Tag Archives: Time Capsule

fixed : use the Terminal to repair corrupt .sparsebundle-file

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Question :

I have a corrupt .sparsebundle-file (a TimeMachine-backup file), that I would really like to fix, because there’s some files in there that I need.

I have tried using the Disk Utility app, but that didn’t work.

I also read that it should be possible to use the Terminal app to do this, but I’ve never used the Terminal app before, and I can’t find clear directions on how to do it…

What exactly should I do ?

Answer :

The Terminal app is not a regular OSX-application, it is a command-line tool (a.k.a. console) to program and reprogram in the underlings of OSX (more or less like the DOS-prompt in Windows). So, as you are going out of the ‘OSX comfort zone’ when you start using the Terminal app, you should beware since messing things up there can really mess up OSX, and lead to having to re-install OSX.

Having that said, here’s a step-by-step guide to fixing your .sparsebundle-file using the Terminal app :

– first, connect your backup-drive (the one with the broken .sparsebundle-file on it) to your Mac, using a USB- or FireWire-cable

note : if the backup-drive is inside a Time Capsule, you’ll probably be best of getting the harddrive out of the Time Capsule (as outlined in this iFixit How-To) and then temporarily hooking it up to your Mac using something like this SATA-to-USB connector (or an old USB-harddrive-enclosure). Even though this breaks the warranty on your Time Capsule, it’s probably the best solution since the direct USB-connection is much faster than the usual network-over-ethernet-connection… (and bringing the Time Capsule in to an Apple-dealer for repair, will definitely mean losing all your data, since that is part of the regular repair-policy… and bringing it to a specialized data-recovery company will cost more than buying a new Time Capsule)

– then, open the Terminal app (which can be found in the Utilities folder that is in the Applications folder)

– in the window that opens, you will see the name of your Mac followed by a colon (:) and a tilde (~), so if the name of your Mac is MacBook Pro, you will see :

macbook-pro:~

that is the “prompt”, when you see that, you can start typing the commands

note : some basic knowledge about working in the Terminal :

  1. each line of commands (a.k.a. “command line”) you type should be activated by pressing the ENTER-key
  2. as long as you do not see the prompt, the Terminal app is still busy executing your last command line
  3. the Terminal can not handle names with spaces in them, as spaces play an important roll in a command line ; they separate the subsequent commands given in one command line, e.g. if your backup-file’s name is MacBook Pro.sparsebundle, the Terminal app requires you to type is as MacBook\ Pro.sparsebundle or you can type the entire path to the file in quotation marks, like : “…/…/MacBook Pro.sparsebundle” (another option is to temporarily change the filename to one that has only letters and numbers in it)
  4. you don’t need to type the entire path to a file’s location in a command line manually, you can just drag-and-drop the file itself onto the command line and the entire path to the file will be automatically generated (a handy trick to prevent mis-typing)
  5. when typing your password in the Terminal, the cursor will not progress, so there will be no visual feedback whatsoever about what you’ve typed… so, type your passwords only with total focus on what you’re typing !
  6. ! BEWARE : be sure to double-check your typing when using the command line, as one mis-typed letter can generate an entirely different, unwanted outcome, screwing up your entire OSX installation !
  7. when working in Terminal app on a MacBook (Pro/Air), the advice is not to use an external keyboard, but the on-board keyboard

Now, when you see the prompt appearing, type this (followed by pressing the ENTER-key) :

admin$ sudo su –

Then, when you see the prompt appearing again, type this (followed by pressing ENTER) :

root# chflags -R nouchg [drag .sparsebundle-file here]

Then, at the next prompt, type this (and press ENTER) :

root# hdiutil attach -nomount -noverify -noautofsck [drag .sparsebundle-file here]

And at the next prompt, type this (and ENTER) :

root# tail -f /var/log/fsck_hfs.log

Look closely in this next file when you need to type what, and what the feedback should look like (kind of) :

  • bold green text = this is the command line prompt
  • bold black text = you should manually type exactly this text
  • bold purple text = drag-and-drop your .sparsebundle-file here, and your sparse bundle’s path will be displayed
  • black text = this text is generated by the Terminal, indicating what is busy and/or finished, and will be the same when your replicate this proces
  • blue text = what is displayed here depends on your specific situation
  • if problems are found, they will be listed in-between these lines, and it will also be indicated how it was fixed

console log sparsebundle repair

note : as you can see from the time-stamps in the picture, the entire process will take quite a long time to complete (it took nearly 6 hours to repair this harddisk – a 500GB harddrive that was temporarily taken out of a Time Capsule and connected via USB2.0)

so, from there on it’s wait, wait, wait, do something entirely different, wait (again), get a good night’s sleep… and wake up in the morning with a repaired hard drive…

that should be it 😉

fixed : “No Volumes Found in backup”-error

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Question :

I was trying to get Migration Assistant-app to put all my data on my new Mac, but when I select the sparsebundle backup-file from Time Machine in Migration Assistant, I get an error : “No Volumes Found in backup”.

How can that be ? I’ve made a new TimeMachine-backup just minutes before, and I didn’t get any errors there… what is wrong ?

What can I do to fix this ?

Answer :

Time Machine is great. But there seems to be a bug in the backup-software that causes this “No Volumes Found in backup”-error you’ve encountered. Normally, this error-message should only be displayed when a sparsebundle backup-file is corrupt (for some reason), but it turns out that it is now also displayed when a sparsebundle backup-file is incomplete…

This is probably due to a disconnection from the backup-disk during the TimeMachine-backup process (for instance because of shutting down the Mac, or switching from WiFi- to Ethernet-connection or vice-versa, during backup).

If the original files are still available on your Mac, the solution is rather simple : just go back to your Mac and use Time Machine to make a new backup. If you want extra insurance to prevent this error, either make a new Time Machine backup to a new/fresh harddrive (preferable an external USB- or FireWire-harddisk), or follow the backup-routine outlined in this post.

If the original files are no longer available on your Mac (e.g. your Mac is stolen, sold or you’ve just done a clean install on it, wiping off all of it’s data), you are in trouble…

…in that case, you could try using Disk Utility to repair the sparsebundle-file. If that works, you are in extreme luck… if that doesn’t help, you have very few options other than using the Terminal-app or a specialized expensive retrieving app like DiskWarrior (the cheaper knock-offs turn out not to work in most cases… too bad…).

I will be posting instructions on how to use the Terminal-app for this shortly (in a new post).

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tip : make sure your TimeMachine-update is useable

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Question :

While doing a regular check on my Mac with Disk Utility, it just informed me that I have a potential hardware failure, should save a many data as I can and reinstall.

So I was planning on doing a TimeMachine-backup and disk-reformat, followed by a clean install of OSX and copy-back from TimeMachine.

But… I recently found reports on a bug in TimeMachine, that might prevent TimeMachine from recognizing the latest backup…

Is there a way to make sure that my latest TimeMachine-backup is useable ?

 

Answer :

This bug seems to occur with unfinished TimeMachine-backups, either due to disconnection, unplugging or switching from WiFi to Ethernet or vice-versa…

As with all things in life, nothing is 100% sure or secure…

But if you want near-100% assurance that your latest TimeMachine-backup will work after a ‘clean install’, do this :

– make sure your Mac is connected to your TimeMachine-backup-disk in only one way, so if it’s an external harddisk disconnect the Ethernet-network cable and set AirPort/Wifi to OFF, to have the connection ‘only via USB’ or ‘only via FireWire’ and if your TimeMachine-backup-disk is a NAS or TimeCapsule, disconnect from AirPort/WiFi (and preferably connect the Ethernet-cable from the NAS or TimeCapsule straight into your Mac, and if possible, stop all other network-connections over Ethernet, by disconnecting all cables, and shutting down AirPort/WiFi) to have the connection ‘only via Ethernet’

– do a new “Back Up Now” in TimeMachine, and make sure it finishes completely before you do anything else (preferably, shut down all other apps before backing up also)

– then startup the Migration Assistant-app (from the Utilities folder in the Applications folder), and type your Mac’s administrator-password when asked

– in the first window, select “From a Mac, Time Machine Backup or startup disk”, and click “Continue”

– in the next window, select the disk that your TimeMachine-backups are on (if you’re on a Time Capsule, you will need to type your TimeCapsule-password when asked), and click “Continue”

– in the next window, a list of all backups (a.k.a. sparsebundles) available on the disk will be displayed ; now you will have to wait a little for each sparsebundle to display what the date is of the backup-version that can be retrieved… if that date matches today’s date, you have a perfect backup available, and you can exit the Migration Assistant-app by repeatedly clicking the “Back”-button

…but if the date is different, or the “No Volumes Found in backup”-error is displayed, your backup is useless for easy recovery ; you will have to exit the Migration Assistant-app, and start over the entire backup-routine explained above, and then check again in the Migration Assistant-app …you have to keep repeating this entire routine until you get today’s date displayed below the backup’s name

If you do not do as described above, you are in serious, enormously time-consuming trouble…  (even though this doesn’t always mean that your personal data is lost… everything might be lost, but… it could also mean you will have to repair the sparsebundle-files and/or it could also mean that you will have to copy everything back ; folder-by-folder or even file-by-file… either in the Time Machine-app or in the Finder ; and all applications will have to be manually reinstalled again…)

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fixed : setup a LaCie Wireless Space WiFi-drive as a TimeCapsule alternative

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Question :

I wanted to get wireless backup for my Mac using Time Machine, but since I’m on a rather tight budget, I searched for an alternative for the TimeCapsule…

I bought the LaCie Wireless Space, which is advertised as ‘wireless backup’ and ‘Time Machine compatible’ on the box, and the salesman even called it ‘a good Time Capsule alternative’…

…since it is advertised as such, I was hoping that the setup would be as ‘plug and play’ as the TimeCapsule, but even after a few tries, I’ve still not managed to get it working…

What should I do ?

Answer :

It’s true that the LaCie Wireless Space can be used as an alternative to the TimeCapsule (but for ease-of-use I would still prefer Apple’s own TimeCapsule, and the price difference is not that extreme as it used to be).

But setting it up can be quite a hassle, especially if you don’t get it right the first time.

The most straight-forward use would be to have the LaCie Wireless Space connected to your Internet-modem/WiFi-router using an Ethernet-cable. To get that setup (in the end), you need to first instruct the controller-software that’s on the LaCie to enable this. Here’s how to :

1- download the Wireless Space Setup software from the LaCie website :

http://www.lacie.com/us/support/drivers/driver.htm?id=10207

2- disconnect your Mac from the internet (both Ethernet and WiFi/AirPort) and quit all applications that use internet-connection (so quitting all other applications is a good thing to do)

3- plug the LaCie Wireless into the wall-power, and push the power-button to switch it on (the light at the front will turn on to indicate that the LaCie is on, during the setup-process the color may vary from blue to green to read (and back))

4- then copy the Wireless Space Setup software to your Applications folder and run it

5- in the screen that opens, select your Language, and click “Continue” in the next screen

6- on the following screen, select “Enable Wi-Fi” and click “Continue”

7- on the next screen, select “NAS Extender Wi-Fi” and click “Continue” (note that the naming and additional texts on this page are very confusing to most, but the pictures will shed some light on their meanings)

8- connect one of the LAN-ports (so NOT the internet-port) on the LaCie Wireless Space to your Mac using an Ethernet/UTP/LAN-cable (note that the orange light next to the ethernet connector will light up)

9- then click “Continue” in the Wireless Space Setup software, and wait for the LaCie Wireless Space to be found and listed

10- the click “Continue” again

11- on the next screen you will be asked for the info of your existing WiFi/AirPort-network, so type your Network’s Name, select WPA2 (the default Security Protocol for current WiFi/AirPort-networks ; if you have a very old WiFi/AirPort-network you might have to choose WEP or WPA, but those are not recommended), and type and re-typeyour WiFi/AirPort-password

12- then click “Commit” and wait for the LaCie Wireless Space to restart (the front-light will turn blue when ready)

13- now disconnect the Ethernet/UTP/LAN-cable from your Mac, and connect it to one of the regular LAN-ports on your internet-modem/WiFi-router (to do so, you will probably have to unplug the LaCie from power, move it toward your modem/router and reconnect and switch it on again there)

14- then reconnect your Mac to the internet (by reconnecting to the WiFi/AiPort-network, or by plugging the network-cable (an Ethernet/UTP/LAN-cable also) back into your Mac)

15- now, on your Mac, open a Finder-window and see if the LaCie Wireless Space is listed there (in the bottom right corner, under the “Devices” chapter) ; you will probably see it listed twice : once as “LaCie Wireless Space (My Space)” and once as “LaCie Wireless Space (Open Space)”

16- then, open the Time Machine application on your Mac

17- click the “Select Disk” button, and in the list select “LaCie Wireless Space (My Space)”

18- then switch the slider on the left to ON

…and go get yourself a drink, a meal, or a good night’s sleep until your first TimeMachine backup is being done

(note that the first TimeMachine backup might take hours to complete… that is normal…)

That’s it 😉

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FYI : the manual for the LaCie Wireless Space NAS / WiFi-drive can be found here :

http://www.manualowl.com/m/Lacie/Wireless-Space/Manual/

fixed : Time Machine backup error “sparsebundle in use”

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Question :

When Time Machine tried to backup today, it returned an error saying “Time Machine Error. The Backup disk image ….sparsebundle is already in use”. As I am the only one using this backup, I hoped that just trying to do the Time Machine backup manually would help… but it didn’t… it returned the same error…

Restarting my Mac didn’t help either…

How can I fix this ?

Answer :

The “sparsebundle already in use”-error occurs if something went wrong during the last backup (which could be because your Mac froze during the Time Machine backup). In that case your Mac did not properly disconnect from the Time Machine backup, so you will have to do so manually.

Fixing this is rather simple :

If you still have ‘the old’ Airport Utility 5.6 on your Mac (more info on this can be found here : https://macmanus.nl/2012/02/02/airport-utility-6-lost-the-option-to-configure-connected-printers/ ), you should do this :

–  open Airport Utility 5.6 (which is in the Utilities folder inside your Applications folder)

– select your Time Machine backup drive on the left (e.g. your Time Capsule)

– click on the “Manual” button

– then select the “Disks” icon

– and click on the “Disconnect All Users…” button

– then exit AirPort Utility 5.6 and run Time Machine normally

– …and do not forget to check in the time Machine Preferences if Time Machine is switched ‘ON’

if you do not have AirPort Utility 5.6 (since your Mac has OSX 10.8 “Mountain Lion” in stalled, which only has the stripped-down AirPort Utility 6 without the “Disconnect All Users”-option), you could either download and install AirPort Utility version 5.6 (directly from Apple : http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1482 ), or you should try this :

– shut down your Time Capsule a.k.a. “pull the power plug” (or other Time Machine backup drive)… and leave it disconnected for about 5 minutes or so

– restart your Mac

– power up your Time Capsule a.k.a. “plug the power cord back in” (or if you have some other sort of Time Machine backup drive, turn it back on)

– go to the Time Machine icon in the Finder’s top menu bar and click “Back Up Now”

– …and do not forget to check in the time Machine Preferences if Time Machine is switched ‘ON’

That’s it !

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info : setting up Back To My Mac through a TG712 modem-router

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Question :

How do I setup my Thomson TG712 modem-router to allow me to use the the Back To My Mac function of my Macs ?

Answer :

Here’s how to turn on Back To My Mac when you have a TG712 modem-router :

– on your Mac, go to Apple —> System Preferences —> iCloud

– then put a check mark at “Back To My Mac” to turn the service on

– if there’s a “More…”-botton click it, just for your information ; if a warning is listed, read it, keep it in mind, and don’t bother…

– then open Safari (or any other internet browser) on your Mac, and type the web based control panel’s IP-address of your router-modem as the URL ; for the TG712 router- modem, the IP-address is 192.168.1.254

– in the web based control panel, go to “Toolbox” (in the menu on the left) –> “Games & Apps Sharing” (in the menu on the left)

– then in the middle of the page, at the bottom, from the “Choose a task…” list, click on “Add a game or application to a local networking device” (the first link in the list)

– in the page that opens, put check marks both at “Use UPnP:” and “Use extended security:”

– and set the “Game or App”-dial (the one that is initially at “ABC (Another Bittorent Client)”) to “Back To My Mac”

– set the “Device”-dial to your Mac (which is the Mac that you would like to use with Back To My Mac, so probably your Mac-server or desktop-Mac)

– just to be able to trace possible errors, put a check mark at “Logging”

– then click on the “Add”-button

– wait for the router-modem to restart

– logout by closing the browser-page with the web based control panel on it

Now you should be able to log into your (home) Mac, when being at a remote location (if there’s internet connection there…)

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tip : quickly switching your AirPort Guest Network ON or OFF from your iPhone, iPad or Mac

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Question :

I have an AirPort Guest Network setup on my WiFi network, but most of the time I don’t need it… is there a way to temporarily switch it OFF ?

Answer :

Yes, you can do that quickly using the AirPort Utility app on your iPhone, iPad or Mac.

Here’s how to :

– make sure you have the AirPort Utility app installed (on your Mac it’s pre-installed), for your iPhone or iPad, you can download it here :

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/airport-utility/id427276530?mt=8

– open the AirPort Utility

– click on the picture of your AirPort Base Station (or Time Capsule)

– if you’re asked to type your password, type the password you’ve set on access of your AirPort Base Station hardware (note : that is something else than your WiFi / AirPort password)

– in the page (on your Mac it’s a popup window) that opens, click the EDIT-button

– on the page that opens in iOS, select your Guest Network and on the next page switch Guest Network OFF and click on DONE, then DONE again on the next page and UPDATE in the popup panel

– on your Mac you should select the “Wireless”-tab and uncheck the check mark in front of Guest Network and click UPDATE

– then wait for the AirPort Base Station (or Time Capsule) to restart, and then exit the AirPort Utility app

– Done !

To switch the Guest Network back on, just use the same procedure, but put the Guest Network to ON (in stead of OFF).