Time Machine - The backup disk image.. .could not be created (error 60)

Maybe these will help:

Time Machine Troubleshooting

Time Machine Problems

Launch the Keychain Access application in any of the following ways:

☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)

☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.

☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Keychain Access in the page that opens.

Select the System keychain in the list of keychains in the sidebar of the window. If you don't see the list, click the down-arrow icon below the sidebar. Then select Passwords in the Category list at lower left. Click the Kind heading in the list of keychain items to arrange it by Kind. Locate the AirPort Disk Password with the name of your Time Capsule. Double-click the item and check the box marked Show Password in the inspector window that opens. You'll be prompted for the administrator login password. Make a note of the AirPort password, then close the inspector window and delete the item. Also delete all other AirPort DIsk Password items for that same Time Capsule, which may have had a different name in the past. Quit Keychain Access and try to back up again.

Linc, you seem to assume a Time Capsule is being used.

Kevin, I have the exact same problem - I have a 2 TB USB drive attached to my 10.8.3 iMac (which backs up fine), and a 10.8.3 MacBook Pro that can see it, select the disk for Time Machine backups, but fails with your same error message.

Console logs:

4/25/13 4:54:45.614 PM com.apple.backupd[572]: Starting manual backup

4/25/13 4:54:45.644 PM com.apple.backupd[572]: Attempting to mount network destination URL: afp://nathan@Megatron._afpovertcp._tcp.local/Back2Back

4/25/13 4:54:45.830 PM com.apple.backupd[572]: Mounted network destination at mount point: /Volumes/Back2Back-1 using URL: afp://nathan@Megatron._afpovertcp._tcp.local/Back2Back

4/25/13 4:55:01.199 PM com.apple.backupd[572]: Creating disk image /Volumes/Back2Back-1/flapjack.sparsebundle

4/25/13 5:01:34.359 PM com.apple.backupd[572]: Error 60 creating backup disk image

4/25/13 5:01:34.359 PM com.apple.backupd[572]: Failed to create disk image /Volumes/Back2Back-1/flapjack.sparsebundle, status: 60

4/25/13 5:01:44.374 PM com.apple.backupd[572]: Backup failed with error: 20

4/25/13 5:02:04.277 PM com.apple.backupd[572]: Failed to eject volume /Volumes/Back2Back-1 (FSVolumeRefNum: -107; status: -47; dissenting pid: 0)

4/26/13 9:31:09.720 AM com.apple.backupd[857]: Starting automatic backup

4/26/13 9:31:10.453 AM com.apple.backupd[857]: Network destination already mounted at: /Volumes/Back2Back-1

4/26/13 9:31:36.307 AM com.apple.backupd[857]: Creating disk image /Volumes/Back2Back-1/flapjack.sparsebundle

4/26/13 9:31:37.796 AM com.apple.backupd[857]: Error 17 creating backup disk image

4/26/13 9:31:37.796 AM com.apple.backupd[857]: Failed to create disk image /Volumes/Back2Back-1/flapjack.sparsebundle, status: 17

4/26/13 9:31:47.838 AM com.apple.backupd[857]: Backup failed with error: 20

Interestingly, if I delete (or rename) the .sparsebundle, it gets recreated the next time and fails at the exact same size - 10.7MB. (I can't actually delete it; 'The operation can’t be completed because the item “.afpDeleted107” is in use.')

Hmm, hey: https://support.apple.com/kb/TS1550

"After about 10 GB or more of data is backed up to an external disk, Time Machine may stop backing up..."

nm. 10GB, not 10MB, and mine uses GUID partition scheme anyhow. 😟

Been struggling with this for two days; this very old method of creating the sparsebundle manually seems to be working for me. At least my backup is proceeding now, albeit slowly (208MB of 202GB).

http://www.levelofindirection.com/journal/2009/10/10/using-a-networked-drive-for -time-machine-backups-on-a-mac.html