Time Machine backups

[Miller-Village]

So is there a way to get to this time machine particion from windows, if so, how?  And is it possible to delete this particiaon?  I'm asking because I no longer have the desire to use time machine to back up my iMac, it's easier for me anyway to just back up the important stuff manually.  And to the other posters, I have never done it wirelessly, but my time machine bakup connected via eathernet cable, for 500 GB only took 3 hours.  But someone please tell me how to delete this time machine backup particion, either from windows or the mac.  It's taking up space that I need.  Thanks.

[philharve]

UPDATE

I have obtained the Alfa long range USB wireless adapter and the transmission is now peaking at over 8MBps which is far faster than my inbuilt Airport adapter. I can also detect many more wireless signals in my vicinity. This result confirms what I previously suspected that a good wi-fi signal is essential for fast backups.

However, what I have to yet to understand and overcome is why is Time Manager backing up over 650GB - and continuing to backup - when I only have 420GB to backup to begin with???

I have used TM hundreds of times without problem over USB and Firewire 'cabled' links but this is the first time I have tried backing up wirelessly over a LAN.

I will next try backing up with a cabled link to my router thereby eliminating the wireless component. Will TM then begin to report backup progress correctly? If it does, I will begin to suspect TM has a problem with wireless operation. This outcome would seem to suggest an OS X problem. I am currently running Snow Leopard (10.6.8).

I have no proof that the NAS or the WD Dashboard are malfunctioning, however, the WD Dashboard is continuing to report that I have backed up over 650GB of data and I am wondering if my single 'initial' TM backup will fill the entire 3TB!

Is TM 'really' backing up my data or is it performing a verification pass or some other task? I wish I could 'see' which files TM is backing up as they happen.

I have also tried backing up using Carbon Copy Cloner wirelessly with Airport and it seems to work but it predicts it will take over 6 days to perform the task. But will it 'overrun' its backup too? I have several backup utilities that can cope with network backups and I will try each in turn to see which works best. I will check them against wireless and cabled operation.

Frankly, I am becoming suspicious of TM's ability to cope with wireless backups. I no longer trust what it is reporting in terms of progress or backups completed.

[philharve]

UPDATE

With a cabled Ethernet connection - NO WIRELESS  - the backing up peaked at 23Mbps, however, the backing up problems with TM persist. I am also getting a 'Network Link Down' warning whenever I launch the WD Dashboard. This warning occurs whether I use a cable link to the router or a wireless link to the router. I have rechecked all physical connections which are A1.

It seems that my backing up problems persist whether I use wireless or cable but using the latter I achieve nearly 3x the performance compared with my high quality wireless link.

I am getting a flashing green light - once per second, approximately - on the front of the WD MBLD.

My search for the problems continue. 

[philharve]

UPDATE

I have now tried a CAT6 Ethernet cable in place of my wireless link and I've even tried using a high power, high sensitivity wi-fi adapter in place of my Airport card and the backing up problem still persists. I have 430GB to back up with Time Machine (TM) and the data backed up so far according to both TM and the WD Dasboard is now 802GB ... and it is still backing up!!!  If I let it continue will the backup fill the whole of the 3TB available? A neverending backup ... an information blackhole. I would dearly love to know what data is being backed up. WD Support has asked me to let the backing up continue and report back if there are any changes. Both TM and the WD Dashboard agree on the amount of data being backed up.

I am also getting the 'Network link down ...' warning window every time I launch the WD Dashboard which I didn't think I got when I had the default RAID 0 configuration. If there was an intermittent link I feel I would have detected it by now.

I have reset, shutdown and restarted the NAS and monitored the front and rear indicators and they behave exactly as expected, i.e., completely normal. I have also checked all the physical connections and they are all OK too.

Because I previously substituted my wireless connection with a cable and the problem remained, I have concluded that wireless isn't the cause of my problem.

I have worked my way through every WD Dashboard function and can find no issues. Everything appears to work OK.

I am toying with the idea of reverting to RAID 0 and rerunning all my tests.

I am also keeping an eye open for a software conflict but so far haven't found one.

I have not ruled out the possibility of a firmware bug in the NAS..

I can copy files between my MacBook Pro and the network share I created and all is OK. It is merely the backup function which appears not to work.

I am keeping my fingers crossed that i will spot a clue very soon. 

[philharve]

UPDATE

I have tried using a CAT6 cable in place of wireless to connect my MacBook Pro to my router and this offers the best backing up performance of all, around 23MB/s. I have also tried a high power, high sensitivity Alfa wireless adapter in place of my inbuilt Airport adapter and achieved a peak of 8MB/s. Both these figures give a respectable rather than a brilliant performance.

But what I have not achieved during my trialling is my initial Time Manager backup which has now reached a colossal 938GB when all I have to backup is 421GB.

I temporarily stopped backing up to my NAS in favour of connecting a conventional USB HDD and attempted backing up to it using TM. It successfully completed the task in just 35 minutes. TM performed faultlessly.

There is a pattern beginning to form and that is that all my TM backing up problems began with the introduction of the NAS to my LAN. I have no idea how well TM backs up over a network but it has no trouble with a HDD directly connected to my laptop.

I have sent several reports to WD Support but have yet to receive a solution to my dilemma. I sense they are scratching their heads. Today I was invited to join the WD product test team. I will let you know my decision next time. 

[philharve]

UPDATE

The backup has now exceeded 1TB despite having only 421GB to backup. I have dicovered that the WD Dashboard upon reaching 1TB records the NAS storage to the nearest 0.1TB (100GB) which I feel is much too coarse.

I have also discovered evidence of a TM-NAS communication problem. I did this by launching the OS X Console application and listed 'All Messages'. I then applied the filter 'backupd' which is the process associated with Time Manager. Looking down through the list of filtered messages there is clear evidence of a TM-NAS comms problem.

I am beginning to think there is a bug in the NAS firmware because I have since successfully backed up all 421GB to a USB HDD connected directly to my MacBook Pro thus eliminating the network component. As usual, the backup was both faultless and fast.

I have fedback a report to WD Support and included a text file containing the filtered messages. Their technicians hould be able to decode these messages and locate the problem.

I have rejected WD's offer to join their 'WDBeta' product test team.

[philharve]

UPDATE

WD Support has recommended I initiate a 'FULL FACTORY RESTORE' which deletes everything on the NAS which then reboots. This process can take several hours.

In their words, a 'FULL FACTORY RESTORE' will prove whether the problem is with the NAS and/or its firmware OR the backup software. I reminded them that Time Manager has never failed me.

Rebooting is currently underway.

[philharve]

UPDATE

The FULL FACTORY RESTORE took approximately 3 hours but the subsequent reboot of the NAS was incomplete after 13 hours. This has got to be too long for a reboot! I aborted Safari thus closing the WD Dashboard window, which users are warned not to do until the restore+reboot is complete, and restarted the WD Dashboard which now reports that 45% of the Restore is complete. I no longer believe what the WD Dashboard is reporting.

I am rapidly loosing confidence that I will resolve this problem anytime soon. Things seem to be getting worse, not better.

[philharve]

UPDATE

I have figured out the significance of the 45%. See previous posting. The FULL FACTORY RESTORE is still proceeding but at an incredibly slow rate. Since posting my previous update the count has advanced to 48%. The count is incrementing by 1% approximately every 20 - 30 minutes. It doesn't take a genius to work out that the full restoration process could take between 1 - 2 days to complete. WD's documentation states 'it could take hours' which I regard as a gross understatement. Until the restoration is complete I cannot use the NAS at all. I probably have another 12 - 15 hours to wait.

Does any member know what the restoration process entails? Could it include a full surface scan of each disc because the time involved seems excessively long. I imagine the restoration process includes exhaustive testing of each NAS component.

I am keeping my fingers crossed that the restoration will resolve my original problem, that of Time Manager not succeeeding in making an initial full backup.

Before restoring the NAS I switched TM off using the Preferences slider switch. Curiously I found I could not launch the WD Dashboard unless TM was switched on. I am not sure if this observation is important but it might be.

[towers00]

Phil,

 As I read your posts, you make mention of an additional amount of GBs that are being backed up beyond your "421 GB" hard drive. I believe before you began a Full Factory Restore you mentioned that it had "exceeded 1TB." 

Could it be that TM is also backing up additional external hard drives attached to your MacBook Pro?

You had mentioned that you had manually backed up this 421 GB unto a "USB HDD connected directly to my MacBook Pro."

As to the process you are in...I have done it already and it took 20+ hours (both doing a restore and then resetting it to a RAID 1 configuration). I would suggest to wait that it "rebuild" to 100% before running TM.

I too am running Snow Leopard (10.6.8), but have never run TM via wireless on my iMac. 

Let us know how it goes. 

With regards,

David