Time Capsule Backups Are Missing

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Time Capsule Backups Are Missing

My macbook pro told me today that it hadn't backed up in 10 days. That's not unusual as I often don't have it near my backup device (Time Capsule) open and on long enough for it to backup.

I went to manually back it up and got an error that it couldn't find the Time Capsule. Odd, since the Time Capsule is also I get internet and I can use the internet just fine. I'm literally next to the Time Capsule with my computer. I went to select my backup device and my time Capsule was not listed as an available device.

I powered off and on the Time Capsule, then went to the Time Machine application to select my backup disk. After doing that, it showed up as an available device to back up to, so I selected it. It showed 120GB of free space. Normal, since the 1TB Time Capsule has been used for a while. And is getting close to being full.

However the Time Machine application is saying NONE for oldest backup, and NONE for recent backup. The most recent backup was 10 days ago (as my computer told me already) and the oldest backup would have been about 4 years ago.

I allowed Time Machine to proceed with backing up my computer to Time Capsule now. When I open Time Machine in finder, I can only see backups from 10 days ago.

Where are my old backups??!?!?!?! Clearly they are there since there is only 120GB of free space left. Why would Time Capsule show NONE for oldest backup and NONE for most recent backup??!

iMac, OS X 10.11

Posted on Feb 24, 2022 6:03 PM

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Answer 1

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AZsport115 Author

Level 1

48 points

Mar 7, 2022 11:26 AM in response to Bob Timmons

Thanks for the help! I think I figured it out.

It looks like the Airport Utility decided to prioritize my guest network over my primary network. I don't know how or why or when this happened, but when the laptop would be in range of Time Capsule, it would connect to the guest network. That is why I was able to still get internet from the Time Capsule, but why the Time Capsule was not found as a backup device.

Therefore I solved this by removing the guest network from the list of networks my computer can join.

For those who don't want to do that, an alternative would have been to click and drag my primary network above the guest network in order to have my computer prioritize the primary network and attempt to join that before attempting to join any other network.

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Answer 2

Feb 24, 2022 7:15 PM in response to AZsport115

Why would Time Capsule show NONE for oldest backup and NONE for most recent backup??!

Lots of random weirdness with Time Machine and Time Capsules with Macs that are running Big Sur and Monterey.

Can you tell us what operating system is currently installed on the Mac that is having problems with backups? Post back that info please.

Let's try another way to see how much free space is available on the Time Capsule. To do that......

Open AirPort Utility, click on the Time Capsule to select it and then click Edit in the smaller window that appears

Click the Disks tab at the top of the AirPort Utility window to display info about the Time Capsule hard drive

The hard drive is named "Data" by default, so that name will appear unless you have changed the name of the drive. Info about "Data" will also appear.......something like xxxxx Free. Is that the same 120 GB that you see in other places? It might also be displayed as something like .1 TB Free.

Post back to confirm.

Next, we need to know more about the actual backup files on the Time Capsule. To do that......

Click on any Finder window and the Time Capsule should appear on the left panel of the window under the Locations heading

Click on the name of the Time Capsule and another window will open to the right to display "Data" or the name of the Time Capsule hard drive

Double Click on "Data" and wait for the disk icon to appear on the desktop

If you look at the window now, it should display a sparsebundle file with the name of the Mac Book Pro. Do you see only one sparsebundle file for the MacBook Pro, or are there other sparsebundle files for the same MacBook Pro?

Post back on your findings please, and we will continue.

Last question for now.......is the MacBook Pro the only Mac that is backing up to the Time Capsule, or are other Macs also backing up? If other Macs are backing up, any issues?

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Answer 3

AZsport115 Author

Level 1

48 points

Mar 3, 2022 5:43 PM in response to Bob Timmons

Update:

After posting the above, I took the following steps:

1) Unplugged Time Capsule, waited 30 seconds, plugged it back

2) This time my Time Capsule appeared under Available Disks. I selected it and backed it up.

I was able to successfully back up my files. However, 10GB of new info to be backed took 6 hours for some reason. That's far longer than what is typical from my experience.

After the backup was complete, I was able to see backups going back 4 years, which is the correct timeframe and what I needed.

***************HOWEVER***************

Since that aforementioned backup:

—Time Machine has not backed up my files again despite my computer being next to it and on for days at a time, and despite my Macbook Pro successfully connecting to the internet by way of the network I created on the Time Capsule.

—Time Machine continues to NOT list my Time Capsule as an Available Disk.

—Time Machine DOES list my Time Capsule as a Backup Disk.

—When I click the Time Machine button in the top right menu bar and press Backup Now, it says “Looking for backup disk”. It never finds my Time Capsule.

***************RESPONSE TO BOB'S QUESTIONS***************

Thanks for trying to help out Bob!! Much appreciated!

Here are the answers to your questions:

MacOS Monterey 12.2.1 (downloaded and installed 4 days before I noticed my computer was no longer backing up)

2019 15-inch MacBook Pro

Note: Internet comes from my internet service provider out of my wall directly to the cable modem. It goes via Ethernet to the Time Capsule. I connect my computer wirelessly to the network I created in the Time Capsule. I have not created a wireless network via the cable modem. So again, the computer is “seeing” the Time Capsule in the sense that it is both connecting to it to use the internet, and is seeing the backups on it when I enter Time Machine from a Finder window.

Q. Open AirPort Utility, click on the Time Capsule to select it and then click Edit in the smaller window that appears. Click the Disks tab at the top of the AirPort Utility window to display info about the Time Capsule hard drive.

A. When I open AirPort Utility, I see a circle that says Internet below it, with a green dot to the right. At the bottom of the window I see “No configured AirPort base stations have been found. AirPort Utility will continue searching”. Airport Utility isn’t see the Time Capsule (again, even though I can pull in backups from 4 years ago, as well as connect to the internet)

Q. Click on any Finder window and the Time Capsule should appear on the left panel of the window under the Locations heading. Click on the name of the Time Capsule and another window will open to the right to display "Data" or the name of the Time Capsule hard drive. Double Click on "Data" and wait for the disk icon to appear on the desktop.

A. The Time Capsule is not showing up in the Finder under locations (or anywhere else).

Q. Last question for now.......is the MacBook Pro the only Mac that is backing up to the Time Capsule, or are other Macs also backing up? If other Macs are backing up, any issues?

A. The MacBook Pro is the only computer backing up to the Time Capsule.

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Answer 4

Mar 3, 2022 9:03 PM in response to AZsport115

Unfortunately, your Mac cannot "see" the Time Capsule, either from the Finder or AirPort Utility.......and it will need to "see" the Time Capsule before things can return to normal.

When I've had this problem in the past......after installing Big Sur and again after installing Monterey.......the only thing that worked was to reset the Time Capsule back to its default settings and then then set it up again. This type of Hard Reset will not affect any of the stored Data on the Time Capsule hard drive. You can use the same name for the Time Capsule and the same password as before, or use a different name and password.

Unfortunately, I cannot guarantee that this will work, but there is not really much else that you can do at this point other than powering things off on the Time Capsule a few times and restarting your Mac a few times.

You have probably already done this numerous times already, but if not it's worth a try.

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Time Capsule Backups Are Missing

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