HT3728 My Time Machine tells me it cannot complete the backup to my Time Capsule because the backup disk image sparsebundle is already in use.

The 2GB hard drive on my iMac failed and has just been replaced under warranty.
When I got it back I restored my Time Capsule and started back ups of the iMac and the MacBook Pro.
Now 2 days later it is telling me that  Time Machine couldnt complete the back up to my Time Capsule as the backup disc image sparsebundle is already in use. It is saying this for both machines which presumably means a problem within the Time Capsule.
What does this mean and what should I do about it?

See # C12 in Time Machine --- Troubleshooting
http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html

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    ATXMacMan wrote:
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    Otherwise, sorry, but I'm out of my comfort zone. 
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    See #C12 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting

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    Do you understand this error message?  Time machine could not complete backup because it says a (filename).sparesbundle is already is in use.
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    See here...
    The Backup disk image ... sparsebundle ... is already in use.
    From Pondini’s excellent Information Here...
    http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.htm

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  • Time machine error: The backup disk image could not be mounted

    Time Machine worked OK for several months. Now I get this error every 10 minutes or so.
    I unplugged Time Machine capsule and "Change Disk" in Time Machine options.
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    Christ1ne,
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    *_"The Backup Disk Image Could Not Be Mounted" (Console - “Failed to mount disk image”)_*
    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.
    Consider each topic below separately. When one option does not resolve your issue, then move on the next one.
    *Unmount the Backup Disk Image* (TC)
    If, for some reason, you have manually mounted the Time Machine backup disk image (sparsebundle), or Time Machine failed to eject it after the previous backup, subsequent backups may fail. (Console - “Failed to mount disk image”… “Backup failed with error: 21”)
    Eject the backup disk image (white drive icon) by either clicking the little Eject icon to the right of the disk image in the Finders’ Sidebar, or Ctrl-Click the drive icon on the desktop and select “Eject” from the contextual menu. Now try backing up again or launching Time Machine to view previous backups.
    *“Disconnect All Users…”:*
    If your Time Machine backup drive (“Backup of Users Computer”) is mounted on your desktop or in the Sidebar of the Finder window. then Time Machine may think the drive is already in use. Alternatively, if the Time Capsule hard disk has been recently accessed by a Windows machine, it may not have fully relinquished control. Do the following:
    Open Airport Utility and select the Time Capsule on the left.
    Click “Manual Setup”.
    Select “Disks” at top of window.
    Click “Disconnect All Users…” at bottom of window.
    Close the Airport Utility.
    Now try Backing up again.
    One poster reported: “I got it resolved. Apparently it had to do with one of the files being open on the disk from the drive. I had browsed the disk with one of my windows boxes here and it must have left one of the folders "open". Anyway, I rebooted the TC and we are good to go now.”
    *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.
    # Try removing the apostrophe from the disk images name (sparsebundle).
    *A Stalled .inProgress Files:* #
    It may be that the previous backup attempt was ungracefully interrupted leaving remains that Time Machine can’t deal with.
    Stop any current backup attempt. Choose “Stop Backing Up” from the Time Machine menu.
    Open the Time Machine Preferences and turn “OFF” Time Machine.
    Open your Time Machine drive.
    Open the folder labeled “Backups,backupdb”.
    Now open the folder containing backups of the computer in question.
    Are there any “.inProgress” files there. Delete them by dragging the file to the Trash. Or Ctrl-Click the file and select "Move to Trash" from the contextual menu. (Give this time as deleting a large file on an external disk can take a while.)
    Turn Time Machine back “ON”. Now try backing up again.
    NOTE: If the above procedure becomes impossible to perform, try accessing the disk image from another Mac. Some have discovered that attempting a repair from another computer succeeds where the original computer failed.
    Let us know if any of the suggestions above helped to resolve your issue.
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  • Why does time machine backup disk images?

    I have Time Machine backing up my folders on my Time Capsule but when I look at the Time Capsule drive in the Finder it shows one Sparse Disk Image Bundle. If I lose a folder on my iMac, how can I easily get the folder off of the Time Capsule? Is there a reason Time Machine and Time Capsule is making this Disk Image and not simply dumping folders on there?

    Welcome to Apple Support Communities
    If you lose a folder, you just have to open Finder, go to the folder where that folder was and open the Time Machine application, so you will be able to navigate through your backups and restore the folder > http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1427
    Time Machine always create sparsebundle disk images when you are backing up to a network drive

  • Time machine - "the backup disk image could not be mounted"

    SInce a few days, I am unable to backup via Time Machine.
    I always get the message:
    TIME MACHINE ERROR
    The backup disk image could not be mounted
    I use an Apple Time Capsule and still have more than enough free space on it.
    Use OS X 10.5.5
    Help.....
    Tks

    Rosy,
    *_"The Backup Disk Image Could Not Be Mounted" (Console - “Failed to mount disk image”)_*
    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.
    Consider each topic below separately. When one option does not resolve your issue, then move on the next one.
    *Unmount the Backup Disk Image* (TC)
    If, for some reason, you have manually mounted the Time Machine backup disk image (sparsebundle), or Time Machine failed to eject it after the previous backup, subsequent backups may fail. (Console - “Failed to mount disk image”… “Backup failed with error: 21”)
    Eject the backup disk image (white drive icon) by either clicking the little Eject icon to the right of the disk image in the Finders’ Sidebar, or Ctrl-Click the drive icon on the desktop and select “Eject” from the contextual menu. Now try backing up again or launching Time Machine to view previous backups.
    *“Disconnect All Users…”:*
    If your Time Machine backup drive (“Backup of Users Computer”) is mounted on your desktop or in the Sidebar of the Finder window. then Time Machine may think the drive is already in use. Alternatively, if the Time Capsule hard disk has been recently accessed by a Windows machine, it may not have fully relinquished control. Do the following:
    Open Airport Utility and select the Time Capsule on the left.
    Click “Manual Setup”.
    Select “Disks” at top of window.
    Click “Disconnect All Users…” at bottom of window.
    Close the Airport Utility.
    Now try Backing up again.
    “I got it resolved. Apparently it had to do with one of the files being open on the disk from the drive. I had browsed the disk with one of my windows boxes here and it must have left one of the folders "open". Anyway, I rebooted the TC and we are good to go now.”
    *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.
    Let us know if any of the suggestions above resolves your issue.
    Cheers!

  • HT1526 I'm trying to delete files from the trash and an .InProgress file in Time Machine that cannot be moved to the trash. I cannot unmount the TM disk either.  If I use the chflags -R nouchg  command, I get a "Resource busy" message. Any suggestions?

    I've got one or maybe two problems.  Time Machine routinely crashes and there is a file in the TM folder that is an .InProgress file at the end of successful backups. Can't delete it, even using various sudo commands in Terminal.  These come back with a "Resource busy" message.
    Similarly, there is a Microsoft Office alias in my trash that will not delete, again including various delete or Terminal commands.  Also "Resource busy"
    I can't reformat the TM volume since it cannot unmount and it also cannot unmount the whole disk, which contains some other backup files I'd rather keep.
    Any suggestions?
    Mike

    I'm not sure I can be very helpful since I was doing a lot of things and ultimately the problems went away.  But one thing that definitely seemed to help was to shut down, restart, do something, shut down again and repeat.  So with a clean start, try to move the file to the trash.  If that works, shut down restart and look to see if it is still in the trash.  Empty the trash. Shut down if it appears to empty and then restart.  It seemed sometimes that the computer was doing what I wanted then something was overriding this and restoring.  The shutdowns immedately after I could do something but before it engaged an override operation seemed to keep this from happening. 
    Sorry to not have more to offer but...

  • HT3275 My Time Machine cannot complete a backup.

    My Time Machine cannot complete a backup.  The error message reads "The backup disk image "/Volumes/Brad Blocksidge's Time Caps/Macintosh.sparsebundle" is already in use.  Suggestions???

    Most common error reported here.. absolutely stock standard what you expect with Mountain Lion.
    Restart the TC will fix 98% of them..
    Pull out the power cord.. count to 10.. plug in the power cord.
    Check the info here for further info.
    C12
    http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html

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