Time Machine Stuck On "Looking For Backup Disk"

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Time Machine Stuck On "Looking For Backup Disk"

Let me start by saying that I've spent hours on the phone with Apple support as well as taking more than 5 trips to the Apple Store trying to fix this. They finally replaced the Time Capsule entirely, and it still won't back up!

I was trying to avoid having a MacOS update finish installing, so I went to back up my laptop so I could roll it back when I restarted my MacBook Pro. I realized that Time Machine hadn't backed up to my Time Capsule in almost 2 weeks (this was mid-April at this point). So I tried for hours to troubleshoot, even calling Apple Support. Over the course of almost a month, the following steps were completed:

Restarting the Time Capsule (holding down reset button until amber light blinked)
Renaming the Time Capsule
Renaming the wi-fi network the Time Capsule created
Deleting old back ups
Deleting the disk in the "Select Disk..." option in system settings and re-selecting it
Connecting the Time Capsule directly to the laptop using thuderbolt adapter in the Apple Store
Replacing the entire Time Capsule

I am able (theoretically) to back up to an external hard drive I bought temporarily if it's connected directly to my laptop, but there isn't enough space on it.
The Time Capsule doesn't show up in Disk Utility.
It DOES, however, show up in Finder as a shared network disk. I am able to access files I have manually put in there, as well as move them using Finder.
The Time Capsule internal disk shows up twice in the "Select Disk..." screen in System Settings.

I just got back from the Apple Store with a brand new, sealed, off the shelf Time Capsule, so there's very little chance it's dying already.

System and Time Capsule specs:

I have the Time Capsule connected via ethernet to my apartment complexes internet (provided through Pavlov Media- Has not been an issue for a year and a half, but it might be pertinent to know that it is fiber optic spread to the whole complex), then I have the Time Capsule created a wi-fi network that I use. Settings for that are below:

Any other information anyone might need, let me know. I would really like to get this fixed so I can restart my Mac!!

Thanks!!

AirPort Time Capsule 802.11ac

Posted on May 11, 2018 4:16 PM

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Answer 1

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efgraham0921 Author

Level 1

5 points

May 13, 2018 11:57 AM in response to LaPastenague

I will try to clarify a bit, but I feel I should open this response with the fact that I managed to fix it. Kind of.

1. The MacBook Pro and the “laptop” are the same machine.

2. I did not stop an update in the middle. I had automatic updates turned off, but somehow it downloaded 10.13.4 anyway, leaving me with a dreaded “restart” button in the App Store. If I had restarted my computer for any reason, it would have automatically installed the downloaded file from the App Store, and I would have been stuck with 10.13.4 since there were no recent back ups. This is according to two different AppleCare advisors over the phone. The validity of this claim might be disputable, but I’ll get to that in a minute....

3. The Time Capsule I had contained files I had “manually” stored on it, as well as the actual Time Machine back ups as well. I was told by one of the many Apple Store employees I dealt with to buy a hard drive that would fit the manually stored things on so they wouldn’t be lost when they replaced the Time Capsule, so I bought a 1 TB external. Once I had the replacement Time Capsule set up at home and the Time Machine back up was still not working, I then tried to back up to the external I had bought, but there wasn’t enough room on it with the manually stored files as well.

Side note: The reason I bought a smaller external is that I’m on quite a tight budget right now, and while I will (eventually) get a 2-4 TB external to use as a second back up, even the 1 TB had to be bought with money earmarked for other things as well as repeated promises from the Apple salesman that I could return it.

Anyway, at this point, I still hadn’t restarted my computer, and that had been bugging me. What is the first thing IT workers say? “Did you turn it off and turn it back on again?” I did do quite a bit of troubleshooting online before my intial call to AppleCare, and I had deleted the hidden, downloaded “update file” somewhere on my hard drive when I first realized the update was pending.

My main concern now that the replacement Time Capsule still wasn’t working was to get my computer backed up and restarted so I could roll it back to 10.13.3 and then continue troubleshooting. So I spent hours moving the manually stored files onto the new Time Capsule, erased them from the external I bought, then did a Time Machine back up onto the external.

Then I restarted my computer. Not only did it not finish the (unwanted) update, but the moment it restarted and I reselected the Time Capsule in settings, it began backing up. Whether the update didn’t finish because I deleted the download or because automatic updates were turned off remains unclear.

But after a month of this insanity, all the MacBook Pro (and Time Machine) needed was to be restarted.

I only wish I had taken the risk of restarting after deleting the download before starting all this. But ther was no way of knowing. So I’ll just have to live with this mixture of relief and intense annoyance at how drawn out this whole process had become.

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Answer 2

May 11, 2018 7:03 PM in response to efgraham0921

Hi.. I have read and reread your post several times.. and I am a bit lost.

There certainly appears to be nothing wrong with the setup of your new TC.

Let me clarify a couple of things.

I was trying to avoid having a MacOS update finish installing, so I went to back up my laptop so I could roll it back when I restarted my MacBook Pro.

So did you start the update and actually cancel it after it started installing?? That could seriously damage things.

Is the laptop and the MacBook Pro .. one and the same thing? The sentence seems to read like they are two separate machines not one.

I am going to read that they are one and the same.. The laptop=MBP is running High Sierra already.. but 10.13.3 and you want to update to 10.13.4 and discovered that your Time Machine has failed to backup and has missed two weeks.. so you cannot roll back if you wanted to.

Roll back btw is extremely difficult from Time Machine. Although I am a bit out of date with APFS snapshots and what they are going to do with things.

Having up to date backups before a major upgrade is always a good deal.

Did you actually cancel the update half way through?? (repeat of the question above). That is going to cause issues. Especially when you deleted all your existing backups which means you are now walking on the precipice with a 50lb monkey tied on your back attempting to escape.. and no hand holds. (Apple proving not able to hold hands).

I am able (theoretically) to back up to an external hard drive I bought temporarily if it's connected directly to my laptop, but there isn't enough space on it.

Sorry but this seems even odder than stopping the upgrade.. you temporarily bought a hard disk that is too small. WHY?

Can you temporarily (or permanently) buy an external hard disk that IS big enough?

External hard disk is HUGELY better and more reliable and faster than trying to do backups over the network.. plus you can download a tool.. e.g. Carbon Copy Cloner.. completely free to use for a month.. and create a bootable clone of your current internal hard disk. That means you can at any time boot this clone instead of the internal disk of the Mac and get back to where you were exactly on the day you made the clone. Is that not possible?? It is by far the best, easiest and superior way around the problem.

The Time Capsule doesn't show up in Disk Utility.

It DOES, however, show up in Finder as a shared network disk. I am able to access files I have manually put in there, as well as move them using Finder.

Correct .. Time Capsule disk is a network drive.. Disk Utility is not able to do anything to network drives.

It is a shared network disk so in finder it works.. but High Sierra is too dumb to use it (reliably.. like two days in a row) for Time Machine. This is stock standard High Sierra.

Did Apple check with you if you have installed any Anti-virus, Added Security software.. or any adware.. any of which will block time machine access from network drive? Please do remove completely any of those apps if you have loaded them.

The Time Capsule internal disk shows up twice in the "Select Disk..." screen in System Settings.

That looks perfectly correct.. it is selected and in the disks that can be selected. Mine is identical.

The current backup disk.. shown selected is also in Available disks.

If Time Machine cannot actually start and falls over in actually backing up to the disk what is the error message you get?

Have you opened the console and done a search for backup? That will give you extra info about what Time Machine is doing or failing to do and why.

Other than AV software etc.. we have found Time Machine does need a reset on occasion.. sadly apple did not build in a nice simple reset switch.. so you have to do it the manual way.

Re: Time Capsule backing up one computer but not the other

If this doesn't get things going again.. my recommendation is to use Carbon Copy Cloner.. or alternative backup software permanently.. TM is just too unreliable now.

The problems with High Sierra.. and backup.. using Time Machine are well known.

https://www.macworld.com/article/3170844/macs/when-backups-go-bad-the-problem-wi th-using-network-drives-with-time-machin…

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Answer 3

efgraham0921 Author

Level 1

5 points

May 13, 2018 1:17 PM in response to LaPastenague

Well you went to the trouble of trying to get clarification so you could possibly help me. I figured the least I could do is update you!

Thank you for responding. I would say this thread could help future Time Capsule users, but theyve discontinued the line (for good reason, too), and the solution was literally just to restart the machine. So it probably do much for anyone...

Thanks, again, though.

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Answer 4

May 13, 2018 12:43 PM in response to efgraham0921

Thanks for going to the trouble to explain it all. Well done getting it going again.

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Time Machine Stuck On "Looking For Backup Disk"

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