I’m in an annoying cycle of events. I have a 1TB WD MyBook 1110 Media attached to an iMac. I use Time Machine to create backups on it and also WD SMartware…so I have 2 backups of my iMac on the same harddrive. No need I guess, but after I had disk problems using just Time Machine, I tried Smartware and now the problem’s happened again.
I’ve been running backups successfully with both TM and Smartware since the beginning of September but today the failure has occurred again.
Time Machine says: TM could not complete the backup. Files can’ t be copied onto the backup disk because it appears to be read only. If I go into TM, I can see all the successful backups to the beginning of September.
Smartware says: ‘No writable WD SmartWare partition found. Data Backed up Files xxx Size 209.8GB Disk is Full’.
So, all old backups are still available and can be read, but I cannot write anything to it now, even though 524GB is available.
In MAC Disk Utility, I can select ‘WD Mybook’ and also ‘Time Machine Backups’
Verify Disk on WD Mybook says:
Verifying partition map for “WD My Book 1110 Media”
Checking prerequisites
Checking the partition list
Checking for an EFI system partition
Checking the EFI system partition’s size
Checking the EFI system partition’s file system
Checking all HFS data partition loader spaces
Checking Core Storage Physical Volume partitions
The partition map appears to be OK
Verify Disk on Time Machine Backups says
Verifying volume “Time Machine Backups”
Checking file systemChecking Journaled HFS Plus volume.
Checking extents overflow file.
Unused node is not erased (node = 1718)
Checking catalog file.
Invalid node structure
The volume Time Machine Backups was found corrupt and needs to be repaired.
Error: This disk needs to be repaired. Click Repair Disk.
I select Repair Disk and get
Verify and Repair volume “Time Machine Backups”
Checking file systemChecking Journaled HFS Plus volume.
Checking extents overflow file.
Unused node is not erased (node = 1720)
Checking catalog file.
Invalid node structure
The volume Time Machine Backups could not be verified completely.
Volume repair complete.Updating boot support partitions for the volume as required.Error: Disk Utility can’t repair this disk. Back up as many of your files as possible, reformat the disk, and restore your backed-up files.
So no option but to do an ERASE.
Now I am successfully running a new Time Machine backup (2gb of 247gb completed so far) and when that’s finished, I will be able to run a new Smartware backup, if i wish.
I am certain that in another week/month or whenever, the backups will fail again, but a disk erase will fix it for another period. This has been going on for a year…is my disk on the way out? If it is, it’s a **bleep** of a long time in the throes of death!
Any advice/ideas?
