.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))"

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..

I'm having the same problem. Stupid Mavericks OS and sloppy Apple programming. You'd think their own in-house designed Macs with their own in-house designed Time Capsule would work with their own in-house designed OS. Apple should perhaps test their code before unleashing it upon the public!

One could indeed be led to think a fully inhouse design should be 100% reliable and bug free.

If you want help give specific info.

Modem used. Actual make and model may help.

TC model and firmware.

How they are connected and function.. ie which is router and which is bridged??

Computer model and particularly if you use wireless or ethernet?

Clean install of the OS or upgrade install?

A bit of history.. new setup that has never worked.. old setup that worked until recent firmware or OS upgrade.

I don't see how the modem would be affecting TM backups, but it's a Quest Actiontec M1000. TC is 1TB 802.11n Wi-Fi model A1355. MacBook Pro (2001) is connected via wi-fi to TC and modem is connected to TC via ethernet cable. Modem is a networking modem and I believe it's the router. OS was (allegedly) "upgraded" over Mountain Lion through a Software Update from the Apps Store. TM was working beautifully with Snow Leopard and Mountain Lion, and for a few months with Mavericks - but been having problems ever since the last OS update from Apple. Nothing else has changed on the setup since it was working fine.

I don't see how the modem would be affecting TM backups,

Nor do I but I need to see the whole setup.. and it is important because the TC is not going to hold a static IP.

If at all possible I want you to set the IP of the TC to static value. You will need to do this either with dhcp reservation in the Quest modem or you will need to do a special setup of the TC that we can get to later.

I need you then to mount the TC by IP address and when TM fails due to network issues, check that the TC is still on the same IP.. and is in fact still able to be mounted in Finder.

If you can confirm those things then I would say the issue is Time Machine in Mavericks is not reliable.. and would encourage you to consider an alternative for the time being. eg CCC.

Confirm with me that you have set TC to static IP and renamed it to short SMB names as I outlined above.

Then tell me if the TM still has issues or not.

That all sounds a bit complicated, compounded by the annoyance of needing to do it at all - considering everything was working fine with Snow Leopard, Mountain Lion, and for awhile Mavericks. Isn't there a way I can reset the TC back to an out-of-the-box state and re-do the TM setup from scratch? There's nothing crucial right now on the TC and I'd rather get Apple's blunder fixed up now rather than later when a backup is needed but unavailable. Pressing the reset button on the unit's back does a reset, but doesn't delete the sparsebundles on the disk. There are 3 MacBooks using the TC with a unique sparsebundle for each one. One Mac is running Snow Leopard and has no problems. Another is running Mountain Lion and also having no problems. Mine is running Mavericks (reluctantly, but necessary for Motion 5 and Final Cut Pro X) and is the Mac unable to backup. I'm fine with re-formatting the TC drive and starting over with a compatible (and reliable) configuration.

If only that were the case I would gladly offer it to you.

You can reset the TC to factory.. and erase it.. just go into the utility and select the edit, then the disk tab and click erase.

But I can almost guarantee you the problems will not go away..

You would also have to start fresh clean backups for everything.

Yes, what I propose is a bit complex I guess.. but if you are not prepared to do it.. or feel unable.. then I would strongly recommend a swap to CCC for backups.. As I just don't think TM is reliable enough.

I would also suggest doing a backup to a USB drive.. via the CCC which will make it bootable.. and that way you have a real backup.

How do I set the IP to a static value, and how do I know what IP to set it to? How do I mount the TC manually? TM settings does not have a Disk tab. And what's a CCC?

I think I really messed things up now. I ejected TC using Disk Utility, and now I can't get it back. It shows up in Finder and I can view its folders, but even after a restart it no longer shows up in Disk Utility. (Very nice to see Apple learning so much from Microsoft....)

All setup of the TC is done in the airport utility.. not disk utility.

I have posted the method to do the setup manually and this is the best way when things go wrong. Just follow this post.. it has all the screen shots.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5800974?tstart=0

I used Airport Utility to erase the Time Capsule disk and set up Time Machine again, and now, at least for the time being, back ups are happening again. Thanks for the help.

Nope - still getting a ****** sparsebundle error(null) issue even after erasing the Time Capsule and redoing the Time Machine setup. So now the TC is a $200 paperweight, and I have no backups.

Sorry but your TC is old.. gen3 and is probably in need of replacement.

TM is not over reliable on Mavericks and using wireless on an old computer with upgrade install just adds up to too many issues.

Apple has made it very hard to track down errors by having no log access in v6 utility.

Plug a USB drive into the computer and use that.

I have an art unit and receive the same error. I'll wait for the new update to see if they fix the problem, losing my content is not an option, I hope to fix this or some genius will take the time to find a solution, I am very upset because pay a apple unit because I thought it would go on wheels with the rest of my components but not so