Problem with Time Machine backup

Question

Problem with Time Machine backup

Hi all,

i've been really excited about Lion and managed to get it and install it in under 50 minutes!

It works great, even with my Office:Mac software, antivirus software and so on, fantastic considering other people have had issues.

The one issue I seem to have is Lion working with its own application! Namely Time Machine!

I have a 3Tb Western Digital My Book Live NAS which I bought a few weeks ago. I only use it for backing up my Macbook Pro and my Wifes Macbook and its been faultless with Time Machine, however when I try and continue running this with Lion I get an error saying;

The network backup disk does not support the required AFP features

From what I can find on the web this seems to be something to do with the NAS as apposed to Time Machine however I would have thought this would have been addressed before people like myself had the problem - After all i'm sure everyone will agree, back-ups are extremely important!

If anyone has any suggestions how I can fix this I would be greatful

Matt

Time Machine-OTHER, Mac OS X (10.7)

Posted on Jul 20, 2011 1:28 PM

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Answer 1

enjoijla

Level 1

50 points

Jul 20, 2011 1:44 PM in response to matthewfrombasingstoke

I would try directly connecting your HDD to the computer and try choosing the disk from the Time Machine preferences within 'System Preferences'. If you're able to re-select the disk and backup, it's likely there maybe something in the router. That's my best guess.

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Answer 2

Jul 20, 2011 1:49 PM in response to matthewfrombasingstoke

I am also having issues with a Western Digital drive after upgrading to Lion. I did a backup literally moments before I installed Lion and it worked flawlessly, but now my drive simply refuses to mount so I can't back up. Looking for a fix or any info.

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Answer 3

Jul 20, 2011 1:54 PM in response to matthewfrombasingstoke

Also having issues with same hard drive. I get the following message when trying to connect to the hard drive for time machine backup:

The version of the server you are trying to connect to is not supported. Please contact your system administrator to resolve the problem.

Would appreciate any help.

Thanks

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Answer 4

Alex Liu

Level 1

6 points

Jul 20, 2011 1:55 PM in response to matthewfrombasingstoke

The problem is that the firmware on any WD NAS drives doesn't include the latest version of netatalk which is required to communicate with Lion's AFP. There's nothting we can do for now except wait for a firmware update which is, according to the WD support, scheduled for August.

And yes, this is a serious problem for me, too, because the thought of not backing up for a few weeks gives me the shivers. If anyone knows a quick and dirty workaround for this, I'd be happy to hear it.

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Answer 5

Pondini

Level 8

38,863 points

Jul 20, 2011 1:59 PM in response to Alex Liu

It's always recommended to make "secondary" backups anyway. See #27 in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions for some suggestions.

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Answer 6

Jul 20, 2011 2:44 PM in response to matthewfrombasingstoke

HI all,

wow, thanks for all the fast replies, at least it seems i'm not the only one having these issues.

I contacted apple support about this and there suggestion was to connect the disc up to my laptop and run diagnostics on it, however as its a NAS I only have an ethernet connection so that makes it difficult to connect directly. As it is I also logged a call with Western Digital and they have come back to me with a similar comment that Alex Lui has made in this discussion, namely that it is going to be fixed but not until August time.

I've managed to sort out my back-ups all be it using Western Digitals WD Anywhere Backup software which does make me feel a little bit safer (even though its having to back up everything and says that will take approx 34 hours!)

I'd have hoped Apple would have seen this coming, especially as I would guess its not only Western Digital drives that have this incompatability, however I suppose they were up to their eyebrows with other stuff they had to sort out before they could release Lion.

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Answer 7

Pondini

Level 8

38,863 points

Jul 20, 2011 3:20 PM in response to matthewfrombasingstoke

matthewfrombasingstoke wrote:

. . .

I'd have hoped Apple would have seen this coming, especially as I would guess its not only Western Digital drives that have this incompatability

This is one you cannot blame on Apple. Developers (such as WD) have had access to Lion and the new requirements for several months.

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Answer 8

Jul 20, 2011 3:34 PM in response to Pondini

Do you think it could be WD's fault why my external hard drive/time machine backup drive won't mount under Lion but mounts fine under Snow Leopard?

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Answer 9

Pondini

Level 8

38,863 points

Jul 20, 2011 3:42 PM in response to Nathan Miah

If it's a NAS, yes, most likely. It seems all WD NASs need updates (as do most NASs).

If it's a normal external HD (connected via USB or FireWire), try re-selecting it via Time Machine Preferences > Select Disk. If that doesn't help, try Repairing the backups, per #A5 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting.

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Answer 10

Jul 20, 2011 3:44 PM in response to Pondini

Oh it's just a normal external HD, and I've tried everything on that website, my external drive just won't mount. I have no idea why and it's really starting to irritate me because I want to back up!

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Answer 11

Pondini

Level 8

38,863 points

Jul 20, 2011 3:51 PM in response to Nathan Miah

Does it appear in Disk Utility's sidebar? If so, repair it.

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Answer 12

Jul 20, 2011 4:01 PM in response to Pondini

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3191095?tstart=0

Pondini, I have created a disussion on this that has yet to be answered which I've posted above. Would you please help me on that post because I don't really want to hijack Matt's discussion? Thanks.

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Answer 13

Jul 20, 2011 4:00 PM in response to matthewfrombasingstoke

To clarify on this subject:

The current developer of Netatalk (NetAFP) is refusing to open source their changes to the GPLed and Open-Source Netatalk software until people pay up for development. This is against his GPL license agreement, and immoral. We won't have Time Machine support until people pressure him to abide by the GPL agreement and push his changes to SourceForge.

Source: http://www.netafp.com/open-letter-to-the-netatalk-community-501/

http://www.matthewgkeller.com/blog/2011/07/07/open-response-to-open-letter-to-th e-netatalk-community/

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