I keep getting a 'Looking for backup disc' message from my Time Capsule.

I keep getting a 'Looking for backup disc' message from my Time Capsule. I have set it up several times without any apparent problems (I have even done a Hard and Factory reset). Everything seems fine until I ask Timemachine to 'back up', and then the problems start.
Any ideas?

I had the exact same problem. I bought the Time Capsule this past July and it worked fine for about a month then it told me it hadn't backed up in 10 days and was stuck looking for the backup drive. I called Apple and they said the reason was that the Time Capsule was in Bridge mode. I launched Airport Utility and sure enough, it was. I changed it to DCHP and NAT (Airport Utility -> Network tab -> Router Mode). After updating the Time Capsule, I couldn't even get on the Internet, let alone do a backup. A logged into the software for my cable modem and discovered that it too was in Bridge mode.
It turned out (for me) that neither should be in Bridge mode (which is for connecting two networks). Your cable modem only has one IP address. Your Time Capsule should be doing the NAT (Network Address Translation) which translates the internal IP addresses on your network to the one IP address your cable modem has. When I switched my Time Capsule to DHCP and NAT, it conflicted with the fact that the cable modem was also trying to do this. The answer was to turn this off on the modem (allowing all the packets to just go through the modem to the Time Capsule and let IT do the NAT). I did that last week and since then, my Time Capsule has been working perfectly.
1) Go to your cable modem (via a browser, enter "http://192.168.100.1"). Log-in and find the setting that indicates NAT. If you're uncomfortable doing this or can't find it, call your cable company and ask Tech Support to do it for you. They can do it remotely.
2) Launch Airport Utilty. Go to the Network Tab and change the router mode to "DHCP and NAT".
3) You may need to restart your modem and Time Capsule. I can't remember if I had to or not.
I hope this helps. I tried many things but this is the only solution that fixed it for me. And it makes sense. Only one device, the cable modem or the Time Capsule, can be doing the NAT.

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My MacBook Pro DVD drive keeps spinning and looking for a disc when there isn't one.

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Try these methods:
credit Kappy,
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Im completely new to Mac. Im swapping my windows laptop for macbook pro and looking for network storage solution which the Time Capsule seems to do. Is it possible to use this as NAS for my desktop Windows PC - windows 7

Im completely new to Mac. Im swapping my windows laptop for macbook pro and looking for network storage solution which the Time Capsule seems to do. Is it possible to use this as NAS for my desktop Windows PC - windows 7

Broadly speaking I want some sort of network storage( wireless or through my existing wifi router) that I can access files for both my windows PC and Macbook and also to access files to my iPad/ iPhone. Some sort of backup and sychronisation so that I can access certain files remotely.
Buy a real NAS.. synology or QNAP are the standard... although companies like Netgear and Western Digital and Seagate make them as well.
There is no problem sharing between Mac and PC now.. you do not even need a NAS to do that.. you simply share the hard disk directly. Mac talk SMB.. everything talks SMB nowadays.. so it is easy.
ipad and iphone are not designed to use NAS.. they are designed to backup only to the cloud or itunes.. but you can load an app like file browser if you want.
http://www.stratospherix.com/products/filebrowser/
Remote access to the Apple TC is somewhere between difficult, to impossible from a PC.. Apple use BTMM and iCloud but the service is not offered to PC.
A real NAS will offer HTTPS or SFTP or several other methods.. that both Mac and PC can use.
You simply plug it into the current wireless router.. it is a network device and assessable over the network. It is not necessary to buy another router.. in fact that is a waste.

Message from my time capsule"tHE BACKUP DISK IMAGE"/VOLUMES/DATA/BOB MERTIE'S IMAC SPARCE BUNDLE"CANNOT BE ACCESSED". ANY IDEAS? THANKYOU

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Welcome to Apple Support Communities
There are different reasons for that error. Read > http://pondini.org/TM/C17.html

How do you get Mountain Lion (OS 10.8) back from a time-capsule back-up

I have a Macbook Pro Late 2008 model which was running Mountain Lion (Mac OS 10.6) and for Christmas I received a new hard drive. I backed everything up on my time capsule and installed the new hard drive and now I can't get my original operating system back. The laptop came with OS 10.5.8 (Leopard) and I installed this with the original disk but when I try to restore my back-up from the time capsule it won't let me because the back-up is running a newer version of Mac OS. I can't download Mavericks because Leopard doesn't have the app store. It seems that the only way to do it is to buy a hard copy of Snow Leopard from the apple store and wait for it to be delivered, which is what I'll have to do if there is no other option, but I thought I'd check here first if anyone had any experience of this problem. Unfortunately I don't have the snow leopard disk, I don't remember ever installing snow leopard (I thought I went straight to Lion but it would seem thats not possible without the app store) but I guess I must have borrowed a disk from a family member or something.
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I ended up putting the old hard drive back in because I thought I was probably going to have to order the Snow Leopard disk from Apple and needed some of the information on my old drive. But before I changed back I had to reinstall the old OS system (leopard) because I couldn't get anywhere with the backup. Whats the restore partition? There was an option to restore from time machine, is that what you mean?

HT201250 i have lost all my pics on my mac how do i get them back on my new install from my time capsule

how do i get a back up from my time machine?
i tried to load windows on my mac did not work had ti install snow lep all over again
i wanted to recover from my time capsule to recieve all my pics ect but when i go into time machine i have to set it all back up again how do i find my saved files from the last time it backed it up no dates or days nothing ?? have i lost all of my data???

As you erased the drive and reinstalled Mac OS X, Time Machine detects it as a new OS X copy, so it's normal you can't see your old backups. To solve this, see > http://pondini.org/TM/E3.html
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HT201250 I had turned off the time machine auto back up and now when I try to turn it back on it keeps looking for a disk even though the time capsule is shown, do I have to set it up again as an initial?

I have been using the time capsule to back up both my iMac and recently added MacAir, it has been working fine but recentlky I had turned the time machine off on the Macair and now when I try to turn it back on it keeps looking for a disk even if I select the time capsule. Do I have to start the backup for the Macair as a new backup?

That happened to my brother earlier. He went into Facebooand then into another app and the same thing happened. he ended up having to restore it. Mine stayed with the Apple logo for a bit but its back to normal after pressing the buttons a million times. I hope you get your problem sorted. Goodluck!

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http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/TCQ5.html

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Since the recent software update my timecapsule isnt backing up anymore, my drive seems to mount and appear on the desktop and i can see the drive but all i get is looking for backup, in the time machine prefrences i have tried re selceting disks and a few other things but still no joy, does anyone know if this a a bug in recent software and if so how to report to apple, if not any ideas to fix this world be great.
in finder i can see the time capsule drive and drag and drop files in and out with no problem
I have macbook 2GHz intel core 2 duo 4GB Ram running Mac OS X 10.7.3
Time Capsule is running 7.6.1

I have had a similar problem with Time Capsule, Time Machine and Mac OS 10.7.
In french, Time Machine was telling "Recherche du Disque de Sauvegarde" which seems to be similar to "Looking for Backup Disk" and couldn't backup anything.
I've resolved it (while keeping the last backup) with following what is described there :
https://discussions.apple.com/message/17239743#17239743
Below, what I have done in details :
To your own risks... (risk of erasing everything on the mac and of deactivate some functions... and to be unable to recover anything)
It has worked for me but it couldn't for you.
1/ Deactivate Wifi on the Mac
2/ disabled the backup from the preferences panel
No pending backup.
Open "Terminal" app
3/ disabled spootlight:
sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.metadata.mds.plist
(described here : http://osxdaily.com/2011/12/10/disab...mac-os-x-lion/)
4/ delete the following hidden folders from the diskboot and external drive backup (.Fseventsd and. Spootlight-V100)
4.1/ delete .Fseventsd on the mac, enter :
cd /
ls -l
(you must find .fseventsd and .spotlight-vt100)
sudo rm .fseventsd/fseventsd-uuid
sudo rmdir .fseventsd
4.2/delete spotlight-vt100 of mac :
sudo rm -dR .Spotlight-V100
4.3/ delete .fseventsd of Timecapsule :
cd /Volumes
ls -l (you have to look for the backup directory)
cd Cop* (because for my computer : the name is 'Copies de sauvegardes de Time machine' and it is the single directory name begining by Cop)
sudo ls -l (check presence of .fseventsd et Spotlight-vt100)
sudo rm -dR .fseventsd
4.4/ delete .spotlight-vt100 :
sudo rm -dR .Spotlight-V100
5/ Restart Time Capsule and mac
6/ spootlight rehabilitated (details here :http://osxdaily.com/2011/12/10/disab...mac-os-x-lion/) :
sudo launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.metadata.mds.plist
and index launch (found here : http://www.printedbyerik.com/2011/08...index-on-os-x/) :
sudo mdutil -i on /
It took 4 hours for 500Go
7/ at the end : put an internet cable between Mac and Time Capsule (it is mandatory)
Launch a backup in Time Machine preferences.
For my computer : 15 hours for 70Go.
3 backup since without any problem.

Stuck on looking for backup

Hi,
Posted a little while back on here with my TC woes. Long story short, I went to apple and they swapped it out for a new one. Three days later, it is falling over again. I have a Macbook air 2011 running the latest OS and an iMac also running the latest OS. Timecapsule was updated to the latest firmware. I have pulled all the connections out the back bar my apple tv incase that was causing a problem but it hasn't fixed it. Just gets stuck on looking for backup for hours on end before informing me that backup failed. As with previous time capsule, the only way to fix this is to do a power cycle on the TC and it will then work for a few hours again before falling over.
I really am at my wits end with this. There is no reason that on a three day old TC I should be having these issues surely!? I have tried the suggestions on here with regards to having a short name for it with no spaces (MikeTC) but to no avail. I can hear it spinning up in front of me now. If I click backup now, the discs will spin up and the TC will come to life, but it cannot make a backup. I don't know if I have a file somewhere in the depths of my macbook that is preventing things from working, but it is driving me crazy!
I've made a short 2 mins video of my issue that I have sent to the repair shop and am awaiting their input, but if anyone has a bit of time spare to send some suggestions my way I would appreciate it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fs1-8R4mwVE
Thanks,
Mike

So, the answer to the question was that TC lasted until 2000 tonight when I got back in, turned the laptop back on and got the backup failed message. It's now stuck on looking for backup disc again and so on for the next however many hours until it gives up. I have included a netstat again from a couple of minutes ago incase it throws any light on the subject. It seems to be at the moment that when the laptop goes to sleep, when you wake it up again it will fall over. I don't switch my laptop off, just let it go to sleep. This seems to be what causes the thing to fall over - it cannot handle the laptop dozing off!
I am wondering if moving the TC upstairs and plugging it into my iMac via ethernet might help? Would the TC be able to run wirelessly like this - i.e. not plugged into my router via ethernet, or does it require an ethernet connection to work? My thinking is that by having it ethernet cabled directly into the iMac, it would surely not be able to lose where the disc was, although maybe I would still have the same problems with my laptop backing up?
Routing tables
Internet:
Destination        Gateway            Flags        Refs      Use   Netif Expire
default            skyrouter.home     UGSc           64        4     en0
10.37.129/24       link#9             UC              2        0   vnic1
10.37.129.255      ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff UHLWbI          0        2   vnic1
10.211.55/24       link#8             UC              2        0   vnic0
10.211.55.3        0:1c:42:5c:7c:f3   UHLWIi          1        2   vnic0   1188
10.211.55.255      ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff UHLWbI          0        2   vnic0
127                localhost          UCS             0        0     lo0
localhost          localhost          UH             12 1236293     lo0
169.254            link#4             UCS             1        0     en0
tc24ghz.local      24:a2:e1:e9:41:d1 UHLSW           0       16     en0
192.168.0          link#4             UCS             6        0     en0
skyrouter.home     7c:3:4c:a2:85:c5   UHLWIir        65     1572     en0   1199
unknown            2:f:b5:7:e9:90     UHLWI           0        0     en0   1000
livingrmappletv    9c:20:7b:ac:65:6f UHLWI           0      116     en0   1200
michaels-air       localhost          UHS             0       11     lo0
bedroomappletv     f4:f9:51:d9:8a:ef UHLWIi          7     2730     en0   1184
tc24ghz            24:a2:e1:e9:41:d1 UHLWIi          2      303     en0   1186
192.168.0.255      ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff UHLWbI          0        8     en0
Internet6:
Destination        Gateway            Flags         Netif Expire
localhost          localhost          UHL             lo0
fe80::%lo0         localhost          UcI             lo0
localhost          link#1             UHLI            lo0
fe80::%en0         link#4             UCI             en0
fe80::223:12ff:fe1 0:23:12:1a:76:58   UHLWI           en0
living-room-apple- 9c:20:7b:ac:65:6f UHLWIi          en0
tc24ghz.local      24:a2:e1:e9:41:d1 UHLWIi          en0
fe80::7e03:4cff:fe 7c:3:4c:a2:85:c5   UHLWI           en0
michaels-macbook-a b8:8d:12:18:4c:60 UHLI            lo0
ff01::%lo0         localhost          UmCI            lo0
ff01::%en0         link#4             UmCI            en0
ff02::%lo0         localhost          UmCI            lo0
ff02::%en0         link#4             UmCI            en0

Stuck in "Looking for Backup Disk" in Time Machine with Time Capsule

I too am having a "Looking for Backup Disk" message going on forever . . . .
I have the following showing in my log (which is for a backup that started almost 6 hours ago . . .)
Starting automatic backup
Attempting to mount network destination URL: afp://Toni%20Way;AUTH=[email protected]/Data
Mounted network destination at mount point: /Volumes/Data using URL: afp://Toni%20Way;AUTH=[email protected]/Data
Disk image /Volumes/Data/Toni’s iMac.sparsebundle mounted at: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups
Backing up to: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb
I am not getting successful backups. I first thought it was a problem with the WD hard drive I had so I invested in a Time Capsule thinking maybe it would work better with the Mac (i.e. Apple to Apple). I got a few successful backups when I got the Time Machine on June 12th but none since. I only just noticed that I wasn't having successful backups as there was no notification. I have tried a Full Reset as per these instructions with no success:
http://pondini.org/TM/A4.html
Help!

I've successfully changed the name of the Time Capsule to "Toni TC" but still no success. It is still sticking at Looking for Backup Disk.
Still have a space in the name.. No spaces. No non-alphanumeric.
Not that I think that is your problem.
From the log the actual unit is mounted and you have everything working but not actually able to copy packets across the network.
I have an ethernet cable running from my cable provider's router to the Time Capsule and then an ethernet cable running from the Time Capsule to the iMac.
This is good... also turn off wireless in the computer to force connection by ethernet only.
But when I go into Disk Utility, it isn't listed in the left hand side.
Only the sparsebundle will list and only when it is mounted.. TC is a network drive not a local drive. It will not show up in disk utility.
Let me suggest you erase the TC and start over.. sometimes it is the only way to get things going again.
A4 reset of TM. http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
And do a verify of the local disk.. A5.
I would also like you to test copying a single large file to the TC.. create a new directory in the TC from finder.. and copy a single large file.. 1GB sort of size and get actual speed measurement from Activity Monitor.

Internal Time Machine "looking for backup disk" (not time capsule)

Hello,
I have the infamous "looking for backup disk" issue. My Time Machine drive is an internal drive, NOT a time capsule. It is mounted and visible, and the backups show up on it in the Finder. When I select to enter the Time Machine "starfield" UI, all my previous backups are browsable. But when it comes time to actually back up... it just says "looking for backup disk" forever. I've tried leaving it like that for something like 40 minutes, no joy. This is not a huge disk, there are about 700 GB of backups on it. The HDD activity light on my computer is NOT showing any activity when I am idling but it is "looking for backup disk," so I don't think it's scanning the drive or anything.
I have tried turning TM off and on, removing the drive and re-selecting it, unmounting it and remounting it, deleting the TM preference plist file from the library, rebooting, and all manner of combinations thereof. Nothing seems to work.
Anyone have any advice? This is on OS X 10.8.2 by the way. The TM backup worked fine through 10.8.1 and 10.8.2 with no problems until now. I don't recall doing anything specific to mess up TM or the disks in any way, although I may have turned TM during a reboot cycle prior to this happening (don't recall if this is actually the case, but in any case it shouldn't have caused such an error, no?).
Thanks in advance,
—Gabriel

[Just a note, TM only works on OS X Journaled drives (i.e. HFS+ drives). TM does not back up your FAT drive.]
Isaac:
If you unloaded the NTFS and FAT kexts, your TM backups might (might!) work again, but of course in that case you would not be able to see your FAT or NTFS drives in OS X, and if you removed the FAT kext then a lot of USB keys would be unreadable in OS X - not a good solution.
The kexts are specific to OS X, so removing them should not affect Windows... but may affect boot camp, I don't know how boot camp is programmed (which would be a problem). Luckily if your Windows drive became inaccessable from boot camp with removed kexts, it should be easy enough to simply boot back into OS X, restore the kexts, and then Windows should work again.
I would recommend not mixing partition types on drives with shared OSX/Win functions, it seems to "tempt fate" as it were with possible errors. I don't know what has precipitated this error in your case, if it was the MSE or disk error or something else, and unfortunately I don't have a real fix to offer beyond trying things with the kexts removed and seeing if they work.
NOTE THAT THIS IS AT YOUR OWN RISK, messing with kexts is not a very recommendable practice since these files enable core functionality in the OS. Make a backup before if you can, and consider your options carefully. In OS X, navigate to /System/Library/Extensions and you'll find a bunch kext files. The two you need are msdosfs.kext and ntfs.kext. Copy ntfs.kext into a backup folder (e.g., on your desktop). Delete the original ntfs.kext from the S/L/E folder. Reboot and see if you can still access windows. If so, reboot into OS X and see if Time Machine works again. If you're good on both those points, then consider going without ntfs.kext on a permanent basis – it is rare that you need to read an NTFS drive while in OS X. On the other hand, if this does not fix your problem, you may try restoring ntfs.kext, and backing up / deleting msdosfs.kext to see if THAT is the culprit. Unfortunately, if msdosfs.kext is causing the TM error, you're kind of out of luck, since going without FAT access will be pretty annoying any time you need to use a drive to swap files between Windows and Mac (using a USB key).
Ultimately I don't have a solution, as I have noted, so much as I've narrowed down where the error is occuring in some peoples' cases (like my own). Good luck!

How do i find a recent backup from on icloud. i don't want to restore on my iphone, just view on my Pc and keep as file. looking for pics and video i recorded thanks

How do i find a recent backup from on icloud. i don't want to restore on my iphone, just view on my Pc and keep as file. looking for pics and video i recorded thanks

The password is set on the WiFi router providing the service, by the owner of the network to prevent unwanted "guests" accessing the network. The only way to know it is to ask the owner permission to use the network. Otherwise, you have to find a free WiFi hotspot that doesn't require a password.

Time Machine looking for backup disk/not finding

Time Machine backed up the HD on my 2009 20" iMac up till Feb. 4 when I downloaded Since then there have been no new backups of my HD and there have been problems wihen I have Time Machine "on" with other applications (TextEdit, Pages, Adobe Bridge CS4) opening or not responding after being open and with Finder not responding. I have also had grey screen freezes multiple times so that I have to use the power button to shut the computer down. When I take TM off of the Automatic backups, most of the problems with applications quitting and the grey screen freezes stop happening. (Although I believe I've had at least one or two grey screen freezes even then.)
Today I've run Verify Time Machine Backups. It completed that. Then I turned on Automatic Backups again. But then it showed "Looking for Backup Disk". So I selected the Backup Disk. Then I checked back in a while and it still showed Looking for Backup Disk. I removed the selected backup disk, shut down and rebooted, and reselected the backup disk. It is still showing Looking for Backup Disk.
The Time Machine is a 1 Terabyte size. My iMac is using 203.6 Gigabytes of its 319.21 G space.
In looking at what my Finder is showing as the name of my Backup Disk, I see that it is showing my Backup Disk as Virginia's Computer (3). It should be showing my Backup Disk as Virginia's Computer. If this is the source of the problem, how do I get my Backup Disk named back to Virginia's Computer? Is it possible to get it changed back?
My TM is used as a router for two iMacs and up through Feb. 4 I was sharing files between both computers. When the problems started, I turned off File Sharing in the other computer (Jim's iMac). I had noticed that frequently my computer's name as shown on the other computer would be changed to Virginia's Computer (2) or Virginia's Computer (3) and I would change it back when I noticed. Perhaps this is how the problem started.

I finally contacted Apple Support. Three support people and seven and a half hours later Time Machine began working correctly. Multiple things were tried. The Time Capsule ended up getting erased. Many files and folders were deleted from several places on my hard drive. It seemed that the final ones that made a difference after the Time Capsule was erased were files that were in my Keychain.
I have to thank Apple's Support people for persistence, especially Jim who is the one who got things back to normal as far as the Time Capsule & Time Machine goes. I have to keep watch to see if anything acts up now on my hard drive and then the solution will go further. But the issue with the Time Capsule and Time Machine appears to be resolved!
Thank you, Apple Support!!!

I keep getting a 'Looking for backup disc' message from my Time Capsule.

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