Another "Looking for Backup Disk" problem

Running 10.8.4 to a firewire connected external disk which had been working OK since February 2012. Recently, backups have failed with the above error. The icon is on the desktop and I can navigate through the folders so the Mac can see the disk, it's just Time Machine which can't.
I've tried:
Verifying the disk (all OK)
Repairing the disk (all OK)
After this, it worked when I clicked "Backup Now" but failed next time.
I tried deleting the plist file as suggested in Pondini's list, reselected the backup drive and again it worked first time but not subsequently.
I next erased the drive (I have a clone too) and started again. The full backup worked, as did two "Backup Now" tries at roughly ten minute intervals but as soon as the machine has been asleep for an hour or so, the backup fails. One thing that may be of relevance is that even after I get the message that the disk cannot be found and dismiss it, I cannot eject the drive as it says it's in use.

I tried everything else I could find without rebooting, including Pondini's "full reset." I *had* plugged in a FAT data crystal since the last successful backup, so I think it's quite plausible that this was the root of my problem.
(Mid-2007 iMac, Mountain Lion, up-to-date s/w, local FireWire WD backup disk.)

Similar Messages

Time Capsule "looking for backup disk" problems, running Lion on 24" iMac

Hi,
I'm having problems with my Time Capsule. I can't get the backups to run for about a week. The backup just says "looking for backup disk" for ever. This is a first gen Time Capsule, and it's still working fine for two MacBooks in the house. I have all the Apple updates installed, and I'm running 10.7.2. In Preferences, Time Capsule, I can see the available/of space and there is plenty left. It's not showing any Oldest and Latest date info for backups.
If I go to "select disk" and choose the Time Capsule, I'm prompted for the password. When I press "Connect", the message changes to "Stopping Backup" and this will run for ever. I have plenty of disk space available, have repaired permissions, have booted in safe mode, reset pram and nvram and probably a few other options to no avail. I can enter the Time Machine and see all of my backups without problem.
As a side note, I have also noticed instability whereby various programs have been 'not responding' of late, and need to be force quit. Once that happens, the iMac won't properly shut down and restart; I usually need to how down the power button.
Thanks in advance for your help.

I'm having the same problem. Anyone have a fix?
Nozz

Time Machine looking for backup disk/not finding

Time Machine backed up the HD on my 2009 20" iMac up till Feb. 4 when I downloaded Since then there have been no new backups of my HD and there have been problems wihen I have Time Machine "on" with other applications (TextEdit, Pages, Adobe Bridge CS4) opening or not responding after being open and with Finder not responding. I have also had grey screen freezes multiple times so that I have to use the power button to shut the computer down. When I take TM off of the Automatic backups, most of the problems with applications quitting and the grey screen freezes stop happening. (Although I believe I've had at least one or two grey screen freezes even then.)
Today I've run Verify Time Machine Backups. It completed that. Then I turned on Automatic Backups again. But then it showed "Looking for Backup Disk". So I selected the Backup Disk. Then I checked back in a while and it still showed Looking for Backup Disk. I removed the selected backup disk, shut down and rebooted, and reselected the backup disk. It is still showing Looking for Backup Disk.
The Time Machine is a 1 Terabyte size. My iMac is using 203.6 Gigabytes of its 319.21 G space.
In looking at what my Finder is showing as the name of my Backup Disk, I see that it is showing my Backup Disk as Virginia's Computer (3). It should be showing my Backup Disk as Virginia's Computer. If this is the source of the problem, how do I get my Backup Disk named back to Virginia's Computer? Is it possible to get it changed back?
My TM is used as a router for two iMacs and up through Feb. 4 I was sharing files between both computers. When the problems started, I turned off File Sharing in the other computer (Jim's iMac). I had noticed that frequently my computer's name as shown on the other computer would be changed to Virginia's Computer (2) or Virginia's Computer (3) and I would change it back when I noticed. Perhaps this is how the problem started.

I finally contacted Apple Support. Three support people and seven and a half hours later Time Machine began working correctly. Multiple things were tried. The Time Capsule ended up getting erased. Many files and folders were deleted from several places on my hard drive. It seemed that the final ones that made a difference after the Time Capsule was erased were files that were in my Keychain.
I have to thank Apple's Support people for persistence, especially Jim who is the one who got things back to normal as far as the Time Capsule & Time Machine goes. I have to keep watch to see if anything acts up now on my hard drive and then the solution will go further. But the issue with the Time Capsule and Time Machine appears to be resolved!
Thank you, Apple Support!!!

Stuck in "Looking for Backup Disk" in Time Machine with Time Capsule

I too am having a "Looking for Backup Disk" message going on forever . . . .
I have the following showing in my log (which is for a backup that started almost 6 hours ago . . .)
Starting automatic backup
Attempting to mount network destination URL: afp://Toni%20Way;AUTH=[email protected]/Data
Mounted network destination at mount point: /Volumes/Data using URL: afp://Toni%20Way;AUTH=[email protected]/Data
Disk image /Volumes/Data/Toni’s iMac.sparsebundle mounted at: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups
Backing up to: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb
I am not getting successful backups. I first thought it was a problem with the WD hard drive I had so I invested in a Time Capsule thinking maybe it would work better with the Mac (i.e. Apple to Apple). I got a few successful backups when I got the Time Machine on June 12th but none since. I only just noticed that I wasn't having successful backups as there was no notification. I have tried a Full Reset as per these instructions with no success:
http://pondini.org/TM/A4.html
Help!

I've successfully changed the name of the Time Capsule to "Toni TC" but still no success. It is still sticking at Looking for Backup Disk.
Still have a space in the name.. No spaces. No non-alphanumeric.
Not that I think that is your problem.
From the log the actual unit is mounted and you have everything working but not actually able to copy packets across the network.
I have an ethernet cable running from my cable provider's router to the Time Capsule and then an ethernet cable running from the Time Capsule to the iMac.
This is good... also turn off wireless in the computer to force connection by ethernet only.
But when I go into Disk Utility, it isn't listed in the left hand side.
Only the sparsebundle will list and only when it is mounted.. TC is a network drive not a local drive. It will not show up in disk utility.
Let me suggest you erase the TC and start over.. sometimes it is the only way to get things going again.
A4 reset of TM. http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
And do a verify of the local disk.. A5.
I would also like you to test copying a single large file to the TC.. create a new directory in the TC from finder.. and copy a single large file.. 1GB sort of size and get actual speed measurement from Activity Monitor.

Internal Time Machine "looking for backup disk" (not time capsule)

Hello,
I have the infamous "looking for backup disk" issue. My Time Machine drive is an internal drive, NOT a time capsule. It is mounted and visible, and the backups show up on it in the Finder. When I select to enter the Time Machine "starfield" UI, all my previous backups are browsable. But when it comes time to actually back up... it just says "looking for backup disk" forever. I've tried leaving it like that for something like 40 minutes, no joy. This is not a huge disk, there are about 700 GB of backups on it. The HDD activity light on my computer is NOT showing any activity when I am idling but it is "looking for backup disk," so I don't think it's scanning the drive or anything.
I have tried turning TM off and on, removing the drive and re-selecting it, unmounting it and remounting it, deleting the TM preference plist file from the library, rebooting, and all manner of combinations thereof. Nothing seems to work.
Anyone have any advice? This is on OS X 10.8.2 by the way. The TM backup worked fine through 10.8.1 and 10.8.2 with no problems until now. I don't recall doing anything specific to mess up TM or the disks in any way, although I may have turned TM during a reboot cycle prior to this happening (don't recall if this is actually the case, but in any case it shouldn't have caused such an error, no?).
Thanks in advance,
—Gabriel

[Just a note, TM only works on OS X Journaled drives (i.e. HFS+ drives). TM does not back up your FAT drive.]
Isaac:
If you unloaded the NTFS and FAT kexts, your TM backups might (might!) work again, but of course in that case you would not be able to see your FAT or NTFS drives in OS X, and if you removed the FAT kext then a lot of USB keys would be unreadable in OS X - not a good solution.
The kexts are specific to OS X, so removing them should not affect Windows... but may affect boot camp, I don't know how boot camp is programmed (which would be a problem). Luckily if your Windows drive became inaccessable from boot camp with removed kexts, it should be easy enough to simply boot back into OS X, restore the kexts, and then Windows should work again.
I would recommend not mixing partition types on drives with shared OSX/Win functions, it seems to "tempt fate" as it were with possible errors. I don't know what has precipitated this error in your case, if it was the MSE or disk error or something else, and unfortunately I don't have a real fix to offer beyond trying things with the kexts removed and seeing if they work.
NOTE THAT THIS IS AT YOUR OWN RISK, messing with kexts is not a very recommendable practice since these files enable core functionality in the OS. Make a backup before if you can, and consider your options carefully. In OS X, navigate to /System/Library/Extensions and you'll find a bunch kext files. The two you need are msdosfs.kext and ntfs.kext. Copy ntfs.kext into a backup folder (e.g., on your desktop). Delete the original ntfs.kext from the S/L/E folder. Reboot and see if you can still access windows. If so, reboot into OS X and see if Time Machine works again. If you're good on both those points, then consider going without ntfs.kext on a permanent basis – it is rare that you need to read an NTFS drive while in OS X. On the other hand, if this does not fix your problem, you may try restoring ntfs.kext, and backing up / deleting msdosfs.kext to see if THAT is the culprit. Unfortunately, if msdosfs.kext is causing the TM error, you're kind of out of luck, since going without FAT access will be pretty annoying any time you need to use a drive to swap files between Windows and Mac (using a USB key).
Ultimately I don't have a solution, as I have noted, so much as I've narrowed down where the error is occuring in some peoples' cases (like my own). Good luck!

Time Machine "Looking for Backup Disk...." to Synology NAS

My time machine used to work well connected from my Macbook Pro (10.8.3) connected to my Synology NAS then suddenly stopped working a while ago.
I have finally got around to looking at it but cannot seem to get it to rework
I folloed all instructions on the http://pondini.org/TM/A4.html full reset option but without success.
I can view all the previous backups on the NAS by entering Time Machine but when trying to backup again now continually get "Looking for Backup Disk...."
Any ideas?

This happens when you backup to a non-apple device.. actually a TC in particular is the only apple supported network device for TM.
Did you try a reboot of the whole network.. and you can verify the backups .. see A5 in pondiini.
The same thing happens even on a USB drive plugged into an Airport Extreme. It can work fine for ages and then just suddenly refuses to connect.
See http://pondini.org/TM/Airport.html
Did this happen when you updated to 10.8.3.. does the date of the last backup correspond to the update? It would not surprise me if they did some little tweak that took out your non-authorised backup method.
Now I have not tried it but lots of these issues started with Lion when the security level in AFP was changed. Security for a file protocol is irrelevant on your local network so really only relevant to using BTMM and iCloud.. which was also introduced with Lion.. that is when everything went to pot.
I would look at the Synology as running better at the older level of security and making the adjustments required on your computer.
See http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4700
I have a NAS and I have the same issue happen a couple of times. I am still using Snow Leopard though so the above suggestion is not a cure all.. I think you just have to accept that Apple builds a walled garden.. if you try and step out of the garden.. anything over the wall.. can be expected to behave badly on occasions. Set up another folder on the synology and start a new TM backup. Or use CCC or superduper etc..

Time Machine stuck at "Looking for backup disk" after installing Windows 8 via Boot Camp

I've been backing up via Time Machine to an external USB drive and it's been working fine. I recenty installed Windows 8 via Boot Camp and now TM gets stuck forever at "Looking for backup disk...".
I've tried the following, to no avail:
Using "Select Disk" in TM preferences to re-select the disk
Deleting /Library/Preferences/com.apple.TimeMachine.plist
Running system maintenance via Onyx
Resetting PRAM
Formatting the drive and setting it up for TM backups again
The Boot Camp partition is on the same drive as OS X (on a 180GB Intel 330 series SSD). During the Windows installation I re-formatted the partition as NTFS.
If I start OS X in Safe Boot mode, TM backups work. In Safe Boot mode, the NTFS partition isn't loaded so I suspect it has something to do with this. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

I installed Paragon NTFS for Mac and it started working all of a sudden.

Time Machine stuck at "Looking for backup disk"

I've been backing up via Time Machine to an external USB drive and it's been working fine. I recenty installed Windows 8 via Boot Camp and now TM gets stuck forever at "Looking for backup disk...".
I've tried the following, to no avail:
Using "Select Disk" in TM preferences to re-select the disk
Deleting /Library/Preferences/com.apple.TimeMachine.plist
Running system maintenance via Onyx
Resetting PRAM
Formatting the drive and setting it up for TM backups again
The Boot Camp partition is on the same drive as OS X (on a 180GB Intel 330 series SSD). During the Windows installation I re-formatted the partition as NTFS.
If I start OS X in Safe Boot mode, TM backups work. In Safe Boot mode, the NTFS partition isn't loaded so I suspect it has something to do with this. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

I'm going to assume during the install setup of Windows, you deleted the partition made by Apple and created your own and formatted in NTFS. This is probably the cause as to what happened.
Try this:
1. backup anything you did in Windows 8.
2. In Boot Camp, remove the Windows Partition. Reboot when prompted.
3. Try and see if Time Machine works again.
If its working, create a bootcamp partition and re-install Windows. Do not delete the partitions that Boot Camp created. See if TM works again after that.

Time Capsule, Looking for backup

Since the recent software update my timecapsule isnt backing up anymore, my drive seems to mount and appear on the desktop and i can see the drive but all i get is looking for backup, in the time machine prefrences i have tried re selceting disks and a few other things but still no joy, does anyone know if this a a bug in recent software and if so how to report to apple, if not any ideas to fix this world be great.
in finder i can see the time capsule drive and drag and drop files in and out with no problem
I have macbook 2GHz intel core 2 duo 4GB Ram running Mac OS X 10.7.3
Time Capsule is running 7.6.1

I have had a similar problem with Time Capsule, Time Machine and Mac OS 10.7.
In french, Time Machine was telling "Recherche du Disque de Sauvegarde" which seems to be similar to "Looking for Backup Disk" and couldn't backup anything.
I've resolved it (while keeping the last backup) with following what is described there :
https://discussions.apple.com/message/17239743#17239743
Below, what I have done in details :
To your own risks... (risk of erasing everything on the mac and of deactivate some functions... and to be unable to recover anything)
It has worked for me but it couldn't for you.
1/ Deactivate Wifi on the Mac
2/ disabled the backup from the preferences panel
No pending backup.
Open "Terminal" app
3/ disabled spootlight:
sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.metadata.mds.plist
(described here : http://osxdaily.com/2011/12/10/disab...mac-os-x-lion/)
4/ delete the following hidden folders from the diskboot and external drive backup (.Fseventsd and. Spootlight-V100)
4.1/ delete .Fseventsd on the mac, enter :
cd /
ls -l
(you must find .fseventsd and .spotlight-vt100)
sudo rm .fseventsd/fseventsd-uuid
sudo rmdir .fseventsd
4.2/delete spotlight-vt100 of mac :
sudo rm -dR .Spotlight-V100
4.3/ delete .fseventsd of Timecapsule :
cd /Volumes
ls -l (you have to look for the backup directory)
cd Cop* (because for my computer : the name is 'Copies de sauvegardes de Time machine' and it is the single directory name begining by Cop)
sudo ls -l (check presence of .fseventsd et Spotlight-vt100)
sudo rm -dR .fseventsd
4.4/ delete .spotlight-vt100 :
sudo rm -dR .Spotlight-V100
5/ Restart Time Capsule and mac
6/ spootlight rehabilitated (details here :http://osxdaily.com/2011/12/10/disab...mac-os-x-lion/) :
sudo launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.metadata.mds.plist
and index launch (found here : http://www.printedbyerik.com/2011/08...index-on-os-x/) :
sudo mdutil -i on /
It took 4 hours for 500Go
7/ at the end : put an internet cable between Mac and Time Capsule (it is mandatory)
Launch a backup in Time Machine preferences.
For my computer : 15 hours for 70Go.
3 backup since without any problem.

HT201250 I had turned off the time machine auto back up and now when I try to turn it back on it keeps looking for a disk even though the time capsule is shown, do I have to set it up again as an initial?

I have been using the time capsule to back up both my iMac and recently added MacAir, it has been working fine but recentlky I had turned the time machine off on the Macair and now when I try to turn it back on it keeps looking for a disk even if I select the time capsule. Do I have to start the backup for the Macair as a new backup?

That happened to my brother earlier. He went into Facebooand then into another app and the same thing happened. he ended up having to restore it. Mine stayed with the Apple logo for a bit but its back to normal after pressing the buttons a million times. I hope you get your problem sorted. Goodluck!

I keep getting a 'Looking for backup disc' message from my Time Capsule.

I keep getting a 'Looking for backup disc' message from my Time Capsule. I have set it up several times without any apparent problems (I have even done a Hard and Factory reset). Everything seems fine until I ask Timemachine to 'back up', and then the problems start.
Any ideas?

I had the exact same problem. I bought the Time Capsule this past July and it worked fine for about a month then it told me it hadn't backed up in 10 days and was stuck looking for the backup drive. I called Apple and they said the reason was that the Time Capsule was in Bridge mode. I launched Airport Utility and sure enough, it was. I changed it to DCHP and NAT (Airport Utility -> Network tab -> Router Mode). After updating the Time Capsule, I couldn't even get on the Internet, let alone do a backup. A logged into the software for my cable modem and discovered that it too was in Bridge mode.
It turned out (for me) that neither should be in Bridge mode (which is for connecting two networks). Your cable modem only has one IP address. Your Time Capsule should be doing the NAT (Network Address Translation) which translates the internal IP addresses on your network to the one IP address your cable modem has. When I switched my Time Capsule to DHCP and NAT, it conflicted with the fact that the cable modem was also trying to do this. The answer was to turn this off on the modem (allowing all the packets to just go through the modem to the Time Capsule and let IT do the NAT). I did that last week and since then, my Time Capsule has been working perfectly.
1) Go to your cable modem (via a browser, enter "http://192.168.100.1"). Log-in and find the setting that indicates NAT. If you're uncomfortable doing this or can't find it, call your cable company and ask Tech Support to do it for you. They can do it remotely.
2) Launch Airport Utilty. Go to the Network Tab and change the router mode to "DHCP and NAT".
3) You may need to restart your modem and Time Capsule. I can't remember if I had to or not.
I hope this helps. I tried many things but this is the only solution that fixed it for me. And it makes sense. Only one device, the cable modem or the Time Capsule, can be doing the NAT.

Stuck on looking for backup

Hi,
Posted a little while back on here with my TC woes. Long story short, I went to apple and they swapped it out for a new one. Three days later, it is falling over again. I have a Macbook air 2011 running the latest OS and an iMac also running the latest OS. Timecapsule was updated to the latest firmware. I have pulled all the connections out the back bar my apple tv incase that was causing a problem but it hasn't fixed it. Just gets stuck on looking for backup for hours on end before informing me that backup failed. As with previous time capsule, the only way to fix this is to do a power cycle on the TC and it will then work for a few hours again before falling over.
I really am at my wits end with this. There is no reason that on a three day old TC I should be having these issues surely!? I have tried the suggestions on here with regards to having a short name for it with no spaces (MikeTC) but to no avail. I can hear it spinning up in front of me now. If I click backup now, the discs will spin up and the TC will come to life, but it cannot make a backup. I don't know if I have a file somewhere in the depths of my macbook that is preventing things from working, but it is driving me crazy!
I've made a short 2 mins video of my issue that I have sent to the repair shop and am awaiting their input, but if anyone has a bit of time spare to send some suggestions my way I would appreciate it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fs1-8R4mwVE
Thanks,
Mike

So, the answer to the question was that TC lasted until 2000 tonight when I got back in, turned the laptop back on and got the backup failed message. It's now stuck on looking for backup disc again and so on for the next however many hours until it gives up. I have included a netstat again from a couple of minutes ago incase it throws any light on the subject. It seems to be at the moment that when the laptop goes to sleep, when you wake it up again it will fall over. I don't switch my laptop off, just let it go to sleep. This seems to be what causes the thing to fall over - it cannot handle the laptop dozing off!
I am wondering if moving the TC upstairs and plugging it into my iMac via ethernet might help? Would the TC be able to run wirelessly like this - i.e. not plugged into my router via ethernet, or does it require an ethernet connection to work? My thinking is that by having it ethernet cabled directly into the iMac, it would surely not be able to lose where the disc was, although maybe I would still have the same problems with my laptop backing up?
Routing tables
Internet:
Destination        Gateway            Flags        Refs      Use   Netif Expire
default            skyrouter.home     UGSc           64        4     en0
10.37.129/24       link#9             UC              2        0   vnic1
10.37.129.255      ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff UHLWbI          0        2   vnic1
10.211.55/24       link#8             UC              2        0   vnic0
10.211.55.3        0:1c:42:5c:7c:f3   UHLWIi          1        2   vnic0   1188
10.211.55.255      ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff UHLWbI          0        2   vnic0
127                localhost          UCS             0        0     lo0
localhost          localhost          UH             12 1236293     lo0
169.254            link#4             UCS             1        0     en0
tc24ghz.local      24:a2:e1:e9:41:d1 UHLSW           0       16     en0
192.168.0          link#4             UCS             6        0     en0
skyrouter.home     7c:3:4c:a2:85:c5   UHLWIir        65     1572     en0   1199
unknown            2:f:b5:7:e9:90     UHLWI           0        0     en0   1000
livingrmappletv    9c:20:7b:ac:65:6f UHLWI           0      116     en0   1200
michaels-air       localhost          UHS             0       11     lo0
bedroomappletv     f4:f9:51:d9:8a:ef UHLWIi          7     2730     en0   1184
tc24ghz            24:a2:e1:e9:41:d1 UHLWIi          2      303     en0   1186
192.168.0.255      ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff UHLWbI          0        8     en0
Internet6:
Destination        Gateway            Flags         Netif Expire
localhost          localhost          UHL             lo0
fe80::%lo0         localhost          UcI             lo0
localhost          link#1             UHLI            lo0
fe80::%en0         link#4             UCI             en0
fe80::223:12ff:fe1 0:23:12:1a:76:58   UHLWI           en0
living-room-apple- 9c:20:7b:ac:65:6f UHLWIi          en0
tc24ghz.local      24:a2:e1:e9:41:d1 UHLWIi          en0
fe80::7e03:4cff:fe 7c:3:4c:a2:85:c5   UHLWI           en0
michaels-macbook-a b8:8d:12:18:4c:60 UHLI            lo0
ff01::%lo0         localhost          UmCI            lo0
ff01::%en0         link#4             UmCI            en0
ff02::%lo0         localhost          UmCI            lo0
ff02::%en0         link#4             UmCI            en0

Another fix for the resetting problem

I don't know if this has been posted, but I tried a few fixes and didn't found this one, so I hope it helps. I have only tried in Windows XP, but it should be similar for other OS
-Get your iPod in Disk mode.
-Connect it to your PC.
-On Windows Explorer, look for the iPod and open it.
-Delete iPod Control. It's a hidden folder. I read that the problem is caused by videos, so deleting only them should work.
-Open iTunes and restore iPod normally.
-It will reset and work as usually.
I have only tried this once, so please post your opinion to improve the guide :P

Nice ... I'll have to bookmark this in case it happens to me again. Sounds plausible at least, I'd like to hear what happens when others do this.

Time Machine completes once, then says "too large for backup disk"

Hello all,
I'm a very experienced, certified Apple tech, with over 15 years' experience working on Macs, having used them since 1984.
Client's iMac (27-inch, Late 2009)
Mac OS X 10.6.8, fully up to date
12 GB RAM
History: Internal 1 TB hard drive was failing. Mac out of warranty, so HDD was replaced with a new 1 TB hard drive.
Data was cloned from old drive using SuperDuper!
Now, Time Machine will not back up more than once.
The error reads:
"Time Machine could not complete the backup.
This backup is too large for the backup disk.
The backup requires 728.32 GB but only 568.57 GB are available."
The backup drive is 1.5x the size of the internal drive. There are no other hard drives attached that would be included in the backup.
Internal hard drive: 1 TB
Available: 392 GB
Used 608 GB
External backup drive 1.5 TB
Available 568.57 GB
Used 931.39 GB
I have tried many steps from the pondini.org site and other blogs and internet forums, including this one.
External hard drive has been reformatted/erased several times.
We have disabled indexing, deleted the Spotlight index, and re-enabled indexing.
I can't determine why the Time Machine backup is 1.5 times the size of the data on the internal boot drive.
This was never a problem before the internal hard drive was replaced, so I think it's related to that.
I had the client install BackupLoupe. Her computer is not at our office, but I can get more info from her if needed.
If there's something obvious I'm missing, let me know.
Thanks in advance,
Dave

That's been done, and here are the results:
July 13 6:22am
Starting standard backup
Backing up to: /Volumes/a***r/Backups.backupdb
Node requires deep traversal:/ reason:must scan subdirs|
No pre-backup thinning needed: 678.09 GB requested (including padding),
831.97 GB available
Copied 122.0 GB of 564.1 GB, 246633 of 523955 items
Copied 294.4 GB of 564.1 GB, 320260 of 523955 items
CoreEndianFlipData: error -4940 returned for rsrc type open (id 128, length
12, native = no)
CoreEndianFlipData: error -4940 returned for rsrc type open (id 128, length
12, native = no)
Copied 444.4 GB of 564.1 GB, 453652 of 523955 items
Copied 523956 files (554.8 GB) from volume Macintosh HD.
Starting post-backup thinning
No post-back up thinning needed: no expired backups exist
Backup completed successfully.
July 13 6:42am
Starting standard backup
Backing up to: /Volumes/a***r/Backups.backupdb
Node requires deep traversal:/ reason:must scan subdirs|
Starting pre-backup thinning: 678.15 GB requested (including padding),
268.78 GB available
No expired backups exist - deleting oldest backups to make room
Deleted backup /Volumes/a***r/Backups.backupdb/iMac/2013-07-13-021422: 831.05 GB now available
Pre-backup thinning completed successfully: 1 backups were deleted
Backup date range was shortened: oldest backup is now Jul 13, 2013
Copied 69.2 GB of 564.1 GB, 228921 of 523955 items
Copied 231.8 GB of 564.1 GB, 294537 of 523955 items
CoreEndianFlipData: error -4940 returned for rsrc type open (id 128, length
12, native = no)
CoreEndianFlipData: error -4940 returned for rsrc type open (id 128, length
12, native = no)
Copied 379.7 GB of 564.1 GB, 409687 of 523955 items
Copied 543.7 GB of 564.1 GB, 517846 of 523955 items
Copied 523967 files (554.8 GB) from volume Macintosh HD.
July 13 1102 am
Starting standard backup
Backing up to: /Volumes/a***r/Backups.backupdb
Node requires deep traversal:/ reason:must scan subdirs|
Starting pre-backup thinning: 678.15 GB requested (including padding),
268.78 GB available
No expired backups exist - deleting oldest backups to make room
Deleted backup /Volumes/a***r/Backups.backupdb/iMac/2013-07-13-021422: 831.05 GB now available
Pre-backup thinning completed successfully: 1 backups were deleted
Backup date range was shortened: oldest backup is now Jul 13, 2013
Copied 69.2 GB of 564.1 GB, 228921 of 523955 items
Copied 231.8 GB of 564.1 GB, 294537 of 523955 items
CoreEndianFlipData: error -4940 returned for rsrc type open (id 128, length
12, native = no)
CoreEndianFlipData: error -4940 returned for rsrc type open (id 128, length
12, native = no)
Copied 379.7 GB of 564.1 GB, 409687 of 523955 items
Copied 543.7 GB of 564.1 GB, 517846 of 523955 items
Copied 523967 files (554.8 GB) from volume Macintosh HD.
Backup completed successfully.
July 13 307pm
Starting standard backup
Backing up to: /Volumes/a***r/Backups.backupdb
Node requires deep traversal:/ reason:must scan subdirs|
Starting pre-backup thinning: 679.38 GB requested (including padding),
267.58 GB available
No expired backups exist - deleting oldest backups to make room
Deleted backup /Volumes/a***r/Backups.backupdb/iMac/2013-07-13-062230: 829.87 GB now available
Pre-backup thinning completed successfully: 1 backups were deleted
Backup date range was shortened: oldest backup is now Jul 13, 2013
Copied 80.4 GB of 564.1 GB, 235855 of 523977 items
Copied 218.1 GB of 564.1 GB, 289940 of 523977 items
CoreEndianFlipData: error -4940 returned for rsrc type open (id 128, length
12, native = no)
CoreEndianFlipData: error -4940 returned for rsrc type open (id 128, length
12, native = no)
Copied 347.4 GB of 564.1 GB, 395287 of 523977 items
Stopping backupd to allow ejection of backup destination disk!
Copied 395788 files (353.7 GB) from volume Macintosh HD.
Backup canceled.
July 14 11:02am
Starting standard backup
Backing up to: /Volumes/a***r/Backups.backupdb
Node requires deep traversal:/ reason:must scan subdirs|
Starting pre-backup thinning: 680.07 GB requested (including padding),
470.83 GB available
No expired backups exist - deleting oldest backups to make room
Error: backup disk is full - all 0 possible backups were removed, but space
is still needed.
Backup Failed: unable to free 680.07 GB needed space
Backup failed with error: Not enough available disk space on the target
volume.
July 14 12.48pm
Starting standard backup
Backing up to: /Volumes/a***r/Backups.backupdb
Node requires deep traversal:/ reason:must scan subdirs|
Starting pre-backup thinning: 680.07 GB requested (including padding),
470.83 GB available
No expired backups exist - deleting oldest backups to make room
Error: backup disk is full - all 0 possible backups were removed, but space
is still needed.
Backup Failed: unable to free 680.07 GB needed space
Backup failed with error: Not enough available disk space on the target
volume.

Time Machine backup too large for backup disk

My Mac hard drive is 750GB (25GB free).
My LaCie external dedicated backup hard drive is 1TB (342GB free).
I am now getting the error "Time Machine couldn't complete the backup" "This backup is too large for the backup disk"
I thought once my initial backup of 750GB happened, it would be incremental backups from then on (with old changes betting deleted as space was needed for new changes).
Is this not the case? Do I need a much larger backup drive or something?
Thanks much for any help.

It's true but Time Machine has also to make complete backups again in case you want to restore your Mac with a more recent Time Machine backup.
Clearly the external drive you have doesn't have enough storage to back up your Mac. As you have about 725 GB of used space, I recommend you to get at least a 3 or 4 TB external drive to make backups, and even with this, don't think you will have more than four backups. Another thing you can do is to remove folders from the backup in System Preferences > Time Machine > Options

Another "Looking for Backup Disk" problem

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