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Why I Don’t Rely on Time Machine

joeontech.net

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Re: Why I Don’t Rely on Time Machine

#41

Post by keithpeter »

facepalm wrote: post #31
keithpeter wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did the backup drive perhaps become unplugged or fail to unmount cleanly? I've managed to do that to an external hard drive under Linux and had the drive labelled as read-only subsequently. Just wondering aloud...

There is a mounting problem with OS sometimes, too. I don't remember all the occasions, but I am very careful with ejecting the disk (at the moment OS X forces me to shutdown to "eject"). Still, I'd understand if the last backup would be broken that way, but why the whole disk? A backup shouldn't be that brittle.

Sounds very similar to what happens if you unplug a mounted USB hard drive from a running Linux without 'ejecting' it first.

My understanding is that the kernel labels the device (recognised through its UUID) as 'read only' thereafter. And it is the whole device (i.e. /dev/sdb or whatever) that is labelled.

Your symptoms just struck me as very similar. I can't offer any way forward alas.

Re: Why I Don’t Rely on Time Machine

#42

Post by wiredfool »

ioquatix wrote: post #14
wiredfool wrote: post #10

I'm convinced that time machine over a network is a bad idea. Seems convenient, but if there's network flakiness, TM will decide that the backup is bad and force you to create a new one. And the first step in that process is to delete the existing backup. I had that happen once, when the drive I was backing up was in the process of failing. It got about 5gb into the new backup before it was totally dead. Even a somew…

Deleting the old backup is no longer the first step AFAIK. Yes, I have seen that behaviour in the past. Now, it gets renamed and then deleted once the next backup is completed successfully.

It still is on Mavericks, which is where my laptop is for now. (I'll check Yosemite, as my wife's laptop got the same message.)

I had flakey network stuff happen last night (which only seems to happen with one of my APs), and it flipped into needing to creating a new backup. The old backup is gone, the new one has gotten to about 7%, got interrupted, and now claims that it's in use.

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