Time Capsule fail to make first backup

Are you running parallels or bootcamp with windows on the laptop? Perhaps a large cloud cache?

Any large file the computer sees that changes continually will be continually backed up so you must exclude anything that keeps growing.. or changing. eg a windows disk file might be saved for the sake of 1KB file.. the update forces TM to backup 50GB or whatever size is allocated to the windows partition.

You will need to wipe the TC .. do an erase and start again.

Exclude any files as mentioned above.. Make sure you are using ethernet to the TC with wireless turned off and start again.

Load the widget so you know what is going on.

See A1 here.

http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html

On the issue of creating over large backups.

See D4

Same circumstances for me except mid 2010 MBP.

4+ times ive quick erased the TC and started a '1'st backup"

via wireless and ethernet.

one time it had 2 hrs left (out of 16)

always gives me the following msg:

Time Machine couldn't complete the backup to "Dave's Airport Time Capsule".

An error occurred while copying files. The problem may be temporary. If the problem persists, use Disk Utility to repair your backup disk"

I don't thing you can use disk utility to repair the TC???

Right now my MBP that has CAD files worth dozens of man hrs, many hrs of video an over 10k of photos is not backed up!!!!

I thought if i erased the TC and did a wired backup it would be smooth sailing!? Come on apple! i thought u "just worked"!

Im scared to take to an apple center without a backup as i will be completely devastated to lose my files.

I will buy a ext HD to backup in the meantime (any recommendations). At least this will tell me if the problem is specific to the TC.

Any info will be appretiated more than u realise - Im travelling and need to backup before i fly.

750gb SATA (125gb free)

2.4ghz i5

8gb Ram

TC Firmware 7.7.2

OSX 10.9.2

mid 2010 MBP

Download and install Carbon Copy Cloner.. it is $40 but well worth the money..

Buy a Toshiba 1TB or 2TB 2.5" USB3 drive (although you can only use usb2 for now).. and using CCC you can create a bootable clone.. It will take several hours.. but no more than that.. and once done you can test boot from it.. and have a general feeling of relief.. a bootable clone is far safer and far superior to any Time Machine backup.. where the files are not even accessible without recovery.

The latest TC and Mavericks have connection issues.. no doubt about it.

I recommend (after you do the bootable clone).. that you change the TC name.

Your current name is too long.. and includes apostrophe.. use short names, no spaces and pure alphanumeric.

See C9 in pondini for why. http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html

This is more important than ever with mavericks.

Also make sure your computer share name is the same.. fix that up via the share in preferences.

Keeping the TC on a fixed IP helps.

If it is the main router then it should be fine but if it is in bridge then it can get the IP from the router and this can keep changing.

when you backup by ethernet.. are you turning off wireless?? That is important.. it should not take that long.. 600GB of files should be 10-12 hours of backup time over ethernet.

Make sure ipv6 is set to link-local as this also is important in the newer TC.

This is set by network preferences for both ethernet and wireless under advanced settings.

eg wireless.

No luck then I would say the TC could be faulty and you should take it back to apple for testing.