time machine two backup progress panes

Hi Lex, All members

I have recently discovered a useful application called EtreCheck which produces an interesting report. I ran EtreCheck a few moments ago and what follows is that report. There is one entry in this report I find particularly interesting. It concerns Time machine and Lion. My early 2006 17" MacBook Pro can only run Snow Leopard and cannot be upgraded. What therefore is the affect of this EtreCheck statement upon my 10.6.8 system? Could it be related to my present problem?

Regards Phil

EtreCheck version: 2.0.11 (98)

Report generated 3 November 2014 20:59:31 GMT

Hardware Information:ℹ️

MacBook Pro (17-inch) (Verified)

MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro1,2

1 2.16 GHz Intel Core Duo CPU: 2-core

2 GB RAM

BANK 0/DIMM0

1 GB DDR2 SDRAM 667 MHz ok

BANK 1/DIMM1

1 GB DDR2 SDRAM 667 MHz ok

Bluetooth: Old - Handoff/Airdrop2 not supported

Wireless: en1: 802.11 a/b/g/n

Video Information:ℹ️

ATY,RadeonX1600 - VRAM: 256 MB

Color LCD 1680 x 1050

spdisplays_display_connector

System Software:ℹ️

Mac OS X 10.6.8 (10K549) - Uptime: 0:31:38

Disk Information:ℹ️

TOSHIBA THNSNC512GBSJ disk0 : (476.94 GB)

S.M.A.R.T. Status: Verified

- (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB

Macintosh SSD512 (disk0s2) / [Startup]: 511.77 GB (173.33 GB free)

USB Information:ℹ️

Micron Built-in iSight

Apple Computer Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad

Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver

Kernel Extensions:ℹ️

/Applications/DiskWarrior.app

[not loaded] com.alsoft.Preview (4.4) Support

/Applications/Screenflick.app

[not loaded] com.Cycling74.driver.Soundflower (1.6.2 - SDK 10.6) Support

/Applications/TechTool Pro 7.app

[not loaded] com.micromat.driver.spdKernel (1 - SDK 10.8) Support

[not loaded] com.micromat.driver.spdKernel-10-8 (1 - SDK 10.8) Support

/Applications/Toast 10 Titanium/Toast Titanium.app

[not loaded] com.roxio.BluRaySupport (1.1.6) Support

[not loaded] com.roxio.TDIXController (2.0) Support

/Applications/Toast 11 Titanium/Spin Doctor.app

[not loaded] com.hzsystems.terminus.driver (4) Support

/Library/Application Support/VirtualBox

[loaded] org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxDrv (4.3.18) Support

[loaded] org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxNetAdp (4.3.18) Support

[loaded] org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxNetFlt (4.3.18) Support

[loaded] org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxUSB (4.3.18) Support

/Library/StartupItems/BRESINKx86Monitoring

[loaded] com.bresink.driver.BRESINKx86Monitoring (9.0) Support

/System/Library/Extensions

[loaded] at.obdev.nke.LittleSnitch (4098 - SDK 10.8) Support

[not loaded] com.elgato.driver.DontMatchAfaTech (1.1) Support

[not loaded] com.elgato.driver.DontMatchCinergy450 (1.1) Support

[not loaded] com.elgato.driver.DontMatchCinergyXS (1.1) Support

[not loaded] com.elgato.driver.DontMatchEmpia (1.1) Support

[not loaded] com.elgato.driver.DontMatchVoyager (1.1) Support

[loaded] com.eltima.SyncMate.kext (0.2.5b15) Support

[not loaded] com.olympus.CamBlockCommandsDevice (2.0.0) Support

[not loaded] com.olympus.CamBlockCommandsDeviceUP (2.0.0) Support

[not loaded] com.tomtom.driver.UsbEthernetGadget (1.0.0d1) Support

[not loaded] com.wacom.kext.pentablet (5.3.3 - SDK 10.8) Support

/System/Library/Extensions/OlympusDSCDriver.kext/Contents/PlugIns

[not loaded] com.olympus.CamFWSerialBusProtocolTransport (2.0.0) Support

[not loaded] com.olympus.CamUSBMassStorageClass (2.0.0) Support

/Users/[redacted]/Documents/LACIE MOBILE HDD 160GB/LaCie Update Tool/LaCie Update Tool.app

[not loaded] com.LaCie.ScsiType00 (1.2.1) Support

/Users/[redacted]/Documents/WD - MY BOOK STUDIO (2TB HDD Std set of inclusive data files)/Extras/WD +TURBO Installer.app

[not loaded] com.wdc.driver.1394HP (1.0.9) Support

[not loaded] com.wdc.driver.USBHP (1.0.11) Support

/Users/[redacted]/Library/Application Support/WDufu/4381/PLXDevicePlugin.app

[not loaded] com.wdc.driver.WdDeviceType00 (1.1) Support

[not loaded] com.wdc.driver.WdDeviceType05 (1.1) Support

Launch Agents:ℹ️

[running] at.obdev.LittleSnitchUIAgent.plist Support

[not loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist Support

[running] com.canon.MFManager.plist Support

[running] com.intego.commonservices.statusitem.plist Support

[running] com.intego.netupdate.agent.plist Support

[loaded] com.intego.task.manager.notifier.plist Support

[loaded] com.intego.VirusBarrierX6.alert.plist Support

[running] com.intego.VirusBarrierX6.statusitem.plist Support

[running] com.wacom.pentablet.plist Support

[running] syncmateStarter.plist Support

Launch Daemons:ℹ️

[running] at.obdev.littlesnitchd.plist Support

[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist Support

[loaded] com.barebones.authd.plist Support

[loaded] com.bombich.ccc.plist Support

[loaded] com.cocoatech.pathfinder.SMFHelper7.plist Support

[loaded] com.fernlightning.fseventer.plist Support

[running] com.intego.commonservices.daemon.plist Support

[loaded] com.intego.commonservices.icalserver.plist Support

[loaded] com.intego.commonservices.metrics.kschecker.plist Support

[running] com.intego.netupdate.daemon.plist Support

[running] com.intego.task.manager.daemon.plist Support

[running] com.intego.VirusBarrierX6.daemon.plist Support

[running] com.intego.VirusBarrierX6.scanner.daemon.plist Support

[loaded] com.prosofteng.DriveGenius.locum.plist Support

[not loaded] org.virtualbox.startup.plist Support

[running] rapiback.plist Support

User Launch Agents:ℹ️

[loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist Support

[loaded] com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist Support

[loaded] com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist Support

[not loaded] com.linotype.FontFolderProtector.plist Support

[loaded] com.macpaw.CleanMyMac.helperTool.plist Support

[loaded] com.macpaw.CleanMyMac.trashSizeWatcher.plist Support

[loaded] com.macpaw.CleanMyMac.volumeWatcher.plist Support

[not loaded] org.virtualbox.vboxwebsrv.plist Support

User Login Items:ℹ️

PopChar Application (/Applications/PopChar.app)

TextExpander ApplicationHidden (/Applications/TextExpander.app)

Tri-BACKUP 7 Launcher Application (/Applications/Tri-BACKUP 7.app/Contents/Resources/Tri-BACKUP 7 Launcher.app)

WDQuickView Application (/Library/Application Support/WDSmartware/WDQuickView.app)

Internet Plug-ins:ℹ️

AdobePDFViewer: Version: 11.0.09 - SDK 10.6 Support

JavaAppletPlugin: Version: 13.9.8 - SDK 10.6 Check version

WacomTabletPlugin: Version: WacomTabletPlugin 2.1.0.2 Support

PrintDialogExt: Version: 6.1.1 Support

QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.6.6

NPDjVu: Version: 6.1.2 - SDK 10.6 Support

AdobeAAMDetect: Version: AdobeAAMDetect 1.0.0.0 - SDK 10.6 Support

FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 15.0.0.189 - SDK 10.6 Support

Silverlight: Version: 5.1.30514.0 - SDK 10.6 Support

Flash Player: Version: 15.0.0.189 - SDK 10.6 Support

WacomNetscape: Version: 2.1.0-1 - SDK 10.8 Support

AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: Version: 11.0.09 - SDK 10.6 Support

FolxNetscapePlugIn: Version: 2.0 Support

User Internet Plug-ins:ℹ️

FolxNetscapePlugIn: Version: 2.0 Support

Safari Extensions:ℹ️

AllMyTube

Folx Safari Extension

Awesome Screenshot

AdBlock

Ebay Shopping Assistant

Amazon Shopping Assistant

Audio Plug-ins:ℹ️

iSightAudio: Version: 7.6.6

3rd Party Preference Panes:ℹ️

RCDefaultApp

Flash Player Support

FUSE for OS X (OSXFUSE) Support

Growl Support

MediaCentral Support

NetUpdate Support

Paragon NTFS for Mac ® OS X Support

PenTablet Support

WDQuickView Support

Time Machine:ℹ️

Time Machine information requires OS X 10.7 "Lion" or later.

Top Processes by CPU:ℹ️

6% WindowServer

1% ps

1% fontd

0% TextExpander

0% VBX6StatusItem

Top Processes by Memory:ℹ️

104 MB virusbarriers

54 MB WindowServer

49 MB Tri-BACKUP 7 Scheduler

47 MB mds

34 MB coreservicesd

Virtual Memory Information:ℹ️

976 MB Free RAM

776 MB Active RAM

152 MB Inactive RAM

241 MB Wired RAM

214 MB Page-ins

0 B Page-outs

END

Hi Lex

I researched the '8.8.8.8' suggestion in this forum and I now appreciate why you suggested I took this action.

Regards Phil

Hi Lex

Well, that's an interpretation I did not consider, however, I see what you mean.

Regards Phil

Hi All

I thought it was about time I submitted another report. Progress with trimming my applications to 'only the essentials' has slowed, mainly due to an inexplicable problem with Time Machine (TM) which ultimately states, 'The network backup disk could not be accessed because there was a problem with the network username or password'. The advice given is, 'Open Time Machine preferences to select the network backup disk and re-enter the correct username and password.'

Yet I can easily access the share on the network drive in which the TM backup resides. Several alternative share access options are available to me and they all work. I have changed network (and share) usernames and passwords and reset the network drive. I have deleted the TM preferences and played around with security (keychains) by deleting and renewing the relevant usernames and passwords but still TM complains it cannot access the backup share which I set aside for exclusive use of TM. 'Something', that I have yet to discover, is blocking TM operation. But what? It is as if TM was taking a username and password from a different file. I thought this was one of the functions of keychains but maybe I have overlooked something.

However, I am not entirely without backup applications and I have another backup method using Tri-BACKUP Pro 7 (Tri-EDRE) which is working perfectly by placing copies of my most important files in other shares on the same network drive. It (Tri-BACKUP Pro) has no problems with networked shares and is very much faster than TM. This begs the question, 'why use TM at all?'.

I will report back again soon.

Regards Phil

Hi Lex

I did not mention it in my last report but I have collected several dozen references to my latest problem gathered from all over the WWW in the hope I might find the answer to my Time Machine (TM) problem. I even bookmarked several references penned by Pondini but I cannot recall if they included the link you specified in your last email. However, I will take a look at it in case I missed something the first time around. I realised there was a 'reconnection' issue with TM and it was my impression I followed all the advice with that objective in mind. However, I have obviously failed but I might have missed something important the first time around so I will take another look at your link.

As important to me as a fix undoubtedly is, I am keen to find out how the 'disconnection' occurred in the first place. Only then will I be able to fully appreciate the fix/reconnection which I will then document.

I perhaps ought to mention that during the past 36 hours my MacBook Pro has not crashed once. It survived for over 24hrs without crashing or freezing. This is indeed a rare event. Furthermore, the processor core temperature never exceeded 60C despite the number of simultaneous tasks I had running. When my MacBook Pro finally crashed a short while ago I felt disappointed but I happened to spot the processor core was running hot (80C). Whatever, is making my MacBook Pro crash/freeze seems to make the processor work very hard. I have been using Activity Monitor extensively and during these periods of 'hot activity' some processes can edge towards a CPU% of close on 200!!! Obviously, this excessive activity explains the core temperature increase but I have not so far nailed down why the processor seems to 'run away', like an atomic reactor on overload, yet it can recover and work at normal temperatures(<50C) for many hours and sometimes for more than 1 day. I cannot decide if this behaviour is due to a rogue application(s) or whether another factor is involved. I even swapped RAM (again) but the problem remains. Despite running Disk Utility, Techtool Pro and several other analysis & repair tools, I have never been able to identify any cause for these random crashing/freezing events. Maybe the problem is due to two or more processes interacting destructively yet acting alone they cause no problems. I am even recording the time of these events in case there is a chronological pattern to these crashes/freezes.

I will try to sort out the TM backup issue before returning to the main objective as stated at the start of this thread. It maybe a while before I report again but hopefully when I do I will have some good news.

Regards Phil

Hi Lex

I had a quick look at the link you provided and it is not one I have seen before. It will take me some time to decide which of the many options listed I need to follow to get Time Manager to reconnect again. As you know, I keep multiple backups so I would lose nothing if I started a fresh TM backup once I can get TM to recognise I have a dedicated network share set aside for it.

I switched off my MacBook Pro last night and it has been running quite happily for the last 3 hours without crashing/freezing. Also, the processor core temperature is struggling to reach even 50C. These are both encouraging signs. Maybe the TM issue is related to the other problems I've been having.

Regards Phil

Hi All

I have not reported back for a couple of months because I have been dealing with multiple issues, including the one reported here.

I have chosen to report back now because I can now use Time Machine (TM) to backup onto local hard drives (using USB, Firewire) and onto my NAS (using Ethernet, Airport). I can even make simultaneous backups to separate media using different application (Carbon Copy Cloner, Tri-Backup Pro, TM, etc.).

Over the past couple of months I have continued to weed out applications I no use or need or which risked damaging my operating system (OS). But despite these efforts I could not get TM to work with my NAS. I had no trouble (or ANY trouble, ever) using TM with local drives. I began to suspect the warning messages I was receiving from Snow Leopard (SL) were misleading or incorrect. These messages indicated TM was unable to connect to the NAS share on which my TM backup resided. There had to be another answer because TM had been able to connect previously.

Suspecting I might have a damaged OS, the bit associated with TM, I obtained a copy of SL 10.6 on an 8GB memory stick and booted from it. I attempted to use TM again with my NAS and it worked first time without fuss. This was the proof I sought confirming a damaged OS. I then made multiple TM backups of my MacBook Pro files and performed a 'clean install' of OS v10.6 (IMPORTANT: with Software Updates to 10.6.8) and restored my data from one of the backups on a Firewire HDD. I could have used a USB HDD but Firewire was faster. Once again TM worked perfectly OK with whatever media I chose to attach. Best of all, TM would happily backup to my NAS, which it had done so for many months before 'something' went wrong. That 'something' corrupted the operation of TM necessitating the clean installation, since which I have carefully built up my list of useful applications. Some applications I had previously used will not be reinstalled onto my 512GB SSD because I believe they can make the OS unstable and they may have been responsible for the 'something'.

I am regarding this issue as now closed.

Regards Phil

Hi Lex

Nice to hear from you again.

Yes, I have licked the problem of getting Time Machine to work reliably with my NAS but it took the reinstallation of the OS (10.6.8) to get things to work again.

But I am still pursuing a couple of problems: random freezes and screen artefacts, like this (below) but both come & go so that pinning down the precise cause is proving difficult. I keep a log of every failure in the hope I will discover a pattern. That is essentially how I solved the Time Machine problem.

I may now start a couple more threads and see if forum members can suggest a solution to my outstanding problems

Regards Phil

Hi Lex

I have run hardware checks literally hundreds of times on my old MacBook Pro using a variety of tools and NEVER once has any hardware issue been identified. I have run checks that last for hours and no problems have arisen. Not even a hint of one. If there was a problem with the display itself I would expect to see lines or other screen artefacts across the whole of the display. However, what I am seeing is the 'corruption' appears to be confined to a window/panel, as in my example above. This makes me wonder if a rogue application/process is writing to the display memory because there appears to be a 'pattern' (not literally) in the way the display is corrupted.

I have overcome the Time Machine backing up to my NAS issue pretty effectively but in so doing I have uncovered another problem. Obviously it takes many hours to back up almost 350GB and during this time I do other things away from my laptop. I leave the MacBook alone and unattended. But for some strange reason when I return some hours later to view progress I have discovered my MacBook Pro has restarted itself and the backup has not completed. It stands waiting for me to login again. It is as if sometime later, after the display dims and the screensaver activates, a restart is initiated. How and by what? I haven't figured out why this is happening. I have played around with the display and energy settings and even downloaded & installed Caffeine to prevent the MacBook Pro going to sleep or hibernating, but still the MacBook Pro restarts. I am checking through my running applications to see if any forces a restart but so far no luck.

Then there is a keychain issue. Certain functions, such as backing up, require the inputting of username & password which are stored in my keychain. I have checked the entries and they are correct. However, when a backup (say) is initiated again (e.g. by Time Machine), I am being requested for the username & password again even though they have previously been saved in the keychain. I have performed checks on the keychains and can find nothing wrong. I am wondering if a preference list is screwing me around and needs deleting/reforming?

Any thoughts on any of these issues?

Regards Phil

PS - do you know of any way of deleting a sparsebundle on a network share that doesn't involve using the Terminal? I have deleted them via the Time Machine window BUT it can take hours. The quickest solution appears to be to delete the Time Machine share, thereby deleting its contents and then recreating the network share. But if there is another TM backup (say from another MacBook Pro, I have 4) within the share, these backups are lost too. Pondini describes a process using the Terminal and I have no doubt he is correct but I have yet to try it.