Backup to USB drive fails with unknown error

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colmosiris wrote:

This is the full log from the backup:

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FULL Backup started. Thu Mar 10 17:29:26 GMT 2016

Job: 001
Protocol: nfs
Source: [V1_SHARE]/
Destination: 192.168.0.4:/V2_SHARE

...

`./* ASTERISK FOLDER' -> `/job_001/* ASTERISK FOLDER'
`./* ASTERISK FOLDER/M*A*S*H [1970].avi' -> `/job_001/* ASTERISK FOLDER/M*A*S*H [1970].avi'
cp: failed to preserve ownership for `/job_001/* ASTERISK FOLDER/M*A*S*H [1970].avi': Operation not permitted
`./* ASTERISK FOLDER/Skyfall [2012].mkv' -> `/job_001/* ASTERISK FOLDER/Skyfall [2012].mkv'
cp: failed to preserve ownership for `/job_001/* ASTERISK FOLDER/Skyfall [2012].mkv': Operation not permitted

...
Backup failed. Thu Mar 10 17:41:49 GMT 2016.

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These files copied, correct?  Though ownership was not preserved.

The hidden files (.AppleDB, etc) failed.  There is a way to remove those files from the source ( http://superuser.com/questions/306108/disable-creation-of-appledouble-files-on-mac-os-x )

Thanks Stephen.

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These files copied, correct?  Though ownership was not preserved.

 

The hidden files (.AppleDB, etc) failed.  There is a way to remove those files from the source ( http://superuser.com/questions/306108/disable-creation-of-appledouble-files-on-mac-os-x )

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Yes, they did copy. But I only know that by empirical observation, not by seeing a nice completion message! :(

I tried BlueHarvest, which does get rid of these invisible files, but it waits for them to be created, and then deletes them, rather than stopping them from being created. This means I still can't get a clean backup, or at least a clean backup which tells me it is so.

I enabled invisible files in the Finder to see what was going on, and the files are definitely created, and then deleted, and not once, but twice. There had been invisible files in the original share, but I deleted them before starting the backup for the second time, so they were definitely being created, not copied.

I don't really care about these files myself, as there are no PCs on this network, so no-one's ever gonna see them. But I do care about backups with clean completions.

What I really don't get at all, is what on earth this even has to do with Apple and OS X anyway. It's not doing the copying, which continues after the computer is switched off. Its scratch disk is not being used, and nor are its file system or OS. So it must be the NAS that's creating these files, not OS X. Mustn't it?

It appears that if you ask on Apple forums, it's Netgear's 'fault', and if you ask on Netgear forums, it's Apple's. But if it can't be fixed, that's academic!

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colmosiris wrote:

So it must be the NAS that's creating these files, not OS X. Mustn't it?

  

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OSX is creating these files on the share.  Then the NAS is unable to copy them.

There are some posts on how to prevent them (for instance here: https://community.netgear.com/t5/forums/replypage/board-id/readynas-use/message-id/105790 ).  But since I'm not an OSX user, I don't know if they are effective.

Thanks Stephen.

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OSX is creating these files on the share.  Then the NAS is unable to copy them.

I'm sorry, but I absolutely do not believe this. My computer might be amazing, but it is not magic, Arthur C Clarke notwithstanding. It is switched off. It is not plugged in. How can it possibly be creating files on the NAS? It can't, it just can't. The NAS is doing it, and it is really annoying, to say the least.

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There are some posts on how to prevent them (for instance here: https://community.netgear.com/t5/forums/replypage/board-id/readynas-use/message-id/105790 ).  But since I'm not an OSX user, I don't know if they are effective.

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I specifically posted this question on this part of the forum, because it's about using ReadyNASes in OS X. No offence meant, but is there anyone here who does know about such things? BTW, that link doesn't work, it just takes me to a page to reply to my own message!

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colmosiris wrote:

BTW, that link doesn't work, it just takes me to a page to reply to my own message!

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Sorry, this is the link I meant to cut/paste: http://mycyberuniverse.com/mac-os/find-and-remove-ds_store-and-appledouble.html

You see that it (and many other similar posts) all say that OSX created these problem files in the share when you copied the main files to the NAS from the mac.

There are some suggestions there on how to prevent them from being formed in the first place.

Thanks Stephen. Sorry for the delay, I've been otherwise occupied for a few days!

Anyway, I still do not understand how my computer (the Mac) can create files on another computer (the NAS), when it (the Mac) is switched off. And until I understand that, nothing else makes sense. I'm in touch with the chap who makes BlueHarvest, as he is a Mac person, so perhaps he knows what's going on here, and can help me get to the bottom of it. Otherwise, it feels a bit like I'm asking questions in English, and getting answers back in French, only some of which I understand! (I do appreciate you're trying to help here, but I'm very frustrated at the apparent complete lack of Mac support. And as for how these NASes operate in different (Mac) user accounts, there's no consistency at all!)

Also, as I still don't believe a word of this, I'm going to try my own experiment. I'm going to borrow a Windows PC, which has never been a Mac in its life, download a movie (on a different network), and then put it up on the NAS, on this network. I shall do this both with the Mac switched on and connected to the LAN, so I can monitor for these files (having switched BlueHarvest off and enabled invisible files in Finder), and with it switched off.

To quote Captain Oates, "I may be some time!" But, like Arnie, "I'll be back!" :)

Correlation ≠ Causation :)

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colmosiris wrote:

Thanks Stephen.

 

Anyway, I still do not understand how my computer (the Mac) can create files on another computer (the NAS), when it (the Mac) is switched off. And until I understand that, nothing else makes sense.

 

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I never said the mac was creating files when it was turned off.  The metadata files are created when the files are copied from the mac to the NAS shares (and some might also be created when mac browses the shares).  They are hidden files, so you won't normally see them.

Per the logs, the issue is that these pre-existing and hidden files aren't being copied successfully from the share to the backup.

Are you saying that you've turned the mac off, then deleted the metadata files, confirmed that the deletions were successful, and then ran the backup (with the mac off for all the steps)?

Thanks Stephen.

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I never said the mac was creating files when it was turned off.

No, you didn't, and nor did I say you did. Anyway, as I said, I'm going to do some experimenting, with the help of Ross from BlueHarvest. I shall apply Sherlock Holmes's maxim of eliminating the impossible, and will be left with the truth, however improbable or nonsensical.

Okay, thanks for that. I'm afraid I'm going to have to leave this now. It was not a work thing, and as everything is now where it should be, I'll have to leave it there, as other things are far more pressing..