Time Machine Issue

[bhop123]

I haven't backed up in 10 days (so Time Machine told me), so I connected my back up drive and let TM have at it. But several minutes later, I got a warning message saying that the drive could not be located. I opened preferences, checked out TM and it said the back up was delayed...b/c it couldn't locate drive. Unplugged, re connected, same response. TM said the next back up was in about 15 minutes so I waited to see if it would automatically back up, but again still same response. Repointed TM to that drive as the back up drive...but nothing new. I even opened the drive through finder and thankfully, all my back up files are there.

Seems odd, but I wonder if it was b/c I haven't backed up in 10 days? Don't know why but that seems to be the only link.

BTW, I am using a Maxtor One Touch II, 200GB which is only half full. Never had this happen before. Any ideas what might be causing this? Or better, what I might do to fix it? Thanks.

 

[aross99]

Does the Time Machine drive show up on your desktop when you connect the drive?

 

[bhop123]

Yes. I even checked the back up folder on the drive to see when the last backup was and it has today's date listed but says 'in progress' after it, though there is no activity indicating that it is 'in progress'.

 

[aross99]

Have you installed the 10.5.2 software update? There are some Time machine fixes in that release.

When you connect your drive, what happens if you click "Backup Now" from the Time Machine Menu?

If you open the TIme Machine preferences while this is running, you should be able to see Time Machine so through the steps to make your backup.

It should start with "Preparing...", and this can take a while, depending on what you are doing, and how much you have to backup. After a while, you should see it start making the backup with a progress bar that says "X MB of Y MB".

That should go for a while, and then you should see the progress bar go away, and then it will list the next backup time. Make sure you don't disconnect your drive or shutdown your computer until this finishes...