Time Machine Error Message: "The backup disk image could not be mounted"

I just installed Time Capsule and the initial back up was going smoothly. Now
all I get is a and the Error message "The backup disk image could not be mounted". Can anyone help me troubleshoot this problem? Thanks.

This works, if there is no corruption in the sparse image. But after weeks of backups, my sparse image on a USB disk attached to an Airport Extreme was corrupted.
I am right now repairing it by connecting the USB disk directly and using disk utility. It recovered the file system and is not rebuilding the B-Tree. I hope that works, otherwise it will have to be disk warrior...
On Time Capsule, I have heard folks having success with attaching the image, and then repairing it:
hdiutil attach -nomount -readwrite /path/to/sparse/image
Your mileage may vary, but you do not have a lot to lose in this circumstance...
This functionality should really be in the Airport or Time Capsule, or at least Disk Utility or Airport Utility.

Similar Messages

Time Machine error message: The backup disk image could not be created

I got a new MacBook the other weekend and Time Capsule. I have set up the time capsule, its light is green, it shows up as a device in my finder window and the printer it shares is accessible.
The problem is when I try to run time machine I get the error message "the backup disk image could not be created" I have the time capsule selected as the drive I want to back up to. I have read through all 150 help topics on the Mac Support page regarding time machine and am now turning to you the community to help!

I found an answer in another place on this forum...http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1422065&tstart=330
Just have to give my computer a name under system preferences/sharing

I'm having trouble backing up my second macbook to a new time capsule. continue to get an error message -- "Time Machine Error. The backup disk image could not be created." Is there something I need to change in my time capsule or time machine?

I just set up a new time capsule. it worked fine on my first macbook. But now I cannot backup my second macbook. Getting "Time Machine Error" "The backup disk image could not be created." Do I need to change settings on my time capsule to allow the second computer, or do I need to change something on the computer to allow time machine to work right?

Try #C9 in Pondini's Time Machine Troublshooting
http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html

I am having issues with Time Machine. Error message "The backup disk image could not be created.

Error message "The backup disk image could not be created." I have tried everything I have found online in the community from TM full reset to changing my computers name. Anything else I can try? I am using a Seagate external HD with a connection through my router. I spent an hour on the phone with seagate and everything is ok on the HD end.
TM sees it and it is mounted but cannot go any further. HELP?!!!!
Thanks
-A

How should it be connected? It has a usb port and ethernet. The USB on the ExHD looks like the port on the back of my computer, so I would need one wth the same ends? Do they make those?
I can usually fix most my comp problems myself, but this new ExHD has stumped me.
Thanks for your help.
-A

Time Machine error message: The backup disk image is already in use.

Hi,
Everytime my Time Machine tries to perform a backup I get the following error message: The backup disk image “/Volumes/Data/Celine Gauld’s iMac.sparsebundle” is already in use.
I'm not very tech-savvy and certainly don't know my way around the Mac that well. Any suggestions as to how I go about solving this?
Thanks.

Welcome to Apple Support Communities
Restart your iMac and Time Capsule. In most of cases, this should solve the problem. If it doesn't work > http://pondini.org/TM/C12.html

My time machine error message "The backup disk image "/Volumes/Richard Searson's Time Caps/Richard's iMac.sparsebundle" is already in use." Any suggestions please?

The backup disk image “/Volumes/Richard Searson's Time Caps/Richard’s iMac.sparsebundle” is already in use. It hasnt backed up for over 24 hours now and I am concerned as only in May my whole system crashed and the time machine was not able to recover any data. I do not want this to happen again. Thanks

This is our most common problem.. and you are number 2 today.
Look on the right..
More Like This
Your problem is repeated with the solution ad nauseam.
But the solution is simple.. pull out the power cord from the TC.. count to 10.. Plug in the power cord again.
This is just poor networking from Apple.
Whenever you have TM issues.. this is the place to check.
http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
Your issue is C12.

Time machine error: The backup disk image could not be mounted

Time Machine worked OK for several months. Now I get this error every 10 minutes or so.
I unplugged Time Machine capsule and "Change Disk" in Time Machine options.
Nothing helps, I continue to get this error.
I cannot Enter Time Machine either. "Connecting to Server, Connecting to backup" does not work.
Help please because I will probably have to archive and reinstall Leopard. I need the backups,
Christine

Christ1ne,
Before you reformat the disk, consider these causes of this error.
*_"The Backup Disk Image Could Not Be Mounted" (Console - “Failed to mount disk image”)_*
First, it is important to distinguish this error message from another, similar Time Machine error that states “The backup volume could not be mounted”. This is important as the causes and cures for these two errors can be very different.
Consider each topic below separately. When one option does not resolve your issue, then move on the next one.
*Unmount the Backup Disk Image* (TC)
If, for some reason, you have manually mounted the Time Machine backup disk image (sparsebundle), or Time Machine failed to eject it after the previous backup, subsequent backups may fail. (Console - “Failed to mount disk image”… “Backup failed with error: 21”)
Eject the backup disk image (white drive icon) by either clicking the little Eject icon to the right of the disk image in the Finders’ Sidebar, or Ctrl-Click the drive icon on the desktop and select “Eject” from the contextual menu. Now try backing up again or launching Time Machine to view previous backups.
*“Disconnect All Users…”:*
If your Time Machine backup drive (“Backup of Users Computer”) is mounted on your desktop or in the Sidebar of the Finder window. then Time Machine may think the drive is already in use. Alternatively, if the Time Capsule hard disk has been recently accessed by a Windows machine, it may not have fully relinquished control. Do the following:
Open Airport Utility and select the Time Capsule on the left.
Click “Manual Setup”.
Select “Disks” at top of window.
Click “Disconnect All Users…” at bottom of window.
Close the Airport Utility.
Now try Backing up again.
One poster reported: “I got it resolved. Apparently it had to do with one of the files being open on the disk from the drive. I had browsed the disk with one of my windows boxes here and it must have left one of the folders "open". Anyway, I rebooted the TC and we are good to go now.”
*Proper Computer Name* #
Make sure your computer has a proper name. Go to System Preferences --> Sharing. Time Machine needs to differentiate your computer from others on your network (i.e. "Bills MacBook" or "Office iMac"). If the "Computer Name" field is blank, create a name. Realize that if this step is necessary, you will likely have to start the Time Machine backup process over again and do another full initial backup.
According to this article, [http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1760], Time Machine may experience problems if your computer name includes certain characters. Make sure the computer name only includes ASCII characters from the following set.
(0123456789abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ)
Once a change in the computer name occurs, you should stop and restart Sharing on the affected computer. Uncheck and then recheck Sharing in the Services list on the left.
# Try removing the apostrophe from the disk images name (sparsebundle).
*A Stalled .inProgress Files:* #
It may be that the previous backup attempt was ungracefully interrupted leaving remains that Time Machine can’t deal with.
Stop any current backup attempt. Choose “Stop Backing Up” from the Time Machine menu.
Open the Time Machine Preferences and turn “OFF” Time Machine.
Open your Time Machine drive.
Open the folder labeled “Backups,backupdb”.
Now open the folder containing backups of the computer in question.
Are there any “.inProgress” files there. Delete them by dragging the file to the Trash. Or Ctrl-Click the file and select "Move to Trash" from the contextual menu. (Give this time as deleting a large file on an external disk can take a while.)
Turn Time Machine back “ON”. Now try backing up again.
NOTE: If the above procedure becomes impossible to perform, try accessing the disk image from another Mac. Some have discovered that attempting a repair from another computer succeeds where the original computer failed.
Let us know if any of the suggestions above helped to resolve your issue.
Cheers!

HT3275 time machine error says: The backup disk image "/Volumes/Data/Apple 's iMac G5.sparsebundle" could not be accessed (error -1).

While backing up to Time Machine, I receive this message: time machine error says: The backup disk image “/Volumes/Data/Apple ’s iMac G5.sparsebundle” could not be accessed (error -1).

Welcome to Apple Support Communities
That message is caused by several reasons. Read the Pondini's site to fix the problem > http://pondini.org/TM/C17.html

My Time Machine / Time capsule gets the error: The backup disk image could not be mounted

My time machine / time capsule gets the error: The backup disk image could not be mounted.

Reboot the TC.
If you normally have multiple computers backing up, under Lion there seems to be some issues.. you need to force other users off the system. You can do that through the Airport utility, manual setup, disks, disconnect all users. Note carefully if you use Lion you probably need to download the real airport utility.. 5.6 to accomplish anything useful.

Time machine - "the backup disk image could not be mounted"

SInce a few days, I am unable to backup via Time Machine.
I always get the message:
TIME MACHINE ERROR
The backup disk image could not be mounted
I use an Apple Time Capsule and still have more than enough free space on it.
Use OS X 10.5.5
Help.....
Tks

Rosy,
*_"The Backup Disk Image Could Not Be Mounted" (Console - “Failed to mount disk image”)_*
First, it is important to distinguish this error message from another, similar Time Machine error that states “The backup volume could not be mounted”. This is important as the causes and cures for these two errors can be very different.
Consider each topic below separately. When one option does not resolve your issue, then move on the next one.
*Unmount the Backup Disk Image* (TC)
If, for some reason, you have manually mounted the Time Machine backup disk image (sparsebundle), or Time Machine failed to eject it after the previous backup, subsequent backups may fail. (Console - “Failed to mount disk image”… “Backup failed with error: 21”)
Eject the backup disk image (white drive icon) by either clicking the little Eject icon to the right of the disk image in the Finders’ Sidebar, or Ctrl-Click the drive icon on the desktop and select “Eject” from the contextual menu. Now try backing up again or launching Time Machine to view previous backups.
*“Disconnect All Users…”:*
If your Time Machine backup drive (“Backup of Users Computer”) is mounted on your desktop or in the Sidebar of the Finder window. then Time Machine may think the drive is already in use. Alternatively, if the Time Capsule hard disk has been recently accessed by a Windows machine, it may not have fully relinquished control. Do the following:
Open Airport Utility and select the Time Capsule on the left.
Click “Manual Setup”.
Select “Disks” at top of window.
Click “Disconnect All Users…” at bottom of window.
Close the Airport Utility.
Now try Backing up again.
“I got it resolved. Apparently it had to do with one of the files being open on the disk from the drive. I had browsed the disk with one of my windows boxes here and it must have left one of the folders "open". Anyway, I rebooted the TC and we are good to go now.”
*Proper Computer Name* #
Make sure your computer has a proper name. Go to System Preferences --> Sharing. Time Machine needs to differentiate your computer from others on your network (i.e. "Bills MacBook" or "Office iMac"). If the "Computer Name" field is blank, create a name. Realize that if this step is necessary, you will likely have to start the Time Machine backup process over again and do another full initial backup.
According to this article, [http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1760], Time Machine may experience problems if your computer name includes certain characters. Make sure the computer name only includes ASCII characters from the following set.
(0123456789abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ)
Once a change in the computer name occurs, you should stop and restart Sharing on the affected computer. Uncheck and then recheck Sharing in the Services list on the left.
Let us know if any of the suggestions above resolves your issue.
Cheers!

TC Error "The backup disk image could not be mounted."

My new time machine was working fine for a couple of weeks now I am getting this error message constantly. Does anyone have any suggestions what to do?
"The backup disk image could not be mounted."

I posted the same thing a couple of threads down, I deleted the back up then went into the time machine options and choose the time capsule option again and did another full backup and now it seems to be working properly.

The Backup Disk Image Could Not Be Mounted

I've successfully installed Time Capsule on my network and it is working correctly. I can access it via wireless and choose it from Time Machine. The initial backups go well, and I can access them if I enter Time Machine. However, at some point, it creates a disk image on my desktop and then returns the error The Backup Disk Could Not Be Mounted. The only way to restore everything to normal is to reboot.
I've already dismounted and remounted the drive, so permissions don't seem to be the problem.
Can anyone tell me what's going on and how to fix this??
Thanks!

I have a similar problem. At first, TM worked with both my machines. Now it works with the mac air but not the ibook. I get the Backup Disk Image Could not be mounted error message.
Here's what conole say:
4/22/08 11:56:33 AM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[855] Starting standard backup
4/22/08 11:56:34 AM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[855] Mounting disk image /Volumes/Fran's Time Capsule/Fran's Desktop_000d93460426.sparsebundle
4/22/08 11:56:51 AM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[855] Failed to attach to disk image, returned: 109
4/22/08 11:56:51 AM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[855] Failed to mount disk image /Volumes/Fran's Time Capsule/Fran's Desktop_000d93460426.sparsebundle
4/22/08 11:56:51 AM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[855] Backup failed with error: 21
4/22/08 12:04:54 PM com.apple.launchd[72] ([0x0-0xd00d0].com.apple.systempreferences[815]) Stray process with PGID equal to this dead job: PID 824 PPID 1 check_afp
4/22/08 12:05:05 PM Disk Utility[878] ********
4/22/08 12:05:05 PM Disk Utility[878] Disk Utility started.
4/22/08 12:05:24 PM mdworker[805] CFPropertyListCreateFromXMLData(): Old-style plist parser: missing semicolon in dictionary.
4/22/08 12:06:37 PM mdworker[805] CFPropertyListCreateFromXMLData(): Old-style plist parser: missing semicolon in dictionary.
4/22/08 12:08:25 PM Disk Utility[896] ********
4/22/08 12:08:25 PM Disk Utility[896] Disk Utility started.
4/22/08 12:08:40 PM mdworker[805] CFPropertyListCreateFromXMLData(): Old-style plist parser: missing semicolon in dictionary.
4/22/08 12:09:04 PM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[899] Mounting disk image /Volumes/Fran's Time Capsule/Fran's Desktop_000d93460426.sparsebundle
4/22/08 12:11:31 PM kernel SetCryptoKey R: len 32, idx 1

Error Message: The following disk images could not be opened

When downloading the free trial for CS6 for Mac, I get an Error message stating that "the following disk images could not be opened: Photoshop_13_LS16.dr invalid checksum.
Please help!!!

Is there any messages within the Adobe Download Assistant? This error can happen if you try mounting the DMG before the download is complete.

Time machine error says: The backup disk image "/Volumes/Data/Apple 's iMac G5.sparsebundle" could not be accessed (error -1).

I've been having the same problem that my Time Machine can't be back up to my iMac for last few months. It said," The backup disk image... sparsebundle" cannot be acessed -(error 1) . When i looked into my TC, it does connected to my iMac; but not in devices and when i clicked into imac.sparsebundle and it is no mounted file system.
I tried several changes such as new password, new device names, checked Keychain Acess, repaired the disk, got a latest air utilily... But it still couldn't help alot. my iMac software now is OSX Mountain Lion 10.8.4. However, it having the problem since i update the software... I'm not sure if it related but i'm clueless now!!!
I need help for this annoying issue!!

Welcome to Apple Support Communities
That message is caused by several reasons. Read the Pondini's site to fix the problem > http://pondini.org/TM/C17.html

The backup disk image could not be mounted - I found the cure?!

Hi all,
being a recent Windows to Mac convert I was very happy about my new MBP together with a brand new 1 GB TimeCapsule. First time, worked like a charm backup and restore. Then, last backup with 10.5.2, install 10.5.3, "Backup now" - nothing. I was pretty p*ssed and thought: that is exactly why I didn't want to use Windows anymore. I thought, Apple can't be doing the same cr@p as the Redmond dudes. Well, they did. Soon after 10.5.3 was out word had it that 10.5.4 as already around the corner so I figured, I'll wait for it. Just to be disappointed. After hoping for a solution in these forums none of the just re-assign the backup drive solutions worked for me.
Having found a solution somewhere about mounting the TC manually I managed to run backups again which clearly showed that the fr@cked it up as it indicated a stupid permission issue. I then took a look at the error message again:
"Network mountpoint /Volumes/Time Capsule not owned by backupd... remounting"
So I went and looked for that backupd and found it within /System/Library/CoreServices. Knowing that it did work last with 10.5.2 I figured, let me grab the 10.5.2 combo update and restore the backupd + the backup.bundle from the old version and give it a shot (making backup copies of them first).
Sure enough, told it to install them 2 to the default location, re-selected the TimeCapsule as backup target, hit "Start Backup" et voilà: currently "Backing Up: 1.4 GB of 5.1 GB"
Bottom line: Apple messed up the backupd binary somehow - way to go, QA team!
Anywho, seems to be working now. Also access is working at this point. Have to recheck if Time Machine still works if the TC is not mounted due to the running backup.
Maybe someone else can verify this to see if it helps them too?
Cheers!

Actually the path is shown in the system log. (My log had just rolled over and I didn't see the exact error message anymore - had used "locate" to find it)

Time Machine Error Message: "The backup disk image could not be mounted"

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