Time Machine problem, Unfound answer

[lpobsession2005]

This is going to be a lengthy discription of a TM issue I have that nobody else seems to have. And if they do, I can't find it. So bear with me while i explain my problem.

Okay. That being said, about a week ago I bought a Western Digital 2TB external hard drive with the intention of backing up my Macbook pro. I'm running OS 10.5.8. When i originally got the drive I hadn't realized that Time machine will inevitably eat up the whole disk, and I didnt want that because I wanted to use my 2TB for other things. The solution I found was to partition the drive. So I currently have two drives, one is a 1.33TB for random files (So far just movies) and a 500GB partition dedicated for Time Machine backups.

Time Machine is not working correctly. It backs up my hard drive correctly the first time, all 50 Gigs or so. It says "Next Backup: Today, 9:55 AM". So far it has been skipping the next scheduled backup. When 9:56 comes around it pushes the time to the next hour. No error message, nothing. When I originally started using the program I changed the file in the LaunchDaemons folder to make the updates every three hours instead of every hour, and that messed up my whole computer because I forgot to reset the permissions and it wouldn't start up correctly. Just stayed on that gray apple screen with the spinning gear. Before this I THINK TM was working correctly but I'm not sure because when I noticed the problem I reformatted the drive and didn't look to see when the back ups stopped.

I fixed the permissions with the OS install DVD and changed the file back to the original time to update, and my computer is running okay, but Time Machine keeps pushing itself back. At first i figured maybe there wasn't any changes made to any files in my computer, so i downloaded a movie and kept it on my desktop. Still, Time Machine Pushed Back the backup time an hour. I don't know what the deal is and I'm really dissappointed.

Things I've tried:

-Reformatting the disk in both GUID and MBR formatting.

-The disks are formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled)

Again, I'm not sure if messing with that file and changing the time screwed anything up, and I'm not sure how I would go about reinstalling Time Machine if that is the problem.

HELP!

 

[MacDawg]

Personally, I would reinstall Leopard completely at this point since you have tinkered with the system

If you want to schedule your TM backups there are several apps that will do that for you

Here are two:

TimeMachineEditor

Time Machine Scheduler

Woof, Woof - Dawg

 

[lpobsession2005]

Personally, I would reinstall Leopard completely at this point since you have tinkered with the system

If you want to schedule your TM backups there are several apps that will do that for you

Here are two:

TimeMachineEditor

Time Machine Scheduler

Woof, Woof - Dawg

OH DAMN i forgot I already downloaded a program like that, called Time Machine Scheduler. Forgot all about that. I opened it and it's scheduleded to update every hour. Here's a screenshot

Maybe the fact that they are both set at one hour is creating some kind of a conflict. I'm going to delete the scheduler and let you know.

 

[MacDawg]

I would guess that is where your conflict is

Woof, Woof - Dawg

 

[lpobsession2005]

Nope nothing. I'm going to try and download that scheduler you suggested and see if that works. Thanks

 

[lpobsession2005]

OH HOT DAMN! nevermind it updated itself at the top of the hour istead of when it was scheduled. Thanks man hahahaha I guess my conflict was in that scheduler. NICE I'm psyched

 

[lpobsession2005]

It's an hour later and Time Machine pushed back it's update again. I wonder, if TM doesn't detect any changes, does it skip the backup?

 

[mstrze]

It's an hour later and Time Machine pushed back it's update again. I wonder, if TM doesn't detect any changes, does it skip the backup?

What would it back up if there was no change?

The hourly backups ONLY write the changes, not a complete backup of the entire drive. If it did, each hourly backup would take several hours (like your initial one did).

 

[lpobsession2005]

What would it backup if there was no change?

The hourly backups ONLY write the changes, not a complete backup oif the entire drive. If it did, each hourly backup would take several hours (like your initial one did).

I know that, but say I run TM for a few days straight, and I "enter the time machine" I'd be expecting to see 24 entries for the last day, And i'm not seeing that. TM is skipping its own backups and i dont know why. I can only Manualy click update now

 

[mstrze]

I know that, but say I run TM for a few days straight, and I "enter the time machine" I'd be expecting to see 24 entries for the last day, And i'm not seeing that. TM is skipping its own backups and i dont know why. I can only Manualy click update now

But I don't believe there would or should be 24 updates each and every day. in fact, unless you are up and running all the time as a server or some such web-shenanigans, I doubt many days would give you more than 8 or 10 backups.

I mean, why would an update run overnight...for example...if you are not even using the computer?

 

[lpobsession2005]

i dont know, that was the question. But regardless Even when i do download something TM isnt updating.

 

[mstrze]

And I'd also like to add that you are leaving 1.33GB of material that will not be backed-up.

My suggestion is that your TM drive should be strictly a TM drive.

Maybe a recent download was to a folder you have excluded from backups?

I would also suggest, if you haven't already, get rid of all the other schedulers and just let TM do it's job. Every hour is fine...I wouldn't see a reason why every 3 hours is more preferrable unless you constantly downloads TONS of stuff and it's slowing down the system. Hourly updates of, in most cases MUCH less than a GB are nothing and are being performed in the background.

I think you are overthinking the setup and are assuming it's going to cause more problems that it will. Just let it work. It's an Apple product, in 99.99% of cases, Apple products just work right out of the box without fiddling.

 

[lpobsession2005]

And I'd also like to add that you are leaving 1.33GB of material that will not be backed-up.

My suggestion is that your TM drive should be strictly a TM drive.

Maybe a recent download was to a folder you have excluded from backups?

I would also suggest, if you haven't already, get rid of all the other schedulers and just let TM do it's job. Every hour is fine...I wouldn't see a reason why every 3 hours is more preferrable unless you constantly downloads TONS of stuff and it's slowing down the system. Hourly updates of, in most cases MUCH less than a GB are nothing and are being performed in the background.

I think you are overthinking the setup and are assuming it's going to cause more problems that it will. Just let it work. It's an Apple product, in 99.99% of cases, Apple products just work right out of the box without fiddling.

I got rid of all the schedulers, and everything. I tried reformatting my drive so that it was just one, so that it is "stock" TM with no add ons updating to a 2TB drive that isnt partitioned. still no dice, adn the only thing i have excluded is the backup drive itself

 

[mstrze]

I got rid of all the schedulers, and everything. I tried reformatting my drive so that it was just one, so that it is "stock" TM with no add ons updating to a 2TB drive that isnt partitioned. still no dice, adn the only thing i have excluded is the backup drive itself

And you recently (within the last hour) made a change, like saving a file to the desktop and it still hasn't run?

And you are back on every 1-hr?

You said it ran earlier, but you just are missing a more recent update?

(Again, it won't run each and evry hour...only when a change is made within the previous hour).

 

[lpobsession2005]

And you recently (within the last hour) made a change, like saving a file to the desktop and it still hasn't run?

And you are back on every 1-hr?

You said it ran earlier, but you just are missing a more recent update?

(Again, it won't run each and evry hour...only when a change is made within the previous hour).

yeah, I'm back on 1 hr, and i saved a movie to my desktop. it passed right by the time it was supposed to update and changed it for an hour later.

 

[MacDawg]

Ok, have you restarted your computer?

And I still suggest you just reinstall the system
Otherwise you are likely to spin your wheels for a long time

Woof, Woof - Dawg

 

[mstrze]

yeah, I'm back on 1 hr, and i saved a movie to my desktop. it passed right by the time it was supposed to update and changed it for an hour later.

Out of curiosity, could it have saved it already without you realizing...like you movie on the desktop was saved immediately before a recent update that caught you off guard?

Go look inside your Time Machine and see if that movie file is in your desktop folder. Maybe it's already been saved.

Also, you said you reset everything to factory settings and the like? When did you do this? If it was anytime within the last several hours I would think the TM might still be performing the original backup. The first one is always the longest since it copies everything.

 

[lpobsession2005]

no i went into my time machine and looked. I put it on the desktop and waited for the time that it was supposed to update (10:55). when 10:55 rolled around it just changed to 11:55. no update made. In your TM when you go in, are there pages for every hour?

 

[mstrze]

no i went into my time machine and looked. I put it on the desktop and waited for the time that it was supposed to update (10:55). when 10:55 rolled around it just changed to 11:55. no update made. In your TM when you go in, are there pages for every hour?

No, just for the hours that it made an update.

 

[lpobsession2005]

well something in my time machine is broken. guess i gotta call Doc Brown and get some plutonium or something. I'm gonna try downloading another scheduler and see if that works

 

[mstrze]

Why don't you give it 24 hours before you start tinkering again?

I don't understand the micro-managing and impatience.

MacDawg is correct, you are just going to continue to spin you wheels with this. You seem to be obsessing over something that may not even be an issue.

 

[lpobsession2005]

Why don't you give it 24 hours before you start tinkering again?

I don't understand the micro-managing and impatience.

MacDawg is correct, you are just going to continue to spin you wheels with this. You seem to be obsessing over something that may not even be an issue.

It is an issue. I tried setting everything back to the way it was, and it didnt update at all for three days.

 

[mstrze]

It is an issue. I tried setting everything back to the way it was, and it didnt update at all for three days.

Then how come you said "nevermind it updated itself at the top of the hour istead of when it was scheduled." just a couple of hours ago if it hasn't worked for 3 days?

 

[lpobsession2005]

It wasnt updating for three days, then i remembered about that scheduler that was attached to it because of what MacDawg said and deleted it. It updated one time but that was three hours ago. A little after that one update i downloaded a movie and put it on my desktop to test TM. that was around quarter after ten. It still hasn't updated and keeps pushing the date back so that must not have been the problem.

 

[lpobsession2005]

Also, I'd like to thank you three for helping me out, I could be wrong but it feels like you guys are getting fed up with this thread and are kind of attacking me. I just have a problem that seems to have no answer. I installed Time Machine Editor and it just updated itself just fine, so I guess that will due. I'd prefer to have Time Machine work right by itself but this should be fine. Thanks for the suggestion MacDog