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sparsebundle is already in use

I received the message "The backup disk image “/Volumes/AirPort Disk-1/MyComputer.sparsebundle” is already in use." This happened after the computer froze during a backup, and it was necessary to power off with the on/off switch.

MacBook Pro (15-inch Mid 2010), Mac OS X (10.7.5), Time Capsule

Posted on Oct 16, 2012 6:14 PM

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42 replies

May 3, 2017 7:50 AM in response to tgradi

Same problem, but with a Synology drive station rather than Apple's **** Time Capsule. Rebooting didn't work, unplugging resolved the sparsebundle in use error, but introduced a new failure during "preparing backup": error(nul). Had to delete the sparsebundle and forfeit all backup history to get it working again. *****

<Edited by Host>

Oct 16, 2012 10:47 PM in response to tgradi

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.

Oct 31, 2012 4:53 PM in response to tgradi

Unfortunately, now my Time Capsule hard drive has gone and won't mount (age 3 years, 2 months). The Wi-Fi does not work either. It seems that frequent MacBook freezes on power-up or power-down were caused by the faulty Time Capsule, since that no longer happens with backups turned off. I am waiting for a new Time Capsule to arrive from the Apple Store.

Nov 27, 2012 12:00 AM in response to tgradi

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! 🙂

Jan 21, 2013 9:04 AM in response to nkreuzer

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.

Mar 28, 2013 6:15 AM in response to tgradi

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!

Mar 29, 2013 6:27 PM in response to tgradi

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!

sparsebundle is already in use

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