time machine looking backup disk

Yes I did !

I called support several times ...

As I am a rather stubborn one,

I finaly succeeded getting in touch

with a higher level engineer.

we discovered I had an extra corrupted plist file related to Time Machine,

impossible to get rid of ...

Untill today when it looks to have finally vanished by itself *

So he thinks I am a special unique case ...

As I am to get a brand new Mac Book Air on tuesday,

probably running Mac Os 10.7.1,

he wants me to test my Time Capsule with the new Mac Book Air.

And if its working this way he wants me to download Mac Os 10.7.2

on the new Mac Book Air (What I am not very fond of trying !!!! as you can imagin ...)

and see if the glitch appears or not.

If it does ---> it would mean for Apple its a real Mac Os 10.7.2 bug,

if not ----> it would mean I be a special case !

As far as I am concern I don't feel there is a real feed-back strategy between Apple Support Communities and Apple support Hot Line ...

But Its only a personal feeling.

Jean.

* Can anyone having this Time Machine Issue could check if they have that kind of dum plist file ?

the path is computer/mac hd/library/preferences/com.apple.TimeMachine.plist

There should be only 2 of them :

1) com.apple.TimeMachine.plist

2) com.apple.TimeMachine.plist.lockfile

Previously I had a 3rd one - dum copy of nr.1 - looking like this when

looking for informations on it.

The sharing & permission at the bottom meaning (French sorry)

that I do not have any known right on this file.

*

My sister has been having the same problem on her MacBook Air, but I didn't want to clean our Time Capsule, since there's four computers backing up on that, and the others (both with Snow Leopard and Lion) don't have a problem so it must be this one computer.

I did find a second .plist file, called "com.apple.TimeMachine.plist~orig" but I could change the permissions and delete the file. Unfortunately I still seem to have the same problem on the MacBook Air.

Anyone else have a solution?

I discussed this problem with Cork Europe Apple Hot Line engineer and after trying to solve it,

he reported it to Apple US engineers and they answered they were already aware of the glitch and actually

working on it so it would be solved in next OS 10.7 release.

Jean.

I have the same problem.

Every time I try to make TM run a backup, I keep getting a message "looking for backup disk."

The Finder stops working, iTunes also and I even can't restart or turn off my iMac 27´´May 2010.

I solve the question but I had to wipe all my previous backups, because every time I tried to erase only the last bakup via finder or even from the Time machile timeline, the Finder would stop working and I would have to do a hard reset..

So what I did was follow the steps of this tutorial http://www.askdavetaylor.com/how_to_erase_reformat_apple_time_capsule.html and erase the Backup Copy in my Time Capsule and make a new Backup from the scratch.

To erase I tried first the Disk Utility, but does not work for me. So I follow the tutorial and used the Airport Utility. Choosed manual Setup, clicked on "Disks" on the top bar and then on Time Capsule Disk and clicked Erase. A new window appered that asks me if I really want to do this and what kind of secure erase I want to chhose. I've choose Quick Erase, wich is faster.

Then I clicked on the Time Machine icon on the Status bar in the upper screen and choose to make a backup copy. Because it was going to be a first backup from the scrath I connected my iMac via Ethernet for best performance and not wifi.

10.7.2 seems to have done me in as well. Like others, I can see the Time Capsule, see the drive and the sparse image file, yet Time Machine can't find the backup disk. And this in turn affects every other program that relies on it (e.g., iPhoto, etc.). They all hang and crash. I may have to wipe it clean and hope it holds.

I have had this problem on and off for the last 3 1/2 years and it's always something dead easy - and different. Once I had to reset Time Capsule, once it was interfering with my modem and I took it out of the chain and connected it independantly and now it seems a simple firmware update fixed it.

Thanks for the info KS, how did you take the Time Capsule 'out of the chain'?

I've tried just about everything to get this Time Capsule/machine working and I'm on the verge of setting fire to it/file it in the bin or put it on eBay (for 10p), I've wiped everything off it and it worked again for a day then it's now back to "The backup disk image “/Volumes/My Time Capsul/My iMac.sparsebundle” could not be accessed (error -1)" error message.

It also worked ok for a while after installing the recent update but again I'm back to square 1 - any suggestions (e.g. what fire lighters to use?) AND what's the good folk at Apple doing about all this? it's a b_ _ _ _dy shambles at the moment!!

It appears I actually spoke too soon, myself. After sailing through the verification and prep process it took all night to back up 2 GB of data and hung in the finishing back up process. Despite several attempts I can't get it back off of the preparing backup phase again. My next step is to go through the phases of: http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/Troubleshooting.html but quite honestly have not had time and have been manually backing up to another external drive.

My TC is also almost 4 years old and that could be an issue as well.

Best of luck!

Haven't touched it and for some unknown reason it did a perfect back up today, have to keep my fingers crossed

HI everybody !

I am back on this thread because of Kseeling & Morgold posts.

Did you get a look to PAGE 6 OF THIS THREAD : back up to time capsule not completing receiving error-1. can't access sparse bundle

For me JULIEFROMFEDERAL post & tip on about Western Digital external disk soft "Smartware" solved my

issue like for many other users to.

I apologise if I am out of topic or if you already tryied it,

but it would be for too bad if it could solve your problem not to let you know.

Jean.

I am on 10.7.3 and the 'looking for back up disc' fiasco returns after any reboot of my iMac. I am using the latest Time Capsule for the backup drive so it is Apple all the way through, ethernet connected.

I have lost so much productivity over this that I have resorted to a rather low tech solution:

After any reboot of the MAC, I do this:

1 ) turn off time machine in the preferences pane

2 ) make sure the Time Capsule is not writing to disc and power it off.

3 ) wait a minute for disc to stop spinning

4 ) power it up again

5 ) when the green light shows, reconnect Time Machine to the Time Capsule

I assume this forces the mac to find the disc all over again. Anyway it works.

I also tried the reboot button at the back of the Time capsule but that didnt work.

Of course this is not recommended because if you power down when the disc is writing it could do bad things.

Be careful!

Clive

Finally got it sorted. Deleted the plist. That didn't work. Then I did a factory reset by holding the reset button down as I powered off and then powered back on. I only released it when I saw a fast flashing light. Then for good measure I deleted the plist again and saw that there was an extra plist file in my library / preferences folder so I deleted that as well. I don't know if it was one or the combination, but it's working find now for the last 24 hours.

Yup, same bloody problem here. "Looking for Backup Disk", "There's a problem with your backup..."

We shouldn't have to feel "Lucky" if our computer gets backed up.

This should just work. Would anyone think that Steve Jobs would put up with this from his team?!

Get on the ball, Apple - live up to what Steve intended.

Had this problem even after upgrade to 10.7.3.

Solution which seemed to work:

- Use Airport Utility to Disable File Sharing ( goto Disks and untick "Enable File Sharing") and then save, which will restart Time Capsule

- Open Time Machine preferences and choose "Select Disk" (your Time Capsule Disk should NOT be visible) - then Cancel out without saving

- Use Airport Utility to Enable File Sharing (opposite to above) - then select to Secure Shared Disks with "With device password" and save and let it restart

- Goto Time Machine and select "Back up now"

Sounds clumsy but worked and has been fine since (maybe has something to do with breaking the share (and the trust relationship) and making it re-establish ........ who knows ???? Anyway seems to work

Thank you qiktrade!

I did as you said a few days ago and fingers crossed it's worked so far!!!

Cheers

Graham