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There are no disks to back up. This can happen if all available disks are in the “Do not back up” list. Click Options to edit the list.

Time machine give me an error when trying to backup to time capsule "No discs are available to back up." When I click details this is what I get. "There are no disks to back up. This can happen if all available disks are in the “Do not back up” list. Click Options to edit the list." Of course I follow the recommendation in the error messaage and check the options and nothing is listed in the "Do not backup" list. This started to happen after I upgraded to Mavericks. I have another laptop running Mountain Lion and a second Laptop running Mavericks that aren't having this issue. The only computer getting this error is the mac mini. All the other computers are backing up just fine to the same time capsule using time machine. I've tried everything I can think of to fix the issue. This includes formatting the drive and reseting the SRM and PRAM. Still getting the error. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Mac mini (Late 2012), OS X Mavericks (10.9)

Posted on Nov 14, 2013 8:55 PM

Best reply

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,547 points

Posted on Nov 14, 2013 11:39 PM

This simple procedure will clear your Time Machine settings, including exclusions. The backups won't be affected. If you have a long exclusion list that can't be recreated easily, you may prefer a more complicated procedure that preserves the exclusion list. In that case, ask for instructions. Otherwise, do as follows.

Triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it:

/Library/Preferences/com.apple.TimeMachine.plist

Right-click or control-click the highlighted line and select

Services ▹ Reveal

from the contextual menu.* A Finder window should open with a file selected. Copy the file to the Desktop. Then move it (the original, not the copy) to the Trash. You'll be prompted for your administrator password. Reboot and recreate your settings in the Time Machine preference pane. It will show that you have no backups. Don't worry; your backups haven't been touched. Run a backup to test. The backup may take much longer than usual. If TM now performs as expected, delete the file you copied to the Desktop.

*If you don't see the contextual menu item, copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combinationcommand-C. In the Finder, select

Go ▹ Go to Folder...

from the menu bar, paste into the box that opens (command-V). You won't see what you pasted because a line break is included. Press return.

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31 replies

Aug 26, 2017 5:22 PM in response to P.Brimacombe

it didn't take that long - 2.17 GB according to BackupLoupe

Thanks

There are no disks to back up. This can happen if all available disks are in the “Do not back up” list. Click Options to edit the list.