Time Machine Frequent "Start New Backup"

Lyonnesse wrote:

I'm on OS-X 10.7.5. I know time machine 'works' with external HDs but there are pages of people having the same problems as me with QNAPs, and nothing appears straightforward or consistent. The qnap is not my piece of kit and it's owner is a Windows person. He wants me to find a way to rename my macbook to be consistent with what he can see on his qnap. I can't find any place to rename it, and I don't accept that is the issue since we've been able to fix the problem without renaming in the past.

I agree that it probably won't help (unless the name is too long or has strange characters). See #C9 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting for requirements and instructions.

When I try to connect in Time machine it appears to do it, but after a few minutes it announces it is deleting the back-up and then creates a new backup on my hard disk.

Do you mean you get the "Time Machine must create a new backup for you" message, per #C13 in the above link? If so, see if anything in the pink box there helps.

I've not installed anything else on my mac;

I assume that's in reference to my reply to your statement that "even though it's switched off, it keeps kicking in and backing up." Turning Time Machine OFF won't cancel a backup that's already running (or trying to connect). If that's what's happening, see #D6 in the Troubleshooting link.

If backups still start while TM is off, it's possible the preference file is damaged; if so, try a "full reset" per #A4.

I don't want to buy a time capsule just to get something compatible. I don't want to lose all my backups every couple of months and I don't want to waste hours under the hood trying to understand why I can't oonfigure something as simple as a back-up. I just want a reliable, self-evident tool

Have you made sure you have the latest firmware/software for the QNAP, and that it's fully compatible with Time Machine on the version of OSX you're running? (There are some changes from one version of OSX to another; some NASs that worked fine on Snow Leopard won't work on Lion; some makers have provided updates, some haven't. That's one of the risks you take with a 3rd-party NAS.)

Right now it seems that the best option is to find a good piece of third party software that I can configure and leave to run without all these issues.

You might want to try either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper. I know CCC works over a network, but am not sure about SuperDuper. See the green box in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #27 for links to those, and some other alternatives.

None of the alternatives work the way Time Machine does; CCC has an option to "archive" the backups of things you've changed or deleted, but they're harder to find than with Time Machine. I don't use SuperDuper, but I don't think it has any such option -- it just keeps copies of what's currently on your Mac. Some of the others may allow archiving; I'm not familiar with them.

I have worked through all that stuff, but none of it happens as described. If I switch off Time machine and then verify the backup the time machine wheel whirls for a few minutes then stops. If I find the time machine in finder I am stymied by the inability to connect to it. It says connection failed and when you press the button marked 'connect as', nothing happens. I'm going round in circles as there are no circumstances described that fit our experiences

Lyonnesse wrote:

I have worked through all that stuff, but none of it happens as described.

Please be more specific:

Did you find a problem with any of the names? Or did something in the link not work as described?

Were you getting the "Time Machine must create a new backup for you" message, per #C13 in the above link? If so, did anything in the pink box there help?

Do you know whether the QNAP is compatible with Time Machine on the version of OSX you're running?

Do you know if its software/firmware is up to date?

Hi.

I have a QNAP TS-210 and apart from the Time Machine Sparse Bundle problem have had no trouble connecting Time Machine to my QNAP. Wy do you need to rename the Mac to be consistent with what is seen on the QNAP. When I go to Manage Backup on my QNAP I can see the bundles and they are named as my Mac.I assume Time Machine has bee enabled on the QNAP and the correct password has been entered.

Hey Pondini,

i am really impressed by your enthusiasm to help other people with this issus. Thanks a lot for all these links with pink boxes.

To everybody who faces the problem with backup ⚠ delete ⚠⚠ request:

as rrichard proved, this can happen even if you are all apple equipped, wired and UPS protected, even if your HDDs don't go to sleep ( )

and as apple affirmed, this is a feature, not a bug.

in other words: EVERYBODIES TM backups are no real backups as they may be lost at anytime.

read the link at either garth.org, garth.org or this german tutorial to see who you can recover your backup.

just one more thing:

Hey Apple, fix this BUG!!!

Hi Folbo:

According to my long discussion with Apple Care, the way to change the current backup set which TM uses is to run a manual backup.

While online with AC, they attempted to mount the "good-long" backup set so TM would have access to it immediately. That failed every time. If I need to go back to a time before the short backup set, I simply run backup manually. Not ideal, but it works.

Folbo wrote:

. . .

When I go to restore (enter Time Machine), I am not offered a choice of destination. I can only think that TM uses the 'latest' backup ... which contains one week of past history ... instead of my synology backup (6 months of history).

Correct. It uses the current or most recent backup.

How can I select which backup to use when restoring?

Use the Browse Other Backup Disks option, per Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #17.

or how can I rebuild my TC backup from my Synology backup, if (when :-( ) it fails again?

Practically, that's often not realistic. If a backup set is intact and passes verification, you can copy it, but it takes a very long time. See FAQ #18. Since both are on a network, you'll need to copy the sparse bundle, per section 2 there.

rrichard wrote:

Hi Folbo:

According to my long discussion with Apple Care, the way to change the current backup set which TM uses is to run a manual backup.

It's odd they didn't mention the Browse... option, as specified in the Help:

Also covered in the blue box of Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #34.

Message was edited by: Pondini

Just and update. Since my last post mentioning the problem was gone for a record period. Time machine is still working fine, I've no problems anymore since I installed and Airport Wifi station.

Pondini wrote:

It's odd they didn't mention the Browse... option, as specified in the Help:

Also covered in the blue box of Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #34.

Message was edited by: Pondini

They didn't mention it because it was not available again till 10.8.2; 10.8.0/1 had lost that option. I never even knew that option existed till I read about here in this thread. 🙂

rrichard wrote:

. . .

They didn't mention it because it was not available again till 10.8.2; 10.8.0/1 had lost that option.

The option wasn't "lost," exactly: it was broken (which they'd known for weeks when they released 10.8).

Unless your conversation was a while ago, they should have mentioned it. 10.8.2 was released September 19.

+1. Macbook Pro 2010, 10.8.2, Synology DS212 (DSM 4.1) - no problem with TM until mid 2012.

Now prompts for new backup about once a month.

Annoying.

Well at least it's only once a month. We've had to give up. We've not found an answer on this forum that works for more than a week. Neither Apple nor Qnap are interested in helping. That's what happens when you are using 2 different products.

I've not got any automatic backups at the moment and am relying on piecemeal solutions, like using Lightroom to automatically copy pictures to a second location; uploading photos to flickr and storing a couple of important documents in the cloud.

Not impressed though

Lyonnesse wrote:

. . .

I've not got any automatic backups at the moment

See the green box in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question#27 for some alternatives.