Since Mavericks upgrade, Time Capsule stuck deleting old backups ... for days

I have a previous generation 2TB Time Capsule shared by three of us, each with separate accounts.
I know there's not much space left on the Time Capsule and that it's therefore expected that Time Machine would make room by deleting old backups. But my account seems stuck forever on these deletions (for over 72 hours now), while the other two accounts on the Time Capsule are working just fine.
I've been through Pondini's recommendations for (a) patience and (b) finally resetting Time Machine, but on it goes.
Here is the last couple of hours of the log (filtered for this problem). The entire log for the last 72 hours is too long to post -- but the pattern is the same, with the constant deletions barely making a dent, and sometimes in fact the space available decreases.
I'd cheerfully give up on the oldest backups, but meanwhile it's been 8 days since TC has been able to complete a backup. (I have been cloning the drive daily with SuperDuper just to make sure I have a fallback until this is figured out.)
Hoping one of you can recommend a course of action.
Thanks in advance for any help...
10/28/13 8:06:51.276 PM com.apple.backupd[758]: Found 1022200 files (58.34 GB) needing backup
10/28/13 8:07:01.173 PM com.apple.backupd[758]: 75.13 GB required (including padding), 16.43 GB available
10/28/13 8:07:05.162 PM com.apple.backupd[758]: Ejected Time Machine disk image: /Volumes/edbern/EB’s MacBook Air.sparsebundle
10/28/13 8:07:05.162 PM com.apple.backupd[758]: Compacting backup disk image to recover free space
10/28/13 8:25:44.384 PM com.apple.backupd[758]: Completed backup disk image compaction
10/28/13 8:25:44.388 PM com.apple.backupd[758]: Starting manual backup
10/28/13 8:25:44.915 PM com.apple.backupd[758]: Network destination already mounted at: /Volumes/edbern
10/28/13 8:26:04.847 PM com.apple.backupd[758]: Disk image /Volumes/edbern/EB’s MacBook Air.sparsebundle mounted at: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups 1
10/28/13 8:26:05.230 PM com.apple.backupd[758]: Backing up to /dev/disk3s2: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups 1/Backups.backupdb
10/28/13 8:26:31.228 PM com.apple.backupd[758]: Event store UUIDs don't match for volume: Macintosh HD
10/28/13 8:26:31.546 PM com.apple.backupd[758]: Waiting for index to be ready (100)
10/28/13 8:27:25.289 PM com.apple.backupd-helper[112]: Not starting scheduled Time Machine backup: Backup already running
10/28/13 8:27:31.784 PM com.apple.backupd[758]: Waiting for index to be ready (100)
10/28/13 8:27:56.892 PM com.apple.backupd[758]: Deep event scan at path:/ reason:must scan subdirs|new event db|
10/28/13 8:35:43.224 PM com.apple.backupd[758]: Finished scan
10/28/13 8:35:43.241 PM com.apple.backupd[758]: Not using file event preflight for Macintosh HD
10/28/13 9:05:03.078 PM com.apple.backupd[758]: Found 1022200 files (58.34 GB) needing backup
10/28/13 9:05:16.881 PM com.apple.backupd[758]: 75.13 GB required (including padding), 31.85 GB available
10/28/13 9:05:17.689 PM com.apple.backupd[758]: Deleted backup /Volumes/Time Machine Backups 1/Backups.backupdb/EB’s MacBook Air/2013-10-28-202628.inProgress/03624AE5-22CE-463C-9265-CE6A8826C535 containing 4 KB; 31.85 GB now available, 75.13 GB required
10/28/13 9:05:17.700 PM com.apple.backupd[758]: Deleted backup /Volumes/Time Machine Backups 1/Backups.backupdb/EB’s MacBook Air/2013-10-28-202628.inProgress/7503F996-8E27-4558-9308-15FC60270865 containing 4 KB; 31.85 GB now available, 75.13 GB required
10/28/13 9:23:23.471 PM com.apple.backupd[758]: Deleted backup /Volumes/Time Machine Backups 1/Backups.backupdb/EB’s MacBook Air/2013-10-28-202628.inProgress/C424E6F6-EFBE-4154-A543-375E805E68C8 containing 8.3 MB; 31.86 GB now available, 75.13 GB required
10/28/13 9:28:36.239 PM com.apple.backupd-helper[112]: Not starting scheduled Time Machine backup: Backup already running
10/28/13 9:55:03.037 PM com.apple.backupd[758]: Error: Error Domain=NSOSStatusErrorDomain Code=-36 "The operation couldn’t be completed. (OSStatus error -36.)" (ioErr: I/O error (bummers)) deleting backup: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups 1/Backups.backupdb/EB’s MacBook Air/2013-10-28-202628.inProgress/C434BAEA-946E-4531-BA61-74DD5A34EFF2
10/28/13 9:55:03.037 PM com.apple.backupd[758]: Deleted 3 backups containing 8.3 MB total; 31.86 GB now available, 75.13 GB required
10/28/13 9:55:03.321 PM com.apple.backupd[758]: Error writing to backup log. NSFileHandleOperationException:*** -[NSConcreteFileHandle writeData:]: Not a directory
10/28/13 9:55:03.579 PM com.apple.backupd[758]: Error writing to backup log. NSFileHandleOperationException:*** -[NSConcreteFileHandle writeData:]: Not a directory
10/28/13 9:55:03.580 PM com.apple.backupd[758]: Error writing to backup log. NSFileHandleOperationException:*** -[NSConcreteFileHandle writeData:]: Not a directory
10/28/13 9:55:03.582 PM com.apple.backupd[758]: Error writing to backup log. NSFileHandleOperationException:*** -[NSConcreteFileHandle writeData:]: Not a directory
10/28/13 9:55:03.702 PM com.apple.backupd[758]: Backup canceled.
10/28/13 9:55:11.830 PM com.apple.backupd[758]: [SnapshotUtilities mountPointForVolumeRef] FSGetVolumeInfo returned: -35
10/28/13 9:55:11.831 PM com.apple.backupd[758]: Failed to eject volume (null) (FSVolumeRefNum: -110; status: -35; dissenting pid: 0)
10/28/13 9:55:11.832 PM com.apple.backupd[758]: Failed to eject Time Machine disk image: /Volumes/edbern/EB’s MacBook Air.sparsebundle

Alas, it spent the night fruitlessly.   I think I need to find a way to kill the existing backup or dismount the disk first. Sorry I'm a bit thick about all this.
10/29/13 12:39:06.822 AM com.apple.backupd[1628]: Starting automatic backup
10/29/13 12:39:07.028 AM com.apple.backupd[1628]: Attempting to mount network destination URL: afp://edbern;AUTH=SRP@TC._afpovertcp._tcp.local/edbern
10/29/13 12:39:07.995 AM com.apple.backupd[1628]: Mounted network destination at mount point: /Volumes/edbern-1 using URL: afp://edbern;AUTH=SRP@TC._afpovertcp._tcp.local/edbern
10/29/13 12:39:11.397 AM com.apple.backupd[1628]: Disk image already attached: /Volumes/edbern-1/EB’s MacBook Air.sparsebundle, DIHLDiskImageAttach returned: 35
10/29/13 12:39:12.969 AM com.apple.backupd[1628]: Failed to mount disk image: Error Domain=com.apple.backupd.ErrorDomain Code=31 "The operation couldn’t be completed. (com.apple.backupd.ErrorDomain error 31.)" UserInfo=0x7ffdc243f1c0 {MessageParameters=(
    "/Volumes/edbern-1/EB\U2019s MacBook Air.sparsebundle"
10/29/13 12:39:13.059 AM com.apple.backupd[1628]: Ejected Time Machine network volume.
10/29/13 12:39:13.060 AM com.apple.backupd[1628]: Waiting 60 seconds and trying again.
10/29/13 12:40:24.403 AM com.apple.backupd[1628]: Attempting to mount network destination URL: afp://edbern;AUTH=SRP@TC._afpovertcp._tcp.local/edbern
10/29/13 12:40:24.792 AM com.apple.backupd[1628]: Mounted network destination at mount point: /Volumes/edbern-1 using URL: afp://edbern;AUTH=SRP@TC._afpovertcp._tcp.local/edbern
10/29/13 12:40:27.642 AM com.apple.backupd[1628]: Disk image already attached: /Volumes/edbern-1/EB’s MacBook Air.sparsebundle, DIHLDiskImageAttach returned: 35
10/29/13 12:40:29.209 AM com.apple.backupd[1628]: Failed to mount disk image: Error Domain=com.apple.backupd.ErrorDomain Code=31 "The operation couldn’t be completed. (com.apple.backupd.ErrorDomain error 31.)" UserInfo=0x7ffdc27275c0 {MessageParameters=(
    "/Volumes/edbern-1/EB\U2019s MacBook Air.sparsebundle"
10/29/13 12:40:29.324 AM com.apple.backupd[1628]: Ejected Time Machine network volume.
10/29/13 12:40:29.325 AM com.apple.backupd[1628]: Waiting 60 seconds and trying again.
10/29/13 12:41:40.533 AM com.apple.backupd[1628]: Attempting to mount network destination URL: afp://edbern;AUTH=SRP@TC._afpovertcp._tcp.local/edbern
10/29/13 12:41:41.252 AM com.apple.backupd[1628]: Mounted network destination at mount point: /Volumes/edbern-1 using URL: afp://edbern;AUTH=SRP@TC._afpovertcp._tcp.local/edbern
10/29/13 12:41:44.549 AM com.apple.backupd[1628]: Disk image already attached: /Volumes/edbern-1/EB’s MacBook Air.sparsebundle, DIHLDiskImageAttach returned: 35
10/29/13 12:41:46.208 AM com.apple.backupd[1628]: Failed to mount disk image: Error Domain=com.apple.backupd.ErrorDomain Code=31 "The operation couldn’t be completed. (com.apple.backupd.ErrorDomain error 31.)" UserInfo=0x7ffdc26090d0 {MessageParameters=(
    "/Volumes/edbern-1/EB\U2019s MacBook Air.sparsebundle"
10/29/13 12:41:46.309 AM com.apple.backupd[1628]: Ejected Time Machine network volume.
10/29/13 12:41:46.310 AM com.apple.backupd[1628]: Giving up after 3 retries.
10/29/13 12:41:46.350 AM com.apple.backupd[1628]: Backup failed with error 31: 31
10/29/13 1:44:01.616 AM com.apple.backupd[1768]: Starting automatic backup
10/29/13 1:44:01.649 AM com.apple.backupd[1768]: Attempting to mount network destination URL: afp://edbern;AUTH=SRP@TC._afpovertcp._tcp.local/edbern
10/29/13 1:44:02.604 AM com.apple.backupd[1768]: Mounted network destination at mount point: /Volumes/edbern-1 using URL: afp://edbern;AUTH=SRP@TC._afpovertcp._tcp.local/edbern
10/29/13 1:44:07.254 AM com.apple.backupd[1768]: Disk image already attached: /Volumes/edbern-1/EB’s MacBook Air.sparsebundle, DIHLDiskImageAttach returned: 35
10/29/13 1:44:08.881 AM com.apple.backupd[1768]: Failed to mount disk image: Error Domain=com.apple.backupd.ErrorDomain Code=31 "The operation couldn’t be completed. (com.apple.backupd.ErrorDomain error 31.)" UserInfo=0x7f9af9531a70 {MessageParameters=(
    "/Volumes/edbern-1/EB\U2019s MacBook Air.sparsebundle"
10/29/13 1:44:08.962 AM com.apple.backupd[1768]: Ejected Time Machine network volume.
10/29/13 1:44:08.962 AM com.apple.backupd[1768]: Waiting 60 seconds and trying again.
10/29/13 1:45:20.105 AM com.apple.backupd[1768]: Attempting to mount network destination URL: afp://edbern;AUTH=SRP@TC._afpovertcp._tcp.local/edbern
10/29/13 1:45:20.536 AM com.apple.backupd[1768]: Mounted network destination at mount point: /Volumes/edbern-1 using URL: afp://edbern;AUTH=SRP@TC._afpovertcp._tcp.local/edbern
10/29/13 1:45:23.526 AM com.apple.backupd[1768]: Disk image already attached: /Volumes/edbern-1/EB’s MacBook Air.sparsebundle, DIHLDiskImageAttach returned: 35
10/29/13 1:45:25.145 AM com.apple.backupd[1768]: Failed to mount disk image: Error Domain=com.apple.backupd.ErrorDomain Code=31 "The operation couldn’t be completed. (com.apple.backupd.ErrorDomain error 31.)" UserInfo=0x7f9af97030e0 {MessageParameters=(
    "/Volumes/edbern-1/EB\U2019s MacBook Air.sparsebundle"
10/29/13 1:45:25.280 AM com.apple.backupd[1768]: Ejected Time Machine network volume.
10/29/13 1:45:25.280 AM com.apple.backupd[1768]: Waiting 60 seconds and trying again.
10/29/13 1:46:36.511 AM com.apple.backupd[1768]: Attempting to mount network destination URL: afp://edbern;AUTH=SRP@TC._afpovertcp._tcp.local/edbern
10/29/13 1:46:37.340 AM com.apple.backupd[1768]: Mounted network destination at mount point: /Volumes/edbern-1 using URL: afp://edbern;AUTH=SRP@TC._afpovertcp._tcp.local/edbern
10/29/13 1:46:40.510 AM com.apple.backupd[1768]: Disk image already attached: /Volumes/edbern-1/EB’s MacBook Air.sparsebundle, DIHLDiskImageAttach returned: 35
10/29/13 1:46:42.150 AM com.apple.backupd[1768]: Failed to mount disk image: Error Domain=com.apple.backupd.ErrorDomain Code=31 "The operation couldn’t be completed. (com.apple.backupd.ErrorDomain error 31.)" UserInfo=0x7f9af9608030 {MessageParameters=(
    "/Volumes/edbern-1/EB\U2019s MacBook Air.sparsebundle"
10/29/13 1:46:42.195 AM com.apple.backupd[1768]: Ejected Time Machine network volume.
10/29/13 1:46:42.195 AM com.apple.backupd[1768]: Giving up after 3 retries.
10/29/13 1:46:42.198 AM com.apple.backupd[1768]: Backup failed with error 31: 31
10/29/13 2:49:46.227 AM com.apple.backupd[1880]: Starting automatic backup
10/29/13 2:49:46.301 AM com.apple.backupd[1880]: Attempting to mount network destination URL: afp://edbern;AUTH=SRP@TC._afpovertcp._tcp.local/edbern
10/29/13 2:49:47.381 AM com.apple.backupd[1880]: Mounted network destination at mount point: /Volumes/edbern-1 using URL: afp://edbern;AUTH=SRP@TC._afpovertcp._tcp.local/edbern
10/29/13 2:49:50.418 AM com.apple.backupd[1880]: Disk image already attached: /Volumes/edbern-1/EB’s MacBook Air.sparsebundle, DIHLDiskImageAttach returned: 35

Similar Messages

Time capsule and deleting old backups

Hi after performing a recent backup to an external drive I don't have much space left on the disk. It says that time capsule will delete old backups. Does this mean that any movies backed up in these early back ups will be deleted as I no longer have them on my MacBook due to the amount of space they take up?

Time Machine is not an archive, it is a rolling backup.
If you want to keep files permanently, you must not store them only in Time Machine. If you don't have space for the movies on your main drive, buy a drive to use as an archive, put those movies on it, and make sure that disk is backed up too, since if data exists in only one place it is vulnerable.
My family digital archive doesn't fit on my internal drive so it is on an external drive. I also maintain two exact backup copies of that external drive. One is in the fire safe at home, the other is in a safe deposit box, and those two backups are rotated periodically. If the original and the backup are lost due to fire, burglary, etc., the off-site backup means there is still a safe copy somewhere. Because I can't afford to lose those photos, movies, and financial records. Online backup is another option for making sure you won't ever lose data you need to keep.

Time capsule not deleting old backups

My time capsule is no longer backing up due to lack of space. How can I get it to delete old backsups?

If you upgrade installed the OS, Mavericks.. then the TM seems to lose the ability to delete old backups..
Step in and do in manually.
See Q12 here.
http://pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html

Time Capsule not deleting old backups when full

I have a number of drives attached for alternating backups through Time Machine. When a generic USB drive I have gets full, it sends out a message saying that it will have to delete the oldest BU, which is fine by me. My relatively new tall Time Capsule just tells me to reduce the number of files I'm backing up or get another drive.
Also, form the numbers in the screenshot, it looks like it's trying to do a complete backup of my iMac drive when it should just be incremental, as it has been doing all along. Using 10.10.1 on a 2-year old iMac.
Any ideas why? Thanks to all in advance.

Incremetnal backups are small, so Time Machine usually does not have any trouble deleting a few of oldest incremental backups to make room for new small incremental backups.....but....450 GB is not an incremental backup, and Time Machine will not be able to delete enough data to make room for the large backup that it is being asked to complete.
If you want to keep all of the data on the current Time Capsule, you can add another USB drive to the Time Capsule, or another Time Capsule for that matter and continue backups that way.
Another option....the least expensive.....would be to erase the current Time Capsule drive and start over again with a new backup set.

Time Machine is Deleting Old backups

Disconnected my MacBook Pro from its hard drives for two days. Re-connected, and ran Time Machine. It backuped up as normal. I walked away, seeing "49.8GB free of 499GB" on that external hard drive. I come back and Time Machine is "Deleting Old Backups ... " - and now 135GB free, and still deleting.
I realize that TM auto-deletes ... but does this sound "normal" to start its own deletions when there was 49GB remaining on a 500GB drive?
It's still deleting ...
Clint Bradford

If I said I connnected two disks, I apologize. One 500GB external hard drive is dedicated to just being a Time Machine backup for my 17" MacBook Pro.
Not sure what has happened ... but Time Machine cleared up space, and is now performing a 110GB backup ... kinda like it doesn't know it's the same computer attached to it.
This is NOT a critical problem ... I have full backup elsewhere. Just a little weirdness today ...
Clint Bradford

Time Machine incorrectly deleting old backups

Hi
I have a Macbook Air with a 128Gb SSD and I am using Time Machine to back up to an external 500Gb USB2.0 drive connected to my Airport Extreme.
The drive is formatted as Mac OS extended Journaled and is dedicated to Time Machine backups only. The problem is that Time Machine reports that the disk has run out of space and has deleted old backups. This can't be true as the Sparsebundle file is only about 70Gb and the drive has over 400Gb of capacity.
I have tried reformatting the disk and starting over but the problem keeps returning. When I enter time machine it has deleted all the old back ups and I can only go back in time a few days.
Any help appreciated!

Thanks for the reponse.
I checked and there are no other sparsebundles on the drive and there have been no changes made to the hardware.
Time machine seems to be working correctly as it successfully makes and completes teh back ups at regular intervals throughout the day. The message that there is no space available comes around every couple of weeks, which I'm guessing is based on the fact it keeps deleting all the recent backups except the last one and then the cycle repeats.
My own 'limited' opinion is that TM is having difficulty resizing the sparsebundle in some way and therefore can only maintain the backup within the initial size of the first backup. (e.g. the Macbook AIR SSD reports approx 113Gb of space and I am currently using 82.07Gb. The sparsebundle is currently sized at 75.66Gb on Disk (81.16Gb)
I checked the permissions of the sparse file and they are set to R&W for everyone so there shouldn't be an access problem.
I have only recently moved to the Mac environment and the Macbook air is my first apple computer so I am not very familiar with the environment, but this is an extremely annoying problem and renders TM vitually useless.

Why does Time machine not delete old backups

I dont understand Why time machine is not deleting old backups. As it worked first time with the same size backup drive as the drive its backing up, I assumed it would just delete the old backup as needed. Do I need a bigger backup drive?

Roglee wrote:
I just want it to delete the old backup & replace it so i just have a copy. I guess i could just re format the drive each time but that just seems a waste of my time when TM should do this for me!
If this is all you want to do, turn off Time Machine, download SuperDuper! and use it for free. This will clone whatever drive you want and the free trial will erase your back up drive each time. I can't remember if it will let you choose what to back up or if it wants the entire drive. Also, I'm not sure if the Scheduler works with the free trial. Below are some verbiage for SuperDuper!. Looks like if you want Scheduling you will have to purchase a license.
Download Now!
You can download SuperDuper! v2.7.1 right now and back up and clone your drives for free— forever!
Buy Now!
Buy now to unlock scheduling, Smart Update (which saves a lot of time), Sandboxes, scripting and more!
Time Machine will keep making back ups and when it determines it needs space, it will delete older back ups. But it doesn't delete older ones each time it backs up.

"deleting old backups" for 24 hours so far...

Our Time Capsule is working non-stop for 24 hours now to back up my computer... I'm wondering whether I should let it continue chugging away or interrupt it. Any ideas? Here's the background info. (All OSs are up to date.)
We have two 4-5 year old MBPs backing up to our original terabyte Time Capsule (serial number fits the recall but we have not had the problems listed in that recall). Last I looked (not recently), less than half the space was used (the "Estimated size of full back up" for just my own MBP is 203.43 GB). Yesterday morning, I decided to add a second "User" to my MBP and store movies in iTunes there for easy access through HomeSharing for our new Apple TV. I added about 25 mp4 movies to the new User's side of my MBP. Then, before continuing with the addition of all the rest of my husband's movies, I hit the "Back up now" button on my side of the MBP (I do it manually every couple of days rather than the automatic hourly; it usually takes well under an hour to backup) . That was 24 hours ago. Since then, the Time Capsule has been alternating between "deleting old backups", "Preparing___ items", and "Cleaning up". 24 hours ago it said "Available: 89 GB of 998.06 GB". Now it says "102.55 GB of 998.06 GB."
Should I just let it continue doing whatever it's doing (for days?) or should I interrupt it?
And once I can move forward with this project, is there a way to tell it NOT to back up the iTunes full of movies on the new User side? I know I can tell it not to backup iTunes under Options in the Time Machine Preferences but it seems like that means it won't back up my own iTunes...including all my iPhone and iPad data and info...
Thanks for any suggestions anyone might have.

MaryThomas wrote:
There are now 5 Users on the MM: the User I made last night when I started the MM, the one that was on my MBP and the new one I had to make since neither name was acceptable, plus the extra User that I created on my MBP 2 weeks ago at the start of all of these issues and the renaming of that User. I only want 2 Users.
You can delete unwanted users, via +System Preferences > Accounts.+
ALL my bookmarks in Safari came over -- one of the things I wanted to be sure didn't make it to the new machine...
That can be deleted, too, if you want: +*<home folder>/Library/Safari/bookmarks.plist+*
The Library is full of my old MBP stuff, including all my email accounts. I know it said the Library would come over automatically (it was not a choice in the Migration Assistant).
Correct. Also can be deleted.
Can I wipe it all to a clean slate and start over???
Yup. Let me be sure I have the right scenario, so as not to lead you astray: You want to wipe the Mini, and transfer some or all of the stuff from the last backup of the old Mac (and those backups are still intact; no other backups have been done to that drive since then).
If all that's true, then start the Mini up from the proper Install disc, for the major version of OSX the old Mac was on (Leopard or Snow Leopard). If it's Leopard, do an +Erase and Install;+ if it's Snow Leopard, erase the internal HD first (see the yellow box in #1 of [Formatting, Partitioning, Verifying, and Repairing Disks|http://web.me.com/pondini/AppleTips/DU.html]), then quit Disk Utility and install OSX.
When your Mac restarts, after selecting your language +Setup Assistant+ will ask if you want to transfer your data. That's very much like +Migration Assistant,+ but before you set up any user accounts, so it should bring everything you select over just as it was. You have the same selection options as with Migration Assistant. See [Setting up a new Mac from an old one or its backups|http://web.me.com/pondini/AppleTips/Setup.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of the +Snow Leopard > Installation and Setup+ forum).
If the version of OSX you installed is behind the one from your backups, update it before trying any apps. If it was on Snow Leopard 10.6.4, download and install the "combo" update from: http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1048 Be sure to do a +Repair Permissions+ via Disk Utility afterwards
If that's not what you want to do, or I've got the scenario wrong, please clarify.
(By the way, please click +My Settings+ at the right of this page and supply your hardware details and OSX version, so it will show up on all your posts and we won't have to ask).

Time Capsule stuck in "Finishing Backup"......what to do?

Well...I finally am about to finish my first full backup and it is now stuck in "finishing Backup" and has been for over two hours.....please help.

Ok, here's what I had to do (with the help of a networking genius friend) to make Time Machine actually finish a backup on my Time Capsule. Now it's working perfectly, and the backups are really fast:
I erased the Time Capsule to start everything from scratch. I reselected it using the Time Machine preferences.
I connected the TC DIRECTLY to my Imac using Ethernet rather than depending upon wireless (there is just too much interference in the air from other networks, my Airport Express, cordless phones - I think this was creating problems - it works much better if actually wired through Ethernet). I also gave my Imac a fixed IP address, and on the Time Capsule I changed in the Network settings the "Renew DHCP lease" tab to every 4 days, rather than every 4 hours (it's possible this was causing hiccups).
I excluded Time Capsule from Spotlight using the 'Privacy' tab in the Spotlight preferences.
I uninstalled Microsoft Entourage and transferred all my mail to Mail instead - Time Machine doesn't work too well with Microsoft applications, apparently, and wants to back up your entire email database (in my case, around 3GB) every time you send a single email. It works better with Apple software (cunning plan by Apple!)
Then I ran the initial backup again - it worked fine, and has been automatically backing up without any hitches ever since. I have it connected through Ethernet still and will leave it wired up that way. I think it was my unstable wireless network - which has an old Airport Express and an ancient Powerbook which kept not only slowing down the speed but confusing Time Machine. It seems to work much better when I have reduced the number of wireless elements in my network. Wireless networks are just not that reliable - they drop out all the time and that creates corrupted data in Time Capsule, and it then spins forever trying to work out what's wrong.....

Time Capsule lost my old backup

My iMac(27") and time capsule (2TB) worked fine until I securely formatted iMac's hard drive. Time capsule asked to back up as usual, i didnt realise what i did, time capsule started to back up from the day of formatting iMac's hard drive. I cant go back to my old back ups. is there any way that i can still get my old files.
I havent formatted the timecapsule or deleted any data from it.
lately i have tried doing same with my Macbook Air (13" 2011) and securely formatted the hard drive, it asks me for new back up, im scared that i may loose my old back up for this one too. I can still get my old files, but if i started backup it will start from fresh and loose all my old files.
Please help.

You did things in the wrong order.. by allowing the TM to backup a new install it could well have completely overwritten the previous backup. The way TM works is very complex and you should read Pondini's description of that as well.
To check if anything is still available, use the info pondini provided.
http://pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html
Look at Q14 to 20.

Time machine not deleting old backups...

I am on Mavericks 10.9.1 and get the following error:
"The backup disk needs48.93 GB for the backup but only 30.99 are available. Select a larger backup disk or make the backup smalled by excluding files."
I recently had to unplug my external HD which I use for time machine back-ups, this error started when I plugged it back in just a few days ago. I have exlcuded some files from the back up and still get the error. My internal HD has 475.62GB of data on it, and I am trying to back up to a 500GB external HD, the total size of my backup is roughly 465GB.
Seems like I should have enough space for a back-up and TM should delete the old back-ups. I have been through a search of the forum and online and have not found a solution. Has anyone ran into this?
Thanks for the help!

I believe I was told that If you had older backups like ML and your disk is getting full it will not delete these because you are now backing up a new OS (Mavericks). It only deletes older backups of the same OS you are now using.

Time machine not deleting old backups of recovery partition

I have a Mac Mini running Lion Server. I have an external disk partitioned with a space for network backups and a smaller partition for backing up the server itself. The server has a 160GB disk, it is only using 29.27GB, the partition for backing up the server is 152GB (it's what was left over after creating the partition for the network backups). I figured since I'm only using about 30GB, 152GB should be plenty of space. However after 3 months of use I get the error "the backup is too large for the backup disk". In the past I have formatted the partition and restarted the backups, however it always fills up after 3 months. This time I decided to dig into it a bit more. I looked to see what was available in my backup, it only has one previous restore point. I browsed the disk and opened the backups.backupdb folder, checked the size of the folder with the computer name, it is only 9.44GB. I was wondering where all of the space went so I enabled hidden files, I found the .RecoverySets folder and found it was taking up 141.95GB. I looked at the recovery sets, there are 295 copies of com.apple.recovery.boot which all seem to contain the following files:
.disk_label                         749b
BaseSystem.chunklist       2KB
BaseSystem.dmg              454.6MB
boot.efi                              864KB
com.apple.Boot.plist          431b
kernelcache                       24.1MB
PlatformSupport.plist         2KB
SystemVersion.plist           478b
Of those files, the only file not dated Aug 11, Oct 6 or 12, 2011 is com.apple.Boot.plist which has a date that corresponds to when the backup was performed. These backups go all the way back to Jan 30, the last time I formatted the partition, but the user data backups only go back to the 27th and it hasn't been able to complete a backup since.
I thought Time Machine was supposed to only backup data that had changed since the last backup, and delete old revisions when space is running low, it seems that it is copying more than just the data that changed since the last backup and only deleting old revisions of user data, not system data. Is there a way to fix this permanently?

See C18 in the first linked article. Also, your backup drive should be 2-4 times your hard drive capacity.
Time Machine Troubleshooting
Time Machine Troubleshooting Problems

OS X 10.7 Time Machine not deleting old backups to make space

after upgrading to 10.7, Time Machine no longer deletes old (over a year old) backups to make space when needed. Drive now full. Cannot manually delete and Time Machine does not seem to have a function to perform a deletion.

See C18 in the first linked article. Also, your backup drive should be 2-4 times your hard drive capacity.
Time Machine Troubleshooting
Time Machine Troubleshooting Problems

Time capsule stuck on making backup disk available

I read the tread below that should fix this issue:
"What I did was start up disk utility and use it's repair feature on the bundle. The first time, I got an error saying it could not be repaired, but I tried again a couple days later and it seems to have worked.
How to:
1. Disk utility it in the Utilities folder in Applications or use spotlight to find it.
2. You want to repair the sparsebundle that is on the time capsule or external drive. It's at the top level and named something like Liz M's MacBook_123456789abc.sparsebundle.
3. If it doesn't show up on the list in Disk Utility, use Finder to find it and then drag it into the list in the bottom half of the pane.
4. To run the repair, clicke the sparsebundle and then the "Repair Disk" button.
5. The first time I tried, it didn't take long but did repair some key things. The second time, it took 9 hours! But it completed and looks good.
6. If you get an error that it's in use, go to Airport Utility and:
- click on the time capsule on the left
- click "Manual Setup" at the bottom
- click disks icon at the top
- if anyone else is backing up to the time capsule right then (or using the disk for anything else), wait for their backup to finish
- click "Disconnect All Users" at the bottom
- retry the repair disk and it should work; if someone else does backups to the same time capsule, they can continue while you're repairing though it might be slow.
My backups seem to be working just fine now. I have noticed that if you have the sparsebundle mounted in Finder, Time Machine seems to have trouble starting up, so eject it before starting a Time Machine backup.Hope this helps! I typed this on my iPhone which is a bit tedious. And nearly impossible to proofread. So, take care following these instructions and post here if you find a mistake. Thanks. "
My issue is that I can not seem to locate the sparsebundle as stated. In my Disk Utility only my 640G Hitachi hard drive and my DVD reader are listed. Time capsule is ethernet wired with green light on back. Green light on front and the signal dies work but it does not appear to be reading the drive. I turned it off and back on, it did show up as an available drive in system preferences and is switched on but then the System preferences shows "not responding" immediately after trying to open time machine preferences up.
Software up to date, hard drive permissions repaired, stuck.

Bunce wrote:
oh i already did that. Im working on my imac and looking into this on my macbook. Was able to reproduce the issue again by trying to open TM. Locked out the finder again and had to restart. I checked the serial number and it was an early 2009 purchase with no coverage.
If you bought a Mac and got AppleCare with it, within 2 years of buying the TC, the TC is covered, too.
I have to admit that this $500 unit was the first to apparently junk out. The western digital that had my main data on that is my daily external that I store about 2TB of data on is still perfect and the new technology TM appears to already be cashed. Love the computers, not to big of a fan on the externals of the apple TV's. No life expectancy. Neither here nor there.
suggestions before I either get this looked at or scrap the HD on it and move forward.?
Reset the TC. See [Resetting an AirPort Base Station or Time Capsule FAQ|http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3728].
Try a "full reset" of Time Machine, per #A4 in [Time Machine - Troubleshooting|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/Troubleshooting.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of the +Time Machine+ forum).
If all else fails, take it to your local Apple Store or Authorized Repair location, they may be able to determine whether the disk is dead.
If it is, they might replace the TC for you. If not, they won't repair it, but if the electronics are ok, you can replace the HD yourself, if you want to. See http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2542983

Time capsule erased my old backups?

I have two macbook airs.
On MBA1 I restored Lion from Mountain Lion, by going back before I installed the beta for Mountain Lion, and restoring.
Then, on MBA2 I deleted a bootcamp partition.
I then backed up both machines to Time Capsule.
All data is lost before the the new backups.
So all that meticulous, responsible backing up I've done is useless if I do a minor reconfig on my system and do another backup.
This is so laughably, abymsmally dysfunctional, I can't even have an emotional reaction to it. I am in a numb state of shock.
What happened? And why weren't there about a billion warnings, red flags, alarms and barking dogs telling be this was going to happen.
How can you possibly build a system that casually allows this to happen?

MichaelIsbell wrote:
How can you possibly build a system that casually allows this to happen?
Apparently you didn't notice -- this is a user-to-user forum; you're not talking to Apple here.
If you want to rant at Apple, go to an Apple Store, or call AppleCare, or file feedback here: http://www.apple.com/feedback/timemachine.html
Obviously, this is completely unacceptable. I am immediately terminating my use of Time Capsule. It simply doesn't work.
I'm sure Apple will be crushed. However, Time Machine, like other apps, does work just fine for most folks, most of the time.
if anyone can recommend a 100% reliable, deterministic backup system, be happy to hear about it.
There is no such thing. I've been programming computers for over 50 years, and have yet to find a perfect app (even the ones I wrote ) or hardware, any more than I've found a perfect automobile, calculator, etc.
At least some of the backups are probably still there; if you want help, and can drop the attitude, let us know.

Since Mavericks upgrade, Time Capsule stuck deleting old backups ... for days

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for