Backup disk could no tbe mounted

I own a MacBook Pro and an iMac. Since last week, every time Time Machine tryed to backup my MacBook Pro files, it shows a message "The Backup Disk could not be mounted". In my iMac, everything works just fine.
Thanks very much.

I am having a very similar problem with my MacBook Pro and MacBook. Only within the last week have I started getting error messages from Time Machine saying "network backup volume can not be mounted because of a problem with the network username or password." I don't understand why this would suddenly start happening after several months of successful backups. When I go to TM preferences and enter the password, it tells me it's incorrect. What should I do?

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The backup disk could not be mounted

I get this message when after trying to back up my Mac Book Pro to my Time Capsule. It was working great until a week ago. I have tried just about everything (resetting the TC, changing passwords, changing TC name, etc). Aside from checking it out the window is there any other suggestion?

Is there any way to go back to the factory settings including wiping the memory clean?
It's a two step process.
Step 1 is erasing the disk. Open AirPort Utility, click on Manual Setup, select the Disks icon at the top of pane and then click on the Disks tab just below and choose Erase.
Step 2 would be a hard reset as follows:
Pull the power plug from the TC
Hold in the reset button and continue to hold it in while you plug power back in
Release the reset button after approximately 10 seconds

Backups failing with error 19: the backup disk could not be resolved, or there was a problem mounting it

Hello all,
Doubt this issue relates to a recent and ugly issue but sharing anyways (resolved thanks to a user here: LaPastenague)
Time Capsule won't backup if Modem (Motorola SB6121) attached
This was on Feb 10th resolved. Few days later I upgraded to Yosemite. Backups were working fine since.
Yesterday I happen to notice my last backup was 5 days ago. I looked in the console logs and saw:
2/25/15 3:55:06.127 PM com.apple.backupd[2777]: Attempting to mount network destination URL: afp://Paul;AUTH=SRP@Time%20Capsule._afpovertcp._tcp.local./Data
2/25/15 3:55:17.778 PM com.apple.backupd[2777]: NAConnectToServerSync failed with error: 2 (No such file or directory) for url: afp://Paul;AUTH=SRP@Time%20Capsule._afpovertcp._tcp.local./Data
2/25/15 3:55:17.792 PM com.apple.backupd[2777]: Backup failed with error 19: The backup disk could not be resolved, or there was a problem mounting it.
2/25/15 3:57:18.808 PM com.apple.prefs.backup.remoteservice[2021]: Attempt to use XPC with a MachService that has HideUntilCheckIn set. This will result in unpredictable behavior: com.apple.backupd.status.xpc
I called Apple. Their front line was clueless. He suggested resetting the TC (latest "tower" model btw") which then a backup kicked off YEAH
But the next hour it failed
Called Apple again, this time to Sr Advisor. He suggested factory reset of the TC and set up again. Also first backup worked then rest failed
Third call to Apple useless also. He was asking questions I didn't feel relevant. He also was asking me to reset the TC which I told him was done 2 hours prior. He asked me to reboot which I could NOT at that time.
I begged him to collect data to submit to engineering, which will take days to get a reply.
So I thought I would throw this out to the community....
TC Is NEW (replaced from last issue). Mac is 8 months old (iMac 27"), Os is Yosemite, TC also new (latest model)
Thanks...

Yosemite is problematic on two fronts.. Networking and Time Machine.. so the combo of doing both with a Time Capsule is like bugs on bugs.
Here is my standard list.. but your problem maybe difficult to resolve.. and my suggestion is simple.. until Apple get their act together and fix TM.. buy Carbon Copy Cloner and use that for your backup. It is solid and reliable.. even better if you use USB drive plugged into the computer and do a bootable clone.. because then you have a backup that is able to be tested for full functionality 2min after the end of the backup.
This also starts from a factory reset.. but the reason for it is to change the configuration which is much more easily handled with factory reset to begin.. the instructions are there.. because this is my standard reply.. this is not uncommon!!
Factory reset universal
Power off the TC.. ie pull the power cord or power off at the wall.. wait 10sec.. hold in the reset button.. be gentle.. power on again still holding in reset.. and keep holding it in for another 10sec. You may need some help as it is hard to both hold in reset and apply power. It will show success by rapidly blinking the front led. Release the reset.. and wait a couple of min for the TC to reset and come back with factory settings. If the front LED doesn’t blink rapidly you missed it and simply try again. The reset is fairly fragile in these.. press it so you feel it just click and no more.. I have seen people bend the lever or even break it. I use a toothpick as tool.
N.B. None of your files on the hard disk of the TC are deleted.. this simply clears out the router settings of the TC.
Setup the TC again.
ie Start from a factory reset. No files are lost on the hard disk doing this.
Then redo the setup from the computer with Yosemite.
1. Use very short names.. NOT APPLE RECOMMENDED names. No spaces and pure alphanumerics.
eg TCgen5 and TCwifi for basestation and wireless respectively.
Even better if the issue is more wireless use TC24ghz and TC5ghz with fixed channels as this also seems to help stop the nonsense. But this can be tried in the second round.
2. Use all passwords that also comply but can be a bit longer. ie 8-20 characters mixed case and numbers.. no non-alphanumerics.
3. Ensure the TC always takes the same IP address.. you will need to do this on the main router using dhcp reservation.. or a bit more complex setup using static IP in the TC. But this is important.. having IP drift all over the place when Yosemite cannot remember its own name for 5 min after a reboot makes for poor networking. If the TC is main router it will not be an issue.
4. Check your share name on the computer is not changing.. make sure it also complies with the above.. short no spaces and pure alphanumeric.. but this change will mess up your TM backup.. so be prepared to do a new full backup. Sorry.. keep this one for second round if you want to avoid a new backup.
5. Mount the TC disk in the computer manually.
In Finder, Go, Connect to server from the top menu,
Type in SMB://192.168.0.254 (or whatever the TC ip is which you have now made static. As a router by default it is 10.0.1.1 and I encourage people to stick with that unless you know what you are doing).
You can use name.. SMB://TCgen5.local where you replace TCgen5 with your TC name.. local is the default domain of the TC and doesn't change.
However names are not so easy as IP address.. nor as reliable. At least not in Yosemite they aren't. The domain can also be an issue if you are not plugged or wireless directly to the TC.
6. Make sure IPv6 is set to link-local only in the computer. For example wireless open the network preferences, wireless and advanced / TCP/IP.. and fix the IPv6. to link-local only.
There is a lot more jiggery pokery you can try but the above is a good start.. if you find it still unreliable.. don't be surprised.
You might need to do some more work on the Mac itself. eg Reset the PRAM.. has helped some people. Clean install of the OS is also helpful if you upgrade installed.
Tell us how you go.
Someone posted a solution.. See this thread.
Macbook can't find Time Capsule anymore
Start from the bottom and work up.. What I list here is good network practice changes but I have avoided Yosemites bug heaven.
This user has had success and a few others as well.
RáNdÓm GéÉzÁ
Yosemite has serious DNS bug in the networking application.. here is the lets say more arcane method of fixing it by doing a network transplant from mavericks.
http://arstechnica.com/apple/2015/01/why-dns-in-os-x-10-10-is-broken-and-what-yo u-can-do-to-fix-it/

Time Machine Contradiction: "The backup volume could not be mounted"

(This is only one wireless issue I've had this year, but I'm trying to keep this brief -- hoping clarity will instigate some help.)
Recently I bought a Western Digital 500GB drive to go with my AEBS. I was intent upon using the drive as an Airdisk for Time Machine backups, but it isn't working. (I also have the WD drive partitioned in halves, but there is no reason to believe that is an issue.) When wired, the disk backs-up quickly and easily. After the initial backup, and attempting to do so wirelessly, however, it doesn't work. I get the message: "The backup volume could not be mounted."
And there's the contradiction: the disk is mounted, I'm looking at the mounted disk as I type -- I even have no problems reading and writing from the Airdisks independent of Time Machine. I have all the latest software updates and am running Leopard. I've been going at this for hours, but I would really appreciate some help.
Here are some of the things I've tried:
-checking all connections
-erasing the Airdisk and starting from scratch
-repairing disk permissions(on my internal harddrive, the one I boot on, not the WD)
-attempting to "Connect to Server" in the Finder, only to get this:
And if you look, you can see that while the Airdisks are there, they are grey and can't be selected. It
never becomes possible to select them, and "Connecting to Server" never connects.
-I've toggled every Airport Utility setting to no avail(I will admit I might have missed something though).
-I've done everything I can think of
-banged my head into walls...
-and pulled my hair out, but nothing.
I really would like to get this working. This is my worst Apple experience yet, and it is literally making me sick. You will be my God if you can help me with this. Let me know if you need anymore information. Thanks in advance.
<Edited by Moderator>

Okay, so it seems you need to do initial Time-Machine-ing over WiFi if you intend to use it that way. Why nobody at Apple mentioned this baffles me; why this is even a problem, makes me wonder if Time Machine went through adequate testing.
So my problem is solved! I am my own God!
<Edited by Moderator>

Time Machine - "The backup volume could not be mounted" alert

This is a heads-up for anybody suffering from this error when performing Time Machine backups:
"The backup volume could not be mounted"
I had been using this facility fine for months until a few days ago when backing up mysteriously failed. The Apple support KB articles didn't help (eg, reset time machine drive setup, etc).
Apple Support didn't want to help me because they don't "support backups over networks" - sheesh! What happened to "Think Different!"??
Drag and drop your SPARSEBUNDLE file from your backup drive to the Disk Utility.
Perform a Verify Disk operation by clicking on the button.
A normal backup should be able to perform this procedure, but a corrupted one won't.
When trying to perform this on my backup, the Disk Utility would simply return to the original screen without performing anything a second after pressing the button.
In this case, I found deleting the old backup file and starting from scratch restored my computers ability to perform automated Time Machine backups.
I have concluded that the backup file became corrupted in some way - several previous posts have pointed to systems going into standby while backing up files as the cause of this.
Hopefully someone finds this useful one day.

There is a Time Machine preferences file at
<your startup drive root>/Library/Preferences/com.apple.TimeMachine.plist
Note: This is be main Library folder, not the one in your user folder.
You might try moving that to the Desktop so that the system creates a new one.

Im getting an error message "the backup volume could not be mounted"

I'm getting an error message "the backup volume could not be mounted"

Is this a new message to a drive that has been ok?
Or are you trying to connect a new disk? If so it is wrongly formatted.
Or is this a TC.. have you tried rebooting or resetting it?

My time machine back up failed because it says the backup volume could not be mounted

My time machine back up failed because it says the backup volume could not be mounted. What does that mean and how do I fix it so that it backs up?

A whole lot about Time Machine for help with TM problems. Also you can select Mac Help from the Finder's Help menu and search for "time machine" to locate articles on how to use TM. See also Mac 101- Time Machine.
Use Disk Utility to repair the TM drive. If that doesn't help, and you don't find help from the above, then erase the drive and start a new TM backup.

Time Machine Error - The backup image could not be mounted

Bought two new MacBooks.
Put first MacBook on LAN connected to TC.
1. Selected Use Time machine Backup
Selected TC
It then sat there for 3 hours "Checking Time Machine Backup.....
The only way out was to power off and power on again
Did 1 again, and again , and again
By now the two iMacs are now reporting either the backup image is Read Only followed by The backup image could not be mounted!!!!
So it seems that the two new MacBooks cannot use TM backups and c]have corrupted our backups!!
Tried calling Apple Care, which I paid for both MacBooks - but they had closed. That was a very useful £400 spent!!!!!!
Arrrrrrgh I had just been bragging about how easy Macs made things
Very frustrating
If I cannot get these going tonight they are back in the box and back to the store in the morning

OK
Called Applecare - took out the £195 Applecare option when I purchased the MacBook.
The AppleCare guy told me said first:-
The TimeCapsule is broken take it in for repairs.
I pointed out the TC was working fine.
Then :-
After explaining again that the Macbook had been sitting for several hours saying it had 1 minute to go before finishing.
"My supervisor says Macs take longer to do things than PCs, give it another two hours then if it still hasn't finished it's last minute call us back.
I challenged him on this he put me on hold again for 10 mins and eventually hung up on me.
That was why I paid and extra £195 for telephone support!!!
Called back again and very helpful guy walked me through some options and escalated to Tier 2, couldn't get anywhere so the only thing left now is to return the MacBooks to the store.
It Appears that Macbooks are incompatible with the Time Capsule.
Never mind Windows 7 is coming soon and I am hearing good things about it.

Time Machine error "The backup disk could not be found"

I use Time Capsule with Time Machine, Lion OS and manage to setup successfully. However after I on it for few hours, there is backup error. Time Machine error message "The backup disk could not be found." But the internet wifi is working normally.
To solve this issue I have to power off and on it again, then the disk can be detected. But after few hours same thing happen again.
Is it a hardware faulty or sometime that cause the Time Capusle harddisk to sleep after sometime?

I have this exact same problem. When I restart the Time Capsule I can then start backups normally, but it requires manual intervention. That's dissapointing because Time Machine and Time Capsule are supposed to be an automatic, worry free backup. I have to restart the Time Capsule frequently. Annoyed.

Time Capsule "backup disk could not be found"

I occaisonally receive an error message on my Macbook Pro and iMac, both running OS 10.8 that my time capsule "backup disk could not be found." I can access the Time Capsule with Airport Utility, can see my backups in Time Capsule-it just won't back up. It doesn't matter whether I am connected via wifi or ethernet cable. I have had to basically disconnect and then go through a complete backup when this happens, which kind of makes Time Capsule useless for a real backup plan Any suggestions?

I recently came accross an instruction to reduce the number of characters in the Time Capusle backup disk name. After a year of having to restart my Tiem Capsule to get my MacBook Pro to backup, it now seems to do so consistently.

Backup disk image cannot be mounted.

I have tried and tried to get Time Machine up and running with no success. It has given me several error messages...the latest of which is "The backup disk image could not be mounted."
I can see the disk in my "shared" finder window, make changes but every time it tries to backup, I get an error. It DID backup once when i first got it but have not been able to do so since. I have restored to factory settings and tried all kinds of suggestions from posts...can anyone help?

Welcome to the discussion area, Stacie!
There a number of possible reasons why you are having difficulties, so it may take a number of steps to try to get this solved.
First, let's make sure there are no permission errors on your Hard Drive. To do this:
Note the name of the hard drive on your computer. If you have not changed the location or the name, it will be at the upper right of your screen and the name will be Macintosh HD
Open Hard Drive > Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility
On the left side of the Disk Utility window, click to highlight the drive that has exactly the same name as your hard drive on your main computer screen.
Now, look for a button that says "Repair Disk Permissions". Click that button. It will probably take 30-45 minutes for the check to complete.
When the process is complete, restart your computer.
Click the System Preferences (looks like a gear) icon on the dock and then click Time Machine
Click the name of your Time Capsule to highlight it
Click Use for Backups
Wait a few minutes, then click the clock shaped Time Capsule icon at the top of your screen and click Back Up Now.
You will probably see "Preparing...." for a long time. Let it run, even if it goes for 45-60 minutes. If it still says "Preparing" after 2 hours" click Stop Backup Now and post back for more steps.

Time Machine Error, backup disk couldn't be mount

I have a USB drive plug to my Airport Extreme and I use it for Time Machine. Today I had a message saying: "Latest Backup:Failed"
Time Machine Error
The Backup disk image could not be mounted.
The hard disk is there, I can drag, drop, copy, delete files on that disk. There's is a big file call Serge'siMac_001ec205f583.sparsebundle, the file does not seem corrupted, I could probably drag it to the Desktop. How can I mount the backup disk.
Serge

I had the same problem and found out how to fix it
You can check the whole process here in a post I wrote for the Hardmac blog (it's rather long...):
How I saved my corrupted Time Machine sparsebundle image…

Time Machine and update to 10.5.3: The backup volume could not be mounted

I have the same problem reported by many others. Read all the posts, tried all the suggestions and nothing is working.
Western Digital 1Tb MyBook connected to an Airport Extreme. I can see the sparsebundle file created previously, open it and see the previous backups, and even Time Machine can see them. It just won't back up to the drive after the update from 10.5.2 to 10.53. No problem, however, having Time Machine backup to a FireWire WD MyBook connected to the iMac after updating to 10.5.3.
I hope Apple is keeping track of this issue. It was working really nice and I was impressed how easy it was to set up.

Having same problem here, 17" 1.67Ghz Powerbook G4, after update to 10.5.3 I get "Backup could not be mounted" with Time Capsule(w/ user accounts).
Attempted, to no avail:
  Deselecting Drive.  Would not let me reselect. Able to after deleting keychain items.
  Restarting with no drive selected, then reselecting.
  Repaired system permissions.
  Mounted Sparse image, and repaired image.
  Choosing backup now
When the sparse image is mounted, i am able to enter it through time machine's view other backup disks, so i think the image is fine.
the console lists the following entries:
5/29/08 5/29 | 11:32:10 PM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[148] Backup requested by user
5/29/08 5/29 | 11:32:10 PM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[148] Starting standard backup
5/29/08 5/29 | 11:32:10 PM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[148] Network mountpoint /Volumes/sean not owned by backupd... remounting
5/29/08 5/29 | 11:32:12 PM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[148] Failed to remount network volume.
5/29/08 5/29 | 11:32:17 PM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[148] Backup failed with error: 19
Iv'e tried everything ive seen recommended, does anyone have any ideas?
Thanks, Sean

What can I do when I see "The backup disk image cannot be mounted"

I ran the time machine. Then, "preparing backup" showed up for a long time. After that, a window pop out: "Time machine error, The disk image cannot be mounted" What is disk image? What can I do (I can't back up anything)
P.S. I use time capsule for backup. there were no problem on connection

I suggest reposting in the TimeCapsule forum here:
http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=1253
This may not be a TimeMachine problem at all but something else.

The network backup disk could not be accessed because there was a problem with the network username or password.

Hardware Information:
          MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro6,2
          1 2.66 GHz Intel Core i7 CPU: 2 cores
          4 GB RAM
Video Information:
          NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M - VRAM: 512 MB
          Intel HD Graphics - VRAM: 288 MB
Startup Items:
          HP Trap Monitor - Path: /Library/StartupItems/HP Trap Monitor
System Software:
          Mac OS X 10.6.8 (10K549) - Uptime: up 0:0:48:37
Disk Information:
          TOSHIBA MK5055GSXF disk0 : (465.76 GB)
                    (null) (disk0s1) <not mounted>: 200 MB
MacBook Pro HD (disk0s2) /: 465.44 GB (440.47 GB free)
          MATSHITADVD-R   UJ-898
Have tried…
re-setting Time Capsule (soft and hard) and power disconnect
re-setting modem
changing passwords in all relative locations
deleteing file://localhost/Library/Preferences/com.apple.TimeMachine.plist
deleteing all mention of Time Capsule in Keychain Access
running KeyChain First Aid (no problem found)
Restarting computer
Time Capsule has a green light, other MacBook Pro backs up OK but this machine continues to receive above error message and will not Enter Time Machine producing the error message Your Time Machine backup disk can’t be found. Maybe I need to do something over or in a particular order? All help is appreciated!

With the TC plugged by ethernet into the computer.. still in full isolation to the network and with factory reset.. you can do another to be sure.
Please open the network preferences.. and check the IP the ethernet is getting from the TC.
It should be 10.0.1.2
I set it to this manually
Don't worry about all the rest.
If you open airport utility can it see the TC?
YES
If not then I think you have a major network issue on the computer.
Assuming you can see the TC in airport utility.. go to manual setup and the disk tab. Does the disk register any issues.. SMART should show it has verified.
Shows verified
Now go to finder..
Mount the drive manually via the top menu.. Go.. Connect to server.
And type in the address.. SMB://10.0.1.1
Did NOT work, however 10.0.1.2 did
That should discover the drive and ask you for credentials which after a factory reset will just be public as the password. The drive should mount and you can then see it in finder.
Yes, but I have been able to do this with the IP address being set automatically
I would deliberately use SMB. The other alternative is AFP://10.0.1.1 but that seems to be more problematic at times..
Once mounted point TM to the drive and see if it can find it and start the backup.. if it fails I think you have need to use the A5 in pondini's troubleshooting and see what you can do.
It failed and A5 makes NO difference.
A drive that won't mount is obviously not going to work.
Pondini is welcome to make comments... sometimes my Mac terminology gets a bit loose.. !! My recent convert status is visible .. !!
My other solutions.. since these are fairly old products.. the TC is more than 3years in all likelihood so outside warranty.. get a USB drive and plug it into the Mac and use TM to backup to that. If that works.. I would erase the hard disk in the TC and start over with both computers.. you will need to backup the other computer before you erase of course. Erasing and starting over does seem to help.
If there are no other suggestions, I guess I will try erasing and starting over. Thank you both for ALL your advice.

Backup disk could no tbe mounted

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