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

jsshapiro wrote:

. . .

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...

Yes. As you say, the backups are identified by the Mac's hardware address, so it doesn't matter how it's connected. Even if you back up over a network to a shared drive on another Mac, you can connect that drive directly to your Mac to do a restore.

And no, doing anything large over WIFI is awful. Even Apple recommends doing the first backup via Ethernet. They don't mention a restore, but it's about the same. Ethernet is 2-3 times faster than the best WIFI connection. And especially avoid using Setup Assistant or Migration Assistant via WIFI -- it's excruciating, and often fails.

My 2011 Mac Mini is connected via ethernet to my Airport Extreme, so the backups are farely fast.

Dirty-Harry wrote:

. . .

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

My motto is, "Backups are one area where paranoia is prudent" 😉

I have 3 TM backups "in rotation" with Time Machine (F/W 800 drive, Time Capsule, USB drive connected to Time Capsule), plus CCC to the F/W drive, plus a portable HD in my safe deposit box with both TM and CCC backups, plus a few things via Dropbox.

Pondini: I had a follow-up question, but it's not appropriate for this topic. Could I trouble you to answer here?

And thanks for all of your help.

I wonder if this has to do with Power Nap, my backups were working fine in ML but they stopped as soon as I got the SMC update for my retina macbook pro. It was able to mount the drive and everything but kept saying the back up image was in use. I wonder since Power Nap does TM backups if something got screwed up in the update.

Ok. Now you've got me scared to do the SMC update. LOL

Just did the SMC update. Everything is fine with TM. So doesn't appear to be a general issue with the update. Of course you might have been unlucky and had some data corruption. 😟

I did enjoy the humor of the "Fans will run at full speed during the update" warning! Yeah, they sure did! For the FULL ONE SECOND that the update took! 😁

John Lomaga wrote:

. . .

It was able to mount the drive and everything but kept saying the back up image was in use.

See #C12 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting.

I'm having the same problem with slightly different symptoms...

I was unable to backup once I'd installed Mountain Lion so deleted my sparsebundle files from the external NAS (QNAP TS-210) and started a new backup y/day - unfortunately I had to reboot during the middle of the new full backup but fully expected it to reconvene following this. However this didn't happen and since then I've been unable to backup at all.

In Time Machine preferences I can see the right backup disk (TMBackup on "PYSERVER(TimeMachine)" but when I select it, and am then asked for the password, the server is referred to as "PYSERVER-2.local" and not PYSERVER - I'm not sure if this is usual (i.e. the addition of the -2.local suffix) and I've just not noticed it in the past or if this is causing the problem?

I'm able to successfully enter the correct password at this stage but when I close the window down (to avoid having to wait for the countdown) I get the following error message

I've tried the following but to no avail:

- Turned off the Time Machine support within the NAS admin & re-started

- Fully rebooted the NAS

- Restarted the MacBook

- Full reset of TimeMachine as per Pondini's (excellent) site

I'm now at a complete loss what to do and very concerned that I do not have a backup of any type right now.

Any help/advice/observations will be gratefully received.

PY

Sounds like you've done everything you can.

Try contacting the QNAP folks. It may need an update.

Many thanks - on their forums now so will see what I can find out.

Cheers

Py

Cool.

Do post back with any results.

I have an iOmega Nas connected to my iMac and spent a frustrating weekend trying to get TM to work with exactly the same message as YELMONDO, and then I found this post on the iOmega site which worked for me:

After working on this all day, I think I may have a possible solution:

NOTES:

1) I use a MacBook Air and store most all of my documents in the cloud, thus I wasn't concerned about deleting my previous Time Machine backups.

2) I primarily use Time Machine as a fail safe to backup any documents I may have local on the Mac before moving them to the cloud. Also use Time Machine in case I have a failure of the machine and can go back to where it was good of course.

3) I have been backing up to this iomega px4-300d for about 1 year on OS X Lion, just recently Mountain Lion.

4) I have had intermittent problems with the backups failing Time Machine's verification about 2-3 times per month. It is a huge hassle to start the backup over (as is in the only choice in OSX), while frustrating, it doesn't kill me because of #1 above.

PROBLEM:

Getting same error as those here that Time Machine could not connect to the backup drive. First time I've seen this error was after installing Mountain Lion (OS X 10.8).

SOLUTION:

Tried many of the solutions here without success.

Here is what worked:

1) Disconnected the Time Machine share/drive from the Time Machine interface on the Mac.

2) Since I didn't really care too much about what was contained in the backups on the iomega NAS, I deleted everything in the Time Machine Share through the Finder interface on the Mac. (See #1 in Notes as to why this was OK for me, it may not be for you.)

3) Went to the broswer-based interface for the iomega NAS (in my case the px4-300d) and deleted the folders containing the backups from the Time Machine control panel on the NAS.

4) Rebooted the NAS.

5) Restarted the Mac.

6) Went to the Time Machine interface on the Mac and selected a new backup disk - in this case the now empty Time Machine Share. (Note: as another poster mentioned, you may now see all of the Shares on your NAS as possible Time Machine destinations). Further Note: Under Mountain Lion you can rotate your Time Machine backup between multiple destinations (you can pick multiples Shares). This is a new feature in OS X 10.8.

7) Interesting issue: If at this point I right/alt clicked the Time Machine icon in the Menu bar, and selected Backup Now, it would give me the same error message about not finding the disk. IF HOWEVER you right/alt click on the icon of the Share in the Time Machine preferences dialogue box and select Backup Now it will work.

8) Doing the above created a new sparesbundle file for me (and the accompanying hidden folders/files in the Time Machine Share.

9) The backup completed SUCCESSFULLY. Backups throughout the day also completed without issue. Time Machine was able to restore test files SUCCESSFULLY.

10) INTERESTING NOTE / POSSIBLE CAUTION: In the browser-based interface of the NAS under the Time Machine control panel, I no longer see a specific backup folder that was created for my Mac. There are no folders listed. IOMEGA EMPLOYEES: Does this matter? Will it cause a future issue? What if there is another Mac backing up to the same Share? (I am testing this now).

11) QUESTION: Based on #10 above, what exactly is the point of creating (or having the NAS automatically create) the backup folders on the Share? I have always questioned why the creation of the folders would be based on the MAC ID (aka Ethernet ID) of the Mac. Could having these folders tied to an Ethernet ID that may change (especially on a mobile laptop that may use more than one network interface (wired and/or wireless) to access the network where the NAS is located? Could this be the cause of prior backups failing verification and having to start over?

Hope this helps someone out there - especially iomega themselves who are in desperate need of straightening out the mess that is related to Lion/Mountain Lion and using the iomega brand NAS with these operating systems.

The most interesting issue is that there is obviously a diiference between a right/alt click in the menu bar and a right/alt click in the system preferences.

Question - I followed all instructions to reset time machine - still, ever since I upgraded to Mountain Lion Time Machine no longer finishes backup, it says "Time Machine unexpectedly ran out of space" as if it is unable to delete old backups. I can certainly delete some of those but I'd prefer not to clear up my whole backup space. Any suggestions?

I did not change userid or any other changes, just plain vanilla "OS-X upgrade"...

koe_kto wrote:

. . .

Time Machine no longer finishes backup, it says "Time Machine unexpectedly ran out of space"

That usually means its estimate of the backup size is much too low. (If it's having a problem deleting old backups, you'd get a different message.)

Try verifying your internal HD, and repairing your backups, per #A5 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting.

If that doesn't help, a clue may be lurking in your logs. Use the widget in #A1 of Time Machine - Troubleshooting to display the backup messages from your logs. Locate the backup in question, then copy and post all the messages here.