My Book Live is very new and updated. Same with my MacBook. I was able to backup my computer with the Time Machine initially, which took 17 hours, but now every time it goes to backup again I get an error message. It says:
I can’t figure out what the reason was. So I full factory restored my device then tried again. Unfortunately, it happened again and I can’t find any help for this issue. Please help me.
Thanks
Your screen print is showing as a graphic placeholder. The image needs to be approved by a moderator before we can see it on the forum. Could you possibly type out what your error message says - so that we can see it now.
~Scott
It says “Time Machine could not complete the backup. The backup disk image “/Volumes/TimeMachine/David Mara’s MacBook.sparsebundle” could not be accessed (error -1).”
Can you see the sparsebundle in the TimeMachine share on the MBL. In finder - select GO - connect to server - and specify afp://mybooklive.local for the server name. If you have named your MBL something other than “mybooklive” then substitute the new name for mybooklive.
If you can see the sparse bundle - it is possible that it has somehow been corrupted. Open disk utility - and drag the sparse bundle into the left side of disk utility - under the list of drives. Click on the sparse bundle in disk utility to expand it. Click on the volume that is show - and then choose the verify option. If there is a serious problem - the verify process should reveal that - however - the sparse bundle may pass the verify test - yet still be considered corrupt by Time Machine.
Another thing to try is to go into Time Machine settings - and reselect the MBL drive as the backup drive - except - instead of connecting as “guest” - connect as “admin” instead. You will need to specify the admin (owner) password for the MBL.
If the sparse bundle is actually corrupt - there is not a lot you can do about it - except to delete it and create a new backup. You can’t rename it either - because Time Machine identifies which sparse bundle file to use by MAC address - and not by the computer name. Even if you renamed the potentially corrupt sparse bundle - Time Machine would still attempt to use it.
If the disk utility verify process does reveal a problem - you can try to use the repair option - however - I would not necessarily trust the repair option - as it may fix the sparse bundle - but you could have an issue later when trying to restore.
~Scott
Thank you Scott,
When I connected to the server it had a list of my shares as well as TimeMachine, when I clicked connect it had David Mara’s MacBook file in it which is a sparse disk image bundle. Disk utility found zero problems with the sparse bundle…
If I reselect the MBL drive as the backup and use it as a admin would I have to wait for it to complete another full backup? And would I have to put the admin password in every time in order for it to be backed up?
No - if you backup us admin - Time Machine options will prompt you once for the the admin password - and then save it automatically in your keychain (it won’t ask you to save it in the keychain) - in this scenario.
The next Time Machine backup should just continue on from where the previous backup left off - the only difference is that the backup is being done under the admin user. You won’t have to specify the user or password going forward.
If you still have the same problem running as admin - then that might be a strong indication that the sparse bundle is somehow corrupted (even though disk utility says that it is good).
Try backing up using the existing sparsebundle - but with the admin user and password - as well as freshly rebooting the MBL (and also your Mac) before you start the backup again. If it still fails - then you will have to delete the backup and start over from scratch - but only do that as a last resort.
Just out of curiosity - approximately how large is the data on your Mac (basically how many gigs in a full backup)? Also - what is your wired network speed - is it 100 megabit or is it gigabit.
For me - a typical backup of my MacBook Pro is about 60 gig for a full backup. My wired ethernet is gigabit. My wireless is 802.11n 5GHz - about 300 megabits. To give you an example of the timings I get on the full backup - I will tell you both
what I see using my Apple Time Capsule as well as using the MBL.
Apple Time Capsule: 60gig full backup - wired - about 1 hour. 802.11n wireless about and hour and a half - maybe slightly longer.
MyBookLive: 60 gig full backup - wired - about 1.5 hours 802.11n wireless over two hours (if it does not stall).
I have frequently experienced the TimeMachine Backup stalling on the TimeMachine Full and hourly backups - both wired and wireless. The full backup will start off normally - and move right along for 10 to 20 minutes - and then suddenly slow to a crawl - and often it will just get hung up. No errors or warnings - it just sits there. I have multiple MBLs and the behavior is identical on all. When the backup stalls - usually then only option is to shutdown the Mac and reboot and try the backup again - but often the stalling is a good indication that the backup has become corrupt.
I am hoping that WD will fix this issue in the next firmware release - and I am waiting until the new firmware comes out before tinkering around with the backups. In the meantime I am backing up fine on my Time Capsule.
~Scott
