time machine error creating backup folder

These instructions must be carried out as an administrator. If you have only one user account, you are the administrator.

Launch the Console 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 and start typing the name.

The title of the Console window should be All Messages. If it isn't, select

SYSTEM LOG QUERIES ▹ All Messages

from the log list on the left. If you don't see that list, select

View ▹ Show Log List

from the menu bar at the top of the screen.

In the top right corner of the Console window, there's a search box labeled Filter. Enter the word "Starting" (without the quotes.) You should now see log messages with the words "Starting * backup," where * represents any of the words "automatic," "manual," or "standard."

Each message in the log begins with the date and time when it was entered. Note the timestamp of the last "Starting" message that corresponds to the beginning of an abnormal backup. Now

CLEAR THE WORD "Starting" FROM THE TEXT FIELD

so that all messages are showing, and scroll back in the log to the time you noted. Select the messages timestamped from then until the end of the backup, or the end of the log if that's not clear. Copy them to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. Paste into a reply to this message by pressing command-V.

If all you see are messages that contain the word "Starting," you didn't clear the text field.

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A

Please take each of the following steps that you haven't already tried until the problem is resolved.

1. From the menu bar, select

 ▹ System Preferences ▹ Energy Saver ▹ Power Adapter

and uncheck the box marked

Put the hard disk(s) to sleep when possible

if it's checked.

2. Some external drives ignore the Energy Saver setting and spin down anyway. The application "KeepDriveSpinning" from developer Jon Stovell may help in that case. (Credit to ASC member dsrtmacusr for this solution.)

3. If the drive is connected to a hub, connect it to a built-in port on the computer.

4. If the drive has more than one bridge (e.g., FireWire and USB), try another one.

5. If a firmware update is available for the drive, apply it.

6. Contact the drive manufacturer to see whether there's a firmware setting you can change.

7. If you installed vendor software for the drive, uninstall it.

8. Triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it:

/Library/Preferences/com.apple.TimeMachine.plist

Right-click or control-click the highlighted line and select

Services ▹ Reveal in Finder (or just Reveal)

from the contextual menu. A Finder window should open with a file selected. Copy the file to the Desktop. Then move it (the original, not the copy) to the Trash. You'll be prompted for your administrator password. Restart the computer and recreate your settings in the Time Machine preference pane. It will show that you have no backups. Don't worry; that's expected. Run a backup to test. The backup may take much longer than usual. If TM now performs as expected, delete the file you copied to the Desktop.

9. If none of the above steps resolves the issue, the drive is faulty. Use another one. You may be able to salvage the mechanism of an external drive by installing it in another enclosure.

B

"Sentinel HASP License Manager" is a copy-protection rootkit installed along with some content-creation software such as "Quark Express." Some versions of it, or perhaps all, are incompatible with Yosemite. You'll either have to remove it, update it, or refer to the developer for support.

You may be able to update or remove the software by clicking the link to "Sentinel HASP/LDK Mac OS X Run-time GUI Installation" on this page. Download the disk image, mount it, and open either the Installer package or the application named "Uninstall Sentinel Runtime Environment," depending on what you want to do. That all the information I have about the subject, and it may be out of date.