friarea

Q: backing up laptop

I have come to the conclusion that Time Machine just *****. Invariably, I will buy a new backup drive. Time Machine will work for 3 months and then spontaneously and for no reason refuse to recognize the drive, which won't then show up in Disk Utility or anything. So I buy a new drive. Repeat ad nauseum. Apparently merely plugging in a new or different drive is sufficient to make sure Time Machine won't recognize any of the previous ones.

 

I now have 10 or so external backup drives of various makes and models that have various data on them that I cannot access in any way, making them utterly useless. Thinking about the amount that I've lost over the years makes me ill. I don't believe for a moment that all of those drives spontaneously died with no symptoms.

 

So, my question is two-fold.

 

One, is there any way to get those data off of those various drives for less than $$$$$?

 

Two, is there a reliable backup system for a MacBookPro? Because this is beginning to really hack me off.

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Mavericks (10.9.5)

Posted on Aug 29, 2016 8:10 PM

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Q: backing up laptop

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  • by Allan Eckert,

    Allan Eckert Allan Eckert Aug 29, 2016 8:12 PM in response to friarea
    Level 9 (53,457 points)
    Desktops
    Aug 29, 2016 8:12 PM in response to friarea

    Time Machine has worked for me without problems.

     

    Please download and install EtreCheck from http://etrecheck.com/

     

    Run it and post the report here.

  • by friarea,

    friarea friarea Aug 29, 2016 8:17 PM in response to Allan Eckert
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Notebooks
    Aug 29, 2016 8:17 PM in response to Allan Eckert

    EtreCheck version: 3.0.2 (306)

    Report generated 2016-08-29 22:16:19

    Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com

    Runtime 1:38

    Performance: Excellent

     

    Click the [Support] links for help with non-Apple products.

    Click the [Details] links for more information about that line.

     

    Problem: Other problem

    Description:

    Time Machine won’t recognize external drive.

     

    Hardware Information: ⓘ

        MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Mid 2014)

        [Technical Specifications] - [User Guide] - [Warranty & Service]

        MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro11,1

        1 2.6 GHz Intel Core i5 CPU: 2-core

        8 GB RAM Not upgradeable

            BANK 0/DIMM0

                4 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok

            BANK 1/DIMM0

                4 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok

        Bluetooth: Good - Handoff/Airdrop2 supported

        Wireless:  en0: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac

        Battery: Health = Normal - Cycle count = 616

     

    Video Information: ⓘ

        Intel Iris

            Color LCD 2560 x 1600

     

    System Software: ⓘ

        OS X Mavericks 10.9.5 (13F1911) - Time since boot: less than an hour

     

    Disk Information: ⓘ

        APPLE SSD SD0128F disk0 : (121.33 GB) (Solid State - TRIM: Yes)

            EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB

            Macintosh HD (disk0s2) /  [Startup]: 120.47 GB (7.32 GB free) (Low!)

            Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted>  [Recovery]: 650 MB

     

    USB Information: ⓘ

        Apple Internal Memory Card Reader

        Apple Inc. BRCM20702 Hub

            Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

        Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad

     

    Thunderbolt Information: ⓘ

        Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus

     

    Gatekeeper: ⓘ

        Mac App Store and identified developers

     

    Kernel Extensions: ⓘ

            /Applications/Parallels Access.app

        [loaded]    com.parallels.virtualhid (1.0.3 - SDK 10.9 - 2016-07-18) [Support]

        [loaded]    com.parallels.virtualsound (1.0.36 - SDK 10.6 - 2016-07-18) [Support]

     

            /Applications/Parallels Desktop.app

        [not loaded]    com.parallels.kext.hypervisor (10.2.1 29006 - SDK 10.7 - 2015-06-03) [Support]

        [not loaded]    com.parallels.kext.netbridge (10.2.1 29006 - SDK 10.7 - 2015-06-03) [Support]

        [not loaded]    com.parallels.kext.usbconnect (10.2.1 29006 - SDK 10.7 - 2015-06-03) [Support]

        [not loaded]    com.parallels.kext.vnic (10.2.1 29006 - SDK 10.7 - 2015-06-03) [Support]

     

    System Launch Agents: ⓘ

        [not loaded]    6 Apple tasks

        [loaded]    144 Apple tasks

        [running]    34 Apple tasks

     

    System Launch Daemons: ⓘ

        [not loaded]    48 Apple tasks

        [loaded]    141 Apple tasks

        [running]    60 Apple tasks

     

    Launch Agents: ⓘ

        [not loaded]    com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist (2015-05-12) [Support]

        [loaded]    com.adobe.CS5ServiceManager.plist (2015-05-12) [Support]

        [running]    com.parallels.mobile.prl_deskctl_agent.launchagent.plist (2016-07-18) [Support]

     

    Launch Daemons: ⓘ

        [not loaded]    com.adobe.SwitchBoard.plist (2015-05-12) [Support]

        [loaded]    com.adobe.fpsaud.plist (2016-06-28) [Support]

        [running]    com.fitbit.galileod.plist (2014-05-19) [Support]

        [loaded]    com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist (2014-03-26) [Support]

        [running]    com.parallels.mobile.dispatcher.launchdaemon.plist (2016-07-18) [Support]

        [loaded]    com.parallels.mobile.kextloader.launchdaemon.plist (2016-07-18)

        [loaded]    jp.co.canon.MasterInstaller.plist (2014-09-22) [Support]

     

    User Launch Agents: ⓘ

        [loaded]    com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist (2015-09-09) [Support]

        [loaded]    com.google.keystone.agent.plist (2016-07-12) [Support]

        [running]    com.parallels.mobile.startgui.launchagent.plist (2016-08-29) [Support]

     

    User Login Items: ⓘ

        iTunesHelper    Application  (/Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunesHelper.app)

        Fitbit Connect Menubar Helper    Application  (/Applications/Fitbit Connect.app/Contents/MacOS/Fitbit Connect Menubar Helper.app)

        Photo Stream URL    SMLoginItem  (/Applications/iPhoto.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/PhotoStreamAgent.app)

     

    Internet Plug-ins: ⓘ

        Flip4Mac WMV Plugin: 3.3.3.1   - SDK 10.7 (2015-01-26) [Support]

        FlashPlayer-10.6: 22.0.0.209 - SDK 10.9 (2016-07-14) [Support]

        QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (2016-07-19)

        Flash Player: 22.0.0.209 - SDK 10.9 (2016-07-14) [Support]

        EPPEX Plugin: 10.0 (2013-09-12) [Support]

        Default Browser: 537 - SDK 10.9 (2014-11-23)

        SharePointBrowserPlugin: 14.6.2 - SDK 10.6 (2016-03-25) [Support]

        Silverlight: 5.1.40416.0 - SDK 10.6 (2015-06-06) [Support]

        JavaAppletPlugin: 14.9.0 - SDK 10.7 (2014-09-20) Check version

     

    Safari Extensions: ⓘ

        iMedia Converter Deluxe   - iSkysoft Studio - http://www.iskysoft.com (2014-09-25)

        Open in Internet Explorer - Parallels - http://www.parallels.com (2014-10-05)

     

    3rd Party Preference Panes: ⓘ

        Flash Player (2016-06-28) [Support]

        Flip4Mac WMV (2015-01-05) [Support]

        Growl (2015-05-12) [Support]

     

    Time Machine: ⓘ

        Auto backup: YES

        Volumes being backed up:

            Macintosh HD: Disk size: 120.47 GB Disk used: 113.16 GB

        Destinations:

            Seagate Backup Plus Drive [Local]

            Total size: 999.86 GB

            Total number of backups: 33

            Oldest backup: 10/6/14, 8:02 PM

            Last backup: 1/30/16, 3:11 PM

            Size of backup disk: Excellent

                Backup size 999.86 GB > (Disk size 120.47 GB X 3)

     

    Top Processes by CPU: ⓘ

             6%    firefox

             4%    fontd

             4%    WindowServer

             1%    kernel_task

             0%    Dock

     

    Top Processes by Memory: ⓘ

        885 MB    firefox

        582 MB    kernel_task

        197 MB    Finder

        197 MB    Dock

        139 MB    com.apple.IconServicesAgent

     

    Virtual Memory Information: ⓘ

        3.60 GB    Free RAM

        4.40 GB    Used RAM (2.33 GB Cached)

        0 B    Swap Used

     

    Diagnostics Information: ⓘ

        Aug 29, 2016, 09:51:05 PM    Self test - passed

        Aug 28, 2016, 06:43:33 PM    /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Kernel_2016-08-28-184333_[redacted].panic [Details]

  • by Allan Eckert,

    Allan Eckert Allan Eckert Aug 29, 2016 8:36 PM in response to friarea
    Level 9 (53,457 points)
    Desktops
    Aug 29, 2016 8:36 PM in response to friarea

    How are you formatting the disks for Time Machine?

  • by John Galt,

    John Galt John Galt Aug 29, 2016 9:14 PM in response to friarea
    Level 8 (48,595 points)
    Mac OS X
    Aug 29, 2016 9:14 PM in response to friarea

    I think you ought to ask what is causing the drives to fail prematurely. Drives can fail for a variety of reasons, but the unusually high failure rate you're experiencing is cause for investigation.

     

    If Disk Utility cannot recognize a drive well enough to mount it, and if all cable connections are known to be intact, the drive is not worth fixing, and you're right to discard it. That inability prevents determining the cause of failure.

     

    Not knowing those causes, I can offer only general suggestions.

     

    • First, no third party "drive utility" or "drive manager" or "drive medic" or similarly categorized product should ever be used on a Mac. That just goes without saying. All those things are capable of doing is to accelerate a drive's inevitable failure. They're also extremely popular, probably due to aggressive marketing strategies that seek to convince unsophisticated users of their indispensability.
    • Next, you are using Parallels. Ask yourself there is anything that Windows or the programs it's running might be doing to mounted volumes. Windows equivalents for the above categorized utilities are likely to exist. Don't use them either, for the same reasons.
    • A suggestion regarding Parallels: I recommend excluding the entire virtual machine from the TM backup, because the slightest change to it, even a single byte, will require the entire VM to be backed up. Besides filling a TM backup volume to capacity quickly, each backup will take a long time. Maintain a separate backup for the VM, if that's important to you.
    • You might hear suggestions to only use drives containing their own power supplies, or to use a powered hub, or full sized drives, or laptop drives, etc. Or never use drives from manufacturer X; only trust those from drive manufacturer Y. Having used a variety of self-powered and USB-powered drives from many different manufacturers on many different Macs without any noteworthy problems, I can find no justification for any of those claims.

     

    Find out what's causing the premature failures. Whatever the problem is, it's not Time Machine. There is nothing unusual Time Machine does to a drive.