Update from 10.9.2 to 10.9.3 stopped my Time Machine backups from working

Hi. Just now I upgraded my Mac from 10.9.2 to 10.9.3.

I also use Time Machine to back up my Mac to an external drive and I've
been using it for years.

One result of the update from 10.9.2 to 10.9.3 is that I'm now unable
to back up to my Time Machine drive. I successfully backed up to it
earlier this afternoon at 3:17PM (it's now 4:32PM), but I'm now getting
this error message:


"Time Machine couldn't complete the backup to 'Time Machine Backup.'

Files can't be copied onto the backup disk because it is read-only. You
may need to repair or erase the disk using Disk Utility. If the disk
can't be repaired, select a different disk for backups.

Last successful backup: Today, 3:17PM"

I shut down my Mac and restarted it, thinking maybe the error would go
away, but it hasn't.

Did 10.9.3 somehow make my Time Machine backup drive read-only? Is
there a way to change it back so that it also has write permissions? I
can't figure out how to do it. Or am I going to have to erase the drive?

Thanks.

M

 

I have not found the time or bandwidth to get the OS X update but...

I've had that same Time machine problem a couple of times in the past.
It may be just a coincidence you experienced the problem just after the
update. Erasing the disk was the only fix that worked for me.

 

It isn't a general issue with 10.9.3: I've just gone from 10.9.2 and
10.9.3 and have successfully done the first subsequent Time Machine
backup.

Something may have gone wrong with your backup drive.

Have a look in Console at system.log to see if there are any relevant
messages there which might provide more details. Find "backupd" for
messages relating to Time Machine, and also look at messages around the
time the drive was mounted.

I'd also suggest having a look at what Disk Utility reports for the
status of the drive to see if anything there looks out of the ordinary.

 

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

You should be able to determine whether the drive is, indeed, read
only, from the Finder. Select the volume icon in Finder. If it's not
displayed on the Desktop, open a Finder window, locate the volume icon
and select it. Use Get Info from the File menu or by using ⌘I.
Permissions for the volume should be displayed. Various users, and
their permissions, should be displayed. If necessary, they can be
edited. If edited, you may want to use the "Apply to enclosed items"
option, from the settings (sprocket) menu.

This is where I would begin the troubleshooting process..

- --
David Ritz <>
Be kind to animals; kiss a shark.

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This is a long shot and I can't remember which update it happened with,
but at either the tail end of Mountain Lion or early on with Mavericks, TM
backup started to give "searching for backup volume" messages, and then
one day couldn't see it.

I resolved that problem by moving the cable from the USB hub to a port
on my Mac mini, and haven't seen the problem since.

 

No issues here.
(OTOH, just because they're "happening" doesn't mean they're "working").

What does "Get Info" on the drive say about permissions?

Are you Steve "Antigravity" Mirsky?

 

Thanks everyone for the responses.

I ran Disk Utility and Disk Warror and they both gave errors, so I
erased the disk and the errors are gone.

But I had to start Time Machine from scratch (it's taking about 24
hours to finish the first back up).

Next time I upgrade my system software I'll disconnect my external hard
drives first.

 

Is he the science writer? I'm not him, but we are probably related somehow.

 

It's not related directly to the upgrade. Apple's filesystem has
corruption issues that commonly appear in Time Machine's complex tangle
of hardlinks. Certain triggers, like system upgrades, will force a
verification to see if the volume has become corrupted. The actual
corruption may have happened some time ago.

 

Fun writer.

 

Which is why it's IMPERATIVE that you try a test recovery of a few
documents every now and then. Make sure they are ones which have in fact
been changed between when they were backed up and the current version. I
have seen too many instances of Time Machine appearing to do its job,
only for it to bork when you try to resurrect an earlier document.