10.5: Beware using Time Machine with a failing disk

I noticed some strange log messages and beachball hangs recently while using my MacBook Pro. The log message read MaBi kernel[0]: disk0s2: 0xe0030005 (UNDEFINED). I came to the conclusion that the internal disk was failing (see this blog post and associated comments for some discussion on the error message). I thought the logical course of action was to attach my Time Machine backup disk, do one last backup, then get the drive replaced and do a restore. It turns out this was not a good idea, and it resulted in the wholesale trashing of the Time Machine backup. Only because I caught the failure early enough, when not much was lost (and noticed what Time Machine was doing), was I able still to take a "normal" rsync-style backup from which to restore from tomorrow when the replacement arrives. ...
Wed, 06 Feb 2008 16:30:04 +0100

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