"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?

Similar Messages

"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 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

Time Machine could not complete the backup (error 45)

Time Machine could not complete the backup
The backup disk image "/Volumes/192.168.100.3/litao's iMac.sparsebundle" could not be created (error 45)
192.168.100.3 is windows 7 server
I login to the SMB server as windows 7 user.At first I see the backup file through windows 7 is being established, but in 5 minutes after the backup stops, display the above information.

TM backups to windows servers are not supported.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.6/en/15139.html
there are hacks out there that might let you make it work but you use them at your own risk and with absolutely no guarantees or support.

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

Help needed with "Time Machine could not complete the backup" because it is too large

I'm receiving "Time Machine could not complete the backup" because it is too large for the backup disk. I have a 500 GB Time Capsule 802.11n (2nd Gen) and a MacBook Pro running on 10.6.8. I just replaced my laptop's original hard drive with a new 1 TB and restored that with what was on my Time Capsule. Now, I have no backups on my Time Capsule prior to the new hard drive. When I click get info on my hard drive, it states only 296 GB of the 1 TB is used. However, the Time Machine error message states that the backup requires 315 GB but only 221 GB are available. It has deleted all of my old backups, so I would think my Time Capsule should have plenty of room to backup the 296 GB on my computer. Is my old backup from my prior hard drive stuck on the Time Capsule and instead of Time Machine trying to just update those files, it is preserving the old hard drive backup separately and trying to make a new backup of my new hard drive using the remaining space? If so, how do I fix this? Any advice greatly appreciated.

Have you read for possible solutions over in the "More Like This" thread over here?----------------------->
Research TM Knowledge Base Articles?

Time Machine could not complete the backup "Time Capsule". Unable to access disk image backup "/ Volumes / Time Capsule / iMac.sparsebundle" (error 112). How can I repair it?

Time Machine could not complete the backup "Time Capsule". Unable to access disk image backup "/ Volumes / Time Capsule / iMac.sparsebundle" (error 112).
How can I fix it?

You might want to take a look at Pondini's excellent support document......Time Machine Troubleshooting
http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
See # C17

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.

TS1550 Mac 10.6.8: Time Machine could not complet the backup.

For my iMac, running v 10.6.8, I have been getting this message: "Time Machine could not complet the backup. The backup disk image 'volumes/xxx.sparsebundle' could not be accessed (error -1)." This has been happening for a few months. I think I occasionally have a successful backup, but this used to all happend automatically, behind the scenes.
Now going through a manual backup process, but slow.

There are different reasons for this problem. See > http://pondini.org/TM/C17.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 (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?

HT3275 Time Machine could not complete the backup. The backup disk image "/Volumes/ELBs Time Ca/ELB's MacBook Pro.sparsebundle" is already in use.

For the past couple weeks, my Time Machine has not been backing up file from my MacBook Pro. I've had the Time Capsule for a couple years now. Entering the Time Machine I discovered that there are no files before "yesterday" yet there are only 161.0 GB of 998.06 GB available. A "Failed" message apprears with a popup message: "The backup disk image “/Volumes/ELBs Time Ca/ELB’s MacBook Pro.sparsebundle” is already in use." How can it be in use when Time Machine takes hours looking for the device?
Another error code message also pops up from time to time: Finder error code -6584. What is that? And how is it fixed?
All software is up to date on this computer and Time Capsule.

Further to my earlier response (system re-start and firmware update resulted in full Time Machine backup) I waited until the next scheduled backup to determine success.
As it has turned out, the Time Machine's next backup was for 48 kb and ran for eight hours! The progress bar was complete (solid blue) and I therefore stopped the backup. It has been "stopping backup" for the past hour.
What is wrong with this process?

Time Machine could not complet the backup!

I have two times problem with backup Time Machine after long time of periode with perfect backup. I have 3TB on my System and extended Backup Disk of 4TB. It will make a large backup of 2.79TB and it's only 1.67TB available. But in fact I not have a more bigger backup than maybe 10GB as my last backup was worked perfect. I also show at the list and all my old backups are gone.....I just could go back one step.
This problem I had two times already last year and could only start up with a new fresh backup. The problem in fact is:
– I could not go back for older backup if I need such file
– It's always take long time to backup around 2-3TB
I try already to fix with apple help guide, but I not see any solution. Do some one have same problem and found some solution as I could see my old backups and use the Time Machine continue.
glad for any infos
with compliments
JZ

Watermoon wrote:
Hi Pondini
Thank you for your prompt answer. I had the problem (as an error obscure and after not could see all the backup schedule in TimeMachine during the last month) with even more than double space for backup free before already. In fact I have two 4TB (HD and Backup HD) but only had around 1.5TB data on those HD. So I lost all my older backups and had start from scratch to backup my date.
I'm not sure exactly what you mean, but that shouldn't happen. If you only have 1.5 TB of data on your system, 4 TB should be large enough to back it up.
But in your first post, you said TM had made a backup of 2.79 TB. Was that a single backup?
It seems English is not your first language; you're doing pretty well, but if you could try to explain exactly what happened, it might help.
There are some things that can cause Time Machine to do a new, full backup (see #D3 in the Time Machine - Troubleshooting *User Tip,* also at the top of this forum).
And some things can cause very large backups (see #D4 there).
It sounds like Time Machine may have either done a new, full backup (as if you'd gotten a new Mac), or started a new "sequence" of backups. If so, you should have been able to see the old ones via the +*Browse . . .+* option (see #E2 in the Troubleshooting Tip.)
I also was thinking the backup HD, if it full, they will delete the oldest backup item.
Do I think wrong?
That's correct; under most circumstances, it will.
Anyway I will go to buy more "space"
I'm not sure you need to do that. Check out #D3 and #D4, to see if any of those things may have happened.

"TIme Machine could not complete the backup"

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for