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yymca6

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 1, 2008
54
2
Montréal QC
I get this message all the time : "Time Machine Error: Unable to complete backup. An error occurred while creating the backup directory."
Can it be a hardware problem? I updated my Time Capsule firmware and still get that error message.
Would it be wise to get a new Time Capsule period or get a new HD that would be used only for Time Machine purposes?
 
re: resrating machine

Yes I dfid restart and have rebooted every morning for a few days and I still get the error message
 
I get this message all the time : "Time Machine Error: Unable to complete backup. An error occurred while creating the backup directory."
Can it be a hardware problem? I updated my Time Capsule firmware and still get that error message.
Would it be wise to get a new Time Capsule period or get a new HD that would be used only for Time Machine purposes?

Try using Airport Utility to reformat the TC drive.
 
reformatting TC

AirPort Utility does not give me the option of reformatting TC.
And Disk utility refuses to start.
 
Given the 2 issues reported above, I'd think that yes - it's a hardware problem.

Airport Utility doesn't give you the option to erase?
 

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re:Air Port utility

Yes I found how to rease disk. I'll give it a try

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I erased TC then started a new backup. Still get the error message.
I guess I will have to get a new TC...
 
seems to work now

Not yet a goner

The backup started automatically, a full one, so I'll wait until it's through.

Thanks everybody for the help!
 
I too just started having the same problem with the Lacie Porsche design hard drive attached to my Airport extreme.


Same exact error message could not complete the backup.

I have been backing up to that same hard drive connected to my Airport extreme for over a year with no issues.

I disconnected the hard drive and reformatted it... tried multiple times reconnecting with AirPort Utility and I would always fail halfway through the back up.

I finally gave up reformatted the drive and then plugged into my USB on my MacBook Pro and did a complete backup plugged directly into my MacBook Pro.

It worked fine that way. Just could never make it work connected to the network storage.

Like I said everything worked fine for a year up until recently.

These problems seem to have occurred after I completed the mountain lion 10.8.2 update.
 
I had the same problem over a year ago and the problem was found using the Console App in your Applications / Utilities location. It will show logs with one at the time when Time machine fails. It will be something like a permissions issue with some random file. If it isn't important, you can delete it or if it is important then you can google on what to do based on the error.

Good luck.
 
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