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Level 1

5 points

.sparsebundle error null

I have time capsule which ran perfectly up until Mavericks came out now at least once a day I get the following error

"Time Machine couldn't complete the backup to ...airport Time Capsule. The backup disk image "/volumes/datamacbook pro .sparsbundle" could not be accessed (error null))"

and as life has it this started happening as phone support with TC expired.

I have a cable modem with the cable company. Apple helped me set up by creating a new wireless network thru time capsule and using the bridge. I have the time capsule set up to check for updates daily.

When I get the error I open the airport utility, click on the time capsule and tell it to ignore the error. Then I go into the wireless settings and change it to DHCP and NAT. It updates and works for a day or so then it comes back. I do the same thing again and choose off (bridge mode) which works for a bit and later do it all again. We do have two computers (1 desktop Mac and 1 Macbook pro) which save to the TC.

Does anyone have a permanant solution for this? TC is a great device when it works correctly so I would love to find a solution.

Thank you to anyone who can help!

iMac, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8), Time Capsule

Posted on Dec 9, 2013 5:12 PM

Best reply

LaPastenague

Level 9

67,226 points

Posted on Dec 9, 2013 5:28 PM

I have time capsule which ran perfectly up until Mavericks came out now at least once a day I get the following error

"Time Machine couldn't complete the backup to ...airport Time Capsule. The backup disk image "/volumes/datamacbook pro .sparsbundle" could not be accessed (error null))"

Not uncommon at all.

This is a long standing issue where the network on the Mac and TC has some major issue with the disk, even if internet still work fine.

Does anyone have a permanant solution for this? TC is a great device when it works correctly so I would love to find a solution.

Thank you to anyone who can help!

No, we do not have a permanent solution.

Without any logs (as apple turned them off) and no SNMP as apple turned those off as well.. and low level access to the TC to see what in the heck has gone wrong with it.. then we cannot do much more than guess.

Here are some things that have helped some people in some places at some times.

1. Reset the TC to factory.

Do the setup again with all short names.. 2-8 characters so I mean short. TC name, wireless names, hard disk name.

2. Do not use wireless.. at least test with ethernet. Otherwise the issue could be 50% wireless. or maybe 80%..

3. Make sure the TC IP is not changing.. you can either set a static IP on the TC itself or use dhcp resevation on whatever router you use.

4. In the Mac in Finder, use a manual mount of the disk in the TC.

AFP://TCname or AFP://TCIPaddress

When the computer finds the TC it will then ask you for password.. type in public or whatever password you used.

Store the password to the keychain.

If AFP doesn't work try CIFS. (Mavericks will default to SMB2.. which is just bad).

5. Reset TM and do the setup again with the new name for the TC.

See A4 here. http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html

6. The ultimate crude way of doing things.. an electrical time clock.. every 12 hours it shuts off the TC for 1min and restarts it..

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16 replies

Apr 19, 2015 2:39 PM in response to LaPastenague

Thank you La Pastenague. This has helped me. I have an Airport Time Capsule 2TB and received the same error message. The initial name of my Time Capsule was a 15-character string which also included spaces. I followed your recommendations and reduced the number of letters in the name and removed all spaces. Since then, I have been able to successfully backup by MacBook Pro.

.sparsebundle error null