OS X Time Machine Hang

I just had an awesome experience debugging a Time Machine hang. A backup was hanging indefinitely as far as I can tell. I couldn't stop it through the preferences pane, or pull down in the menu bar. Looking at the system log, I found the following:
Mar 28 22:08:50 Tornado mds[36]: (Error) Import: importer:0x85d400 Importer start failed for 89 (kr:268435459 (ipc/send) invalid destination port)
Mar 28 22:09:20: --- last message repeated 7 times ---
Mar 28 22:09:22 Tornado mds[36]: (Error) Import: importer:0x85d400 Importer start failed for 89 (kr:268435459 (ipc/send) invalid destination port)
Mar 28 22:09:52: --- last message repeated 7 times ---
Mar 28 22:09:54 Tornado mds[36]: (Error) Import: importer:0x85d400 Importer start failed for 89 (kr:268435459 (ipc/send) invalid destination port)
Mar 28 22:10:24: --- last message repeated 7 times ---
Mar 28 22:10:26 Tornado mds[36]: (Error) Import: importer:0x85d400 Importer start failed for 89 (kr:268435459 (ipc/send) invalid destination port)
Mar 28 22:10:37: --- last message repeated 2 times ---

Assuming these errors were related, I opened up Activity Monitor, and killed the mds process and was greeted with the following in the sytem log:
Mar 28 22:10:37 Tornado com.apple.launchd[97] (com.apple.Spotlight[145]): Exited abnormally: Interrupt

So it looks like mds is part of Spotlight, maybe the indexing process. Immediately after I killed the process, my Time Machine backup unfroze and reported an error.
Mar 28 22:11:33 Tornado /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[15448]: Indexing a file failed. Returned -1120 for: /Library/Application Support/Mozilla, /Volumes/Backup/Backups.backupdb/Tornado/2009-03-22-011202.inProgress/E3158A6F-868B-4E81-82EE-7D3151A1A287/Magnus/Library/Application Support/Mozilla
Mar 28 22:11:33 Tornado /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[15448]: Aborting backup because indexing a file failed.
Mar 28 22:11:33 Tornado /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[15448]: Stopping backup.
Mar 28 22:11:33 Tornado /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[15448]: Bulk setting Spotlight attributes failed.
Mar 28 22:11:34 Tornado /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[15448]: Copied 101 files (12 KB) from volume Magnus.
Mar 28 22:11:34 Tornado /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[15448]: Copy stage failed with error:11

Elsewhere on the internet people claim that their hard drives start thrashing if Time Machine is backing up at the same time Spotlight is indexing a back up volume. I didn't hear any thrashing on my backup drive. I think there is something else at work. In the above system log messages there is a line saying "Bulk setting Spotlight attributes failed." That's a printout from the backupd process which I assume is part of Time Machine. I'm going to guess that Time Machine and Spotlight running at the same time with Spotlight indexing the backup drive can hit a bug that causes the two processes to dead lock.

I added my Time Machine backup database to Spotlight's privacy list so it won't index my backup drive. It doesn't prove that it's the problem, but after killing mds, and telling Spotlight to ignore the backup drive, the next Time Machine backup completed fine.

Still a Long Time Before Judgement Day

I think we can all breathe a sigh of relief because it is still going to be a while before the terminators are intelligent enough to become self aware and want to murder us all. I refer you to figure 1 and figure 2 where my dirt terminator was found today precariously balanced and stuck.

Either that or he has become self aware and he wants to check out of his life as a vaccuum.

DIY Nas: Linux as a Time Machine Backup

I already got a few questions on how I did this. Here is the link to a super how-to on a really nice looking blog. A geek with creative sense!

http://www.kremalicious.com/2008/06/ubuntu-as-mac-file-server-and-time-machine-volume/

DIY Nas: Up and Running!

Well, I intended to blog more about this guy as I was building. I set out with the idea that this system would be a bit more embedded than it turned out. It ended up being a full blown server with 8 hot swap raid bays. It's a Core2 based system and what is pretty fantastic is with the 2.5" system drive running and the NAS drives spun down it consumes a bit over 60 watts measured at the wall. That should improve by another 8-10 watts with some of the new efficient power supplies coming out later this year. It's running Debian and Time Machine backups of two laptops in the house are working like a charm.

Fixing Incorrect Medical Bills

What a fracking nightmare. You go to the doctor once and end up with 10 different bills from people you didn't even see. For this rant I'll let alone the topic of questionable billing amounts from the physicians to the insurance companies and how there is apparantly no verification that a bill is correct. I recently went to the same clinic, saw two different doctors for the same amount of time - both primary care doctors. The bill to the insurance company is different by more than 100 dollars. So let me ignore that for now and just say by asking the right questions, I have saved myself over $1800 of incorrect overcharges to myself from both a hospital and my insurance company. Through this, I've learned the quickest way to get these problems dealt with and am willing to share them with you for free.

When you have a bill that is obviously wrong:
- Call your insurance company. They will either accept fault or say the hospital shouldn't have billed you anything else which is in fact ILLEGAL.
- If they say the hospital/doctor shouldn't have billed anything additional, immediately request a conference call with the physicians office. Requesting this conference call saves an amazing amount of time.

The bill should be cleared up in the next few minutes unless you misunderstood the details of your own insurance plan.

Windows 7 Touch

Windows 7 Touch Video

"Oooh oooh...look everybody! We innovated! We were the first ones to support TOUCH with your PC! Take that Apple."

They could have at the very least demonstrated a usage case where someone would actually want to use a touch screen PC. Say a tablet PC, touch screen coffee table, or internet appliance in the kitchen so you can kick off a video or see news highlights of the day; not a usage case where you're holding up your extended arm for hours to edit personal photos.

I suggest a quick addition to this video which talks about the value to be had with simultaneous computer use and deltoid exercise which can't be had anywhere else.

Yoshi and Michi's Web Site

Our kitties Yoshi and Michi have been working very hard on a web site. It is finally live at http://www.ilovemybadkitty.com You can see them on the kitty cam at breakfast and dinner time or any time Michi feels like stealing food. They also maintain a blog and love responding to e-mails. Well, Michi does. Yoshi just eats kibbles.

DIY Nas: The Case

For my DIY NAS project's case, I chose the Coolermaster Centurion 590 which can be found for about $60 dollars. This sucker has nine 5.25" drive bays. Why is that good? Lots of room for 5.25" raid cages. With a four drive in three bay raid cage, you're looking at a 12 hard drive behemoth. I won't be needing that many drives for a long time, but I like to have room for growth.

AppleTV Absent from Environmental Report

Not strangely at all, the AppleTV is absent from Apple's 2008 environmental report.
Apple and the Environment