"The backup disk image 'Volumes...sparsebundle' is already in use" error message

I will also add that the fact that this error came about in 10.7 and 10.7.1 and wasn't "fixed" (we think, we hope) until 10.7.2 shows just how low of a priority this unsupported configuration is to Apple. Just because the annoying error dialog (that appeared after interrupted backups) has gone away, the configuration is still isn't supported by Apple and could very well still have subtle problems/issues under the hood that we know nothing about. Who knows, maybe it will all "break" again... but in some other way.

My data just isn't worth this worry/risk.

Fofer, of course what I should have said is that this solution seems to work without errors for me. And I can recall that I have restored at least two Macs that were using a USB hard disk drive connected to AE as volume for TM backups. One was running Mac OS X 10.6 and the other one 10.6 Server. I regret to say that I have not tried restoring a backup from a Mac running 10.7.x. I will probably do so soon just to see if it works as I expect.

Hi, I'm having the same problem here. It seems that you guys manage to solve this with the update to 10.7.2 but I'm getting the same mesage and it occurs when I try to initiate a backup, and as it was described before it usualy happens when I had to stop a previously backup in the middle. I'm using Mac OS Lion 10.7.3, with a Time Capsule. Do you have any ideas of what's going on?

Thank you very much

This thread was discussing the issue as it affected those with AIRPORT EXTREMES and hard drives plugged into them. The bug fix for that particular combo came with 10.7.2.

The bug never affected Time Capsules.

Anyway, does it go away (even temporarily) when you restart the Time Capsule?

That being said, it could just be that your backup's gone corrupt, and you need to wipe it clean and start it over fresh. It happens.

Yes, it goes way but as you said it is temporary. That happened to me almost six times before. The first time I thought it was a problem on the disk and I erased it completelly and initiated the backup from the beggining, it worked well for about two days, than the error mesage apeared again. I verfified the volume and nothing seemed to be wrong. Reading this discussion I tried to turn off the Time Capsule and the backup continued as if nothing happened. But if I turn off the computer in the middle of a backup it starts all over again. I don't know what went wrong and what should I do to prevent from happening again. Thank you very much for your help.

Hey Fofer, any insights into my variation on this issue would be appreciated...

I have a home LAN operating on the latest AExt, extended with two AExp's, with three hosts (iMac 27, MBA and MBPr13, all running Mavericks). I run a LaCie 5BigPro NAS off a business grade HP switch and perform all TimeMachine BU's for all three hosts to the NAS. We often and variably get the ".sparsebundle in use" error on all three hosts and have failed BU's. The only pattern I can see is that it only happens when connected via WIFI (each host usually gets docked to TB or GigEthernet overnight, where the problem doesn't seem to occur).

I'm not panicking as I perform disk image BU's for all three hosts regularly with a third party utility, but this error is invasive, inconvenient and uncharacteristically untidy from Apple.

Any insights since 2011...?

I've just gone back and read over my previous replies, and no, I can't offer any new insight. My opinion remains the same. That you're still experiencing this issue on an Airport Extreme, three years later, only serves to further solidify my stance. I am happy I switched to a Time Capsule way back when. I haven't seen the "sparsebundle" error once with this configuration. Not once. I feel safer about my backups than I would with the "unsupported" Airport Extreme+USB hard drive combo.

Thanks for replying this long after the initial thread...

Having had three (yes that's 3!) Time Capsule's die on me (Apple's reputation for disk quality is just terrible IMHO), and considering the extent of my network (min. 3 hosts and various mobile devices, all with a business dependency), USB connected storage is unworkable and I just have to be "Network Attached" and highly redundant.

While I take your point about what might be "supported" by Apple, the way they market Time Machine is very misleading in this regard. I realise I'm not having the same problem as other users with router-connected USB storage, but having forked out the big $$$ on Apple's recommended NAS solution from LaCie, it's pretty brutal for it to be this flakey with Time Machine.

Off to research a better data protection utility (and probably pay more money for SW licenses)...