backup fails and loads EFI partition?

I cannot ever recall reading a fault in TM causing the Mac to boot from the EFI.. that is new one to me.

There is definitely issues between TM and the AE before Gen6.

See http://pondini.org/TM/Airport.html

The Gen1-5 AE are not supported by Apple for TM backups.

And the experience of many people is that the backups will work fine for a certain length of time and then corrupt themselves.. much as you are experiencing.. but then it just shows as corrupt.. not the EFI boot which is new one to me.

The situation with the Gen6 AE is rather more complicated. Gen6 AE and Gen5 TC are much more alike than previous versions of the AE and corresponding TC.. which had entirely different boards.

And there is still confusion whether Apple supports or does not support TM over the network to AE.

The setup manual says yes it does.. as Pondini points out in his post.. but the Apple website info says it is still not supported.. and only the TC should be used.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2038

Apple have been asked repeatedly to clarify the situation and so far have not been able to.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5500800?answerId=23581056022#23581056022

I think in your situation, you can abandon the WD plugged into the AE.. unless you go back to using the Gen6 since clearly the Gen 5 and Gen 4 are not supported.

Or plug the WD into a desktop computer you have on the network, and do TM backups over the network to the drive shared from the computer.

http://code.stephenmorley.org/articles/time-machine-on-a-network-drive/

I have the same problem and I'm backing up to TC....What do I do to solve this? It is very annoying....

Not sure how to use the Disc utility mentioned above.

I wonder if this is a local disk failure.

If you get errors in a disk there is a good chance Time Machine will bomb and the partitions could appear on the desktop.

You can verify the disk using instructions here.

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

See A5

I also recommend you load the widget so you can get TM logs.

See A1.

thanks for replying.......So, I verified and repaired the disc and still have the problem.....this is recurring...at times when I restart the computer all is well and it backs up and then out of nowhere I get the EfI partition message....

Other computers backing up to the TM do not have the problem...

You should boot the computer from efi and run hardware tests. Something is faulty in the computer.. particularly if it is a few years old be suspicious of the hard disk itself.

If you have files you are going to need.. I strongly recommend you backup with a different software than Time Machine.. eg CCC can be used for a month free of charge and you can use it to do a disk image directly to a USB drive.. it is well worth the expense and using a direct image will pay divedneds later if the disk needs replacing.

What Mac is it and how old that has the issue?

Hardware testing depends on the age of the machine and if it still has the optical drive or not.

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1509

For a laptop, if you have an Apple store nearby.. book an appointment to take it in and see if they can sort it out.

And if you have a desktop have you followed all the advisory to have disks replaced. There were a whole series of bad disks.. that apple replaced free of charge.. Did you do it??

This is on MacBook Air purchased in August and I've had the problem for 6 months but I can usually reboot and it will back up again.....this time it didn't work....

Definitely take it to apple and get them to fix it.. especially if this has been ongoing for most of the time you have owned it. But be warned that apple will probably wipe the disk and reinstall a clean OS.. so your backups are vital.. and IMHO TM does not cut it when it comes to recovery of a whole install. Make a disk image backup. A bootable one on a USB 3 drive is great.. it means none of your files can be lost. CCC well worth the $40 and whatever a USB drive will cost you.

Thanks....so I should back up with CCC and then copy to a USB drive?

If you want the USB to be able to boot the laptop.. just plug it into the laptop and then run CCC to do a backup to the USB drive.. it will create a bootable image. In other words.. when you start the Mac hold down the option key, it can boot directly from the backup image on the USB drive.

If you do it any other way, the image will work but cannot be used as boot.

Once you see this work.. that you are no longer reliant on a flaky internal drive and all your files are just there.. you will never want to be without it.

Hello,

I am also having the exact same problem with my MBPr. Time Machine begins and a EFI partition shows up on my desktop, then Time Machine fails.

The TM is running from a MacMini Server and the other Mac's are not having a problem.

Today I repartition the unit and did a clean install of the current OS and the same thing happens.

Also note, that prior to the clean install it would sometimes even happen using a USB drive.

I clone to other drives as well and even backup to the cloud, but I would prefer having this working as it should!

Has anyone found a solution?

I would REALLY appreciate any help figuring this out!

I have never seen it.. but did you do a disk verify when you booted to the EFI.

You cannot do a proper verify when you are already running the OS. But since you did a clean install of the OS I would say you actually have something faulty.. hard disks are the least reliable part.. being still mechanical. Of course if you have an SSD well that blows that theory out of the water.

I would still do a full disk one pass format.. and then verify it.

If the laptop is still in warranty or applecare.. let Apple do it for you.

The MBPr was sent back to Apple and I just received it back yesterday. Per Apple and I quote, "resolved the issue identified in the test/repair process"

They replaced the logic board/GPU. So I reloaded the OS and did a restore from a USB Time Machine, but as soon as I tired another backup to the TIme Machine off of the server the same thing is going on yet again. The EFI drive shows up on my desktop as well as the Time Machine drive off of the server.

I then rebooted into safe mode and now it will do a full backup to the Mac Mini Server's Time Machine. So I then repartitioned the SSD and reinstalled just the OS 10.9.3 (no other software) and STILL I get the same fault and it fails to backup.

After that, I tried to back up to the Apple Time Capsule and it fails as well with the same error. But since they replaced the board It will now backup to a USB time Machine but again, NOT to the Time Capsule or Mac Mini Server unless I am booted into safe mode.

At this point I don't know what else to try but I will say our Mac Pro and iMac both have no problem backing up to the Time Capsule and Mac Mini Server.

Below is a screen shot of what it shows before they replaced the old logic board, I could not even run the data capture file that Apple wanted me to.

Anyone have any thoughts?

Thanks!