10.5.3 and new Time Machine error

[mreg376]

Time Machine (external USB/SATA) on my 2-month old iMac had been working perfectly. I installed 10.5.3. Everything still works perfectly EXCEPT I get an occasional error with Time Machine's hourly backup saying it could not do the backup. I can do the backup manually and the subsequent automatic backup goes OK. It's happened twice since my installation of 10.5.3 last night. I did Repair of the external drive and no problems were found. Any ideas? Thanks.

[Sky Blue]

I've had this too. Never had one error on Time Machine since October, but I had exactly what you described today.

[mreg376]

I've had this too. Never had one error on Time Machine since October, but I had exactly what you described today.

Well, now we know it's not us. All we need is a solution... :)

[todd2000]

I was just about to start a thread on this. It just happened to me. I tried a manual backup, and it was fine, and I assume the next Automated Backup will work if yours did, but what's causing this? Here is the relevant errors from my System Log if someone can get something from it.

May 29 21:41:52 iMac /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[7740]: Starting standard backup
May 29 21:41:52 iMac /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[7740]: Backing up to: /Volumes/Backup/Backups.backupdb
May 29 21:41:54 iMac /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[7740]: No pre-backup thinning needed: 228.9 MB requested (including padding), 118.91 GB available
May 29 21:41:58 iMac /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[7740]: Stopping backup.
May 29 21:41:58 iMac /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[7740]: Error: (-43) copying /Users/Todd/Documents/iChats/.DS_Store to /Volumes/Backup/Backups.backupdb/iMac/2008-05-29-214153.inProgress/F1F74F85-52EA-49EF-8373-FD3A9D7E397F/ Macintosh HD/Users/Todd/Documents/iChats
May 29 21:41:58 iMac /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[7740]: Copied 219 files (40 KB) from volume  Macintosh HD.
May 29 21:41:58 iMac /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[7740]: Copy stage failed with error:11
May 29 21:42:03 iMac /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[7740]: Backup failed with error: 11

[davidwarren]

this happened twice today for the first time on my imac at work, the imac at home and my macbook have not done this yet.

[kbmb]

Add me to the list of having this happen exactly as described since installing 10.5.3. I've been running TM on my Mac Pro since Leopard was released without any errors.

I did a manual backup after the error, and that was fine. The next automatic backup has also worked.

Anyone come up with any ideas on why this is happening?

-Kevin

[mreg376]

Add me to the list of having this happen exactly as described since installing 10.5.3. I've been running TM on my Mac Pro since Leopard was released without any errors.

I did a manual backup after the error, and that was fine. The next automatic backup has also worked.

Anyone come up with any ideas on why this is happening?

-Kevin

I was the original poster on this. After it happened twice, I did a Disk Utility "Repair." The repair found nothing wrong with my Time Machine disk, but the error hasn't happened again. Of course it's only been an additional day so I have no idea if it means anything at this point.

[kbmb]

I was the original poster on this. After it happened twice, I did a Disk Utility "Repair." The repair found nothing wrong with my Time Machine disk, but the error hasn't happened again. Of course it's only been an additional day so I have no idea if it means anything at this point.

Just checked my external disk used for TM and everything checks out fine (as well as all internal drives). Let's all keep our eyes open and post back.

-Kevin

[themanfromvlad]

just speculating here, did the people here who are having this issue eject and disconnect their drives before updating? You should always do that before a Mas OS update.

[kbmb]

just speculating here, did the people here who are having this issue eject and disconnect their drives before updating? You should always do that before a Mas OS update.

I did not. The drive was connected during the update. Haven't had an issue before as it's been connected for the .1 and .2 updates.

-Kevin

[mreg376]

Just checked my external disk used for TM and everything checks out fine (as well as all internal drives). Let's all keep our eyes open and post back.

-Kevin

Well, it happened again. So I guess running the general Repair is not the answer.

[apfhex]

I'm having the same problem — only since updating to 10.5.3, same messages in my Console. My Time Machine drive is internal and has been working 100% error free since 10.5.0 until now. Anyone got a clue what's up? Going to try to repair permissions of course and maybe try deleting that pesky .DS_store file. :confused:

5/31/08 1:52:21 AM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[9817] Backing up to: /Volumes/FTL/Backups.backupdb
5/31/08 1:52:24 AM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[9817] No pre-backup thinning needed: 158.9 MB requested (including padding), 338.71 GB available
5/31/08 1:52:24 AM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[9817] Stopping backup.
5/31/08 1:52:24 AM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[9817] Error: (-43) copying /Applications/.DS_Store to /Volumes/FTL/Backups.backupdb/Battlestar/2008-05-31-015221.inProgress/69BC6A7D-3E7B-4B5D-94AC-6BA82FA1BE8C/Galactica/Applications
5/31/08 1:52:24 AM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[9817] Copied 0 files (0 bytes) from volume Galactica.
5/31/08 1:52:24 AM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[9817] Copy stage failed with error:11
5/31/08 1:52:30 AM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[9817] Backup failed with error: 11

[kbmb]

I'm having the same problem — only since updating to 10.5.3, same messages in my Console. My Time Machine drive is internal and has been working 100% error free since 10.5.0 until now. Anyone got a clue what's up? Going to try to repair permissions of course and maybe try deleting that pesky .DS_store file. :confused:



My error didn't occur with the .DS_STORE file for what it's worth.

May 30 19:10:37 /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[10429]: Starting standard backup
May 30 19:10:37 /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[10429]: Backing up to: /Volumes/MacBackup/Backups.backupdb
May 30 19:10:38 /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[10429]: No pre-backup thinning needed: 1.34 GB requested (including padding), 319.31 GB available
May 30 19:10:39 /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[10429]: Stopping backup.
May 30 19:10:39 /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[10429]: Error: (-43) copying /Library/Printers/Brother to /Volumes/MacBackup/Backups.backupdb/buzzlightyear/2008-05-30-191037.inProgress/99E2A133-EF6E-45D3-896F-ED929A859F89/MacHD/Library/Printers
May 30 19:10:39 /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[10429]: Copied 72 files (186 bytes) from volume MacHD.
May 30 19:10:39 /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[10429]: Copy stage failed with error:11
May 30 19:10:44 /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[10429]: Backup failed with error: 11

-Kevin

[apfhex]

I noticed, it seems to be a random file, and the error probably has nothing specific to do with the file listed in the Console, but I thought it couldn't hurt to delete a DS_store file. :) The first time I got the error it was from a file in /private/etc/.

[mreg376]

Still happening. This morning I awoke to the error message, and noted that the hourly backup that should have occurred at 4:10 am did not. But the subsequent backups were done. Very strange...

[davidwarren]

it hasn't happened to me after the first two times...

[Silver-Fox]

I got this once, but havent again

[Sky Blue]

I got this once, but havent again

Yeah, I've had it once, as noted above, but it's been fine since.

[mreg376]

Yeah, I've had it once, as noted above, but it's been fine since.

I'm not that lucky. It's been happening about once a day. I'm not that concerned about the backup, since in each case the subsequent automatic backups were fine. But I'm afraid of what it might bode in the event I have to do a major restore.

[kbmb]

I'm not that lucky. It's been happening about once a day. I'm not that concerned about the backup, since in each case the subsequent automatic backups were fine. But I'm afraid of what it might bode in the event I have to do a major restore.

Have you tried turning TM off. Unmounting the drive, reboot, the drive should remount on the next boot, and then turning TM back on?

Never tried this myself, just giving a suggestion to get your error to stop.

You drive doesn't power itself down does it? Did any energy saver settings change?

Just wondering if something else changed in your setup to cause this.

-Kevin

[mreg376]

Have you tried turning TM off. Unmounting the drive, reboot, the drive should remount on the next boot, and then turning TM back on?

Never tried this myself, just giving a suggestion to get your error to stop.

You drive doesn't power itself down does it? Did any energy saver settings change?

Just wondering if something else changed in your setup to cause this.

-Kevin

No, no other changes other than 10.5.3, and the external drive does not power down. The odd thing is that it only happens occasionally. But I will try your suggestion about unmounting and rebooting.

[MacForMeOneDay]

Yeah, I've had it once, as noted above, but it's been fine since.

I too had the error(2 times in 2 days), did the Disk Repair on the TM drive (Firewire 800 External).
It hasn't happened since for me either.

[kbmb]

Just had it occur for the 2nd time since 10.5.3. Next backup was fine.

Previously I have verified all internal disks, as well as the TM external drive. Everything checked out fine.

This is clearly a 10.5.3 issue. C'mon Apple.

-Kevin

[bigjnyc]

i havent been able to back up at all, keep getting the error message and i've tried all suggestions. its getting pretty annoying as i've added alot of important files that i would like backed up. I hope someone figures out a fix or apple addresses the issue soon.

fyi im using WD 250GB connected via airport extreme.

[MacForMeOneDay]

I too had the error(2 times in 2 days), did the Disk Repair on the TM drive (Firewire 800 External).
It hasn't happened since for me either.

My TM error came back today. Even a manual "Backup Now" failed.

[kbmb]

Another error last night. Didn't effect backups after the error.

-Kevin

[dmen]

since downloading 10.5.3 i cannot access time machine past the first or second click. it totally freezes when trying. backup are still being done i just cant look at them. apple:confused: has no answers yet!!!!

[kdum8]

just to add to the fray, I have been experiencing most of the problems described above as well, including the hourly backup issue and time machine freezing up when I click through past files. Seems this is not an isolated issue...

[TimMACman]

I have noticed that about every other day I will see the error described above when I come home from work and wake my machine. I can always manually back up and hourly backups work without failure while I am working on my iMac. Could be coincidence but my problems always seem to coincide with sleep mode.

[Mac In School]

Mine is doing fine, but wife's LaCie Firewire drive is doing the same thing.

[apfhex]

Could be coincidence but my problems always seem to coincide with sleep mode.
The first time I got the error it was immediately after waking from sleep, however the second time it was after the computer had been in use the whole evening. I haven't gotten it since last posting in this thread.

[mreg376]

I don't want to say it too loud, but after I took the advice of someone here -- unmounted my Time Machine drive, turned it off, then turned it back on and let my Mac find it and mount it again -- the error hasn't come back (probably will now...).

[kbmb]

I have noticed that about every other day I will see the error described above when I come home from work and wake my machine. I can always manually back up and hourly backups work without failure while I am working on my iMac. Could be coincidence but my problems always seem to coincide with sleep mode.

My Mac Pro is on 24x7, and it's having the problem, so I don't think it's due to sleep mode.

-Kevin

[kbmb]

I don't want to say it too loud, but after I took the advice of someone here -- unmounted my Time Machine drive, turned it off, then turned it back on and let my Mac find it and mount it again -- the error hasn't come back (probably will now...).

I think that was my advice. I did the same, however, sure enough, got the error again this morning. Subsequent backups are fine.

-Kevin

[bigjnyc]

well at least some of you guys have been able to back up manually, nothing has worked for me, i restarted the whole system, disconnected and connected hard drive, restarted airport extreme, tried setting up time machine with hard drive connected directly via usb, ran a permissions and fix on the hard drive. nothing has worked i get the error message every time.

[monokakata]

Another data point:

Mac Pro with 1 TB internal assigned to TM duties -- I see the same behavior once or twice a day. I can't relate it to 10.5.3 because I wasn't using TM until after I installed 10.5.3.

If I immediately ask for a backup after a failure, that one runs.

The event today was when the machine was wide awake.

MBP with external -- no problems seen.

[kbmb]

Yet another person I found with the same issue:
http://www.davidalison.com/2008/06/some-quirky-behavior-since-upgrading-to.html

-Kevin

[macsnail]

Same story here - I downloaded the 10.5.3 update and the same evening I had my first Time Machine error. At the time this was on a Firewired Iomega external drive and I had this error sporadically over the next couple of days. I then changed the Time Machine backup drive to a USB Lacie external drive. And since then... I've had this same error.
With all the instances of this being mentioned across the web, it looks like an apple problem and I can only hope that 10.5.4 will fix it soon.
What astounds me is that this wasn't picked up during all those weeks of beta testing for 10.5.3???

[CortexRock]

I've been getting this same thing happen occasionally - Mac Pro 2.8 Octo with 10.5.3 - never any problems before the update, but now TM glitches every few backups.

[petvas]

Same problem here. I am filing a bug report.

[mreg376]

Same problem here. I am filing a bug report.

I'll do that too. How?

[bigjnyc]

i filed one also, apparently a bunch of people on the apple support forums are having the same issue and all filed bug reports. this issue should get some attention soon.

[monokakata]

Another data point --

My external drive on MB Pro just did it. So I'm 100% affected here.

[Virgil-TB2]

Just to add to the pile, me too.

Latest generation Mac Pro with 10 gigs backing up first 250 Gig drive to second internal 500 Gig drive using Time Machine. Roughly one or two such failures a day, manual backup fails also until reboot then everything is fine until next time.

There must be some other factor though, 10.5.3 was out for a while before this started, and now it's happening once or twice a day as I said. The solution better not involve formatting the TM drive, losing six months of backups is a bad thing.

For what it's worth, I am also having the "skittering mouse" problem that everyone is reporting since 10.5.3 :mad:

[petvas]

I'll do that too. How?

http://bugreport.apple.com

You will need an ADC account, but you can create one for free.

[Mac In School]

It's happening on both of my computers now.

[haiggy]

I had it happen to me as well, twice, but haven't seen anything lately...

[lilstewart]

I wonder if one would install a Combo Update over their 10.5.3 if it would help...

[dmen]

after hours in phone with mac and trying everythingelse, i wound up reinstallin 10.5 and doing a new combo update. tm then worked fine and i restored from last backup. some third party software needed tweakin, but now all is aok

[mreg376]

after hours in phone with mac and trying everythingelse, i wound up reinstallin 10.5 and doing a new combo update. tm then worked fine and i restored from last backup. some third party software needed tweakin, but now all is aok

Thanks, but that's not really a satisfactory solution to an Apple-induced bug. Apple will have to do better.

[ebel3003]

I had this issue and the solution for me was to rebuild the backup by reformatting the Time Machine disk and then letting Time Machine create a new backup. All that mattered to me was to have one latest backup.

[kbmb]

Thanks, but that's not really a satisfactory solution to an Apple-induced bug. Apple will have to do better.

Agreed. That's not even close to acceptable. Since when do you have to reinstall the entire OS to fix a BACKUP SOLUTION?!?

Apple needs to figured this stuff out.

Reinstalling or wiping the entire backups should not be an option!

-Kevin

[Mr X]

OK I think this is a new one.....

iMac backs up fine with Time Machine connected via ethernet to my timecapsule.

Mac Air (since 10.5.3) goes into Preparing Back UP and then just stays there - doesn't actually start the back up.

I've tried switching TM off, changing disk, rebooting Time Capsule but nothing :mad:

[dmen]

another forum put me onthe right track to solve this for me. remove intego virus software and dont forget to also remove netupdate as well as the preferences. backups ok now:rolleyes::rolleyes:

[Mac In School]

I had this issue and the solution for me was to rebuild the backup by reformatting the Time Machine disk and then letting Time Machine create a new backup. All that mattered to me was to have one latest backup.

Did this. It worked for a few days, now it's happening again.

[ZigZagLens]

I am having the same problem (error -43, then error 11) using an *internal* WD drive - the one shipped/installed in my Mac Pro.

Nothing has changed except updating to 10.5.3 so I, like others in the thread, suspect it's an issue with the latest version.

[kbmb]

Just got this error again on 10.5.4 :(

EDIT: Although I will follow this up with the fact that Apple doesn't mention a fix: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1994 so I guess we wait for 10.5.5

-Kevin

[mreg376]

Just got this error again on 10.5.4 :(

EDIT: Although I will follow this up with the fact that Apple doesn't mention a fix: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1994 so I guess we wait for 10.5.5

-Kevin

Same thing here. The error is increasing in frequency since 10.5.4.

[gothick]

Sorry, I can't add anything more helpful here than another point on the graph: I've had this error about five times since upgrading to 10.5.3. 10.5.4 hasn't made things any better or any worse. Never saw it once before 10.5.3.

Thanks for posting, everyone, at least I know I'm not alone. I really don't like getting mysterious error messages from my backups!

[CaptSaltyJack]

Same thing here, 10.5.4. Hope this is fixed soon.

[davidwarren]

I had the same problems on my macbook. Every time TM went to do a back up, it failed and said it was unable to copy.

I started a backup manually, and when the backup drive mounted, I went in and deleted the last couple backups, and the file that was the current backup in progress. Turned TM off then back on, and started another backup, and it works fine now.

[mreg376]

I had the same problems on my macbook. Every time TM went to do a back up, it failed and said it was unable to copy.

I started a backup manually, and when the backup drive mounted, I went in and deleted the last couple backups, and the file that was the current backup in progress. Turned TM off then back on, and started another backup, and it works fine now.

Don't worry -- it'll happen again.

[motownflip]

any updates. I can't even backup manually.

[renault4]

I came across this recently, there's now a dialog box on my screen in the morning reporting that Time machine backup failed. In scanning the console log files I found that the error most often occurs when TM is backing up a file that is being synchronised with another system--in my case my firefox book marks file using foxmarks or my keychain file using mobileme sync.

8/19/08 8:14:02 PM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[14498] Error: (-43) copying /Users/XXXXl/Library/Keychains/.fl4E0F697A to /Volumes/Time Machine/Backups.backupdb/XXXZ’s MBP17/2008-08-19-201359.inProgress/2483E244-A53C-4EF3-A13A-9C85AACDE6FC/Macintosh HD/Users/XXXX/Library/Keychains.

the log file shows that subsequent backups ran fine however. This seems like TM is inelegantly handling locked files--the specific problem with errant file should be dumped to a log and the whole backup should not fail....

[Beaumon]

... I'm going to take my computer and throw it on the floor...

[Harry Bosch]

Just chiming in with more info. It is happening to me with a brand new HD, three days old. Running 10.5.4 and it happened at least once a week with the previous HD as well. At some point in the past it was NOT happening, but I did not note the exact time it started. Seems to be the same problem everyone else is having.

With persistent problems like this one, I'm not exactly thrilled with my Mac since "switching", but I think the overall experience is probably better than Windows. I wish I could be more positive and say "I love it", but with this, the Mobile Me disaster, and other problems I just can't say that yet :(

[todd2000]

With persistent problems like this one, I'm not exactly thrilled with my Mac since "switching"

Meh! I consider this a minor problem. So you miss one hourly backup a week, or even a day, not a huge deal. As long as the subsequent backups work Im not too concerned.

[ebel3003]

Meh! I consider this a minor problem. So you miss one hourly backup a week, or even a day, not a huge deal. As long as the subsequent backups work Im not too concerned.

For the most part, Time Machine has been reliable. The issue for me is that a backup is supposed to be a form of fault tolerance. When your employed solution to fault tolerance is failing, that isn't exactly reassuring. I've been seeing this error less and less often, though.

[carbonizer]

I don't know if anybody is still looking at this thread, but I had the same problem that so many people have been describing. However, I was able to solve it rather easily. I turned off Time Machine, mounted the backup sparse bundle, deleted the .inProgress file, ejected the bundle, turned Time Machine back on, and forced an update. Don't be surprised if it takes a long time for the file to delete. Granted, I haven't tested this in the long run, but it seems to have done away with my issue.

[Beetlebinkie]

I don't know if anybody is still looking at this thread, but I had the same problem that so many people have been describing. However, I was able to solve it rather easily. I turned off Time Machine, mounted the backup sparse bundle, deleted the .inProgress file, ejected the bundle, turned Time Machine back on, and forced an update. Don't be surprised if it takes a long time for the file to delete. Granted, I haven't tested this in the long run, but it seems to have done away with my issue.

I had the same trouble. Checking the local hdd, removing the 'corrupted files'. Detaching and attaching the backup volume. It took me hours.

In the end this was my solution:
1. on the backup volume, backups.backupd, "your computer name" I deleted "In Progress" or "Latest"
2. In terminal type: sudo grep backupd /var/log/system.log to find the file(s)creating the error. For me it was iMovie.app
3. delete all files in TM giving errors in the log (http://www.tech-recipes.com/rx/2655/leopard_time_machine_delete_files_folders_from_backup/)

good luck

[vikking]

I'm still having this problem in 10.6.1... I really think this is unacceptable from such a high quality company like Apple... I fixed it by removing my entire backup...

[Pondini]

I'm still having this problem in 10.6.1... I really think this is unacceptable from such a high quality company like Apple... I fixed it by removing my entire backup...

Did you try Repair Disk?

You'll likely get better help on the Apple forums. There's a Time Machine forum in both the Leopard and Snow Leopard sections. And there are two User Tips at the top of each with many answers and fixes.