Sparsebundle in use

My time machine won't back-up, but comes up with this error message:
sparsebundle in use

Two Solutions for "sparse bundle already in use" Error
Simple solution (from Bob Timmons):
1. Make sure that no other Macs are backing up the Time Capsule at the time
2. Pull the power cord from the back of the Time Capsule
3. Count to ten
4. Plug the power cord back into the back of the Time Capsule
If Simple doesn't work:
The Backup disk image ... sparsebundle ... is already in use.

Similar Messages

HT3275 sparsebundle in use

What does the message mean in Time Machine could not complete the backup. .sparsebundle in use. How do I fix this?

Welcome to the Apple Support Communities
First, restart the computer and the Time Capsule, or the external drive you are using for Time Machine backups. In most of the cases, this solves this problem.
If it doesn't work, see > http://pondini.org/TM/C12.html

HT3275 time capsule error sparsebundle in use

my time capsule says sparsebundle in use how can i solve this

Restarting is restarting.
It will make no difference whether you do this using AirPort Utility or manually.
Open AirPort Utility 6.1
Click on the Time Capsule icon, then click Edit
Click the Base Station menu item at the very top of the screen....in the line as the Apple icon....
Click Restart

Time machine not working says MacBook Pro.sparsebundle in use

TIme machine has'nt backed up for over a year. Don't know why it was brougt to my attention by my laptop today. I've tried to restart it ,but it says that the "disk is already in use" or "Heidi’s MacBook Pro.sparsebundle" in use or" try to eject disk image" which I have no clue how to do. Any suggestions?

Did you try to restart the Time Capsule?
Pull the power cord from the back ot the Time Capsule
Wait a few seconds
Plug the power cord back into the back of the Time Capsule
Wait a few minutes and try a backup. If that does not do it, then look here for more information:
The Backup disk image ... sparsebundle ... is already in use.

The image of backup disk "/Volumes/Data-1/MacBook Pro di Marco .sparsebundle" is used already. And I can't access to my time machine... :(

Hi, today my time capsule has restarted a new backup, I don't know why, and also it has appeared this message: The image of backup disk “/Volumes/Data-1/MacBook Pro di Marco .sparsebundle” is used already. And I can't access to my time machine...
Does anybody know what I've to do?
Tnx!

Yes, please check out this Pondini article for further details on how to solve this problem.

HT201514 "sparsebundle in use" error message

I recently upgraded to Mountain Lion and ever since, have been denied access to my Time Machine/Time Capsule backup - receiving the error message: The backup disk image “/Volumes/xxxxxxxx's Time Cap/xxxxxxx MacBook Pro.sparsebundle” is already in use.
Any suggestions????

I have had the same issue.
Nothing on Pondini's C17 has worked for me.
Toggling the "enable file sharing" box and rebooting CPU & Time Capsule worked...for about 2-3 days. Then I get the same error. I gave been putting up with this for over a month. I have been to just about every forum that relates to the "sparsebundle already in use" error and no fix has worked for more than 48-72 hours.
Lion and Mt. Lion correlate with a lot of new issues for me. Getting desperate for some help.
Macbook (Late 2008 Aluminum) OSX 10.8.1
Time Capusle 2TB 7.6.1
Airport Utility 6.1

Sparsebundle in use, error codes, Mountain Lion problems!

Ok ,Apple has another bad experience on its list. So called" smooth upgrade" to Mountain Lion, clearly breaks automated back up on Time Machine. I have rebooted, and still no sustained back up. What a farce. Apple is becoming the old Microsoft.. upgrades and breaking stuff... I am VERY disappointed... what is a formal Apple answer on this. Anyone left in Cupertino , who is not working in iOs , and actually cares about Mountain Lion actually supporting stuff their store sold me ? Tim Cook, you should now be allowing this. Stock price high, customer sat with Mountain Lion- low ?

I have had the same issue.
Nothing on Pondini's C17 has worked for me.
Toggling the "enable file sharing" box and rebooting CPU & Time Capsule worked...for about 2-3 days. Then I get the same error. I gave been putting up with this for over a month. I have been to just about every forum that relates to the "sparsebundle already in use" error and no fix has worked for more than 48-72 hours.
Lion and Mt. Lion correlate with a lot of new issues for me. Getting desperate for some help.
Macbook (Late 2008 Aluminum) OSX 10.8.1
Time Capusle 2TB 7.6.1
Airport Utility 6.1

OS X Server Time Machine: sparsebundle in use

Every few weeks, my 2013 Macmini with OS X Server tells one of the computers in my household (in this case a 2014 MacBook Air) the following:
The backup disk image “/Volumes/Backups/Maurits.sparsebundle” is already in use.
Restarting usually resolves this issue, however I'd love to find out how to prevent this from happening in future. Any tips, anyone?

1. Open the Sharing preference pane and check that the computer name hasn't changed without your knowledge. For example, if the name was "X's iMac," it might now be "X's iMac (2)". In that case, restore the original name. You may have to click the lock icon in the lower left corner of the preference pane to unlock the settings. Test. If there's no improvement, or if the name had not been changed, continue.
2. Turn File Sharing off and then back on in the Sharing preference pane on the server.

Time Machine Error...sparsebundle in use

New Time Capsule; overnight backup successful; there's a disc image which when massaged appropirately generates a list of files that looks like my hard disc, who is named 'FMBP', probably standing for F's MacBookPro. So far, so good.
However, every hour it tells me "Time-Machine Error: The backup disk image “/Volumes/Data-1/FMBP.sparsebundle” is already in use." My impressions is that it is in use containing the files that it just backed up.
Speaking softly to, or kicking, the Time Capsule, does not help. Fumbling about clicking things labelled "Time ..." sometimes does something unexpected--after while--but does not generate a backup.
The instructions say to keep books 'n stuff off of the Time Capsule, lest they impede cooling. The cat points out that he is *not* a book, and if I'm not going to heat the house during this European cold spell, he should be allowed to sit on it. But surely OS X doesn't consider this 'using' the sparsebundle?
Anyone know how to 'unuse' sparsebundle?

Power down both your computer and the Time Capsule. Start both up again and try a backup.
Or, if you do not want to power down both devices and restart, you can open AirPort Utility and click Manual Setup. Click the Disks icon, then click the Disks tab just below the icons. then click Disconnect All Users.
Then try another backup.

What to do after Time Machine migration (how to start using TM again)

Hello,
I have just restored my system from my Time Machine (TM) backup (I have a USB hdd plugged into my airport extreme (AEB), so the TM backup is a sparsebundle file on the USB hard disk).
The initial setup with migration assistant did not work - it could not find the sparsebundle on my hard disk (this was with leopard 10.5). After setting up a dummy account and doing a system update to 10.5.6 migration assistant then worked fine.
My question is how do I start doing TM backups again? If I am logged in as the user who was restored via migration assistant and then enable TM and then select the HDD that is shared over my AEB will it automatically recognize the old sparsebundle and use that as the starting point for backups? Or do I need to delete the old sparsebundle and then start a brand new backup?
My external HDD is not big enough to accomodate an additional backup, and so I would prefer to just use the existing backup if possible.
Thank You!

atticus_pf wrote:
Hello,
I have just restored my system from my Time Machine (TM) backup (I have a USB hdd plugged into my airport extreme (AEB), so the TM backup is a sparsebundle file on the USB hard disk).
The initial setup with migration assistant did not work - it could not find the sparsebundle on my hard disk (this was with leopard 10.5). After setting up a dummy account and doing a system update to 10.5.6 migration assistant then worked fine.
My question is how do I start doing TM backups again? If I am logged in as the user who was restored via migration assistant and then enable TM and then select the HDD that is shared over my AEB will it automatically recognize the old sparsebundle and use that as the starting point for backups? Or do I need to delete the old sparsebundle and then start a brand new backup?
My external HDD is not big enough to accomodate an additional backup, and so I would prefer to just use the existing backup if possible.
not possible. TM will make a complete new backup after a new install and there is no way around that. if your existing backup drive is too small for that you have to delete the existing backups and start TM backups from scratch. (just thrash the sparse bundle and empty trash).
Thank You!

Time Machine reconnect old sparsebundle

I encountered a problem with a corrupt sparsebundle (I use TimeMachine with my Synology NAS) and Time Machine creating a new sparsebundle, not using the my good old sparsebundle with all my previous backups.
Maybe there are people with the same problem, so here is my solution.
First I had to repair my original sparsebundle image (in this post, the filename is further called A ). TimeMachine seems to rename this sparsebundle giving it read-only rights. To bypass that: ssh with Terminal to your NAS and navigate to the folder which you pointed out as backup folder for Synology Mac Backup.
type:
+chmod 1777 A+
End your SSH session with the NAS, but keep Terminal open. Open 'Finder' and navigate to the backupfolder on your NAS (so the folder is mounted). Then, go back to Terminal and go to /Volumes/*backup folder*/. If you type ' +ls -ls+ ' in your Terminal, the sparsebundle will be shown.
Then to mount and repair, type:
+hdiutil attach -nomount -readwrite A+
then a list with disks appear as output. Remember the bottom one (with me /dev/disk1s2).
type:
+fsck_hfs -rf remembered_path+
This can take a while (like 12 hours or so, depending on the size of your sparsebundle).
Sometimes this process quits with an error (with me it did), but restarting the process worked for me (so just type in the command again).
Then, manually start a Time Machine Backup (letting it create a new sparsebundle). Wait until the 'Making backup disk available' disappears and stop the backup. Disable TimeMachine again.
Go to Terminal again and ssh to your NAS.
Go to the folder again with the sparsebundles.
Type ' +ls -ls+ ', remember the name of the sparsebundle created last, i call this X.
type:
+cd X+
type:
+cp Info.plist ../A+
+cp Info.bckup ../A+
+cp com.apple.TimeMachine.MachineID.plist ../A+
+cd ..+
+mv X choosea_filename_not_ending_withsparsebundle+
+mv A to X+
If you point Time Machine to use the NAS disk again, the backup process will go and continue to backup to your good 'ol sparsebundle.
For me it worked, hope it does for others!!
Message was edited by: edstasy

edstasy wrote:
Pondini wrote:
The file system +directories and catalogs+ may be ok, but that doesn't mean your backups are complete.
I have used a lot of information from this page: http://blog.jthon.com/?p=31
It seems that this issue is common when backing up over WiFi (see comment reply by Phil, #10).
The original post, and most of the replies, are from 2008 (Leopard). The "verification" process wasn't added until mid-May of 2010. They may or may not be addressing the same thing.
Also, there is nothing wrong with the disk in the NAS, there probably was a process which was not ended correctly that corrupted the image.
Yes, that's one of the possibilities. Since Apple hasn't provided a glimmer of a clue as to what's actually wrong, there's no telling.
As long as you realize you may be backing-up to damaged or incomplete backups, that's certainly your call.
I cannot guarantee that the backup will work (no one can). I just reconnected the sparsebundle, now Time Machine is happy again and I am happy again
Of course, I could prove this fix by restoring from Time Machine, but I'm not going into that now, maybe I will test that later on.
That would be prudent. But restore to an empty disk/partition, so if it fails, you're not in a bigger pickle. You might try it twice; once from the last backup before the message, once from a later one.

Time Machine backup of open sparsebundle

I have my Library/Mail folder encrypted as a sparsebundle (I use an alias to it for Mail.app to access it.) Throughout the day, TM backs up my Library folder (including the alias) as well as the sparsebundle file.
My concern is about how the sparsebundle file is backed up.. I've noticed that the timestamp on the sparsebundle file doesn't change, but that when I go inside, various files there have recent timestamps.
Question is if TM is making copies of the recent, changed sparsebundle and if it does so even though I have it mounted?
Thanks,
Jay

Hi Jay,
My understanding of TM is that it will backup images if they are mounted. I have some backup images that I have had to exclude from TM backups because I don't want to waste space on redundant data.
I'm a skeptic though, so I'd suggest that you look at, or restore if you have to, a small part of the backup that should have changed and see if it really is the latest data.
I haven't used a sparsebundle for mail, so I'm wondering about the granularity of the contents in the bundles: are they folders, or can you extract individual mail messages? My guess is folders given the minimum bundle size.
Hope it helps,
Chet

10.7: mounting .sparsebundle over AFP

Hello World,
I seem to be having difficulties mounting any sort of .sparsebundle image files through an AFP network connection on my MBP OS X 10.7.3. I have tried mounting a .sparsebundle image file as an admin user and as the sudo user without any luck.
When I run the command below, the image disk, '/Volumes/TestImageVol', seems to mount and shows up on the desktop BUT less then a second later unmounts/disappears. No warning, no nothing!
bash-3.2# hdiutil attach /Volumes/TestExtHDD/TestImage.sparsebundle/
/dev/disk1                    Apple_partition_scheme
/dev/disk1s1                  Apple_partition_map
/dev/disk1s2                  Apple_HFS                                /Volumes/TestImageVol
bash-3.2#
I can mount other image files (.DMG) just fine from the exact same location as the .sparsebundle files using the terminal command, hdiutil. I can also copy the .sparsebundle files from the AFP network drive to my MBP's local HDD and then mount them using the hdiutil command.
The AFP network is running off an older PowerMac G4 OS X 10.4.11 which has a 2TB external HDD connected to it called, "TestExtHDD". The external HDD is holding all the disk images that I am hopping to mount over an AFP network in the near future.
Here are the deets about the .sparsebundle file:
- Create on Mac OS X 10.7.3 using Disk Utility v12.1
- Filename: TestImage.sparsebundle
- Volume Name: TestImageVol
- Vol Size: 40MB
- Format: Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
- Encryption: none
- Partiions: Single Partition - GUID Partition Map
- Image Format: Sparse Bundle Disk Image
World, any thoughts on why this is happening for only .sparsebundle files?
PS. Yes I do connect to the AFP network share ("afp://user:pass@domainname/TestExtHDD" --> "/Volumes/TestExtHDD") before I try mounting any image files and yes I have plenty of space on both my AFP server and my MBP HDDs.
Thanks,
Sam

AFP (Apple Filing Protocol ) is ideal – it's provided by netatalk, and can be used by things such as Time Machine.
Reference
Time Machine Network Interface Specification (TMNIS): Time Machine Server Requirements

Cant access time machine sparsebundle - "not recognized"

Here is the situation: My wife's MBP was recently reformated at an Apple Store to resolve some performance issues. She has been running Time Machine backups for a few months now, and ensured before the reformat took place that a backup was performed so that all files would be recoverable. I'd like to now selectively recover files from that backup (itunes, mail, documents, etc).
Here is what I've tried
(1)
First, the "normal way" doesn't work: I enter TimeMachine and can see all the old backups in the timeline on the right, but can't browse back to them. Oddly, the newer backups (since the day it was reformated) are there with grey ticks and dates and are browsable - the older ones are visible in the timeline in purple, but I can not click on any of them. Despite the grey, I'm fairly certain that these recent backups are being stored remotely.
(2)
So, I tried to connect to the drive directly and open the sparsebundle file. Double-clicking this file does not work. It tells me that the disk image couldn't be opened because it's not recognized. I can right click and "Show package contents", which shows the band folder and other seemingly useless stuff.
(3)
I tried repairing the file using DiskUtility. I drag the file into the DiskUtility sidebar, and click repair. It returns very quickly w/ no error or status. I look at the logs and it says:
Unable to attach “XXXX’s MacBook Pro.” (not recognized) (XXXX is my wife's name, removed for privacy )
(4)
I tried mounting the sparsebundle file using the command line:
$ hdiutil attach -nomount -readwrite /path/to/backup.sparsebundle (again, /path/to/backup.sparsebundle was replaced w/ actual path and file name)
it returns:
hdiutil: attach failed - not recognized
(5)
I hold down alt/option while clicking on the time machine icon and click Verify. That seems to run fine and reports no errors!
This is my first time messing with this stuff, other than configuring the machines to backup to begin with.. so I feel like I must be doing something wrong.
Here is what is especially weird: my Macbook Air also has time machine on and is backing up to the same drive. I can view *all* my old backups (purple or grey) by "entering" time machine in the interface... but have all the same failures on steps 2-4 above. In otherwords, I can't open it's sparsebundle either, despite no indications of any issue in the "starwars like" GUI interface.
I've dug through the forums, and read through a lot of Pondini's posts/troubleshooting guides on the subject. I'm getting nowhere.. any help?
Thanks!
-Ben

Benjamin192 wrote:
First, the "normal way" doesn't work: I enter TimeMachine and can see all the old backups in the timeline on the right, but can't browse back to them. Oddly, the newer backups (since the day it was reformated) are there with grey ticks and dates and are browsable - the older ones are visible in the timeline in purple, but I can not click on any of them. Despite the grey, I'm fairly certain that these recent backups are being stored remotely.
Yes, the white/gray ones are "Local Snapshots" stored on the internal HD, and the pink/purple ones are on the external drive.
The reason you can't see them normally is, the internal HD was reformatted. That gives the drive a new UUID (Universally Unique IDentifier), which OSX uses to keep track of drives, and means it's treated as a different disk for most purposes. If the data is put back properly, Time Machine should automatically treat it as the same, but sometimes it doesn't.
See if you can view the backups from the MBP via the procedure in #E3 of Time Machine - Troubleshooting
(2)
So, I tried to connect to the drive directly and open the sparsebundle file. Double-clicking this file does not work. It tells me that the disk image couldn't be opened because it's not recognized.
That usually means it's damaged.
I tried repairing the file using DiskUtility. I drag the file into the DiskUtility sidebar, and click repair. It returns
very quickly w/ no error or status. I look at the logs and it says:
Unable to attach “XXXX’s MacBook Pro.” (not recognized) (XXXX is my wife's name, removed for privacy )
So does that.
(4)
I tried mounting the sparsebundle file using the command line:
$ hdiutil attach -nomount -readwrite /path/to/backup.sparsebundle (again, /path/to/backup.sparsebundle was replaced w/ actual path and file name)
it returns:
hdiutil: attach failed - not recognized
And that.
(5)
I hold down alt/option while clicking on the time machine icon and click Verify. That seems to run fine and reports no errors!
That's pretty strange. Are you doing that from the MBP? If not, it may be verifying the wrong sparse bundle.
Here is what is especially weird: my Macbook Air also has time machine on and is backing up to the same drive. I can view *all* my old backups (purple or grey) by "entering" time machine in the interface... but have all the same failures on steps 2-4 above. In otherwords, I can't open it's sparsebundle either, despite no indications of any issue in the "starwars like" GUI interface.
There are two rather important tidbits you haven't mentioned:
* Exactly what are you backing-up to? It doesn't sound like a Time Capsule, as you mention that you "tried to connect to the drive directly".
* What version of OSX are both Macs running?

Error using Seagate Central with Mavericks as a Time Machine backup drive.

I am trying to use a Seagate Central as a backup drive with Mavericks. After a while, I started getting a sparsebundle in use error. Time Machine does not backup to the drive as it keeps asking me to eject the drive, but I can't see it connected. How do I get the drive to start backing up again?

Thanks for the reply, I had done all of the above but that did not help solve the issue.
I finally deleted the sparsebundle using this: http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20120709152257934
After this, I reconnected the Seagate Central Drive to time machine and the wireless backup worked!
Shrinath

Sparsebundle in use

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