Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

mountain lion breaks time machine

I backed up, with Time Machine, to this drive, immediately before upgrading to Mountain Lion.


Since then: "Time Machine couldn't complete the backup to 'FreeAgent GoFlex Drive'. Unable to complete backup. An error occurred while creating the backup folder."

User uploaded file

Since then, this is all I get from Time Machine in the Console:


29/07/12 9:09:28.688 AM com.apple.backupd-helper[52824]: Not starting scheduled Time Machine backup - time machine destination not resolvable.

29/07/12 10:09:58.736 AM com.apple.backupd-helper[53357]: Not starting scheduled Time Machine backup - time machine destination not resolvable.

29/07/12 11:10:28.777 AM com.apple.backupd-helper[53728]: Not starting scheduled Time Machine backup - time machine destination not resolvable.

29/07/12 11:23:56.801 AM com.apple.backupd-helper[53840]: Not starting Time Machine backup after wake - failed to resolve alias to backup volume.

29/07/12 12:10:58.837 PM com.apple.backupd-helper[54123]: Not starting scheduled Time Machine backup - time machine destination not resolvable.

29/07/12 1:11:28.869 PM com.apple.backupd-helper[54548]: Not starting scheduled Time Machine backup - time machine destination not resolvable.

29/07/12 2:11:58.910 PM com.apple.backupd-helper[54922]: Not starting scheduled Time Machine backup - time machine destination not resolvable.

29/07/12 3:12:28.969 PM com.apple.backupd-helper[55263]: Not starting scheduled Time Machine backup - time machine destination not resolvable.

29/07/12 4:13:27.472 PM com.apple.backupd-helper[55608]: Not starting scheduled Time Machine backup - time machine destination not resolvable.

29/07/12 5:13:57.520 PM com.apple.backupd-helper[55935]: Not starting scheduled Time Machine backup - time machine destination not resolvable.

29/07/12 5:42:49.376 PM com.apple.backupd-helper[56116]: Not starting scheduled Time Machine backup - computer is on battery power.

29/07/12 5:43:20.029 PM com.apple.backupd-helper[56117]: Not starting Time Machine backup after wake - failed to resolve alias to backup volume.


I don't want to lose all my temporal backup points.


I can copy files to and from this drive. The drive is active.


Anyone have any ideas? Any more logs I might post?


I've scheduled a call with Apple Support this morning so hopefully we'll get some good news. We shouldn't have to lose our old backups because we upraded to Lion, or should we?


Kirk

MacBook Pro (17-inch 2.4 GHz), Mac OS X (10.7.3), Lots of Gentoo Linux going on too.

Posted on Jul 29, 2012 4:27 PM

Reply
118 replies

Jul 29, 2012 9:24 PM in response to splurben

I have just spent an hour with senior support at Apple. This behaviour is not correct or expected. It is not happening in every case.


Likelihood is high that reselecting the backup media in Time Machine preferences (where it appears twice, once as the currently backup and again, with the same name and icon, as a new backup device) will initiate the creation of a new backup sparseimage on the drive and prevent easy access to Time Machine backups through the Time Machine application.


I have sent diagnostic data to Apple and am awaiting an informed response. It's important to me that I will be able to continue appending to my existing backup. The Mountain Lion upgrade should not have precluded continued access to my existing Time Machine temporal backup nodes.


  1. I had run Repair Permissions before and after upgrading to Mountain Lion.
  2. I had run Repair Disk on my system and backup drive before upgrading to Mountain Lion with no errors found.
  3. I had originally formatted my backup drive using Time Machine natively when it was set up earlier in the year on Mac OS X Lion.
  4. I had run Repair Disk on the backup drive after Time Machine failed to back up with no errors found.
  5. Drive is Firewire 800 connected directly to my MacBook Pro.


User uploaded file

Jul 29, 2012 9:54 PM in response to Pondini

Pondini, all of the suggestions to which you refer have been excluded from any relationship to the current problem.


There are no problems or errors with the backup device. The current backups are seen by Time Machine.


The device has been unmounted, removed, remounted, scanned, disconnected and reconnected.


The computer has been rebooted many times. And all the requisite technical diagnostic procedures have been carried out by me, and again under the direction of senior support at Apple.

Jul 29, 2012 10:19 PM in response to splurben

splurben wrote:

. . .

Likelihood is high that reselecting the backup media in Time Machine preferences (where it appears twice, once as the currently backup and again, with the same name and icon, as a new backup device) will initiate the creation of a new backup sparseimage on the drive and prevent easy access to Time Machine backups through the Time Machine application.

No.


First, the drive appearing both places was reported as a bug during beta testing; the response was it's "intended behavior." Weird, but it doesn't cause a problem. See Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #34.


Second, backups to a directly-connected drive should not be in a sparse bundle; those are used only for network backups. Do you really have a sparse bundle on the drive? If so, we'll need to examine it.


Third, re-selecting via TM Preferences will not cause a new set of backups to be started, existing backups to be deleted, or anything of the sort.


Apple did make another change in ML that scares folks, however: when you eject and reconnect a TM drive, or in some cases reselect it, the oldest and latest backup dates show "None." That's just because the display isn't updated until the next backup is completed, but in previous versions, it just showed a couple of dashes (- -).

Jul 30, 2012 2:02 AM in response to splurben

Splurben,


I am getting the exact same error message as you. Only difference is my TM disc is a WD MyBook II 2TB disc over a network.


Bought a brand new 15" retina MacBook Pro with Lion installed and TM worked fine over wifi.


Installed ML via the App Store up to date programme, now getting "error occured while creating backup folder"


Only other difference is the TM drive is also used for my main 27" iMac connected via USB. That appears to be working fine, so I know the drive is not damaged.


Thankfully this new Macbook has no work on it yet, so it isn't too much of an inconvienience to start a new backup, but will it keep failing over wifi?


Bill

Jul 30, 2012 7:57 AM in response to Pondini

This new problem has been solved without destroying previous backup data.


Reseting the TM info would not have helped to solve this problem.


It is an incompatibility bug with the new Time Machine and the Energy Saver preferences.


The whole point of Time Machine is that we should be able to keep native Time Machine access to all the temporal nodes on our backup devices.


I am loathe to wipe out that access and am eager to help others solve issues with Time Machine without assuming we have to lose the full functionality of Time Machine.

Jul 30, 2012 7:52 AM in response to splurben

SOLVED.


Disable "Put hard disks to sleep when possible" in your Energy Saver system preference.


This has solved it for me now through multiple reboots, manual backups and automatic periodic backups.


I never had to reset my Time Machine or lose my connection to the previous Time Machine temporal nodes.


I am informing senior support staff so hopefully we'll have a bug fix in a forthcoming update soon.

Jul 30, 2012 9:15 AM in response to splurben

splurben wrote:

. . .

Disable "Put hard disks to sleep when possible" in your Energy Saver system preference.


This has solved it for me now through multiple reboots, manual backups and automatic periodic backups.

Great! 🙂


But many (perhaps most) external HDs don't respond to that setting, so it may not work for everyone.


I never had to reset my Time Machine or lose my connection to the previous Time Machine temporal nodes.

That would not have deleted any backups, or caused you to lose access to your backups. It does, however, cause the display on the TM Preferences panel to show "None" instead of backup dates, until the next backup is done.

mountain lion breaks time machine

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple ID.