Time machine message repeats each time backup begins

A Time Machine message asking wheher I want to use another computers backup file or create a new one appears each time the backup begins. How do I stop it from asking the question each time?
Background: I recently used the migration assistant to transfer a user on a Snow Leopard computer to a Lion computer. Both computers use Time machine for back up. Now every time a backup begins on the Lion computer, a message asks whether I want to use the backup file on the Snow Leopard computer, create a new or cancel. I selected create a new file and the backup started. Now every time the backup begins it asks the same question before it begins. You would think that the initial answer would end the message.

Firewire can handle networking.. I wonder if you are or have in the past networked the LaCie.. maybe even shared it over the network??
I do not think the message is particularly problematic.. Since firewire is still not directly connected to a network.. and unless you share it, is still just a local drive.. sometimes TM comes up the strangest issues.. particularly since Mavericks.

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Time Machine indicates 4TB needed to backup 1TB drive?

I have a 1 TB drive in in my iMac that was recently replaced. The restored data uses about 850GB. I have been using a 2TB drive as a Time Machine backup drive. With the new internal drive in the iMac, TM said that it couldn't back up the drive, that 4.91TB were needed, and only 2TB available. I reformated the TM drive and I get the same error message. How can a 1TB no longer be backed up on 2TB?
Thanks

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.
☞ If you’re running Mac OS X 10.7 or later, open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Console in the page that opens.
Select "system.log" from the file list. Enter "backupd" (without the quotes) in the String Matching text field. Post the messages from the last backup, beginning with "Starting standard backup."
Post the log text, please, not a screenshot. If there are runs of repeated messages, post only one example of each. Do not post many repetitions of the same message.
Some personal information, such as the names of your files, may be included — edit that out, too, but don’t remove the context.

HT203177 iMAC & maverich Time Machine error message "unable to complete backup folder

iMAC with OSX10.9.4 ; 8GB ram ; two partitions external disk formatted MAC jurnaled ; connected via Fire Wire or USB2 .
During Backup the sistem get stack and display into the "details window" Time machine was unable to complete the backup because unable to complete the backup folder.
This problem happens with USB and Fire Wire.
The file backups.backupdb is excluded from virus scanning.
Also happens time to time that (without doing things) both the partitions of the external disk disappaire from the desk-top and a message "the disk must be ejected properly" is diplayed.
This two problems are independent une to the other.
I have change the backup disk but both the problems persist.
Thanks for any help
Gian Luigi

These instructions must be carried out as an administrator. If you have only one user account, you are the 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.
The title of the Console window should be All Messages. If it isn't, select
SYSTEM LOG QUERIES ▹ All Messages
from the log list on the left. If you don't see that list, select
View ▹ Show Log List
from the menu bar at the top of the screen.
In the top right corner of the Console window, there's a search box labeled Filter. Initially the words "String Matching" are shown in that box. Enter the word "Starting" (without the quotes.) You should now see log messages with the words "Starting * backup," where * represents any of the words "automatic," "manual," or "standard."
Each message in the log begins with the date and time when it was entered. Note the timestamp of the last "Starting" message that corresponds to the beginning of an an abnormal backup. Now
CLEAR THE WORD "Starting" FROM THE TEXT FIELD
so that all messages are showing, and scroll back in the log to the time you noted. 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 to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. Paste into a reply to this message by pressing command-V.
☞ If all you see are messages that contain the word "Starting," you didn't clear the text field.
☞ The log contains a vast amount of information, almost all of which is irrelevant to solving any particular problem. When posting a log extract, be selective. Don't post more than is requested.
Please don't indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into this discussion.
Please don't post screenshots of log messages—post the text.
☞ Some private information, such as your name, may appear in the log. Anonymize before posting.

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.

Time Machine: How can I find the size of each individual backup?

When I look in the Time Machine external hard drive under Backups.backupdb, I see all of the backups. I also see the total space remaining on the Time Machine. However, I would like to know the size of each individual backup file. Is there a way to get this information? It does not show in the "Get Info" window of the backup.
Thanks

The question is ambiguous, because a snapshot may consist almost entirely of references to other snapshots and thus take up almost no space on the backup volume. There is a shell command that enables you to see how much data was copied from the sources in the last snapshot. An example of how to use it is below.
Triple-click anywhere in the line below to select it:
tmutil compare
Copy the selected text to the Clipboard (command-C).
Launch the Terminal 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 Terminal in the icon grid.
Paste into the Terminal window (command-V).
The command will take at least a few minutes to run. Eventually some lines of output will appear below what you entered.
Each line that begins with a plus sign (“+”) represents a file that has been added to the source volume since the last snapshot was taken. These files have not been backed up yet.
Each line that begins with an exclamation point (“!”) represents a file that has changed on the source volume. These files have been backed up, but not in their present state.
Each line that begins with a minus sign (“-“) represents a file that has been removed from the source volume.
Files that you’ve excluded from backup, or that are excluded automatically, are ignored.
At the end of the output, you’ll get some lines like the following:
Added:
Removed:
Changed:
These lines show the total amount of data added, removed, or changed on the source(s) since the last snapshot.

Cannot open time machine; message on screen: time machine in backup. I want to find last 12 mos. of pictures.

cannot open application to time machine: Message on screen: time machine in backup.
Purpose to get into time machine; is to pickup lost photos

northernresort wrote:
I workedwith apple support on the phone it believe the backup is corrupt.
Yup, sure sounds like it.
It does have a .sparsebundle for the machine that is backup up. There is only 52G free on the 1T time capsule, so it seems that the data is there,
That's good, obviously. Often it won't mount at all, and you're in a very large pickle.
I'm not seeing nor beleive I'm having a hardware issue with the time capsule.
Probably not.
I'm wondering if I have some sort of version issue between 10.7.x that the Time machine on the time capsule was created with and 10.8.4
No, at least not that's been reported. A sparsebundle is a sparsebundle, as far as we can tell.
I don't use hdiutil or fsck, so bear with me. Drag the sparsebundle into Disk Utility's sidebar and try Repair Disk on it. See what messages it shows. (They may not appear in the window; click the Log icon or select Window > Show Log from the menubar.)
Do you have a copy of DiskWarrior? It can operate on a sparsebundle, and sometimes can fix things Disk Utility (and hdiutil or fsck) can't.
I haven't found any good way to parse out/copy files from a sparse bundle
If you double-click it, does the disk image (named "Time Machine Backups") mount (should appear on your Desktop and/or Finder sidebar)? If it does, can you open it via the Finder? If so, you'll find the usual Backups.backupdb folder inside, with one folder named for your Mac, and inside that all the date-stamped backup folders, each with one folder per drive that was backed-up, and inside that the full folder structure.
If so, you can probably drag & drop, but depending on what kind of damage there is, and where, that may not work well, if at all.
Best, of course, is if you can repair it and just do a full restore.

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

HT3275 Since updating OS to Mountain Lion from leopard, I get the following error message when trying to backup with time machine on external drive. Could not complete backup to media share. The network backup disk does not support the required AFP feat

Since updating OS to Mountain Lion from leopard, I get the following error message when trying to backup with time machine on external drive. "Could not complete backup to media share. The network backup disk does not support the required AFP features." What are AFP features and how do I get Time Machine to backup to my current external backup?

This means that your NAS does not support the required encryption. Update your NAS to the latest firmware or ditch it and buy a Time Capsule (they are the most reliable when using TM).

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

I am trying to use Time Machine to back-up to an external hard drive and I get the following message.Unable to complete backup. An error occurred while creating the backup folder. Does anyone know what I should do?

I am trying to use Time Machine to back-up to an external hard drive and I get the following message.Unable to complete backup. An error occurred while creating the backup folder. Does anyone know what I should do?

Hello Drake, I suspect one or more of the Drives needs repairing, but...
Have you looked through Pondini's extensive TM help site?
http://Pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html
http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
Can't imaging something not being covered there.

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

HT3275 Has anyone encountered this message on their time capsule/machine? Time Machine couldn't complete the backup because the backup disk image"/Volumes/Patti's Time Capsule/Patti's MacBook Pro.sparsebundle" is already in use"?

Has anyone encountered this message on their time capsule/machine? Time Machine couldn't complete the backup because the backup disk image"/Volumes/Patti's Time Capsule/Patti's MacBook Pro.sparsebundle" is already in use"?

If you reboot the computer it should fix the problem. Also see the first link under More Like This to the right of this page:
I am received an error on my Time Capsule which states the backup disk image "Volumes/Data/MacBook Pro. sparse bundle? is already in use. so time machine couldn't complete the backup to time capsule - any suggestion

TS1550 My time capsule will not back up. There is a time machine error message that states "The backup disk image "/volumes/Backup/Jane's MacBook Pro.sparsebundle" is already in use. How do I correct this problem?

My time machine will not back up. I get a Time Machine Error message that reads: "The backup disk image "/Volumes/Backup/(myname)'sMacBook Pro.sparsebundle" is already in use.
I have not been able to back up for two weeks, I think this occurred after an update to the operating system, but I am unsure.
How do I correct this problem?

Have you tried restarting the computer? Also, see Time Machine Error from this pages sidebar under More Like This.

Time Machine error message "Unable to complete backup....."

I just purchased Time Capsule and attempted to do my initial backup. I had to stop during the middle of the process. When I returned to resume the backup I get the following error message: "Unable to create backup. An error occurred creating the backup directory." Has anyone else gotten this error message? If so, any suggestions on how to fix this. I tried doing everything that Setup Guide suggested with no success.
After reading some of the posts here, I've made sure that my Time Capsule name is short and without special characters but nothing has worked. Any help would be appreciated.

My initial backup (350GB on WiFi N 5Ghz wide-channel) seemed like it would take 3 days (which is fine), but after 1 day, I too got that error. I started the backup again and it went for an hour, then the same error. Started again, went for 5 minutes, same error. Now I can't even start it again--I've tried many times and the error is now instantaneous.
The first time the error happened, the backup seemed to pick up where it left off. After that, though, all progress each time was lost.
The network itself has never gone down, and the light has stayed green. And the 2Wire DSL router it's attached to seems to be fine as well.
I'm wiping the drive (with the zero option in the hopes of catching and physical defects early) and will try again tomorrow.
All software and firmware is up-to-date: I made sure before turning on the Time Capsule.
Ethernet is not really an option--I'd have to run a long cord though a high-traffic area, and accidents would happen.

Time machine message repeats each time backup begins

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