Time Capsule Error code -6584

Good catch! I don't recall that being reported before, but I've added it to #E4 inTime Machine - Troubleshooting.

Thanks!

I had the same problem, after deleting the last backup everything started to work again.

I had the same problem suddenly, getting error 6584 and the message that time machine could not complete the backup because the xx.sparsebundle was already in use.

It seemed to be in use on drive x-1, i.e., there seemed to be 2 drives with the same name. And sometimes I could see both of them in the shared part of the finder window sidebar.

So after reading through all these messages and your excellent web site, I deleted the library file com.apple.TimeMachine.plist and reset time machine. But it still would not work because the sparse bundle was already in use.

I read solutions on other forums as well. One simple choice was to disconnect all user from the Time Capsule.

But with Mountain Lion and the latest airport utility, there is no option anymore for doing that.

MacUserRWB (in a previous comment about airport utility) noticed that he had file sharing turned off on the disks tab of for one computer and thus that computer could not backup anymore. This gave me the idea to turn off file sharing to force the disconnect of users. The time capsule updated itself, I turned file sharing back on, the time capsule updated itself once more, and I wass then able to make the backup.

I don't know why the problem happened in the first place. Was it because I had very little room on the time capsule disk, or was it because I switched from ethernet to wireless to ethernet, or was it something else?

Judy wrote:

. . .

But with Mountain Lion and the latest airport utility, there is no option anymore for doing that.

Yes, that's a royal pain. 😟 There is a workaround, of sorts. See the pink paragrpahs in #C12 of Time Machine - Troubleshooting.

This gave me the idea to turn off file sharing to force the disconnect of users. The time capsule updated itself, I turned file sharing back on, the time capsule updated itself once more, and I wass then able to make the backup.

Aha! I may add that to #C12. Thanks. 🙂

I don't know why the problem happened in the first place. Was it because I had very little room on the time capsule disk, or was it because I switched from ethernet to wireless to ethernet, or was it something else?

No, none of those. Several things can cause it, such as the sparse bundle being mounted by another Mac, or a different user on the same Mac. Sometimes when you use the Time Machine browser (the "Star Wars" display), it doesn't get dismounted when you're done, and when TM wants to do a backup, it can't mount it. Other times, a network "glitch" will partially disconnect TM from the sparse bundle, and again it can't access it.

So the backup prepared itself for a long time, then backed up, and then went to verify mode. It seemed to work ok, but then it stayed at 71% for ages. The icon in the menu bar stopped rotating so I assumed it just hung up. I shut down the MBP to clear all the goblins within and will return to verify later. Should I be worried that the backup is no good? It goes back to 2010.

2010 is a long time ago, so you've got lots and lots of backups, and it will take a very long time to verify everything.

I'd recommend connecting via Ethernet when you can leave it for a while, with your Mac on utility power, and run the Verify manually.

But don't be too surprised if it comes up with an error -- you've probably got several million files and folders there, all intricately linked together, and it only takes one little "glitch" for the whole thing to be suspect.

Are these your only backups? If so, you may want to consider keeping "secondary" backups as well. See Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #27 for details and some suggestions.

It is connected with ethernet. And I did start the verify manually this time. I was just surprised that the icon on the menu bar had stopped rotating at 71% and never seemed to move. It had done the first 50% rather quickly. Perhaps it was just thinking.

I was able to go back to 2010 and get a file a few weeks before I got the 6584 error.I do have separate backups of the really important things and I will make a CCC clone soon when I am finished setting up the drive with ML and other new software. i had wiped the drive and did a clean install, as I did not want all the junk I had accumulated over several years.

Why is file sharing on the time capsule turned on anyway?

Did I do it when I set up time capsule several years ago?

Does time machine turn it on when first making a backup?

How does anyone know that it should be on and use that as a first step for trouble shooting?

Judy wrote:

Why is file sharing on the time capsule turned on anyway?

So you'll have access to the disk.

Did I do it when I set up time capsule several years ago?

Yup. No doubt you didn't notice, but just took the default, which is best for use with Time Machine:

How does anyone know that it should be on and use that as a first step for trouble shooting?

It has to be on; you can't turn it off, but you can control access. If you're interested, see the blue box in #Q1 of Using Time Machine with a Time Capsule.