Is a locked Sparsebundle file a problem?

Question

Level 1

8 points

Is a locked Sparsebundle file a problem?

Good day,

I didn't know I had a problem with my backup file until I needed to recover a file via Time Machine. This occurred this week and after reading and trying suggestions, from many Apple forums, for the past four days, I'm getting a serious headache.

I have a Mac mini 2012 and been running Time Machine since 2013 on a 2TB Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex connected on a 2TB Airport Time Capsule.

For some unknown reason I lost my Photo library and want to recover it from Time Machine. When I enter Time Machine, the only thing I see is "Today" or "New" as back up.

You can see that previous backups are not showing.

I know I have selected the correct backup drive because it says so in Time Machine Preference.

And my Seagate is almost full, hence it is not a new backup.

BTW, what's with the padlock on my sparse bundle file? Is that why I have a problem? I can unlock it via finder "Get Info" but it locks right back on when I open Time Machine.

I'm not running Sophos.

All software and firmware are up to date.

I may have screwed up the TC passwords because I was installing an additional 3TB TC and it asked me for passwords left and right, but I think I reseted all the passwords correctly using the Keychain Access.

In a nutshell: Is the lock on the sparse bundle file the problem? If so, how can I remove the padlock? If not, what else can I try that is not mundane (like resetting the network and all the appliances).

Thanks

Robert

Airport Time Capsule 802.11ac

Posted on Jan 31, 2017 1:14 PM

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Answer 1

lecuyerr Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 31, 2017 3:17 PM in response to lecuyerr

The info menu doesn't show a lock icon. I deselected the Locked box, ran Time Machine, no access, return to get info, lock block is back on. I nee to take control of that file. TM does not see it. It probably goes to another sparsebundle file although I selected that drive on the Time Machine preferences.

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Answer 2

lecuyerr Author

Level 1

8 points

Feb 3, 2017 6:03 AM in response to lecuyerr

Since my original question/problem was resolved (locked sparsebundle file) by connecting the external drive, previously connected to Time Capsule, directly to my Mac mini and unlocking the file from Get Info.

Now the problem is reading the file. I'll review the existing discussions and start another one if necessary.

Thanks LaPastenague for your help.

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Answer 3

Jan 31, 2017 10:12 PM in response to lecuyerr

You cannot change anything while the disk is plugged into the TC.

YOU must plug it into the computer to make changes..

macOS Sierra: Set permissions for items on your Mac

Did you upload your photos to icloud??

If you have icloud working with photos on a iOS it can do some amazing things.

If you cannot figure out how the photos got into the present library look at your phone or ipad.. or someone else using your icloud account.

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Answer 4

Feb 1, 2017 12:45 PM in response to lecuyerr

Well at least it is full of data.. and that is great to know.

Using commands from terminal without exact knowledge of what they do is .. foolish!!

Always practice on something of no consequence.. before you start ripping apart your only backup unless you did make a copy.

Opening the TM backup in TM from a USB disk on the end of a network is going to take ages to search.

I still would prefer you to open it in Finder.. go back several days when you know the photo library still existed and extract it directly from its directory without using TM at all.

I gave the method to do this long ago.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6503649

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Answer 5

Feb 3, 2017 1:19 PM in response to lecuyerr

There is some info around the forums about resetting spotlight scans of the backup.

As you can imagine.. a 1.7TB backup becomes a nightmare to fix.. because of the sheer size of it.

Fix corrupt TM backup.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7258280?answerId=29263757022#29263757022

1) Disable Time Machine.

2) Stopping all Spotlight indexes (mdutil -d -a).

3) Destroying all Spotlight indexes (rm -rf /.Spotlight-V100) manually.

4) Repairing a file system permission issue with Spotlight (removed a bunch of folders owned by a non-existant user in a /private/var/folders subfolder that Spotlight created). No idea how they got there but they were there and the logs were complaining about them causing a fatal error.

5) Re-enabling Spotlight indexes and letting them build fully.

6) Re-running an initial Time Machine backup.

I would like to look inside the sparsebundle and see if you can find your library.. a decent hex viewer..

I will try this and see..

Copying now.. this might take a while so I will post and come back.

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Answer 6

Feb 1, 2017 5:32 PM in response to lecuyerr

Plug the Seagate directly into the mini and try opening the sparsebundle directly in Finder.

If you can do that, it might be possible to copy out the photo library manually.

Time Machine in Sierra has a nasty habit of deleting people's backups.. that would not show up immediately because the sparsebundle is not compressed.. in other words it becomes an empty shell.

Sophos btw is not the only problem.. turn off or remove all AV, security and adware software .. I am sure you don't have those nasty speedup cleanup or any other prefix(UP) software.. but they all do cause problems.

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Answer 7

lecuyerr Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 31, 2017 1:35 PM in response to LaPastenague

Thanks,

I have already tried connecting the Seagate directly in the Mac mini but same problem. I ran Disk Utility and a few problems were fixed and all was good by the time I ran the Disk Utility First Aid for the third time. I'm running Avast and will remove it out and check again.

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Answer 8

lecuyerr Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 31, 2017 1:56 PM in response to LaPastenague

Oh yes, I tried to copy the sparsebundle file to the base ATC. The first time I tried it came up with an error about missing files. Tried today again and it tells me that it will take 16 days. Not going to happen. Both time, the sparsebundle file was locked. I don't believe it should be locked because I checked another sparsebundle that was created when I wasn't fast enough to stop the TM backup from starting another backup when I made changes. That sparsebundle file is small and has no padlock on it.

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Answer 9

Jan 31, 2017 2:15 PM in response to lecuyerr

The lock is unusual to me.. but I don't run Sierra.

You haven't encrypted the backup?? You don't have an Encrypted drive??

Copying the sparsebundle might still be a good thing to do.. but you certainly don't want to do it from connection on the USB of the TC. It should work by copying the sparsebundle while the Seagate is plugged into USB of the mini to the TC over ethernet.. you can easily achieve 50GB /hr doing it that way. But it is only to keep a copy of it incase something you do causes damage.

It will not make it easier to open or anything else.

Can you fix the permissions on it.. is that why it is locked??

Check permission while seagate is connected to your computer.. apple removed permissions repair from disk utility so you have to use terminal commands. But you certainly should be able to remove the lock.. but I am assuming you have not encrypted it.. You MUST use the original password if you did encrypt the backup.

Pondini is a bit old.

But the pink box at the bottom of this page has some info. Only work on a copy.. not the original sparsebundle.

http://pondini.org/TM/E10.html

If you cannot extract the backup from the sparsebundle.. one of the other guys here might help.. or in the Sierra OS area..

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Answer 10

lecuyerr Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 31, 2017 2:14 PM in response to LaPastenague

I did not select encryption on the backup preferences.

Maybe the permission thing. How do you suggests I remove permissions? I'm not a Unix savvy guy. I used to be pretty good at CPM, VMS, and Microsoft OS but I left that a while back.

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Answer 11

Jan 31, 2017 2:25 PM in response to lecuyerr

What permissions is it showing now??

Have you tried to fix it in get info.. if it does not include read and write?

Permissions are a real pain on Sierra.. and I am not finding a lot of help.. It is all supposed to work magically.. which is fine until the day things fall over.

Just as a btw .. you did look in trash for your missing photo library??

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Answer 12

lecuyerr Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 31, 2017 2:49 PM in response to LaPastenague

Hmm, interesting. Right now, there are three names listed in the permission box: (unknown), staff, and everyone. My name is not one of them. I tried to add it and it says that it is not a valid name. It is a valid name in System Preferences->Sharing.

First place I checked was the trash. The new photo library contains only a few pictures. Not sure how they got there either.

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Answer 13

lecuyerr Author

Level 1

8 points

Feb 1, 2017 6:49 AM in response to LaPastenague

I understand what you are saying about the external HDD being connected to the computer but the sparse bundle file lock happened when it was connected to the TC!

Anyway, I will keep playing with the passwords and keychain for a while while the external HDD is connected to the Mac mini.

No I didn't load my pics to the iCloud. I don't have 100% confidence into that technology yet. My photo albums are not synchronized automatically only when I connect my portable devices to my computer do I download pictures.

Thanks for you help.

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