Saltmaster
Level 1 (4 points)
Mac OS X

Q: error -36 on Time Machine backup

Help! I just went on holiday for a week my iMac running Yosemite was working fine when I left it. I left it switched on and on my return it had frozen, and disc utility showed that the drive needed repairing but was unrepairable. So I booted up from a system disc and erased my drive, hoping to restore from my Time Machine back-up which had been connected all the time. (I do also have a Carbon Copy Clone back-up). But the Time machine back-up will not restore, showing me "error-36". I am reasonably familiar with the "dot_clean" Terminal operations but when I try that I'm told that the command is unrecognised. And, of course the issue is with the Time Machine back-up, not with my hard drive. is there a way of repairing the Time Machine back-up in my situation? I can't restore from my CCC back-up because my iMac doesn't see it, having no system installed. I'm just about to try fully installing the original Snow Leopard system from the start-up disc and then either try again to restore from time Machine, or Migrate from it.

Can anyone offer any advice please?

iMac, OS X Yosemite (10.10.3)

Posted on Oct 3, 2016 3:34 AM

by Saltmaster,Solvedanswer
Saltmaster Saltmaster
Level 1 (4 points)
Mac OS X
A:

Thanks Eric but yes, I repaired permissions whenever I could and ran disk repair before resorting to erasure. But I'm happy and very relieved to report that I'm inexplicably back up and running. If it would help anyone reading this at some time, let me explain what I've been through … Back from a week's holiday to find screen frozen. Managed to reboot from an old system disk, ran disk repair from Disk Utility to find drive beyond repair, instructed to erase and restore from Time Machine back-up drive which was already connected, as well as a Carbon Copy Clone back-up drive. This is when it really went pear-shaped. The TM wouldn't restore, giving me the "error -36" 'copying files' message. I've had this message some time before and so over many days I ran various "dot_clean" Terminal scripts and it kept saying that the command was unrecognised. Over this period I kept erasing the drive (7x security erasure at one point) and rebooting. In desperation I actually installed my old system from the boot disk, hoping TM would restore then but it wouldn't, same error message. Then I had a thought to disconnect the TM firewire cable from the iMac and reconnect it. As I then closed the iMac down via the power button I glimpsed, for a second or so, my desktop image as it closed down. All I did then was to switch on the iMac in the usual way, not from the old system boot disk and, hey presto, all was instantly back to normal, no lengthy restore process. Suspecting that the TM drive was at fault I now managed, very gingerly, to successfully restore from my CCC back-up drive. And then, feeling a little more confident, hoping I could always restore again from my CCC if I had to, I restored from my TM back-up - and all is now well. But for the life of me I cannot understand how my TM back-up could just appear like that when my iMac was in an erased state - which it certainly was. Anyhow, hope this might help someone in future, and my thanks to the guys who offered me advice.

Posted on Oct 4, 2016 3:32 AM

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Q: error -36 on Time Machine backup

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Ptaxey,

    Ptaxey Ptaxey Oct 3, 2016 3:55 AM in response to Saltmaster
    Level 4 (1,151 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 3, 2016 3:55 AM in response to Saltmaster

    Check this article first, probably you will find the solution in process of checking If you can't back up or restore your Mac using Time Machine - Apple Support

  • by Saltmaster,

    Saltmaster Saltmaster Oct 3, 2016 4:07 AM in response to Ptaxey
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 3, 2016 4:07 AM in response to Ptaxey

    Thanks for the advice but I'd already checked these things - my problem is that the "error -36" which is preventing my restore must relate to my Time Machine backup as my hard drive is erased. But how can I attempt to rectify it when I can't restore it - I can't get into it??

  • by Eric Root,

    Eric Root Eric Root Oct 3, 2016 9:48 AM in response to Saltmaster
    Level 9 (74,535 points)
    iTunes
    Oct 3, 2016 9:48 AM in response to Saltmaster

    Before erasing, did you run Disk Utility Repair Disk?

     

    Start with A4 in the 1st linked article.

     

    Time Machine Troubleshooting

     

    Time Machine Troubleshooting Problems

  • by Saltmaster,Solvedanswer

    Saltmaster Saltmaster Oct 4, 2016 3:32 AM in response to Eric Root
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 4, 2016 3:32 AM in response to Eric Root

    Thanks Eric but yes, I repaired permissions whenever I could and ran disk repair before resorting to erasure. But I'm happy and very relieved to report that I'm inexplicably back up and running. If it would help anyone reading this at some time, let me explain what I've been through … Back from a week's holiday to find screen frozen. Managed to reboot from an old system disk, ran disk repair from Disk Utility to find drive beyond repair, instructed to erase and restore from Time Machine back-up drive which was already connected, as well as a Carbon Copy Clone back-up drive. This is when it really went pear-shaped. The TM wouldn't restore, giving me the "error -36" 'copying files' message. I've had this message some time before and so over many days I ran various "dot_clean" Terminal scripts and it kept saying that the command was unrecognised. Over this period I kept erasing the drive (7x security erasure at one point) and rebooting. In desperation I actually installed my old system from the boot disk, hoping TM would restore then but it wouldn't, same error message. Then I had a thought to disconnect the TM firewire cable from the iMac and reconnect it. As I then closed the iMac down via the power button I glimpsed, for a second or so, my desktop image as it closed down. All I did then was to switch on the iMac in the usual way, not from the old system boot disk and, hey presto, all was instantly back to normal, no lengthy restore process. Suspecting that the TM drive was at fault I now managed, very gingerly, to successfully restore from my CCC back-up drive. And then, feeling a little more confident, hoping I could always restore again from my CCC if I had to, I restored from my TM back-up - and all is now well. But for the life of me I cannot understand how my TM back-up could just appear like that when my iMac was in an erased state - which it certainly was. Anyhow, hope this might help someone in future, and my thanks to the guys who offered me advice.