Time Capsule "Deleted backup image"

Question

Hi!
As usual, the Time Machine went on, except that a message prompted for backup consolidation.
Since 1.4 TB out of the 2 TB of Time Capsule are used and a 75% disk usage is fine, I answered yes.
Problem is, Time Machine actually erased my whole year of backups!
Here's the log from Console:
com.apple.backupd:
Starting standard backup
Attempting to mount network destination URL: afp://user_(iMac)@TimeCapsule2._afpovertcp._tcp.local/Time%20Machine%202%20To
Mounted network destination at mountpoint: /Volumes/Time Machine 2 To using URL: afp://user_(iMac)@TimeCapsule2._afpovertcp._tcp.local/Time%20Machine%202%20To
Running backup verification
QUICKCHECK ONLY; FILESYSTEM CLEAN
Starting standard backup
Attempting to mount network destination URL: afp://user_(iMac)@TimeCapsule2._afpovertcp._tcp.local/Time%20Machine%202%20To
Mounted network destination at mountpoint: /Volumes/Time Machine 2 To using URL: afp://user_(iMac)@TimeCapsule2._afpovertcp._tcp.local/Time%20Machine%202%20To
Running backup verification
QUICKCHECK ONLY; FILESYSTEM CLEAN
Backup verification failed for image /Volumes/Time Machine 2 To/iMac.sparsebundle!
Recovery backup requested by user.
Deleted backup image: /Volumes/Time Machine 2 To/iMac.purgeable.  1860.7 GB available on host volume.
Creating disk image /Volumes/Time Machine 2 To/iMac.sparsebundle
Failed to hide extension on /Volumes/Time Machine 2 To/iMac.sparsebundle, error: Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=4 "The file “iMac.sparsebundle” doesn’t exist." UserInfo=0x7fb5d6d027c0 {NSURL=file://localhost/Volumes/Time%20Machine%202%20To/iMac.sparsebundle/, NSFilePath=/Volumes/Time Machine 2 To/iMac.sparsebundle, NSUnderlyingError=0x7fb5d6d019d0 "The operation couldn’t be completed. No such file or directory"}.
QUICKCHECK ONLY; FILESYSTEM CLEAN
Disk image /Volumes/Time Machine 2 To/iMac.sparsebundle mounted at: /Volumes/Copies de sauvegarde Time machine
Backing up to: /Volumes/Copies de sauvegarde Time machine/Backups.backupdb
Ownership is disabled on the backup destination volume.  Enabling.
Backup content size: 496.4 GB excluded items size: 46.8 GB for volume Macintosh HD
539.51 GB required (including padding), 1.82 TB available
Any idea about what happened and about how to prevent it from starting again?
Thanks.

Answer 1

cicuz wrote:
Is there really no way to make Time Machine simply ignore old backups?
Not really. 
First, each is identified to the Mac that made it, via a file in the sparse bundle that contains the Mac's hardware address.  This is so you can back up 2 or more Macs to the same TC, since you can't partition the TC's disk (and also allows you to change the name of the Mac, or even have 2 with the same name, without causing havoc).  
Second, if the Verify procedure finds a problem it can't fix, it marks the sparse bundle as damaged, and won't  back up to it again.  You may be able to restore selected files, or even a whole backup, as long as you don't hit the damaged spot(s), but as long as that sparse bundle exists, identified to your Mac, Time Machine won't create a new one.
In theory, you could alter the identification file, but then you'd find it impossible, or at least very difficult, to use the sparse bundle for anything. 
What you could do is connect a USB drive to the TC and "archive" the disk, including the damaged sparse bundle, to it, per the green box in #Q6 of Using Time Machine with a Time Capsule, then delete the damaged original (or let Time Machine do that).  You can view and restore selected items from it, via the Browse... option, per Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #17.  But remember, those backups are damaged -- somewhere, something(s) aren't right, so results will be unpredictable. 
Message was edited by: Pondini