Time Machine Fail- Backup needs please.

[EricaV]

There's several questions here.
I have a 2012 or so MBP with 1TB and 8 g memory running OSX 10.9.5
I've been using Time machine to back up to a 2TB external WD drive that has suddenly become irreparable. Also I password encrypted it a few months ago- no problems until a few days ago. I tried to repair the disk and it the system says it cannot be repaired or verified. Also- my password is not "unlocking" it. This seems fishy to me because there's no way I'm putting the wrong password in.

Here's the suggestion from the system

"OS X can’t repair the disk “Time Mch2TB.”
You can still open or copy files on the disk, but you can’t save changes to files on the disk. Back up the disk and reformat it as soon as you can."

I would like to back up this disk that has about 900g of data (old TM backups) so here's problem number 2. I have a Time capsule that has basically been serving as a nice 'objet d'art' in my dining room as it has never been consistently accessible- I am not being given any opportunity to re-enter the password. It would be nice to back up my old TM data to it, however my system cannot connect to it and when I try to "connect as" I get this:

"There was a problem connecting to the server “S&L AirPort Time Capsule”.
Check the server name or IP address, and then try again. If you continue to have problems, contact your system administrator."

So responses on any of these questions would be appreciated:

1. Is there anyway to get access to this attractive looking Time capsule so it can be useful ? How do I get around the dead end when I try to connect to it ? (it would be nice to use this as a time machine right ? but connection to it has always been spotty)
2. Should I give up on Time machine and use something like carbon copy cloner ?
3. Do you just use an external driver for CCC and set it up as you do for Time machine ?
4. I have a new 4 gig WD drive. It's been a while since I set up time machine. If I set up part of it for a new time machine, How do I partition and reformat it for a mac (i.e. what format do I choose- FAT etc. ? ). ?

5. If I do copy the failed TM data- what's the best way to go about it ? I seem to be able to read and copy it. Should I try to burn it to another external drive ?

6. I use dropbox for data backup as well, but I cannot use it for some protected data that needs HIPAA encryption which brings me back to Time machine. Are there any alternatives that work just as good ?

Any/all help appreciated.

 

[wrldwzrd89]

Hello! I successfully rescued a similarly messed up Mac disk with Alsoft's DiskWarrior. That would be the way I'd go about recovering data. As for the 4 TB (I'm assuming, rather than 4 GB) drive: Disk Utility will automatically suggest a sensible default. All you have to do is decide how many partitions to create and what their sizes should be; the user interface makes this easy too. Do keep in mind that: If you're exchanging files with Windows systems, any Windows partition MUST be the first one on the disk, and it must be either MS-DOS (FAT) or ExFAT format. The Time Machine partition must be formatted as OS X Extended, and it can be anywhere in the partition map. For TM to work properly the partition map needs to be GUID Partition Table (GPT). Time Machine is definitely your best bet given your data sensitivity.

As far as setting up CCC goes, generally speaking it's pretty straightforward: Tell CCC which disk to copy to, set a schedule if you want, and let it do its thing. CCC will take care of formatting and setting things the right way. CCC is great for disaster recovery, as it creates a bootable clone of your system. However, I don't recommend it as a TM replacement; instead I'd augment TM with it. Finally, regarding the malfunctioning Time Capsule, you can try a direct connection via Ethernet, but if that doesn't work I'm not sure what to suggest.

 

[EricaV]

Hello! I successfully rescued a similarly messed up Mac disk with Alsoft's DiskWarrior. That would be the way I'd go about recovering data. As for the 4 TB (I'm assuming, rather than 4 GB) drive: Disk Utility will automatically suggest a sensible default. All you have to do is decide how many partitions to create and what their sizes should be; the user interface makes this easy too. Do keep in mind that: If you're exchanging files with Windows systems, any Windows partition MUST be the first one on the disk, and it must be either MS-DOS (FAT) or ExFAT format. The Time Machine partition must be formatted as OS X Extended, and it can be anywhere in the partition map. For TM to work properly the partition map needs to be GUID Partition Table (GPT). Time Machine is definitely your best bet given your data sensitivity.

As far as setting up CCC goes, generally speaking it's pretty straightforward: Tell CCC which disk to copy to, set a schedule if you want, and let it do its thing. CCC will take care of formatting and setting things the right way. CCC is great for disaster recovery, as it creates a bootable clone of your system. However, I don't recommend it as a TM replacement; instead I'd augment TM with it. Finally, regarding the malfunctioning Time Capsule, you can try a direct connection via Ethernet, but if that doesn't work I'm not sure what to suggest.

Thanks for this helpful reply. I'm in the middle of a CCC backup right now so I'll give it a trial for 30 days. I did choose Max OS extended (journaled) for the format- this is correct ? Also- I have formatted other external drives FAT so they can be used with windows if need be (this one will only back up macs). What I'm wondering is if there's any downside to formatting a large drive like this MS-DOS (FAT) versus the proper mac format.

Thanks again- I'll probably roll the dice and set up Time machine on the other half of this drive for now. This may be a stupid question, but ultimately if I use both CCC and TM I should put them on separate external drives no ? I'm also going to supplement this with dropbox data back up and look for a HIPAA compliant cloud storage/backup service.

thanks so much !
E

 

[wrldwzrd89]

Yes, put them on separate disks if you use CCC and TM together. Mac OS Extended (Journaled) is indeed the correct one.

The biggest downside with FAT is that it can't even handle partitions larger than 2TB, nor can it cope with files bigger than 4GB. ExFAT removes both of these limits, but the downside is that Windows XP doesn't support it without an update, and Vista needs SP2 to support it. Windows 7 and later are A-OK.

 

[EricaV]

thanks for the windows help- I still run XP on a very old macbook.

1. I've been using CCC- so far so good. Can anyone tell me why sometimes it copies up to 100 gig of data changes and other times only 300 mb ? I'm not moving that much data onto or off of my hard drive- in fact lately there's probably only 10 mb of data changing or moving around but maybe I'm overlooking some noodling I'm doing with the organization of my folders ?

2. I am going to back up or copy the time machine data copy off of my irreparable disk. The system says I can read and open these files and can back it up, just can't write new files to it. What's the best way to back up or copy a 999 gig time machine file ?

3. Once I reformat the drive I'll run CCC on one drive and time machine on another one now. Does anyone think that password encrypting my time machine caused this problem ? I realize that time machine might simply be unstable in this way but I find it weird that suddenly my password is not recognized. As I said earlier, there's no way I'm entering the wrong password.

4. Also - any feedback on encrypting CCC, which I really "should" do. I may have an unreasonable scare about whether encryption is causing complications.

Thanks in advance for any help you can give me !

 

[wrldwzrd89]

thanks for the windows help- I still run XP on a very old macbook.

1. I've been using CCC- so far so good. Can anyone tell me why sometimes it copies up to 100 gig of data changes and other times only 300 mb ? I'm not moving that much data onto or off of my hard drive- in fact lately there's probably only 10 mb of data changing or moving around but maybe I'm overlooking some noodling I'm doing with the organization of my folders ?

2. I am going to back up or copy the time machine data copy off of my irreparable disk. The system says I can read and open these files and can back it up, just can't write new files to it. What's the best way to back up or copy a 999 gig time machine file ?

3. Once I reformat the drive I'll run CCC on one drive and time machine on another one now. Does anyone think that password encrypting my time machine caused this problem ? I realize that time machine might simply be unstable in this way but I find it weird that suddenly my password is not recognized. As I said earlier, there's no way I'm entering the wrong password.

4. Also - any feedback on encrypting CCC, which I really "should" do. I may have an unreasonable scare about whether encryption is causing complications.

Thanks in advance for any help you can give me !

1. CCC will update anything that changed on the disk when it clones, including Library files and system files not normally visible.
2. Plug in a Mac formatted disk and drag & drop the files and folders.
3. Nope, far more likely to be a hardware issue.
4. I haven't used CCC lately so I don't know if it supports encrypted disks. It should work just fine with a disk encrypted with Disk Utility, but its erase process to set up a new disk may not enable encryption unless you tell it to.

 

[EricaV]

1. CCC will update anything that changed on the disk when it clones, including Library files and system files not normally visible.
2. Plug in a Mac formatted disk and drag & drop the files and folders.
3. Nope, far more likely to be a hardware issue.
4. I haven't used CCC lately so I don't know if it supports encrypted disks. It should work just fine with a disk encrypted with Disk Utility, but its erase process to set up a new disk may not enable encryption unless you tell it to.

1. CCC will update anything that changed on the disk when it clones, including Library files and system files not normally visible.
2. Plug in a Mac formatted disk and drag & drop the files and folders.
3. Nope, far more likely to be a hardware issue.
4. I haven't used CCC lately so I don't know if it supports encrypted disks. It should work just fine with a disk encrypted with Disk Utility, but its erase process to set up a new disk may not enable encryption unless you tell it to.

THanks so much for the quick and efficient reply !

[doublepost=1462478449][/doublepost]One more thing- does anyone know whether I will have to start with a completely new CCC backup if I change the name of my destination drive. It's pretty clear that I can re-designate the drive properly in the program, but I won't bother if it means copying the whole source drive again. Would it find and update the same backup files ?

Adding yet another question to this for anyone who has an opinion. I can't figure out if I should create a recovery HD partition on my backup destination driver. I never intended to use the back up drive for this purpose but is there some reason I should consider it ?