Resolved Time Machine Problem in Snow Leopard

[Morod]

Hi all,

I think my Time Machine is corrupted, and I may have to reinstall it in Snow Leopard 10.6.8. I have a late 2007 24” Al iMac.
From time to time, when TM goes to do a backup, I get this error message:

Checking my Time Machine Buddy widget, it shows two errors in the log:

Starting standard backup
Backing up to: /Volumes/G-DRIVE/Backups.backupdb
Error: (22) setxattr for key:com.apple.backupd.ModelID path:/Volumes/G-DRIVE/Backups.backupdb/~ iMac size:7
Error: (-50) Creating directory 2013-09-14-045001.inProgress
Failed to make snapshot container.
Error: (22) setxattr for key:com.apple.backupd.ModelID path:/Volumes/G-DRIVE/Backups.backupdb/~ iMac size:7
Backup failed with error: 2

When this happens, all future backups encounter the same problem unless I force eject the external drive, power it down, then turn it back on to mount it. The external drive is a G-Tech. Both the external drive and connecting fw800 cable are new.
Any ideas on what could be causing my TM problem? If I have to reinstall TM, I do have the SL disc. I’m not too sure how to install only TM from it.
Any help is greatly appreciated!

 

[Morod]

Just for comparison, here's what a Time Machine Buddy log entry looks like after a successful TM backup:

Starting standard backup
Backing up to: /Volumes/G-DRIVE/Backups.backupdb
No pre-backup thinning needed: 935.8 MB requested (including padding), 1.72 TB available
Copied 24332 files (183.8 MB) from volume Macintosh HD 2.
No pre-backup thinning needed: 715.2 MB requested (including padding), 1.72 TB available
Copied 314 files (2 KB) from volume Macintosh HD 2.
Starting post-backup thinning
Deleted backup /Volumes/G-DRIVE/Backups.backupdb/~ iMac/2013-09-14-085034: 1.72 TB now available
Post-back up thinning complete: 1 expired backups removed
Backup completed successfully.

 

[Morod]

Time Machine Backing Up Again!

This problem really had me going around in circles. It turns out the problem is my firewire 800 and 400 connections on the back of the iMac.
I have both TM and Super Duper on my external drive. TM had always been the one the error occurred with. Then Super Duper had the problem. I emailed the SD log info to Dave Nanian of Shirt Pocket software, creator of Super Duper. He emailed back right away that it wasn't a SD or TM problem, that I should try the USB connector. As firewire 800 and 400 didn't work, I thought it was worth a shot. Connected via USB and voila! Everything is happy now, including me.
So hats off to Dave at Shirt Pocket for not only making a great product but giving customer support way above and beyond what was expected. Thanks, Dave!