Time Machine Misbehaves

Of the more than 100 Mac-compatible backup programs out there, Time Machine has the distinct advantage of being built into Mac OS X (and thus, both free and officially supported by Apple). For reasons I detail in my books about backups, I think Time Machine alone is an insufficient backup solution, but it’s pretty good as far as it goes. However, because you’re entrusting your valuable data to your backup software, it can be especially scary and frustrating when that software flakes out—as Time Machine has been known to do. Worse, Time Machine tends to be pretty opaque; finding out exactly what’s gone wrong or how to fix it can be tricky.

The ways in which Time Machine sometimes misbehaves are numerous, and I can’t cover them all here. But I do want to mention a few of the most common concerns and how to deal with them—as well as point you to some places where you can learn more about other sorts of errors.