Time Machine creates multiple sparsebundles on Airport Extreme

I recently started using a new hard drive for Time Machine, attached to my Airport Extreme (previous 250GB WD portable, now 1.5TB Seagate Freeagent). I never had any issues with the old drive, but have noticed a very weird problem on the new drive, and despite a lot of searching online I can't find anyone with the same issue.
What I've noticed is that on occasion, Time Machine decides not to use the existing sparsebunle on my drive, and instead creates a brand new sparsebundle and starts to backup my entire system from scratch. The new sparsebundle has the same name as previously, just with " 1" added to the end of the name. E.g.:
Original - "Peter's MacBook Pro.sparsebundle"
New - "Peter's MacBook Pro 1.sparsebundle"
If I delete the new sparsebundle from the drive and get Time Machine to "Back Up Now", it seems to find the original sparsebundle again, and will do an incremental backup like nothing ever happened.
Two possible leads on why it might be happening:
1 - I've noticed in the last two days that this has happened on the first backup after I get home from work. I.e., Time Machine fails to backup all day while I'm at work (cause it can't access the drive) then when I get home and connect back to the Airport, the first backup creates the new sparsebundle. Only noticed this the last two days, so it's not a long-running pattern.
2 - The new drive does make a lot of loud "clicking" noises (apparently a running problem with Seagate's 1.5TB Freeagent drives, relted to power-management of the drive).
Either of these sound like a possible lead on the issue? Anyone have ideas on a possible fix?
Thanks in advance for any advice.
Peter

Denis77 wrote:
One evening about 8 I came to the the computer to find a dialog box indicating that it was backing up something over 800,000 files, about 60 GB and counting; Time Machine indicated a Latest Backup at 3:30 that afternoon. No unusual events that afternoon to set things off track, as far as I know. It was creating a new sparsebundle as Pete A indicated, same name with a <space> "1" added. Unlike his experience, however, deleting the newer sparsebundle does not provide access to the older one.
Any ideas how to redesignate the older sparsebundle as the real backup? The Mac is not seeing it now, which is why it keeps starting a new one. Since this is apparently a baseline snapshot, I would like to get my backup history back.
Most likely, the old sparse bundle is corrupted, and Time Machine can't use it. Try repairing it, per #A5 in the Time Machine - Troubleshooting *User Tip,* also at the top of this forum.
If it can be repaired successfully, Time Machine may continue using it.
If it can't be repaired, or TM won't continue using it, there's not much you can do. Keep the old sparse bundle for a while (you may be able to browse and restore from it, per #E2 in the Troubleshooting Tip. Once you're sure you don't need the old set (or Time Machine runs out of room and has to start deleting backups from the new set), delete the old sparse bundle via the Finder.

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TIme Machine verification issue (Drobo and Airport Extreme)

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Hi. Thanks for the response and sorry for the double post in the Airport forum. I'm really just not sure if this is a Time Machine, Airport or Drobo issue.
Everything is updated to the latest versions and I've been looking at the Drobo support site, but all I see is that Drobo is 'supposed' to work with Time Machine over Airport Extreme. However, I've tried everything I can think of and scoured forums over the weekend to try and get to the bottom of this. It's just bizarre that a cheap WD hard disk used to work, and a much more expensive Drobo doesn't.
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Time Machine creates two sparsebundle backups on network drive, then questions their validity

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Then a message appears saying something like the Identity of the backup disk cannot be confirmed, has it been changed (don't have the exact wording before me), and asks me to confirm whether I want to continue using that disk.
When I look a this disk, I see the first sparsebundle that was created, xxxxxx MacBk.sparsebundle, at about 65Gb, and then a second one, called
xxxxxx MacBk.sparsebundle1, which has just started to be created, and is perhaps a few hundred Mb.
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If I click yes, the TM then reports that there isn't enough room on the disk to create a backup, so presumably it is still ignoring the first sparsebundle and trying to create yet another.
I have tried deleting the smaller sparsebundle, and trying backing up again the same, with the same effect (not enough space reported)
I have also tried deleting all sparsebundles and starting again with the backup, and then the problems of two sparsebundles reappears, so back to square one.
I am backing up a 13" white macbook, using OS 10.6.8. and a hard-drive connected to an imac, which is connected to a brand new Airport Express base-station router . The macbook is connected to the router via Mains Internet , not wi-fi.
This system has worked very well for me for several years, first with a Time Capule, then an old Netgear router after the TC broke, and never had problems. A couple of weeks ago I switched to the new Airport Express base-station, due to unrelated problems with the old router, and now have this problem.

Denis77 wrote:
One evening about 8 I came to the the computer to find a dialog box indicating that it was backing up something over 800,000 files, about 60 GB and counting; Time Machine indicated a Latest Backup at 3:30 that afternoon. No unusual events that afternoon to set things off track, as far as I know. It was creating a new sparsebundle as Pete A indicated, same name with a <space> "1" added. Unlike his experience, however, deleting the newer sparsebundle does not provide access to the older one.
Any ideas how to redesignate the older sparsebundle as the real backup? The Mac is not seeing it now, which is why it keeps starting a new one. Since this is apparently a baseline snapshot, I would like to get my backup history back.
Most likely, the old sparse bundle is corrupted, and Time Machine can't use it. Try repairing it, per #A5 in the Time Machine - Troubleshooting *User Tip,* also at the top of this forum.
If it can be repaired successfully, Time Machine may continue using it.
If it can't be repaired, or TM won't continue using it, there's not much you can do. Keep the old sparse bundle for a while (you may be able to browse and restore from it, per #E2 in the Troubleshooting Tip. Once you're sure you don't need the old set (or Time Machine runs out of room and has to start deleting backups from the new set), delete the old sparse bundle via the Finder.

Time Machine doesn't see new AirPort Extreme

My old Time Capsule died. Hardware failure. Too bad. So I bought a new one, a 2TB AirPort Extreme. 'Upgraded' to OSX 10.9.1 (which crippled a lot of my software, and seems generally more buggy & slower than 10.6.8, but that's beside the point) just to be able to administer it. Setting up the WiFi network was easy. Fine.
Now when I go into Time Machine preferences and click on the "select backup disk" button, the new AirPort Extreme is not listed. There is an option for "Other Time Capsule." If I click on that, the AirPort Extreme shows up. OK. If I click on it, I get a window with IP info, etc. There's an option to "edit". Clicked on that but found nothing about setting up the Time Capsule. I tried clicking on the disks tab, but that returns an empty list of partitions and file-sharing options.
I tried reseting the device with the little button on the back and starting again. Same story. What am I missing?
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Is it possible to know from the serial number whether I have a misbehaving Time Capsule presenting itself as an AP Extreme, unaware of the hard disk it conceals, or a perfectly functional AP Extreme?
That would be a question for Apple Support.
http://www.apple.com/support/contact/
If you can locate a model number on the device....it might be on the bottom in very small print.......it will start with an "A" followed by four numbers.....we can tell you what you have.
But a clue might be that an AirPort Extreme sells for about $200. A Time Capsule sells for $300-400 depending on the size of the internal hard drive.
And to anyone from Apple reading this, could you please make your new software compatible with hardware you produced in last 3 yrs?
It is extremely unlikely that anyone from Apple will ever see your post on a user-to-user support forum. Best to contact Apple directly with your comments:
Apple - Time Capsule - Feedback

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Do I connect my Express to the Ethernet? From the installation notes it seems I do, but I'm not sure?
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Leo666 wrote:
I want to bring my back up hard drive on a trip, but now it's attahced to my Airport Extreame.
If I unplug it and plug it directly on my MacBook Pro, it'll keep updating or I'll lose all my back ups and have to restart again?
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Also, I hate to have to tell you this, but backing-up that way is unreliable and not supported by Apple. See: Using Time Machine with an Airport Extreme Air Disk.

Time Machine Harddrive not recognized from Airport Extreme anymore

I've recently updated my Mac Book Pro (Mid 2010m 8GB) to OS X Mountain Lion. Already before I used an external Harddrive attached to Airport Extreme (Airport Utility 7.6.1) for Time Machine Backups. The Backups worked well, even after Migration to OS X Mountain Lion (10.8).
The Haddisk had always been visible from the finder and even an jailbreaked Apple TV. But this changed just yesterday with Finder and Airport Utility just not able to recognize the Harddisc anymore. I tried several things including:
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Almigurt wrote:
Hi Pondini,
I've seen this before - but TM used to work for me this way very well.
That's kinda the point -- sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
However with my question it is not about Time Machine - it is about why my Harddisc is not anymore recognized by my Airport Extreme base station. It had been working since more than one year now - and then all of a sudden Airport Extreme stopped to show me the drive.
Try repairing it, per #A5 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting. Note that you have to repair both the disk and the sparse bundle the backups are in, separately.

Time machine with USB drive on Airport Extreme

For 2+ years I used a USB hard drive shared off my Airport Extreme to host time machine backups. I just switched internet providers solely so that i could go back to using my airport extreme and sharing a backup disk. But time machine no longer shows it as an available drive...and I found this
AirPort base stations: Time Machine hard drive compatibility - Apple Support
which states: Time Machine is not supported with USB hard drives that are connected to an AirPort Express or AirPort Extreme device.
This is a pretty big step backwards as far as I'm concerned.....are there are any ways around it?

There is a way around it: buy the latest type of the Airport Extreme (the tall one). But even that solution isn't considered reliable: http://pondini.org/TM/AEQ2.html

Time Machine and Disk Shared via Airport Extreme

Is it possible to use Time Machine on a disk shared via Airport Extreme?

No, they pulled it, even though Steve promised the wireless backup feature in his latest keynote. One hour into it to be exact.
http://events.apple.com.edgesuite.net/d7625zs/event/
Now, I am very much against releasing a product before its ready, so I respect them for that. However Steve VERY clearly states that it was already working and would release with Leopard. He usually makes a very very clear distinction between things they "can/might" do and things that are working. He even goes into detail about how all the house macs can wirelessly use the same backup through the Airport Express. THEY EVEN HAVE A PICTURE of it!
So they need more time, okay. But I feel lied to. The least they could do is make a press release with an ETA! The hush hush, makes it seem like they are going to scrap it and pretend it never happened.

Time machine - migrate USB setup to AirPort Extreme ?

Hi,
I use to backup to an external USB drive using Time Machine, great!
Now that I have just bought an AirPort Extreme router and that I've connected the USB drive to it, I wonder if it's possible to backup over the air without erasing the previously backed up data?
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Problems moving Time Machine drive from USB to Airport Extreme

Greetings compadres.
I'm using a WD external Mac hard drive for my Time Machine backups. I was using a USB hub and directly connecting my MacBook to the hub, thus a seamless connection to the external hard drive.
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That's not supported by Apple, but Pondini has some advice on the matter here: http://pondini.org/TM/AEQ2.html

Time Machine and Drive connected to Airport Extreme?

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Message was edited by: OzZkar65

Time Machine reconnect old sparsebundle

I encountered a problem with a corrupt sparsebundle (I use TimeMachine with my Synology NAS) and Time Machine creating a new sparsebundle, not using the my good old sparsebundle with all my previous backups.
Maybe there are people with the same problem, so here is my solution.
First I had to repair my original sparsebundle image (in this post, the filename is further called A ). TimeMachine seems to rename this sparsebundle giving it read-only rights. To bypass that: ssh with Terminal to your NAS and navigate to the folder which you pointed out as backup folder for Synology Mac Backup.
type:
+chmod 1777 A+
End your SSH session with the NAS, but keep Terminal open. Open 'Finder' and navigate to the backupfolder on your NAS (so the folder is mounted). Then, go back to Terminal and go to /Volumes/*backup folder*/. If you type ' +ls -ls+ ' in your Terminal, the sparsebundle will be shown.
Then to mount and repair, type:
+hdiutil attach -nomount -readwrite A+
then a list with disks appear as output. Remember the bottom one (with me /dev/disk1s2).
type:
+fsck_hfs -rf remembered_path+
This can take a while (like 12 hours or so, depending on the size of your sparsebundle).
Sometimes this process quits with an error (with me it did), but restarting the process worked for me (so just type in the command again).
Then, manually start a Time Machine Backup (letting it create a new sparsebundle). Wait until the 'Making backup disk available' disappears and stop the backup. Disable TimeMachine again.
Go to Terminal again and ssh to your NAS.
Go to the folder again with the sparsebundles.
Type ' +ls -ls+ ', remember the name of the sparsebundle created last, i call this X.
type:
+cd X+
type:
+cp Info.plist ../A+
+cp Info.bckup ../A+
+cp com.apple.TimeMachine.MachineID.plist ../A+
+cd ..+
+mv X choosea_filename_not_ending_withsparsebundle+
+mv A to X+
If you point Time Machine to use the NAS disk again, the backup process will go and continue to backup to your good 'ol sparsebundle.
For me it worked, hope it does for others!!
Message was edited by: edstasy

edstasy wrote:
Pondini wrote:
The file system +directories and catalogs+ may be ok, but that doesn't mean your backups are complete.
I have used a lot of information from this page: http://blog.jthon.com/?p=31
It seems that this issue is common when backing up over WiFi (see comment reply by Phil, #10).
The original post, and most of the replies, are from 2008 (Leopard). The "verification" process wasn't added until mid-May of 2010. They may or may not be addressing the same thing.
Also, there is nothing wrong with the disk in the NAS, there probably was a process which was not ended correctly that corrupted the image.
Yes, that's one of the possibilities. Since Apple hasn't provided a glimmer of a clue as to what's actually wrong, there's no telling.
As long as you realize you may be backing-up to damaged or incomplete backups, that's certainly your call.
I cannot guarantee that the backup will work (no one can). I just reconnected the sparsebundle, now Time Machine is happy again and I am happy again
Of course, I could prove this fix by restoring from Time Machine, but I'm not going into that now, maybe I will test that later on.
That would be prudent. But restore to an empty disk/partition, so if it fails, you're not in a bigger pickle. You might try it twice; once from the last backup before the message, once from a later one.

Hi, I am trying to connect a WD Mybook for Mac to my airport/time machine device. On the AirPort Utility it listed under Disks at 0 Mb. I enabled file sharing. But nothing happens. If I plug it directly into my MacBook it works fine. How do I fix it?

I am trying to connect a WD Mybook for Mac to my airport/time machine device. On the AirPort Utility it listed under Disks at 0 Mb. I enabled file sharing. And also followed all the steps - "secured disk access: with a disk passord", "Airport disk guest access: read and write", "Share disks over WAN". But nothing happens. If I plug it directly into my MacBook it works fine. How do I fix it? Also, its connected via a powered usb hub.

I assume that you are using Mac operating system 10.4.11, as your profile indicates.
The instructions that you referenced are for use with AirPort Utility....not AirPort Admin Utility.
Suggest that you download and install AirPort Utility 5.4.2 for Mac , which will run on 10.4.11.
Also noticed that the instructions do not tell you that the hard drive should be formatted in Mac OS Extended (Journaled) to work with the AirPort Extreme, but they should.

Time Machine will NOT work with Airport Disks!

It looks like Time Machine will not work with Airport Disks after all. All references to Airport have been removed from the Time Machine page:
http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/timemachine.html
It also specifically says: "You can designate just about any HFS+ formatted FireWire or USB drive connected to a Mac as a Time Machine backup drive. Time Machine can also back up to another Mac running Leopard with Personal File Sharing, Leopard Server, or Xsan storage devices."
Surely, they would have included the Airport Extreme Base Station in this list if it was supported.
I really hope there will be another firmware update for the AEBS which will bring compatibility with Time Machine, because Time Machine was the only reason for me to buy an AEBS. (I only use it as a small backup server, I don't even have wireless networking enabled. There were other solutions, e.g. from Synology, which are faster and more reliable than AEBS disk sharing, but Synology stated their network drives would not be compatible with Time Machine.)

Here's how you can potentially use your AirDisk with TimeMachine (beware that YMMV), but it should work as it works with every other "unsupported" device.
1) Mount your AirDisk so it appears on your Mac
2) Open Terminal.app
3) change directories to the AirDisk's root folder located in "/Volumes"
ie: cd "/Volumes/AirDisk Name"
4) execute this command to "bless" the drive to be used with time machine:
touch .com.apple.timemachine.supported
5) Start TimeMachine and if all went well, it should recognize your AirDisk drive and use it for TM.
This should also work on NFS shares, SMB shares, AFP shares, basically anything. It has worked up until the last developer seed, so unless they yanked this at the last minute, it should still work.
Now, the reason why Apple removed this feature may be due to the unreliability of the AirDisk, so be cautious.

Time Machine creates multiple sparsebundles on Airport Extreme

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