This could be the Time machine fix`

After trying many things, what I found to make Time Machine go was this:
Verify and repair the external drive.
Erase the drive (it may mean dragging things out of the drive if you wanna save them)
Turn off Spotlight on the drive (System prefs., select the drive to not be checked by spotlight)
If you've tried to run TM, get rid of any previous Backup.backupd type file (probably has a "in progress" at the end of it)
Go to HD/Library/Prefs. and find the Timemachine.plis file and drag it to the trash
Start you Time Machine backup.
Hope this helps someone. Helped me.

would be interested in know what problem was being solved as well as a follow up in a few days to confirm solution.

Similar Messages

HT3275 For the past several days, I have been getting this message during backups: Time Machine could not complete the back up. The backup disk image "Volumes/Data/iMac.sparsebundle" could not be accessed (error-1).

For the past several days, I have been getting this message during backups:
Time Machine could not complete the back up. The backup disk image "Volumes/Data/bhoppy2's iMac.sparsebundle" could not be accessed (error-1). When I click on the 'help' icon on the message, it reverts to a blank page, and I cannot find anything online regarding the term 'sparsebundle.' In addition, I cannot access previous backups any longer.
Help?

See C17 in Time Machine Troubleshooting by Time Machine guru Pondini:
http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html

I want to set up the Time Machine and I would love to use the Time Capsule but since I already have a wireless router I need suggestions on what other external disks Apple could recommend to use with the Time Machine and how to configure that disk

I want to set up the Time Machine and I would love to use the Time
Capsule but since I already have a wireless router I need suggestions on
what other
external disks Apple could recommend to use with the Time Machine and
how to configure that disk.
A complication that I need to resolve is the fact that I am using Vmware
Fusion to be able to use Windows on my Mac. Now it seems that Time
Machine is not backing up my files
on that virtual Windows without additional configuration and my question
is whether you can advise me here or whether this is only a matter for
the Fusion virtual machine.

If you want to use Time Capsule you can.. you simply bridge it and plug it into the existing router.. wireless can be either turned off or used to reinforce the existing wireless.. eg use 5ghz in the TC which is much faster than your 2.4ghz.
You can also use a NAS.. many brands available but the top brands are synology, qnap and netgear readynas series. These will all do Time Machine backups although how well always depends on Apple sticking to a standard. There are cheaper ones.. I bought a single disk zyxel which was rebadged and sold through my local supermarket. It actually works very well for TM at least on Snow Leopard. Major changes were made in Lion and again ML so do not instantly think it will work on later versions. I haven't tried it yet with those versions.
Any external drive can be plugged into the mac. Use the one with the fastest connection or cheapest price according to your budget. USB2 drives are cheap and plentiful. But no where near as fast as USB3 or FW800. So just pick whichever suits the ports on your Mac. Interesting Apple finally moved to USB3 on their latest computers.
TM should exclude the VM partition file.. it is useless backing it up from Mac OS side.. and will slow TM as it needs to backup that partition everyday for no purpose.. TM cannot see the files inside it to backup just the changes.
You need to backup windows from windows. Use MSbackup to external drive.. if you have pro or ultimate versions you can backup to network drive. But MSbackup is a dog.. at least until the latest version it cannot restore the partition without first loading windows. There are about a zillion backup software versions for windows.. look up reviews and buy one which works for you. I use a free one Macrium Reflect which does full disk backups and is easy to restore.. to do incremental backups though you have to pay for it.

HT3275 Has anyone come across the red "i" message saying "The backup disk image "/Volumes/Chris...(the last bit being) iMac.sparsebundle" is already in use? This has prevented my time machine from backing up from this morning (5th Dec 2012).

Has anyone come across the red "i" message saying "The backup disk image "/Volumes/Chris...(the last bit being) iMac.sparsebundle" is already in use."?
As of yesterday (4th Dec 2012) everything was fine, no trouble or problems at all. Wake up this morning, turn on the computer and when it came time to backup itself, the message occurred above and this has prevented my time machine from backing up from this morning (5th Dec 2012) ever since then.
Everything on my computer is up-to-date but this problem still persists displaying this message practically every hour, on the hour and nothing is getting backedup!
If you know what is going on and more importantly, how to fix this, I would be indebted to you for sharing your knowledge with me on this subject.
Thank you.

Welcome to the Apple Support Communities
See > http://pondini.org/TM/C12.html

Time machine would back up only the first time after I shut off my imac and started it up again. Then it would fail or claim it could not locate my external Hard Drive even though it's icon was showing in the time machine dialog window.

Time machine only ever backed up the first time it runs immediately after I start up my computer after it has been shut off. All other back up attemps fail. Recently it stopped recognizing the icon for my external hard drive in the time machine dialog window where you select the hard drive to back up to, and turn on and off the time machine function. Now the external HD icon only shows up on the desk top but no longer in the dialog box. I just tried shutting the computer off and turning it on again and now the light is on, on the external hard drive but the icon does not even appear on the desk top.
The external hard drive is a 1TB Seagate. The drive still has plenty of unused capacity. I ran a diagnostic test on it. It said the disk needed repair but the repair function would not work. The message stated that it could not be unmounted and repair is not available because the disk can't be written to. The Mac OX utility said the disk can still be opened but can't be changed nor repaired. The external HD is not S.M.A.R.T. supported.
I haven't tried replacing the cable yet. Is that the next thing I should try?

What Mac OSX version are your running ("iOS" as shown in your profile cannot run on a Mac computer)?

I install LION on my mac pro 2008 and it's alway's pop with " there was a problem connecting to the server " Time Capsule" .How can i remove this popup. My Time machine is working fine and also rename it. But the popup keeps on coming with the old name.

I installed LION on my mac pro 2008 and it's alway's pop with " there was a problem connecting to the server " Time Capsule" .How can i remove this popup. My Time machine is working fine and also rename it with less than 7 karakters. But the popup keeps on coming with the old name.

I have a BT Infinity router plugged into the Time Capsule, not sure where the radio settings are?
They are able to use the network settings of the TC i.e. they can connect to the internet via the wifi through the TC but when they try and connect to the AirPort Disk this is where it is not allowing a connection.
I don;t have the drive shared out at all at the moment, is this necessary? How do I do this if so?
I have attached the screen shots of all the settings.
Thanks again for your help.

I have 2 WD external HD for back up. One is hooked up to the Time Machine and the other is used to store all my large photo files. The time machine excludes the second one. I need to back this up as well . How do I reformat it so it will ?

I just purchased 2 WD TB external hard drives. I have one formatted to be used with the time machine and it is working well. the other that i am using to store large files is excluded from the time machine. I can't click on it and add as per instructions. It won't allow me to. I need to back t his up as well. Ive backed up this one so I am able to reformat it but it doesn't recognize the drive unless it is formatted in FAT which is what WD advices it be formatted in. It should be in Mac extended journaling but I can't get it to mount in that. Help?

In addition, TM will not backup drives partitioned in FAT as the OP stated his 2nd EHD is formatted. My recommendation to the OP is to reformat the 2nd EHD to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and then include it in his TM backups. Of course in order to do this the OP must first move the data on the FAT partitioned drive to his internal HD and then once the EHD is re-partitioned correctly he can move it back.
In addition as Pondini mentioned the 2nd EHD must be directly connected to the iMac rather than be a network drive, TM is NOT, repeat NOT a network backup solution with the single caveat of using a Time Capsule backup.

I have an Apple Macbook and will be backing up the entire system to an external hard drive utilizing the Time Machine application. when I am doing this, will the data on the external drive that I am using be erased?

I have an Apple Macbook and will be backing up the entire system in order to upgrade to a newer OS. I will be using an external hard drive to do this and there is already data on it. To complete the backup, i will be using the Time Machine application. Does this application wipe out all of the existing data on the external hard drive, or will it create a new "folder" for the backup?
thank you

No, but as steve359 states you should use a dedicated hard drive for backups. It you need a temporary backup then you can use the drive provided it has sufficient space for all your data on the hard drive.
When Time Machine finds that the drive has data on it already it may decide to erase the drive before continuing, which is another reason to use a dedicated drive.

My Fantom backup drive is failing. I want to copy the time machine contents to a new backup drive and continue on as if nothing has happened. Can I do this and if so how? I have intel iMac running Mountain Lion. Fantom Drive via Firewire 800.

My Fantom backup drive is failing and I have to send it in for warranty repair. Before I do that I want to copy the time machine contents to a new drive and then use it for the backup, continuing on as if nothing had gone wrong with the first drive. Can I do this? Is it as simple as duplicating the first drive and replacing it with the second? New drive arrives Tuesday PM and both drives have dual firewire 800 ports.

I have used the Disk Utility to verify the contents of the backup drive so I don't think I have any corrupt files. The drive just takes a minute or so to spin up to speed. If I turn it off and then back on, it beeps at me for a few seconds and then starts it's slow process of trying to spin. I think it's a power problem not a data problem. I have my fingers crossed that it holds on until Tuesday PM when the new drive arrives. I'm thinking that my two options are to duplicate the bad drive or partition the new drive and put the old backups on one partition and start afresh on the second partition. Any input?
And thanks to both of you for the valuable information so far!

HT3275 When I press "select backup location" in the Time Machine section of System Preferences, my external hard drive doesn't appear as an option. How do I change this?

When I press "select backup location" in the Time Machine section of System Preferences, my external hard drive doesn't appear as an option. How do I change this? My external hard drive is a FreeAgent GoFlex Drive.

Hi, what Format is the external Drive?
They usually come PC Formatted for Fat32/MSdos, or NTFS... is there anything on it now?
How to format your disks...
http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/partitioning_tiger.html
(To Install OSX on an IntelMac the Drive it needs the GUID Partitioning scheme mentioned at the bottom.)
Thanks to Pondini, Formatting, Partitioning, Verifying, and Repairing Disks...
http://Pondini.org/OSX/DU.html

The window that opens when I click on the Time Machine icon is Finder (devices) and when I close this Time Machine also closes.

The window that opens when I click on the Time Machine icon is Finder (devices) and when I close this Time Machine also closes.

You will need to be much more specific about what you problem is. That is how TM works. That is how you find things to restore from TM, by using a Finder window so that you can browse through the Mac's hierarchy of folders and files.
Why are you double posting this?

HT3275 Can some HELP, I keep getting this error with my Time Machine Back up, "The backup disk image "/Volumes/JKPN Safe/JKPN IMAC.sparsebundle" is already in use.

Can some one HELP me , I keep getting this error with my Time Machine Back up, "The backup disk image “/Volumes/JKPN Safe/JKPN IMAC.sparsebundle” is already in use.

See > http://pondini.org/TM/C12.html

What can I do when I get this message from my Time Machine? The backup disk image "/Volumes/Data/Jeanne's iMac.sparsebundle" is already in use.

What do I do when I get this message on my Time Machine? "The backup disk image “/Volumes/Data/Jeanne’s iMac.sparsebundle” is already in use."

See C12.
Time Machine Troubleshooting

The Apple store reinstalled completly the OS this morning on my Mac , I have now to restore the data from the time machine . I have done it but its going on for already 2 hours and it continues ; Shall I wait ? and how long ,?

Question : The Apple store reinstalled completly the OS this morning on my Mac , I have now to restore the data from the time machine . I have done it but its going on for already 2 hours and it continues ; Shall I wait ? and how long ,?

Let it alone. No one can tell how long it will take as that is a function of your data.
Barry

I have been unable to retrieve emails from my external disk. I entered the Time Machine and tried to go to April 2013, but could not find emails. I have Lion OS X 10.7.5 .Thanks!

I have been unable to retrieve emails from my external disk. I entered the Time Machine and tried to go to April 2013, but could not find emails. I have Lion OS X 10.7.5 .Thanks!
Cecilia

I have been unable to retrieve emails from my external disk. I entered the Time Machine and tried to go to April 2013, but could not find emails. I have Lion OS X 10.7.5 .Thanks!
Cecilia

This could be the Time machine fix`

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