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Time Machine: Disk is not available

I have the latest generation Time Capsule and my Time Machine back up on which I do on wireless. Couple days ago I was going through my Time Machine and all was fine. Today I noticed it hadn't made any backup since yesterday.


I'm trying to back up now but it says "Disk is not available". In finder I can see Time Capsule image but I can't open it. For some reason in settings in Time Machine preferences I see two back ups on the TC with the same name. When choosing the other one It asks me to overwrite.


I have rebooted the TC swells unplugged the power from it and rebooted my MacBook but nothing solves it.


What should I do to prevent deleting any backup?


Running Yosemite 10.10.3.

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Yosemite (10.10.3), null

Posted on May 5, 2015 1:34 PM

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7 replies

May 5, 2015 2:59 PM in response to Exmor

I see two back ups on the TC with the same name

They cannot have exactly the same name.. it is more likely one has an incremented number after it. (2) and the like.


It is due to poor Yosemite networking where the computer will ghost itself on the network and produce multiple versions of itself.


Check in preferences under sharing to see if your computer name has changed.. if it has change it back.


Then you will have to attempt to reconnect to the TM backup.. although it may just be easier to archive off the old ones .. erase and start again.


Tell us which way you want to go.


Archive off the existing backup will mean plugging in a USB drive of adequate size to the TC.. and initiate the archive from disk tab.


User uploaded file

It will take several hours to run.. then I recommend you erase the TC and start over.

Try and stop Yosemite from doing multiple TM backups by controlling its ghosting...


You can also try reconnecting to the backups.

Reconnecting requires that you reset TM.. having fixed up the computer name.


eg follow A4 here. http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html


Then start another backup and wait for it to begin.. it will say it is going to start a new backup but then when it starts reconnect to the existing one.


Pondini has more info in B6.. same reference as before.


I strongly recommend to people to use another backup software.. eg Carbon Copy Cloner.. at least for the time being.. since time machine.. is now bug ridden along with the rest of Yosemite.

May 7, 2015 10:30 AM in response to LaPastenague

LaPastenague wrote:


They cannot have exactly the same name.. it is more likely one has an incremented number after it. (2) and the like.




This is what is looks to me...


User uploaded file

LaPastenague wrote:


Check in preferences under sharing to see if your computer name has changed.. if it has change it back.


... although it may just be easier to archive off the old ones .. erase and start again.




Checked it and it seems compute name is unchanged. If I archive it, will I be able to access TC backup? Because now I can't.

May 7, 2015 4:08 PM in response to Exmor

Ok,, it is not what I thought.. TM will show what is available and can easily ghost itself.


Have a go with simply getting it going again.. your TC name is too long...


Please do the following.. if that doesn't get the TM back then you will need to archive and wipe TC disk and start over.


You can still read the archive by plugging the USB drive into the computer.. and then open the sparsebundle.. once local it is much easier to open than network.


So here is the typical list of changes needed to get Yosemite to work .. I cannot however guarantee it will be reliable.

Start from a factory reset. No files are lost on the hard disk doing this.

Factory reset universal

Power off the TC.. ie pull the power cord or power off at the wall.. wait 10sec.. hold in the reset button.. be gentle.. power on again still holding in reset.. and keep holding it in for another 10sec. You may need some help as it is hard to both hold in reset and apply power. It will show success by rapidly blinking the front led. Release the reset.. and wait a couple of min for the TC to reset and come back with factory settings. If the front LED doesn’t blink rapidly you missed it and simply try again. The reset is fairly fragile in these.. press it so you feel it just click and no more.. I have seen people bend the lever or even break it. I use a toothpick as tool.

N.B. None of your files on the hard disk of the TC are deleted.. this simply clears out the router settings of the TC.


Setup the TC again.


Then redo the setup from the computer with Yosemite.

1. Use very short names.. NOT APPLE RECOMMENDED names. No spaces and pure alphanumerics.

eg TCgen5 for basestation and TCwifi wireless name.



If the issue is wireless use TC24ghz and TC5ghz with fixed channels as this also seems to help stop the nonsense. But this can be tried in the second round. ie plan on a first and second round of changes to fix this.. hopefully.. I will point out other steps that can be round2.


2. Use all passwords that also comply with 1. but can be a bit longer. ie 8-20 characters mixed case and numbers.. no non-alphanumerics.


3. If the TC is main router you can skip this point. This is only an issue when the TC is bridged.

Ensure the TC always takes the same IP address.. you will need to do this on the main router using dhcp reservation.. or a bit more complex setup using static IP in the TC. But this is important.. having IP drift all over the place when Yosemite cannot remember its own name for 5 min after a reboot makes for poor networking.


4. Check your share name on the computer is not changing.. make sure it also complies with the above.. short no spaces and pure alphanumeric.. but this change will mess up your TM backup.. so be prepared to do a new full backup. Sorry.. keep this one for second round if you want to avoid a new backup.


5. Mount the TC disk in the computer manually.


In Finder, Go, Connect to server from the top menu,

Type in SMB://192.168.0.254 (or whatever the TC ip is which you have now made static. As a router by default it is 10.0.1.1 and I encourage people to stick with that unless you know what you are doing).


You can use name.. SMB://TCgen5.local where you replace TCgen5 with your TC name.. local is the default domain of the TC and doesn't change.

However names are not so easy as IP address.. nor as reliable. At least not in Yosemite they aren't. The domain can also be an issue if you are not plugged or wireless directly to the TC.


6. Make sure IPv6 is set to link-local only in the computer. For example wireless open the network preferences, wireless and advanced / TCP/IP.. and fix the IPv6. to link-local only. Do the same for ethernet if you use it.

User uploaded file





There is a lot more jiggery pokery you can try but the above is a good start.. if you find it still unreliable.. don't be surprised.

You might need to do some more work on the computer itself. eg Reset the PRAM.. has helped some people. Clean install of the OS is also helpful if you upgrade installed.


Tell us how you go.



Someone posted a solution.. See this thread.


Macbook can't find Time Capsule anymore


Start from the bottom and work up.. I have a list of good network practice changes but I have avoided Yosemites bug heaven.



Yosemite has serious DNS bug in the networking application.. here is the lets say more arcane method of fixing it by doing a network transplant from mavericks.


http://arstechnica.com/apple/2015/01/why-dns-in-os-x-10-10-is-broken-and-what-yo u-can-do-to-fix-it/

May 30, 2015 12:37 PM in response to LaPastenague

I managed to get mine working. Had to use AirPort Utility to "forget" Time Capsule, unplug from network and power, plug them back in, then went to Select Disk.... in Time Machine and chose to use that "Data" disk again (even though another instance of it appeared to be in use already). Now Time Machine is able to pick up where it left off. Hopefully that won't happen again, who has time for such hassles. This is supposed to be a "set it and forget it" function, I believe.

Time Machine: Disk is not available

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