Time machine could not complete the back up

I've been trying to solve this by myself since I got the message on the 7th February which is when it failed & the last backup was made.
Time Machine Could Not Complete the Backup - this backup is too large for the back up disk. The backup requires 19.31 GB but only 7.71 GB are available.
Time Machine needs workspace on the back up 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.
I thought I could find out how to do it but I'm not great with computers, I just get by. Any help would be very much appreciated as I'm starting to get really worried.
Thanks

Thanks for that sanjampet...
sanjampet wrote:
Check thru Pondini's guide on TM, he is the resident guru on it.
You may find some help.
http://pondini.org/TM/Home.htmll
I've checked through Pondini's guide over the last few days & have done a number of things suggested to rectify the problem including repairing a corrupt HD in Disk Utility. The latest thing I have done is use "Disk Inventory X" to see what's taking up all the space on my comuter to find large files that I could exclude from back up. I decided to exclude my movies/films - but when I set TM up to exclude them, I thought it would give me the extra 11.6 GB that I apparently need to complete the back up. Not so.... after setting up exclusions, it still says the same figures on backup are needed... nothing has changed.
Has any one got any ideas? still stumped.

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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

My Time Machine keeps repeating the error message "Time Machine could not complete the back- The back-up disk image "/Volumes/Data/User's iMac.sparsebundle" could not be accessed (error -1). How can I fix this?s/

My Time Machine could not complete the back-up. The error message says "The backup disk image "/Volumes/DataUser's iMac.sparsebundle" could not be accessed (error-1). How can I fix this problem?

Welcome to the Apple Support Communities
See > http://pondini.org/TM/C17.html

HT3275 I recently bought a new Time Capsule and the following message is shown:- "Time Machine could not complete the back up. The backup disk image "/Volumes/Data-1/Brian's iMac.sparsebundle" is already in use." Can anyone help?

I recently bought a new Time Capsule and the following message has started to show:-
"Time Machine could not complete the back up. The backup disk image “/Volumes/Data-1/Brian’s iMac.sparsebundle” is already in use."
Can anyone help?

Pondini is the resident Time Machine expert on the forums, and he has all the answers.
Check is excellent Time Machine - Troubleshooting support document
http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
See # C17 in particular

HT3275 Help? Time Machine could not complete the back up due to iMacsparsebundle is already in use??? This is the error message I am getting now with my Time Capsule as the back up device. Any suggestions?

Help? Time Machine could not complete the back up due to iMacsparsebundle is already in use??? This is the error message I am getting now with my Time Capsule as the back up device. Any suggestions?

Pull the power cord from the back of the Time Capsule
Wait a few minutes
Push the power cord back into the back of the Time Capsule
See if the Time Capsule will back up now
If not, see #C12 in this document:
http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html

I get this error message when I try to back up my laptop: Time machine could not complete the backup. The backup disc image "/Volumes/Data/Lou Ann Buesing's Mac Book Pro. sparse bundle is already in use. Anyone know how to fix it?

I get this error message when I try to back up my laptop:
' Time machine could not complete the backup. The backup disc image "/Volumes/Data/Lou Ann Buesing's Mac Book Pro. sparse bundle' is already in use. "
Anyone know how to fix it?

Reboot the TC.. Sometimes you need to reboot the whole network.
This is what comes of Lion and then made worse in Mountain Lion of Apple not spending enough time to fix the bugs.
Read C12 in pondini.
http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
C17 can be related I think.

My Macbook pro Early 2008 is randomly slow at starting up and when I am backing up to my time capsule I am receiving the following message 'Time machine could not complete the backup. '' ''The backup disk image ''/Volumes/name time capsule/ my name MacBoo

My Macbook pro Early 2008 is randomly slow at starting up and when I am backing up to my time capsule I am receiving the following message 'Time machine could not complete the backup. '' ''The backup disk image ''/Volumes/name time capsule/ my name MacBook Pro (4).sparsebundle'' could not be accessed (error-1).
Problem started after deleting parrell desktop and window7 ?
Please help?

Look at the more like this column on the right.. this is the most frequently asked question in this discussion area.
Reboot the TC.. restart the whole network if the simple reboot did not work.. start in order. modem.. router/TC.. clients. 2min gap.
Read C12 here. http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html

HT201250 my back up keeps giving me a message that "time machine could not complete the backup folder. It just keeps popping up and I have to cancel it to continue using my computer. Any thoughts on my problem would be appreciated.

My computer keeps getting a message that "Time Machine could not complete the backup. It continues, "Unable to complete backup. An error occurred creating the backup folder. I have to clear the pop up from my screen to continue using the computer. It is getting very tiresome. Any thoughts?

Hi there dean93,
You may find the troubleshooting steps in the article below helpful.
Time Machine: Troubleshooting backup issues
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3275
-Griff W.

"Time Machine could not complete the backup. The backup disk is not availab

I have a Seagate 750 MB external disk connected to the USB port of my Airport Extreme Base Station. It worked fine with Time Machine under Leopard but it's not working the way it was under OS X 10.6.2. I'm hopeful someone can help me solve the problem.
Let's say the name of my Airport Extreme Base Station is "Airport." If I remember correctly, under Leopard time machine would start a wireless backup not long after I turned on the Seagate drive. That no longer happens.
I've erased and re-formatted the Seagate drive with 2 GUID partitions, one for my 24" iMac and one for my 17" MacBook Pro. Both computers are about 3 years old. In order to do the re-partitioning, I had to unplug the Seagate drive from the base station and plug it into one of the iMac's USB ports. If I didn't do this, nothing other than the iMac's drive appears in the left pane of Disk Utility, although the name of my base station, i.e, "Airport" does appear in the Finder and PathFinder (a replacement for Finder that I use).
In fact, Time Machine works under 10.6.2. as long as the Seagate drive is plugged into the iMac's USB port. As soon as I plug the Seagate drive into the USB port of the base station, Time Machine no longer works. The backup is "delayed." When I click on "Back Up Now" a few seconds go by and I get the following dialog box: "Time Machine could not complete the backup. The backup disk is not available."
In my Airport Extreme Base Station setup (Airport Utility version 5.4.2), the "Disks" pane sees both partitions on the Seagate drive. File sharing is enabled on the "File sharing" pane and "Secure Shared Disks:" is set to "With a disk password." "Airport Disks Guest Access:" is not allowed, nor is "Share disks over WAN."
When the Seagate drive is plugged into the base station and I click on "Airport" in the Finder or PathFinder, I'm prompted for the password I mentioned above because the shared disks are secured with a password. Once the password is typed, both partitions on the Seagate drive appear in Finder and PathFinder. When I try a Time Machine backup at this point, I get the same error I described above, i.e., "Time Machine could not complete the backup. The backup disk is not available."
One last thing, I did an "Archive and Install" when I upgraded to Snow Leopard since I thought the changes were relatively minor as compared with past OS X upgrades. Normally, I do a clean install but didn't feel like it this time. I also tried deleting the file /Library/Preferences/com.apple.TimeMachine.plist to no avail and restarted my iMac to no avail.
At this point I'm completely stumped. As I said, Time Machine works as long as the Seagate drive is plugged directly into one of the iMac's USB ports as opposed to the base station's USB port. But doesn't this defeat the purpose of having wireless backup? Once again, the wireless backup worked fine under 10.5.8.
I hope my message is clear and a solution would be most welcome.
Thank you,
Richard

I'm having the same problem. If my TimeMachine drive is not connected, I'll get the "Time machine could not complete the backup" "The backup disk is not available" warning a couple times a day. This is extremely problematic if I'm giving a presentation. I have tried changing my TimeMachine drive, removing that drive, repairing permissions, and have not been able to solve the problem.
Please help!

HT3275 I get the following message - "Time Machine could not complete the backup." "Unable to complete backup." "An error occurred while creating the backup folder.""

I get the following message - "Time Machine could not complete the backup." "Unable to complete backup. An error occurred while creating the backup folder.""
This MAC is partioned with Windows 7 with only 50 gig devoted to Windows so my son can play Flight Simulator X on the machine.
I have a WD Passport External Hard Drive for the Back Up
I have spoken with WD Tech Support and they have been fantastic but I still keep getting this message. Any thought?
Maxx

Reboot the TC.. it sometimes gets lost on the network.. are you still actually using 10.6.8 as the problem is more prevalent on Lion and ML it seems is no better.
You might find reset of the TC is needed. change the names to short, no spaces pure alphanumeric.
Reset the TM to the new name.. use the A4 in Pondini's great KB.
http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html

I keep getting this error message "Time Machine could not complete the backup. 'The backup disk image "/Volumes/FreeAgent Drive/MacBook Pro.sparsebundle" is already in use." What should I do to remedy this?

I keep getting this error message: Time Machine could not complete the backup. 'The backup disk image "/Volumes/FreeAgent Drive/xxx MacBook Pro.sparsebundle" is already in use.
How do I remedy this so it starts backing up again?

Maybe this http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/C12.html can help you.
Stefan

The message I get is: Time Machine could not complete the backup. This backup is too large for the backup disk. The backup requires 111.27 GB but only 42.1 GB are available.

I have a problem with my Time Capsule. The message I get is: Time Machine could not complete the backup. This backup is too large for the backup disk. The backup requires 111.27 GB but only 42.1 GB are available. As a result, my backups are no longer running. My umderstanding was that the Time Capsule would automatically delete old backups to make space. Can anyone help me figure out how to get my backups to run again?

If you have more than one user account, these instructions must be carried out as an administrator.
Launch the Console application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Console in the icon grid.
Make sure the title of the Console window is All Messages. If it isn't, select All Messages from the SYSTEM LOG QUERIES menu on the left. If you don't see that menu, select
View ▹ Show Log List
from the menu bar.
Enter the word "Starting" (without the quotes) in the String Matching text field. You should now see log messages with the words "Starting * backup," where * represents any of the words "automatic," "manual," or "standard." Note the timestamp of the last such message. Clear the text field and scroll back in the log to that time. Select the messages timestamped from then until the end of the backup, or the end of the log if that's not clear. Copy them (command-C) to the Clipboard. Paste (command-V) into a reply to this message.
If there are runs of repeated messages, post only one example of each. Don't post many repetitions of the same message.
When posting a log extract, be selective. Don't post more than is requested.
Please do not indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into this discussion.
Some personal information, such as the names of your files, may be included — anonymize before posting.

Time Machine could not complete the backup (sparsebundle error)

I'm getting the error:
Time Machine could not complete the backup. The backup disk image "/Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Myusername's computer.sparsebundle" could not be accessed (error -1).
What has happened it's been backing up since November 21st with no issue? Can I recover from this error?

The backups may be damaged. Try Repairing them, per #A5 in [Time Machine - Troubleshooting|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/Troubleshooting.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).
What is the destination for your backups?

"TIme Machine could not complete the backup"

My Time Machine has started giving this message. It says it needs 69 GB and only 60 GB are available -- but it is a 500GB drive. I thought it was supposed to delete old backups when it did not have space? That is what it has always done before. What do I need to do?
Thanks
Bob

I kept getting that error message, too. And it was with Leopard 10.5, since my Superdrive failed to mount the SL DVD that was under warranty. Apple repair facility sent me a defective disk, so that didn´t help, either.
Finally after foregoing backups for 3 months, I got the Superdrive replaced by a 3rd-party rapir facility and then installed SL. As I also had a new hard drive installed and the Apple repair facility threw away the old hard drive, I WAS REQUIRED TO USE MY 3-MONTH OLD BACKUP.
This worked, so I now have a 640GB WD drive on my 2.6GHz MBP with SL 10.6. I Formatted a Western Digital MyBook in HFS+ and the GUID or whatever, according to Apple instructions for an external backupdrive.
THis drive was working perfectly as a backup drive when connected via USB directly to my MBP.
When connected via USB to my Airport Extreme 500GB Time Capsule, it also worked fine... ONLY THE FIRST TWO DAYS!
Suddenly and for no apparent reason, I am suddenly getting the following error message when Time Machine ties to do a backup to the WD drive connected to the TC:
Time Machine could not complete the backup. The backup disk image "/Volumes/drive/baackupname.sparsebundle" could not be created (error 22).
I have tried connecting both wirelessly and via ethernet from my MBP, but neither of these mattered. I access the internet just fine, and I can see the Time Capsule disk just fine. I also see other network share. Why does Apple seem to be so difficult once you peel the shiny facade away?

My time machine will not complete the back up. It say that my sparsebundle is already in use. What do I do and how do I fix it?

My time machine will not complete the back up. It tells me that my sparsebundle is alreay in use. I currently have imac ungraded my sofeware to the latest. What do I do to correct this?

Try here...
The Backup disk image ... sparsebundle ... is already in use.
From Pondini’s excellent Information Here...
http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.htm

Time machine could not complete the back up

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