sparsebundle is already in use

After seeing the error message for 14 days (I was really busy with school, and the error message would only appear at home!) I finally tried doing something about it. I had restarted my computer several times within those two weeks but that didn't fix the problem for me. Then I tried using Disk Utility to eject and unmount the backup disk as suggested in this thread (https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2422851). After ejecting and unmounting the backup disk I tried running my backup again, and the backup worked! 🙂

I'm not a computer person so these instructions left me worried about tackling them in this manner as first of all, I had no idea what ReadyNAS was or what that entailed. Fortunately, I still had soem warranty left on my Mac Book Pro so I called Apple support and they taklked me through an easier way that solved my problem. My problem began when I had to power down my Mac Book Pro to regain control and I am assuming it may have been in a timed backup when this happened and I never noticed it.

Anyway, briefly here is what the Tech took me through that go my time machine backing up again.

Enter Time Machine System Preferences as follows:

1. Click on <Time Machine> icon in upper right (clock with arrow surrounding it)

2. Click on <Open Time Machine Preferences>

3. Click on <Select Disk> in upper right of the pop-up window.

4. Now click on the Time Machine listed at top under Backup. It should then be highlighted.

a. An option should now appear shown as <Remove Disk>

b. Click <Remove Disk> which will leave only the time Capsule listed under Available.

5. Close out and then Click on <Time Machine> icon in upper right (clock with arrow surrounding it)

6. Select <Backup Now> and it should backup with no more problems.

Did you pick up their is an issue in the latest Lion update that was fixed with a supplement.. the issue is TM.

http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1599

Normally you just reboot the TC.. the Mac has lost it.. by rebooting you are refreshing it.. same as turning off and back on the target drive in TM. Turn off and on, used to be cry of windows .. now it is also for the Mac.

Well - fixed it myself.

Here's what I did:

1. Rename my internal HD from "Macintosh HD" to "Mac HD"

2. Tried backing up - got same error

3. Rebooted ReadyNAS

4. Renamed internal HD back to "Macintosh HD"

5. Time Machine asked me to find the back up disk

6. Back-up resumed.

i wasn't successful with the processes in this thread, and I ended up just unplugging the time machine for a minute, plugging it back in, and manually starting the 'back up now' option, that worked for me. still frustrating but it worked.

This problem has happened to me a couple of times on account of my needing to reboot the system due to my Mac freezing in the middle of a Time Machine backup. The simplest solution I've found is to:

1) Open AirPort Utility (I'm running version 6.2)

2) Double-click on the Time Capsule and select "Edit"

3) Select the "Disks" tab and uncheck the "Enable file shring" option

4) Then click "Update"

Once these settings have updated, simply reverse the process by re-checking the "Enable file sharing" option and then clicking "Update" ... Now run a Tme Machine backup and everything should work fine. At least, it seems to always work for me!

There isn't a need to have to unplug or reboot your network when this happens because it happened to me a few times. When this happens (sparse bundle is in use) message comes up. Click on Finder and you'll notice that Time Machine and Time Capsule will show up under shared followed by an arrow. Time Machine shouldn't even show up in finder. It's because the little arrows on the right of the Time Capsule and Time Machine are showing that they are mounted as you'll see by an arrow that follows it.

Next time this happens open the Finder and click on both the Time Machine & Time Capsule arrows which unmounts (ejects) them and you'll see Time Machine disappear altogether in Finder and both arrows on both Time Capsule & Time Machine will be gone.

Next hour Time Machine should start normally again and start the backup. No need to unplug anything, rename or reboot any networks!

I'm running Mountain Lion, and this problem seemed to cause my system to be unstable (it would hang when I tried to attach a file, use Finder, or switch to another account), and all of the suggestions above failed. In the end I used Airport Utility to erease my Time Capsule disk, and then I created a new backup. all has been fine since.

I've an easy solution. If I get the message "sparsebundle already in use," I figure it's being used by some app. Using Force Quit (Menu Bar, Apple, Force Quit...), I choose the Finder and click on RELAUNCH. Ba-da-bing. Sparsebundle no longer in use.

abombaci's posting helped me.

I'm sure there are many factors when troubleshooting these sorts of things because there could always be issues layered on top of one another.

I received this error with the following scenario:

- Mac mini ethernet connected to my Time Capsule on OS 10.8.3.

I first tried rebooting both the Mac Mini and the Time Capsule (each individually and then both at the same time). Neither option worked for me.

Following abombaci's recommendation, I did notice that my Time Capsule was listed under "SHARED" items in Finder. Although it did not show as a mounted hard drive (that would allow me to Eject it), upon selecting the Time Capsule, I noticed that it was still "Connected".

I then chose to "Disconnect" the Time Capsule and then re-attempted to start a Back Up on Time Machine. This seemed to do the trick for me.

Basically, my Mac Mini seemed to think that the Time Capsule was already connected to my system and had taken up a particular IP address so that when it attempted to reconnect again, it got a wee bit confused. Not a techie explanation but one that seemed to make sense to me.

I found the simplest solution of all. I did try rebooting the Time Machine, but that didn't seem to work. However, while I was reading these posts, a backup started and completed all by itself. Y'all scared my machine into working.

I got the sparsebundle message too, and came to this forum. After reading the first few "complicated" methods of fixing the situation, (posted a couple of years ago) I thought to myself, "Normally Apple has great user interface, and there should be no need for these "very technical" manipulations...

I went to my Airport Utility Application, and found my Time Capsule. it had a red circle next to it with an "!" So I clicked on that, and it said that there was a firmware update available. So I clicked on "update" in the little box next to the disk, and voilà ! It downloaded and then updated the firmware for my time capsule, and now it is merrily humming away, after not having updated for a few days. I was simply too afraid to take such a drastic measure as to rename my HD, etc!! Things like that may have ulterior consequences!!

With Apple, there is USUALLY a fairly simple method of fixing things, although I do realize that some of you "geeks" out there like to use Terminal or do other things, which is fun too! This time I just didn't feel like messing around with all that stuff and taking a chance, so I did it the simple way! (I'm just up in the morning with a cup of coffee!

Hope this helps!