Idea: Time Machine errors could be used for telling people everything is OK

In the event of catastrophic good luck, abort.
Just a little levity for all those struggling with Time Machine.
Also, for those having "not enough space" errors on the initial backup, I found that if I excluded the two largest directories and let Time Machine do its thing, it didn't complain when those were taken off the exclusion list on subsequent backups.

Ok, this is getting ridiculous. Anyone else seeing this sort of behavior?
Message was edited by: irowboat

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Time Machine error: could not backup, Disk Utility Error: Couldn't unmount disk

I recently bought a WD for Mac 1TB external drive which has been set up as Time Machine. This was as a result of my internal hard drive failing and being replaced. Time machine has worked a treat for last 3 weeks, but today I get a message:
Time Machine could not complete the backup.
Unable to complete backup. An error occurred while creating the backup folder.
So I go into disk utilities to verify the disk and I get this message:
Verifying volume “My Passport for Mac”
Checking file systemError: This disk needs to be repaired. Click Repair Disk.
I click on the Repair Disk and get this message:
Verify and Repair volume “My Passport for Mac”
Volume repair complete.Updating boot support partitions for the volume as required.Error: Couldn’t unmount disk.
last backup was at 3.53pm today.
Any ideas?

Why would I need to reboot the whole computer?
However, I did shut it down and restart it and the problem is fixed.

Time machine error could not find passport external drive

Trying to run time machine. At the end of the process i get an error that the back up was delayed until the disk could be found. The passport external hardrive is attached . is formatted for MAc and can be seen in finder. What can I do so Time machine recognized it?

If none of his tips describe the issue, then all I can think of is that there's something amiss with the WD ext HD. Erase and reformat it and don't use the WD SmartWare which isn't. FWIW, I don't use TM, so if this doesn't do the trick, then I'm out of ideas.

Time Machine error "Could not back up OS X Recovery"

When Time Machine runs, my daughter's computer keeps getting an error (in Console) for one of her 2 encrypted backup disks. The error is:
Could not back up OS X Recovery to /Volumes/My Book 2/Backups.backupdb: Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=-50 "Could not find any Apple_Boot partitions corresponding to the encrypted backup volume"
I just upgraded her computer to Mountain Lion. Unfortunately, I don't know whether it was receiving that error before, but I don't think so.
The backups complete "successfully" other than that.
What should I do? Does this signify a true problem? Should I get a new backup disk? Thank you!

If it is successfully backing up and she can enter Time Machine without problems, I wouldn't worry about a Console error.

Odd Intermittent Time Machine error - volume in use

Occasionally when backing up to a shared time machine volume from a system running 10.7 server it gives an error message that the volume is in use. /Backups adds a number next to itself such as /Backups-1 or /Backups-15. The backups seem to automatically occur the next hour or so, however on occasion it will pop up the error throughout the day.
Specifics about my system:
10.7 MBAir 11" 2010 1.6GHz C2Duo -- Filevault2 encryption turned on, fresh time machine backup started after the filevault was enabled.
Shared volume:
iMac running 10.7 server, sharing a Drobo as a Time Machine backup location.
All other systems on the network seem to backup fine to it however no others are operating with filevault enabled. Also none of the other systems are named the same Computer Name, and each computer's backup appears as a separate sparseimage on the shared backup volume.
Anyhow, it looks and sounds like a bug, but just wondering if anyone else was seeing the same issue. I was unable to find anything on the internet or the discussion boards about this issue.

Of course as soon as I post this I finally find the troubleshooting procedures in the FAQ... That seems to have worked.

Can a time machine backup also be used for archive storage?

Can the same time machine backup drive also be used for archive storage from another Macbook?

The way TimeMachine works you can guarantee that anything on your computer now will be backed up and archival copies kept. But there are two caveats. First, TimeMachine trims backups. For 24 hours they are hourly (approximately). Then the most current will be trimmed and a week worth of daily backups will be kept. Then the week will be trimmed to the most current version and the weekly backups will be kept until the drive is too full. At that point the oldest weekly update(s) will be erased to make room for the next hourly backup. When trimming occurs, files that were backed up but are no longer on your computer will be trimmed. This is the second caveat.
Since this trimming is automatic rather than under your control TimeMachine isn't a good archival backup system. Two programs that I can recommend that do have true archival ability are CarbonCopyCloner and ChronoSync. Both allow you to decide what gets archived and how many archival periods to allow.

Is there a solution for Time Machine error?

I got an error in Time Machine saying backup had failed, a couple of days ago. Spent the next day or two trawling the web and found thousands of postings from people with the same error, but no solution.
(At least, some people had a solution - they were using PC-formatted hard drives.)
I've been using Time Machine for a few weeks, and it has only now taken a dislike to my external hard drive, which is connected by FireWire.
Is there a solution to this problem, or should I revert to using SuperDuper, which I was using successfully before?
I haven't put in lots of information about the apps I'm running, because this is a general query rather than a specific one. If there's a solution, I'll use it; otherwise I'll wipe the drive and go back to using SuperDuper.

OisinOg wrote:
Pondini - Thank you for your slightly hostile reply.
On the contrary. The statement was: +"found thousands of postings from people with the same error, but no solution."+ I don't know where you found thousands of posts -- there are many here, but certainly not thousands. If you're talking about, say, a Google search, if you actually look at them, many are duplicates, unrelated to your problem, or unrelated to Macs at all -- and there are a number of solutions that seem to have fixed many of the real ones.
The error message was the standard one: "Time Machine Error - Unable to complete backup. An error occurred while creating the backup directory."
There's most likely another, better message in your logs. Thus the suggestion about Time Machine Buddy. You can also use the Console app (in your Applications/Utilities folder). Click on Show Log List, then navigate in the sidebar to your system.log (or system.log.0.bz2, etc. for previous ones). You can filter for backupd to get the same TM messages as the widget, but I prefer to view the full log at the date/time in question, as messages from other concurrent processes may have a clue.
I've gone through the suggestions in some of the helpful replies to those thousands of postings, by wiping my drive, erasing it and reformatting it, first in two partitions using the GUID method in Disk Utility, then in a single partition. But Time Machine still doesn't want to back up to it.
Sounds a bit like a problem communicating with the drive. The logs may clarify that.
The hard drive of my computer is 250GB; the external drive is 300GB. Both are SATA drives; the external is connected by FireWire.
How full are they?
Thanks for your suggestion of downloading the Time Machine Buddy widget; I'll give it a last try tonight.
What is the difference between a SuperDuper clone and a Time Machine backup?
The initial backup of both copies almost everything on your HD, excluding only some caches, temp files, etc., although you can exclude other things. This takes quite a while, of course. Thereafter, only the items that changed are backed-up.
SuperDuper (and CarbonCopyCloner, which I use, and other, similar apps) are most often used to make bootable "clones" identical copies of your HD -- if your HD fails, you can boot and run from them immediately. With TM, once your HD is repaired/replaced, you restore your system to it from your TM backup.
Score one for the clones, but TM has it's advantages, too (which is why many of us run both).
First is, CCC and SD look at every file and folder on your HD to see what changed. This is quite time-consuming and CPU-intensive, so most of us run it once a day (or less often), usually automatically at, say, 3 am. TM, however, runs hourly, but uses an internal File System Event Log of changes, so it is far quicker and less intrusive. There are exceptions, but most users rarely even notice the backups unless they see the icon revolving. On my small system, for example, TM rarely runs over 30 seconds; CCC is at least 15 minutes.
Second, not only does TM keep previous versions of changed files, but it manages the space and backups for you. It keeps those hourly backups for 24 hours; except the first of the day becomes a daily backup which is kept for a month; one per week becomes a weekly backup that is kept for as long as there's space (it will fill the drive/partition). But it's smart enough, as it deletes the old weeklies, that it won't delete it's copy of anything that still exists on your HD.
There isn't room to have two 250GB sections on a 300GB drive. I suppose I could get another 250GB drive - I have an IDE enclosure somewhere - but I don't fancy the expense right now.
Your CCC or SD partition only needs to be as large as your HD, although in a pinch it only needs to be somewhat larger than what's actually used on your HD. If you don't have room for both on the one drive, an even better solution might be to get a pair of smaller portable HDs for CCC/SD. Use one daily for, say, a week, then take it to your safe deposit box, workplace, relative's house, etc. and start with the other. Now you're also protected against fire, flood, theft, direct lightning strike on your power lines, etc.

Time Machine Error sparse bundle could not be accessed

Issue: Time Machine Error "the backup disk image "/volumes/data/.sparsebundle" could not be accessed (error -1).
Background: I have an '07 iMac with an external WD 1TB hard drive to store video, pictures and music as well as a 1TB Time Capsule to use for my Time Machine back ups. Once I converted to Lion, I started getting the "sparsebundle...counld not be accessed" error message. The Apple support line directed me to take the issue up with my local Apple store (or else they would have charged me $50). I went to the local Apple store and was directed to erase my sparsebundle and start over. My iMac apparently values the sparsebundle as it would not let me delete it...it would just hang up. I finally had to erase the file from the Time Capsule and start over (based upon some recommendations I found within the Apple Support Communities). I did that two days ago and it looked like I was in the clear. I have about a day's worth of backups and now just started getting the same error message as I did before. I am a casual computer user with limited trouble shooting skills. Does anyone have any ideas, tips or suggestions as to the source of the problem and how to properly trouble shoot the issue?

Dirty of Apple.. this is a bug.. that is caused by your upgrade to Lion.
We see loads of issues. Did you upgrade install? I am not sure that that is some of the issue.
Anyway the solution is to restart the TC.. just pull out the plug and reboot it.
Like windows.. first support question. Did you turn it off and on again??
Read C17
http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
You need to use the 5.6 utility so download and install that.
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1482
Go to the disk page and disconnect all users.. same thing as pulling the plug really.

Time Machine Error Message: "sparsbundle could not be accessed (error-1)

hi,
I am running snow leopard on my iMac and have a mac mini connected via ethernet running Mac Leopard Server version 10.6.
I backed up my iMac onto my Mac Leopard Server using Time Machine about a year ago and then I turned it off and haven't done it since. I turned it on today and was attempting to back it up, but I keep getting the following Time Machine Error Message: "sparsbundle could not be accessed (error-1) when i try backing it up.
Any thoughts on why and how to fix this? I can access my server via screen share, so i know its accessible and I can get online with it as well, so its connected to the Internet.
Any ideas?
Thanks,
Josh

jnp1 wrote:
not backing up yet, but more progress than before...now its on an infinite loop of "preparing" and "scanning"...just keeps doing that over and over...but never actually backs anything up.
Anything in the log files on either the client or the server?
Usually, when Time Machine is being flaky, the easiest solution is just to delete the backup and start a new one. Since you have a server, you could just move that sparsebundle file elsewhere instead of deleting it. That is, of course, assuming you can still open it. If not, then it doesn't matter because that backup is toast.

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.
Nothing helps, I continue to get this error.
I cannot Enter Time Machine either. "Connecting to Server, Connecting to backup" does not work.
Help please because I will probably have to archive and reinstall Leopard. I need the backups,
Christine

Christ1ne,
Before you reformat the disk, consider these causes of this error.
*_"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.
Cheers!

Time Machine Error: "The backup disk image could not be created." Help.

I have two Macbook Pro's. One is able to backup to the Time Capsule with no problems. The other connects just fine to Airport Utility, but I get the following error after I attempt to backup: Time Machine Error: "The backup disk image could not be created."
I have reset the Time Capsule several times, so that is not the fix.
The first thing I see when attempting to open Time Machine is the following message: :The storage location for Time Machine Backups can't be found." It gives me the option to setup the Time Capsule, which I select. The next thing I select is to Change Disk. The window that opens has the Icon with Three people on it. The name of that Icon is The Moreman Time Capsule. I select it, and enter the password I created. I then choose to Backup. Then I choose to backup now. That is when I get the error: Time Machine Error: "The backup disk image could not be created."
Any ideas? Has anyone encountered this problem?

You have to delete the .dmg file and start over. This happened to me 3 times already, I finally switched to Déjà Vu, works perfect and only once a day instead of 24 times a day.
http://propagandaprod.com/

Time Machine error "The backup disk could not be found"

I use Time Capsule with Time Machine, Lion OS and manage to setup successfully. However after I on it for few hours, there is backup error. Time Machine error message "The backup disk could not be found." But the internet wifi is working normally.
To solve this issue I have to power off and on it again, then the disk can be detected. But after few hours same thing happen again.
Is it a hardware faulty or sometime that cause the Time Capusle harddisk to sleep after sometime?

I have this exact same problem. When I restart the Time Capsule I can then start backups normally, but it requires manual intervention. That's dissapointing because Time Machine and Time Capsule are supposed to be an automatic, worry free backup. I have to restart the Time Capsule frequently. Annoyed.

Time Machine error: backup disk image could not be created

Iet up my new time capsule day and it's working great. Now that I've got everything sorted out, I'm ready to do the initial time machine back up on it. I went into preferences, changed the backup location to my TC and clicked 'back up now'. Very quickly I get a message that the backup failed: "Time Machine Error - The backup disk image could not be created".
I've searched the apple support area but haven't been able to figure this one out. Can anyone help, please? This is an initial backup. (FYI, it worked great on my old external drive.)
Many thanks

I had the same problem. I installed my Time Capsule, fired up Time Machine and got an error that said "The backup is too large for the backup volume. The backup requires 436.8 GB but only 182.2GB are available."
Coincidently, these are the same sizes as the space used and the space available on my iMac's drive.
I looked in /Volumes and saw that the sparsebundle was being created on the local disk and not on the main disk. Trying to backup again gave me the "Time Machine error: backup disk image could not be created." message.
I poked around the forums, and found a post about the machine name setting in sharing. I decided to give it a look, and lo and behold, I did not have a machine name. So I gave my box a name, kicked off Time Machine again, and it worked.

HT3275 Time machine error, backup disk image "/volumes/data-1/.sparesbundle " already in use. I don;t know what this means, can someone help?

My Mac mini time capsule is showing an error Time machine error, backup disk image "/volumes/data-1/.sparesbundle " already in use. I don;t know what this means, can someone help?

I had a similar problem and I solved it as follows -
In Time Machine - > I deselected time capsule Data Disk as a destination.
Then I pulled the power plug on the Time Capsule, twiddled my thumbs for 15 secs, plugged the power back in.
Went back t Time Machine -> Re-Added the Time Capsule Data Disk as destination. And then tested by selecting Backup Now.
All went well and the backup picked up from before the problem.
BTW - I also have a USB drive connected to Time Capsule that is an alternate disk for Time Machine to backup.
In Mountain Lion the GUI lets you add more than one Time Machine backup destinations very easily so I think it a good idea to have redundancy.
Hope this helps.

Can I view photos and movies from my external hard drive? I used Time Machine and a WD Passport for backup. Since my drive on my MacBook Pro is filling up I was planning to delete some of the movies and photos.

Can I view photos and movies from my external hard drive? I used Time Machine and a WD Passport for backup. Since my drive on my MacBook Pro is filling up I was planning to delete some of the movies and photos. I wanted to see if I could view them from the hard drive. Thanks

Hello, eco1.
Thank you for visiting Apple Support Communities.
This sounds like you are wanting to move your iTunes media folder to an external drive and have iTunes this folder from this location. If this is the case then I would recommend taking a look at the article below.
iTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Media folder
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1449
Cheers,
Jason H.

Idea: Time Machine errors could be used for telling people everything is OK

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