Couldn't find en0 - time machine backup

[Ngarritj]

I'm getting this message in Console every time I do a backup: -

10/12/13 10:55:44 AM com.apple.backupd[671] Starting standard backup
10/12/13 10:55:44 AM com.apple.backupd[671] Couldn't find en0.
10/12/13 10:55:44 AM com.apple.backupd[671] Couldn't find en0.
10/12/13 10:55:44 AM com.apple.backupd[671] Backing up to: /Volumes/time machine primary/Backups.backupdb
10/12/13 10:55:44 AM com.apple.backupd[671] Couldn't find en0.
10/12/13 10:57:37 AM com.apple.backupd[671] No pre-backup thinning needed: 25.09 GB requested (including padding), 45.91 GB available

Some recent backups have been unusual - either consistently big (many GB) or very slow - or both!

Does anyone have any advice about what these messages indicate and if there are any remedies?

Any advice appreciated!

 

[Bruno09]

Hi,

you should let us know more technical infos about your setup.

En0 generally refers to the Ethernet interface : looks like Time Machine is looking for its drive through an Ethernet connexion but does not find it.

 

[Ngarritj]

tech details

I'm running 10.6.8 on a Macbook Pro 7,1.

I'm backing up via USB to external hard drives (two separate disks at home and another I use during my frequent travel away from home).

If the En0 is something to do with my ethernet connection that could make sense - I have had technical advice that there are some irregularities with the ethernet port, but it doesn't generally seem to affect its performance (not that I use it much), so perhaps it's something to do with that.

In which case, I'm assuming it isn't relevant to the TM backups.