Time Machine and WD My Book World Edition

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Level 1

78 points

Time Machine and WD My Book World Edition

HI everyone,

I am contemplating buying a new NAS (sub $200) that will perform backups and I came across this one. My current ext. hdd is a portable drive and is dying. My main question is: does this particular product 100% work with Time Machine?

I shall be buying it from here: http://cl.ly/1Q1a3p1h2C1m1u2u303C

I read on the WD Support Site (see: http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=300) that it is now Apple Time Machine Compatable, however I am a tad skeptical as I have read a few forum threads the specifically say that this product can sometimes work and other times fail with TM.

Many thanks,

-AllSeeingMac

MacBook 2009, Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Jul 11, 2011 9:40 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Eric Ross

Level 6

11,807 points

Jul 11, 2011 10:14 PM in response to AllSeeingMac

If the manufacture is saying it works with Time Machine you should be okay as long as you purchase the updated item.

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Answer 2

AllSeeingMac Author

Level 1

78 points

Jul 11, 2011 10:18 PM in response to Eric Ross

Thanks Eric! Currently en route to buy it now.

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Answer 3

Pondini

Level 8

38,863 points

Jul 12, 2011 8:40 AM in response to AllSeeingMac

You might want to review the pink box in #2 of Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions for some cautions on using a 3rd-party NAS with Time Machine.

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Answer 4

AllSeeingMac Author

Level 1

78 points

Jul 12, 2011 11:09 AM in response to Pondini

Hi Pondini,

I have read your TM info on your site before and did take the time to read it before purchasing. I just got home (4am here in Aus) after seeing HP7 Pt. 2 and the TM initial backup was interrupted due to the MacBook sleeping (as per the Energy schedule). It stopped backing up and decided that it had 'failed'. So now it has around 92GB to go but seems to be backing up at 100KB/s. Any thoughts as to how to make this go faster?

-AllSeeingMac

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Answer 5

Pondini

Level 8

38,863 points

Jul 12, 2011 11:19 AM in response to AllSeeingMac

Most likely, it's "recovering" the failed backup. When a backup fails or is cancelled, the partial backup remains, in a special "package." The process of recovering it seems slow, but it avoids copying everything again.

See #D2 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting.

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Answer 6

AllSeeingMac Author

Level 1

78 points

Jul 12, 2011 7:18 PM in response to Pondini

Hi Pondini,

Woke up this morning and have found 3 successful backups. I watched TM complete another successful backup, but am concerned about the following messages:

13/07/11 12:04:15 PM          com.apple.backupd[94504]          Starting standard backup
13/07/11 12:04:15 PM          com.apple.backupd[94504]          Attempting to mount network destination using URL: afp://wd_backup@timeimpsServer.local/WD_Backup
13/07/11 12:04:18 PM          com.apple.backupd[94504]          Mounted network destination using URL: afp://wd_backup@timeimpsServer.local/WD_Backup
13/07/11 12:04:18 PM          com.apple.backupd[94504]          Warning: Destination /Volumes/WD_Backup does not support TM Lock Stealing
13/07/11 12:04:18 PM          com.apple.backupd[94504]          Warning: Destination /Volumes/WD_Backup does not support Server Reply Cache
13/07/11 12:04:18 PM          kernel                          AFP_VFS afpfs_mount: /Volumes/WD_Backup, pid 94505
13/07/11 12:04:24 PM          hdiejectd[94512]                  running
13/07/11 12:04:25 PM          com.apple.backupd[94504]          QUICKCHECK ONLY; FILESYSTEM CLEAN
13/07/11 12:04:27 PM          kernel                          jnl: disk2s2: replay_journal: from: 10665472 to: 12079104 (joffset 0x1d05000)
13/07/11 12:04:28 PM          kernel                          jnl: disk2s2: journal replay done.
13/07/11 12:04:29 PM          fseventsd[48]                  event logs in /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/.fseventsd out of sync with volume.  destroying old logs. (2177 2 3553)
13/07/11 12:04:29 PM          com.apple.backupd[94504]          Disk image /Volumes/WD_Backup/Lab2-02.sparsebundle mounted at: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups
13/07/11 12:04:29 PM          com.apple.backupd[94504]          Backing up to: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb
13/07/11 12:04:32 PM          fseventsd[48]                  log dir: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/.fseventsd getting new uuid: 56A70A00-1876-466F-BD2A-B9E5F42AC74E

Do those first two warnings mean anything bad? I have not been able to partition the drive and intend to also use the same HDD as an iTunes Music storage place.

Many thanks for the link!

-AllSeeingMac

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Answer 7

Pondini

Level 8

38,863 points

Jul 12, 2011 7:37 PM in response to AllSeeingMac

AllSeeingMac wrote:

. . .

Warning: Destination /Volumes/WD_Backup does not support TM Lock Stealing

Warning: Destination /Volumes/WD_Backup does not support Server Reply Cache

Those mean your NAS does not fully support Time Machine on Snow Leopard. We see them only on some 3rd-party NAS drives on Snow Leopard.

I'm not up on the details, but it appears those have to do with protecting your backups from network problems: power blips or dips, WIFI drop-outs, interference, etc.

i'd recommend contacting WD for an update.

Also . . . if you're considering upgrading to Lion, be sure the WD is compatible, or you have another way to back up. We don't know for sure yet, but it's quite possible we'll see a repeat of the upgrade from Leopard to Snow Leopard: many NAS devices needed updates; some got them fairly quickly, some took a while, some never did.

I have not been able to partition the drive and intend to also use the same HDD as an iTunes Music storage place.

That's a recipe for trouble, unless the WD will let you limit the size of the backups, or create a different partition or account or "share" or whatever they call it. See #3 in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions.

If not, you might be able to limit the maximum size of the sparse bundle containing your backups, per #A8 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting. That doesn't always work on a NAS.

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Answer 8

AllSeeingMac Author

Level 1

78 points

Jul 12, 2011 7:51 PM in response to AllSeeingMac

Ah, thought so with those two first errors. Its OK, this is my second TM backup drive, as my other one is <10GB free and is a USB portable.

As for the space issue, I am not really concerned with the backups as I will most likeley be the one who will use the server and have been able to manage 18 months on a 320GB drive (albeit with come exclusions).

I know I stop playing music if a big TM backup is occuring, as I currently had my Backups and iTunes Music on my old external USB.

I bought this so as to make it ready for Lion and I saw this on WD's site: http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=300 (click Support) and read some reviews that said the update really did help.

-AllSeeingMac

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Answer 9

Pondini

Level 8

38,863 points

Jul 12, 2011 8:01 PM in response to AllSeeingMac

AllSeeingMac wrote:

. . .

As for the space issue, I am not really concerned with the backups as I will most likeley be the one who will use the server and have been able to manage 18 months on a 320GB drive (albeit with come exclusions).

The problem will happen when the sparse bundle grows to fill all the empty space; then you may have trouble adding other stuff. In some cases, other stuff fills the very last few MBs, and the next Time Machine backup can't get started, and crashes.

I bought this so as to make it ready for Lion and I saw this on WD's site:

I just skimmed it, but see nothing about compatibiity with Lion.

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Answer 10

AllSeeingMac Author

Level 1

78 points

Jul 12, 2011 8:13 PM in response to Pondini

When you say "grows to fill all the empty space", does that mean it manically creeps into every free-space sector (be it because it has to or because of 'padding') or does it simply grow as more files are added to it? If it does get bigger and bigger for no reason, I will need to do something about that 😝.

As for the Lion compatability, I will be following that up with WD shortly.

-AllSeeingMac

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Answer 11

Pondini

Level 8

38,863 points

Jul 12, 2011 8:28 PM in response to AllSeeingMac

AllSeeingMac wrote:

. . .

When you say "grows to fill all the empty space", does that mean it manically creeps into every free-space sector (be it because it has to or because of 'padding') or does it simply grow as more files are added to it?

Time Machine keeps copies of previous versions of files you've changed or deleted, so it needs (much) more space than the data it's backing-up. The more space it has, the longer it can keep old backups. So yes, it grows and grows until it's filled (almost) all the free space on the destination. Then it will automatically delete the oldest backup(s) when it needs room for new ones.

You might want to review the Time Machine Tutorial, and perhaps browse Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions.

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Answer 12

AllSeeingMac Author

Level 1

78 points

Jul 17, 2011 4:36 AM in response to AllSeeingMac

Hi Pondini,

First of all, big thanks thus far - all the TM backups are going well. There are two things, however, that have cropped up:

1) The Menu Item of TM says "XXX MB of YYY MB" where XXX my jump 100+ MB in 4 seconds or less over Wifi. I know its lying and I am trying to look for a way to make it speak the truth. Activity Monitor reports 2.5MB/s avg. speed being Spent even though the TM menu item reports that so much data has been tranferred.

2) Console reports:

mdworker[3870]          socket(PF_ROUTE) failed: Operation not permitted
sandboxd[3987]          mdworker(3870) deny system-socket
sandboxd[3987]          mdworker(3870) deny network-outbound /private/var/run/mDNSResponder
sandboxd[3987]          mdworker(3870) deny network-outbound /private/var/run/mDNSResponder
mdworker[3870]          socket(PF_ROUTE) failed: Operation not permitted
sandboxd[3987]          mdworker(3870) deny system-socket
sandboxd[3987]          mdworker(3870) deny network-outbound /private/var/run/mDNSResponder
mdworker[3870]          socket(PF_ROUTE) failed: Operation not permitted
sandboxd[3987]          mdworker(3870) deny system-socket

which is odd because I know that none of these programs are blocked and further more mdworker on the last line is being denied access to a system-socket.

Other then those two issues, everything is running fine!

-AllSeeingMac

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Answer 13

Pondini

Level 8

38,863 points

Jul 17, 2011 7:33 AM in response to AllSeeingMac

AllSeeingMac wrote:

. . .

1) The Menu Item of TM says "XXX MB of YYY MB" where XXX my jump 100+ MB in 4 seconds or less over Wifi. I know its lying and I am trying to look for a way to make it speak the truth.

The "xxx" is not necessarily updated in real time, and may not be counted the same way as Activity Monitor. One may be counting actual bytes, the other blocks (4 KB increments) which can be misleading if a lot of very small files (a few bytes, each taking-up 4 KB) are involved.

mdworker[3870] socket(PF_ROUTE) failed: Operation not permitted

The mdworker process (a helper to mds) is OSX's indexing facility; it's used mostly by Spotlight, but also by Time Machine to index your backups. The messages don't indicate where the problem is; there may be some sort of problem/incompatibility with your NAS, or those may not be related at all.

Other then those two issues, everything is running fine!

Cool. 🙂

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