, but if possible, your whole systems, on one or more portable external HDs, so you can take them to a secure off-site location. That also protects you from fire, flood, theft, direct lightning strike on your power lines, etc. See #27 in [Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/FAQ.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum) for some suggestions.

I still don't understand why I can't use the Airport Extreme drives as a time machine backup if I highlight one of the folders on the drive and do Get Info (command I) it lists the server as afp://Extreme-etc so it is using the Apple File Share protocol just as it would be on the mac mini.

Yes. And it's also supported if you connect a USB drive or drives to a Time Capsule. But for some reason, connecting a USB drive to an Airport Extreme for TM backups is not reliable, and not supported by Apple. Sooner or later, the backups will likely turn up corrupted. The TM and Airport Extreme forums have any number of threads to that effect. In my fairly typical case, it happens about every 3 or 4 months; and that's with no WIFI interference, about 12 feet from the AEBS.

Backing up to an external USB behind an AirPort Extreme, yes I know 😉

Secondary backup? Ok, here comes my request @Apple:

- Let me choose via Time Machine on a backup to backup basis to direct the backup to location A or B.

- At least give me the option - as soon as the error occurs - to keep the "corrrupt" file and start over with a new one (instead of deleting the old thing immediately).

You are not talking to Apple here -- we're all users.

Post suggestions here: http://www.apple.com/feedback/timemachine.html

Thanks, James, but I hope, @Apple is also a user.

I expect them to at least scan there "own" social media like Apple Discussions. Ok, these days around December 2010 I might be better of posting my request to Twitter 😉

Why should we customers be plodding our vendors support paths (in case we find those paths) instead of our vendors following us on general feedback channels. We got used to some bumpy roads during the first decades of personal computing history that shouldn't be the norm. Just my thoughts. But I might repost 🙂

Hi

Bit off topic - Been using Macs since 1988 I find the support discussions invaluable and quite often they're ahead of apple care but I doubt apple has the resource to trawl the whole board. The reality is that manufacturers can only support so far and lets be honest some users need way more help than any company can give them - which is why a lot of tech savvy people end up supporting their relatives and friends. To be honest I find any support call centre a bit annoying took me 20 secs of searching to find out why my time machine backups were doing the verification error.
Back to the topic whilst I now accept that I can no longer use usb drives connected to my airport extreme to backup I still don't understand why if the Airport extreme shares the drives using the AFP protocol just like my MacMini would if I use that to share the drives. I do appreciate that no-one hear works for Apple but I'm curious.
I do like the idea of having 2 different backup destinations e.g a shared hard drive and a portable drive that can be taken off site.

Harald Felgner wrote:
Thanks, James, but I hope, @Apple is also a user.

No, they do not monitor these forums for problems or suggestions. Hope all you want, but if you want to get their attention, call AppleCare, call or write to Apple @ Cupertino, or use the feedback link they've provided specifically for comments (which clearly states that they DO read all those submissions).