Time Machine Frequent "Start New Backup"

Cristinita wrote:

. . .

Before I do that, I just wanted to know if I would still be able to use Time Machine with it.

Can I set up TM to back up to a USB connected disk?

Yes. That's the most common, fastest, and most reliable way to back up (with any backup app, not just Time Machine).

Will it back up only when it is connected to the drive, or do I need to have the drive connected to my Mac all the time?

It's usually a good idea to keep it connected when convenient, of course, so Time Machine can do it's quick hourly backups. Just be sure to eject it before disconnecting.

When the drive isn't available, Time Machine will just wait patiently for you to connect it. If it goes 10 days without a backup, however, you'll get a notice once a day.

See Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #21 for setup instructions.

So..., we have a new Time Capsule. Does anyone know whether Time Machine has also been updated to reflect the concerns expressed in this forum?

I own a TS-410 with fw 3.8.2 - TimeMachine backup after a few days always gives the message "Time Machine completed a verification of your backups on 'nas'. To improve reliability, Time Machine must create a new backup for you. Click start new backup to create a new backup. This WILL REMOVE YOUR EXISTING BACKUP HISTORY. This could take several hours".

Recently upgraded to another nas, for various reasons a different brand this time - synology ( DS1513+). Same message after a month of using it.

My personal conclusion: The bug is likely on the apple-side - and it essentailly makes TimeMachine useless. If your data is precious to you, use something reliable. I've since switched to alternative means of backup and stopped using TimeMachine entirely.

Things just got from bad to worse this week. Since February I haven't been receiving the message quite so often, and it started again this week after about 8 weeks of successful backups.

The problem now is that it won't even start a new backup. We go through the normal sequence, where time machine says it's looking for the backup disk and then the 'need to create a new backup' message comes up and I tell it to create a new one. Then nothing. No backup. No message why not. Nothing.

I manually reconnected to the Nas successfully and there's no shortage of space, so what the heck is the matter with it now?

And as Time machine is now permanently unusable, what do folks recommend as the easiest replacement to use with my Macbook Air and the Qnap?

Thanks in advance

So, TM appears to work OK backing up to a dedicated USB drive. Most of our problems arise when there's a NAS drive, including Apple's own Time Capsule.

I've been behind in my reading, so I only found this piece in MacWorld magazine the other day:

http://www.macworld.com/article/2025757/bugs-and-fixes-time-machine-airport-extr eme-drives-and-multiple-macs.html

It relates to TM backups to a USB drive on an Airport Extreme. He gets the same problem when trying to back up more than one Mac to it. His solution (no recurrence of the error for a month) was to partition the drive and back up each Mac to its own partition.

Now, I would guess that most people here are trying to back up more than one Mac, because, hey, why buy a NAS unless you have more than one computer? The answer to that might be that you have a laptop and want to be wireless. So, let's ask:

Is anybody here experiencing the problem when they only have one Mac that they are trying to back up to their NAS?

If not, then maybe the answer would be to partition the NAS with a separate partition for each Mac you want to back up.

FWIW I've abandoned TM, at least for now. I already had iTunes Match so my music is safe; I'm backing up photos and videos manually to the NAS and another USB drive that I connect to either computer as required, probably not often enough. Other important stuff is on Dropbox or in the Apple cloud or on Google Drive.

If this does seem to be an answer, then I'll set up the USB drive for TM backup from the iMac (which is static), and the NAS for the MacBook only (which is mobile so I want wifi backup).

Well, I just gave up on the whole shooting match. Got in touch with Western Digital explaining that the ethernet drives were now useless and they exchanged them free of charge for 2 x 4TB Thunderbolt drives. I'm now going to use them with Carbon Copy Cloner to backup and maybe time machine for extra backup to a single USB drive.

WD were fantastic! Apple not so..

I'm only backing up one Mac. My Macbook air, wirelessly, to Qnap. The other machine using the Qnap is a Windows 7 machine

First I am not very computer savvy. I've been ignoring this problem for six months. My question is is the stuff backed up on the time machine also on my computer? Can I just diconnect Time Machine and not use it any longer? Because, anything I am reading about it I either do not understand or it doesn't sound like anything can be saved. I am just worried about pictures and videos on my Mac. I have

Mac OS X Lion 10.7.5 Thank you!

TimeMachine is an (external) backup of the files of your computers, so yes, you can "take it away" without losing anything on your computer. Of course, if you don't backup - and the harddisk/ssd in your computer dies ( and you have a guarantee it will fail at one point - hopefully in the far future) then you would lose your data.

So if you disconnect the timemachine, look for some other means of (preferably automated) backup.

At the very least, I would suggest to regularly copy important files manually to an external drive.

Using Time Machine or not makes little difference as long as your computer continues to work normally. It's only if your computer fails that you would really need the backup, but computers do fail. And if it fails and you lose stuff, Time Machine or another backup would allow you to get it back.

The other thing that Time Machine lets you do, if it's working, is to go back to a previous version of a file or document. If you move something to the trash, you can get it back for a while; if you've emptied the trash then you can only get it back if you have a backup.

More commonly, you might be editing a document, say a newsletter, and you accidentally delete half of it, then save the document. Time Machine would let you go back to a version of that document from before you made that mistake.

To avoid that kind of problem check out the "cloud" utilities like Google drive or Dropbox or iCloud. They keep copies of your stuff on their servers and also make sure that you have up-to-date copies of your stuff across different devices, and (the big plus) some of them also keep old versions. Dropbox certainly does. I had a spreadsheet with 6 months' records of my blood pressure, and I tried to update it from my phone which corrupted it. Because it was on Dropbox, I could restore the previous OK version with just 2 clicks.

And all this is off-topic to the discussion in hand, so I'll stop. I hope you understand the nature and scope of the problem now, plcm.

Thank you both, jgdel and rboerdijk. I think I feel more comfortable letting it start over and take it from there. As long as my computer doesn't change I am ok with letting Time Machine erase and start over. And, I do think I will look for alternative means for backup. Thanks!!

plcm wrote:

First I am not very computer savvy. I've been ignoring this problem for six months. My question is is the stuff backed up on the time machine also on my computer? Can I just diconnect Time Machine and not use it any longer? Because, anything I am reading about it I either do not understand or it doesn't sound like anything can be saved. I am just worried about pictures and videos on my Mac. I have

Mac OS X Lion 10.7.5 Thank you!

First sorry for the spelling I am dyslex.... But I do have a HND in computer Hardware and software engerining

OK hears what happens:

You use your computer and save information/files/photos/music/letters/e-mail what ever. All the is on your computer. You then setup/use/run "TimeMachine" and this makes a "Backup/Copy" of all this data/information. The inportant thing to rember is this is a COPY like if your using paper you can tack a letter and use a photocopyer and you then have the orignail letter and the copy you can keep the letter with you and file the copy in a cabinet/desk. This is what "TimeMachine" dose.

Yes you can disconnect your "TimeMachine" backup/copy and you will still have your data on your computer.

Now if you have problems "I either do not understand or it doesn't sound like anything can be saved." then I will try and explaing the next bit. If you save some photos of your holiday on to your mac then thats fine they are there on your mac and will stay there unless one of two things happen.

1) You delete them.

2) You Mac devleps a problem with it's storage

(to thoughts who are saying "there are more than two things I say I'm trying to keep life simple")

That is when you need to have a backup/copy now how to do this backup/copy.

1) Use a CD/DVD writer to make CD/DVD's of your photo's and music

2) Copy your photo's music to an externat disk (USB or WIFI)

3) Use the iCloud

4) Use Dropbox

5) Use TimeMeachin

6) Use another Backup system/solution

7) Use all of the above

Just rember that all of theres are copys and so the information stays on your Mac unless you do something to delete it or theres a problem with it's storage.

I hope this has mad it clearer

You have made this very clear and simple! I can't tell you how much I appreciate this. Sometimes, you ask a computer question and it gets very complicated for something that you hope has a simple answer.I'm going to let the Time Machine start over and copy on CD/DVDs and external disks. You should be a teacher. It is a gift to be able to explain things tailored to the students level of understanding. And, no apologies necessary on the spelling! 🙂

So everyone out there. Do we have a solution to the problem?

I have a macbook which I connect to my home network wirelessly. It is the only mac backing up to a hard drive on my home network. But it does go to sleep, or I take it away from home and the network. So Time Machine gets itself in a mess, and starts again - 200GB backup takes a long time!! And again, and again.

Come on Apple, get some of your clever people to recognise the real world that your machines are used in and find ways to make them work for us too.

This discussion was started in January 2012, and there were a few similar threads with the same topic.

Once and for all, Apple does not monitor ANY of the forums. If they do, it is a well kept secret, and doesn’t seem to be doing any good anyways. However, if you find a ‘Feedback’ option, you (we) should use that. It apparently does get cursory attention. However, if Apple finds out that you are using a non-Apple back-up drive, that feedback gets trashed as well.

What makes the whole thing doubly frustrating is that Time Machine doesn’t even work reliably when using a USB hard wire connection to your back-up drive.

The solution is to use back-up programs other than Time Machine...