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

I have exactly the same problem! It's driving me crazy. I hope Apple looks into this, even though they don't support Time Machine on an AE shared disk. Yes, that seems silly that they don't support it but I guess it competes with Time Capsule. :-(

I'm having the same problem, but I haven't yet upgraded to Lion-- still using Snow Leopard 10.6.8. I just installed the new, external hard drive to the Airport router yesterday and got successful backups on both my desktop and laptop. After doing major work on the laptop, which I really want backed up, it's now giving me the ".../.../... MacBook Pro.sparcsbundle is already in use" error even if I go to the desktop and turn Time Machine off.

You're using an unsupported configuration. It won't work.

Could you be more specific? What is it about this configuration, recommended by the Apple Store Employee, that is unsupported exactly? I bought 2TB for this specific configuration.

"Time Machine can’t back up to an external disk that's connected to an AirPort Extreme..."

Mac 101: Time Machine

According to your reference: Mac 101, there's nothing wrong with the configuration.

"Time Machine can’t back up to an external disk that's connected to an AirPort Extreme... formatted for Microsoft Windows (NTFS or FAT format). ...If your backup disk is on a network, the network server must use Apple File Protocol (AFP) file sharing and both your computer and the networked backup disk should have Mac OS X 10.5.6 or later installed."

Nothing on my network is NTFS or FAT format.

You're misreading the article, but if you don't believe me, go back to the Apple employee who told you to do this and ask him how to get it to work. My understanding is that it won't.

"Time Machine can’t back up to an external disk that's connected to an AirPort Extreme, or to an iPod, iDisk, or a disk formatted for Microsoft Windows (NTFS or FAT format)."

Like Linc says above, you are reading it wrong. Each of these statements separated by commas is supposedly true.

Time Machine can’t back up to an external disk that's connected to an AirPort Extreme

or to an iPod, iDisk

or a disk formatted for Microsoft Windows (NTFS or FAT format)

I WILL backup to a networked disk on an Airport Extreme, it's just not supported by Apple. Seems a pretty easy thing to support if they would put a little effort into it.

NateCook, I'm experiencing the exact same issue. I'd previously been enjoying how seamless Time Machine worked, wirelessly and automatically, to backup my MacBook Pro to a 2 TB drive attached to my Airport Extreme. I also liked that I had the flexibility to plug that drive directly to my Mac, via FW800 or USB 2.0, if I needed to. It would always work too, regardless of whether or not I interrupted a backup in progress. Now, with Lion, I'm constantly getting the same "This backup disk image "/Volumes....Macintosh.sparsebundle is already in use" error. I fix it by restarting the Airport Extreme but that's a pain in the butt to have to do all the time.

Can you verify whether or not the recent OS X 1.0.7.1 update helps fix this in any way? Or is the situation the same for you?

I'm loathe to "give in" and buy a Time Capsule to replace this setup, but I will if I have to... I want everything to work like it did before and I'm not willing to downgrade fom Lion back to Snow Leopard over this. I was hoping Apple would fix it properly, but since this isn't a "supported configuration" (even though we know full well it works just fine) I was afraid Apple wouldn't focus on this as a priority.

I'm also a bit fearful that the same issue will occur with a Time Capsule.. hmm... my hunch is I'll be finding out soon enough.

This is a bug that came with Lion, and it still exist in 10.7.1. I experience the exact same problem. The last couple of years I've been using an external harddrive connected via USB to an Airport Extreme for backups. I've not done any modifications to Mac OS or the Airport for it to work. Apple has implemented Time Machine support for Airport disks, but they won't guarantee that it'll work because, unlike the Time Capsule, the backup volume isn't Apple hardware. But nevertheless, harddrives connected to an Airport Extreme will appear in the Time Machine System Pref pane as supported disks.

Bottom line is that it used to work fine and should continue to do so, but after 10.7 it doesn't. Please fix it.

This is a bug that came with Lion, and it still exist in 10.7.1.

The bug is not that you can't do it now, but that you could do it before. The AirPort Extreme doesn't meet the technical requirements for a Time Machine server.

Apple has implemented Time Machine support for Airport disks, but they won't guarantee that it'll work because, unlike the Time Capsule, the backup volume isn't Apple hardware.

I'm not sure what this means. No external hard drive is Apple hardware, but Apple certainly does support backing up to one with TM if it's locally attached or hosted via AFP on a Mac running 10.5.8 or later.

Uh, no. The uninterrupted backup works fine, as always. But if i close the lid of my MacBook Pro while it's performing the backup task, the sparsebundle is never released, and therefore seems to be "in use" (as the error says) the next time Time Machine is trying to back up. Apple wants to sell Time Capsules and say nothing about Time Machine in relation to Airport Extreme, but years ago they did make it possible to use Airport disks for Time Machine backups. You don't need to use Terminal for that...

The last statement you quoted from me simply means that Apple, or any other company for that sake, won't guarantee for anything that's not their own product. Do you not see my point here?

Do you not see my point here?

No, actually, I don't. If you prefer to ignore the clear documentation on this subject, that's your right, but complaining about a "bug" when your unsupported configuration does exactly what Apple says it will do (i.e, fails to work) makes no sense.

Well, I guess you're right. But I find it strange that not only the built-in Time Capsule harddrive, but also harddrives connected to Airport Extremes, are available as supported network volumes in Time Machine pref pane. Lion now even calls my backups for "Latest Time Capsule Backup". Even though I can't cough up proof right now, I'm quite sure that in 2008, Apple did say that Time Machine would work with Airport Extreme and a connected harddrive, although that seems not to be the case anymore. The reason is probably that Apple gets higher revenue and better profit margins when selling more Time Capsules instead of selling Airport Extremes and let other sell external harddrives.