Stop Time Machine backups to sparsebundle on local drive

Yes, as in my response to your other thread:

That may be a bug, so may get fixed in the future.

If you manually mount the sparse bundle, the "Star Wars" display should find it.

To get Time Machine to revert to backing-up to the prior local backups, delete the sparse bundle.

Message was edited by: Pondini

Rick Lang wrote:
Thanks. I’m going to copy it to another location just in case I need to revert to it, but I’ll remove it from the Time Machine volume. Take care.

Good plan!

Glad it's sorted out, and thanks for the feedback.

I have a similar problem, but didn't quite understand the solution...

time machine/capsule backs up my macbook. Just got an imac, and copied the image to it. Didn't realize it REALLY copied the image to it... so Time Machine decided the new imac was the macbook. Now Time Capsule backs up the imac... but not the macbook anymore.

There is still a 425GB sparsebundle for the old macbook on the Time Capsule...

Question: Is there a way to reattach to that sparsebundle for backing up the macbook or do I have to start all over?

Thanks for your previous posts, very helpful!

Cheers,

BilFish

BilFish II wrote:
I have a similar problem, but didn't quite understand the solution...

time machine/capsule backs up my macbook. Just got an imac, and copied the image to it. Didn't realize it REALLY copied the image to it... so Time Machine decided the new imac was the macbook.

No. Time Machine always knows which Mac is which, via an identifier that's embedded in the hardware on the logic board.

But it did copy the +Computer Name,+ which you can change via +System Preferences > Sharing.+

And it did copy the Time Machine preferences file (with the backup location you specified), so it backed-the new Mac up to the same destination.

Now Time Capsule backs up the imac... but not the macbook anymore.

There is still a 425GB sparsebundle for the old macbook on the Time Capsule...

Depending on how you answered this prompt, there may be two sparse bundles:
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See #B5 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum), for details.

If you said +Create New Backup,+ there should be two sparse bundles, one for each Mac.

If you said +Reuse Backup,+ there should be one, containing the backups from both, and as it says, the MacBook can no longer use the same set of backups.

Question: Is there a way to reattach to that sparsebundle for backing up the macbook or do I have to start all over?

Probably. First confirm whether there's one sparse bundle or two, and roughly how many backups of the iMac you've done.

Ahh! Thank you for illuminating the process. Thanks much

I believe I did actually select Create New Backup, so I have two sparsebundles. One in use by the new imac, and one unused for two months is the one I'd like to get hooked back in with my macbook (which now has gone 2 months, I just discovered, without a backup).

In that scenario, is there a way to tell my macbook to attach to that old sparsebundle that's waiting around?

Cheers,

BilFish

BilFish II wrote:
Ahh! Thank you for illuminating the process. Thanks much

I believe I did actually select Create New Backup, so I have two sparsebundles. One in use by the new imac, and one unused for two months is the one I'd like to get hooked back in with my macbook (which now has gone 2 months, I just discovered, without a backup).

In that scenario, is there a way to tell my macbook to attach to that old sparsebundle that's waiting around?

Yes. In fact, it probably still thinks it should be backing up to it. On the MacBook, go to Time Machine preferences. If Time Machine is OFF, just turn the slider ON and see what it does. If nothing, click +Select Disk,+ and select the old sparse bundle. You might have to double-click it in the Finder to get it to show up in the selection window.

If the backup fails, see #C2 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting. It will show you how to locate the message(s) that describe the problem, then help you fix it. If that doesn't help, post back with details, including all the messages, what you've done, and the results.

After that long a time, Time Machine will most likely do a large backup, including a "Deep Traversal," and it might even do a new, full backup, so connect to it via Ethernet cable if at all possible. It will be 2-3 times faster than even a good WIFI connection.

My data is now safe! (well, safer).

That was the trick, just needed to get it to remember and select the right disk and off it is going.

Cheers,

BilFish

Yay!

Glad it's sorted out, and thanks for the feedback.