Mountain Lion Will Not Backup on Previous Time Machine Backup Drive, Help!

I have upgraded two machines from Lion and both had the Time Machine issue. Old backups were not recognized.

On one I was able to turn Time Machine off and on again (in preferences) and it then recognized the backups.

On the other I could get nothing to work (restarts, resets, nothing). So on that machine I had to start fresh with new backups.

Buit do check and make sure the computer name did not change somehow in the process. This was not my issue, but was suggested in another thread,

user1724 wrote:

. . .

Buit do check and make sure the computer name did not change somehow in the process. This was not my issue, but was suggested in another thread,

No, changing the name won't matter. TM records the hardware address of your Mac, not the name.

Turning time machine off then back on a few times worked for me.

Also, Just to give you all some peace of mind... it took about 8 hours of "preparing to backup" before finally starting the backup. Be patient, it will backup.

No luck here guys, anyone still having this issue?

I'm still having the same issue. My time machine is a WD Element 2 TB USB drive connected to my Airport Extreme. It worked flawless on Lion. Now it doesn't even see the device. I've turned the Time Machine on and off, still nothing.

Generally, backing-up that way is unreliable and is not supported by Apple. See: Using Time Machine with an Airport Extreme Air Disk.

Try re-selecting it in Time Machine Preferences (you may have to manually connect).

If that doesn't help, try a "full reset" per #A4 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting.

If it is unreliable why does Apple put a USB port on the Airport Extreme and tell you how to use it as a Time Machine? The Airport Extreme is essentailly a Time Capsole without the hard drive, I am merely add the hard drive. I had this setup for almost a year and it has worked flawless, even if I had to restore a file, until ML. An updae/upgrade should not break something. And I really hate that term "is not supported by Apple". Why then do they give us the ability to do something yet not support it?

The only reset I'll be doing is going back to Lion. I should not have to do all this crap. Apple claims their stuff works so great (rightfully so) and I paid good money for their products. Let them show it by releasing a product that works with their own stuff. They don't have the problems Microsoft has with no control of the hardware like Apple.

I really do not recommend resetting the time machine state. This may fix the problem, but I believe that it will also cause you to lose access to all previous backups. It's not the sort of thing you want to test and be wrong about.

Can somebody clarify whether resetting time machine causes existing backups to be lost?

Dirty-Harry wrote:

If it is unreliable why does Apple put a USB port on the Airport Extreme and tell you how to use it as a Time Machine?

They don't tell you how to use it with Time Machine (some store folks have told customers it would work, in error). It is not supported, period, as per the link supplied, and the Help on your Mac.

The Airport Extreme is essentailly a Time Capsole without the hard drive

The internal hardware is different. Speculation is, that's why it doesn't work well. Famously secretive Apple doesn't explain.

I had this setup for almost a year and it has worked flawless, even if I had to restore a file, until ML.

Yes, it does work for some period of time for some folks; a few even get a year or more out of it, but as mentioned in the link, for most, every few weeks or months, the backups turn up corrupted.

The only reset I'll be doing is going back to Lion. I should not have to do all this crap. Apple claims their stuff works so great (rightfully so) and I paid good money for their products. Let them show it by releasing a product that works with their own stuff. They don't have the problems Microsoft has with no control of the hardware like Apple.

Nothing works all the time, for everyone, in all circumstances. Do you really believe everything you read or hear in an ad?

jsshapiro wrote:

I really do not recommend resetting the time machine state. This may fix the problem, but I believe that it will also cause you to lose access to all previous backups. It's not the sort of thing you want to test and be wrong about.

Can somebody clarify whether resetting time machine causes existing backups to be lost?

Kindly read the link. No access or backups are lost.

In fact, here's part of an email I received just today:

Your A4. Full Reset of Time Machine page rescued me. I want to send my appreciation for your site and you sharing your invaluable knowledge with us Mac users. If had done what Apple Support suggested, I would have been in a world of hurt (they said I should erase my Time Capsule drive!).

LOL... true. I need a reality check.

😉

Pondin: Thanks. Indeed I failed to read the fine print. Thanks for pointing that out.

Mountain Lion seems to be doing some weird things with the app store, so I backed down to Lion for now. When I get a chance, I'll try the reset trick.

Do you happen to know: if I re-install from a time machine backup over a different ethernet port (e.g. saved via WiFi but restored via wired enet on a thunderbolt display), will the machine later identify its backups correctly? I'm asking because the ID is based on the machine's MAC address, but restoring over WiFi is just no fun...

Thanks

Pondini,

Your site is AWESOME!!

I'm doing some school work right now, but will go over your site tomorrow and tryout some of your info.

I have used CCC and I have an online backup service, yes I an backup paranoid as well. 😝