Macbook air backup to time machine error

This message keeps coming up when my mac tries to back up. How do I fix it??? "The backup disk image “/Volumes/Data/Toby’s MacBook Air.sparsebundle” is already in use."

Welcome to Apple Support Communities
First, restart the MacBook and the Time Capsule. In most of cases, this should solve the problem. If it doesn't work, see > http://pondini.org/TM/C12.html
It's a bug in OS X Lion and Mountain Lion that causes that problem, but it could be that another Mac is reading the backup image, making impossible the process to create a new backup

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New Macbook Air transferred by Time Machine Backup USB--fan/temps

Hello,
I just got the last version of the macbook air, with 120HDD and 1.86 cpu. I thought that I would have to try to transfer everything from my Imac 27" through wifi transfer but when I started up the macbook air it asked if I had a time machine backup I would like to use through USB (which I have used many times before to basically transfer all my data, applications, and settings.) It took a while and the macbook air's fans kicked in during the transfer, which is from the Imac with snow leopard. total transfer was around 45gb. I thought this type of transfer wasn't possible. I also did a long software update after the transfer.
MY QUESTION: could any of this account for the macbook air running hot now, fan at about 6200rpm. I am in Paris and it is very hot here now, so maybe this accounts for it. I'll see in the morning. I am just wondering if the machine will run hot now because perhaps because of the type of transfer I executed, which might have included programs or apps not directly related to the macbook air itself. Again, we are in a heat wave here so perhaps this contributes to it. Don't these machines run rather quietly?
any advice would be appreciated. I could always start again, do a reinstall, etc. but except for the fans running, I have everything I need on the machine and would really prefer not buying the external dvd ir starting over again.
Thanks

I learned that the macbook air shipped with Leopard, but after migrating everything over from my Imac 27" with Snow Leopard, my system now on the Macbook Air is exactly what I have on the Imac. After the initial backup from Time Machine I did a software update, which brought the system up to 10.6.4. I suppose on some level part of one system did transfer over to the Macbook Air, or at least it updated the system that was shipped on the Air. I did call Apple and was told that if there were issues during the Time Machine backup the system would have alerted or panics would have occurred. The guy wasn't 100% sure, but felt that the backup went normally.
The Air seems to work fine, but the fans kick up from the base of 2500rpm when I watch a video or download video files for a few minutes as an experiment. I don't want to do a complete re-install with the original DVD discs, with all of the trouble that implies, if the machine is going to run rather hot with fans increasing in any case. I suppose that's why I am looking for confirmation one way or another.
It was suggested that I log out and open another account empty of data and see if that makes a difference.
If the machine will run cooler with a re-install, no problem. But it sounds as if all of that could be for naught.
Any other comments would be appreciated.

First Time Capsule Backup Failed - Time Machine Error

I bought my Time Capsule yesterday because I needed to backup my MacBook (which I bought 6 months ago). My plan was to backup the MacBook to the TC and then do an Erase and Install of my MacBook because of problems I'm having with the MacBook (it constantly hangs for a minute or more - sometimes up to 20 times a day). I thought an erase and install might fix the problem.
After setting up the Time Capsule and connecting it to the MacBook with a Cat 6 ethernet cable for the first backup I went to bed. I noticed that, when the backup started, it was taking approximately 5 minutes to backup the first Gb of data. As TC noted there was 80GB to backup I assumed this would take 6 or 7 hours to complete.
This morning when I checked the MacBook I discovered a message on the screen of my MacBook as follows -
Time Machine Error
Unable to complete bacup. An error occurred while copying files to the backup volume.
Nothing else! When I check the Time Machine in Finder, under Data there is the following -
Patricia Henwood’s MacBook_002332b6d076.sparsebundle and this is 50.82GB.
Can anyone suggest what I should do?
I bought the TC yesterday because all my other backup drives are Firewire and, of course, the MacBook doesn't have a Firewire port.
Should I just 'give up'? The MacBook is covered by Apple Care (and anyhow, even if it weren't it's only 6 months old so, presumably, it's still covered by Apple warranty). I understand from the salesman where I bought my TC that it, too, is covered by my Apple Care for the MacBook because I bought it to use with the MacBook.
Would the simplest solution be to make an appointment to take the MacBook and the TC to the genius bar and see if they can help?

Hi dealbata, happy to hear that yours is now up and running. My fourth TC backup attempt last night failed yet again (at 50.8GB) - I read in a previous thread (which I can no longer find but which was more than 5 pages long and went back to 2007) about many people who have had the message
Time Machine Error
Unable to complete backup. An error occurred while copying files to the backup volume.
From that thread, 'famouswolf' posted a solution which involved checking the system.log using Console.app (Utilities folder). In his case (and in mine) the problem was caused by corrupted files in iPhoto. The solution was to actually delete the files (all those that had an ERROR (-36) message next to them in the system.log. To delete them you have to locate them in your iPhoto Library file and delete them in the Finder. As you can imagine, this is a long and tedious process (I have over 8000 images in my iPhoto library) - frankly, I've already wasted two days on this - and the TC was bought so I could back up my MacBook and then discover what the REAL problem is with my MacBook (it hangs and/or crashes between 10 and 20 times a day :-((
So, I've bitten the bullet and re-partitioned my MacBook's hard drive and done a fresh install of OS X and the applications that came on the install DVD. I've then run Software Updater until everything is up to date and I am now in the course of doing a backup of the MacBook to the TC of the 'bare bones' of my system - it's only 14.3GB so I hoping it will work. Then I'll copy across what I need from my iMac and hope that tonight TC will backup everything.
Here's hoping!
Cheers
Tricia

Why won't my MacBook Pro backup to Time Machine (on my 1TB Time Capsule) when I'm running Lion OSX 10.7.5.? What does it mean when this error pops up: MacBook Pro.sparse bundle could not be assessed (error - 1).???? Please help me fix this!

Apparently I am not the only person having this problem as I have seen many threads about it. If ANYONE OUT THERE CAN HELP ME, I WOULD SINCERELY APPRECIATE IT.
I try and run my backup as I always have, but it HAS NEVER COMPLETED SINCE I UPGRADED TO LION. As many mentions, I updated from 10.7.4 to 10.7.5 hoping that would fix my issue and it didn't help at all. I also unistalled WD SmartWare to no avail. It's really starting to annoy me since I have as much money invested in my MacBook Pro and Time Capsule as I do in my car....
I have more than enough space on the Time Capsule, but Time Machine is still failing and coming up with an error message: MacBook Pro.sparsebundle could not be assessed (error - 1).
Someone, anyone, please help!

. . . sparse bundle could not be accessed (error -1)

Macbook Air Freezes when Time Machine backup starts

My Macbook Air (OS 10.5.5) has started freezing up whenever a Time Machine backup begins. I get the dark shade screen telling me that it has crashed and to hard power off. Everything was working well before, including the Time Machine backups, and the only changes I have made are the Apple updates. At first I thought it was random crashes, but I soon discovered that turning off Time Machine stops the problem (though obviously does not fix it). I've tried restarting and turning Time Machine back on, but it still makes the computer crash within a minute of the start of the backup process. The backup goes to a Time Capsule. I have not seen this problem on any of my other macs on the same network including a Macbook Pro that backs up to the same Time Capsule. Does anyone have any idea what the problem could be and how to fix it?

To be honest,no I don't know why you are having this problem.
It looks like a specific problem with your MBA which could be a hardware problem (RAM most likely here) or a bad sector problem on the hard disk. If you own a copy of TechTool or something similar, run a full hardware systems check. If you don't own TechTool, run the Apple Hardware check from the MBA System install disk.
And, it could be a software problem. I don't know if this sequence will help, but do it anyway because it seems to solve problems on other Leopard systems.
1.) Disable Time Machine back ups
2.) Open Disk Utility and Run Repair Permissions
3.) Run Verify Disk. If it passes go to step 4.
4.) Download the 10.5.5. Combo Updater from http://support.apple.com/downloads/MacOS_X_10_5_5_ComboUpdate
5.) Run the Combo Updater and restart
6.) Run Disk Utility Repair Permissions again
Then enable Time Machine and keep your fingers crossed.
Let me know if any of that helps.

Time Machine Error, backup disk couldn't be mount

I have a USB drive plug to my Airport Extreme and I use it for Time Machine. Today I had a message saying: "Latest Backup:Failed"
Time Machine Error
The Backup disk image could not be mounted.
The hard disk is there, I can drag, drop, copy, delete files on that disk. There's is a big file call Serge'siMac_001ec205f583.sparsebundle, the file does not seem corrupted, I could probably drag it to the Desktop. How can I mount the backup disk.
Serge

I had the same problem and found out how to fix it
You can check the whole process here in a post I wrote for the Hardmac blog (it's rather long...):
How I saved my corrupted Time Machine sparsebundle image…

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.

I'm having trouble backing up my second macbook to a new time capsule. continue to get an error message -- "Time Machine Error. The backup disk image could not be created." Is there something I need to change in my time capsule or time machine?

I just set up a new time capsule. it worked fine on my first macbook. But now I cannot backup my second macbook. Getting "Time Machine Error" "The backup disk image could not be created." Do I need to change settings on my time capsule to allow the second computer, or do I need to change something on the computer to allow time machine to work right?

Try #C9 in Pondini's Time Machine Troublshooting
http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html

I have not been able to back up for2 days. Time machine error message: /Volumes/Data/David's MacBook Air.sparsebundle" is already in use.

I have not been able to back up for2 days. Time machine error message: /Volumes/Data/David’s MacBook Air.sparsebundle” is already in use.
What now?
Macbook Air.
Was working fine for the past year until now.

See more like this on the right.. this is the most common error reported here since mountain lion came out..
Or read C12.. http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
Or just restart the whole network.. in right order from off.. modem.. router / TC.. clients 2min gap.

HT3275 Time Machine Error: The backup disk image "Volumes/Data/My Macbook Pro.sparsebundle" is already in use. (How do I correct this issue?)

Time Machine did not back up:
Time Machine Error; ("The backup disk image "/Volumes/Data/My MacBook Pro.sparsebundle" is already in use.")
How do I correct this issue?
Thanks!

You need to be careful Bob.. people might take this literally.
Bob Timmons wrote:
How do I correct this issue?
Call the exterminator to get rid of the bugs in Lion and Mountain Lion.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5222487?tstart=0

I am running 10.7.5 and getting Time Machine error The backup disk image "/Volumes/Data/Kathy P's MacBook.sparsebundle" is already in use. what do i do now?

i am running 10.7.5 on an older MacBook and getting Time Machine error The backup disk image “/Volumes/Data/Kathy P’s MacBook.sparsebundle” is already in use. what do i do now?

See Pondini's TM FAQs, for starters.

HT3275 TIME MACHINE ERROR: The backup disk image "/Volumes/Data/Sean McGuire's MacBook Pro.sparsebundle" could not be created (error 1).

I can select a disk (Time Capsule) and initiate the backup. It only "waits to back up" then "making backup disk available" and remains frozen there. I tried to update the software a while back and was unsuccessful, I think that may be the issue.
Any insight would be greatly appreciated. This is the error message I receive.
TIME MACHINE ERROR: The backup disk image “/Volumes/Data/Sean McGuire’s MacBook Pro.sparsebundle” could not be created (error 1).
Thanks

See #C17 in Pondini's excellent support document Time Machine - Troubleshooting
http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html

TS1550 My time capsule will not back up. There is a time machine error message that states "The backup disk image "/volumes/Backup/Jane's MacBook Pro.sparsebundle" is already in use. How do I correct this problem?

My time machine will not back up. I get a Time Machine Error message that reads: "The backup disk image "/Volumes/Backup/(myname)'sMacBook Pro.sparsebundle" is already in use.
I have not been able to back up for two weeks, I think this occurred after an update to the operating system, but I am unsure.
How do I correct this problem?

Have you tried restarting the computer? Also, see Time Machine Error from this pages sidebar under More Like This.

Time Machine Error - Backup Requires 2,211,365.5 GB!

Hello - I have searched the posts and nothing seems to touch on this specifically - I have been using Time Machine successfully for months and this has only started to happen in the last few days.
I have a white Macbook, 10.5.6 with an upgraded 150GB hard drive. I do backups sporadically (once or twice a week), as I don't want to keep my Macbook connected to a hard drive and I find using the airdisk feature on my AEBS takes too long and slows down the network. This has been working fine for me for months, but now I get the following message:
Time Machine Error
This backup is too large for the backup volume. The backup requires 2211365.5 GB but only 125.5 GB are available.
I tried reformatting my disk (250GB hard drive) and the problem still arises. There are no external drives or anything connected to the Macbook at the time.
Can anyone help? I don't want to go out and buy a Hard Drive with a 3million GB capacity!
Thanks
Ian

ChunTzu wrote:
If TM is seeing a ridiculous amount of info to backup like that (2 million gigs is probably not a real number I am guessing) it probably means you have file structure problems that are causing TM to count a folder infinitely in some kind of loop... like maybe a file link to itself that kind of thing.
A disk check usually repairs these sorts of problems and should alleviate your issue.
I believe you are correct and I would add that this case might require stronger medicine such as DiskWarrior to repair the directory structure, if that it the issue.

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!

Macbook air backup to time machine error

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