Why do I constantly get error messages in Time Machine?

[ardesigns]

Hi. I have a MacBook with Leopard and I am trying to back up my internal HDD to a 500gb external HDD using Time Machine. I have tried this one a few separate occasions, each ending the same way: tons of error messages. It starts at around 15gb of data backed up, then I get an error message. I click OK, then I get another in about 1 minute. This continues. I have never successfully backed up my internal HDD using Time Machine because I am never sure if, if I get error messages, the final back up that would be on my external HDD would be complete or not.

Can anyone tell me if these error messages are anything to worry about?

Thanks,
ARDesigns

 

[BobZune]

May be you are using an MBR partition table instead of GUID (most new drives come with MBR since that's what msWin uses).

I'd starting over with GUID partitioning. See
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=5879743� for an easy guide.

If you still get errors, post the last few error messages.

 

[TheKnifeFight]

^ what he said.

reformat that external to the proper Mac specific setup

 

[ardesigns]

Hi. I tried what you suggested but 3/4 of the way through I got an error message that just said "Unable to complete backup. An error occurred......." I then clicked OK and it closed the backup window instead of continuing as usual.

Anyone know what's wrong?

Thanks,
ARDesigns

 

[BobZune]

Try deleting the ".inProgress" file as described at
http://www.macyourself.com/2008/10/14/handy-guide-for-time-machine-tricks-and-troubleshooting-tips/

If that doesn't work, open Console (Applications, Utilities) and search for "backupd" (without quotes) and find the relevant error messages and post the last 10 here.

[Also make sure you computer name and time machine name don't have any punctuation marks - simple one word name preferred. Computer can be renamed in the Sharing preference panel, and TM disk named when you partition/format it.]