mountain lion breaks time machine

Great, after dealing with a frequently freezing machine since installing ML (now extending to about 40 pages on another discussion page here), I then get an error message saying that my machine hasn't backed up in 10 days.

I open Time Machine prefs, and Time Machine can't see my My Book Studio.

At this point, the My Book Studio is flashing a green light.

So, I disconnect it (by pulling out the power supply), and then it just stops working altogether. When I plug power in, it doesn't power on or make any noise or flash any lights. Nada. Zip. It is dead.

So now I have an unstable system because ML keeps crashing, and I am without backup because it hasn't backed up for 10 days without telling me. Plus now I can't revert to how my system used to be pre-ML, because it has killed the My Book. (I strongly suspect. Since there is a firmware update for My Book since ML came out, which I didn't know about till now.)

The only glimmer of hope is I got this My Book from the Apple Store and will be going right back there tomorrow...

*** is going on with ML???

Somewhat belatedly I've realised my time machine is no longer performing back-ups, following upgrade to Mountain Lion.

I have performed a full reset & even a hard reset of the time capsule (4th generation), but each time the back-up starts it finishes just as quickly.

I have also disabled 'put hard drives to sleep', as suggested above - I don't understand why this would be the cause - but it also appears to have no effect.

It is extremely frustrating & wasting so much of my time time.

I still have sparsebundle files for macbook pro (255 GB) and imac (377GB), which I am reluctant to lose by performing a factory reset. PLEASE HELP!

Thanks

stevenfromhighgate wrote:

Somewhat belatedly I've realised my time machine is no longer performing back-ups, following upgrade to Mountain Lion.

I have performed a full reset & even a hard reset of the time capsule (4th generation), but each time the back-up starts it finishes just as quickly.

Does it complete normally? Or fail with a message? If so, what does it say?

If you're unsure, 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.

I still have sparsebundle files for macbook pro (255 GB) and imac (377GB), which I am reluctant to lose by performing a factory reset.

No reset will delete backups.

Backup doesn't complete. It lasts about 2 seconds, with no error message, & then resets to next back up an hour later, as if had been successful?!

I should add that I also recently replaced the standard HD in my macbook pro with a SSHD, so I thought this might be the cause. HOWEVER, I am having exactly the same problem with my imac back-up - which has not had any change of HD.

I downloaded the widget but not sure how to find it / activate it / find the logs etc.....? Sorry, limited knowledge of these things

stevenfromhighgate wrote:

. . .

I downloaded the widget but not sure how to find it / activate it / find the logs etc.....?

Just activate your Dashboard normally. The widget will appear as in the sample in #A1, showing the most recent backup attempt.

Thanks for your patience.

Hope this means something?

Starting manual backup

Network destination already mounted at: /Volumes/Data

Resizing backup disk image from 2 TB to 18.45 EB

Saved crash report for backupd[5233] version 151.5 to /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/backupd_2012-09-25-041457_SMH-MacBook-Pro-13.cr ash

stevenfromhighgate wrote:

. . .

Starting manual backup

Network destination already mounted at: /Volumes/Data

That just means that the "Data" volume (your Time Capsule's internal HD) is already mounted as the Time Machine destination.

Resizing backup disk image from 2 TB to 18.45 EB

That's quite unusual. 😟 TM is getting a negative number for the size of your Time Capsule, and is trying to shrink the sparse bundle disk image (where your backups are stored) to that size. Naturally, that doesn't work.

Saved crash report for backupd[5233] version 151.5 to /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/backupd_2012-09-25-041457_SMH-MacBook-Pro-13.cr ash

Which causes the backup job to crash.

There's some kind of problem with your Time Capsule or the connection to it. I haven't seen this particular symptom in quite a while, so am not sure exactly what will fix it. You mention backups of an iMac and a MacBook Pro -- are those current? If so, do those backups work ok?

First, connect via Ethernet cable if at all possible. Disconnect the other Mac(s) and/or turn Time Machine OFF on them while trying to fix this.

Then try simply re-selecting your Time Capsule as the backup destination, via the Time Machine Preferences panel.

If that doesn't help, try a "full reset" of Time Machine, per #A4 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting (that won't delete any backups).

If still no help, eject the Time Capsule via a Finder Sidebar, power it down for a couple of minutes, then reconnect it.

If that doesn't help, try a "hard reset" of the Time Capsule, per Resetting an AirPort Base Station or Time Capsule FAQ (that won't delete any backups either).

If still no help, try repairing the backups per #A5 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting.

EDIT: I should mention -- those steps may take a while. It's late here, and I'll be signing-off in an hour or so, but will be back tomorrow.

Message was edited by: Pondini

Pondini, many thanks for your time & your advice. I have already tried most of these fixes, including hard fix, but not the final suggestion. I will attempt that later this evening.

Still frustrated, but thanks again

Pondini, I hope you can help me. When I have Lion I used to backup without any problem and since I upgraded to ML 10.8.2 TM stopped doing backups. I tried "the full reset" procedure #A4 but it didn't work. I Installed the record logger in the dashboard and I got this:

Starting automatic backup

Attempting to mount network destination URL: afp://Victor%20M%20Ruiz;AUTH=SRP@Time%20Capsule%20de%20Victor%20M%20Ruiz._afpov ertcp._tcp.local/Time%20Capsule%20de%20Victor%20M%20Ru

NAConnectToServerSync failed with error: 64 for url: afp://Victor%20M%20Ruiz;AUTH=SRP@Time%20Capsule%20de%20Victor%20M%20Ruiz._afpov ertcp._tcp.local/Time%20Capsule%20de%20Victor%20M%20Ru

Attempting to mount network destination using URL: afp://Victor%20M%20Ruiz;AUTH=SRP@Time-Capsule-de-Victor-M-Ruiz.local/Time%20Cap sule%20de%20Victor%20M%20Ru

NAConnectToServerSync failed with error: 64 for url: afp://Victor%20M%20Ruiz;AUTH=SRP@Time-Capsule-de-Victor-M-Ruiz.local/Time%20Cap sule%20de%20Victor%20M%20Ru

Backup failed with error: 18

I hope you can give some hint to correct my problem.

Thnx

OSX doesn't seem able to find your TC.

One (rather odd) possibility is the name of your Time Capsule. Sometimes, if it's longer than about 25 characters, Time Machine has a problem connecting to it. Try renaming it (and check your network name, too), per #C9 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting.

If that doesn't help, try a "hard reset" of the Time Capsule, per Resetting an AirPort Base Station or Time Capsule FAQ.

Thanks Pondini. My problem was solved when I changed the name of TC as you suggested.🙂. I just wonder how to credit you.

LuckyVic wrote:

Thanks Pondini. My problem was solved when I changed the name of TC as you suggested.🙂.

Great! It's so weird how a name will work fine for a long time, then OSX gets confused.

I just wonder how to credit you.

Not a problem -- and only the poster who started the thread can do that.

But, glad that helped, and thanks for the feedback.

I've managed to get my iMac backing up again - not really sure how - but my MacBook still fails.

I've tried connecting by ethernet cable, but even when it is wired, I now receive the following error message,

'The backup disk image “/Volumes/Data/SMH MacBook Pro 13.sparsebundle” could not be accessed (error -1).'

The sparsebundle file is on the Time Capsule, & I can access the data file from Finder sidebar.

I've tried re-selecting Time Capsule as the backup destination, several times.

When I try to verify the backups I receive the following message, even when connected by ethernet(?)

'Time Machine couldn’t verify your backups on “Steven's Time Capsule” because verification was interrupted.'

'Interruptions are usually caused by network problems. Try again after the network problems are resolved.'

Any further advice?

With thanks

stevenfromhighgate wrote:

I've managed to get my iMac backing up again - not really sure how

Good -- that rules a couple of things out.

'Time Machine couldn’t verify your backups on “Steven's Time Capsule” because verification was interrupted.'

'Interruptions are usually caused by network problems. Try again after the network problems are resolved.'

Try disconnecting/powering-off everything on the network but the MacBook and Time Capsule, to be sure there's not some sort of interference.

Try a "full reset" of Time Machine on the MacBook, per #A4 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting.

If that doesn't help, try a "hard reset" of the Time Capsule, per Resetting an AirPort Base Station or Time Capsule FAQ.

If still no help, it sounds like there's a serious problem with that sparse bundle. You might want to try repairing it, per the green box in #A5 of the Troubleshooting link.

Try disconnecting/powering-off everything on the network but the MacBook and Time Capsule, to be sure there's not some sort of interference.

DONE

Try a "full reset" of Time Machine on the MacBook, per #A4 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting.

DONE

If that doesn't help, try a "hard reset" of the Time Capsule, per Resetting an AirPort Base Station or Time Capsule FAQ.

DONE

If still no help, it sounds like there's a serious problem with that sparse bundle. You might want to try repairing it, per the green box in #A5 of the Troubleshooting link.

😟