With OS Catalina, it looks like some changes were made to how the ".sparsebundle" file is saved to my Time Capsule drive. It is now a ".backupbundle" file and I can no longer mount the file and view/manage what's there. Any ideas?
Also, my backup is running really slowly and hasn't been able to complete a backup since the upgrade. (Separate issue?)
MacBook
It seems that renaming the ".backupbundle" to ".sparsebundle" worked for me. I'm able to mount the renamed backup file as I normally do and access all files within.
When Time Machine does another backup, the file is renamed back to ".backupbundle". I feared Time Machine may not know what had happened and start a completely new backup, but it seems the file is recognized and Time Machine simply pushes another backup into it (only took a few minutes).
macOS Catalina (10.15)
1st Gen TC (Firmware 7.8.1)
It seems that renaming the ".backupbundle" to ".sparsebundle" worked for me. I'm able to mount the renamed backup file as I normally do and access all files within.
When Time Machine does another backup, the file is renamed back to ".backupbundle". I feared Time Machine may not know what had happened and start a completely new backup, but it seems the file is recognized and Time Machine simply pushes another backup into it (only took a few minutes).
macOS Catalina (10.15)
1st Gen TC (Firmware 7.8.1)
We are seeing a few people on Catalina having issues with Time Machine.
To actually change the name of sparsebundle to backupbundle would be surprising but perhaps is clearer terminology.
Can you post some details for me.
Did Catalina actually change the name of the existing sparsebundle or is the backupbundle actually a new backup.. Just check and see if the old sparsebundle is still there.
If you cannot mount it in finder the most likely cause is permissions. It is possible Apple has done more than change the name.. this is ongoing to prevent ransomware from encrypting your backups (total guess).
I can get you around the permissions issues.. or you can try yourself using get info in finder. There is a trick to do it from old airport utility 5.6.1 but I am not sure it has been modified for Catalina yet.
Time Machine has become poorer and weaker and more problematic since Sierra.
My first recommendation is to stop using TM and use a third party. I recommend Carbon Copy Cloner. (purely a user, no connection to the company).
If you really MUST get Time Machine working again.. I would archive off the TC.. assuming you want to keep the old backups, then erase it and reset it to factory. Do the setup again of the TC from the computer you have issues with.. Use short names, no spaces and pure alphanumerics. NOT the apple recommended names which are hang over from early days of AFP only. The Mac is now using Windows network protocol, SMB, but the TC was never upgraded.. and this does lead to problems.
If you still have issues after doing all that give me details of the network setup. Model and age of the TC might also be relevant.
I was actually able to open the .backupbundle file with the DiskImageMounter (using the "Open with..." option). To answer one of your questions, it does seem that the .sparsebundle file was simply renamed since I was finally able to view its contents and see some old backup info. I still cannot get a complete backup though. I have been a fan of Time Machine for its ease of use but I will start looking at other options now. (I'll check out Carbon Copy Cloner.) I have already tried formatting the TC drive and starting over with a clean setup, but it doesn't seem to correct the issue and I still have a "stuck" .inprogress file.
Yeah, it seems that Catalina changed the terminology. I have no problem with that except that it didn't reassociate the new file with DiskImageMounter. I have been able to work around it with the "Open with..." dialogue.
[For your concern about backup taking so long]
How long are you waiting for a backup to complete? I was able to start a fresh, encrypted backup (about 200GB) overnight, it was done before I woke up. Initial backups tend to take a long time.
This worked perfect for me. Thanks!
I’ve waited over a whole weekend. At this point I’m thinking I have a corrupt OS or drive. Doing an OS reinstall now.
Mounting the Time Machine / Capsule file
