Time Machine Frequent "Start New Backup"

Indeed I also have the impression that FireWire connected external HDD works always fine. I have nobody seen here with the problem in such a constellation.so I guess it must be a network issue however it occurs also in all Apple environment.

Just thought I'd add my name to this ever growing list...

I'm also running a Synology NAS - DJ411 in my case - and as are we all, I'm getting somewhat fed up of having to create a new TM backup pretty much every time I option my macbook :-/

Especially at 80Gb a time, even over wireless n.

Going wired - even if it helped - isn't an option.

I bought a macbook rather than an iMac, so that i could move around with it :-)

Going Apple Time Capsule - also inst an option, at least until such time as the Capsule comes with 4 drives running RAID.

I'm going to go back to some of the suggestions in this lenghty thread, on the off chance that I may get lucky - but in the mean time, thought I'd at least share in everyone's misery :-)

FYI for Synology users...I started the following thread on the Synology forums in 2012.

http://forum.synology.com/enu/viewtopic.php?f=159&t=49914&start=105

Synology responded to the thread a few months ago stating that they made several enhancements to Time Machine stability over wifi for mac users to help resolve this issue in the DSM 4.3 beta (release July 2013). I do not have the beta to confirm it resolves the problem (not a fan of beta software). I do not think they have come out with a new stable version of DSM yet since the beta was released. However, it looks like they are trying to address the issue.

I haven't used Time Machine in 3 years due to this issue.

A Partial Answer

I use a Buffalo NAS which I connect to wirelessly and keep across the road as an off-site backup. The NAS has two drives, one of which is a Time Machine and the other is a daily mirror backup using a very reliable program called ChronoSync. My thought was that using two separate systems would provide redundancy against failure. But if Time Machine is inherently unreliable, then that purpose is defeated.

Indeed, I have had the same problems with Time Machineas everyone else in this thread. I have had to rebuild it every couple of months. Because it's a huge backup (1.5 TB) that means bringing the drive back on-site and connecting it through the gigabyte ethernet. I've found that I can save time by deleting the whole backup and starting over, rather than letting Time Machine handle it all. But even then, it takes a couple of days to rebuild, during which time my data is vulnerable to an onsite accident.

It is now time to rethink my plan. Time Machine is not a reliable backup on a remote NAS but it does seem to work when the drive is connected directly. Moverover, where Time Machine really shines is when you've overwritten or deleted something you really wanted to keep. That function doesn't require it to be offsite or on a NAS. So my new plan is to run it on a large drive inside the computer itself, and then use ChronoSync for the offsite backup. I'll then use other drive in the NAS as a second ChronoSync backup, with a weekly interval instead of daily. I could also do the NAS with RAID, but I've had problems with that, too.

I, too, wish Time Machine could be more reliable.

Len Flier wrote:

...and then use ChronoSync for the offsite backup.

I found ChronoSync to be unusably slow backing up across a network

2 years has past.

Have Apple sorted the problem?

😐

Am I correct in assuming that you use Time Machine to back up to some drive attached over Wi-Fi (NAS)? In that case Apple has not fixed it and according to this article will never be able to.

http://basilsalad.com/how-to/time-machine-wireless-backup/

I have given up using TM to NAS and now use it only with a USB connection. Touch wood, everything is fine so far.

got the message "Time Machine completed a verification of your backups. To improve reliability, Time Machine must create a new backup for you"

- sounds like a good thing....and assumed my previous TimeMachine backups to the NAS were safe.

- TimeMachine DELETED any back before I accepted this message. I just really can't beleive it! I've worked so hard at ensuring backups and archives were handled over the years, and 2014 TimeMachine DELETED my backups on this location from the last 2 months! Wow.

- New IMAC and connected via ethernet to the NAS. Synology Diskstation 12TB DSM41.

Hoping this save someone some pain.

This is not 2nd verse the same as the first, it's 20000 verse as the first.

Apple's TM ONLY works when hard wired.

NAS forget it. Even on Time Capsule.

Final Cut Pro X users ...good news, I only lost an hour of work because FCPX backs up in a folder every 15 minutes. Awesome.

Apple FCPX guys....take the TimeMachine guys to lunch.

Add me to the list. Pretty sad that Apple's greatest OS feature is so poorly written.

Add me too. Mid 2007 iMac, Mavericks, Seagate GoFlex Home plugged into an Airport express.

For me the problem did not start until Mavericks. I feel it relats to the network and multitasking not working togever quite right.

I had the same issue backuping 3 Macs on a wireless network (Backup disks shared through an AE).

The following fix works like a charm for me:

- Created 3 partitions on my back-up disk (I've installed a Taurus Raid 1)

- connected the Raid to my main Mac (Firewire as I don't have a USB 3)

- installed MacOS server on my main Mac

- shared the 3 partitions with the server

- used the Time Machine feature from the server

- assigned a partition for every TM backup

Wireless back-up works perfectly (2 of the three Macs are backuping wirelessly) - I didn't have to rebuild a backup for weeks.

I also use Carbon Copy Cloner to get a bootable back-up.

I am having the same problem with Mavericks. There is no point to Time Machine if it can't keep a history