Time Machine seems to be deleting backups unnecessarily

Question

Time Machine seems to be deleting backups unnecessarily

Data (used / total) volumes are as follows:

Macintosh HD: 80 / 250GB (of the 80GB, 23GB is configured to be ignored by TM)

USB drive 1: 463 / 640GB

USB drive 2: Time Machine (see below) / 640GB

All drives are encrypted with FileVault 2. Some days ago I used TM to back up (afresh) my system disk. Then yesterday I plugged in my USB drive 1 and backed that up. The backup completed fine. Just now, TM informs me that it plans to backup the whole of the USB drive again and I have watched as it has deleted the backup that contained the data from USB drive 1. When i 'Enter Time Machine' I can see only the very latest backup from earlier today. I went into Console and checked the System Log for lines that cnotain 'backup' but cannot see anything that suggests a major error. Below is the output so far for this ongoing backup:

Jan 25 23:32:37 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[1811]: Starting manual backup

Jan 25 23:32:37 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[1811]: Backing up to: /Volumes/Chronos/Backups.backupdb

Jan 25 23:32:38 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[1811]: Forcing deep traversal on source: "Apollo" (mount: '/Volumes/Apollo' fsUUID: 3E7BB8EC-1E44-3A61-8E9A-BA1EB31B54F4 eventDBUUID: 119D0F0D-E532-41D6-AB2A-65BDA38F9856)

Jan 25 23:32:51 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[1811]: Deep event scan at path:/Volumes/Apollo reason:must scan subdirs|require scan|

Jan 25 23:32:51 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[1811]: Finished scan

Jan 25 23:32:53 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[1811]: Found 14709 files (463.78 GB) needing backup

Jan 25 23:32:53 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[1811]: 558.27 GB required (including padding), 126.79 GB available

Jan 25 23:32:55 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[1811]: Deleted backup /Volumes/Chronos/Backups.backupdb/Amarantus/2013-01-22-023427 containing 356 KB; 126.8 GB now available, 558.27 GB required

Jan 25 23:32:56 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[1811]: Deleted backup /Volumes/Chronos/Backups.backupdb/Amarantus/2013-01-22-013429 containing 356 KB; 126.8 GB now available, 558.27 GB required

Jan 25 23:32:56 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[1811]: Removed 2 expired backups so far, more space is needed - deleting oldest backups to make room

Jan 25 23:33:04 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[1811]: Deleted backup /Volumes/Chronos/Backups.backupdb/Amarantus/2013-01-21-181408 containing 17.2 MB; 126.82 GB now available, 558.27 GB required

Jan 25 23:33:04 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[1811]: Removed 3 expired backups so far, more space is needed - deleting oldest backups to make room

Jan 25 23:33:30 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[1811]: Deleted backup /Volumes/Chronos/Backups.backupdb/Amarantus/2013-01-22-003429 containing 202.3 MB; 127.03 GB now available, 558.27 GB required

Jan 25 23:33:30 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[1811]: Removed 4 expired backups so far, more space is needed - deleting oldest backups to make room

Jan 25 23:33:59 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[1811]: Deleted backup /Volumes/Chronos/Backups.backupdb/Amarantus/2013-01-24-115959 containing 463.05 GB; 590.08 GB now available, 558.27 GB required

Jan 25 23:33:59 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[1811]: Deleted 5 backups containing 463.27 GB total; 590.08 GB now available, 558.27 GB required

Jan 25 23:33:59 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[1811]: Backup date range was shortened: oldest backup is now Jan 25, 2013

Jan 25 23:35:08 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[1811]: Copied 17357 files (355.6 MB) from volume Amarantus HD.

Jan 25 23:55:45 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[1811]: Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Volumes/Apollo/Lyre/Music/Bob Dylan/Desire/02 Isis.aif to (null)

I realise that with the extra space needed, the TM drive is well over half full, but for more than a year I have backed up a similar configuration continuously. It only registered a problem with capacity when, for example, I moved 200GB of data around on my USB drive. I have done nothing of the kind since it was last backed up successfully yesterday.

I can see that, having decided to backup the USB drive 1 again, TM needs to delete these existing backups, but I cannot figure out why it wants to back them up a second time anyway. I have not reconfigured the drive, changed encyptiuon parameters, etc. I should appreciate any thoughts re how I might investigate this further. Thank you.

MacBook Air, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Jan 25, 2013 4:32 PM

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Answer 1

Jan 25, 2013 4:37 PM in response to BordeauxQuill

http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html

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Answer 2

Jan 25, 2013 4:44 PM in response to leroydouglas

Thank you, Leroy. I had gone through Pondini's advice (and other online resources) but could find nothing (in, say, 'TM is doing a full backup for no good reason') that seems to explain what is going on here. If I am missing something obvious, I apologise, but so far I am at a loss.

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Answer 3

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,541 points

Jan 25, 2013 10:36 PM in response to BordeauxQuill

Open the TIme Machine preference pane, unlock it if necessary, and click Options. Exclude each folder at the top level of the problem volume. Run a backup. Nothing should be copied from the volume. Now remove one of the folders from the exclusion list and back up again. What happens?

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Answer 4

Jan 26, 2013 4:52 AM in response to Linc Davis

Thank you, Linc. The backup that had been running overnight finished successfully:

Jan 26 05:32:41 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[1811]: Copied 457.35 GB of 463.78 GB, 30301 of 30301 items

Jan 26 05:36:14 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[1811]: Copied 30468 files (463.54 GB) from volume Apollo.

Jan 26 05:36:14 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[1811]: Using file event preflight for Amarantus HD

Jan 26 05:36:14 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[1811]: Will copy (1.9 MB) from Amarantus HD

Jan 26 05:36:14 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[1811]: Using file event preflight for Apollo

Jan 26 05:36:14 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[1811]: Will copy (15 KB) from Apollo

Jan 26 05:36:14 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[1811]: Found 27 files (1.9 MB) needing backup

Jan 26 05:36:14 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[1811]: 1.5 GB required (including padding), 127.22 GB available

Jan 26 05:36:26 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[1811]: Copied 1000 files (4.4 MB) from volume Amarantus HD.

Jan 26 05:36:27 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[1811]: Copied 1014 files (4.4 MB) from volume Apollo.

Jan 26 05:36:27 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[1811]: Created new backup: 2013-01-26-053627

Jan 26 10:19:22 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[1811]: Backup completed successfully.

I then followed your instructions (put the two folders on Apollo into exclusions) and let TM run after it counted down the 120 seconds after the configuration change:

Jan 26 10:22:47 Amarantus.local System Preferences[2945]: Could not connect the action backUpOnBatteryPowerPressed: to target of class TMOptionsSheetController

Jan 26 10:25:17 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[2952]: Starting manual backup

Jan 26 10:25:17 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[2952]: Backing up to: /Volumes/Chronos/Backups.backupdb

Jan 26 10:25:21 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[2952]: Found 305 files (22.4 MB) needing backup

Jan 26 10:25:21 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[2952]: 1.53 GB required (including padding), 127.22 GB available

Jan 26 10:25:41 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[2952]: Copied 4196 files (22.4 MB) from volume Amarantus HD.

Jan 26 10:25:58 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[2952]: Copied 4200 files (22.4 MB) from volume Apollo.

Jan 26 10:25:59 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[2952]: Using file event preflight for Amarantus HD

Jan 26 10:25:59 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[2952]: Will copy (6.5 MB) from Amarantus HD

Jan 26 10:25:59 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[2952]: Found 41 files (6.5 MB) needing backup

Jan 26 10:25:59 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[2952]: 1.51 GB required (including padding), 127.19 GB available

Jan 26 10:26:04 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[2952]: Copied 2919 files (11.8 MB) from volume Amarantus HD.

Jan 26 10:26:05 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[2952]: Copied 2923 files (11.8 MB) from volume Apollo.

Jan 26 10:26:05 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[2952]: Created new backup: 2013-01-26-102605

Jan 26 10:26:05 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[2952]: Failed to thin all superseded recovery sets: Error Domain=NSPOSIXErrorDomain Code=-119930878 "Unable to mount recovery partition" UserInfo=0x7f8de9612ff0 {NSLocalizedDescription=Unable to mount recovery partition}

Jan 26 10:26:06 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[2952]: Starting post-backup thinning

Jan 26 10:26:06 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[2952]: No post-back up thinning needed: no expired backups exist

Jan 26 10:26:07 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[2952]: Backup completed successfully.

The system did not backup the two folders, nor did it delete them from the backup. Then I removed one folder (around 200GB) from the exclusion list:

Jan 26 10:31:44 Amarantus.local System Preferences[282]: Could not connect the action backUpOnBatteryPowerPressed: to target of class TMOptionsSheetController

Jan 26 10:33:51 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[287]: Starting manual backup

Jan 26 10:33:51 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[287]: Backing up to: /Volumes/Chronos/Backups.backupdb

Jan 26 10:33:59 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[287]: Found 7515 files (198.27 GB) needing backup

Jan 26 10:33:59 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[287]: 239.42 GB required (including padding), 127.18 GB available

Jan 26 10:33:59 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[287]: No expired backups exist - deleting oldest backups to make room

Jan 26 10:34:25 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[287]: Deleted backup /Volumes/Chronos/Backups.backupdb/Amarantus/2013-01-25-074032 containing 215.8 MB; 127.4 GB now available, 239.42 GB required

Jan 26 10:34:25 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[287]: Removed 1 expired backups so far, more space is needed - deleting oldest backups to make room

Jan 26 10:34:50 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[287]: Deleted backup /Volumes/Chronos/Backups.backupdb/Amarantus/2013-01-26-053627 containing 462.75 GB; 590.15 GB now available, 239.42 GB required

Jan 26 10:34:50 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[287]: Deleted 2 backups containing 462.96 GB total; 590.15 GB now available, 239.42 GB required

Jan 26 10:34:50 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[287]: Backup date range was shortened: oldest backup is now Jan 26, 2013

Jan 26 10:35:09 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[287]: Copied 2281 files (23.3 MB) from volume Amarantus HD.

Jan 26 10:43:04 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[287]: Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Volumes/Apollo/Pinhole/Egypt 2007 Mar/Egypt 2007-03-19 189.jpg to (null)

Jan 26 11:33:54 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[287]: Copied 92.98 GB of 198.27 GB, 6045 of 7515 items

Jan 26 12:33:55 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[287]: Copied 9186 files (198.26 GB) from volume Apollo.

Jan 26 12:33:55 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[287]: Using file event preflight for Amarantus HD

Jan 26 12:33:55 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[287]: Will copy (174 KB) from Amarantus HD

Jan 26 12:33:55 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[287]: Found 14 files (174 KB) needing backup

Jan 26 12:33:55 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[287]: 1.5 GB required (including padding), 391.88 GB available

Jan 26 12:34:03 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[287]: Copied 829 files (1.7 MB) from volume Amarantus HD.

Jan 26 12:34:04 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[287]: Copied 834 files (1.7 MB) from volume Apollo.

Jan 26 12:34:04 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[287]: Created new backup: 2013-01-26-123404

Jan 26 12:36:00 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[287]: Backup completed successfully.

As you can see, it backed up the folder I had removed from the exclusion list; to do this, older files were removed, and my oldest backup is now the one that was created after I had followed your instruction to move Apollo folders to exclusion.

What can we learn from this? Again, thank you for your help.

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Answer 5

Jan 26, 2013 5:16 AM in response to BordeauxQuill

For the least amount of issues and fastest perfromance from your computer, you should disable filevault.

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Answer 6

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,541 points

Jan 26, 2013 8:12 AM in response to BordeauxQuill

If you have more than one user account, you must be logged in as an administrator to carry out these instructions.

Triple-click anywhere in the line below to select it:

sudo cat /V*/*/B*.b*/*/L*/.B*.log

Copy the selected text to the Clipboard (command-C).

Launch the Terminal application in any of the following ways:

☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)

☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.

☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.

Paste (command-V) into the Terminal window. You'll be prompted for your login password, which won't be displayed when you type it. You may get a one-time warning not to screw up. You don't need to post the warning. If you don’t have a login password, you’ll need to set one before you can run the command. If you see a message that your username "is not in the sudoers file," then you're not logged in as an administrator.

Post any lines of output that appear below what you entered — the text, please, not a screenshot.

If any personal information appears in the output, anonymize before posting, but don’t remove the context.

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Answer 7

Jan 26, 2013 10:39 AM in response to Linc Davis

Linc, thank you. Below is the output from the command. I realise that the system has done more backups since the last process you asked me to undertake - if this is a problem, let me know and I can start again (or is there some way of capturing the log for a specific backup?).

2013-01-26-15:29:33 - Starting backup

Previous snapshot:

/Volumes/Chronos/Backups.backupdb/Amarantus/2013-01-26-142939

Date of Previous snapshot: 1359210579952344

Will use FS events for "Amarantus HD" (mount: '/' fsUUID: 5F4EC603-A5E6-355C-BCCA-4BFDC398260F eventDBUUID: 57D7A9F0-EFB6-4A1E-96A7-C6A7964DE5DD)

Gathering events since 7162257463778920123.

Will use FS events for "Apollo" (mount: '/Volumes/Apollo' fsUUID: 3E7BB8EC-1E44-3A61-8E9A-BA1EB31B54F4 eventDBUUID: 119D0F0D-E532-41D6-AB2A-65BDA38F9856)

Gathering events since 7162257463778796241.

=== Starting backup loop #1 ===

Will use IncrementalBackupCopier

Running preflight for "Amarantus HD" (mount: '/' fsUUID: 5F4EC603-A5E6-355C-BCCA-4BFDC398260F eventDBUUID: 57D7A9F0-EFB6-4A1E-96A7-C6A7964DE5DD)

Calculating size of changes

Should copy 290 items (5.4 MB) representing 1316 blocks of size 4096. 95632672 blocks available.

Preflight complete for "Amarantus HD" (mount: '/' fsUUID: 5F4EC603-A5E6-355C-BCCA-4BFDC398260F eventDBUUID: 57D7A9F0-EFB6-4A1E-96A7-C6A7964DE5DD)

Time elapsed: 1.225 seconds

Running preflight for "Apollo" (mount: '/Volumes/Apollo' fsUUID: 3E7BB8EC-1E44-3A61-8E9A-BA1EB31B54F4 eventDBUUID: 119D0F0D-E532-41D6-AB2A-65BDA38F9856)

Calculating size of changes

Should copy 296 items (7.6 MB) representing 1860 blocks of size 4096. 95632672 blocks available.

Preflight complete for "Apollo" (mount: '/Volumes/Apollo' fsUUID: 3E7BB8EC-1E44-3A61-8E9A-BA1EB31B54F4 eventDBUUID: 119D0F0D-E532-41D6-AB2A-65BDA38F9856)

Time elapsed: 0.003 seconds

Processing preflight info

Space needed for this backup: 1.5 GB (367277 blocks of size 4096)

Preserving last snapshot /Volumes/Chronos/Backups.backupdb/Amarantus/2013-01-26-142939

Finished processing preflight info

Copying items from "Amarantus HD" (mount: '/' fsUUID: 5F4EC603-A5E6-355C-BCCA-4BFDC398260F eventDBUUID: 57D7A9F0-EFB6-4A1E-96A7-C6A7964DE5DD)

Finished copying items for "Amarantus HD" (mount: '/' fsUUID: 5F4EC603-A5E6-355C-BCCA-4BFDC398260F eventDBUUID: 57D7A9F0-EFB6-4A1E-96A7-C6A7964DE5DD)

Time elapsed: 23.842 seconds

Copied 2147 items (5.7 MB)

Gathering events since 7162257463778947082.

Needs new backup due to change in /private/var/db/.dat05d2.001

Copying items from "Apollo" (mount: '/Volumes/Apollo' fsUUID: 3E7BB8EC-1E44-3A61-8E9A-BA1EB31B54F4 eventDBUUID: 119D0F0D-E532-41D6-AB2A-65BDA38F9856)

Finished copying items for "Apollo" (mount: '/Volumes/Apollo' fsUUID: 3E7BB8EC-1E44-3A61-8E9A-BA1EB31B54F4 eventDBUUID: 119D0F0D-E532-41D6-AB2A-65BDA38F9856)

Time elapsed: 1.480 seconds

Copied 2464 items (7.9 MB)

Gathering events since 7162257463778943020.

=== Starting backup loop #2 ===

Will use IncrementalBackupCopier

Running preflight for "Amarantus HD" (mount: '/' fsUUID: 5F4EC603-A5E6-355C-BCCA-4BFDC398260F eventDBUUID: 57D7A9F0-EFB6-4A1E-96A7-C6A7964DE5DD)

Calculating size of changes

Should copy 30 items (462 KB) representing 112 blocks of size 4096. 95629607 blocks available.

Preflight complete for "Amarantus HD" (mount: '/' fsUUID: 5F4EC603-A5E6-355C-BCCA-4BFDC398260F eventDBUUID: 57D7A9F0-EFB6-4A1E-96A7-C6A7964DE5DD)

Time elapsed: 0.212 seconds

Running preflight for "Apollo" (mount: '/Volumes/Apollo' fsUUID: 3E7BB8EC-1E44-3A61-8E9A-BA1EB31B54F4 eventDBUUID: 119D0F0D-E532-41D6-AB2A-65BDA38F9856)

Calculating size of changes

Should copy 31 items (462 KB) representing 112 blocks of size 4096. 95629607 blocks available.

Preflight complete for "Apollo" (mount: '/Volumes/Apollo' fsUUID: 3E7BB8EC-1E44-3A61-8E9A-BA1EB31B54F4 eventDBUUID: 119D0F0D-E532-41D6-AB2A-65BDA38F9856)

Time elapsed: 0.002 seconds

Processing preflight info

Space needed for this backup: 1.5 GB (365380 blocks of size 4096)

Preserving last snapshot /Volumes/Chronos/Backups.backupdb/Amarantus/2013-01-26-152933.inProgress/567482 52-A169-447C-82C5-10428B8A5254

Finished processing preflight info

Copying items from "Amarantus HD" (mount: '/' fsUUID: 5F4EC603-A5E6-355C-BCCA-4BFDC398260F eventDBUUID: 57D7A9F0-EFB6-4A1E-96A7-C6A7964DE5DD)

Finished copying items for "Amarantus HD" (mount: '/' fsUUID: 5F4EC603-A5E6-355C-BCCA-4BFDC398260F eventDBUUID: 57D7A9F0-EFB6-4A1E-96A7-C6A7964DE5DD)

Time elapsed: 5.340 seconds

Copied 838 items (1.9 MB)

Gathering events since 7162257463778963904.

Needs new backup due to change in /Users/qcgm/.dropbox/photo.dbx-journal

Copying items from "Apollo" (mount: '/Volumes/Apollo' fsUUID: 3E7BB8EC-1E44-3A61-8E9A-BA1EB31B54F4 eventDBUUID: 119D0F0D-E532-41D6-AB2A-65BDA38F9856)

Finished copying items for "Apollo" (mount: '/Volumes/Apollo' fsUUID: 3E7BB8EC-1E44-3A61-8E9A-BA1EB31B54F4 eventDBUUID: 119D0F0D-E532-41D6-AB2A-65BDA38F9856)

Time elapsed: 0.590 seconds

Copied 843 items (1.9 MB)

Gathering events since 7162257463778943020.

Some filesystem changes made during the course of the backup may not be accounted for. Still busy after 2 retries.

Backup complete.

Total time elapsed: 42.033 seconds

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Answer 8

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,541 points

Jan 26, 2013 1:46 PM in response to BordeauxQuill

That looks like a normal backup.

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Answer 9

Jan 26, 2013 1:50 PM in response to Linc Davis

Thank you, Linc. Indeed, a normal backup Is there any way I can access a similar log for the backup that occurred during the process you recommended; or will I need to start again with your process? (Clearly, I am not nearer to understanding why TM is deleting my backup unnecessarily, and this is a problem because I am exposed whenever TM deletes an older backup like this.)

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Answer 10

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,541 points

Jan 26, 2013 2:22 PM in response to BordeauxQuill

Is there any way I can access a similar log for the backup that occurred during the process you recommended

There is, but it's difficult and I doubt that it would tell us anything we don't already know.

I am not nearer to understanding why TM is deleting my backup unnecessarily

It deletes old snapshots to make room for new ones. There's no mystery in that. The mystery is why the new snapshots are larger than they apparently need to be.

I've seen a report from another user that seems to suggest that Time Machine has a bug that's triggered by backing up an external drive with deeply-nested folders. By that, I mean many levels of folders inside other folders. The bug, if that's what it is, is not documented, and I don't know whether it applies to you or not.

What I would do in your place is the following. You already tried excluding one of the folders on "Apollo." Let's say that this folder has four subfolders. Exclude two of them and test. If you get a normal backup, remove those exclusions and exclude the other two. Now you should get an abnormal backup. Remove one of the remaining exclusions. Is the next backup normal?

By continuing this process of elimination, you should be able to narrow down the cause of the problem to one or more specific folders. Maybe then you can rearrange the file hierarchy to eliminate the problem. It will be a lot of work, but I don't have a better idea.

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Answer 11

Jan 26, 2013 2:32 PM in response to Linc Davis

Linc, Thanks for your patience in re-articulating my problem more clearly! I shall try what you suggest below when I have time. I shall probably also save a backup onto a new drive as I am concerned about the (new) handul of Error (-36) entries I am seeing!

To answer the implict question about nested folders, 'Apollo' has only two folders in its root, where the structures are basically as follows:

Lyre\Music\Composer\Album\

Pinhole\City&Year\PictureAlbum\

So, all files are at most nested four folders below the root.

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Answer 12

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,541 points

Jan 26, 2013 2:40 PM in response to BordeauxQuill

The -36 errors are pretty common and don't necessarily mean anything. I am only guessing about what triggers the bug. I still think it's worthwhile to try to isolate the cause of the problem.

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Answer 13

Jan 28, 2013 5:04 AM in response to Linc Davis

Tried adding the other top-level folder to the backup (so, removing it from exclusion), and the wholt hing failed. I'll step back and start the process again and see what I can uncover.

Jan 27 19:20:33 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[1147]: Starting automatic backup

Jan 27 19:20:33 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[1147]: Backing up to: /Volumes/Chronos/Backups.backupdb

Jan 27 19:20:49 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[1147]: Found 9326 files (265.54 GB) needing backup

Jan 27 19:20:49 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[1147]: 320.15 GB required (including padding), 391.7 GB available

Jan 27 19:21:48 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[1147]: Copied 8200 files (304.1 MB) from volume Amarantus HD.

Jan 27 19:44:52 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[1147]: Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Volumes/Apollo/Lyre/Music/Bonnie Tyler/Bonnie Tyler The Greatest Hits/09 Lost In France.aif to (null)

Jan 27 20:20:36 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[1147]: Copied 33.82 GB of 265.54 GB, 8817 of 9326 items

Error (-36) deleted many here.

Jan 27 21:20:37 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[1147]: Copied 37.58 GB of 265.54 GB, 8861 of 9326 items

Jan 27 21:58:20 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[1147]: Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Volumes/Apollo/Lyre/Music/Elgar, Edward/Elgar Complete Symphonies/1-03 Elgar_ Symphony #1 In A Flat, Op. 55 - 3. Adagio.aif to (null)

Error (-36) deleted many here.

Jan 27 22:21:53 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[1147]: Copied 109.54 GB of 265.54 GB, 10515 of 10515 items

Jan 27 22:30:32 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[1147]: Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Volumes/Apollo/Lyre/Music/Mendelssohn, Felix/Mendelssohn 5 Symphonies/1-04 No.1 in C minor, Op.11 - IV. Allegro con fuoco.aif to (null)

Error (-36) deleted many here.

Jan 27 23:23:49 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[1147]: Copied 135.99 GB of 265.54 GB, 10987 of 10987 items

Jan 27 23:26:45 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[1147]: Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Volumes/Apollo/Lyre/Music/Prokofiev, Sergei/Prokofiev Romeo & Juliet/1-21 Prokofiev_ Romeo & Juliet - Act 1_ Romeo & Juliet's Love Dance.aif to (null)

Error (-36) deleted many here.

Jan 27 23:37:58 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[1147]: Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Volumes/Apollo/Lyre/Music/Puccini, Giacomo/Turandot [Disc 2]/2-04 Act Two_ Scene Two-Figlio Del Cielo! Padre Augusto!.aif to (null)

Jan 27 23:37:58 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[1147]: Copied 11160 files (141.93 GB) from volume Apollo.

Jan 27 23:37:58 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[1147]: Copy stage failed with error:11

Jan 27 23:38:09 Amarantus.local com.apple.backupd[1147]: Backup failed with error: 11

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Answer 14

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,541 points

Jan 28, 2013 7:11 AM in response to BordeauxQuill

If the external drives are connected through a hub, connect them to a built-in USB port and test.

If you continue to get error -36, I suggest you back up both drives -- not with Time Machine, but with Disk Utility or a third-party utility -- then format them and restore.

If you still have problems after that, replace the drives.

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Answer 15

Jan 28, 2013 3:12 PM in response to Linc Davis

Thank you again, Linc, for emphasising that the data might be at risk. Both these drives were reformatted in the last week (you may recall from another post the discussion about the speed of encryption - of course, in the end I just did it the prescribed way); it is worth noting that I never had backup issues prior to encyption.

I have just bought a new hard drive and will copy the Apollo data and other stuff to that (happy to start again with the TM drive once I have all my source data in two places). The files are just photos and iTunes media so file-to-file copy would give me more flexibility to put exra things on the new disk, I think, than a disk image. Now all I need to do is find a way of verifying integrity after copy and paste....

Again, thanks for everything. I'll come back when I have had time to secure all my data and then test the backup process again and see whether and how it is still failing.

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