Time Capsule disk cannot be mounted nor found by Time Machine

Suddenly Time Machine can't find my Time Capsule disk to back up to.
I've tried setting up my Time Capsule in various ways, even resetting to default factory settings.
My network seems to work fine and Time Capsule is shining brightly green, but clicking on Time Machine Preferences, it asks me to Choose Backup Disk. Clicking on that I just get an empty list. No disks. My only choice is to Set Up Time Capsule, which I've now done a couple of times without change. The Apple Support suggest a change to a shorter name... Needless to say, this is not the problem. Tried that too.
When I click on Manual Setup and check the Disks tab, there are no disks available there either.
Patience running on empty... Anyone found a solution to this or is my only option to shut off this expensive machine forever (seeing as it doesn't back up and that it's started to hum annoyingly loudly)?
Any help at all would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

My last resort was to connect my laptop and the time capsule with an usb cable.
The bad thing is that nothing happened. So for me this means heading back again to apple care so they tell me whats wrong with it (i just received it today from apple care because it stopped turning on 2 weeks ago and they didn't knew what was wrong with it).

Similar Messages

  • Time Capsule disk cannot be mounted

    I use Time Machine to back up wirelessly to a 1TB Time Capsule. This has worked flawlessly until recently. (I bought the TC in late August 2008.)
    Now, I get an error message that the backup disk cannot be mounted.
    I cannot see the TC disk in Disk Utility, so I cannot run any disk repair there.
    The only way that I have found that I can solve the problem is to disconnect the TC from the power supply, reconnect after a few seconds, and let the TC reboot. This repairs the problem for about 24 hours, and then it fails to mount again.
    Any and all help/suggestions/advice gratefully received. I've also posted this in the OS 10.5 Time Machine forum.
    Thanks, John

    Update
    I managed to start an update at 10.26 my time. It's now 13.13 and has just completed (15.3 MB of data).
    I see this in the +Time Machine buddy+ widget log:
    No pre-backup thinning needed: 100.0 MB requested (including padding), 433.87 GB available
    Waiting for index to be ready (905 > 0)
    Waiting for index to be ready (905 > 0)
    Waiting for index to be ready (905 > 0)
    Waiting for index to be ready (905 > 0)
    Waiting for index to be ready (905 > 0)
    Waiting for index to be ready (905 > 0)
    Waiting for index to be ready (905 > 0)
    Waiting for index to be ready (905 > 0)
    Waiting for index to be ready (905 > 0)
    Waiting for index to be ready (905 > 0)
    Waiting for index to be ready (905 > 0)
    Waiting for index to be ready (905 > 0)
    Waiting for index to be ready (905 > 0)
    Waiting for index to be ready (905 > 0)
    Waiting for index to be ready (905 > 0)
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    Unable to rebuild path cache for source item. Partial source path:
    Copied 6743 files (15.3 MB) from volume Macintosh HD.
    No pre-backup thinning needed: 716.6 MB requested (including padding), 433.86 GB available
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    Does this help to clarify the problem?

  • Extracted Time Capsule Disk – Can't See Old Backups in Time Machine UI

    Hello,
    I was one of the unfortunate souls that purchased a Time Capsule in March of 2008, only to have its power supply die last month. Instead of buying a new one, I decided to take out the hard drive and attach it to an Airport Extreme.
    The first few steps went fine: opened the TC, got the drive out, put it in a new case and hooked it up. Once I had it mounted, I told Time Machine to do a backup. And it did. And it was merely an incremental one. I was optimistic.
    However, now when I "enter the Time Machine," I can only see the latest state ("Today/Now").
    I'm wondering if anyone has an experience successfully extracting a TC drive, or if anyone has encountered my specific problem before. The fact that the backup action recognized the existing backups has me hopeful that there's simply some arcane preference somewhere that will make the Time Machine UI recognize everything properly. After all, the point of extracting the drive was so that I didn't have to start over.
    Thanks!

    Ok, immediately after posting I read Pondini's "Time Machine - TROUBLESHOOTING" thread (http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2057525) and found a solution in E2:
    Also, sometimes TM will start a new "sequence" of backups, as if they were from a different Mac.
    To see these "other" backups, you need the (badly named) Browse Other Time Machine Disks option. It's available by holding down the Option key while selecting the TM icon in your Menubar, or by control-clicking (right-clicking) the TM icon in your Dock.
    You'll see a selection screen showing all the disks/partitions that have TM backups on them. Select the one you want, and you'll be taken to the normal TM "Star Wars" interface, where you should see all the backups on that disk/partition.
    In my case, there was only the one disk showing, but when i selected it, all of my backups were visible.
    I'm not going to mark this as "Answered" yet, because the regular "Enter Time Machine" menu option still does not work, as described above. But at least now I have a workaround to access the backups.

  • Mounting Time Capsule disk breaks Time Machine

    Mounting my 1TB Time Capsule Disk (location of my iTunes Library) breaks Time Machine. Time Machine says it cannot mount the disk. Ejecting TC's hard drive, fixes it. Is there a work-around for this or is this a bug? This makes using TC's disk a bit tedious.
    Thanks
    Graham

    Graham,
    That's interesting. While I don't use the TC hard disk for anything other than TM backups, I mounted the drive in a finder window so that I could see the sparsebundle of my backups. Then I initiated a "Back Up Now". I had no problem completing an incremental backup. But then again, I don't have other data occupying the drive.
    I wonder if you have some other factor preventing the backups. Or do iTunes and iPhoto libraries externally stored on the TC somehow occupy bandwidth and prevent communication with TM?
    Maybe someone already has setup what you wish to do and had better success.

  • Unable to delete files from Time Capsule disk

    A while back I copied my user folder from my iMac on to my Time Capsule disk, which is mounted as a drive on my iMac's desktop. I now want to delete that copy. After some struggling with locked files I have managed to get it so that all I have left is a small hierarchy of folders containing no files. When I try to delete any of these folders, though, I get the error message: "The operation cannot be completed because you do not have sufficient privileges for some of the items." Info says that I have read & write privileges to every folder in the hierachy.
    Can anyone suggest a way that I can get rid of these few remaining folders? They are really bugging me!

    Some of you are going to love this!!
    Ok, after talking with someone at Apple, I was reminded of a simple Unix Command to do the job, even on Time Capsule. Here's what worked for me:
    Time Capsule is connected to my Mac, via an Ethernet cable-- I don't know if this matters or not, maybe it will work over the wireless connection too, let me know!
    You'll need to pull up Terminal in Applications > Utilities. It's a dangerous tool that Unix and Linux people use with skill all the time, but you have to be careful, cause it will cause permanent changes-- that is what I want here, of course. Just be extremely careful, ok? You have been warned.
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    press Return
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    type "ls" (as in the letter L)
    press Return
    You should see your Time Capsule folder (whatever you named it)-- type "cd " and that particular name
    Navigate till you can type "ls" and you can see the folder you are trying to delete.
    Then, the command that worked for me is this:
    (Please double check that "myFolderToDelete" is indeed the one that you want to delete!)
    sudo rm -rfd myFolderIWantToDelete
    After a few seconds for the hard drive in the time capsule to spin up, it worked! Yea!
    In fact, to be safe, if I were you, I would even go into Finder first and try to rename that folder, call it "myFolderToDelete" !!!
    Why didn't I try this before? I've used Terminal, I should have thought of it before! bad nerd!
    But the important thing is, problem solved .
    A few things to note is that I was trying to delete a folder full of "Locked" files. If I wanted to delete several locked files that are not currently in a folder, I could make a new folder, and drag those files into it... now you have a folder you can delete. Just rename it "toBeDeleted" or something like that.
    Finally, note that I am not currently using Time Machine (the automated backup program) with this Time Capsule, so I don't know if it will delete the Time Machine backup -- haven't tried that yet.
    Good Luck!

  • My Airport Extreme and Time Capsule both cannot do not mount my Seagate USB external hard.

    My Airport Extreme and Time Capsule both cannot do not mount my Seagate USB external hard.
    I am running OS 10.7.5
    Both the TC and AE are updated to 7.6.1
    The Seagate drive in formatted: Journaled HFS+
    I tried everything on Apple's Article: HT1331 and the basic reboots and restarts.
    "Next"

    It sounds like you may be confusing "mount" with "recognize".
    Connect the drive to the USB port on the AirPort Extreme
    Open Macintosh HD > Applications > Utilities > AirPort Utility
    Click on the AirPort Extreme icon, then click Edit
    Click the Disks tab
    Does the AirPort Extreme "recognize" your hard drive?  If yes, it will be displayed in the window.
    See example below of a WD 500 GB drive connected to the AirPort Extreme.
    If your drive is formatted HFS+ and it does not appear here, then you will almost certainly need to use a powered USB hub with the hard drive.....even if the hard drive has its own power supply.  The USB port on the AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule is under powered.
    Post back when the drive is "recognized" and we will next "mount" the drive.....although you likely already know how to do this.

  • My time machine keeps saying the backup disk cannot be mounted. how do I fix it?

    my time machine keeps saying that the backup disk cannot be mounted.  we cannot figure out why this is happening.  We have a 500GB time capsule /wireless router and using a Macbook .  any ideas?

    Try deleting your iPod Photo Cache folder.  See:
    http://support.apple.com/kb/ts1314

  • Why does Tiger always mount Time Capsule disks automatically?

    I have a Time Capsule (early 2009) with wireless connections to an iMac running OS 10.5.7 Leopard and a PowerBook G4 running OS 10.4.11 Tiger. The G4 always automatically mounts on the desktop the TC Data disk (i.e., backup volume disk) and any disks physically connected to the iMac. Even if I unmount them, they will come back to the G4 desktop. The iMac requires manual mounting of disks except for the Data disk which mounts automatically during a backup. How do I stop the G4 from automatically mounting disks?

    I had looked in the G4 (OS 10.4.11) System Preferences/Accounts/Login Items and found an item called Airport Base Station Agent listed as an application. This also appears in the Login Items on the iMac (OS 10.5.7). So I didn't see that as the culprit. I didn't see the Time Capsule listed in the Login items on either computer. Maybe this application or some preference file is corrupted on the G4. I don't know how Airport Base Station Agent got installed so I am reluctant to remove it and later find out that wireless no longer works. Maybe when Airport Utility is installed? I was unable to locate it using Find File. The G4 remounts the Time Capsule disk on a Restart so it must have something to do with the Login. But I don't know what.

  • Cannot Access Time Capsule Disk from Boot Camp

    Hi,
    I've set up a Time Capsule and I've been able to read and write from:
    1) My MacBook Pro and another MacBook
    2) A Windows XP (SP3) PC connected by Ethernet
    3 )A Dell Laptop running Windows XP (wirelessly)
    I can copy files to and from the disk and perform Time Machine Backups (on the Macs).
    However, I have not been able to even connect to the disk (but I can use the internet normally) on the Time Capsule on my MacBook Pro Boot Camp Windows XP SP3. I can connect wirelessly and surf the net on the 5 Ghz (and 2.4 Ghz) (non-public/Guest Shared) network. (The password I entered to access the disk are the same on all machines listed, which was not confused with the Network Password) Does anyone face such a problem or know the cause/fix?
    Thank You in advance.

    I use FileBrowser app. It works. Their latest version is much easier to configure than earlier versions. You need to turn file sharing on and SMB on your time capsule disk.
    I use the time capsule disk to store a few files which I never want to be on my iPhone or iPad, but do want access to them. They are not backed up on the time capsule but since they also exist on my Mac, they are backed up from there.

  • Problems accessing Time Capsule disk on Desktop

    I'm having problems connecting to my Time Capsule (used as a NAS shared disk) from my Snow Leopard machine. (If it makes any difference) I don't use it for Time Machine backups.
    If I click on the Time Capsule in Shared in Finder's sidebar it will access the disk and I can access the files on it OK. If I click on the Time Capsule icon on the desktop I get the following error message:
    The alias "Time Capsule" can't be opened because the original item can't be found.
    The only thing on the Desktop is the Time Capsule icon as a mounted disk, not an alias of it.
    I also get this error message if I open a Finder window and go to Computer (the very top icon) in the sidebar and then try to open Time Capsule from there. I've also noticed that I can't drag the Time Capsule share from the desktop or Finder window into the Devices section of the Finder sidebar. It won't let me do this.
    I have a Mac mini running Leopard and don't experience any of these problems. I can also drag the Time Capsule share from the desktop or Finder window into the Devices section of the Finder sidebar without any problems.
    Is this a Snow Leopard bug? If not can anyone help?

    I'm having the same problem since upgrading the Snow Leopard. There's another thread that discusses a possible solution but is not yet solved: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=10115033
    Message was edited by: Tak-Seng

  • Time Capsule disk disconnect and reconnect every 5 minutes

    This problem began with Airport Firmware 7.6, and has continued to perist with every subsequent firmware version.  Reverting to firmware version 7.5.2 eliminates the problem.  Running with the latest firmware version 7.6.3, on OS X 10.8.2, the Time Capsule disk is disconnected and reconnected every 5 minutes, and this is seen in the console log:
    15/02/2013 16:10:22.344 KernelEventAgent[43]: tid 00000000 received event(s) VQ_NOTRESP (1)
    15/02/2013 16:10:22.344 KernelEventAgent[43]: tid 00000000 type 'afpfs', mounted on '/Volumes/Vilya', from '//Mike%20Connally@TimeCapsule._afpovertcp._tcp.local/Vilya', not responding
    15/02/2013 16:10:22.000 kernel[0]: ASP_TCP Disconnect: triggering reconnect by bumping reconnTrigger from curr value 190 on so 0xffffff804456ede0
    15/02/2013 16:10:22.000 kernel[0]: ASP_TCP asp_tcp_usr_control: invalid kernelUseCount 0
    15/02/2013 16:10:22.000 kernel[0]: AFP_VFS afpfs_DoReconnect started /Volumes/Vilya prevTrigger 190 currTrigger 191
    15/02/2013 16:10:22.000 kernel[0]: AFP_VFS afpfs_DoReconnect:  doing reconnect on /Volumes/Vilya
    15/02/2013 16:10:22.000 kernel[0]: AFP_VFS afpfs_DoReconnect:  posting to KEA EINPROGRESS for /Volumes/Vilya
    15/02/2013 16:10:22.000 kernel[0]: AFP_VFS afpfs_DoReconnect:  Max reconnect time: 30 secs, Connect timeout: 15 secs for /Volumes/Vilya
    15/02/2013 16:10:22.000 kernel[0]: AFP_VFS afpfs_DoReconnect:  connect to the server /Volumes/Vilya
    15/02/2013 16:10:22.345 KernelEventAgent[43]: tid 00000000 found 1 filesystem(s) with problem(s)
    15/02/2013 16:10:22.000 kernel[0]: AFP_VFS afpfs_DoReconnect:  Logging in with uam 13 /Volumes/Vilya
    15/02/2013 16:10:22.651 KernelEventAgent[43]: tid 00000000 received event(s) VQ_NOTRESP (1)
    15/02/2013 16:10:22.000 kernel[0]: AFP_VFS afpfs_DoReconnect:  Restoring session /Volumes/Vilya
    15/02/2013 16:10:22.000 kernel[0]: AFP_VFS afpfs_DoReconnect:  get the reconnect token
    Has anyone found a solution to this, other than reverting to Airport Firmware 7.5.2?

    Welcome to the club.. there is a very long thread.. here.
    https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3526741?tstart=0
    There seems to be any number of factors.. where the solutions are little silly things..
    Start from the end of the thread and work backwards as this has been ongoing for a long time.. and experience has improved.
    What you are seeing btw is the change apple made in Lion and 7.6 to higher security version of AFP.. but it is a mess IMHO.. and has not worked at all well.

  • Time capsule disks not showing folders.

    I only use time capsule as a hard drive source. But after i upgraded to mavericks i cannot access any folders I saved in my time capsule disk cause they just won't appear on finder. I have a picture to help you genius understand a bit clearer. Can anyone please help??? Thanks in advance.

    I have NOT upgraded.. and will not until it has done a few updates.. due to exactly the fun and games you are having..
    There is a major issue with the change in Mavericks to using SMB as preferred protocol.
    Eject the TC..
    Manually mount the TC.. using go, connect to server.
    AFP://TCname or APF://TCIPaddress
    Or use
    CIFS://TCname etc.
    Is your TC available via airport utility? Is it on 7.6.4 firmware.. if not update??

  • Time Capsule Disk Doesn't Appear in Finder or Disk Utility

    I have a 500G Time Capsule (single band, I think) that I want to partition (just into disk images, not volumes) so that I can maintain separate-sized locations for my family's music library, photos, and Time Machine backups for the non-media files on each of a Mac Mini and 4 laptops.  But I will ask more about that later. 
    My more immediate problem is that the Time Capsule Disk Volume generally just doesn't appear in my Finder or in Disk Utility at all.  A couple weeks ago, for some reason, it did appear once and I took the opportunity to create a 215G Disk Image--leaving 250G for the rest of the Disk Volume which was indicated as having 465G rather than 500G actually available.  But since then (as before) the Time Capsule volume hasn't appeared in Disk Utility at all, and only rarely in the Finder.
    In the Finder the Time Capsule appears under the Shared heading in the left panel, with the Time Capsule disk volume appearing as a folder in the right panel (if it connects, which it usually requires a password for, but sometimes it doesn't...).  If I open the folder then the right panel goes blank (indicating, I think, that I have opened the volume but there is nothing inside) and the volume (usually) eventually shows up under my own Mac in the Devices heading.  (That is, the Time Capsule disk volume shows up along with Network, Macintosh HD, and Remote Disk in the right Finder panel when I select my Mac under Devices in the left Finder panel.)  At that point the TC volume shows up in the Finder as a 220G Volume and the disk image shows up indented under it as a 215G Disk Image; indented under the Disk Volume there is also a 5G Sparsebundle file from a Time Machine backup.  If I open the 220G Disk Volume in the right Finder panel then it shows only the 215G Disk Image and the 5G Sparsebundles in the right Finder panel.  This seems to suggest that the 215G Disk Image and the 5G Sparsebundles are both treated as 'used' and the 220G size given for the Disk Volume represents what is left (although 215+5+220=440, so where the extra 25G went I don't know).
    If I open the 215G Disk Image in the right Finder panel then, after a while, it shows up as a Disk Image in the right Finder panel when my Mac is selected under Devices in the left panel.  I can create folders in the Disk Image and copy documents to those folders, at least.
    But in any case, regardless of whether I open the 220G Disk Volume or the 215 Disk Image in the Finder, the Disk Volume never appears in Disk Utility so there is no possibility of reformatting it.  The 215 Disk Image has sometimes shown up in Disk Utility (and once it apparently allowed me the option of partitioning the Disk Image into further Disk Images), but sometimes it doesn't show up and I haven't been able to figure out why it does or doesn't.
    I find this all very confusing and the Finder and Disk Utility behavior seems downright erratic.  I'm not sure whether something is broken or if I just don't understand how it works (starting with the difference between the Devices and Shared headings in the left Finder Pane).  I would appreciate any advice on how I can reliably access the Time Capsule disk volume in the Finder and Disk Utility.  Thanks.

    Same problem after 10.8.2 update yesterday,
    Time Machine functions but disk does not mount in finder.
    The disk also shows up in disk utility when TM is running
    as mounted (beneath a sparse image file) but not visible.
    Is this a bug, or a feature?
    LW
    MBPro. OSX Mountain Lion, backing up to Time Capsule

  • Updated to Airport Utility 5.3.2 - now can't see my time capsule disk!

    I updated to 5.3.2 of the Airport Utility through software update but, after rebooting both my Mac and Time Capsule, I can now no longer access my Time Capsule's disk. Airport Utility says 'no disks found'
    A similar thing happened after the update to 5.3.1 but I could still see the disk in Disk Utility, and once I'd verified it, it all worked OK again.

    Okay guys. I called apple support, and the guy there fixed it for me. Reset the TC, and go through AirPort Utility again. The disk is there! Very happy that it was that easy, but bummed that they let the firmware go out like that. Seems like they'd catch that sort of thing.
    The support guy was great, though. Very quick.
    Good luck, hope this works for everybody!
    -B

  • Since I upgraded to Mavericks, Time Machine no longer finds the Time Capsule Disk on my network

    Hi,
    Since I upgraded to Mavericks, Time Machine no longer finds the Time Capsule Disk on my network.
    Five minutes before upgrading it however performed successfully a last backup.
    I found several posts on this forum and proposed solutions:
    - restarted both the mac and capsule
    - deleted the /Library/Preferences/com.apple.TimeMachine.plist (twice rebooting in between)
    Still have the issue.

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