Time Capsule - Backup Failed (error occurs when creating backup directory)

I am having the same issues. I have a pretty basic set-up. Two computers at home, both on the wireless network set up by Time Capsule, and both set to back up using Time Machine to Time Capsule. And yet I constantly get the endless "Preparing backup," or "Backup failed." It's maddening. My $500 piece of equipment is basically just a wireless router now. Unless I manually shut down the whole system, bring them up one at a time, and reselect the backup volume in Time Machine preferences, I get no backups. And even after doing all that, the backups still fail 100 percent of the time within one day. I hope Apple is doing the right thing and working on this problem.

I encourage all of you to use Apple's feedback page to let Apple know about this beg: http://www.apple.com/feedback/timecapsule.html

As another frustrated TC owner with problems similar to others in this thread I have sent my feedback as suggested. Here's hoping the manager of iTunes will take over Time Capsule after he fixes MobileMe. In the meantime an acknowledging message from Apple as to this problem would be appreciated.

I have the same problem. It works well then chokes for a few days then works again. I have a extra files backed up on TC but can't understand why that would be a problem. I would first look at your internal drive space. Make sure that your disk is not full. Has anyone tried deleting the inProgress file? Here are some other bits of info from another forum.

http://forums.mactalk.com.au/13/51193-time-machine-time-capsule-error.html

I have had my Time Capsule for 2 months now. I have had to wipe and re-setup twice already. Each time it has been related to the file permissions. Any posters who have Microsoft Office installed this may be your problem as this application screws up it's own disk permissions. Try running "Fix Disk Permissions" in the Disk Utility in the Utilities folder. Unfortunately I still had to wipe what was on my Time Capsule first and initiate a new backup.

Sounds to me like it is a Time Machine issue not a Time Capsule issue. Time machine seems to have no ability to recover if it attempts to backup a file which is either unreadable for some reason or when it doesn't have the proper rights to backup the file or compute the MD5 hash to verify the file was backed up properly. Just my guess...

I am a new Apple convert. Come on Apple there are enough people reporting this that you guys should be providing a fix. This isn't rocket science.

I too have a Time Capsule that I bought for my Mother In Law in NC which I remote to from MD to administer. The same problem that others have reported has taken place for me as well.

It worked fine, then out of the blue, the backups start failing. The TC sits on "preparing" forever until it fails. The TC is green, can be access just fine, except that it doesn't seem to work consistently anymore. In short, TC is unreliable and that's just pretty **** stupid.

Really ****** me off that I relied on apple for this and was let down bigtime.

I was early adopter of the Time Capsule and was excited about the idea. It has not been a positive experience. The Capsule would back-up for about 6-8 weeks and then stop with some archaic error message with no ability to recover. The software interface is also poorly executed and the ned-user has very limited control of back settings. After two updates from Apple (firmware) the problems still persist. I hope Apple fixes these issues - the product does not deliver the goods - we all deserve a refund in my opinion.

See this KB article. It may apply to your situation.

Mac OS X 10.5: Time Machine preferences may display "Preparing" for a longer time
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1516

One observation it has is that anti-virus software can interfere with the backup process.

Have had time capsule for about a week now, first backups were fine, now all of them are failing!!

Something has to be done here or it is going back for a full refund.

Yes, deleting the .inProgress file works for me. Time Machine doesn't cause me problems very often, usually only when I interrupt a backup by shutting the lid on my MB Pro without checking. My procedure is:

1. Stop the backup (which can be difficult - I sometimes have to reboot the Time Capsule).
2. Open the TC network volume and the Data folder within it.
3. Open the .sparseimage file containing the backups (I usually click the 'Skip' button on the volume verification).
4. Open the Backups.backupdb folder and then the folder with my machine name on it.
5. Scroll to the bottom of that to find the unwanted .inProgress file and trash it.
6. Eject the "Backup of ..." disk image volume - you must do this, because TM will try to mount it again and will fail if it is still mounted.
7. Tell TM to start a backup.

Excellent solution -deleting the .inProgress file worked perfectly. Thanks. Note, when you start backup again, there is a considerable amount of time required for time machine to compare your computer with the backup file. Patience, and it all starts working again.

Riles,

If you are going to use the TC for anything other than TM backups, you might want to partition the drive. There is the potential of corrupting the TM backup sparsebundle if other data is stored on the same partition.

As for the "backup directory" error (the above may very well be the issue), nevertheless, reboot your computer, then try backing up again. If that doesn’t work do the following:

Open the Time Machine preferences. Click "Options". Is your primary HD listed as one of the items to EXCLUDE from backup. If it is, remove it from the list and try again.

Another poster observed: “Had this myself but it was because for some strange reason my startup disk (the one I wanted to backup) was included in the 'dont backup these items' list!”

Nice step by step but I wanted to ask something, if you have any input.

I tried to follow your instructions and it dawned on me, when I could not get anywhere, that my repeated problem is that I get a message something like "disk image could not be mounted". That seems to prevent one of your steps as I can not ever see inside the disk image.

Sound correct to you?

Thanks.

Stuard

Same for me, still no luck. I tried all the suggested ideas, but it does not help. 'disk image could not be mounted' is the only message I get. Are there any new ideas?

Jos

Same here. In the past two weeks, I get the endless "Preparing Disk" then a box telling me the Time Capsule is "read-only" and then another warning box telling me that the disk is malfunctioning and I should back it up and reformat it. This has happened every hour. I have not installed the newest AirPort Utility (5.3.2) because the first time I did (and installed the updated TC firmware), it turned my TC into a brick--couldn't even use the wi-fi function. Had to uninstall APU 5.3.2, reinstall 5.3.1 from the original install disk, reset the TC and reformat it. Really p.o'ed that I'm going to have to go back to my teeny little portable external for backups (I hate that thing--it keeps coming loose whenever I move the laptop) and afraid to reinstall 5.3.2. (BTW, want to update to 10.5.5 but am afraid that'll only make it worse).