Sadly, fsck_hfs couldn’t repair my .backupbundle/sparsebundle, so I had to start over anyway! This has happened to me and others a few times in the past, so maybe the instructions above will be useful later. Better yet, copying and pasting the commands above gets old, so I may try the shell script here: https://gist.github.com/ahknight/dec202583a910756c6d9 It also might help to add “fsck_hfs” to your full disk allowed list in System Preferences->Security->Privacy->Full Disk Access. Finally, others have asked me about scheduling Time Machine backups. I may give these instructions a shot at some point, as it may relieve the issues that caused me to write this post.
** UPDATE 7-8-2020 **
This issue came up again with the backups created by my MacBook Pro today. Instead of running all the steps and advice above, I turned to this shell script, which I perused on another site (sorry, I’d love to credit the author, but I can’t seem to find them). I store this script on another machine on my network that has access to the Time Capsul so it can do the dirty work as it seems to run for a while. Here are the updated steps:
0. Disable Time Machine on your Mac, in my case from my MacBook Pro -> go to System Preferences…->Time Machine->uncheck box for “Back Up Automatically”.
1. Open a Terminal window and navigate to the directory where you saved the .sh script referenced above, in my case the desktop:
schwie:~ bradschwie$ cd Desktop schwie:~ bradschwie$ chmod +x TimeMachineRepairScript.sh schwie:~ bradschwie$ ./TimeMachineRepairScript.sh
(don’t press enter yet and leave this window open, we’ll be coming back to it in Step 4)
2. Connect to a server on my network (Mac mini) and connect to the Time Capsule’s disk: In a Finder window, look in the left hand pane under “Shared”, click the name of your Time Capsule, and then click “Connect As…”
3. When the Time Capsule’s disk mounts, click the “Data” folder, locate the name of your backup and drag its icon to the Terminal window in Step 1 and release.
4. Press return in the Terminal window.
5. After the script successfully completes repair of the backup, reenable Time Machine on your Mac.
@@ I can’t remember where I got the script linked above, but if you run it from the Mac where your Time Machine backups originate, you could enable and disable Time Machine using (steps 0 and 5) using information from these folks.
** UPDATE 7-19-2020 **
It happened again today and the script once again worked. Not sure why this keeps happening, except I think it may have to do with me putting the Mac to sleep while its in the middle of a backup. Maybe I should start restricting Time Machine to do its backups between 2am and 5am? Here’s the successful script output and my Time Machine is back in action:
schwie:Desktop bradschwie$ ./TimeMachineRepairScript.sh /Volumes/Data/MacBook\ Pro.backupbundle
+ IMAGE='/Volumes/Data/MacBook Pro.backupbundle'
+ '[' -z '/Volumes/Data/MacBook Pro.backupbundle' ']'
+ chflags -v nouchg '/Volumes/Data/MacBook Pro.backupbundle'
/Volumes/Data/MacBook Pro.backupbundle
+ chflags -v nouchg '/Volumes/Data/MacBook Pro.backupbundle/token'
/Volumes/Data/MacBook Pro.backupbundle/token
+ chflags -v nouchg '/Volumes/Data/MacBook Pro.backupbundle/bands'
+ /usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c 'Delete :RecoveryBackupDeclinedDate' '/Volumes/Data/MacBook Pro.backupbundle/com.apple.TimeMachine.MachineID.plist'
+ /usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c 'Set :VerificationState 0' '/Volumes/Data/MacBook Pro.backupbundle/com.apple.TimeMachine.MachineID.plist'
+ set -e
++ hdiutil attach -nomount -noverify -noautofsck '/Volumes/Data/MacBook Pro.backupbundle'
++ awk '/HFS/ {print $1}'
+ DEV=/dev/disk4s2
+ echo '/Volumes/Data/MacBook Pro.backupbundle -> /dev/disk4s2'
/Volumes/Data/MacBook Pro.backupbundle -> /dev/disk4s2
+ fsck_hfs -fy -c 8gb /dev/disk4s2
** /dev/rdisk4s2
Executing fsck_hfs (version hfs-407.50.6).
** Checking Journaled HFS Plus volume.
** Detected a case-sensitive volume.
The volume name is Time Machine Backups
** Checking extents overflow file.
** Checking catalog file.
** Checking multi-linked files.
** Checking catalog hierarchy.
** Checking extended attributes file.
** Checking multi-linked directories.
** Checking volume bitmap.
** Checking volume information.
** The volume Time Machine Backups appears to be OK.
+ hdiutil detach /dev/disk4s2
"disk4" unmounted.
"disk4" ejected.
** UPDATE 8-17-2020 **
So, it happened again today and the script once again worked. Not sure why this keeps happening, but after running the script and continuing backups with Time Machine, a long clean seems to occur.
** UPDATE 6-28-2021 **
Yesterday, I had to abort my MacBook Pro’s Time Machine backup 2/3’s of the way into it. After aborting, Time Machine told me it was having problems with Time Capsule, so I followed the instructions above and kicked off the script.
** UPDATE 6-30-2021 **
The script took two days to finish up while running on a machine connected via gigabit ethernet, here’s the successful output:
Thanks for providing this running commentary.
I am currently attempting to use this script to revive my networked backupbundle that has refused to complete a backup for over a month.
I’ll let you know how it goes.
It has been flawless for my setup. I last used the script in August and backups have been running fine since then. I hope it works for you too.
I think the script is from here:
https://gist.github.com/ahknight/dec202583a910756c6d9
@Lazza – thanks for posting the link to ahknight. Super happy he wrote this script and gave it to the masses.
I’m trying this on a deceased sparsebundle and have a question. How fast should the “hdiutil attach…” command take to return? I see you said it once took 2 days for the script to work, but was the time spent in the hdiutil command, or later on?
Mine seems to hang up at the hdiutil command and won’t go further. If I try that command again, I get an error saying “resource temporarily unavailable”, as if the command kicked off some process that is still running. I have to reboot the Mac to clear the error and be able to launch the hdiutil command again.
I’ve given it a couple hours to complete, but wondering if I should be waiting longer?
That’s a good question and I probably noticed at the time I ran the script, but I’m not recalling right now.
If you’re having problems at the hdiutil attach step, I’d try restarting your AirPort, make sure Time Machine is turned off, and then try the script again.
Hey,
many thanks for your script. I run into this issue:
+ set -e
++ hdiutil attach -nomount -noverify -noautofsck /Volumes/homes/niels/MBP2020-Niels.sparsebundle
++ awk ‘/HFS/ {print $1}’
+ DEV=
+ echo ‘/Volumes/homes/niels/MBP2020-Niels.sparsebundle -> ‘
/Volumes/homes/niels/MBP2020-Niels.sparsebundle ->
+ fsck_hfs -fy -c 8gb ”
No such file or directory
Can’t stat
Can’t stat : No such file or directory
But when I go into the DIR it is present
niels.przybilla@nielss-macbook-pro Downloads % cd /Volumes/homes/niels/MBP2020-Niels.sparsebundle
niels.przybilla@nielss-macbook-pro MBP2020-Niels.sparsebundle % ls
Info.bckup com.apple.TimeMachine.MachineID.bckup lock
Info.plist com.apple.TimeMachine.MachineID.plist mapped
bands com.apple.TimeMachine.SnapshotHistory.plist token
niels.przybilla@nielss-macbook-pro MBP2020-Niels.sparsebundle %
Any idea what to do ?
THX and best wishes
Niels
Niels – the script might be choking on the file name you are passing to it, try temporarily changing the name of your .sparsebundle file by removing the “-” character and then re-run the script on the dash-less file name.
My issue happens at the attach stage. Migration Assistant is able to access it though.
Will this script work? Thank you so much
See my response to Niels – please send us the file name for your sparsebundle. If the file name has a dash or another offending character, it may make the script choke. If you rename the sparsebundle file name to something without the dash, the script should work.
Much appreciated Brad. I actually ran Disk Utility on the bundle. It took more than 2 days, but fixed my problem.
@AB, that’s great news!