My Lacie external hard drive will not back up on Time Machine. Says there's not enough space. This has happened with every single external I've purchased. Thought TM was supposed to delete old backups??

My Lacie External backed up on Time Machine after the first back up but now says there's not enough room. I thought TM deleted old back ups to save new versions. What am I doing wrong. This happens to me constantly. Every single external hard drive I've purchased for the MacBook Pro (5 of them) has not worked either initially or at the second back up. It either isn't formatted properly so I have to go to Genius bar to help me set up for the first back up, or after the first back up, it says there's not enough space and I have to go back to Genius Bar. Is there a way I can fix this on my own?

I just purchased 2 external hardrives. a LaCie Minimus and a G Drive. Each 1 TB. The guy at Apple told me that would provide 2 good TM backups for me. My internal HD has 750 GB capacity, of which I'm using 700 GB. Perhaps the ratio is not great enough. I do wish they would have told me this before I purchased the two Bummmmer! I even had them format and get the first back-ups going because of issues I've had in the past. I also just bought a 750 GB for photos.
So, I won't be able to buy another bigger external since I've just purchased 3. Ugh. Well, I'll just exclude some files and divide things up. Eventually, I just want my 20,000 iphotos on one of the 1TB externals, and a TM back-up on another so that iphoto will function once more. It really hates how many photos I have and is brutally punishing me for it.I seriously need to do some housecleaning!
Thanks for the advice. Just moved from US to Australia last week and was hoping to upload a few photos and the domino effect has lead me to this. Just went to Genius Bar in Perth today and they told me how to reformat drive to transfer iphoto library over, but I got stuck at trying to back-up my TM.

Similar Messages

  • HT201250 I want to add another external hard drive to be backed up by time machine how can I do this?

    I recently had an external hard drive die on me.  It had all my work files on it, so it was really important to me.  When I went to retrieve the lost files from time machine, it didn't appear to have backed up anything from that external drive (and before anyone asks it's a different external drive to where my time machine files are backed up onto).  I sent my old hard drive away to a data recovery company, and luckily they were able to retrieve all the data.  Now I want to check that my new external hard drive does get backed up this time, but I can't seem to find out how to include this in the back up as it doesn't appear to be doing this automatically!  Any ideas on how? Many thanks

    Check System Preferences/Time Machine/Options to make sure the external drive isn't excluded.

  • When using Time Machine, if I delete items from my computer, will they still be backed up to access later on my external hard drive? In other words, when time machine backs up again, will it delete the files from the back up?

    When using Time Machine, if I delete items from my computer, will they still be backed up to access later on my external hard drive? 
    In other words, when time machine backs up again, will it delete the files from the back up that I have deleted from my computer?

    No, I do not believe so. Time Machine would keep all those now-deleted files in previous backups, and as time goes by those backups might be deleted if you needed room, but it would still keep one backup from each day in last month, as well as one from each week forever, as long as you don't start running out of room, then just the oldest would be deleted to make room if needed.
    I use a backup drive about double the size of my drive to be backed up, so I would guess it will never get to the point where deleted files being replaced by new ones being backed fill up that drive to the point where backups actually have to get deleted.

  • I have an older macbook pro and the hard drive is starting to go (making loud noises). i tried to back up to an external hard drive (my passport essential se) using time machine and the computer keeps shutting down. suggestions to complete backup please?

    I have an older macbook pro and the hard drive is starting to go (making loud noises). i tried to back up to an external hard drive (my passport essential se) using time machine and the computer keeps shutting down. the same thing happens when just trying to save my pictures from iphoto to a flash drive. suggestions to complete backup please?

    Sounds like you'll need to access that drive while it is not booted. You need to replace it anyway, so do that, then one way or another (ext enclusure, et), access it and copy files.
    If you keep trying to boot it, you might kill it for good and not get your files, so just swap it out first.

  • I bought an external hard drive and now use it as time machine. I copied my photos to it. Can I now delete my iphotos?

    My photo library is full. I bought an external hard drive and am using it as time machine. I copied my photo library to the external hard drive and burned all of my pictures onto DVD's. If I delete my photos from my computer, will the photos still be on the external hard drive and saved in time machine? I am parinoid about losing my photos (memories).

    I think you mean Your Hard Disc is Full as opposed to iPhoto.
    agrech21 wrote:
    My photo library is full.
    With regard to your iPhoto Library... you can Move it to another External Drive and use it from there and then you can use TM to Backup that Drive as well as as your Mac.
    1)  Move iPhoto Library to External Drive
    See  >  iPhoto: How to move the Library to an EHD
    First... Make sure the EHD is Formatted Mac OS Extended (journaled)...
    Format, Erase, or Reformat a drive
    Quit iPhoto if open.
    Open your Pictures folder and select the iPhoto Library.
    Drag the iPhoto Library to the External Hard Drive.
    To Use iPhoto on an External Drive...
    Hold down the Option key on the keyboard and open iPhoto. Keep the Option key held down until you are prompted to create or choose an iPhoto Library.
    Click Choose Library.
    Locate and select the iPhoto Library in its new location.
    And also make sure that all is working to your Satisfaction before Deleting anything.

  • Outlook 2011 for MAC, how do I stop "to protect your privacy some pictures in this message were not downloaded"  I've added to safe senders and added to contacts, it still happens with every single email

    Outlook 2011 for MAC, how do I stop "to protect your privacy some pictures in this message were not downloaded"  I've added to safe senders and added to contacts, it still happens with every single email

    Ask on the Microsoft Mac forums since it's their software you have questions about..
    http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/mac

  • My iMac suddenly can't read the backup hard drive I've been using for Time Machine.  I did NOT just upgrade the OS or anything.  The external HD is an OWC Mercury Elite All Pro. It's worked fine since I got the iMac 4 years ago.`

    My iMac suddenly can't read the backup hard drive I've been using for Time Machine.  I tried unplugging the cord that connects the HD to the iMac and plugging it back in, but I still get "The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer" below which are buttons for Initialize, Ignore and Eject.  I was using a cord that went from larger square plug to larger square plug.  So then I tried one that went from smaller square plug to what I think is USB (thin rectangular plug) of the sort that connects the keyboard and mouse. It's the type that my printers and scanners use to connect to the iMac.  I did NOT just upgrade the OS or anything.  The external HD is an OWC Mercury Elite All Pro. It's worked fine since I got the iMac 4 years ago. What else can I try before just trying to initialize and

    Thanks, Michael!  I do hear it at times spooling up and running. Just after I bumped the thread I looked for troubleshooting for this drive online and found the manual which suggested using Disk Utility which I've seen before accidentally (if I hit Command Shift U instead of Shift U to type "Unit" on a new folder for a student's homework ) but had never really noticed.   Disk Utility does see it and also a sub-something (directory?) which might be the Time Machine archives on the disk, called disk1s2), sort of the way that my iMac's hard drive shows up as 640.14 GB Nitachi HDT7... and has a sub-something titled DB iMac, which is what I named my iMac's hard drive.
    Anyway the owner's manual just shows the image under the formatting section, not the troubleshooting section, but as soon as I saw it in the manual I remembered seeing it accidentally a few times, went to it, and am now verifying the disk.  Right now it's telling me that it will take 2 hours to complete the verification, so I guess I have a bigt of a wait.  :-) 
    Does that fact that Disk Utilities can see it mean it's not failed, or just that it hasn't completely failed? 
    I can see the virtue in having multiple redundant backups, or at least two backups. What do you suggest?  Two external hard drives?  I had this one linked by ethernet, and but I also have a cord that could link it by USB (like a printer), so if this one is reparable I could get a second one and link it by USB.  If this one is not reparable I could get two and do the same thing.  I do have an Airport so I suppose it's possible to get some sort of Wi-Fi hard drive (my new printer/scanner uses only the network and not a cable, although it has a cable that I used for the initial installation), but I'd suspect a Wi-Fi hard drive might have a higher price.
    What hard drives, if any, do you recommend? I seem to recall that when I was looking at external hard drives 4 years ago, Apple's were substantially more expensive, which is why I got the OWC Mercury Elite All Pro.

  • External Hard Drive isn't being found in Time Machine. Cant back up my mac.

    Just bought a samsung 500gb external hard drive because I need to backup my mac to do a full system reboot because it is completely messed up after downloading the new yosemite update.
    But when I go to time machine it isn't offered as an option for a backup disk. I go to disk utility and I can't reformat the hard drive from MS-DOS (FAT) to Mac OS extended (Journaled). I try to change it and it reverts back straight away and I can't change the name of my hard drive. I don't understand what I have to do, i'm currently in safe boot because my laptop runs too slow in normal mode.
    Any help would be great.

    Select the icon of the drive you want to partition—not any of the volume icons below it—in the Disk Utility window. Select the Partition tab.
    From the Partition Layout menu in the window, select One Partition.
    From the Format menu, select Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
    Click the Options button and select GUID Partition Table.
    Click the Apply button and confirm when prompted.

  • I need step by step instructions for backing up tiger to external hard drive. I don't have time machine..HELP!

    I am trying to upgrade to Snow Leopard but need to backup before upgrading. How do I backup os x 10.4 tiger on Mac pro  to an external hard drive. Does any one have step by step instruction?

    It would help to know where you are in the processs.  Do you already have a drive?
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    [Overview of Mac OS X Backup Programs|http://8help.osu.edu/1247.html]

  • How can you back up your ipod onto your external hard drive that you're using in time machine?

    I just bought an external hard drive and want to put my ipod music on it but can't figure out how.  My ipod has music that my itunes library on my computer doesn't have.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.

    I would also suggest you get a 2nd, much larger hard drive, partition it if desired, move your data to it, and start a 2nd Time Machine backup on it. You can set Time Machine to alternate between the 2 drives by adding the new drive to System Preferences/Time Machine. If you want to make a copy of your current backup on the new drive, you can do that using the Disk Utility Restore tab. If you chose to do that, make the copy first since using the Restore tab erases all data on the drive or the partition.

  • How big should my external hard drive be for me to use Time Machine?

    i am a student and dont have a significant amount of files and that on my computer so how big shuld my external hard drive be?
    I will be using a normal external hard drive so will i be getting the full and the important features out of time machine if i do this?

    There are two questions you should ask yourself:
    1.  How long will it take me to fill up my internal HDD?
    2. How far back chronologically do I realistically expect to have go to retrieve data?
    I submit that in the vast majority of cases, a HDD of the same size as you have in your MBP will be ample.  If things change, adjustments can be made well in advance.  Its the very rare user that will generate multi GBs of data and file changes every session.
    As an example, I have a 750GB HDD in my MBP and a 750 HDD dedicated to Time Machine.  The oldest backup goes back 7 months.  At the rate that I update Time Machine, I expect the Disk to be filled and start deleting old data in about 3 months.  For me, that is more than sufficient.
    There is another aspect of backup strategy you should consider.  I would highly reccomend that you have a second external drive to store your most important files that may be duplicates of those in Time Machine.  All HDD will fail.  You just never know when that will happen.  If your Time machine disk expires, this way you are not left in a calamitious situation.
    Though some of my views may be in the minority, the final decision is always yours.
    Ciao.

  • Is there a way to recover hard drive data after backing up via Time Machine (from Time Capsule)?

    iMac 27", Mid 2011
    2.7GHz Intel Core i5
    Mac OS X Lion 10.7.5 (11G63b)
    Apple Time Capsule (May 2012)
    Greetings,
    Is there a way to recover the most recent version of your hard drive, after you installed an earlier version. I accidentally restored to an earlier version of my Mac Book lap top and installed it on my iMac desk top. I installed the earlier version using an Apple Time Machine and Apple Time Capsule.
    I see some recovery software online, but I'm not sure if I should buy one or if there's another way to approach this problem.
    The restored version has some of my files, but it's 2 full years old!
    Am I dead in the water?
    I appreciate any advice you can offer on alternative recovery techniques or recovery software recommendations.
    Sincerely,
    Chuck "dying over here" B.

    Hey R,
    Thanks for the quick reply.
    Unfortunately the whole time I thought the TM/TC was backing up correctly as the thing was starting and stopping as if everything was fine. I guess I was blinded by the little green light that was always on.  So actually it does not have a recent version of my iMac, - it only lists old 2011 and 2012 versions of my Macbook.   I suppose I screwed something up at setup, and as it was hard lined (via a T5 cable) into my iMac, and the Macbook was shut down in a drawer, I never realized the error.
    The restored version is less than a Gig, so there's plenty of room left on the iMac (1TB HD). As such, I'm hoping that most of the files have not really been overwritten.
    I'm willing to pay to have it professionally recovered, but is that even possible?
    C

  • TS1550 My new WD 3tb My Cloud external hard drive can't be seen by Time Machine....

    .....though it can be seen  and connected to through Finder, I just get this message when I try to backup -The operation couldn’t be completed. (OSStatus error 2.). 
    First back up went fine and a couple after but I had to reconnect the WD drive to reposition it and since then Time Machine has not worked.  I'm fast loosing patience.
    Help please.

    There is a long history of WD disk enclosures not being as compatible with Macs as other makes.
    The Carbon Copy Cloner site has some notes about this. As far as I can tell you are on the wrong forum.
    Whilst it may not be your fault I am afraid it appears that your post is on a forum which is not the best for your OS. It will save the time of the unpaid volunteers here, and may resolve your issue faster, if you could examine the list below and see if there is a more appropriate forum to which you could direct your question.
    OS X 10.9 Mavericks
    OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion
    OS X 10.7 Lion
    OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard
    OS X 10.5 Leopard
    OS X 10.4 Tiger
    OS X 10.3 and earlier
    OS 9, OS 8 & System 7
    OS X Technologies
    OS X Server
    iPad
    iPhone
    iPod
    Other

  • HT201250 Can I partition my external hard drive and use one partion for time machine and the other one for data that i may want to use in different computers?

    I have this doubt. I've just bought an external drive, especifically a Seagate GoFlex Desk 3 tb.
    I want to know if it is recomendable to make a partion exclusively for time machine and let another one so I can put there music, photos, videos, etc that I should need to use or copy to another computer.
    May half and half, 1.5 tb for time machine and 1.5 tb for data.
    I have an internal hard drive of 500 GB (499.25 GB) in my macbook pro.
    Any recommendation?

    As I said, yes. Be sure your Time Machine partition has at least 1 TB for backups.
    1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
    2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
    3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to two (2). Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.

  • HT3275 Time Machine says there isn't enough room on my external hard drive to perform a backup.

    But there was until very recently.  The difference is about 100 times what Time Machine says is needed, and I know I didn't add that much stuff in the course of a few days.

    Derby Dave wrote:
    But there was until very recently.  The difference is about 100 times what Time Machine says is needed, and I know I didn't add that much stuff in the course of a few days.
    Sorry I am unclear.. how much space does TM say it needs and how much is free on the TC?
    Sometimes it reports wrongly.. have you reboot the whole network.. restart modem, router / TC..clients.. and test again.

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