Time Capsule not backing up after 1.5 years

Can someone help with this message? I am running time machine to back up my imac and MacBoo Pro also. imac is running snow leopard and macbookpro is running mt lion. "This backup is to large for the backup disk. the backup requires 12.58 GB but only 596.8MG are avaliable.  Time Machine needs work space on teh backup disk, in addition to the space required to sotre backups. Open time machine preferences to select a larger backup disk or make the backup smaller by exluding files.

squkid,
we could run a number of test what has gone wrong, however the quickest and safest way to make it all work again is to redo the backups.
This is a very good article by one of senior members of this forum which explains how to go about things step by step.
http://pondini.org/TM/Time_Capsule.html
I suggest you do as per Q5 and erase the whole set of backups and start over.
If you work over WiFi it is a good practice to do the first initial backups of your iMac and MBP on the cable connection to the Time Capsule. This will save time.
Then the incremental backups can go over WiFi.
Post if you have further problems.

Similar Messages

  • HT3275 Time Machine Error (Time Capsule) - Not backing up "problem may be temporary"

    Hi,
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    The Time Capsule software is up to date, I've unplugged it and plugged it back in, and have restarted the mac (twice!).
    Still getting the error - it suggests I repair the backup disk in Disk Utility but it is not displayed in Disk Utility so not sure how to do that.
    How temporary is temporary and what can I do to repair the disk if it isn't showing in Disk Utility?
    Cheers.

    Welcome to Lion.. did you just update again to 7.4.. no doubt some new bugs will now flow into the network.
    You need to firstly download and use utility 5.6 as the version in lion is useless.
    http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1482
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    To verify the disk you need to mount the sparsebundle.. but to do that you need to see it which means direct connection and reset.
    See http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
    A5 how to verify.. but frankly I doubt it has anything to do with it.

  • Time Capsule not backing up every hour

    It seems that my time machine has a mind of it's own and backs up almost anytime it wants to. An example would be 4 backups in the same hour. thanks for your help!

    Reset Time Machine as follows:
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    Click Change Disk
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    Click Use for Backups
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    See if that helps. Do you have any applications like Entourage, Aperture, VM Fusion or Parallels on your computer? These and other files like them have a "monolithic" file structure. What this means is that any change made to the program will result in the entire database being backed up.
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  • Time Machine and Time Capsule not backing up

    I could really use some help please.  A little while ago I could back up to my Time Capsule via Time Machine.  Then it became slow.  Then it decided that it couldn't find the backup disk.  After 1-2 hours of waiting, then I couldn't stop the backup even when it wasn't backing up, other than via Activity Monitor. 
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    Alani

    Hello Alani,
    Thanks for the question, and welcome to Apple Support Communities.
    I understand you are having issues with Time Machine backing up to a Time Capsule. I also understand that you have already completed some in-depth troubleshooting. While you may or may not have already covered the steps outlined in this article, It may be useful as it links to many relevant resources:
    Time Machine: Troubleshooting backup issues
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3275
    Thanks,
    Matt M.

  • Time capsule not working properly after moving to a new house

    Hello,
    I have a macbook pro and a refurbished time capsule 2tb. I purchased both in 2013 and the time capsule at that time was used as both a wireless router for our house and my back up.I recently moved and didn't have access to the time capsule for over a month. Once I settled into the new house I plugged the power cable and internet connection into the time capsule and assumed that automatically it would keep working. It appears that it is backing up my system as I can pull up the application and see appropriate in-time documents however it consistently has a slow orange light blinking. I am not currently using it as a router as we have xfinity and have a different router for the house and when I try to use the time machine instead it cannot connect.
    My internet connection is fine and I would like to leave it as is. It also appears the back up function is working for my mac. The question is, does the orange blinking light matter and or is it indicating that I am improperly using the machine? It it because the ethernet cable is attached and can the time capsule work without this?
    I have tried resetting the capsule with the 10seconds hold on the reset button etc as seen on other posts but the orange light remains. 
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    The question is, does the orange blinking light matter and or is it indicating that I am improperly using the machine?
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  • Time machine not backing up after Mavericks installation

    Just upgraded to Mavericks and now Time Machine seems really buggy. I can manually get it to "back up now" but its not doing automatic backups anymore. I also get the "preparing backup" message which lasts for a long time, maybe because its not backing up every hour? I use a LaCie external drive for my time machine backups. I have tried several restarts of the Mac as well as the external drive. Also added my time machine drive to the Privacy section of Spotlight. I did have to power down the external drive during Mavericks install due to it hanging up after waiting several hours. I have found that when my computer becomes unresponsive occassionally , the external drive seems to be hung with the light blinking on it. I have had incidents that I had to shut off the external drive, reboot and restart the drive. That would be the only thing that would "unfreeze" my computer.

    It sounds like the backup drive is failing. You should start a new backup immediately on another drive.

  • Time capsule not backing up my iMac

    Apple replaced my Time capsule with a new one. Old one backed up 2 x macbooks and my iMac. The new one, whilst backed up the two mac books as before, tells me on my iMac that: Time Machine could not complete back up becuase there is a problem with my username or password. I put in the password - same as used on the macbooks, it accepts it, but then tells me the back up has failed again. Round and round we go. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated!

    See #C17 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting.

  • Time capsule stopped backing up after installing Mavericks.

    Ever since installing OSX Mavericks time machine will not back up and now Time Capsule says that there's not enough space. What can I do?

    Archive off the old backups.. if you still want them.
    Erase the TC..
    Start a new backup.
    You can also plug a USB drive into the TC and use that as target for new backup.

  • Browsers stalling, Time Capsule not backing up

    Hey everyone,
    I've been reading in all the relevant forums—reposting this from Time Capsule forum because I'm not sure which is more appropriate—and I can't quite find something that matches the problem I'm having, so here goes. If I'm rehashing something that's been covered, a link would be much appreciated.
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    At first I attributed it to a faulty AirPort card in my MBP; I'd taken it in to get the screen replaced, and they replaced the AirPort card for some reason. I've since had that one replaced, but the problem persists.
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    I've checked for malware too and cleared anything that looked suspicious. I just ran Time Machine Buddy, and it said: "No space left on device. Stopping backupd to allow ejection of backup destination disk." But my Time Machine prefs say I have 970 gigs available.
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    See These Excellent Links by Pondini...
    http://pondini.org/TM/Time_Capsule.html
    Section C Here  >  http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html

  • Time Capsule not backing up -  Most of storage space used.

    I have a a 1TB time Capsule that only has 50.0 GB left. It has worked fine until of late. It now will not back up no matter how small I make the file to backup. It tells me backup disk image could not be mounted. It was giving me another error message until I lowered the file size to backup. Suggestions and also is there a way to delete Time Machine usage space (not other files) from Time Capsule. Guessing that it is not deleting to make room for more. Help.

    Sorry to hear that you are having problems. Before you think seriously about erasing the Time Capsule, it would be a good idea to make sure that it will have adequate space to backup your computer(s) and leave plenty of space for incremental backups.
    Right click your Hard Drive icon and select Get Info to get the specifics for each of your computers. The general rule of thumb is that your Time Capsule should have enough space to backup both computers and another half of the space will still be available for backups. For example, your two computers have a total of 250Gigs stored, so you would need a minimum of a 500Gig Time Capsule.
    If you decide to erase the Time Capsule, open AirPort Utility. Click on Manual Setup, then click on the Disk icon at the top of pane. Then click on Disk just below the icons and you will see an "Erase" option. Allow plenty of time for the process, overnight is a good option.
    When you are ready to try backups again, you will need to completely reset Time Machine by selecting your Time Capsule as the disk you want to use and click Use for Backups. You will need to do this for both computers.
    Try to use an ethernet cable for the first backup by connecting to one of the LAN ports on the Time Capsule and your computer. Allow plenty of time for this. It might take 1-2 days. Once the backup for the first computer is done, then do the other computer the same way. You can probably use wireless for incremental backups since they will be much smaller and faster.
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  • Time capsule not backing up - spotlight doesn't stop indexing!

    I have asked Spotlight not to index the backup drive however it ignores this and continues to try and do so. However it continues to estimate index time without providing a time, and hence the backup never proceeds.
    Rebooting hasn't helped, and I'm even pluggintg the MBP into the TC via ethernet.
    Any ideas please?

    I'm having the same problem. Added the time capsule to the privacy list but this doesn't appear to prevent indexing. Basically every time time machine backup kicks off it indexes the time capsule, which is of no value to me. I believe this is a recent issue, but I can't say for certain what changed. Recent software update? Anyway, did you ever get to the bottom of it? My backups do complete, however it slows down the process and of course i can't use spotlight while its "estimating/completing" index of time capsule.

  • Time Capsule not backing up - but not getting any messages of failure

    Hello, I have had my Time Capsule installed successfully for about 5 months. Two weeks ago, it apparently stopped backing up. I was regularly seeing the hard drive icon appear on my desktop and the spinning icon in the top right hand menu bar, so I was assuming all was well. But recently something else cause me to open time machine to look for a file to restore and I found that Time Capsule hadn't backed anything up recently!
    I received no messages, got no failure notices - nothing!
    Now, when the icon appears, I have checked on the status and right now it says "Indexing backup." I don't know what stage it stops, because the icon just quietly disappears.
    What should I do?

    A clue may be lurking in your logs. See #A1 in [Time Machine - troubleshooting|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/Troubleshooting.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of the +Time Machine+ forum), for a handy widget that will display the backup messages from your logs.
    If that shows errors, see #C2 there.
    If it doesn't, but shows very small amounts of data copied, see #D5 there.

  • HT201250 Time Capsule not backing up

    The backup disk image “/Volumes/Time Capsule/Velasquez MacBook Pro.sparsebundle” is already in use.
    How do I fix this?

    Restart your computer and the Time Capsule. In most of the cases, this should solve the problem. If it doesn't work, read > http://pondini.org/TM/C12.html

  • HT201250 Backup too large & time machine not backed up for over a year.

    Today I got this message:
    This backup is too large for the backup disk. The backup requires 188.89 GB but only 73.07 GB are available.
    Time Machine needs work space on the backup disk, in addition to the space required to store backups. Open Time Machine preferences to select a larger backup disk or make the backup smaller by excluding files.
    Then when I go to preferences it said
    73.1 GB of 320 GB available
    Oldest backup July 10, 2011
    Latest backup July 10, 2011
    Next back up Today at 7:25pm
    I was under the impression I had been backing up everyday and today was the first day I go the warning the backup was too large. Why is it that I have not had a back up for over a year? That worries me. I had a HD crash just over a year ago and the time machine saved my life. I thought everything was back to normal once I had my new HD installed, but wondering if that was the last back up it ever did for some reason.
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    Hi, what Mac Utilities is this you ran?
    Have you looked through Pondini's extensive TM help site?
    http://Pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html
    http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
    Can't imaging something not being covered there.

  • Time capsule not backing up since upgrading to Yosemite

    Anyone else having this problem? 

    These instructions must be carried out as an administrator. If you have only one user account, you are the administrator.
    Launch the Console application in any of the following ways:
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    ☞ If all you see are messages that contain the word "Starting," you didn't clear the text field.
    ☞ The log contains a vast amount of information, almost all of which is irrelevant to solving any particular problem. When posting a log extract, be selective. Don't post more than is requested.
    Please don't indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into this discussion.
    Please don't post screenshots of log messages—post the text.
    ☞ Some private information, such as your name, may appear in the log. Anonymize before posting.

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