Time Machine Error

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NetDude

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Hi guys,

I need your help. I am running Lion on iMac 2011. I recently bought a Verbatim HDD for backup purposes. I formatted the drive and managed to setup time machine. Before getting into what is wrong with my machine/HDD, I am
curious to find out how many of you are actually using the encryption functionality? I am using it simply because it is
available and an extra measure of security would not hurt, right?

Time machines works well for the most part but here's what's bothering me: Whenever my machine would go to
"sleep" and time machine tries to backup during this time, an error message to the effect, "time machine could not create a backup folder", shows up. I am assuming that this is related to the "energy setting" of the iMac? That would strange because the energy settings for "put the hard disk to sleep when possible" is set to "unchecked".

This led me to think that it might be the "energy settings" of the ext. HDD? The HDD's box has a "energy saving software" label on it. But, I didn't install any software which came with the HDD. I am just using it as a backup space for time machine. Could this be the cause?

Whenever I'd restart the machine after getting the error message it would not be able to load Lion. The machine just gets stuck at the "white screen". The machine is only able to restart after switching the ext. HDD power off.

Thanks for your inputs.
 
You have a time machine?!?! Jirre dude, can I quickly go and buy some lottery tickets?

PS Probably not the input you were hoping for...sorry.
 
Sounds like it could well be the drive sleeping. I've got a bunch of Seagate drives in energy saving enclosures that always need to be woken up before I can access them. Not sure what to suggest though, perhaps the manufacturer has a means of disabling it - I know Seagate did with one of the various models I have.
 
NetDude said:
Hi guys,

I need your help. I am running Lion on iMac 2011. I recently bought a Verbatim HDD for backup purposes. I formatted the drive and managed to setup time machine. Before getting into what is wrong with my machine/HDD, I am
curious to find out how many of you are actually using the encryption functionality? I am using it simply because it is
available and an extra measure of security would not hurt, right?

Time machines works well for the most part but here's what's bothering me: Whenever my machine would go to
"sleep" and time machine tries to backup during this time, an error message to the effect, "time machine could not create a backup folder", shows up. I am assuming that this is related to the "energy setting" of the iMac? That would strange because the energy settings for "put the hard disk to sleep when possible" is set to "unchecked".

This led me to think that it might be the "energy settings" of the ext. HDD? The HDD's box has a "energy saving software" label on it. But, I didn't install any software which came with the HDD. I am just using it as a backup space for time machine. Could this be the cause?

Whenever I'd restart the machine after getting the error message it would not be able to load Lion. The machine just gets stuck at the "white screen". The machine is only able to restart after switching the ext. HDD power off.

Thanks for your inputs.
Click to expand...

The encryption setting is definitely worthwhile in terms of securing your data in case the external HDD is stolen etc.

I suspect it would be the energy saving feature as well but probably on the Mac itself and not the drive, but perhaps check with the manafacturer. I suspect the issue is with the secondary backup disk not mounting correctly again after the Mac "wakes up" again. Is the drive accessible if you try open it from finder?

The booting issue is more than likely an issue in the boot order that the bootloader is seeing the drives as. It is probably picking the secondary drive up as the primary boot device and vice versa. It is probably seeing the secondary device as bootable because of the encrypted file system. You can change this under system preferences, check http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=668001
 
Yes, I have something similar with my Verbatim TM drive. When the iMac is woken up after a long time I get the messsage that the drive was not ejected properly. It does not automount on the desktop and I have to switch it on and off to make it reappear. It can be serious: when I did a disk check with Disk Utility the other day, the TM drive was chock full of errors, not what you like to see on a backup drive.

I think it is a Verbatim problem. Never saw anything like it on the drive from another brand I used to use for TM. In the meantime, just handle it manually. Switch it off at night and on again when you start up your mac again.
 
NetDude said:
Thanks... But, only Macintosh HD is displayed at Sys Preferences > Startup Disk.
So, I may have to switch off the ext. HDD every time I restart? Anyone got any ideas?
Click to expand...
What is the format of your HDD, and is there any chance you made this a boot drive at some point? For example loaded a bootable copy of Lion on it, then manually removed the folders?

In any case I suggest a clean reformat of the drive using disk utilities to be very completely sure that this is not the issue -- I'd also suggest breaking the partition and recreating it as well, before the format.

Btw activating encryption is only justifiable if you have something to hide I.e. you work for the FBI or for example are concerned that the documents on your computer could land in you jail. Activating encryption without that type of need is only making your computing experience slower -- I've never seen the need to do this.
 
[)roi(];7285929 said:
Btw activating encryption is only justifiable if you have something to hide I.e. you work for the FBI or for example are concerned that the documents on your computer could land in you jail. Activating encryption without that type of need is only making your computing experience slower -- I've never seen the need to do this.
Click to expand...

+1
 
[)roi(];7285929 said:
Btw activating encryption is only justifiable if you have something to hide I.e. you work for the FBI or for example are concerned that the documents on your computer could land in you jail. Activating encryption without that type of need is only making your computing experience slower -- I've never seen the need to do this.
Click to expand...
Rubbish. If I look at the info I've got stored on my laptop there's plenty of stuff an enterprising criminal could use for nefarious purposes.

Perhaps you're unaware of it but there's this thing called identity theft - I'll leave you with this wiki link if you havent. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Identity_theft :)

These days encryption is as necessary as owning a shredder.
 
bwana said:
Rubbish. If I look at the info I've got stored on my laptop there's plenty of stuff an enterprising criminal could use for nefarious purposes.

Perhaps you're unaware of it but there's this thing called identity theft - I'll leave you with this wiki link if you havent. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Identity_theft :)

These days encryption is as necessary as owning a shredder.
Click to expand...
The choice to use encryption or not is a personal one and thankfully so -- but just like some people overdo their household security to the point where their homes resemble personal prisons, so do others go overboard with computer security.

The threat of having your email account hacked is far greater than your personal computer, you don't have to look far to find people that found their personal details exposed after their gmail, hotmail, ... accounts were hacked.

Tools like prey and hidden are IMO more valuable re theft than the perceived benefit of disk encryption.
 
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[)roi(];7288513 said:
The choice to use encryption or not is a personal one and thankfully so -- but just like some people overdo their household security to the point where their homes resemble personal prisons, so do others go overboard with computer security.

The threat of having your email account hacked is far greater than your personal computer, you don't have to look far to find people that found their personal details exposed after their gmail, hotmail, ... accounts were hacked.

Tools like prey and hidden are IMO more valuable re theft than the perceived benefit of disk encryption.
Click to expand...
How is encrypting your hard drive overkill? It's not just to protect you against hackers but also from yourself. A 2008 survey of US airports showed that 12000+ laptops were left behind by travellers - thats 624000 a year in the US alone. ;)

When Anandtech reviewed FV2 they said the performance hit was "noticeable but not big enough to outweigh the benefits of full disk encryption". So why not do it, particularly if you're a portable user? One simple command from find my Mac, the key is erased (from the recovery partition if anyone is wondering) and your data is safe.
 
bwana said:
How is encrypting your hard drive overkill? It's not just to protect you against hackers but also from yourself. A 2008 survey of US airports showed that 12000+ laptops were left behind by travellers - thats 624000 a year in the US alone. ;)

When Anandtech reviewed FV2 they said the performance hit was "noticeable but not big enough to outweigh the benefits of full disk encryption". So why not do it, particularly if you're a portable user? One simple command from find my Mac, the key is erased (from the recovery partition if anyone is wondering) and your data is safe.
Click to expand...
Ok let me try to cover this from my point of view:

If you install disk encryption:
The person that steals your device will have no choice but to format the drive to use it. Firmware passwords can be applied, but for maintenance reasons these can be bypassed pretty easily. Either way you are forcing them to format.

The alternative mechanism to full disk encryption is to encourage use (i.e the honey pot principle)
You install a solution like prey, hidden, undercover, ...

The success of these solutions rely on the thief's ability to use the device without wanting to format it.

Basically to protect your account and any sensitive data you create a "honey pot" account with no password, so that they can use the device, because it's during this use that you might be lucky to identify their location, take some portrait shots, and possibly identify their email account details, ...

With the undercover product, you can simulate screen failure in the hope that they take it in for repairs.

If you still have the need for encryption, then you would rather selectively choose which folders you want to encrypt + also restrict these to only your account.

Of course in either case applying a firmware password is still recommended as it makes it more difficult for the non techie to format the drive or boot up with anything but the primary disk.
 
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[)roi(];7290845 said:
Ok let me try to cover this from my point of view:

If you install disk encryption:
Click to expand...
And your data is safe.
[)roi(];7290845 said:
The alternative mechanism to full disk encryption is to encourage use (i.e the honey pot principle)
You install a solution like prey, hidden, undercover, ...
Click to expand...
A great solution, but also something you can do with filevault and find my mac. TBH though what are the chances the SAPS are going to make finding my mac a priority? It's one of the many reasons I have insurance. I can lodge a claim, restore my data and be back on track in less time. As long as I know my data is backed up and safe from prying eyes I'm happy.

I'm not sure if it's urban legend or not but the story goes NY Taxi drivers who find a phone in their cabs get an extra $100 when they hand a phone over to a syndicate if they've immediately pulled the battery. Why? Because the data is worth more than the phone.
 
bwana said:
And your data is safe.

A great solution, but also something you can do with filevault and find my mac. TBH though what are the chances the SAPS are going to make finding my mac a priority? It's one of the many reasons I have insurance. I can lodge a claim, restore my data and be back on track in less time. As long as I know my data is backed up and safe from prying eyes I'm happy.

I'm not sure if it's urban legend or not but the story goes NY Taxi drivers who find a phone in their cabs get an extra $100 when they hand a phone over to a syndicate if they've immediately pulled the battery. Why? Because the data is worth more than the phone.
Click to expand...
As I said thankfully its a choice... at least for everyone else we have covered the options.
 
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[)roi(];7290967 said:
As I said thankfully its a choice... at least for everyone else we have covered the options.
Click to expand...
Funny thing is I went to activate it the other day and I had no recovery partition so it wouldn't work. Took a while to restore it but now I've got find my mac back and I'm going to encrypt the drive overnight. :)
 
bwana said:
Funny thing is I went to activate it the other day and I had no recovery partition so it wouldn't work. Took a while to restore it but now I've got find my mac back and I'm going to encrypt the drive overnight. :)
Click to expand...
Strange, if you had Lion -- one would have expected it to be there by default.
 
[)roi(];7311571 said:
Strange, if you had Lion -- one would have expected it to be there by default.
Click to expand...
I did so many superduper cloning sessions when I got the new mbp a few weeks ago I must have vaporised it at some stage. :o
 
bwana said:
I did so many superduper cloning sessions when I got the new mbp a few weeks ago I must have vaporised it at some stage. :o
Click to expand...
Lol, careful you might inadvertently make the Mac experience sound complicated... :D
 
[)roi(];7316405 said:
Lol, careful you might make the Mac experience sound complicated... :D
Click to expand...
No, I made it unnecessarily complicated all by myself. I had a drive that I thought had failed, which turned out to be 100% and when I went to clone the drive from a new MBP drive onto it I forgot that Superduper doesn't copy the recovery partition across.
 
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