joe boley

I have an iMac running OSX 10.5.4 with a Time Capsule serving as back-up and network router. Since I installed the Time capsule, I have got error messages once or twice weekly stating: "Unable to complete backup. An error occurred while creating backup directory" Thanks to sinclair tm, I can restore the Time Capsule to service by erasing i, etc., but I often have no complete backup or only the current one. I would like to know how to keep the Time Capsule functioning correctly.

I recently received a Time Machine update from apple. Since then, when I click on the Time Machine Icon, I get the error message: "You need to restart your computer..." The computer will shut down when I hold the Power button, but won't restart until I first shut off power to the computer, then restore it.

I need help with this, or these problems.

sinclair_tm

Now, are you shutting down the computer via the Shutdown command in the Apple menu? That is the best way to do it, thus making sure that the update is installed properly. Unlike past versions of the OS, with 10.5 it will only install the updates after logging you out and right before a shutdown. And another thing to try is after the updates have installed is to make sure that you have repaired permissions on the startup disk. Also, how large is your hard drive on your Mac, and how large is the Time Capsule?

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joe boley

Thanks, sinclair tm. Normally I only shut down my computer when the updates instruct me to do so. When I do shut it down, I use the command buttons. When I get the error message that tells me to hold the power button, the computer is locked, and will not respond to keys or mouse.

I finally got the Time capsule running by shutting everything down, and then restarting and erasing, and renaming the back-up. I don't know if the cure will last, because it has not in the past. Within one week I usually get an error message from the Time Machine telling me that a back-up has failed due to an error that occurred while creating the back-up directory.

Both the hard drive in the iMac and in the Time Capsule are 500 gigabytes. I have only 34.5 gigabytes stored in the computer.

joe boley

Tanks, again sinclair tm. The need to repair permissions may have been my problem. I had never repaired permissions before. The repair process took a long time and resulted in a very long report of problems corrected. Since then the Time Machine has continued to back-up my hard drive with no additional problems. I'll have to wait about one week to be sure that all is well with my system, but will report the result then.

joe boley

sinclair_tm

With that many permissions repaired, it's always a good idea to run it again, to make sure it didn't miss anything, and to keep running it until it doesn't repair any permissions. With what you are doing, repairing permissions may be a good thing to do at least every other week to make sure that you don't have anymore backup issues. As Time Machine was trying to back things up, it was getting told that it wasn't allowed to copy or look at something, and thus was failing. Hope you get more than a week out of it now. Let us know.

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joe boley

Many thanks, sinclair tm. The time machine is still working properly. I ran "permission Repairs" 3 more times, as you suggested. On the first run four problems were noted. On the second and third there was one problem that apparently was not corrected: "Group differs on 'private/etc/cups', should be 0 is 26." I assume that the disk utility can't fix that one.

You have, once again, restored my confidence in my Mac. I only hope it keeps on working for a whole week.

joe boley

sinclair_tm

CUPS is the unix printing system. You weren't printing, or had any printer software open at the time, did you? If that is the only item, then I wouldn't worry about it. You could always boot from the OS X install disk and run Disk Utility from it to see if it'll fix that last permission if it bugs you.

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joe boley

sinclair tm: After about three days I again got the Time Machine Error "Unable to complete backup. An error occurred while creating the backup directory." Ithen ran "Permissions Repair" again and corrected three errors, as follows:
1. Permissions differ on "Library/Applications Support/Apple/Parental Controls/ALRHelper Jobs" should be drwxrw-xr-x, they are drwxr-xr-x
2. Permissions differ on "Library/.... Parental Controls/Content Filtering" they should be .......
3. Permissions differ on "Library..../Parental Controls" they should be.....
Ran permissions repair again and found no errors.
After repair I got the same error message at the next scheduled backup. I repeated the permissions repair and had exactly the same corrections again, and the Time Machine still wont backup.

Do I need to run permissions repair on the Time Capsule too?

sinclair_tm

No, as it shouldn't have any. Permissions deal with the boot drive only, and if you select get info on the time capsule when it is mounted on your computer, at the bottom of the window there should be a little triangle next to sharing & permissions. Click on it so it points down and it should say you can read and write. If not, then there is something wrong. I'm beginning to think there is something wrong with the time capsule it self, as the permissions that were fixed have nothing to do with the backup, and the error message is saying that the error is in the backup destination. Is there an Apple store close to you that you can take it in for them to test?

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joe boley

Thanks sinclair tm. There is a new apple store about 20 miles away in Baton Rouge. I'll take the Time Capsule the ASAP.

By the way, after I posted my last entry, I shut down the computer Time Capsule (router), and cable modem, the restarted them. After that the Time Machine comleted another backup. Big mystery?

sinclair_tm

Okay, I'm back with some info, and maybe some will help you. First, make sure that your Mac's hard drive name, the backup disk's name, and the computer's name (Found in the sharing system preference pane) only have letters, numbers, spaces, and underscores in them. Nothing else! Also, the backup drive does need to be formatted as Mac, not Fat32 or NTFS (which I'm sure it isn't as it's an Apple drive). Also, of you have any files on the Mac with a slash in the name, forward or backward, replace them, same for any colons. Make sure that in the Time Machine preferences that you have not excluded the Mac's drive, and make sure that the backup disk is excluded. Also turn Spotlight off on the backup drive. And if none of that helps, then you can read this to see if there is any other ideas (I read about a quarter of it. Looks like many are having problems).

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joe boley

Wow! I read your link, and it looks like nearly everyone is having this problem. Since many of those people are using backup drives other than Time Capsule, it would appear that the problem is in Time Machine and not Time Capsule.

Is the disk formatting different for an iMac and other Macs? The instructions that came with my Time Capsule did not discuss the question.

Some of the respondents in the link you sent have discarded some files, and claim tho have fixed their problem. I'm afraid to do that because it my cause damage that I cannot repair.

Several people complained that Time Machine runs too slowly. I thought that Apple did that to keel the backup from using too much computing power. My Norton anti-virus program runs the same way.

sinclair_tm

Your Time Capsule should be formatted correctly for the Mac. I would check the names of your Mac, and the hard drives, as that seemed to fix most of the problems people were having.

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joe boley

sinclair tm:
I think my Time Machine problem may be solved! It has been functioning correctly now for three days. Aside from correcting all the permissions problems, following are the steps that I think led to the problem and it's solution:
When I first set up the Time Capsule I thought I wanted to use it to backup the Windows machines on my home network, so I selected "Shared" in the setup process. Consequently the name I gave the backup showed up in the Shared section on the left side of the "finder" page. The last time I erased and reformatted the Time Capsule I also gave it a new name, but did not select "Shared" because I've changed my mind about the Windows machines. Consequently, the new name for the Time Capsule showed up under "Devices" in the finder categories. Both names for the Time Capsule are still present and both were mounted, according to the symbol to the right of their names in the finder list. The problem persisted until I dismounted the old version of the Time Capsule. Since then I've had no problems (yet.)

Can I safely remove the old version, and how can I do it?

sinclair_tm

Please refresh me, the old version of what? I'd hate to be thinking of the wrong thing, and give you wrong directions.

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joe boley

Sorry for not making it clear. I was referring to the original name I gave to the Time Capsule as the old name. When i select it from the finder list a single folder appears in the list. When I click on that folder I am told that the file is temporarily unavailable. I believe this old name for the Time Capsule may be an empty shell.

sinclair_tm

It should go away when you click the eject button next to it in the finder sidebar.

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