Time machine looking backup disk

I upgraded my macpro to OSX Lion a few weeks ago.  Since that change, my time machine stopped working.  I am able to assign a hard drive as the time machine back up drive (I formated it using Mac OS extended).  the drive shows up on my desktop with the time machine logo.  when I try to make TM run a backup, I keep getting a message "looking for backup disk."  The drive I am using is an internal eSATA drive.
Any help would be appreciated.

I am having the same problem. My Time Capsule suddenly cannot be found, and the Time Machine menu seems endlessly trapped in the "Looking for Backup Disk" phase, despite being directly connected via Ethernet.  I can see the Time Capsule in the Finder sidebar but cannot connect to it. I *can* connect to an external HD connected to the Time Capsule by USB though.
This problem cropped up for me after upgrading to 10.7.1.
Oddly, I tried connecting to the Time Capsule with a friend's MacBook Pro running 10.5.8 Leopard, and that worked (I could connect and view the data).

Similar Messages

  • Time Machine error: backup disk image could not be created

    Iet up my new time capsule day and it's working great. Now that I've got everything sorted out, I'm ready to do the initial time machine back up on it. I went into preferences, changed the backup location to my TC and clicked 'back up now'. Very quickly I get a message that the backup failed: "Time Machine Error - The backup disk image could not be created".
    I've searched the apple support area but haven't been able to figure this one out. Can anyone help, please? This is an initial backup. (FYI, it worked great on my old external drive.)
    Many thanks

    I had the same problem. I installed my Time Capsule, fired up Time Machine and got an error that said "The backup is too large for the backup volume. The backup requires 436.8 GB but only 182.2GB are available."
    Coincidently, these are the same sizes as the space used and the space available on my iMac's drive.
    I looked in /Volumes and saw that the sparsebundle was being created on the local disk and not on the main disk. Trying to backup again gave me the "Time Machine error: backup disk image could not be created." message.
    I poked around the forums, and found a post about the machine name setting in sharing. I decided to give it a look, and lo and behold, I did not have a machine name. So I gave my box a name, kicked off Time Machine again, and it worked.

  • Time Machine:The backup disk ran out of space unexpectedly. .....

    Hi,
    I upgraded to Mountain Lion when it was released and yesterday I began getting this notice from Time Machine:
    "The backup disk ran out of space unexpectedly. Time Machine will try to make more space available by removing expired backups during the next scheduled backup."
    I have a one terra external hard drive with exclusively Time Machine.  It says it has 3.4 gigabytes available, but isn't deleting old backups and making room for new, like before.  I tried the "encrypting" solution, but it still keeps on giving me this message.  Should I erase and format?  If so, what option should I chose to format?
    My Hard Drive has 240 gigabytes, so 1Tb should be more than enough.
    Thank you!
    Gloria

    SuperDuper and Time Machine are two completely different backup utilities. If you want something like what SuperDuper does then don't use Time Machine. You have many other options that won't use up all the space on your backup drive:
    Backup Software Recommendations
    Carbon Copy Cloner
    Data Backup
    Deja Vu
    SuperDuper!
    Synk Pro
    Tri-Backup
    Others may be found at VersionTracker or MacUpdate.
    Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on backup and restore.  Also read How to Back Up and Restore Your Files.
    Do the following to erase your drive:
    Erase a Drive
    1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
    2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
    3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.

  • Why is Time machine saying backup disk disconnected? Using MBP 17" Lion 10.7

    Why is Time machine saying backup disk disconnected? Using MBP 17" Lion 10.7

    Do you have an external drive connected?
    If you do has it gone into sleep mode? There is a setting in the OS to put drives to sleep if they aren't being used. Energy Saver "Put the hard disk to sleep when possible".
    Also most external drives have a built in sleep function that if they aren't being accessed for a period of time they go to sleep by themselves.

  • I got this error while my mac was backing up to time machine: he backup disk image "/Volumes/Data/Sanjeev's iMac.sparsebundle" could not be created (error (null)). Please could someone help

    I got this error while my mac was backing up to time machine: he backup disk image “/Volumes/Data/Sanjeev’s iMac.sparsebundle” could not be created (error (null)). Please could someone help

    Has the backup been working ok??
    If that is the case simply reboot the TC.. or if that fails, reboot the whole network, restarting in correct order..
    modem.. wait 2min
    TC.. wait 2min

  • HT3275 Time machine error, backup disk image "/volumes/data-1/.sparesbundle " already in use. I don;t know what this means, can someone help?

    My Mac mini time capsule is showing an error Time machine error, backup disk image "/volumes/data-1/.sparesbundle " already in use. I don;t know what this means, can someone help?

    I had a similar problem and I solved it as follows -
    In Time Machine - > I deselected time capsule Data Disk as a destination.
    Then I pulled the power plug on the Time Capsule, twiddled my thumbs for 15 secs, plugged the power back in.
    Went back t Time Machine -> Re-Added the Time Capsule Data Disk as destination. And then tested by selecting Backup Now.
    All went well and the backup picked up from before the problem.
    BTW - I also have a USB drive connected to Time Capsule that is an alternate disk for Time Machine to backup.
    In Mountain Lion the GUI lets you add more than one Time Machine backup destinations very easily so I think it a good idea to have redundancy.
    Hope this helps.

  • Time Machine thinks backup disk is full but its not

    I just purchased a new 1 Terabyte hard drive for backup. In the past I backed up both my internal Mac harddrive (250 Gb with 8gb free) and an external iOmega archive drive (DRIVE H 320Gb with 41Gb free) to a 500Gb Lacie drive. I purchased an iOmega 1 Terabyte drive (DRIVE G) because the Lacie drive was full. I went into Time Machine and changed the backup drive to the G one terabyte drive and did a full backup of my internal hard drive. When I did this I did not have the external H archive drive attached so Time Machine didn't back that up. I did it that way because I wanted to first backup the internal drive then do some work and then go backup the external archive drive over night. I plugged the H archive drive in, so it show up in the finder and then told Time Machine to Backup Now. It started the back up but right after doing the initial computations when it actually started backing up I got the standard error message that "the backup disk ran out of space unexpectedly..."  I've double checked that the backup disk is set correctly in Time Machine to the 1Tb G drive and when I do a Get Info on the G drive it shows Capacity: 1TB, Available: 713.54 GB.
    Is it possible something is wrong with the new drive? Can I test that?

    Its funny how sometimes asking a question can prompt  your thinking. As soon as I finished posting this I thought "of course Disk Utility".  I ran a check disk and got the following error message:
    Unused node is not erased (node = 107)
    I did a restore which corrected the error. Turned Time Machine back on and its backing up the rest of my data now.

  • Time machine The backup disk image "/Volumes/Data/Freedom Book.sparsebundle" is already in use.

    I am getting the following error message from Time Machine (backing up to my 3 TB Time Capsule):
    The backup disk image “/Volumes/Data/Freedom Book.sparsebundle” is already in use.
    I have no idea why this would be in use, because only one MBP has the name "Freedom Book". Any advice on how to resolve? Running Mountaiin Lion 10.8.1.

    I had the same error. I unplugged my TimeCapsule for 5 min from power. Plugged it back in to power then waited 10 min for everything to comunicate again. Clicked on backup now and it worked. Must have froze up or something.

  • Time Machine Error: Backup Disk Image Could Not Be Mounted

    Time Machine was working just fine with Time Capsule for the first two days, then today I got the above error message.
    The drive and the backup image both show up in Finder. I can even copy files from the Time Capsule to my hard drive.
    I just can't get Time Machine to backup to the Time Capsule, even if I manually hit "Back up now".
    Any ideas what I can do to fix this?

    I may have fixed this ... I renamed my TC to a shorter name with no space and no apostrophe - just a few letters. That seems to have cleared it up - at least for now. Time will tell ...

  • Time machine - On backup disk change still looking for the old one

    Hi,
    I had a backup disk from my D-Link NAS, which died, I bought a Synology Diskstation and enabled Time machine.
    I can see the hard drive in time machine preferences, I can select it and everything seems to be ok. Until a backup is performed, at the moment system says it can't find the original (D-Link) disk. Even in console app I can see it search for the afp for D-Link.
    I tried to disable time machine, reboot. Also remove the /Library/Preferences/com.apple.TimeMachine.plist
    Also using command line util tmutil it fails.
    tmutil destinationinfo
    ====================================================
    Name          : Backup
    Kind          : Network
    URL           : afp://backup@DataCenter_AFP_Backup._afpovertcp._tcp.local/Backup
    ID            : 16EE688A-9FE1-40EE-8495-84BC56FD63B7
    tmutil removedestination 16EE688A-9FE1-40EE-8495-84BC56FD63B7
    but It won't remove it, destinatininfo prints the same result
    I tried to set destination with the new afp path, but no change.
    Any idea what else I could try?

    That device is unsuitable for use with Time Machine. I know this isn't the answer you want, and I also know that the manufacturer says the device will work with Time Machine, and that it usually seems to work. Except when you try to restore, and find that you can't.
    If you want network backup with Time Machine, use as the destination either an Apple Time Capsule or an external hard drive connected to another Mac or to an 802.11ac AirPort base station. Only the 802.11ac base stations support Time Machine, not any older model.
    If you're determined to keep using the NAS for backup, your only recourse for any problems that result is to the manufacturer (which will blame Apple.)

  • My external hard drive is not recognized by Time Machine; "The backup disk is not available" according to Disk Utility

    I'm not completely tech savvy, but I'm having troubles with my external memory & time machine.  I'm a student, and thus its very important to me to be able to back up my computer.
    I wanted to back up my Time Machine the other day.  I clicked the icon at the top of the page (beside the battery icon, etc.) and the message "The backup disk is not available".  I have a 500GB Seagate passport (ie: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Seagate---FreeAgent-GoFlex-500GB-External-USB-2.0-Po rtable-Hard-Drive---Silver/9929098.p?id=1218196478444&skuId=9929098)
    My macbook pro is version 10.7.5 Mac OS X Lion.  My external memory is only about a year old. It hasn't been dropped or anything; it permanently sits secured to my desk.
    What appears when I click "Repair Disk":
    Verify and Repair volume “Time Machine Backups”
    Checking file systemChecking Journaled HFS Plus volume.
    Detected a case-sensitive volume.
    Checking extents overflow file.
    Checking catalog file.
    Incorrect block count for file shutdown_time
    (It should be 1 instead of 0)
    Invalid node structure
    Rebuilding catalog B-tree.
    The volume Time Machine Backups could not be repaired.
    Volume repair complete.Updating boot support partitions for the volume as required.Error: Disk Utility can’t repair this disk. Back up as many of your files as possible, reformat the disk, and restore your backed-up files.
    After clicking "Repair Disk" this message pops up: "Disk Utility Stopped Repairing 'Time Machine Backups'  Disk utility can't repair this disk. Back up as many as your files as possible, reformat the disk, and restore your backed-up files."
    I don't want to wipe my memory on my external disk just in case the disk doesn't restore (as I do not have another disk to back up my computer on to).
    What is going on? Why is this happening out of the blue? How can I fix this?

    Sounds like it either has, or is about to die.
    If you don't need anything off the old drive, then yes, replace it immediately with something a little more reolaable. I use WD Caviar Black personally. But anything that has a known low failure rate.

  • Warning:  Don't use Time Machine to backup disk containing existing TM backup files

    I ran into a problem while starting a clean TM backup on a new hard drive.  I found the solution on this board and wanted to do a clean post of it in case it might help someone else.
    A few months ago, I had got a new external to put my Aperture referenced masters on.  When I first hooked up the drive, IIRC, I got a message from Time Machine asking me if I wanted to use that drive as a TM backup drive.  I didn't have a proper backup plan in place so I said "Sure why not" and never thought any more about it.  So that drive contained the TM backups as well as a lot of Aperture files.
    Fast forward to now when I decide to do a proper backup plan including a new drive just for TM.  So last night, I hook up this new drive and tell TM to use it to backup my iMac as well as that previous external.  But I specify in the preferences that I want to exclude the old Backups.backupdb folder of course.  Great.  I go to bed expecting to find everything backed up the next morning.
    Uhhhh... not!  This morning, the TM preference window is still spinning on "Excluding items" and it is currently at 35 millions!  (That millions with an "m").  ???  So I did a search on this board and found this thread:
    https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2520870?start=15&tstart=0
    in which another user had a similar problem and, after fishing around a bit, Pondini discovered that this old Backups.backupdb folder was the source of the problem.
    So I stopped TM, and this time I told it to exclude the whole original external drive. TM immediately started doing a proper backup which only took a few hours.
    The one thing I wanted to point out is that even though Pondini suggested Excluding the old Backup.db folder, this apparently is not enough.  Because when you do that, it wants to go in there and exclude every little file one by one and for god knows what reason, there is a huge number of these buggers.
    So it looks like if you have an external that contains an old TM backup, you have to copy the other files (the ones you want to keep) somewhere else, erase the drive and put those files back on it before you can do a TM backup of it.
    Thank you to Pondini once again for his invaluable help.
    Bo

    Thanks for your reply V.K. much appreciated.
    I have gone into the options and I can see my external drives there, but for some reason I can't remove them from the exclusion list. I can add and remove the Laptop HD from this list, but for some reason the "-" button becomes disabled whenever I select the external Hard Drives.
    Is there a reason for this? I've been using both drives for a while, so they are both Mac formatted.
    Thanks again.

  • HT201250 Time Machine error - backup disk is not available

    A new external USB disk was installed and fromatted as per apple and manufacturer instructions. Time machine backup was initated but had to be stopped after 2-3 hours. Upon resuming using "backup now" function an error message reported - Time machine could not complete the backup. The backup dis is not available.

    Never mind, I fixed the problem by removing a lock feature from my external drive.

  • Time Machine says backup disk is full

    My Time Machine backup disk (FreeAgent GoFlex Drive: 1TB) says it's full.  I thought Time Machine was supposed to delete old backups to make room for new backups on an on-going basis.  I don't see a setting for it.  I'm fairly new to Mac, so forgive me if this is supposed to be obvious.  I did see some "expert" in this discussion tell someone to "buy a bigger drive."  That's just arrogant and not helpful.  Someone else bought a 4TB drive and it solved their problem -- duh!  What happens when that's full?  Don't need the arrogance, just would like to understand how it works.  Thanks.

    TM does thining, until you are left with only weekly backups. Then it deletes those backups from oldeset to newest.
    However, it WON'T always delete a backup to make room, as this depends on a few particular details, and also it won't delete the only remaining backup.
    Your 1TB isn't really that large anymore, so I can somewhat see why even an 'expert' would suggest a bigger drive. Most internal drives around 1 TB these days alone.

  • Time Machine Error, backup disk couldn't be mount

    I have a USB drive plug to my Airport Extreme and I use it for Time Machine. Today I had a message saying: "Latest Backup:Failed"
    Time Machine Error
    The Backup disk image could not be mounted.
    The hard disk is there, I can drag, drop, copy, delete files on that disk. There's is a big file call Serge'siMac_001ec205f583.sparsebundle, the file does not seem corrupted, I could probably drag it to the Desktop. How can I mount the backup disk.
    Serge

    I had the same problem and found out how to fix it
    You can check the whole process here in a post I wrote for the Hardmac blog (it's rather long...):
    How I saved my corrupted Time Machine sparsebundle image…

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