Time Machine Trouble - SL

I have a LaCie 500 GB external hard drive that's continually connected to my MBP, switched to "on", which had been doing backups since I got the external HDD this past April/May of 2010, and about an hour or so ago my TM has been displaying this message (see attachment). I don't know what to do, I don't want to have to wipe everything as I have a lot of personal work backup up on TM.

Anyone know how to remedy this trouble?

Thanks in advance.

Do as it suggests to start with. Open up Disk Utility and try a repair on the drive. Let us know after that.

Yea, if it's just your backup drive and isn't housing any info you don't have on your macbook pro, reformat it and do another backup.

Disk Utility is in your Applications - Utilities folder btw.

I tried a disk utility to repair it, and I get a message (after it attempts the repair and fails) that says to open the external HDD, back up my files and then reformat. The blue "LaCie" icon was visible on my desktop last night, I was able to access my backups then, but rather than copy them to folders on my main HDD, I did (in Disk Utility) a "verify", then a "repair" from the DU in my Applications folder, and now first thing I did today was attempt to access my Time Machine backups, but now I cannot access them at all - the blue "LaCie" icon is no longer visible - I made a very big, big mistake and I lost all my backups as a result.

What can I do?

News Flash - Maybe I did something amazing, but I got that blue LaCie icon back on my desktop, guys, along with these messages (see attachments). What am I supposed to do regarding these messages to access my backups so I can copy them to backup folders on my main HDD (for burning onto DL DVD's later)?

Do what DU is telling you to do in the first thumbnail you submitted. Copy the backup folders off the defective LaCie onto another hard drive.

chscag said:

Do what DU is telling you to do in the first thumbnail you submitted. Copy the backup folders off the defective LaCie onto another hard drive.

Click to expand...

How do I access the contents of my external HDD now?

Regarding copying the backup folders I'm on a MBP but I've made several empty folders on the MBP's desktop solely to hold these backups which I'll later burn to a DL DVD.

If the LaCie mounts (you can see it on your desktop) you should be able to use the Finder to drag and drop the backup folders to your internal hard drive.

Are you having difficulty accessing the LaCie drive? If you can't access the backup folder, you may need to use recovery software. Let us know.

chscag said:

If the LaCie mounts (you can see it on your desktop) you should be able to use the Finder to drag and drop the backup folders to your internal hard drive.

Are you having difficulty accessing the LaCie drive? If you can't access the backup folder, you may need to use recovery software. Let us know.

Click to expand...

After I typed my latest reply (before yours, Chscag), the LaCie icon appeared and (although TM still wasn't quite back to normal) I was able to use TM to access the backups which I restored using TM, and I then placed them (21 GB's worth) into 3 backup folders on my desktop, starting from Aug 30-ish/Sep 1st-ish, and Oct. 24 onto my mac's desktop.

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