Time Machine doesn't see my backup disc but Disc Utility does. Any idea why?

Any ideas what is going on?

Hello, mp1lcri.
Thank you for visiting Apple Support Communities.
Try the steps in the articles below as they may help with the Time Machine issue you are experiencing.
Time Machine: Troubleshooting backup issues
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3275
OS X Mavericks: Time Machine problems
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH14187
Cheers,
Jason H.

Similar Messages

Time Machine doesn't see internal disk

Hi,
I did a backup on an external disk, but obviously I did something wrong. Now I can't back up on my internal disk because Time Machine doesn't see it. What can I do to make it work again? (The backups on external disk work out fine though, it's just that there is no way to select the internal disk as the main backup because it doesn't show on the "select disk" option...)
Thanks!

Sorry but your picture is not presenting.. it is not your fault.. it will present on your computer but not on other computers.
If I try and download the picture it is 209bytes.. clearly too small. This is trying to open your picture.
This picture showing the failure is normal screenshot.. does it show for you??
I have suggested reducing the file name.. pic1.png as I think the long names with spaces could be an issue.
Here is the same picture with the name changed.
You cannot select the source disk for the target in TM.
Here is mine.. the source disk is never ever listed as available to use as a target.

Backing up to a thumb drive - time machine doesn't delete older backups when it's full. I will have to erase and re-do the drive. Why?

Backing up to a thumb drive - time machine doesn't delete older backups when it's full. I will have to erase and re-do the drive. Why?

You are both right.
Time Machine can backup FROM:
It cannot back up a USB thumb drive.
Time Machine can backup TO:
•A USB thumb drive (but most aren't large enough, and are very, very slow)

Time Machine doesn't see MyBook Live NAS.

I just got a new SMC-D3GNV gateway from Comcast and now Time Machine doesn't see my NAS MyBook Live. I can access all my files on the MyBook Live via finder. Also, all software/firmware is current. Any idea's?

mwithers wrote:
I know variations on this question have been asked many times before, but I've just read many of those threads, and I don't see an answer.
Time Machine does not see my La Cie Network Space NAS and neither does Disk Utility (the La Cie support pages imply that it should, believe it or not).
If your Mac can contact the NAS, it should appear in a Finder sidebar (if your Finder preferences are set for that). If you can set Time Machine up to back up to it, it will create a +sparse bundle+ on it. That sparse bundle, when mounted, will appear in Disk Utility's sidebar, and you can do a +*Repair Disk+* on it. Otherwise, no, Disk Utility won't see network drives.
Does not matter if it is connected via WiFi or directly through ethernet. I suspect this means that it is not Mac OS extended formatted, and not formattable (by Disk Utility) either.
Correct; Disk Utility can't format a network drive.
Review the LaCie specs and setup instructions carefully. My quick read on their site does not turn up any claim that it's Time Machine compatible, though.
Can you return it?

Time Machine Doesn't Seem to Backup Titles and Keywords in iPhoto

Hi
I have just noticed that Time Machine does not seem to backup certain metadata attached to the photos. Do you know if I am doing something wrong here?
Using iPhoto version 7.1.5.
Thanks
Adam
Message was edited by: Adam Lippiatt

Someone was doing manual backups of their photos and I said - 'why don't you just use time machine'. I assumed it kept everything - but I thought I would check.
What I did
1. Opened iPhoto in Finder
2. Entered Time Machine
3. Found an example Photo I wanted to Restore (I chose a photo with a different Title to the 'name' of the photo (given to it by the camera) and one with a keyword).
4. In Time Machine I could see the correct Title, but not the Keyword.
5. Selected it > Restore
6. Photo restored after giving a 'Duplicate' warning. Photo restored only has the 'name' but not the Title or the Keyword.
Any thoughts on this?
Thanks
Adam

HT3275 Time Machine doesn't see the back-up disk

Time Machine doesn't see the back-up disk after I've logged off and then back on, even though the disk is available to the iMac 24/7. Turning the disk off and then on in the current session works, but this seems to defeat the purpose of an unattended back-up disk. I can't find a setting that ensures the back-up disk is recognized after log-in or restart. Is there a solution?

Is this Mountain Lion??
It seems to have made some changes that make the disk drop out.. it does this even if you are continually connected to the TC and we don't have a solution yet.
For your login issue, is the TC using a disk password.. or are you setting it to default? Could you try just turning on the guest account in the TC to read and write access and see if this helps. Tell us how it goes.
There is another fix.. but it involves using disconnect all users from v5 airport utility.. Apple removed the function in v6.
If you are on Lion or Mountain Lion even you can install the v5 utility.
How to load 5.6 into ML.
1. Download 5.6 for Lion.
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1482
Click to open the dmg but do not attempt to install the pkg.. it won't work anyway.
2. Download and install unpkg.
http://www.timdoug.com/unpkg/
Run unpkg on the desktop.. it is very simple.. drag the AirPortUtility56.pkg file over to unpkg.. and it will create a new directory of the same name on the desktop.. drill down.. applications utilities .. there lo and behold is Airport utility 5.6 .. drag it to your main utilities directory or just run it from current location.
You cannot uninstall 6.1 so don't try.. and you cannot or should not run them both at the same time.. so just ignore the toyland version.. the plastic hammer.. and start using 5.6.. a real tool.

TS1629 How do I use home sharing with direct TV / Verizon internet. I have turned on Home sharing on apple tv and in iTunes but can't see the library in apple tv. I can see the photo stream but thats it. Any Ideas????

How do I use home sharing with direct TV / Verizon internet. I have turned on Home sharing on apple tv and in iTunes but can't see the library in apple tv. I can see the photo stream but thats it. Any Ideas????

go to home-sharing on Apple TV and type in your info as ask.
hope this help

When i plug my ipod into my computer it is not recharging. The computer doesn't even acknowledge that it is plugged in. Any ideas why? It does have power left so i can use it but i want to recharge it of course. Any input is appreicated.

When i plug my ipod into my computer it is not recharging. The computer doesn't even acknowledge that it is plugged in. Any ideas why? It does have power left so i can use it but i want to recharge it of course. Any input is appreicated.

Plug it into the wall using the supplied charger.
Barry

Time Machine doesn't see/find my last backup

I made a fresh, new backup on my Time Capsule 1 week ago, because I had to get my MacBook Pro repaired. I got a new logic board. Now Time Machine doesn't find or see my last backup. But it's definitely on my Time Capsule. I can see the sparsebundle file on the disk. And if I try to do a backup (I had to select my Time Capsule as volume in the settings first...?), it isn't possible because there is not enough space on the Time Capsule. Of course there is not, because my last backup is on it. Time Machine seems to ignore that there is already a backup of my system on the Time Capsule.
What can I do?
Thank you very much

DId you get an answer to this? I too have the same problem except that all I did was move, change dsl companies and rehook up the time capsule...and nothing. The sparse bundle is there but whenever I back up it wants to do a whole new backup
Thank
Robert

Time Machine doesn't see backup!

Hi. My laptop crashed. I couldn't launch it. However, I was able to open it as a drive from my desktop while holding down the T button. I ran Time Machine and backed up the Laptop. However, the root of the backup is called by my desktop name, since it was backing it up as a hard-drive connected to my desktop. I erased the laptop disk and reinstalled OSX. It offered me an option to transfer my files from a backup (I attached my desktop to the laptop as a hard drive.) I said yes, but then it said that the backup is running a newer version of OSX! So I wasn't able to transfer anything. I restarted the laptop and did a software update. Then I open up Time Machine and it takes me to that horribly ******** galaxy screen and it doesn't see the backup that exists on my desktop (which is connected as a hard drive to the laptop). How can I make it see that backup? Please help!!!!

Hello, mp1lcri.
Thank you for visiting Apple Support Communities.
Try the steps in the articles below as they may help with the Time Machine issue you are experiencing.
Time Machine: Troubleshooting backup issues
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3275
OS X Mavericks: Time Machine problems
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH14187
Cheers,
Jason H.

Time Machine doesn't see backup disk

My wife has a late '06 macbook running 10.6.5. We are trying to setup time machine for wireless backups through our airport extreme and our iomega 500gb hard drive. When opening time machine from system preferences and clicking on "select backup disk..." there are no disks that appear in the selection window. I have a macbook pro that is currently using the same iomega in time machine so yes, the external is formatted for mac and it is working great with my pro. I have shut off and powered back up the external, restarted my wife's macbook, and searched forum after forum and cannot seem to get this to work. The external does not show up in disk utility on her's but does on mine. She just recently had a new hard drive installed at our mac retailer because her original one just up and crashed...no warning or anything so we really want to start doing backups to avoid loosing anymore data. Anymore help would be much appreciated.

Your suggestion to Connect to Server led me down what seems to have been the right path.
I first tried restarting the whole network in order, and that made no difference: Time Machine still did not see the external drive partition.
I used Connect to Server to get to the external drive. That made no difference: Time Machine still did not see the external drive partition.
I mounted the external drive partition that holds the sparsebundle. That made the difference: the partition was then visible to Time Machine, so I selected it. A dialog box popped up asking for the TC’s password so Time Machine could access the TC. I entered it, and the partition was successfully selected as the backup disk.
I then tried to backup, but that failed, saying that the backup on PartitionName-1 was in use. I tried it again and looked at /Volumes while it was trying, and saw both PartitionName (presumably mounted by Finder) and both PartitionName-1 (presumably in a futile attempt to be mounted by Time Machine). I cancelled that backup and told Finder to dismount the partition, which caused Finder to dismount the whole Time Capsule. I reconnected to the Time Capsule but did not mount the partition, and tried to backup. That, finally, worked.
So here’s what I needed to do:
In Finder, use Connect to Server to connect to the Time Capsule.
In Finder, open the partition on the Time Capsule’s external drive.
In Time Machine Preferences, select the partition as the backup disk.
Enter the Time Capsule password when it’s prompted for.
In Finder, dismount the partition.
(Possibly unnecessary: In Finder, use Connect to Server to connect to the Time Capsule.)
In Time Machine, Back Up Now.

Time machine doesn't see external hard drive on network

I have a pair of external hard drives connected to my iMac, which is connected to my 2WIRE modem/router via Ethernet. I'm using one of them as a Time Machine drive. For the past couple years, I've been backing up the laptops in the house to that Time Machine drive without fail.
Now none of the laptops (a MacBook and an iBook) won't see either external drive connected to the iMac, even though the iMac has file sharing turned on (as it always has) and both laptops are connected to the iMac via the Finder. Both laptops can see the iMac and the external drives connected to it via the Finder, but in Time Machine, when I try to select my Time Machine drive, nothing appears in the window.
I was having a problem with the Time Machine drive and had to wipe and reformat it, but I don't understand why Time Machine won't see the other external drive either, even if there is a problem with the TM drive. I recall Time Machine picking up all available hard drives as possible backup destinations, as long as they're also seen in the Finder.
The iMac has been having some OS X issues. The Finder will crash sometimes, and I have no choice but to hold down the power button to shut it down and then start it up. When it starts, it takes longer than it normally does, I assume because it's checking and/or fixing some things. However, those issues have been going on for a long time (I think I need to reinstall OS X in it, since Disk Utility finds nothing wrong; also, the hard drive in the iMac crashed about 2 months ago and I put a new one in; I then restored the TM backup to it, and the OS X issues have persisted, which tells me it's software-related, not the drive).
Also, the iMac backs up to the Time Machine drive just fine. Of course, the TM drive is connected to it locally, whereas the laptops have to get to that drive via wireless file sharing.
I did try plugging one of the external hard drives on the iMac into my MacBook, and Time Machine saw it immediately, so my guess is the issue must lie with my router and/or the iMac, but I don't know what to check next. I've restarted the iMac, I've restarted the laptops, I've turned TM on and off on the laptops, and I've turned file sharing on and off on the iMac; none of those things reestablished the connection.
I suppose I could just go with external hard drives for the laptops, but my wife moves her iBook all over the house, so I know hers won't get backed up regularly. That was the nice thing about the system I had in place, which I realize wasn't as elegant as a Time Capsule.
Any advice is appreciated. Thanks.

That should say "Now none of the laptops (a MacBook and an iBook) will see either external drive..." I hate typos.
Anyway, after rereading my post, I'm starting to think I just need to reinstall OS X on the iMac, given the other issues it's experiencing. Any advice for doing that would be appreciated, if that's indeed the solution. Thanks.

Time Machine doesn't delete old backups

Hi,
I keep getting errors from the TM backup that the disk for backup is full. It appears that TM doesn't delete the old backups that are on the disk. Any idea why it is not deleting the backups to make space? I also checked the button to notify me when deleting....useless....I am using Lion/Mountain Lion
Thanks

When you have issues of this sort.. Pondini is your man..
See http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
There is no need for admin / Root / SU login to TM.. that will not achieve anything.
You can delete the current set of TM preferences and start over.. See A4.
You have to delete the whole existing backup to start over. Or archive it off as I said if you want historical record, and erase the disk.
You erase the TC by using Airport Utility, under disk is erase option.. that is the fastest way. A quick erase via AU takes about 1min. Do use any other erase option, as they will take several hours.
You can also delete a sparsebundle.. but it is a long and time consuming process. That is important though if you have multiple backups on the TC you do not wish to lose.
See Q12 here http://pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html
There are many many posts about how to speed up deletion of large backups.
eg https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2224110?tstart=0

Time Machine doesn't acknowledge initial backup

I purchased a Time Capsule and quickly and happily built a new 802.11n home wireless network with it. Yay. Then I hooked up my iMac to the Time Capsule via ethernet to do my initial Time Machine backup, knowing that it would take a LONG time (~400GB). Well, it took about 3 days to complete (which seems suspiciously slow...), but anyway, it finished sometime in the middle of the night. In the morning I looked at the Time Capsule and sure enough, there was the big-*** "sparse bundle" backup. Time Machine seemed to be in the middle of doing a relatively small backup, about 140MB, which I figured were the changes since I began the initial backup a few days before. However, I wished to unplug the ethernet and let it continue wirelessly, so I did so. However, Time Machine seemed to just hang there with the backup no longer progressing. Since I could simply have it redo the backup a little later without any real data loss, I just stopped the backup mid-progress. I unplugged the ethernet cable and the world seemed well. Then I clicked in Time Machine to begin a new backup.
Of course, I expected this backup to be a rather small one, but I realized that Time Machine was about to begin another ~400GB backup! In fact, there was no information in the "Last Backup" field, so apparently Time Machine could not see the massive initial backup and was about to start all over again. Well, I am NOT about to wait another 3 days for it to do that, especially if the problem reoccurs, so I halted the backup and set Time Machine to "off."
Now, what to do? Why can't Time Machine see the initial backup? Why is it trying to do another full backup (very little data changed on my system in the 3 days)? Did my stopping the "hourly" backup somehow "break" things?
Advice? Thoughts?

I'm not sure how the sparsebundle is identified by the computer, but if it is uniquely identified by the network connection used (ethernet, airport, firewire networking, etc.) then it could very well not identify the previous sparsebundle you made via Ethernet as being the one for your computer via Airport. I dont remember this being the case for me when I had my PowerBook backing up to my PowerMac via both Airport and/or Firewire networking, but I could be wrong...it was a while ago. Even though you seem to want to lean away from this, I'd recommend remaking it and just letting it go. You can use your computer in the mean time and allow the process to run in the background. It will pause and resume as the backup disk is available until the process is complete.

Time Machine doesn't connect to backup volume

I am trying to 'Enter the Time Machine' and it simply hangs. It tries to connect to the server but gets stuck on 'Connecting with backup volume. Eventually, I get the error message "Time Machine couldn't complete the backup - the backup disk image “/Volumes/Data/Larry's iMac.sparsebundle” could not be accessed (error -1)."
I think everything I had in the Time Machine has been lost as it shows 998GB of 998gb free. Annoying but not disastrous as my iMac hard drive is working fine. I just want to be able to backup before upgrading to Yosemite.
I'm on OSX 10.8.5
Can anyone help?
Thanks!

See C-17 in the 1st linked article.
Time Machine Troubleshooting
Time Machine Troubleshooting Problems

Time Machine doesn't see my backup disc but Disc Utility does. Any idea why?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for