I am having problems backing up with Time Machine. It used to work well but for some time now I get the message that the backup "volume could not be found". Strangely, Time Machine recognises the drive when setting Time Machine preferences, just not when actually running a backup. I use a firewire drive to backup as I do not have a Time Capsule drive. My computer is a year old Intel MacBook.

This message comes up even when I try to backup to other drives.

I know it is a software problem, since I recently had to get my hard drive replaced and they couldn't save the data. When I tried to backup with Time Machine using just the newly installed system it worked fine.

However, when I restored my files and programs I got the same problem.

I tried removing TM preferences with no success. I have fixed permissions and repaired disks with no improvement. I repeat, this problem persists even when I try to backup to a different drive than the one I normally used.

Here is the message for the process in Console:

1/11/08 2:10:04 AM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[184] Backup requested by user
1/11/08 2:10:04 AM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[184] Starting standard backup
1/11/08 2:10:04 AM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[184] Volume at path /Volumes/MiniMax does not appear to be the correct backup volume for this computer. (Cookies do not match)
1/11/08 2:10:09 AM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[184] Backup failed with error: 18
1/11/08 2:10:16 AM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[184] Backup requested by user
1/11/08 2:10:16 AM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[184] Starting standard backup
1/11/08 2:10:16 AM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[184] Volume at path /Volumes/MiniMax does not appear to be the correct backup volume for this computer. (Cookies do not match)
1/11/08 2:10:21 AM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[184] Backup failed with error: 18

Anyone have any suggestions as to how I can get Time Machine working again? I am currently having to use a backup program that is not as neat as TM.

Are you using 10.5.5 now?

What is the 'Computer Name'? [in Sharing preferences]
i.e., are there any punctuation (like quotes... double or single)
or odd characters in the Computer Name?

-HI-

Yes I am using 10.5.5.

The computers name is <My Name's MacBook>. Would the apostrophe be causing some sort of problem, do you think? This is what the computer was always called, and it worked perfectly with Time Machine initially.

To reduce the size of the solution space, try running Time Machine from another user account on your same computer. If Time Machine can successfully backup the problem is isolated to your user account. If you do not have another account to test from you can create one by

1. Open System Preferences > Accounts
2. Click on the padlock at the bottom left of the accounts window and enter your password when prompted
3. Click on the plus (+) sign at the bottom of the Accounts list
4. Enter a name, short name, and password for the account (I use test for both name and shortname)
5. Click on the Create Account button
6. Quit System Preferences
7. On the Apple Menu logout of your current account
8. Logon to the new account

Another step to further isolate the problem would be to do a Safe Boot and run Time Machine from there. What I don't know and cannot test at the moment is whether or not Time Machine will run when you are in a safe boot. To start up into Safe Mode (to "Safe Boot"), do this:

1. Be sure the computer is shut down.
2. Press the power button.
3. Immediately after you hear the startup tone, press and hold the Shift key. &#8232;Tip: The Shift key should be held as soon as possible after the startup tone but not before.
4. Release the Shift key when you see the gray Apple and progress indicator (looks like a spinning gear).

One way to find out...

I created another user account and tried to run Time Machine. Same result, couldn't find backup drive, even though it had already recognised the drive during setup. All other user accounts were logged out.

I tried Time Machine after booting in safe mode. Same result.

I changed the computer's name in Sharing to omit apostrophes or any punctuation. Same result.

The description in Console referred to cookies. Does anyone know what these cookies might be and where? Obviously they are not internet browser cookies.

I might know now. I googled for [ "time machine" "cookies do not match" ] and found this thread:

• TimeMachine refuses to make backups (backup volume could not be found)

Apparently the cookie is a hidden file which Time Machine places at the root level of the backup disk.
Its name is your "MAC" hardware address (en0) with a leading dot [period] in the name to hide it.

The poster in that Discussions thread claims that file on his backup disk had wrong permissions.
I just checked, and mine is set to root:wheel & read-only...

ls -l@eO /Volumes/*/.0*
-r-------- 1 root wheel - 16 Dec 31 2007 /Volumes/myTMbackupVolume/.0a1b2c3d4e5f

Run that blue command and let's see what you get.

This is what I get after running the blue command:

-r-------- 1 steven staff - 16 23 Nov 2007 /Volumes/MiniMax/.0017f2e00396
-r-------- 1 steven staff - 16 29 Oct 18:16 /Volumes/MiniMax/.001b631daf6d
<Computer's Name>k:~ steven$

Hmm... two "cookies" on MiniMax, huh.
Is/was MiniMax being used as a Time Machine backup for another Mac?

Either way, it will be useful to verify your current computer's hardware address at this point:

ifconfig en0 |awk '/ether/ { print $2 }'

As far as permissions go, it might be handy to know your id# (probably 501, but let's verify that)
and also some of the actual perms (including ACLs) inside /Volumes. So, run these two commands
(in addition to ifconfig above):

id -un; id -u

sudo ls -aeiklO /Volumes

That last one with sudo will ask for your admin password (which will not be printed onscreen).
I use sudo for that simple listing just to see if any "unknown" ownerships appear (uid/gid = 99).
Not that they'd matter to any great extent. But, having full info never hurts when troubleshooting.

--

It could be that deleting one of those cookies is called for. Or maybe changing the ownerships/perms
on them or perhaps even the backup disk itself. Many users have no trouble when they're the "owner"
of their external drives, but I'm a believer in letting system (root) own the disk itself, and get needed
access via group assignment (either admin or staff).

We'll see what's what, after looking at those three commands' outputs.

After running

ifconfig en0 |awk '/ether/ { print $2 }'

I get:

00:1b:63:c0:53:db
<computers-name>:~ steven$

After running

id -un; id -u

I get:

steven
501
<computers-name>:~ steven$

After running

sudo ls -aeiklO /Volumes

I get:

total 4
22411 drwxrwxrwt@ 4 root admin hidden 136 7 Nov 15:10 .
2 drwxrwxr-t 35 root admin - 1258 5 Nov 12:48 ..
5429840 lrwxr-xr-x 1 root admin - 1 6 Nov 19:07 MacBook HD -> /
2 drwxr-xr-x@ 32 _unknown _unknown - 1156 7 Nov 01:56 MiniMax
<computers-name>:~ steven$