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After interrupting "preparing backup" several times, unable to see time machine in finder

I've been using an old Time Capsule as a backup drive, after many years as a router. Recently it has been unable to backup; it's stuck in "preparing backup". I tried stopping and retrying; I tried removing it as a backup disk and then adding it back. When I removed the Time Capsule as a backup disk, I re-selected it under "available disks", and the name changed a little, suddenly using the name of my computer's internal drive (late 2015 iMac). As an added new backup disk, it had a message "waiting for first backup". (That freaked me out.)After reading a bunch of Bob Timmons' suggestions, I left it overnight. It stopped, but no backup was recorded. I removed it again, and re-added it from the list of available disks, where it had its old name. Seven hours later (trying ethernet), I again stopped the "preparing backup", thinking I should go into Time Machine in Finder to throw away any "in process" files. I could see the Backups.backupdb folder, which had a folder with my computer's name, but it contained no files! After restarting and talking to Apple, my Time Capsule is still showing up in Finder as "shared", but Time Machine no longer appears under "devices". When I enter Time Machine via system preferences, I see the old backups. This is all complicated by my using OS 10.13.6 (long story), and that the Time Capsule is full. Hope this makes sense. Bob, are you out there?? Thanks!

iMac 27″, macOS 10.13

Posted on Nov 17, 2022 4:57 PM

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Posted on Nov 17, 2022 6:14 PM

Sorry, you have lost me.


Recently it has been unable to backup; it's stuck in "preparing backup".


You never want to stop "Preparing Backup" assuming there is plenty of space on the Time Capsule for new backups. If you do, Time Machine has to start all over from the beginning of the process of checking all the files to be backed up....before.....it will start the backup process.


Let "Preparing" run until the backup has completed, or until you see an error message appear. You might see "Preparing for up to 6-8 hours or more. Let it run. Come back the next day to check on things.


After restarting and talking to Apple, my Time Capsule is still showing up in Finder as "shared", but Time Machine no longer appears under "devices"


Time Machine is not a device. Time Machine is software on your Mac. If you are running macOS 10.13.x the Time Capsule.....(not Time Machine).....will show up under the "Devices" or "Locations" heading on the left side panel of any Finder window. I can't remember whether High Sierra displayed "Devices" or "Locations", but they are esentially the same things with different names.


If the Time Capsule does not appear under the "Devices" or "Locations" heading on the left panel of a Finder window, Time Machine will never a complete a backup.....because your Mac does not recognize the Time Capsule on the network.


This is all complicated by my using OS 10.13.6 (long story), and that the Time Capsule is full.


New information. If the Time Capsule is full or even close to full, new backups are not going to run.


BUT still nothing under Backups.backupdb.


Because the Time Capsule is close to full and new backups cannot run.


If it were me, and I wanted to continue to use the Time Capsule, I would erase the hard drive on the Time Capsule and try to start over with a new backup.


But....if the Time Capsule was 6-7 years old.....both the power supply and hard drive are entering the stage where either could fail at any time. I would retire the Time Capsule if it was 6+ years old.


Bottom line.....if the Time Capsule is full, or even close to full, nothing is going to happen in the way of new backups.


So, you'll need to decide what you want to try next.










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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Nov 17, 2022 6:14 PM in response to goldwolf01

Sorry, you have lost me.


Recently it has been unable to backup; it's stuck in "preparing backup".


You never want to stop "Preparing Backup" assuming there is plenty of space on the Time Capsule for new backups. If you do, Time Machine has to start all over from the beginning of the process of checking all the files to be backed up....before.....it will start the backup process.


Let "Preparing" run until the backup has completed, or until you see an error message appear. You might see "Preparing for up to 6-8 hours or more. Let it run. Come back the next day to check on things.


After restarting and talking to Apple, my Time Capsule is still showing up in Finder as "shared", but Time Machine no longer appears under "devices"


Time Machine is not a device. Time Machine is software on your Mac. If you are running macOS 10.13.x the Time Capsule.....(not Time Machine).....will show up under the "Devices" or "Locations" heading on the left side panel of any Finder window. I can't remember whether High Sierra displayed "Devices" or "Locations", but they are esentially the same things with different names.


If the Time Capsule does not appear under the "Devices" or "Locations" heading on the left panel of a Finder window, Time Machine will never a complete a backup.....because your Mac does not recognize the Time Capsule on the network.


This is all complicated by my using OS 10.13.6 (long story), and that the Time Capsule is full.


New information. If the Time Capsule is full or even close to full, new backups are not going to run.


BUT still nothing under Backups.backupdb.


Because the Time Capsule is close to full and new backups cannot run.


If it were me, and I wanted to continue to use the Time Capsule, I would erase the hard drive on the Time Capsule and try to start over with a new backup.


But....if the Time Capsule was 6-7 years old.....both the power supply and hard drive are entering the stage where either could fail at any time. I would retire the Time Capsule if it was 6+ years old.


Bottom line.....if the Time Capsule is full, or even close to full, nothing is going to happen in the way of new backups.


So, you'll need to decide what you want to try next.










Nov 17, 2022 6:28 PM in response to Bob Timmons

Thanks, Bob. The Time Capsule shows up under "shared". (Maybe because we used to have another computer back up to it?) When I open it (I have to sign in to connect it everytime), and double-click on the sparsebundle, it then shows Time Machine under "devices", as if it were an external disk that can be ejected. The Time Capsule is not visible in the Disk Utility app. It is still there under AirPort Utility. Also, doesn't the Time Machine software delete old backups in order to accommodate new backups? Do you think removing and re-adding the Time Capsule caused additional issues? And, last, is there a need (or a way) to delete any "in progress" backup files? (This was something I saw online...not necessarily reliable, I know.)


Yes, the Time Capsule is full and old, maybe I should just start over, you're right. Thanks.

Nov 17, 2022 6:53 PM in response to goldwolf01

and double-click on the sparsebundle


You don't want to be opening up the sparsebundle because it is very easy to corrupt the data in the backup doing this.


The Time Capsule is not visible in the Disk Utility app


It is not supposed to be. Disk Utility only displays drives that are connected directly your Mac, like a USB hard drive. The Time Capsule is a network drive. It connects to the network, not directly to your Mac.


Disk Utility does not display network drives, that is why you will never see the Time Capsule hard drive named "Data" in Disk Utility.


You can see the sparsebundle file in Disk Utility because you have opened the file and it is mounted on the Mac's desktop. Playing with the sparsebundle file this way is frankly an invitation to disaster though unless you know what you are doing.


Also, doesn't the Time Machine software delete old backups in order to accommodate new backups?


Yes, if the backup is a very small "incremental" backup. But, if the Time Capsule is full or close to full and you are trying to make a new backup of a Mac or add a significant amount of new data, Time Machine cannot delete enough data to make room for the new backup, so the backup fails. Apple is very quiet about this small detail of course.


the Time Capsule is full and old


If you don't want to erase the hard drive on the Time Capsule, just set it aside in case you need to go back and view or pick up a backup in the future. Very few users ever need to do this though.


You also have the option of connecting a USB hard drive to the USB port on the back of the Time Capsule and using the Archive function in AirPort Utility to copy all of the data on the Time Capsule hard drive over to the USB drive.


This would be the thing to do if you want to keep a copy of everything that was on the Time Capsule drive....before....you erase the Time Capsule hard drive to start all over with new backups to the Time Capsule.













Nov 17, 2022 8:05 PM in response to Bob Timmons

You also have the option of connecting a USB hard drive to the USB port on the back of the Time Capsule and using the Archive function in AirPort Utility to copy all of the data on the Time Capsule hard drive over to the USB drive.


This would be the thing to do if you want to keep a copy of everything that was on the Time Capsule drive....before....you erase the Time Capsule hard drive to start all over with new backups to the Time Capsule.


Bob, you are a champ!

You deserve your reputation as a backup/airport hero!

Happy Thanksgiving.




After interrupting "preparing backup" several times, unable to see time machine in finder

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