Upgrade Stopped Time Machine
There has been an update to this post (Upgrade Stopped Time Machine Pt 2 – Fixed!) so please make sure you click here to see the fix…
As most of you Mac users know, Apple released Leopard 10.5.3 yesterday. I was a bit hesitant to immediately upgrade because I had read a while back that this upgrade might stop Time Machine backing up wirelessly to a USB HD connected to an Airport Extreme Base Station (aka screw the thousands of us who don’t want to shell out $500 for a Time Capsule).
So I did what I thought was smart. I waited a while, began reading comments from Engadget and TUAW and I even posted a comment asking if the upgrade kills the Time Machine wireless backups. A few said “No.”
I upgraded.
Low and behold, after six hours of major frustration, I no longer can use my Time Machine to backup wirelessly via my hard drive that’s connected to my AEBS. This sucks. And I also lost 4 months of backups because I was advised by a forum reader to delete my sparse file because it must be corrupt, which then would allow Time Machine to work again. Nope, it didn’t.
So this is the first time, in 6 months (I switched to a Mac in January), that I can honestly say I’m pretty pissed off at Apple. I already have an 802.11n wireless router so I have NO NEED for Time Capsule. It’s just ridiculous.
For those who are experiencing the same problem, I’m getting the following error:
So, are any of you getting this error? If any of you CAN use Time Machine wirelessly via a USB Hard drive, please leave a comment and let me know!!!
Tags: 10.5.3, Airport Extreme Base Station, Apple, Time Machine, Upgrade
May 29th, 2008 at 8:57 am
[...] “Traumatic” experience because of an update, but I have heard others. Take for example Jeff McCord’s latest experience. I feel bad for him because he is a new Apple user and I don’t want this [...]
May 29th, 2008 at 8:25 am
Can any of you give me any advice? What other wireless backup systems/software/ideas are good for the Mac?
May 29th, 2008 at 8:56 am
Hey Jeff, I am not sure if you use Trackbacks at all. I did my own post and tried to do a Trackback to yours, but I do not see my comment here. My post about why I don't automatically do the latest updates from Apple. http://www.johncongdon.com/2008/05/mac-osx-why-i-...
May 29th, 2008 at 9:10 am
I am not sure that downgrading is even possible. Like I said, I have never had a "traumatic" experience because of an update. I am sure they will patch it soon. I would not reinstall the 10.5.2 dmg unless you get good advice to do so. I can't imaging the problems that could cause.
May 29th, 2008 at 9:12 am
deleting the sparseimage was a bad idea. timemachine backups to non-local drives are achieved by mounting the sparseimage and backing up the data into that. I would have tried mounting the sparseimage to see if it really was corrupt.
May 29th, 2008 at 9:52 am
I am having the same problem but with Time Capsule itself. So it's not just non-Apple products which are having the problem.
May 29th, 2008 at 11:12 am
Our 2 macs are backing up to our Drobo, that hangs off of our AEBS, post 10.5.3. The first TM backups after 10.5.2 did take a bit, but my thought is that many files were changed. It is still working fine 16+ hours later.
May 29th, 2008 at 11:26 am
TYPO – The first TM backups after 10.5.3 did take a bit, but my thought is that many files were changed.
May 30th, 2008 at 10:10 am
[...] heard reports of the new update borking people’s wireless Time Machine backups, and even totally crashing their machine, but I haven’t heard of iCal breaking yet. I know [...]
June 1st, 2008 at 10:10 am
Time Machine over Airport was never officially supported. It's not fair for you to get your knickers in a knot over something that Apple never intended for you to do. Just because it happened to work before doesn't mean they have screwed you when it doesn't any longer.
June 1st, 2008 at 10:22 am
Shelby, This is what it's absolutely important to know your facts before trying to slam anyone… you need some education, with all due respect. Apple absolutely INTENDED to use Time Machine via wireless backups to Airport right before 10.5 launched. One week before launch, Apple took it out of the materials/updates/etc and NO ONE knew why until a few insiders caught wind that Time Capsule was eventually going to come out. That's been the rub with a lot of people. It was absolutely intended and absolutely supported until the very last minute and our rub is we're not going to spend $500 on Time Capsule when this is just as effective and it was originally intended.
June 2nd, 2008 at 7:13 am
Apple created serious confusion with last minute changes to Time Machine. In my opinion, though, wireless backups will be problematic for a while yet. They're great when they work but, as you've discovered the hard way, a real pain in the ass when they don't. You're far from the only one to be bitten by this bug. As a relatively new Mac user it's not surprising you were unprepared for this problem. By the way, another good source for troubleshooting warnings and advice is MacFixIt – http://www.macfixit.com. Among the things you will find there is a strategy for downgrading your OS, an issue that arrises quite often, unfortunately, for a variety of reasons. Their recommended approach is to do an archive and install from the original OS X instal DVD and then upgrade using the combo updater to the OS version just before the one that gave you trouble. This is an effective but time consuming method that preserves both your data, your installed applications and most of your settings and preferences. In the future, I suggest you use an external FireWire or USB 2 hard drive connected directly to your Mac to create a mirrored backup of your entire system using SuperDuper! or Carbon Copy Cloner. Then, if an update goes haywire, you can boot immediately from the backup (something you cannot do with a Time Machine backup) and get right back to work. You can set SuperDuper! to do scheduled, incremental backups as frequently as you deem necessary. There are differences between Time Machine and SuperDuper! (or Carbon Copy Cloner) backups. They each have advantages and, in fact, I use both. The main plus for Time Machine is that it keeps versions of your data so that, in effect, nothing is ever erased. SuperDuper! incremental backups retain only what is on your drive at the time of the most recent backup. Having two different backups may appear excessive, but since they can both be set to run automatically in the background, once you've set them up you can forget them – until you need one or the other or both. Hard drive prices are low enough now that cost is no excuse for not having a reliable backup strategy. And the two backup methods I've described here are sufficiently easy to implement that complexity is no longer an issue either. The only remaining barrier is people not taking the issue seriously. Clearly Apple over promised with Time Machine. It's great when it works, but instances of failure are sufficiently numerous that no one should rely on Time Machine alone. It is new technology and, like all new technologies, it still has problems to be ironed out.
June 21st, 2008 at 4:22 pm
Sad that my Mac and so many others wont “just work”. Meanwhile Microsoft has wireless back-up all figured out and it “just works” great on my Vista PCs. I, like many others, bought a La Cie gigabit ethernet drive in preparation for Leopard. This was only after checking the Apple website and finding out that La Cie was not only recomended but sold by Apple. It almost makes me wish that I had not “just switched” to Mac. If they can’t make it work with my first $2,000. I am not going to throw good money after bad and flush another $500.
June 22nd, 2008 at 11:00 am
@patrick – Patrick I absolutely feel your frustration, but I also know that Apple makes superb products. OS X has been the most stable OS I have ever worked with and I grew up on XP and now use Vista at work.
Trust, Mac is still the best thing.