Problem with MBP and TimeMachine

[Patriks7]

I have run into some very strange problems with TimeMachine lately. I've had this MBP from February and have had no problems backing up until two or three days ago. I just plug the HDD in and it just claims it is backing up, while it stays like that and doesn't do anything (see attached picture). I tried changing the settings, but nothing seems to help. Any suggestions what I could do?

 

[tcphoto]

The first thing that I noticed was the small amount of space that is available on the drive. I try to delete older backups and keep the drive lean.

 

[Patriks7]

The first thing that I noticed was the small amount of space that is available on the drive. I try to delete older backups and keep the drive lean.

Oh yeah, that just reminded me that I imported about 1000 pictures last weekend when I was on vacation. Gotta go delete something then, thanks

 

[iLog.Genius]

That space left shouldn't be a problem. IIRC Time Machine will delete the oldest backup if it needs more memory. You can try to delete some stuff but I doubt it will help.

 

[Patriks7]

That space left shouldn't be a problem. IIRC Time Machine will delete the oldest backup if it needs more memory. You can try to delete some stuff but I doubt it will help.

Yeah I just found out that it was useless. I deleted almost 80 GB and it still refuses to back my things up. Now I have no idea what to do, since I can't reformat the HDD right now because I have some stuff on there which I have nowhere to move

 

[iLog.Genius]

Yeah I just found out that it was useless. I deleted almost 80 GB and it still refuses to back my things up. Now I have no idea what to do, since I can't reformat the HDD right now because I have some stuff on there which I have nowhere to move

You can try to repair permissions but I doubt that will work too. Seems to be something wrong with the bundle on the HDD. Looks like you will need to reformat and start a new backup.

This is one of the things that seriously needs to be fixed for Time Machine. Concept is great but the way it's executed is poor. The backup process it uses is so sensitive that even the smallest change to the computer can throw off teh backup and even fail to do so.

 

[Patriks7]

You can try to repair permissions but I doubt that will work too. Seems to be something wrong with the bundle on the HDD. Looks like you will need to reformat and start a new backup.

This is one of the things that seriously needs to be fixed for Time Machine. Concept is great but the way it's executed is poor. The backup process it uses is so sensitive that even the smallest change to the computer can throw off teh backup and even fail to do so.

Just tried the repair thing and got this message:
The volume My Book appears to be OK.
I guess I'll try to back it up again and if it won't work, I'll have to reformat it or get a new HDD

 

[iLog.Genius]

Sorry there isn't a fix. One can only hope to do basic troubleshooting like run disk utility and hope that it works. I wouldn't worry about your HDD going, it's not a hardware issue, it's software. After a reformat, it should be able to begin a new backup.

 

[cfitz7111]

Sounds like the HDD is dying. The bad thing about backups is that the mechanics of HDD's eventually go bad. Thats why you should back up locally, burn things to DVD, photos, etc. that cant be replaced, and given to a family member out of the area for safe keeping, safe deposit box, and then backed up to something like carbonet.

 

[Patriks7]

Sorry there isn't a fix. One can only hope to do basic troubleshooting like run disk utility and hope that it works. I wouldn't worry about your HDD going, it's not a hardware issue, it's software. After a reformat, it should be able to begin a new backup.

OK thanks for the suggestions. I'll try to find a place to put the other stuff I have on there first and then reformat it.