Time Machine & Network Drive – SNOW LEOPARD UPDATE
December 19th, 2009 | Posted by in Blog | ICT | MacFor the Dutch version, visit my Dutch blog
Small update on the TimeMachine & Network Drive setup. Since I have a new MacPro, I wanted to enable TimeMachine on it. Note that this install is a fresh Snow Leopard installation, and that my MacBook is a Leopard.
I took the steps as I discribed them myself, but it seemed that TM was still trying to create a new sparsebundle instead of using the newly created on.
If you are using Snow Leopard, keep these things in mind:
- The naming of the sparsebundle file needs to be a tad diffrent. No more use of the MAC address in the filename. You can just use <computername>.sparsebundle
- One important step to follow is the fact that TimeMachine is now looking for a file called com.apple.TimeMachine.MachineID.plist
. This file needs to reside inside the sparsebundle directory. - So fire up terminal and go to /Volumes/<volumename>/<computername>.sparsebundle
- open up vi (name the file com.apple.TimeMachine.MachineID.plist and add the following content:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd"> <plist version="1.0"> <dict> <key>com.apple.backupd.HostUUID</key> <string>YOURUUIDHERE</string> </dict> </plist>
NOTE: Replace COMPUTER UID with the UUID of your MAC. You can find it under the System Profiles on the Hardware tab. Now fire up TimeMachine and everything should be running smooth again.
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thanks for the info/ i’m still trying to get TM working to a network drive connected to my router/ as I am NOT terminal savvy, could you tell me what the is and how to ‘open up’ vi and insert what you said to with the computer UUID !?
many thanks
Peter
that’s: … what the is and how to….
sorry: the “volumename” in greater than and lesser than brackets which won’t input in this box…
Hi Peter. Thanks for your reply. Without it, I would have seen that WordPress ate a chunk out of my code that is needed for the plist script.
Ok, to help you out with Terminal.
Open up terminal and change directory to your Sparsebundle. In Terminal this is done by the command “cd” (without quotes). Now change directory to go inside your sparsebundle. Lets assume your newly create Sparsebundle resides on your desktop and by default Terminal starts inside your user directory. So type in the following:
cd Desktop/
Now you should be inside your Sparsebundle file. If you type the command “ls” (without quotes again), you will see all of the contents of your Sparsebundle file. You will have files like Info.plist, token, and a folder named bands.
So when you see one of these files/folders, your are in the right place. No for the vi part. To open vi you just have to type “vi” (without quotes) in the terminal. But we won’t just open vi, we want to create a new file. So to create/ edit a file you just append the filename at the end of the command. So you have to type:
vi com.apple.TimeMachine.MachineID.plist
Now vi will open a file called com.apple.TimeMachine.MachineID.plist . If it doesn’t exist yet, it will create one.
Now just copy/paste the code above (that was missing earlier into vi. Make sure you hit the “i” key on your keyboard so you can insert stuff. You will notice that you can insert text by the fact that at the bottom of your terminal screen vi will display — INSERT — . So when you see that, you are good to go.
Now that you have pasted the code, you need to replace the string YOURUUIDHERE that resides inside the
That is your Mac’s UUID that needs to be in there. Every Mac has a personal UUID code. You can find it by going to “System Profiler” . Just type System Profiler inside spotlight. By default, System Profiler fires up with the tab selected that we need, the hardware tab. On the right side of the screen, at the very bottom of your Hardware overview, you will see an entry called “Hardware UID”. Copy that code string (it is pritty long) and replace it with my string YOURUUIDHERE.
Now you have to save the file. You save a file in vi by first hitting the escape key so you exit the insert mode. Then hit the “:” (column) key (without quotes) so the “:” charcter is displayed at the bottom of the terminal. Then type “x” key (without quotes) and hit enter. The “x” stands for Save And Exit .
Now since in this example the Sparsebundle resided on your Desktop, just move the Sparsebundle onto your network drive and start TM. This time, TM won’t try to create a new Sparsebundle anymore, it will use your newly created one.
As far as I know, with Leopard, TM could check if this whas the right Sparsebundle by your NIC’s MAC-ADDRESS in the filename. Since Snow Leopard’s TM Sparsebundles don’t need the MAC-ADDRESS anymore, it checks for the hardware UUID in this specific file, to make sure it is using the right capsule. But it made it a bit harder to find out
Hope this helps. If you have any more questions, ask away
I think I fail the Unix test…
I can’t get into the sparsebundle file on my desktop.
in terminal, I entered: cd Desktop/MacBookPro.sparsebundle but I get “no such file or directory”.
I think I understand your instructions but am hung up on the terminal commands…
you did say ask…!
thx
Peter
No problem at all.
The error of “no such file or directory” indicates that the file you are trying to access isn’t where in that directory.
Are you sure the sparsebundle you created is located on your Desktop? Can you see it there? If so, are you sure your sparsebundle is called MacBookPro.sparsebundle?
Hello,
When I do it, the error message “-bash: syntax error near unexpected token `(‘
” comes up. How do I resolve this?
Cheers, legend., backing up as we speak.
Thanks a lot for finding this out and putting it up. And making such a full description, really made me a happy chappy
@Chris
what did you do exacly to get this error? Did you make a small typo somewhere?
Hello, I’ve followed your instructions and several others for 2 days now…yeah.. i really want a NAS
ANYWAY…
I have gotten as far as what you’ve done in your post. Followed your comment above about terminal(for i am tech savvy, but not that tech savvy) I got 0 errors while following them. Perfect walkthrough. However, when i mount the NAS, search around for a bit to make sure its working, and allow Time Machine to back up now,((mind you.. the sparse bundle file–the one we edited via your posts is in Volume-1′s main root folder as it should be)) it attempts to still create a sparsebundle… maybe a temporary one? It says “Joe’s-Mac-mini.tmp.sparsebundle” minus the quotes of course all while Time Machine is “making back up disk available.” Then i receive an error from Time Machine stating the following:
“”"The backup disk image”/Volumes/Volume_1-3/Joe’s Mac mini.sparsebundle” could not be created (error 45).”"”
………… Any ideas?
-Thanks in advance,
Joe
Wasn’t sure if you were implying on the original page that your hack only works with the afp protocol. We run a Mac shop with a Windows server b/c Mac servers are crizazy expensive, and we have some Mac/Win only server software so Linux isn’t an option. Thus, my network drives are just samba shares on a Windows box, but using Time Machine with Snow Leopard works with them just as you described.
(Side bar: As part of the 100-years war over using VI vs. Emacs, I think typing
emacs com.apple.TimeMachine.MachineID.plist
in Terminal is better for novice unix users because the Emacs interface has menus and keyboard shortcuts, e.g. cmd-V .)
Rsync works, but is harder to set up, and doesn’t have the super-cool Time Machine interface. No need for nas, just add more drives to the Win box. This is sweet!
@Joe: could it be that you have a permission problem with your sparsebundle?
@BruseRod: You are probably right. Emacs might be a better editor for novice users.
Works great!!! Thanks!!! I have been wondering about this problem for so long!
Hi guys!
@Joe… I am having the same problem using a DNS-323 NAS. I just dont know if it is affected by the AFP mounting only issue of SL as DNS-323 doesnt know AFP until you install fun-plug to it.
@D@ Mick… any help on this matter?
Hi Bullet
unfortunately, I don’t have any experience with NAS and TimeMachine (AFP)
Joe
Did you resolved your problem ?
I tried everything what is told above, including creating sparsebundles with the right plist files etc. But nothing helps. My NAS is Iomega Media network harddisk
I have exactly the same problem and messages:
It says “Physics2.tmp.sparsebundle” minus the quotes of course all while Time Machine is “making back up disk available.” Then i receive an error from Time Machine stating the following:
“””The backup disk image”/Volumes/TimeMachine/Physics2.sparsebundle” could not be created (error 45).”””
Can I assume you are creating the sparsebundle directly on the network disk? In my previous post, I stated that you have to create the sparsebundle locally on your Mac and then place that created sparsebundle on the network drive
I discovered what Joe’s problem is because I made the same mistake.
A “sparsebundle” looks like a single file but it’s actually one of those things that Apple treats as a file but is really a directory/folder (applications are another such beast). The com.apple.TimeMachine.MachineID.plist file doesn’t go in the disk image, and it doesn’t go in the same folder as the sparsebundle, it goes inside the sparsebundle. If you follow the directions above you will save the file from vi into the correct place. But if you create that file on your desktop then you can put it into the right place using the finder.
Right click on the sparsebundle and you will see “Show Package Contents”. It will open up a folder! Put the com.apple.TimeMachine.MachineID.plist file into that folder. All done.
Now Time Machine should be happier.
hi all,
interesting suggestions. I have still a minor issue: TM is properly set up on my USB external drive.
I also have lot of stuff on a NAS drive (wireless connected): How to include some folder contained here in the TM backup?
from the normal setting you can only exclude, not add; and anwyay only on the local machine.
Any tips?
Thank you in adavnce
Woohoo – finally, the missing link for getting TimeMachine working on Snow Leopard with my NAS!
I have problems getting into my sparsebundle in terminal. I type “cd Desktop\my_sparsebundle_name” in all ways I can think and I am unable to get into the sparsebundle folder to make the text edit via “vi”. Terminal seems to get upset and just displays “>” and I cannot get back to any directory or complete any command. What am I doing wrong? @D@ Mick, this step in your instructions on using terminal is confusing:
“So type in the following:
cd Desktop/
is the name you gave your Sparsebundle. So in this case, your Mac name.
Now you should be inside your Sparsebundle file. “
@Nick: The your sparsebundle always has an extension, in this case, the extension is .sparsebundle.
So try to navigate to: cd Desktop/your_sparsebundle_name.sparsebundle
You can also use the “tab” key for autocompletion.