Getting Time Capsule to back up new computer

I have replaced my old laptop with a new MacBookPro. Time Capsule will not back up the new laptop. I get the message that the backup is too large for the backup volume. I believe this is happening because Time Capsule does not recognize that the new laptop is a replacement for the old and does not have enough space to add another. I have tried resetting, including a hard reset but that doesn't help. How do I:
1) Delete the old backups from Time Capsule? I can see them through finder but one of the posts says that deleting them will corrupt Time Capsule; or
2) Explain that the new computer is a replacement of the old and it can do more incremental backups over the old.

You might want to check with Apple, but I've gone through this scenario and the advise at the time (about 9 months ago) was to erase the Time Capsule and start over with a new backup of the new laptop. This of course assumes that you have already transferred all of the data on your old laptop to the new one.
If you decide to do this, here are the steps:
To erase the Time Capsule, use Airport Utility. Click on Manual Setup and on the next screen click the Disks icon at the top of the pane. The next screen will give you the option to erase the Disk.
If possible, use ethernet for the first backup of the new laptop as this will be faster and more reliable than wireless. To do this, connect an ethernet cable from one of the LAN ports on the Time Capsule directly to your computer. Avoid heavy use of the laptop during the backup if you can. It's usually a good idea to start the first backup late in the evening and let it run overnight.
Subsequent backups will be much smaller and faster, so wireless should work well for these if you have a good connection.
Hope this helps.

Similar Messages

How to set up 2 time capsules to back up one computer?

what can i say, i run a music studio, dj off of mp3's as well, and edit video in my spare time
so, i've got terrabytes of data, on multiple external and internal hard drives, and have therefore invested in 2 (two) 1tb time capsules. however, there doesn't seem to be an easy way to set them up to both backup my different and various hard drives on one computer! at the moment, i can get both visible on one network, but only one TC at a time will backup, the other just sits there gathering dust as far as i can tell.
i'm running a mac pro, os 10.5.8, with an 4 disc external drive - 3 disks with various data (one contains video data, one mp3s, and one protools recording data) and one running super duper to make weekly clones of my main hard drive. i'd like to configure one time capsule to backup, say, my hard drive and protools disks, and one time capsule to backup the video and mp3 drives.
i've searched quite bit on google and here for a solution, but there's a dearth of information on this subject! hasn't anyone else out there done this? surely i'm not the only person out here with loads and loads of critical data in his home needing more than one tb of backup...

messiah wannabe wrote:
what can i say, i run a music studio, dj off of mp3's as well, and edit video in my spare time
so, i've got terrabytes of data, on multiple external and internal hard drives, and have therefore invested in 2 (two) 1tb time capsules. however, there doesn't seem to be an easy way to set them up to both backup my different and various hard drives on one computer!
That is correct. For backups, the Time Capsule is basically just a dumb HD; the Time Machine software on your Mac is what controls things, and it can only have one destination at a time, whether it's backing-up one or multiple HDs.
i'm running a mac pro, os 10.5.8, with an 4 disc external drive - 3 disks with various data (one contains video data, one mp3s, and one protools recording data) and one running super duper to make weekly clones of my main hard drive. i'd like to configure one time capsule to backup, say, my hard drive and protools disks, and one time capsule to backup the video and mp3 drives.
Again, TM won't do that. Only one "instance" of TM will run at a time, and you can only have one set of exclusions (to limit what it backs up) at a time.
i've searched quite bit on google and here for a solution, but there's a dearth of information on this subject! hasn't anyone else out there done this? surely i'm not the only person out here with loads and loads of critical data in his home needing more than one tb of backup...
No, but it's fairly rare, and few want to do this wirelessly. And note that Time Machine was not designed for such situations, but as a very simple, "set it and forget it" backup tool for the novice to intermediate user, who's likely never used any backup app at all.
For a Time Capsule to back up everything (except the clone), about your only option is to forget the TC's internal HD. Instead, get either a single external HD that's 2 or 3 times the space of what you want backed-up, or enough smaller ones that you can make a +Concatenated RAID set+ large enough. Attach this to the TC and back-up to it.
But for that much data, this is a very slow and cumbersome solution.
You probably need a mixed solution of some sort; using Time Machine to the Time Capsule for your boot drive and as much of the more volatile data on the other drive(s) as is reasonable; then SuperDuper or another app to back up the other data to an external HD.

Six months later: still cannot get Time Capsule to back up my PowerBooks

I have a 500g TC and two Powerbook G4 (Al) computers. I have the same problem with both computers. I reinitialize the TC disk ("Erase" in the Airport Utility) then do an initial backup over hardwired Ethernet. Both PBs have about 60GB of data on them. The initial backups take the expected 12-18 hours. Thereafter, the automatic Time Machine backups work for about 3-5 days, then they stop. Time Machine gets into the "Preparing Backup" state and stays there for hours (I give up after 24 hours).
I tried turning off TM and doing the backups manually (selecting "Backup Now" from the TM menu). That has the same problem, although it takes longer to appear.
I have no reinitialized my TC disk 5 times and had the same problem 5 times.
I have turned off Spotlight indexing of the backup disk and of the PB disk. That has not helped.
Can anyone suggest anything to get this to work?

Rob & tubwreck,
Thanks for the redirect. However, I have already revised that info with new data. See below...
*_Spotlight And Time Machine_*
*Runaway MDS Process*
For Spotlight searching to work, it needs to have metadata. Every time a file is created, modified or deleted, the system notifies Spotlight that it needs to update the meta-data store (mds). First, Spotlight (mdworker) seizes the file, determines its’ type, and then assigns an appropriate importer (mdimport).
While some bits of metadata (modification dates, file type, path name) are easy to gather, most of the interesting data is embedded inside the file. To gather this embedded information Spotlight must use an importer (mdimport), a small plug-in that extracts information from files created by various applications. Each file type has its’ own importer. For instance there are unique Spotlight importers for JPEG, MP3, Word, PDF files and so on.
It’s the importer’s responsibility to read the data file and construct a dictionary that contains the appropriate metadata. When finished, the dictionary is delivered to Spotlight (mdworker), which then updates the meta-data store (mds). The original file is then released to the system to complete the originally intended action.
Ordinarily, this process is virtually instantaneous and invisible to the user. At times, however, it can hang, or loop causing Spotlight (mdworker) and the meta-data store (mds) to monopolize the CPU and interfere with other system events like Time Machine backups. The Console logs may report the following over and over again for perhaps hundreds of times.
+“mds(32): (Error) Import: importer:0x8f8c00 Importer start failed for 503”+
Eventually, the Time Machine backup may fail with the Console logs reporting
+“Indexing a file failed” / “Copy stage failed with error: 11”.+
Or a backup may be completely stalled in midstream, never seaming to end.
Go to Applications --> Utilities folder and launch Activity Monitor.
Clicking the “Process Name” column and scrolling down to the “m”s will reveal that one or all of the Spotlight components (mds, mdworker, mdimport) is maxing out your CPU.
Highlight “mds” and click “Quit Process” in the toolbar.
In the dialoge box that appears click “Quit”.
Enter our Admin password and click “OK”
The stalled backup should now resume and complete. If not, choose “Stop Backing Up” from the Time Machine menu or click the tiny “x” icon in the Time Machine Preferences. When the backup has completely stopped, select “Backup Now” from the Time Machine menu.
*Waiting for index to be ready (909 > 0)*
One of the processes Time Machine relies on for accurate backups is the indexing of the backup disk. With this index, Time Machine can quickly search the backup disk for files the user wishes to restore. When a routine backup begins, often the “Preparing…” stage will include a phase that permits Spotlight to update its’ index of the backup disk. Momentarily the Spotlight icon in the menu bar will pulsate and the Console logs will report “Waiting for index to be ready”. Generally, this phase is so quick that the user is unaware that it occurred.
Unfortunately, this phase can hang thus preventing Time Machine from completing a backup. During this period, the Spotlight icon will continuously pulsate. Clicking on the Spotlight icon will reveal a progress bar with no estimate of the remaining time or it will indicate many hours of indexing still remains. The Console logs will continually report “Waiting for index to be ready”.
Ordinarily, Spotlight indexing is a good thing. And at times, if an index has become corrupt or untrustworthy, Spotlight will require a period of time to rebuild the index. If it has only been a couple of hours then let the process continue. However, if it has been many hours, and the Spotlight menu progress bar still does not indicate an estimated time of completion, then things have hung. You will need to force Spotlight to clear its’ indexes and re-catalogue all volumes. [http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2409]
*Force Spotlight to Rebuild Indexes*
Go to System Preferences --> Time Machine.
Using the slider on the left, turn OFF Time Machine backups for now.
Next, click “Show All” in the toolbar.
Select the Spotlight Preferences.
Click the Privacy Tab.
First, drag your Macs’ internal hard disk from the desktop to the Privacy list.
Wait 10 seconds, then highlight the Macs’ hard disk in the list and click the tiny “-” button at the bottom to remove it from the list.
Spotlight will initiate a reindex of the hard disk. If you click on the Spotlight menu icon you may see the message:
+“Spotlight helps you quickly find things on your computer. Spotlight will be available as soon as the contents of your computer have been indexed.”+
A progress bar will indicate perhaps 10-20 minutes remaining depending upon how much data there is.
Once completed, drag your Time Machine backup disk into the Privacy list of the Spotlight Preferences.
Wait 10 seconds, then highlight the Time Machine backup disk in the list and click the tiny “-” button at the bottom to remove it from the list.
Spotlight will now initiate a reindex of the hard disk.
Once completed, if you have any other hard disk attached to your Mac that are also being backed using Time Machine, then force a reindex as well using the procedure outlined above.
*For Time Capsule / AirDisk Users*
To properly force a reindex of networked disks, you will need to mount the Time Machine disk image so that it appears on the desktop. This will appear as a white drive icon. There is no need to index the green Time Machine drive with the clock icon on it.
Drag the white backup disk image to the Spotlight Privacy list.
Wait 10 seconds, then remove it using the “-” button.
Reindexing disk images can often take much more time, particularly if this is being done wirelessly. Initially it may report upwards of 15-20 hours of indexing remaining. However after a period if time this estimate can begin to drop to just a few hours. Let is proceed without interruption. (Note: This period of reindexing can be reduced by connecting the Time Capsule to your Mac via ethernet cable, and then forcing the reindex to occur.)
Once completed, turn Time Machine Preferences back ON.
Now initiate a backup.
Naturally, the first backup after a Spotlight reindex may be a lengthy one.
*Deleting the .Spotlight-V100 Directory*
At times, simply forcing Spotlight to reindex a volume is not enough to clear corrupt indexes. Additionally, stopping a Spotlight index while in progress can itself introduce further anomalies. In these instances, it may become necessary to delete the .Spotlight-V100 directory on the backup disk entirely. [http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/stopspotlightindex.html] This can be accomplished with the following Terminal command:
+sudo rm -ri /pathtovolume/.Spotlight-V100+
where /pathtovolume is the path of the volume in question.
The volume can then be reindexed by any of the following methods:
Restarting your Mac.
Using Disk Utility to first unmount, then mount the volume.
Issuing the command: +sudo mdutil -E /pathtovolume+
*Redirect the Backup to a Different Hard Disk*
It may be that directing backups to a different hard disk, performing a full backup, then redirecting Time Machine back to the original hard disk clears this issue up.
One contributor reported: “However, I have fixed the problem by accident! Concerned at not having a backup, I did a new backup to an external USB drive which worked fine. I then set my backup device back to the Time Capsule, ran backup and it now works fine. Doing the backup to a different device appears to have cleared the Spotlight problem.” [http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=8272650#8272650]
Let us know if any of this helps further.
Cheers!

HT203167 lost my hard drive how can i get songs from ipod back to new computer

I lost my hard drive and want to get my music back on my new computer. How can I get songs from my ipod to my computer? I am afraid to sync it and losing what is on my ipod. Any help would be appreciated.

It has always been very basic to always maintain a backup copy of your computer for this very occasion.
Use your backup copy to put everything back.
If for some reason you have failed to maintain a backup, not good, then you can transfer itunes purchases from your ipod: File>Transfer Purchases

How to get my purchased music back on new computer

I just traded in my 3 month old, older version iMac intel, for the new one, not sure I got a good deal, but wanted it and it's another story heh..anyway, I backed up my music library on a DVD-R, but how do I get them into my library on the new computer? It's blank there when I hit the iTune icon. All I have is the U2 library, and they're on my iPod, but I'd still like them there. So what should I do?
Thanks!
Tami

See the bottom of this document:
How to back up your media in iTunes 5 or iTunes 6

How do I get Time Capsule to back up an external hard drive?

I need Time Capsule/Time Machine to back up my external hard drive. How do I do this?

The external drive is plugged into the Mac??
Just open the Time Machine preferences, Options, and include the external drive.. done!! (The menu is exclude.. so just ensure it is not excluded.. don't use no double negatives.. is grammar rule apple could learn).
You cannot backup the external drive if plugged into the TC directly.

How do I get my Adobe products back on new computer after not knowing the keys and codes

I have recently purchased a new Windows 8 computer. My Windows 7 computer went wrong on the motherboard, so I can't get my license keys, product keys and serial numbers for this new computer.

You can find details on how to locate your serial number under your account at http://forums.adobe.com/message/3987968#3987968?promoid=KBHJW.

Is time capsule is backing up my external drive?

I have my itunes library on an external drive connected to my time capsule via usb. When the tm is docked, i can look at the backup archive to see the files it's backing up. this does not include my itunes music folder on my external drive. In fact, I can't see that the tm is backing it up at all. the external drive isn't on the exclude list in time machine options either. How can i get time capsule to back up my internal and external drives?

I have 2 laptops being backed up to my Time Capsule.
I have my iTunes Library and my iPhoto Library on my Time Capsule.
I use Chronosync to backup my iTunes and iPhoto Libraries to an external drive.
It should have no problem doing what you want it to do.
http://www.econtechnologies.com/site/Pages/ChronoSync/chrono_overview.html

Time capsule stopped backing up

My TC had been successfully backing up both a mb pro and imac. Now it won't back up the mb pro, but imac still backs up. Error message "backup of (computer name which is correct) was not repairable by this computer. It is being mad available with limited functionality. You must back up your data and reformat the disk as soon as possible." I don't know exactly what this means but doesn't look good!
I've tried simply restarting (unplug and replug) the TC. No luck.
Any ideas out there?
Thanx.

I had the exact problem (using Time Capsule to back up two computer on my home network). I did update the firmware on the Time Capsule at some point so I don't know if that contributed to the problem. I erased both files on the Time Capsule hard drive and restarted using only one computer - we'll see if it makes a difference. Painful and potentially dangerous to loss of backup data.

My Time Capsule has stopped backing up. I have an Apple Time Capsule which backs up by wireless. For the last 3 days it has not backed up. I get this message: "The backup was not performed because an error occurred while copying files to the backup disk.

My Time Capsule has stopped backing up.
I have an Apple Time Capsule which backs up by wireless. For the last 3 days it has not backed up. I get this message:
"The backup was not performed because an error occurred while copying files to the backup disk."
I have gone into Mac Help and followed this down to stage 4:
under shared it lists my time capsule and my husband's iMac - both use the time machine but we have switched his off temporarily. Clicking on my Time capsule I get "Connected" and "Sharepoint" - I didn't have to enter connect or password
I don't understand stage 5: how and where do I select the disk or volume that contains Time Machine backups ? How do I know which it is? My disk utility lists 160.04 TOSHIBA MK... with sub-heading Macintosh HD. It also lists (with a "CD" icon) HL-DT-ST DVDRW GS22N
Under stage 6, how and where do I Locate your backup ? I try dragging my Time capsule from Finder to the Disk Utility side panel but it won't go. What is my computer's name?
Please someone help! I'm completely stumped.
Thanks,
Maggie
Mac Help says:
If you back up to a Time Capsule or network disk:
Open the Time Machine pane of System Preferences, and slide the switch to Off.
Open Time Machine preferences
Open Disk Utility, which is in the Utilities folder in the Applications folder.
Open Disk Utility
Make sure the Time Capsule or network disk is turned on and available.
Open a Finder window, select your Time Capsule or network disk in the Shared section of the sidebar, and click Connect. If necessary, enter your user name and password.
On the Time Capsule or network disk, select the disk or volume that contains Time Machine backups. Depending on how your Time Capsule is set up, there may be one or more disks or volumes.
Locate your backup, and drag it to the Disk Utility sidebar.You can identify your backup by looking for your computer’s name in the backup’s filename.

Hello,
Thanks to the great Pondini...
http://pondini.org/TM/C3.html

My Time Capsule won't allow my computer to back up. It says it is already in use but that is what it is being used for.

My Time Capsule won't allow my computer to back up. It says it is already in use but that is what it is being used for. It has been working fine for years. All of a sudden I keep getting a message that TC (time capsule) cannot complete back up as it is already in use. I am doing the backups automatically through Time Capsule.

Restart the Time Capsule by disconnecting and reconnecting the power adapter. When it's back online, open the AirPort Utility application and check to see whether there's a firmware update for it.

Time Capsule/usb hard drive- How to get Time Machine to back it up

I installed Time Machine with no problems. A 1 TB LaCie hard drive is attached by usb cable to the TC. The LaCie is seen by finder and I can open, edit and save files to it and so can the Macbook Pro on my network.
Time Machine backed up my internal hard drive on my Mac just fine, but Time Machine refuses to see the external Lacie drive so it cannot back it up.
Here is the situation:
1. If I go to Time machine preferences and click Options there are no volumes or folders listed as Do Not Back Up. nothing is there.
2. If I click Change Disk the name I gave my Time Capsule is listed as it should be but the LaCie drive is listed also as if it were possible for me to back up to that also. The LaCie's name is there with the name of the Time Capsule in parenthesis. Isn't that odd?
3. When I select the LaCie icon on my desktop and select Get Info in the Sharing & Permissions section it says, "You have custom access" below it says
Name Privilege
(unknown) Read & Write
everyone No Access
I am new to Mac in general and this permission and sharing thing is still a bit mysterious to me so I don't know if these sharing & permission settings are usual or weird and could be contributing to why the back up of the LaCie drive is not happening.
This is the final hurdle I have in absolutely convincing my small but vocal office that switching to Macs all around was a great idea.
Any help would be appreciated.

This is a really odd answer.
I have Time Capsule, I add an external drive to it and you say that to back up THAT disk on Time Capsule I need other programs/solutions? This is really a stupid thing.
1 TB of storage space just for local files right now that on every wireless product you can add an external disk?
In other words with Apple products I can have all my laptopsappleTvdesktops all wirelessly connected but I can't use Time Capsule to back up datas if disks are not locally attached? With Airport Extreme/Time Capsule I can share datas (music, pictures, my digital life files) with my family computers but if I do this I can't back up these files.
And just to know how many do I have to spend on other Apple devices, what are these "other solutions" to back up network drives? A server?

I cannot get time capsule back "on line" (green)

I cannot get time capsule back "on line" (green); tried reset button; tried unplugging everything; comes back on flashing amber, won't get back to green; computer now can't find my network.
what now?

Ok.. we still need to know how are you connected to the TC.. YOU not the cable side.. the YOU side.
Are you using wireless or ethernet to your computer? If not please plug in ethernet and turn off the airport in the computer.
Now reopen the airport utility.. can it find it..
If not press the reset on the TC for 10sec.. until the led on front flashes rapidly.
The AU should now find the TC.
Make sure you leave the TC in router mode.. unfortunately the later AU tends to bridge the TC without permission from you.. one of those extra helpful things Apple did.
If you are still on Lion download and use 5.6 utility. It is far superior.
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1482
You can also load it into ML but it is tricky.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4172563?start=0&tstart=0
Apple have removed useful functions and ease of use.. although I guess they would disagree with the later.

I am in the process of trying to transfer my iTunes library from one computer to another. Some of the music/film info has been edited (by me) in my library (using get info). When put onto new computer the info has gone back to before i edited it.. Help!?

I am in the process of trying to transfer my iTunes library from one computer to another. Some of the music/film info has been edited (by me) in my library (using get info). When put onto new computer (following apple's instructions- using an external hard drive) the info has gone back to how it was before i edited it.. Help!?

Hello,
I would recommend taking a look at the article below for more information about migrating your iTunes library.
iTunes for Windows: Moving your iTunes Media folder
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1364
-Griff W.

Will my time capsule be inaccessible to one computer while backing up other computers?

Will my time capsule be inaccessible to one computer while backing up other computers?

It will be accessible but backup or file-sharing operations may slow down.
Matt

Getting Time Capsule to back up new computer

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