after a complete restore of my Mac Pro, Time Machine is not completing backup (too little space)

GeryAT wrote:

so at least I am now a lot faster performing B6 even the results are as foreseen by you - disappointing (no snapshot version available)...

No date-stamped backup or disk folders inside the folder named for your computer, eh?

Something is terribly wrong -- something even Disk Utility couldn't find. 😟

I do not care so much if my historic backups are reconnected or not - as long as my current data volume is saved again by TimeMachine I will be fine

Good (because it seems hopeless to recover the old ones.)

Just erase your TC's disk with Airport Utility (the Disks tab). Ordinarily, a "quick erase" is fine, but you might want to take the time to select Zero Out Data, just to be sure it's in working order.

Then run a backup (connect via Ethernet cable if at all possible for the first, full backup -- it's 2-3 times faster than WIFI, and more reliable).

Hope your trees are pretty by now -

Yup, mostly in 18" pieces. 😉

Actually, do the erase via Ethernet, too, if you can. Also faster.

I/O errors are never good. 😟

Is this an actual Apple Time Capsule (a combination of a wireless router and hard drive), or a LaCie NAS (Network drive)? Since you posted in the Time Capsule forum, and often referred to a Time Capsule, that's what I assumed was involved, but a closer look at the first screenprint you posted earler makes me think it's not (I'd been looking more at the second one).

I apologize for not looking at that more closely earlier -- it appears you have 3 sparsebundles there -- I'm not sure which one(s) are backups, or what the others may be.

Or is the LaCie NAS in adddition to a Time Capsule?

Also, whatever you're backing-up to, how old is it?

Do you have just the one Mac (a MacBook Pro)? If there are others, how many are being backed-up to the NAS or TC?

But it is a LaCie NAS, not an Apple Time Capsule, right? They're rather different. Here's a Time Capsule:

See http://store.apple.com/us/product/MD032LL/A/time-capsule-2tb?fnode=4d for details.

From the image you posted earlier:

That's not what a Time Capsule's contents usually look like. Plus, there are three sparsebundles there, that look like they may be three separate sets of Time Machine backups -- one for ". . . MacBook Pro," and two for "Home Computer" (as if one is for an older computer with the same name).

A Time Capsule probably wouldn't be named "LaCie," and if there were multiple sparse bundles and/or other stuff, would all be inside a single folder, usually named "Data."

When you double-click one of those sparse bundles, that opens the disk image inside it. If it contains Time Machine backups, it will look like this, also from your first screenshot:

It sounds like "Home Computer" is your husbands's desktop Mac, right?

I'm assuming you're clicking the other sparse bundle, named for your MacBook Pro, to get that, correct? If there's any doubt, eject the disk image and double click your sparse bundle to be sure you have the right one.

Sorry to seem pedantic, but if we're talking about a LaCie NAS, not an Apple Time Capsule, you may not be able (or want) to erase it the way you can a Time Capsule.

I don't have a LaCie NAS, so don't know how you do things with it. It looks like all 3 sparse bundles, and your iTunes folder, and the MANUALS and SOFTWARE folders, are all in one partition or account or share (whatever LaCie calls them).

If you set each of those up separately, LaCie may have a way that you can erase or delete just the one with the MacBook Pro's backups.

If not, connect via Ethernet if possible, eject the "Time Machine Backups" disk image, and see if you can simply delete that sparse bundle via the Finder (that will probably take a very long time). If that works, then try a backup.

GeryAT wrote:

Hi

Thanks for the images - I was now crawling behind my TV furniture and there is a Airport extreme Base Station which looks like a TC,

Yes, the only obvious difference is the TC is somewhat larger.

So at least I know I have no TC, just a stylish blackbox named LaCie;)

Yup. Who set it up? Sounds like it was someone else, or quite a while ago.

The hassle is, all NASs work differently (sometimes even different models from the same maker!), so it's very difficult for someone like me (with hands-on experience only on Airport Extreme and Time Capsule) to give advice or instructions on how to do things with them.

You may want to take a look at the MANUALS folder shown in the screenprints -- see if there are instructions for Time Machine setup and use -- such as using a special account/share/partition or such, and how to erase/delete things. You might also want to see what model it is -- LaCie seems to make (or have made) several -- then we can look some of that up online if need be.

If you can, it might be worthwhile to connect an Ethernet cable to one of the WAN ports on the Airport Extreme (the three on the right), and have the end available so you can easily connect it to your laptop if/when needed:

Some long-running things will be 2-3 times faster via Ethernet.

Cool. 😎

My apologies again for not figuring this out earlier. 😟

No, but I've been at this long enough that I should have asked -- there were clues.

Anyhow, let us know what you find; then we should be able to get your backups working again.

One other thing you might want to investigate at some point is the two sparse bundles for "Home Computer" (presumably your husband's Mac). One of those may be mostly empty, or it might be obsolete and taking-up a lot of space.