Fix a non-functional (Error 11) Time Machine

A while back, Time Machine on my DP G4 running 10.5.8 started failing, after having run for several months without any problems. This is the error from the logs:

Starting standard backup
Backing up to: /Volumes/Athena/Backups.backupdb
Event store UUIDs don't match for volume: Entwife
Event store UUIDs don't match for volume: Fangorn
Backup content size: 60.9 GB excluded items size: 56.9 MB for volume Entwife
Backup content size: 60.5 GB excluded items size: 56.9 MB for volume Fangorn
No pre-backup thinning needed: 145.59 GB requested (including padding), 931.15 GB available
Error: (-36) SrcErr:NO Copying /Applications/Adium.app/Contents/Frameworks/AIUtilities.framework/Versions/A/AIUtilities to /Volumes/Athena/Backups.backupdb/Treebeard/2009-10-03-235253.inProgress/9C37B727-1C30-42C6-B3AA-D0AB9FF4DBF6/Entwife/Applications/Adium.app/Contents/Frameworks/AIUtilities.framework/Versions/A
Stopping backup.
Error: (-8062) SrcErr:NO Copying /Applications/Adium.app/Contents/Frameworks/AIUtilities.framework/Versions/A/AIUtilities to /Volumes/Athena/Backups.backupdb/Treebeard/2009-10-03-235253.inProgress/9C37B727-1C30-42C6-B3AA-D0AB9FF4DBF6/Entwife/Applications/Adium.app/Contents/Frameworks/AIUtilities.framework/Versions/A
Copied 0 files (3.4 MB) from volume Entwife.
Copy stage failed with error:11
Backup failed with error: 11

So I tried all the usual fixes:

I reformatted and rebuilt all my drives.
I ran Disk Utility to repair the drives and permissions. More than once.
I reapplied the 10.5.8 Combo Update.
I was backing up to a WD 1TB My Book Studio. I tried backing up the internal drive instead, but that failed too.
If I excluded an application from backup, it failed on the next app in the line.
I found nothing online (Google, Apple, et.al.) that said do X, Y, and Z, and all will be well, even though this error is all over the web. Not even this KB article helped.
I arrested all the usual suspects.

In short, nothing worked. But, "He that perseveres to the end, the same shall be saved." I still don't know the cause (old age prehaps) but I found a solution. I booted from my 10.5 DVD, archived and installed OS X, and then updated my software from there to 10.5.8. Problem solved.

[robg adds: This seems like a very particular issue, but just in case it's happening to anyone else, here's one solution at least.]

From our Sponsor...

The macosxhints Poll

What version of OS X are you running as your main OS?

Fix a non-functional (Error 11) Time Machine | 6 comments | Create New Account

Click here to return to the 'Fix a non-functional (Error 11) Time Machine' hint

The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.

Fix a non-functional (Error 11) Time Machine
Authored by: randalla on Mon, Oct 26 2009 at 8:26AM PDT

I had a similar issue recently with my Time Machine archive. It resides on a FW400 external drive. Basically, I was getting the same errors are the author, as well as the drive becoming read-only (but never reported as such). After formatting the drive, I found that I could copy to it only very slowly, and that the copies were happening very slowly (2MB/s), and it would also error out trying to write to the disk. Turns out, the Firewire cable connecting the drive to the iMac decided it didn't like me much anymore. After replacing it, my copies jumped back up to the expected 30+ MB/s and Time Machine was able to a full backup of the system.

Wish I found the bad cable before reformatting the entire drive though. Ceste la vie :)

Adam.

---
Xaren Development
http://www.xaren.net

Fix a non-functional (Error 11) Time Machine
Authored by: spfolly on Tue, Oct 27 2009 at 10:46AM PDT

I had a similar situation, was getting error -36. I believe the "SrcErr:NO" indicates a problem with the destination device (please correct me if I'm wrong). In the end, it turned out the power supply for my firewire disk was playing up. It got so bad in the end, the disk couldn't even mount properly. A new power supply fixed everything.

Fix a non-functional (Error 11) Time Machine
Authored by: boredzo on Mon, Oct 26 2009 at 3:56PM PDT

I don't know about -8062, but -36 is an I/O error. The cable issue that randalla mentioned is plausible, but you should also prepare for the possibility that either your backup drive or your main drive is failing. I suggest you download and run SMART Utility in order to find out which one. (Disk Utility claims to support SMART, but it always says �Verified� even for drives I knew were failing.

Root cause?
Authored by: ThaDuckmasta on Tue, Oct 27 2009 at 4:28AM PDT

I have experienced the exact same issue and would love to know the root cause of this error if anyone else has had any experience with this issue. The message "UUID's don't match" seems to be the key here to me.

I work in an IT environment and use Time Machine to run backups for multiple users to an NTFS file server via SMB. I know this is unsupported by Apple but we are just sort of experimentiNg with it. It has actually worked well except that a few users experience this issue. I have also been unable to find anything useful online about this.

Please post on here if you have any experience with this issue. The solution provided is certainly a solution, but does not get at the cause of the problem.

Fix a non-functional (Error 11) Time Machine
Authored by: kioarthurdane on Tue, Oct 27 2009 at 9:58AM PDT

I haven't seen a legit "type 11 error" in at least a decade... Formerly the thing of nightmares during the PPC System 7 days.

Fix a non-functional (Error 11) Time Machine
Authored by: leamanc on Tue, Oct 27 2009 at 6:10PM PDT

I know, I about LOL'ed myself to death when I saw "Error 11" in the hint title.

I do occasionally get nostalgic for the classic Mac OS, but then things like this remind me why we gave up the customizability and flexibility of that OS for the stability of OS X!

Hint Options

Search

From our Sponsor...

User Functions

What's New:

Hints

Comments last 2 days

Links last 2 weeks

What's New in the Forums?

The Editor's Corner...

Hints by Topic

News from Macworld

The macosxhints Poll