Error Dialogue: "Time Machine Backup Disk Can't be Found"

Hello -
I am trying to "Enter Time Machine" (which is on a Time Capsule); but when I try this, I am met by the error message "Your Time Machine Backup Disk Can't be Found" with the option given to "Set up My Time Machine".
Needless to say, my Time Machine has been set up for months. When I look in the preferences, it clearly shows the disk I'm connected to (here's a screenshot of the error dialogue alongside my Time Machine preferences: http://cl.ly/1HGk).
Any idea what the best course of action is here.
ADDITIONAL NOTE: notice from the screenshot that Time Machine thinks the earliest backup is only 1 day prior. This is also strange as I have said I've had Time Machine working on this Time Capsule for months. I called Apple about this and was told that a software update had gone out yesterday that reformatted the drives and started the backups all over again. While completely fishy - I don't remember agreeing to any software update dialogue about erasing my Time Capsule - I took them at their word. Not sure if this is related, but thought I should mention it.
Thanks Crew!

MattLat wrote:
Hello -
I am trying to "Enter Time Machine" (which is on a Time Capsule); but when I try this, I am met by the error message "Your Time Machine Backup Disk Can't be Found" with the option given to "Set up My Time Machine".
Needless to say, my Time Machine has been set up for months. When I look in the preferences, it clearly shows the disk I'm connected to (here's a screenshot of the error dialogue alongside my Time Machine preferences: http://cl.ly/1HGk).
Any idea what the best course of action is here.
The +sparse bundle+ containing your backups may be corrupted. Repair it, per #A5 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of the +Time Machine+ forum).
If that doesn't help, try a "full reset" of Time Machine, per #A4 there.
ADDITIONAL NOTE: notice from the screenshot that Time Machine thinks the earliest backup is only 1 day prior. This is also strange as I have said I've had Time Machine working on this Time Capsule for months. I called Apple about this and was told that a software update had gone out yesterday that reformatted the drives and started the backups all over again.
That's the first I've heard of that. They may have been referring to the +Time Capsule Backup Update 1.0+ update several weeks ago, that some folks got but others didn't. If it finds a problem, it sends the message in this article: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4076 The existing sparse bundle is renamed and locked, and a new one made.

Similar Messages

  • HT3275 message: "Your Time Machine backup disk can't be found." Mountain Lion. Western Digital "MY Book" "Home edition"

    Intalled Mountain Lion. Now get message: "Time machine backup disk can't be found. Using Western Digital "My Book" "Home Edition"

    Wow, I feel really stupid. I spent a couple of days trying to troubleshoot this problem.
    1. Open TM prefs.
    2. Click "Select Disk..."
    3. Select "None" and apply changes.
    4. Click "Select Disk..." Select your disk and apply changes.
    *5. When the password prompt appears, MAKE SURE THE NAME IS THE NAME OF THE AIRPORT BASESTATION, and not the name of your Mac.
    6. Run a backup.

  • HT201250 "Your Time Machine Backup Disk can't be found"  ? Disk is attached and running, apparently smoothly.

    I am getting this message that my backup disk cannot be found. However, it was working fine just yesterday and there is no indication that the disk itself has crashed. It appears to be running as usual. Any suggestions about how to get my iMac to "find" my lost Time Mache disk will be appreciated.

    Have you tried restarting your computer and disk?

  • Your Time Machine backup disk can't be found.

    I clicked set up/select disk/Set up Time Capsule and got the notification that the Airport Utility was unable to find any Airport Wireless devices.....the wireless devise is plugged in and in range (or I presume so as the internet connection is working and the AirPort is connected.....).......any suggestions on next steps appreciated.
    Some contextual info:
    I am on Snow Leopard with an Apple Time Capsule
    last back up was on 30th July (which was the day we left to go on holiday for 4 wks, when I took the recommended action of shutting down)
    Time machne button is clicked to on

    maybe your TC hiccupped a bit on repower.
    First Aid
    Power off of the TC
    Power off all other network participants
    Repower the TC and give it a minute or two to run up completely till the green light is definitively on.
    Rejoin the other network participants one after the other, giving each device a little time to establish all connections.
    If that doesnt fix your hustle, report back with any error message and eventually any information about your setup you think it may be useful.
    Good Luck - Lupunus

  • HT201250 My MacBook Pro (using OSX 10.7.5) suddenly can't find the Time Machine backup disk, which is on the harddrive of my desktop iMac. What to do?

    My MacBook Pro (using OSX 10.7.5) suddenly can't find the Time Machine backup disk, which is on the harddrive of my desktop iMac. What to do?

    Inherit a Backup
    Inherit a Backup (2)

  • I need to backup my mails from a time machine backup disk from a powerbook leopard to an IMac snow Leopard...can I do this?

    Hi everybody...
    I need to backup my complete history of emails. I have a time machine backup disk I used in a powerbook intel, second generation with Leopard OS. Now I have an Imac of 24 inches, with Snow Leopard OS. Can I use that backup disk (TM) to put the mails that used to be in the powerbook into my IMac?
    My original powerbook is broken, so I cant do anything there...

    You should be able to find and restore emails that were on the old Mac via Time Machine.  Emails that were on the server, not the Mac, won't be there, of course.
    See the blue box in #15 of  Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions.

  • Can't connect to a Time Machine backup disk

    I have erased my TM via Airport Utility
    AirPort Utility 6.x: Erase an AirPort Time Capsule disk
    So far so good...But now, I am unable to open TM, when I do it opens momentarily, then closes with message "Can't conect to a Time Machine backup disk".
    I have turned off TM as I do not want to use the TM as backup..I want to use it as an EHD and transfer data to the disk manually (not by automatic TM backups).
    How can I do this?

    No. It is not in Finder at all..only I can see the Airport Capusle (on the left side) under "Shared"...but this does not allow for any data transfer.
    It should show under "Devices", and allow for data transfer....don't know how to fix this one..

  • Time Machine Backup Disk Cannot be found

    While my iMac was in sleep mode, I disconnected the power to my external, firewire time machine backup disk. The backup is a Western Digital hard drive.
    Now I get the error message "Your Time Machine Backup Disk Cannot be Found"
    I have rebooted the computer with the disk connected and the disk still doesn't show up on the desktop.
    I rebooted the computer with the disk powered up but the firewire disconnected, then connected the firewire. The disk still doesn't appear on the desktop.
    I tried Disk Warrior, and Disk Warrior doesn't see the external Time Machine disk.
    What to do?

    Dan Mackey1 wrote:
    While my iMac was in sleep mode, I disconnected the power to my external, firewire time machine backup disk. The backup is a Western Digital hard drive.
    That might corrupt your backups, but shouldn't make the disk completely un-usable.
    Disconnect it and power it off for several minutes, turn Time Machine OFF, then Restart your Mac again. Let your Mac get powered-up and running before connecting and powering the disk on. Then see if Disk Utility can see it.
    Is this a dual-mode disk? If so, try connecting via USB -- it may work that way.
    Can you tell if it's running? Is it one with a light, and/or can you hear it run or feel it vibrating?

  • Verify Disk failed for Time Machine backup disk

    Thread <http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=7930301&#7930301> discussed a similar issue, but it was closed without an answer so I'm opening a new one.
    After a power failure I ran Disk Utility to Repair Permissions on my boot disk and Verify Disk on another that I use to store media files; neither had significant problems. Then I ran Verify Disk (verify, not repair; and disk, not permissions) on my Time Machine backup disk. It started spitting out the errors shown below. The time remaining counted up to 16 minutes, but wasn't coming down very fast so I left it running overnight. My machine is set to not sleep or spin down the disks. The next evening it was down to 12 minutes left, and was still spitting out the same errors. The second evening it was done, having failed out as shown in this log file excerpt:
    2009-06-20 22:25:48 -0400: Verifying volume “Backup”
    Starting verification tool: 2009-06-20 22:25:48 -0400
    2009-06-20 22:25:50 -0400: Checking Journaled HFS Plus volume.
    2009-06-20 22:25:50 -0400: Checking Extents Overflow file.
    2009-06-20 22:25:50 -0400: Checking Catalog file.
    2009-06-20 22:35:21 -0400: Checking multi-linked files.
    2009-06-20 23:08:17 -0400: Checking Catalog hierarchy.
    2009-06-20 23:16:59 -0400: Checking Extended Attributes file.
    2009-06-20 23:18:34 -0400: Checking multi-linked directories.
    2009-06-20 23:31:05 -0400: 2009-06-20 23:31:05 -0400: Incorrect owner flags for directory hard link (id = 3763501)
    2009-06-20 23:31:05 -0400: 2009-06-20 23:31:05 -0400: 2009-06-20 23:31:05 -0400: (It should be 0x2 instead of 0x0)
    2009-06-22 15:14:54 -0400: 2009-06-22 15:14:57 -0400: Incorrect owner flags for directory hard link (id = 7746623)
    2009-06-22 15:14:59 -0400: 2009-06-22 15:15:00 -0400: 2009-06-22 15:15:02 -0400: (It should be 0x2 instead of 0x0)
    2009-06-22 15:20:35 -0400: Checking volume bitmap.
    2009-06-22 15:20:37 -0400: Checking volume information.
    2009-06-22 15:20:39 -0400: 2009-06-22 15:20:41 -0400: The volume Backup needs to be repaired.
    2009-06-22 15:20:43 -0400: Error: Filesystem verify or repair failed.2009-06-22 15:20:44 -0400:
    2009-06-22 15:20:44 -0400: Disk Utility stopped verifying “Backup” because the following error was encountered:
    Filesystem verify or repair failed.
    At that point the whole system was extremely sluggish, and the access light on the backup disk was flashing steadily. The pmTool process seemed to be running away, but the system wasn't responsive enough for me to do much about it, so I held down the power button to shutdown. Upon the 2nd restart the system booted and seems to be OK, but I'm leery of running another Verify Disk.
    What's going on? Are those errors anything to worry about? Is it possible to run Verify Disk on a Time Machine backup disk? What about Repair Disk?

    John Seal wrote:
    2009-06-22 15:20:43 -0400: Error: Filesystem verify or repair failed.2009-06-22 15:20:44 -0400:
    2009-06-22 15:20:44 -0400: Disk Utility stopped verifying “Backup” because the following error was encountered:
    Filesystem verify or repair failed.
    At that point the whole system was extremely sluggish, and the access light on the backup disk was flashing steadily. The pmTool process seemed to be running away, but the system wasn't responsive enough for me to do much about it, so I held down the power button to shutdown.
    Any time Disk Utility says you need to repair a disk, you need to repair it. Period.
    So run it. If it fails to repair everything, run it again (and again) until it either repairs everything or can't repair any more. If it can't repair it, post back and we'll discuss options.
    There's no point in running +Verify Disk+ on an external drive; just run +Repair Disk.+ The only time +Verify Disk+ is needed is for your internal HD (because you can't repair the disk you're running from).
    And you need to do that again because of the forced power-down. Any time there's an abnormal shutdown, it's possible the file system on your internal HD can be damaged. Usually it isn't, but it's possible. If that says you need to repair it, you'll have to boot from your Leopard Install disc and use it's copy of DU. Post back if you need to do this but don't know how.

  • Migration Assistant won't see my Time machine backup disk

    Hi,
    I've seen some other discussions but they apply to slightly different situations and turn out to be too complex for me to follow.  My situation is this.  My Dec 2008 Macbook running Lion just died.  Not sure what the problem is but it seems to be the hardrive.  It will take me a while to get it fixed and in the meantime I have a farly new mac mini running Lion.
    I also have been making Time Machine backups to an external drive.  I read that I could migrate content from a time machine backup and I connected the backup to my mac mini and launched Migration Assistan (MA), seleted the option to migrate from a Time Machine backup.  MA is stuck trying to find my disk even though it shows up in Finder.  This is the screen I'm talking about http://screencast.com/t/AC0OiVzxx
    I'm hoping there is the equivalent of a little on/off switch that I'm not seeing and you can direct me too. 
    How can I get MA to see my Time Machine backup disk?  Thanks for your help.

    sorry, i don't know what else it could be then. if you have another external drive you can try doing a full system restore from the TM backups onto that drive and see if MA will recognize that drive and migrate from it. other than this there is always manual migration. slow and tedious but it can be done. see this link for help with that
    http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=6185507

  • How do I manually erase my Time Machine backup disk?

    I have a 500GB external hard drive with only 43 GB left after years of serving as a Time Machine backup disk for another computer. I wanted to use the same disk for my new computer. The new computer's backup is 130 GB, and when I connected the old external drive, Time Machine said "The backup disk needs to be 130.37 GB for the backup but only 47.24 GB are available. Select a larger backup disk or make the backup smaller by excluding files." So I manually deleted the files I found on the external drive onto my computer's trash.
    Big mistake. Apparently, there are still only 47.24 GB on the external, but there are no apparent backups or files on it. Furthermore, I can't restore the deleted files to the external hard drive because there isn't enough space on it. Too late, I did some searching and discovered that you can't delete files from a Time Machine external drive manually; you can only go through the gear icon in Finder and remove backups in that way.
    So why does my external drive say that it has only 47 GB out of 500 even when there is nothing on it? Is there any other way to manually erase/reformat it?

    Try opening Disk Utility and select the highest level drive name on the external drive. Click on the Partitions tab. Remove all the partitions on the drive by selecting each and clicking the "-" sign in the lower left corner of the partition table view. Then choose 1 Partition from the dropdown of partitions to create. Make sure the format shows Mac OS Extended-Journaled. Click Apply.
    The above should delete everything on the drive and create a new single formated partition.

  • Time Machine "Backup Disk Not Available" over WAN

    I have port forwarded port 46 (TCP and UDP) to port 548 a Mac mini server running Mac OS X 10.6.8, and I have Time Machine backup disk on it set as a share point with Time Machine support enabled. On my Mac Pro running OS X 10.8.5, I am able to connect via AFP to my server with the address "afp://my-ip-address:46" and can read and write on the backup disk share point. I tested that, and it works. When I am on the same LAN as the server, I can use that disk for Time Machine and have been doing so for years. However, I cannot do a Time Machine backup to that share point over the WAN. When I open Time Machine preferences, I can select the share point as my backup disk, but once I start the backup, it says "Backup disk not available" and fails to start. How could I fix this problem?
    In case you're wondering, I forward port 46 to port 548 instead of port 548 to port 548 to minimize hacking attempts. Last time I used a default port, a computer in Taiwan started spamming SSH authentication failures.

    I did find this article via Google
    <http://www.macgurulounge.com/make-time-machine-remotely-back-up-to-your-time-cap sule/>
    Personally, I use CrashPlan (free option using my own disks) to backup over the internet.  It works very well when I'm away from home.  Everything is encrypted.

  • Time Machine Backup Disk Encryption Password

    I use a partitioned external drive to backup my stuff. Had enabled encryption option for the Time Machine backup disk and forgot the same. Can not find an entry in Keychain, any inputs on how to retrieve the password or unlock the particular partition?

    Thanks for your reply. Call me stupid, but I had set-up the encryption in August and didn't use the back-up since then. Even though hint is visible, it doesn't help.

  • How to search files on a Time Machine backup disk only once perfile

    Greetings,
    Goal: I want to find all user files in a set of Time Machine backups residing on a single disk that contain the string "escalator". Now, there are multiple hard links to each file, so a simple search would search each file multiple times. That would take a very long time. Is there a way that I can search (grep) all text files and mail files only once and list those that contain the string? Note that I only want to search user directories; that is,
    /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/username’s iMac/Latest/Macintosh HD/Users
    where "Latest" can also be any of the dates of all the backups.
    Thanks!

    Well, to clarify:
    I want to find all user text files and mail messages on a Time Machine backup disk that contain the word "escalator".
    By user files I mean those in
    /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/<username>iMac/*/Macintosh HD/Users
    and subdirectories thereof.
    I was trying to use the find command, but it was taking a very long time, so I aborted it. I then realized that most of the files have many hard links, and therefore will be searched many times. That, of course, is a great waste.
    Is there some way to search each file only once?
    Thanks.

  • Time Machine Backups disk not automatically unmounting after backup completes in Lion

    I am using Time Machine over WiFi on a 3rd party USB drive shared as an AirDisk through an Airport Extreme router. Ever since switching to Lion (clean install), I have noticed that the Time Machine backup disk will not automatically unmount after a backup is completed. This creates a problem when my MacBook Pro comes back from sleep. Specifically, the WiFi notification icon in the Finder toolbar indicates that WiFi is connected, even though it's not connected to a network, and I am unable to connect to any networks for what seems like several minutes until the Time Machine backups disk disappears from the desktop and WiFi actually connects.
    Since the disk was not cleanly unmounted, Time Machine then keeps complaining that the sparse bundle file is locked and cannot be mounted every time it tries to do a backup. I have to either disconnect/reconnect the USB drive physically from the router, or restart the router every time this happens to resolve the issue. That is getting really annoying to have to do every time. I suppose I could manually unmount the Time Machine disk after every backup but it's ridiculous to have to do that every time I want to put the computer to sleep.
    Is anyone else experiencing this issue and is there a fix?

    For others who might be having this problem - I was able to resolve it by connecting my backup disk to my mac via USB, completely erasing it, and starting over from a new backup. Disk Utility was not reporting any errors when I verified the disk, but I went ahead and repartitioned it and started fresh. The disk now automatically unmounts after backups complete.

Maybe you are looking for

  • Help required in changing to str for dynamic sql

    Hi I am trying to make this to string for dynamic sql, this is a part of the sql which is giving problem with p_..as parameters from proc. Help me in this , iam also seeing dbms _output but stil unable to format it to required error free string. || '

  • Subcontacting challan for tds with vendor name report

    hiii.. when i see the line items of g/l account  by fbl3n  for "TDS for subcontarcting Challan"  here vendor name not display... can i get the report in any table "subcontacting challan for tds with vendor name"? Thanks & Regards Rekha Sharma

  • Linking Travel Expense to Payroll

    Dear All, I have one requirement from HCM. I have employees who raise their Travel Advance through iView and the same will go through approval for the mentioned amount. Once the amount is approved, i need this amount to be saved in Wage type.In later

  • Retrieving the Employee ID - Plumtree.Remote.Util.UserInfo.USERINFO_EMPLOYEEID

    I'm new to developing in C# and trying to get the Employee ID from the users profile.  I know it's in Plumtree.Remote.Util.UserInfo.USERINFO_EMPLOYEEID, but I'm missing a step here.  I'm getting the username just fine, but think I'm just missing a fe

  • RPE-01008 and RPE-01009 when executing flatfile mappings

    Hi all, I'm experiencing problems when executing a flatfile mapping on a large source file. My source-file is around 450Mb in size and contains around 2,5 Million records. When executing the generated SQL*LOADER control-file by hand all works fine. W