Time Capsule initial back-up error

The back-up was not performed because an error occurred while copying files to the back up disk.
What are the solutions to the above error message? Disk Utility verifies the time capsule disc as okay, I have no external devices attached -- and am using an ethernet cable to carry the back-up data to the time capsule as it is the first back-up. About 4 gig gets across then the operation quits. I am guessing there is a rogue file which is tripping up the back-up. All thoughts gratefully received.

Not one of Apple's more informative messages.
You're right; most likely, there's a problem with a file on your system. See #C3 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting. It will show you how to locate the message(s) that describe the problem, then help you fix it. If that doesn't help, post back with details, including all the messages, your setup, what you've done, and the results.

Similar Messages

My Time Capsule has stopped backing up. I have an Apple Time Capsule which backs up by wireless. For the last 3 days it has not backed up. I get this message: "The backup was not performed because an error occurred while copying files to the backup disk.

My Time Capsule has stopped backing up.
I have an Apple Time Capsule which backs up by wireless. For the last 3 days it has not backed up. I get this message:
"The backup was not performed because an error occurred while copying files to the backup disk."
I have gone into Mac Help and followed this down to stage 4:
under shared it lists my time capsule and my husband's iMac - both use the time machine but we have switched his off temporarily. Clicking on my Time capsule I get "Connected" and "Sharepoint" - I didn't have to enter connect or password
I don't understand stage 5: how and where do I select the disk or volume that contains Time Machine backups ? How do I know which it is? My disk utility lists 160.04 TOSHIBA MK... with sub-heading Macintosh HD. It also lists (with a "CD" icon) HL-DT-ST DVDRW GS22N
Under stage 6, how and where do I Locate your backup ? I try dragging my Time capsule from Finder to the Disk Utility side panel but it won't go. What is my computer's name?
Please someone help! I'm completely stumped.
Thanks,
Maggie
Mac Help says:
If you back up to a Time Capsule or network disk:
Open the Time Machine pane of System Preferences, and slide the switch to Off.
Open Time Machine preferences
Open Disk Utility, which is in the Utilities folder in the Applications folder.
Open Disk Utility
Make sure the Time Capsule or network disk is turned on and available.
Open a Finder window, select your Time Capsule or network disk in the Shared section of the sidebar, and click Connect. If necessary, enter your user name and password.
On the Time Capsule or network disk, select the disk or volume that contains Time Machine backups. Depending on how your Time Capsule is set up, there may be one or more disks or volumes.
Locate your backup, and drag it to the Disk Utility sidebar.You can identify your backup by looking for your computer’s name in the backup’s filename.

Hello,
Thanks to the great Pondini...
http://pondini.org/TM/C3.html

Time capsule issues backing up more than one MacBook Pro

Hi all,
i'm having an issue with a new 3Gb Time Capsule i've just bought and put online, I wonder if someone would be able to help please.
I am trying to back up 3 MacBooks, a 2011 macbook pro, a 2012 macbook pro and a 2012 Macbook Air, they are all running Mountain Lion.
My main macbook has worked fine and I have backed up the drive a few times without any real issue, however when I try and back up one of the other two onto the same Time Capsule, I get the error, "the backup disk image "/volumes/data/.sparsebundle" could not be accessed"
I've had a look around all the forums to see if I can see a potential problem and fix, however I can't find anywhere that says it works fine for the first backup but not for any other ones!?
The only other option I have seen is to completely remove the data backup and start again, but I don't really want to do that unless theres no other options.
Hope you can help, thanks in advance.
Oh and one other thing which i've seen, is that you can't backup more than one system unless you re-partition the Time Capsule!? Surely this isn't correct???

You do not have to partition the TC.. indeed you cannot..
But the issue with Lion or ML losing the sparsebundle is now as common as dust in a drought.
Yes, it can do a backup then fail to do another.. and there is no reason for it other than poor networking on later OS.
Reboot the TC.. and maybe the whole network. Reminds you of that initial support question for another OS.. did you turn it off and on again...??
http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
Read C12 and C17.
Welcome to ML.

Time Capsule Fails Backing Up (even after months of it working)

Ive run across this numerous times over different macs (24 inch, 27 inch, air...) on every official os supported (snow leopard, lion)
I set up time capsule initially and it works great.
After what could be months, it will error out (backup failed).
It finds the drive and manually initiating a backup fails as well.
Funny things is it says something to the effect of "backup requires 9.gb, Only 3gb available" or something...
I thought this thing deleted old backups as needed?
Why does this always happen given time to allow it to happen?
I have 2tb TC with only 1 TB hd on the current mac.... double the space yet given enough time it will always happen.
The only way to get it to start doing what its supposed to do is format and start over... and Im really over doing that.
I have excluded all the folders I can. If I keep excluding folders so that it will backup, whats the point?
Does anyone have answers or knowledge on the following:
1. Why would it stop working over time? Even if I add a large file to the mac, shouldnt it "make room" for the new file by deleting old backups?
2. How can the backups equal more than the entire HD? I understand it takes snapshots but if a file is deleted off the mac, shouldnt that reflect in the backup over time and be deleted as well?
3. Most importantly, how can I get this to start working properly again without reformatting and starting over or excluding yet another folder?
Thank you so much for any assistance anyone may have on this.

reifel tower wrote:
2. How can the backups equal more than the entire HD? I understand it takes snapshots but if a file is deleted off the mac, shouldnt that reflect in the backup over time and be deleted as well?
3. Most importantly, how can I get this to start working properly again without reformatting and starting over or excluding yet another folder?
Thank you so much for any assistance anyone may have on this.
Perhaps I can help with a misunderstanding on one point and others more knowledgable can jump in on some other points.
The snapshot always saves whatever is different. That is the whole idea, that files you are adding to the hdd in the Mac are copied to the backup. They are not deleted from the backup because you deleted it from the Mac.. the idea of a snapshot is to preserve an accurate record of all files at that point. Time Machine is designed to help when you accidentally erase a file.. or make a mistake.. or a file is corrupted.. so you need to go back to an earlier revision of the file. So by design TM is working as incremental backup device.
If you have a large amount of your 1TB full, and you are shifting files, of 3 or 9GB which you list in the problem description, and those files are being moved around often.. even changing their names. The whole file will be backed up every time Time Machine runs. Eventually it runs out of space.
3. To answer why it doesn't just delete the older backups I am really unsure. That is the design of the software, and it should delete older backups to make room for new ones. Let me suggest a change of strategy based on the above. Files that you are constantly moving around put them into an excluded directory, assuming you don't need them backed up. Make sure you reserve the TC for TM and don't put other stuff on the disk.. perhaps using too much space for copied files.. if you do that.. the TM cannot remove those files and runs out of a small enough backup to delete without affecting something else.

When doing a restore with Time Capsule, I get -8003 error; restoring nothing

Hi,
When doing a full restore with Time Capsule, I get -8003 error; restoring nothing. This happens with all recent backups. Also after doing a verify/repair of the TimeCapsule disk.
This is a dissaster for my originals (my Ableton Live projects). I am very dissapointed in TC and TM at this moment, because I trusted my backup system in combination with my MBP fully.
Please help?
Best regards, Tom

Hi Pondini,
Sorry for the late response, but the problem was something else and were two separate ones.
Somewhere along the way the TC backup couldn't find backup to the original TC volume, that's why I let TM backup towards my user volume named 'Tom'.
When I wanted to restore the root of my drive when selecting the diskname and 'Restore' in any point in time, this resulted in error -8003 in the activated TimeMachine.
Then I tried to do it via the recovery OS and even via the original OSX DVD. Both not enabling me to select the TC volume named 'Tom'. Then I remembered that I first backed-up onto the original 'TimeCapsule' volume/partition. When I copied the sparsefile to the 'TimeCapsule' partition, I was able to recover the entire disk using the recovery OS.
All my files are backup and I am a happy Mac user once again :-)
Thanks & Regards, Tom

Time capsule stopped backing up

My TC had been successfully backing up both a mb pro and imac. Now it won't back up the mb pro, but imac still backs up. Error message "backup of (computer name which is correct) was not repairable by this computer. It is being mad available with limited functionality. You must back up your data and reformat the disk as soon as possible." I don't know exactly what this means but doesn't look good!
I've tried simply restarting (unplug and replug) the TC. No luck.
Any ideas out there?
Thanx.

I had the exact problem (using Time Capsule to back up two computer on my home network). I did update the firmware on the Time Capsule at some point so I don't know if that contributed to the problem. I erased both files on the Time Capsule hard drive and restarted using only one computer - we'll see if it makes a difference. Painful and potentially dangerous to loss of backup data.

How do I use my Time Capsule to back up my wife's MacBook Pro running 10.4.

I just installed a Time Capsule. I've extended the range with two Airport Expresses. I've connected my MacBook running 10.6.3 to the wireless network. I've connected my wife's MacBook Pro running 10.4.11 to it. I've connected my wife's 3G iPhone to it and my first gen iPhone to it and our Apple TV to it. All devices can connect to the internet. I've connected the Time Capsule to the printer and printed wirelessly from both computers.
I've backed up my MacBook and seen that the Time Machine is backing up my MacBook as it should.
How do use the Time Capsule to back up my wife's MacBook Pro running 10.4.11? I've tried connecting them via ethernet cable and via USB cable. In both cases the Time Capsule failed to show up as an external drive and wasn't seen by the 10.4.11 back up utility.
How do people do this? (Other than convincing their wives to let them upgrade their MacBook Pro to 10.6.3?)

James Elliott1 wrote:
How do people do this? (Other than convincing their wives to let them upgrade their MacBook Pro to 10.6.3?)
That really is your best option. Sooner or later, you're going to have a problem with the "other" data on your Time Capsule, since the backups of your Mac will, eventually, fill up all the available empty space. That will, of course, limit the space available for the other backups.
There's a very cumbersome workaround in the blue box of #Q3 of the Using TIME MACHINE with a TIME CAPSULE *User Tip,* also at the top of this forum.
Another is to connect a USB drive to the Time Capsule, partition it if desired, and back up one Mac to it and the other to the TC's internal drive.

How do i use my time capsule to back up another mac?

How do I set up my time capsule to back up another mac computer?

If you have one Mac backing up already.. you can just use another.. TM is perfectly happy working with several computer on the same TC.. it will create a sparsebundle for its files.. it is a sort of virtual disk.
There is nothing you need do except make sure there is enough space.

I have just got an Airport time Capsule for back up how do I do it? Do I put the ethernet cable into the back of my sky hub because when I do that the amber light on my Time Capsule flashes amber. Please talk in simple terms as I am a

I have just got an Apple Airport time capsule to back up my one year old iMac......how do I do it? I have tried putting an ethernet cable into the time capsule and to my sky hub, all I get is a flashing amber light, can anyone help I am a silver surfer not used to Apple products, but love them, plus I don't understand half of the jargon....HELP please

Apple's Setup Guide for the Time Capsule is pretty simple and clear for most users, and you don't indicate at what point or step that you are getting stuck.
So, please go to page 8 in your Setup Guide to review the topic of Plugging In Your AirPort Time Capsule.
The Sky hub will likely have 4 Ethernet <--> ports on the back of the device. Pick any one that you want and connect one end of the Ethernet cable to the port that you choose.
Then, connect the other end of the Ethernet cable to the WAN (circle of dots) port as shown in the Setup Guide.
Continuing with the instructions on page 8 of the Setup Guide, power up the Time Capsule by connecting the power cord from the back of the Time Capsule to a wall AC jack.
Note that the instructions indicate that the indicator light will be solid amber during startup, and it will change to blinking amber during the setup. The light will remain blinking amber until you have configured the Time Capsule at which time the light will turn green.
Next, go to page 12 of the Setup Guide to see the information to Use your Mac or iOS device to set up your AirPort Time Capsule.
You indicated in your tag line that you were using OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.3), and since that will exceed the minimum requirement of a Mac using OS X (10.7.5) as noted in the guide, you can use your Mac to set up the Time Capsule.
Continuing with the instructions on page 12 of the Setup Guide......
1. Open AirPort Utility on your Mac. It is located as follows: Finder (the smiley face on the dock) > Applications > Utilities > AirPort Utility
2. Select your AirPort Time Capsule and click Continue. You won't be able to do this, but read further......If you do not see the AirPort Time Capsule that you want to configure, choose it from the WiFi status menu in the menu bar, at the top of the screen.
So, clicking on the WiFi icon will yield a small window that looks like this:
The example below shows an AirPort Extreme. You will see Time Capsule on your screen. Click on Time Capsule.
When you click on Time Capsule, that will get the setup wizard going. it will take a minute to analyze the network, then display a screen that looks similar to the illustration below, except that you will see a picture of a Time Capsule on your screen
3. Continuing with the Setup Guide.......Follow the onscreen prompts to create a new network
Network Name...........Type in a simple name that you want to call your network. Do not use the suggested name.
Base Station Name....Type in a simple name that you want to call the Time Capsule. Mine is TC, for example.
Password...................Type in a password that will be used for both the network and the Time Capsule. Write that down.
Verify..........................Type in the password again to Verify
Click Next
The setup wizard will configure everything for you. When you see the message of Setup Complete, click Done.
The Time Capsule is now set up and it will display a green light.

HT201250 Can I use one Time Capsule to back up two iMacs?

Can I use one Time Capsule to back up two iMacs using Time Machine? Both are running Mountain Lion.
Fouind the answer in other questions. Don't know how to remove this message. Sorry, Des

Yes, if you use an application like Genie Timeline Pro, which was designed for this type of purpose. Genie Timeline will make a complete copy of your Dell on the first backup. After that, it will only backup the changes that have occurred since the last backup.
Genie Timeline Pro | Overview | Time Machine Backup Software for ...

How to set up 2 time capsules to back up one computer?

what can i say, i run a music studio, dj off of mp3's as well, and edit video in my spare time
so, i've got terrabytes of data, on multiple external and internal hard drives, and have therefore invested in 2 (two) 1tb time capsules. however, there doesn't seem to be an easy way to set them up to both backup my different and various hard drives on one computer! at the moment, i can get both visible on one network, but only one TC at a time will backup, the other just sits there gathering dust as far as i can tell.
i'm running a mac pro, os 10.5.8, with an 4 disc external drive - 3 disks with various data (one contains video data, one mp3s, and one protools recording data) and one running super duper to make weekly clones of my main hard drive. i'd like to configure one time capsule to backup, say, my hard drive and protools disks, and one time capsule to backup the video and mp3 drives.
i've searched quite bit on google and here for a solution, but there's a dearth of information on this subject! hasn't anyone else out there done this? surely i'm not the only person out here with loads and loads of critical data in his home needing more than one tb of backup...

messiah wannabe wrote:
what can i say, i run a music studio, dj off of mp3's as well, and edit video in my spare time
so, i've got terrabytes of data, on multiple external and internal hard drives, and have therefore invested in 2 (two) 1tb time capsules. however, there doesn't seem to be an easy way to set them up to both backup my different and various hard drives on one computer!
That is correct. For backups, the Time Capsule is basically just a dumb HD; the Time Machine software on your Mac is what controls things, and it can only have one destination at a time, whether it's backing-up one or multiple HDs.
i'm running a mac pro, os 10.5.8, with an 4 disc external drive - 3 disks with various data (one contains video data, one mp3s, and one protools recording data) and one running super duper to make weekly clones of my main hard drive. i'd like to configure one time capsule to backup, say, my hard drive and protools disks, and one time capsule to backup the video and mp3 drives.
Again, TM won't do that. Only one "instance" of TM will run at a time, and you can only have one set of exclusions (to limit what it backs up) at a time.
i've searched quite bit on google and here for a solution, but there's a dearth of information on this subject! hasn't anyone else out there done this? surely i'm not the only person out here with loads and loads of critical data in his home needing more than one tb of backup...
No, but it's fairly rare, and few want to do this wirelessly. And note that Time Machine was not designed for such situations, but as a very simple, "set it and forget it" backup tool for the novice to intermediate user, who's likely never used any backup app at all.
For a Time Capsule to back up everything (except the clone), about your only option is to forget the TC's internal HD. Instead, get either a single external HD that's 2 or 3 times the space of what you want backed-up, or enough smaller ones that you can make a +Concatenated RAID set+ large enough. Attach this to the TC and back-up to it.
But for that much data, this is a very slow and cumbersome solution.
You probably need a mixed solution of some sort; using Time Machine to the Time Capsule for your boot drive and as much of the more volatile data on the other drive(s) as is reasonable; then SuperDuper or another app to back up the other data to an external HD.

Can I use my time capsule to back up or save files from my pc?

My time capsule works great with my 2 Macs. I just got a PC and would like to know if I can use the time capsule to back up or save files from my PC?

You can.. but obviously PC is missing TM.. so you will need to use a backup software.
Saving files to the TC is not really recommended.. but as long as you have lots of space is unlikely to cause problems.. the whole idea of TM though is to keep incremental backups on an hourly basis and will slowly fill the TC.. once space is short.. it can get messy.
Also read Pondini who is positively against using it for other files.
http://pondini.org/TM/TCQ3.html
I suggest you read .. skim at least the FAQ so you actually understand what TM - TC is all about.
A USB drive plugged into the PC makes a better backup
1. It is formatted NTFS, ie native format and readable by any windows computer. A TC is a network device.
2. USB drives are cheap. You can use 2 of them and store one offsite.
3. USB traffic is not on the network.
4. Storing files on the TC is bad as it is a backup target not itself backed up.
5. In a pc you can add drive after drive after drive.. (assuming a desktop since you didn't say laptop). Only a Mac Pro can do that in the Mac world.. internal drives are cheaper than a. USB drives, b. network drives. And they are 10x or more faster.

Can i use my time capsule as back up without hooking it to internet

Can I use my Time Capsule as a back up without hooking it up to the modem?
Can I use the Time Capsule as back up without hookig it up to internet?

Yes, but it is extremely poor setup.
The TC does not have to be the main router.. normally you can plug it into the main router and simply bridge it and leave the wireless off even.. it then sits there as a dumb network drive.
If you setup the TC with no internet connection then the computer that backs up to it, must lose internet connection while doing backups.. In stand alone simple setup the TC as router. and ignore all the issues with disconnected WAN. When you want to backup change over the computer wireless or ethernet to the TC.
It is clunky and you will lose the whole advantage of time machine.. automated backups.
I recommend you simply buy a USB drive. it is faster, more reliable and less costly.

I have used Airport Time Capsule with my iMac for several years. I recently purchased a MacBook Air and when it tried to backup to Time Capsule it couldn't because Time Capsule is full. How can I now use the 3TB Airport Time Capsule to back up both?

I have used Airport Time Capsule with my iMac for a couple years. I recently purchased a MacBook Air and when it tried to backup to Time Capsule it couldn't because Time Capsule is full. How can I now use the 3TB Airport Time Capsule to back up both the iMac and MacBook Air? I don't mind losing earlier backups. I have excluded some items from backing up, but since the Airport Time Capsule is full, I can't even begin to back up the MacBook Air.

On your Mac.......
Open Finder > Applications > Utilities > AirPort Utility
Click on the Time Capsule icon, then click Edit in the smaller window that appears
Click on the Disks tab at the top of the window
Click Erase Disk
On the next window that appears, select the Quick Erase option, then click Erase
The operation will only take a few minutes.
Now you are ready to start new backups of both Macs. Back up one Mac first, then back up the other. Do not try to back up both Macs as the same time.

How to tell if Time Capsule is backing up wirelessly or wired?

I use my Time Capsule to back up both my MacBook Pro and my iMac 27". I've been using my Time Capsule wirelessly -- with absolutely no ethernet cable connected to it. It's been working fine, backing up both computers. I'd like to connect an ethernet cable to my main router so that I can get faster backup from the iMac (which is always wired to the router).
My question is this: Once I wire the Time Capsule to the main router, how can I tell if the iMac is backing up wired (by ethernet cable) or wirelessly? Is there some way to tell by looking in Network Preferences or some other place?
Does it matter whether I plug the iMac into the Time Capsule or main router?
Does it matter which port I use to connect the Time Capsule to the main router?

+I'd like to connect an ethernet cable to my main router so that I can get faster backup from the iMac (which is always wired to the router).+
+My question is this: Once I wire the Time Capsule to the main router, how can I tell if the iMac is backing up wired (by ethernet cable) or wirelessly? Is there some way to tell by looking in Network Preferences or some other place?+
If the iMac is always wired to the router, you would normally turn wireless off on the iMac since there is no reason to have it on. Fewer wireless connections equals fewer changes for some type of wireless interference to enter your network.
+Does it matter whether I plug the iMac into the Time Capsule or main router?+
If you connect the Time Capsule to your main router using ethernet, you need to connect an ethernet cable from one of the LAN <-> ports on the router to the WAN (circle icon) port on the Time Capsule and configure the Time Capsule as a "bridge" as follows:
Open AirPort Utility - Click Manual Setup
Click the Wireless tab below the icons
Wireless Mode = Off (I assume that your other router is creating your wireless)
Click the Internet icon
Connect Using = Ethernet
Connection Sharing = Off (Bridge Mode)
Once you have the Time Capsule configured, you can plug the iMac into any open LAN <-> port on either your router or the Time Capsule.

Time Capsule initial back-up error

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