Backup Volume cannot be mounted

Time machine stopped working for me back in July. I've looked at every post and tried nearly everything, and I cannot get it working again. The error through the Time Machine pref pane is "The Backup volume cannot be mounted." The errors in the console are the following:
Sep 4 23:19:25 tesla /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[50182]: Backup requested by user
Sep 4 23:19:25 tesla /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[50182]: Starting standard backup
Sep 4 23:19:25 tesla /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[50182]: Network mountpoint /Volumes/Backup not owned by backupd... remounting
Sep 4 23:19:26 tesla /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[50182]: Failed to remount network volume.
Sep 4 23:19:31 tesla /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[50182]: Backup failed with error: 19
This is a network volume. It's a 750GB firewire drive, formatted HFS+ with a GUID partition table connected to an iMac. The iMac can back up just fine to it. My MBP cannot. It worked before.
It appears it is failing to remount the drive as root rather than myself, as backupd runs as root. Others are having the same problem, and I've seen no resolution for this particular issue. Is Apple even aware of it? Do they even read the discussion forums?

Paul,
Give these ideas some condsideration:
First, it is important to distinguish this error message from another, similar Time Machine error that states “The backup volume could not be found”. This is important as the causes and cures for these two errors can be very different.
Give each topic separate consideration. If one does not resolve your issue, move on the next one.
*Time Machine Has Lost Its’ Backup Disk*
If Time Machine was NOT setup to recognize a hard disk for backup, and “Back up now” was selected from the Time Machine Dock icon, an error would report “No backup volume has been selected. To select a backup volume, open . . “ The Console log would report:
+Backup failed with error: 17+
But if Time Machine HAD BEEN setup to use a specific disk for backups, but if had lost its’ connection to the drive, it would report “The backup volume could not be mounted”. The Console log would say:
+FSMatchAliasBulk returned -35 while resolving alias to backup target+
+Backup failed with error: 19+
When you check the Time Machine preferences you may see the name of your backup disk greyed-out and a generic hard drive icon beside it. More than likely this means Time Machine has lost is physical connection to the drive. Either the drive is not plugged in, it’s not turned ON, the drives’ cable is bad, the drives internal controller has failed, or the drive has a sleep function that is preventing it from waking when a backup is called for.
*Airport Has Been Turned Off* (For Time Capsule / AirDisk Users) #
Look and the Airport menu at the top of the screen. Does it no longer display the radiating bands of wireless signal strength? The Airport has been turned off on this computer.
Go to System Preferences.
Select Network.
Click “Turn Airport On”
Now try backing up.
*File Sharing Has Been Disabled* (For Time Capsule / AirDisk Users) #
Launch Airport Utility.
Click "Manual Setup".
Select "Disks" in the tool bar at top of window.
Click "File Sharing".
Verify that "Enable file sharing" is checked.
If not, check it, click “Update”.
Once the Time Capsule has finished restarting, close Airport Utility and try backing up again.
*Password Has Changed/Become Corrupted* (For Time Capsule / AirDisk Users) #
[Mac OS X 10.5.3 or later: Time Machine - "Backup volume could not be mounted" after changing network volume's password]
*Proper Computer Name* #
Make sure your computer has a proper name. Go to System Preferences --> Sharing. Time Machine needs to differentiate your computer from others on your network (i.e. "Bills MacBook" or "Office iMac"). If the "Computer Name" field is blank, create a name. Realize that if this step is necessary, you will likely have to start the Time Machine backup process over again and do another full initial backup.
According to THIS article [http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1760], Time Machine may experience problems if your computer name includes certain characters. Make sure the computer name only includes ASCII characters from the following set.
(0123456789abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ)
Once a change in the computer name occurs, you should stop and restart Sharing on the affected computer. Uncheck and then recheck Sharing in the Services list on the left.
Also, if the name of your backup devise contains any special characters (like an apostrophe) consider removing them and trying a backup again.
Let is know if any of the ideas above helped.
Cheers!

Similar Messages

My time machine keeps saying the backup disk cannot be mounted. how do I fix it?

my time machine keeps saying that the backup disk cannot be mounted. we cannot figure out why this is happening. We have a 500GB time capsule /wireless router and using a Macbook . any ideas?

Try deleting your iPod Photo Cache folder. See:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ts1314

Time Machine backup volume will not mount

Once I goy Time Machine up and running over almost two years ago, I have had little cause for concern. A few lengthy backups here and there but I have been able to restore without any problems whatsoever. It has been extremely useful many times.
A couple of days ago, I noticed that the backup volume was not mounted (I backup to one of my four internal drives) and launched Time Machine. I got the error:
The storage location for Time Machine backups can't be found.
When I run Disk Utility the generic disk icon is in the left hand pane but not the volume. None of the tasks are available except Erase and Partition - there is no option to Verify Disk, Repair Disk, Verify Disk Permissions or Repair Disk Permissions.
According to my logs, the last backup at 18:12 on 20th November was successful. I didn't notice that the volume had not mounted the until the next day.
I'm very concerned that I have lost almost two years of data security. Is there any way I can repair the disk or recover the backups?
Thanks.

If Disk Utility can't see any partitions, it's not good.
First, turn TM off.
Then try ejecting, disconnecting and powering the drive off for a few minutes, then reattaching it. Then try again with Disk Utility. If still no help, the drive is likely dead.
There's a very small chance that +Disk Warrior+ (version 4.1.1 or 4.2 only), or another heavy-duty disk repair app can fix it, if you already have one. But I wouldn't suggest spending the $$ for one unless you think you'll need it in the future -- DW is about $100.
Most likely, your disk is dead. There's a small chance that a +Data Recovery+ app such as +Data Rescue+ can recover some of the data. Check via Google, VersionTracker.com, or MacUpdate.com for +Data Recovery.+ There are services and apps, none cheap. Some of the apps have a free demo or test mode that will tell you if there's anything that can be recovered, and perhaps actually recover a single file; then you pay for it and recover whatever else can be recovered. You'll need another external disk to receive the recovered items.
You won't get the normal Time Machine folder structure, though, just "raw" files. Even if you do recover files, you'll most likely have to figure out what goes where and copy them to the right places manually.
So I'd suggest immediately getting a new drive and doing a new TM backup to it, so you have something. Put a second partition on it that you can use for the recovered files if and when you do that.
If those are your only backups, I'd recommend getting a second external, perhaps a portable one, and using CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper to make a full "bootable clone" to it, then take it to your safe deposit box, workplace, relative's house, or other secure location. And/or, you might want to look at Mozy, Carbonite, or other online backup services.

TIME MACHINE EXTERNAL DRIVE BACKUP DISK CANNOT BE MOUNTED

Hello,
Last week i brought a WD MY BOOK LIVE NETWORK DRIVE.
I hv 2 Windows PC and 1 MACBOOK. All data residing on these 3 computers i intend to back up.
One Windows PC i was able to successfully connect, 2nd Windows PC not yet connected.
Macbook connected on teh first day of WD installation. After that day it gives an error "THE BACKUP DISK IMAGE COULD NOT BE MOUNTED".
I hv tried various methods to rectify this error as discussed in many forums, but none seem to be helping.
Can anyone suggest how should i solve this.
I called WD, they told me to call APPLE as its a time machine problem.
I call APPLE and they are asking me to call WD.
i AM USING MACBOOK - MAC OSX VERSION 10.5.8

My book world
Check here
http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/8422/p/247,264/c/0
I just solve the problem after 45 minutes with the lervel 3 WD support. You have to return to firmware 1.02.06 since the 1.02.10 version has a network card driver error and in some configurations (a lot more) the disk just stay connected for a couple of minutes. To do that you have to manually return to old firmware but WD do not has the file as public so you have to call them. One way to stay connected a bit more is making a permanent ping to the disk.

The backup volume could not be found

Spent a fair amount of time on the phone with Apple last night trying to get my Macbook Air to work with Time Machine/Time Capsule.
Symptoms of my problem included Time Machine Preferences giving the error "The backup volume could not be found"
Console messages complaining about not being able to find the MAC address for machine:
(console is accessed by clicking Go -> Utilities -> Console from the Finder, and then selecting All Messages)
11/7/08 11:06:13 AM System Preferences[123] *Time Machine failed to get MAC address for machine.*
11/7/08 11:13:09 AM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[1603] Starting standard backup
11/7/08 11:13:09 AM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[1603] Network mountpoint /Volumes/Time Capsule not owned by backupd... remounting
11/7/08 11:13:09 AM kernel AFP_VFS afpfs_mount: /Volumes/Time Capsule-1, pid 1604
11/7/08 11:13:09 AM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[1603] Network volume mounted at: /Volumes/Time Capsule-1
11/7/08 11:13:09 AM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[1603] *Volume at path /Volumes/Time Capsule-1 does not appear to be the correct backup volume for this computer. (Cookies do not match)*
11/7/08 11:13:09 AM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[1603] Backup requested due to disk attach
11/7/08 11:13:14 AM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[1603] *Backup failed with error: 18*
And my only network interface was showing up as en1 (instead of en0). You can check this by using Network Utilities:
- On the Finder main menu bar click Go -> Utilities -> Network Utilities
If "Network Interface (en0)" is not an option in the drop down list under "Please select a network interface for information" (mine was showing as en1), then the following steps will probably solve your problem:
1) Enable the root user
- Open the finder
- On the Finder main menu bar click Go -> Utilities -> Directory Utility
- On the menu bar click Edit -> Enable Root User
- set a password (they suggested using the same password as is used for the main user account)
2) Login as the newly enabled root user
- Click Log Out... from the Apple menu on the main menu bar
- select "Other" at the login screen
- enter the user name "root" and the password you set in step 1
3) Drag Preferences folder to the desktop
- open the finder, and click on Macintosh HD and then Library
- drag the Preferences folder onto the desktop
4) Restart the computer
- Click Restart from the Apple menu on the main menu bar
After this, the Network utility should show "Network Interface (en0)", and Time Machine should work.

Jackson,
See this article for the reasons why you see "Time Capsule-1 does not appear to be the right volume..."
[http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=8116036&#8116036]
As for the error message you are getting, here are several reasons why you would see this message...
*_"Backup Volume Could Not Be Found"_*
First, it is important to distinguish this error message from another, similar Time Machine error that states, “The backup volume could not be mounted”. This is important as the causes and cures for these two errors can be very different.
*Reselect Your Time Machine Disk*
(http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1329)
In the Finder, go up to the "Go" menu and select "Connect to Server".
Click the "Browse" button at the dialogue box.
In the Network window that opens, do you see your TM drive?
Double click it to mount the drive.
Now let's try to reselect it for Time Machine use.
Go to System Preferences --> Time Machine.
Click the "Change Disk..." button.
Select "None" and click "Stop Backing Up".
Now click "Choose Backup Disk" and reselect your drive again.
Close System Preferences and try backing-up again.
On the other hand, does your Time Machine drive NOT appear at all? Is it appearing on your desktop? If it is still connected try disconnecting the cable, waiting a few seconds and then reconnecting the cable. Does the drive mount on the desktop? Try initiating a backup now.
*Disk Fails to Wake From Sleep*
“If your external HD has a sleep function that does not wake for Time Machine backups. Time Machine will alert you that "The backup volume could not be found", and backups will not be made.” [http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1337]
*3rd-Party Disk Utilities* #
Many external hard disks come with software for maintaining/monitoring hard disk activities. It may have come on a separate CD or been installed on the drive itself. If these programs have been installed they may interfere with Time Machine backups, generate erratic behavior, or cause the drive to ‘disappear’ altogether.
You may never know these applications are there as they may be running in the background. Go to System preferences --> Accounts. Select your account in the pane on the left. Click “Login Items”. Are there any items listed there that might refer to hard disk utilities. If so remove them using the “-” button at the bottom.
*Delete Time Machine Preference .plist*
It may be that the preference list that stores the name of your designated backup disk has become corrupted.
Go to --> Macintosh HD / Library / Preferences (Note: NOT Home / Library / Preferences).
Drag the .plist file labeled,
com.apple.TimeMachine.plist
to the root level of your Macs’ hard drive.
Reboot your computer.
This .plist file is automatically recreated at startup if it is missing.
Now try choosing the external HD in the TM Prefs for backup.
*Time Capsule Has a Long Name*
“When using your Time Capsule for Time Machine backups in Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard or later, the Time Capsule backup volume may not mount and Time Machine may not be able to back up to it. This alert may appear: "Backup volume cannot be found". This can happen if the Time Capsule disk has a long name. [http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1170]
Open AirPort Utility (in /Applications/Utilities).
Click your Time Capsule's icon.
Click "Manual Setup".
Enter the password for the Time Capsule if prompted.
Click the Disks icon.
Highlight the volume name that appears under "Time Capsule Disk".
In the Name field, enter a name for the volume that is less than 27 characters long.
Click Update.
After Time Capsule restarts, on the Mac(s)using Time Machine, open Time Machine preferences and reselect the Time Capsule volume.”
Let us know if any of these suggestions help.
Cheers!

Time Capsule disk cannot be mounted

I use Time Machine to back up wirelessly to a 1TB Time Capsule. This has worked flawlessly until recently. (I bought the TC in late August 2008.)
Now, I get an error message that the backup disk cannot be mounted.
I cannot see the TC disk in Disk Utility, so I cannot run any disk repair there.
The only way that I have found that I can solve the problem is to disconnect the TC from the power supply, reconnect after a few seconds, and let the TC reboot. This repairs the problem for about 24 hours, and then it fails to mount again.
Any and all help/suggestions/advice gratefully received. I've also posted this in the OS 10.5 Time Machine forum.
Thanks, John

Update
I managed to start an update at 10.26 my time. It's now 13.13 and has just completed (15.3 MB of data).
I see this in the +Time Machine buddy+ widget log:
No pre-backup thinning needed: 100.0 MB requested (including padding), 433.87 GB available
Waiting for index to be ready (905 > 0)
Waiting for index to be ready (905 > 0)
Waiting for index to be ready (905 > 0)
Waiting for index to be ready (905 > 0)
Waiting for index to be ready (905 > 0)
Waiting for index to be ready (905 > 0)
Waiting for index to be ready (905 > 0)
Waiting for index to be ready (905 > 0)
Waiting for index to be ready (905 > 0)
Waiting for index to be ready (905 > 0)
Waiting for index to be ready (905 > 0)
Waiting for index to be ready (905 > 0)
Waiting for index to be ready (905 > 0)
Waiting for index to be ready (905 > 0)
Waiting for index to be ready (905 > 0)
Waiting for index to be ready (905 > 0)
Waiting for index to be ready (905 > 0)
Waiting for index to be ready (905 > 0)
Waiting for index to be ready (905 > 0)
Unable to rebuild path cache for source item. Partial source path:
Bulk setting Spotlight attributes failed.
Unable to rebuild path cache for source item. Partial source path:
Copied 6743 files (15.3 MB) from volume Macintosh HD.
No pre-backup thinning needed: 716.6 MB requested (including padding), 433.86 GB available
Bulk setting Spotlight attribu (the log breaks off here).
Does this help to clarify the problem?

Everything was OK - now have "The backup volume could not be found" error

Setup:
* MacBook Air
* MacBook 10.5.5
* Mac Mini with external hard drive with 2 partitions, one of which is called "Time Machine", 10.5.5
What was working:
MacBook Air and MacBook would backup with Time Machine over wireless connection to .sparseimage files on the "Time Machine" volume connected to the Mac Mini.
Change:
Had to give the MacBook Air back to my old employer, so I "merged" the MacBook Air onto the MacBook (the merge was somewhat convoluted, and unrelated to my issue I think: I used SuperDuper to copy the MacBook Air hard drive onto a new SATA notebook drive. Then I installed that drive in the MacBook. Then I used Migration Assistant to copy the user from the original MacBook SATA drive onto the new drive in the MacBook. Now I have two users on the MacBook, whereas before I had one use on each of two computers).
Symptom:
Now I cannot use Time Machine to backup the MacBook to the "Time Machine" volume. Everything I've tried causes Time Machine to briefly "prepare" the backup, then return the error "The backup volume could not be found". Things I've tried:
* Mounting the volume "Time Machine" on the MacBook, under either user, works fine - I can write, read, and delete from the volume.
* Deleting the old .sparseimage backup files from the "Time Machine" volume.
* Erasing the "Time Machine" volume with Disk Utility on the Mac Mini.
* Using "Change Disk..." in Time Machine to re-select the volume "Time Machine"
* Using "Change Disk..." in Time Machine to select None, then restarting, then re-selecting the volume "Time Machine"
* Making the volume "Time Machine" read/write by guests, then connecting to it from the MacBook as a guest instead of as an admin user.
* Repairing permissions and/or repairing disks using Disk Utility on all applicable volumes.
* Tried all of the above under both users on the MacBook (both of whom are Admin users)
None of these things have worked, they all exhibit the same symptom when I manually start a time machine, or when I wait for Time Machine to automatically start the backup.
Any ideas of what I can try next?

Consider these reasons for this error...
*_"Backup Volume Could Not Be Found"_*
First, it is important to distinguish this error message from another, similar Time Machine error that states, “The backup volume could not be mounted”. This is important as the causes and cures for these two errors can be very different.
*Reselect Your Time Machine Disk*
(http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1329)
In the Finder, go up to the "Go" menu and select "Connect to Server".
Click the "Browse" button at the dialogue box.
In the Network window that opens, do you see your TM drive?
Double click it to mount the drive.
Now let's try to reselect it for Time Machine use.
Go to System Preferences --> Time Machine.
Click the "Change Disk..." button.
Select "None" and click "Stop Backing Up".
Now click "Choose Backup Disk" and reselect your drive again.
Close System Preferences and try backing-up again.
On the other hand, does your Time Machine drive NOT appear at all? Is it appearing on your desktop? If it is still connected try disconnecting the cable, waiting a few seconds and then reconnecting the cable. Does the drive mount on the desktop? Try initiating a backup now.
*Disk Fails to Wake From Sleep*
“If your external HD has a sleep function that does not wake for Time Machine backups. Time Machine will alert you that "The backup volume could not be found", and backups will not be made.” (http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1337)
*3rd-Party Disk Utilities* #
Many external hard disks come with software for maintaining/monitoring hard disk activities. It may have come on a separate CD or been installed on the drive itself. If these programs have been installed they may interfere with Time Machine backups, generate erratic behavior, or cause the drive to ‘disappear’ altogether.
You may never know these applications are there as they may be running in the background. Go to System preferences --> Accounts. Select your account in the pane on the left. Click “Login Items”. Are there any items listed there that might refer to hard disk utilities. If so remove them using the “-” button at the bottom.
*Time Capsule Has a Long Name*
“When using your Time Capsule for Time Machine backups in Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard or later, the Time Capsule backup volume may not mount and Time Machine may not be able to back up to it. This alert may appear: "Backup volume cannot be found". This can happen if the Time Capsule disk has a long name. [http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1170]
Open AirPort Utility (in /Applications/Utilities).
Click your Time Capsule's icon.
Click "Manual Setup".
Enter the password for the Time Capsule if prompted.
Click the Disks icon.
Highlight the volume name that appears under "Time Capsule Disk".
In the Name field, enter a name for the volume that is less than 27 characters long.
Click Update.
After Time Capsule restarts, on the Mac(s)using Time Machine, open Time Machine preferences and reselect the Time Capsule volume.”
Let us know if any of these suggestions help.
Cheers!
Message was edited by: Glenn Carter

Backup Controller cannot mount XSAN Volume

Hi Guys,
I've really have a big problem regarding the XSAN that I've just setup: There are 3 Xserves connected to the SAN - one for the main controller, one for backup and another one for fileserver. After a fresh install of the Leopard Server 10.5.6 on all servers and fresh install of Xsan 2.0 updated to 2.1.1, I tried creating an SAN from the main controller, I added first the main and backup controllers, authenticated them properly and was successful adding them to the SAN. After this, I created the volume and it mounted properly on the main controller. What I don't understand is that whenever I try to mount the volume to the backup controller, it is saying unable to mount and even I tried forcing it to mount in terminal using the command xsanctl mount VOLNAME, its giving me an error saying
"unable to mount volume, Cannot mount XSAN volume error code: 5"
What is that error message? When I tried typing cvadmin to the main controller, it only gave me this message:
Main Controller:
File System Services (* indicates service is in control of FS)
1>*XSAN[0] located on 10.0.0.101:49930 (pid 317)
Select FSM "XSAN"
When I type the same cvadmin to the backup controller, it gave me this message:
Backup Controller:
File System Service (* indicates service is in control of FS)
1> XSAN[1] located on 10.0.0.102:50384 (pid 331)
No FSSs are active
Select FSM "none"
What is happening? both servers are having a DNS name. Before I created the SAN, from the authenticate window, the server name is just the IP address of the Ethernet 0 (first ethernet port). Now whenever I fire up Xsan Admin, both controllers are now offline and if you authenticate them, the server name info suddenly changed from IP address to a DNS Name (e.g. from 194.170.34.12, changed to hct-mdc.ad.hct.ac.ae) which even if I type my admin username and password cannot authenticate saying "server not found in network"
I really don't know now what to do and they need to fix the issue asap.
I would really appreciate your help guys!
Thanks.
jantoniophi

Hi,
I am accessing this WS via ARD, so public LAN is definitely there. I have not connected the "Xsan" network (but it should be no problems communicating the Xsan traffic over this single LAN connection).
With the firewall, the situation is more strange. When I try to open the Firewall settings on Sharing, there is a dialog "Other firewall software is running on this computer." I googled this and it seems that this was a common problem on 10.3. They suggest to delete com.apple.sharing.firewall.plist file but it is not there on 10.4.
"sudo ipfw list" shows this:
00001 allow udp from any 626 to any dst-port 626
65535 allow ip from any to any
Any ideas on how to make Firewall behave as expected? I will try to reinstall if I don't receive a reply.
Thanks.

A volume failed to mount/Operation cannot be completed

We bought a MacBook on the weekend. Our Apple concierge insisted that we can keep our music, videos and photos on our Windows XP desktop and "share" the files on the Mac--in other words, we can pull down what we need to edit or save on the Mac as need be.
We've set up the shared directories on the Windows machine, renamed the Workgroup to match the Mac and disabled the firewall. We've "connected to server" using Finder and can see the two shared directories we've set up.
But when I click on either one of them, I get an error message: "A volume failed to mount. The volume "Mac" could not be mounted."
After some time of being on the network, I see a Shared directory in Finder with my PC. If I click on the icon, the title bar says: "Connected as: Guest". The window displays the same two directories as above but when I click on one or the other I get an error message: "The operation cannot be completed because the original item for "Mac" cannot be found."
I've called Apple technical support and the agent's response was: I don't think you can do that. Just copy your files to the Mac using DVDs.
Any ideas? We don't want to have to transfer a lifetime of photos, video and music to our laptop--we want to use the XP desktop as our hub.

I'm having the same trouble. From an Intel Mac Mini running 10.5.3 I've been able to access smb shares fine on an old PC running XP pro. These are shared volumes on external drives on the PC. I can still access them fine from an old PowerBook G4 running 10.5.3, but while I can see computers on the network, if I try to connect to a share on the computer I get the message "the operation cannot be completed because the original item for <share name> cannot be found". If I try to mount it via a shortcut, I get the message "A volume failed to mount. The volume <share name> could not be mounted.
In the console, I'm seeing things like:
6/2/08 10:45:01 PM com.apple.coreservicesd[58] NOTE: Using non-mach-based version of client -> server communication, via direct function calls.
but I don't know if that has anything to do with this or not.
Has anyone heard of a fix for this?
Thanks,
Mark

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>

Unable to restore from Time Machine after an erase and reinstall - MacbookPro cannot access my old Time Machine backup volume. Desperate for help please?

My MacbookPro would not move past the Apple logo and spinning wheel for a number of hours. After trying the numerous suggestions to solve the issue I eventually opted to erase and reinstall feeling confident my Time Machine backups would come to the rescue. After a successful erase and reinstall I tried to restore all my data from my TIme Capsule using Command-R during start up and by using the Migration Assistant. Neither worked and I have received messages to the effect that the backup volumes on my Time Capsule cannot be access because I have entered a wrong password or because the backup volume is damaged.
When I open my Time Capsule in Finder and click on my sparsebundle I get an eror message saying that the disk image could not be opened and that the resource is temporarily unavailable.
Desperate for some help and comfort that many years of personal data have not been lost.
Thank you.
M

When I try to Verify option it says Unable to Verify - Resource temporarily unavailable.
Here is the past of the log screen:
2013-06-09 15:00:00 -0500: Disk Utility started.
2013-06-09 15:09:01 -0500: Disk Utility started.
2013-06-09 15:19:53 -0500: [DUDiskController viewablePartitions] expecting DUDisk, but got nil
2013-06-09 15:19:53 -0500:
2013-06-09 15:20:00 -0500: [DUDiskController viewablePartitions] expecting DUDisk, but got nil
2013-06-09 15:20:00 -0500:
2013-06-09 15:20:05 -0500: [DUDiskController viewablePartitions] expecting DUDisk, but got nil
2013-06-09 15:20:05 -0500:
2013-06-09 15:20:13 -0500: Verifying Image “Macajee’s MacBook Pro”
2013-06-09 15:20:14 -0500: Unable to verify “Macajee’s MacBook Pro.” (Resource temporarily unavailable)
2013-06-09 15:20:14 -0500:
2013-06-09 15:25:21 -0500: Verifying Image “Macajee’s MacBook Pro”
2013-06-09 15:25:23 -0500: Unable to verify “Macajee’s MacBook Pro.” (Resource temporarily unavailable)
2013-06-09 15:25:23 -0500:
2013-06-09 15:25:27 -0500: Attach Image “Macajee’s MacBook Pro”
2013-06-09 15:25:27 -0500: Initializing…
2013-06-09 15:25:31 -0500: Attaching…
2013-06-09 15:25:31 -0500: Finishing…
2013-06-09 15:25:32 -0500: Unable to attach “Macajee’s MacBook Pro.” (Resource temporarily unavailable)
2013-06-09 15:25:32 -0500:
2013-06-09 20:02:06 -0500: Disk Utility started.
2013-06-09 20:05:22 -0500: Disk Utility started.
2013-06-09 20:07:11 -0500: Disk Utility started.
2013-06-09 20:18:34 -0500: [DUDiskController viewablePartitions] expecting DUDisk, but got nil
2013-06-09 20:18:34 -0500:
2013-06-09 20:19:34 -0500: [DUDiskController viewablePartitions] expecting DUDisk, but got nil
2013-06-09 20:19:34 -0500:
2013-06-09 20:19:36 -0500: [DUDiskController viewablePartitions] expecting DUDisk, but got nil
2013-06-09 20:19:36 -0500:
2013-06-09 20:22:29 -0500: [DUDiskController viewablePartitions] expecting DUDisk, but got nil
2013-06-09 20:22:29 -0500:
2013-06-09 20:22:33 -0500: [DUDiskController viewablePartitions] expecting DUDisk, but got nil
2013-06-09 20:22:33 -0500:
2013-06-09 20:22:45 -0500: Verifying Image “Macajee’s MacBook Pro”
2013-06-09 20:22:45 -0500: Unable to verify “Macajee’s MacBook Pro.” (Resource temporarily unavailable)
2013-06-09 20:22:45 -0500:
2013-06-09 20:34:53 -0500: [DUDiskController viewablePartitions] expecting DUDisk, but got nil
2013-06-09 20:34:53 -0500:
2013-06-09 20:34:56 -0500: [DUDiskController viewablePartitions] expecting DUDisk, but got nil
2013-06-09 20:34:56 -0500:
2013-06-09 20:38:17 -0500: Verifying Image “Macajee’s MacBook Pro”
2013-06-09 20:38:17 -0500: Unable to verify “Macajee’s MacBook Pro.” (Resource temporarily unavailable)
2013-06-09 20:38:17 -0500:
2013-06-09 20:47:35 -0500: Disk Utility started.
2013-06-09 20:53:06 -0500: Disk Utility started.
2013-06-09 20:55:30 -0500: Disk Utility started.
2013-06-09 20:56:40 -0500: Disk Utility started.
2013-06-09 21:06:32 -0500: Verifying Image “macajee’s MacBook Pro”
2013-06-09 21:06:32 -0500: Unable to verify “macajee’s MacBook Pro.” (Resource temporarily unavailable)
2013-06-09 21:06:32 -0500:
2013-06-09 21:07:08 -0500: Verifying Image “macajee’s MacBook Pro”
2013-06-09 21:07:08 -0500: Unable to verify “macajee’s MacBook Pro.” (Resource temporarily unavailable)
2013-06-09 21:07:08 -0500:

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.

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.

Backup Volume cannot be mounted

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