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Is my Time Machine drive dying?

wrldwzrd89

wrldwzrd89

macrumors G5
Original poster
Jun 6, 2003
12,110
77
Solon, OH
My external drive, which I use for Time Machine backups, has stopped responding 4 times in the past 2 weeks. Each time it stops responding, it also prevents the computer from shutting down normally, until I disconnect it forcefully (i.e. removing power from the drive). After rebooting the Mac and reconnecting the drive, it works again... at least for a while. The drive's a My Book, with FW 800 connectivity, and is 1TB in size.
 
Are you able to run Disk Utility and have it verify/attempt repair on the file structure of the external drive?
 
Take a look in your Console application and specifically the system.log file. Does anything there possibly indicate what is causing these lockups? Take note of the timestamp on each line.
 
I'm taking a guess here but if the hard drive tested as okay then it could be that your drive's casing hardware is starting to die. If you have mechanical skills then you can try buying a new hard drive enclosure and transfer your hard drive over to it and see if that solves your problem. If not then either try and get your external HD serviced or think about getting a new one soon.
 
JediMeister said:
Take a look in your Console application and specifically the system.log file. Does anything there possibly indicate what is causing these lockups? Take note of the timestamp on each line.
Click to expand...
Found some telling messages from today's system.log file.

Code: 
Dec 31 11:47:16 ERICIMAC com.apple.backupd[2937]: Starting standard backup
Dec 31 11:47:16 ERICIMAC com.apple.backupd[2937]: Backing up to: /Volumes/TMBackup/Backups.backupdb
Dec 31 11:47:25 ERICIMAC com.apple.backupd[2937]: No pre-backup thinning needed: 1.49 GB requested (including padding), 532.92 GB available
Dec 31 14:30:55 ERICIMAC com.apple.backupd[2937]: Copied 13 KB of 9.9 MB, 155 of 155 items
Dec 31 14:30:55 ERICIMAC com.apple.backupd[2937]: Stopping backupd to allow ejection of backup destination disk!
Dec 31 14:30:55 ERICIMAC kernel[0]: 
Dec 31 14:30:55: --- last message repeated 5 times ---
Dec 31 14:30:55 ERICIMAC fseventsd[36]: gzflush(/Volumes/TMBackup/.fseventsd/00000000002ffbdf) returned -1
Dec 31 14:30:55 ERICIMAC fseventsd[36]: disk logger: gzclose() failed (-1/22) removing all old log files in /Volumes/TMBackup/.fseventsd
Dec 31 14:30:55 ERICIMAC fseventsd[36]: failed to unlink old log file /Volumes/TMBackup/.fseventsd/000000000026f24f (Device not configured)
Dec 31 14:30:55 ERICIMAC fseventsd[36]: failed to unlink old log file /Volumes/TMBackup/.fseventsd/0000000000274977 (Device not configured)
Dec 31 14:30:55 ERICIMAC fseventsd[36]: failed to unlink old log file /Volumes/TMBackup/.fseventsd/00000000002810c6 (Device not configured)
Dec 31 14:30:55: --- last message repeated 1 time ---
Dec 31 14:30:55 ERICIMAC kernel[0]: 
Dec 31 14:30:55: --- last message repeated 6 times ---
Dec 31 14:30:55 ERICIMAC fseventsd[36]: failed to unlink old log file /Volumes/TMBackup/.fseventsd/00000000002917da (Device not configured)
Dec 31 14:30:55 ERICIMAC kernel[0]: 
Dec 31 14:30:55 ERICIMAC fseventsd[36]: failed to unlink old log file /Volumes/TMBackup/.fseventsd/00000000002917da (Device not configured)
Dec 31 14:30:55 ERICIMAC fseventsd[36]: failed to unlink old log file /Volumes/TMBackup/.fseventsd/000000000029a111 (Device not configured)
Dec 31 14:30:55: --- last message repeated 1 time ---
Dec 31 14:30:55 ERICIMAC fseventsd[36]: failed to unlink old log file /Volumes/TMBackup/.fseventsd/000000000029f492 (Device not configured)
Dec 31 14:30:55: --- last message repeated 1 time ---
Dec 31 14:30:55 ERICIMAC fseventsd[36]: failed to unlink old log file /Volumes/TMBackup/.fseventsd/00000000002b1806 (Device not configured)
Dec 31 14:30:55: --- last message repeated 1 time ---
Dec 31 14:30:55 ERICIMAC fseventsd[36]: failed to unlink old log file /Volumes/TMBackup/.fseventsd/00000000002b97dd (Device not configured)
Dec 31 14:30:55: --- last message repeated 1 time ---
Dec 31 14:30:55 ERICIMAC fseventsd[36]: failed to unlink old log file /Volumes/TMBackup/.fseventsd/00000000002c89c7 (Device not configured)
Dec 31 14:30:55: --- last message repeated 1 time ---
Dec 31 14:30:55 ERICIMAC fseventsd[36]: failed to unlink old log file /Volumes/TMBackup/.fseventsd/00000000002d534e (Device not configured)
Dec 31 14:30:55: --- last message repeated 1 time ---
Dec 31 14:30:55 ERICIMAC fseventsd[36]: failed to unlink old log file /Volumes/TMBackup/.fseventsd/00000000002e8094 (Device not configured)
Dec 31 14:30:55: --- last message repeated 1 time ---
Dec 31 14:30:55 ERICIMAC fseventsd[36]: failed to unlink old log file /Volumes/TMBackup/.fseventsd/00000000002ffbdf (Device not configured)
Dec 31 14:30:55: --- last message repeated 1 time ---
Dec 31 14:30:55 ERICIMAC fseventsd[36]: failed to create the uuid file /Volumes/TMBackup/.fseventsd/fseventsd-uuid
Dec 31 14:30:55 ERICIMAC kernel[0]: 
Dec 31 14:30:55: --- last message repeated 20 times ---

Also, yeah, I'm named Eric. :eek:
 
It happened again, this time the log files captured more detail...

Code: 
1/2/10 6:34:12 AM	com.apple.backupd[5155]	Starting standard backup
1/2/10 6:34:12 AM	com.apple.backupd[5155]	Backing up to: /Volumes/TMBackup/Backups.backupdb
1/2/10 6:34:22 AM	com.apple.backupd[5155]	No pre-backup thinning needed: 1.49 GB requested (including padding), 532.24 GB available
1/2/10 6:35:22 AM	com.apple.launchd.peruser.501[164]	([0x0-0x376376].com.apple.systemevents[5153]) Exited: Killed
1/2/10 6:35:22 AM	com.apple.launchd.peruser.501[164]	([0x0-0xf00f].com.apple.ImageCaptureExtension2[208]) Exited: Killed
1/2/10 6:35:22 AM	/System/Library/Image Capture/Devices/PTPCamera.app/Contents/MacOS/PTPCamera[205]	ERROR: Image Capture Extension went away!
1/2/10 6:35:22 AM	loginwindow[32]	DEAD_PROCESS: 32 console
1/2/10 6:35:23 AM	kernel	systemShutdown true
1/2/10 6:35:23 AM	kernel	systemShutdown true
1/2/10 6:35:47 AM	kernel	disk1s2: device/channel is not attached.
1/2/10 6:35:47 AM	kernel	
1/2/10 6:35:47 AM	kernel	
1/2/10 6:35:47 AM	kernel	.apple.system.fs] [ErrType IO] [ErrNo 6] [IOType Write] [PBlkNum 481657616] [LBlkNum 481657616] [FSLogMsgID 1032259473] [FSLogMsgOrder First] 
1/2/10 6:35:47 AM	com.apple.backupd[5155]	Stopping backupd to allow ejection of backup destination disk!
1/2/10 6:35:47 AM	kernel	
1/2/10 6:35:47 AM	kernel	] [FSLogMsgOrder Last] 
1/2/10 6:35:47 AM	kernel	disk1s2: media is not present.
1/2/10 6:35:47 AM	kernel	
1/2/10 6:35:47 AM	kernel	
1/2/10 6:35:47 AM	kernel	jnl: disk1s2: do_jnl_io: strategy err 0x6
1/2/10 6:35:47 AM	kernel	jnl: disk1s2: write_journal_header: error writing the journal header!
1/2/10 6:35:47 AM	kernel	disk1s2: media is not present.
1/2/10 6:35:47 AM	kernel	
1/2/10 6:35:47 AM	kernel	
1/2/10 6:35:47 AM	kernel	jnl: disk1s2: do_jnl_io: strategy err 0x6
1/2/10 6:35:47 AM	kernel	jnl: disk1s2: end_transaction: only wrote 0 of 45568 bytes to the journal!
1/2/10 6:35:47 AM	kernel	disk1s2: media is not present.
1/2/10 6:35:47 AM	kernel	
1/2/10 6:35:47 AM	kernel	
1/2/10 6:35:47 AM	kernel	disk1s2: media is not present.
1/2/10 6:35:47 AM	kernel	
1/2/10 6:35:47 AM	kernel	
1/2/10 6:35:47 AM	kernel	disk1s2: media is not present.
1/2/10 6:35:47 AM	kernel	
1/2/10 6:35:47 AM	kernel	
1/2/10 6:35:47 AM	shutdown[5161]	halt by wrldwzrd89: 
1/2/10 6:35:47 AM	kernel	disk1s2: media is not present.
1/2/10 6:35:47 AM	kernel	
1/2/10 6:35:47 AM	kernel	
1/2/10 6:35:47 AM	kernel	disk1s2: media is not present.
1/2/10 6:35:47 AM	kernel	
1/2/10 6:35:47 AM	kernel	
1/2/10 6:35:47 AM	shutdown[5161]	SHUTDOWN_TIME: 1262432147 710042
1/2/10 6:35:47 AM	fseventsd[36]	disk logger: failed to open output file /Volumes/TMBackup/.fseventsd/000000000041d98a (No such file or directory). mount point /Volumes/TMBackup/.fseventsd
1/2/10 6:35:47 AM	Parallels[5165]	Stopping Parallels Dispatcher Service
1/2/10 6:35:47 AM	com.apple.backupd[5155]	Error writing to backup log.  NSFileHandleOperationException:*** -[NSConcreteFileHandle writeData:]: Input/output error
1/2/10 6:35:47 AM	com.apple.backupd[5155]	Error writing to backup log.  NSFileHandleOperationException:*** -[NSConcreteFileHandle writeData:]: Input/output error
1/2/10 6:35:47 AM	com.apple.backupd[5155]	Error writing to backup log.  NSFileHandleOperationException:*** -[NSConcreteFileHandle writeData:]: Input/output error
1/2/10 6:35:47 AM	com.apple.backupd[5155]	Copied 64 files (11 bytes) from volume Snow.
1/2/10 6:35:47 AM	com.apple.backupd[5155]	Error writing to backup log.  NSFileHandleOperationException:*** -[NSConcreteFileHandle writeData:]: Input/output error
1/2/10 6:35:47 AM	com.apple.backupd[5155]	Error writing to backup log.  NSFileHandleOperationException:*** -[NSConcreteFileHandle writeData:]: Input/output error
1/2/10 6:35:47 AM	com.apple.backupd[5155]	Error writing to backup log.  NSFileHandleOperationException:*** -[NSConcreteFileHandle writeData:]: Input/output error
1/2/10 6:35:47 AM	com.apple.backupd[5155]	Error writing to backup log.  NSFileHandleOperationException:*** -[NSConcreteFileHandle writeData:]: Input/output error
1/2/10 6:35:47 AM	kernel	jnl: disk1s2: close: journal 0x7e7de04, is invalid.  aborting outstanding transactions
1/2/10 6:35:47 AM	kernel	Kext loading now disabled.
1/2/10 6:35:47 AM	kernel	Kext unloading now disabled.
1/2/10 6:35:47 AM	kernel	Kext autounloading now disabled.
1/2/10 6:35:47 AM	kernel	Kernel requests now disabled.
1/2/10 6:35:48 AM	com.apple.backupd[5155]	Backup canceled.
1/2/10 6:35:48 AM	Parallels[5176]	Stopping Parallels networking
1/2/10 6:35:48 AM	prl_naptd[131]	Exiting Parallels Network Daemon
1/2/10 6:35:50 AM	Parallels[5200]	Unloading kernel extension  prl_netbridge.kext
1/2/10 6:35:50 AM	kernel	com.parallels.kext.prlnet 5.0.9308.543312 is unloading.
1/2/10 6:35:50 AM	kernel	Kext unloading is disabled (com.parallels.kext.prl_netbridge).
1/2/10 6:35:52 AM	kernel	Kext unloading is disabled (com.parallels.kext.prl_netbridge).
1/2/10 6:35:53 AM	Parallels[5225]	Failed to unload kernel extension  prl_netbridge.kext
1/2/10 6:35:53 AM	Parallels[5230]	Unloading kernel extension  prl_vnic.kext
1/2/10 6:35:53 AM	kernel	Kext unloading is disabled (com.parallels.kext.prl_netbridge).
1/2/10 6:35:53 AM	kernel	com.parallels.kext.vnic 5.0.9308.543312 is unloading.
1/2/10 6:35:53 AM	kernel	com_parallels_kext_prl_vnic_bus: wait for detach for 0
1/2/10 6:35:53 AM	kernel	com_parallels_kext_prl_vnic_bus::detach_handler for 0
1/2/10 6:35:53 AM	kernel	com_parallels_kext_prl_vnic_bus: detached 0
1/2/10 6:35:53 AM	kernel	com_parallels_kext_prl_vnic: destroyed vnic0
1/2/10 6:35:53 AM	kernel	com_parallels_kext_prl_vnic_bus: wait for detach for 1
1/2/10 6:35:53 AM	kernel	com_parallels_kext_prl_vnic_bus::detach_handler for 1
1/2/10 6:35:53 AM	kernel	com_parallels_kext_prl_vnic_bus: detached 1
1/2/10 6:35:53 AM	kernel	com_parallels_kext_prl_vnic: destroyed vnic1
1/2/10 6:35:53 AM	kernel	Kext unloading is disabled (com.parallels.kext.prl_vnic).
1/2/10 6:35:54 AM	kernel	Kext unloading is disabled (com.parallels.kext.prl_vnic).
1/2/10 6:35:55 AM	Parallels[5256]	Failed to unload kernel extension  prl_vnic.kext
1/2/10 6:35:55 AM	com.apple.SecurityServer[27]	Session 0x24540f dead
1/2/10 6:35:55 AM	mDNSResponder[31]	mDNSResponder mDNSResponder-214 (Oct 16 2009 06:09:30) stopping
1/2/10 6:35:55 AM	com.apple.SecurityServer[27]	Killing auth hosts
1/2/10 6:35:55 AM	com.apple.SecurityServer[27]	Session 0x24540f destroyed
1/2/10 6:35:55 AM	WindowServer[102]	hidd died. Reestablishing connection.
 
Maybe those log files have some critical information that's more helpful, but I have a 500GB MyBook drive that I used to have connected via Firewire (800, I think) and I encountered the same problem you've been having. Ultimately, it required a total powering down and disconnection of the drive from the computer and a reboot to re-recognize. Don't know if it caused problems with shutdown, although I did occasionally run into hiccups.

Did a little searching and saw a few people had problems with these drives "disappearing." I've since reconnected via USB and haven't encountered any problems yet. It hasn't been a super-long time... maybe a month, but it's lasted longer without problems than it had been while on Firewire recently.
 
If I'm interpreting the messages correctly, do you have Parallels software installed? Time Machine is known to have issues backing up the disk image Parallels uses, you may want to add that folder/file to the exclusion list in the Time Machine preferences...
 
Well, I've got bad news for you all. The drive has officially died now. :( I'd go replace it, but the weather's terrible, and it's not safe to drive right now.

EDIT: The drive's been replaced with a 2TB G-Tech G Drive. I've had good luck with these in the past.
 
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