Permission problem with sparsebundle in user share

Thanks. I'll look into 5.3.10. Do you know if the update fixed the timeout/connection errors that makes it necessary to 'repair' the backup? (If so, I'd be happy to update and start a new TM backup. But if I'm going to have to re-start every month, then I should probably figure out how to fix this).

I followed these instructions to backup to a user share (not one that's manually created). viewtopic.php?f=71&t=59974
The instructions are written assuming Frontview, but I either modified and/or found instructions deeper in the thread about how to do it on an ARM NAS.

I'm running Mavricks.

The output from the cat cmd is:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>CFBundleInfoDictionaryVersion</key>
<string>6.0</string>
<key>band-size</key>
<integer>8388608</integer>
<key>bundle-backingstore-version</key>
<integer>1</integer>
<key>diskimage-bundle-type</key>
<string>com.apple.diskimage.sparsebundle</string>
<key>size</key>
<integer>3918161387520</integer>
</dict>
</plist>

*note* I modified a different file inside the sparsebundle following the instructions here: http://www.garth.org/archives/2011,08,2 ... rrors.html
{I put all this info in my original post -- not trying to be snarky, just don't want you to think I hadn't said as much. :D}

The second command (du) generates this:
173G /c/home/username/macbookpro.sparsebundle
173G total

Any other hints? If you tell me the update likely fixed my issue, I'll try it. And wait. And, if I get this problem again come back with a follow-up in a few weeks.