Time Machine Backup File Size

I have a macbook pro and recently upgraded to mavericks.  Historically I have used Time Machine to complete my backups and haven't had problems. Every backup is of the full hard drive and takes several hours to complete.  Since upgrading, Time Machine says the estimated size of the backup is 143.5GB (or whatever the size is), but the amount of data that is backed up is only about 31GB.  I looked in the Time Machine preferences function and didn't see any files or folders excluded, so I can't understand why the full 143.5GB of data isn't being backed up.
Does anyone have any ideas how I can get everything backed up?
Jeff

Time Machine says the estimated size of the backup is 143.5GB
That's just what it says: an estimate. It can be wildly inaccurate. To verify your snapshots, see below.
This procedure is a diagnostic test. It makes no changes to your data.
Please triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it:
tmutil compare | open -ef
Copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C.
Launch the built-in Terminal application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.
Paste into the Terminal window by pressing command-V. I've tested these instructions only with the Safari web browser. If you use another browser, you may have to press the return key after pasting.
The command may take several minutes to run. Wait for a new line ending in a dollar sign ($) to appear below what you entered.
A TextEdit window will open with the output of the command. Each line that begins with a plus sign (“+”) represents a file that has been added to the source volume since the last snapshot was taken. These files have not been backed up yet.
Each line that begins with an exclamation point (“!”) represents a file that has changed on the source volume. These files have been backed up, but not in their present state.
Each line that begins with a minus sign (“-“) represents a file that has been removed from the source volume.
Files that you’ve excluded from backup, or that are excluded automatically, are ignored.
At the end of the output, you’ll get some lines like the following:
Added:
Removed:
Changed:
These lines show the total amount of data added, removed, or changed on the source(s) since the last snapshot.
Caution: Under some conditions, tmutil may falsely flag files as not having been backed up when in fact they have been. It can be confused by multi-linked files, or by files with a modification date earlier than the one in the snapshot. This will not be an issue for most users. If the results of the above procedure surprise you, inspect your snapshots directly.

Similar Messages

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    OK, here it is
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    CopyHFSMeta: cannot replay journal: Invalid argument
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  • Time machine backup file size larger than size of backup hard drive.  Is something wrong?

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    JohnnyS wrote:
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    If I look at the pull-down menu under Finder, I do not see Enter Time Machine. Am I looking in the wrong place? Obviously, since I couldn't get by the first step, I never got to a "size" column, and to be honest, I don't know that I have ever seen a Finder window with a "size" column.
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    I'm a little embarrassed by my lack of knowledge, but if I don't acknowledge my shortcomings, I'll never get the question answered. Thanks for taking your time to try to help me.
    Don't be. We all started at zero at one time or another.
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    Perhaps if you clarified just what you want to know, we can help answer it.
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    Time Machine Tutorial
    Time Machine 101
    How to back up and restore your files
    Time Machine Features
    Apple - Support - Mac OSX v10.5 Leopard Time Machine
    and perhaps browse the Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions *User Tip* at the top of this forum.
    If you have a problem setting-up or using Time Machine, start with the Time Machine - Troubleshooting *User Tip* at the top of this forum. It will show you how to locate the message(s) that describe the problem, then help you fix it.

  • I have a time machine backup file on a USB hard drive.  I bought a time capsule / airport extreme, flat 3TB.  I wish to transfer the backup file from the usb hard drive to the time capsule hard drive.  10.6.8

    I have a time machine backup file on a USB hard drive.  I bought a time capsule / airport extreme, flat 3TB.  I wish to transfer the backup file from the usb hard drive to the time capsule hard drive.  10.6.8

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    Relaunch the Finder, then from the Finder menu bar, select
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  • Time Machine backup file corrupted and locked

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    aschmid wrote:
    Yes you are right, I know it isn't supported - as so many other things but they work!
    This one is notorious for working for a while, then . . . not.
    In addition to the problems above I got a pop-up from Time Machine saying the backup file is broken and it needs to create a new one. I told it to go ahead and what happened is that it actually proceeded to DELETE the old backup file before creating a new one - there goes my several months of backup history!
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    All I can say do now is connect my drive directly to my iMac and figure out a way how I can backup my other iMac and the MacBook I have. On the AE this just worked remotely.
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    Really not much options here to backup a home with 3 Macs!?!
    Sure there is. Back the others up to the same drive, over your network, via sharing. See #22 in [Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/FAQ.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum), for details and setup instructions.

  • HT1338 Error preparing Time Machine backup disc- size error usually not being multiples of 512, encryption

    Trying to encrypt Time Machine backup disc getting message  - Error preparing Time Machine backup disc- size error usually not being multiples of 512, encryption.

    I got the same problem.
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    So what could be the real problem?
    With kind Regards

  • Can anyone access time machine backup files by connecting to time capsule by ethernet cable?

    I operate an imac connected to a time capsule. It works great. My internet is connected to the time capsule with an ethernet cable and I access the internet on my imac using an ethernet cable connected to the time capsule. I can also connect to the time capsule using wireless.
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    There are actually 3 passwords on the Time Capsule - assuming it has the same setup as my Airport Extreme Base Station.
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    This is the screen as it is on my computer:
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  • Time Machine backup file differs in size from HD

    I just backed up my MacBook for the first time using time machine to a time capsule. I checked out the file size of the sparse bundle file and its approx. 70gb, however my HD has 86.5gb on it. Is this correct? I thought the backup file would be the exact same size as the HD.
    Also, there is a disk image mounted under the HD in the finder called "Backup of "name's" computer". Does that have to stay or can I eject it?
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    cgapper wrote:
    Thanks for the info on the disk image, it has since disapeared.
    16gb of size difference seems like a lot. Could it be that there are 16gb out of 86gb that isn't being used efficently on my HD? While it was doing its initial backup, I noticed toward the end when I checked on it in the morning, there was still approx 16gb left to transfer.
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    When I checked back a few mins later, the figures in the progress box had changed to 'xx' mb out of 6mb. Seems kinda wierd to me. Any more thoughts on that? b
    Yes, what you say at the end was the 2nd pass of Time Machine. This explains it...
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  • How do I restore Time Machine backup files (from TC) to an external HD?

    I did a full Time Machine backup of my machine to a Time Capsule. All told, around 500GB. The MBP to which I'd like to transfer the files doesn't have a big enough hard drive. However, I do have a 1TB External HD that I could use. Can I use Time Machine or Migration Assistant to move/access the files? I'm using Lion.

    See: Mac 101- Time Machine, Time Machine - 101 Tutorial, Pondini's Time Machine FAQ - All You Need for Time Machine, and Pondini's Time Machine FAQ.

  • Deleting time machine backup files from old time machine disk

    I have an external USB HD that USED to be my Time Machine backup disk. I have replaced it with a newer FW HD and use the old one for archiving files, disk images, etc. The old disk still had 100gigs of backup files on it from time machine. To free up space, I thought I'd drag a few months of backups off the old dick into the trash. This worked. But I can't empty the trash. When I go to put the backup folders BACk on the USB disk, I get an error. So they are stuck in the trash.
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    I have always understood that there is no need to delete backup files from Time Machine.   Once it reaches 'full' it begins to delete them sequentially of its own accord.
    Good policy to check out Pondini's comments.
    http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.htm
    Or type Pondini into Google for a broader selection of his offerings.

  • Put back deleted time machine backup files

    I Accidentally deleted my time machine backups folder although I can still see all my files in the trash of the specific external hard drive. But when I choose put back I get a message saying the files can't be moved because they are backup files.
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    thank you

    I'm up for anything! Those are my only backups and on top of that I can't boot my own computer properly (only through an external HD which has bad sectors) because it gets stuck on Yosemite installation reboot. So I'm trying to get my time machine files back so I can go into recovery mode and see if I can put my yosemite system onto the new internal HD.
    I thank you for the help. Here is the information you requested:
    Volume name is "Time Machine"
    total 600
    drwxrwxr-x  17 domingosmiguel  staff     646 12 Dez 19:07 .
    drwxrwxrwt@  8 root            admin     272 18 Dez 09:48 ..
    -r--------   1 domingosmiguel  staff      16  6 Mai  2011 .00254bd50940
    -rw-rw-r--@  1 domingosmiguel  staff    6148 15 Dez 11:21 .DS_Store
    drwx------   5 domingosmiguel  staff     170 15 Out  2011 .Spotlight-V100
    drwxrwxrwt@  3 domingosmiguel  staff     102 13 Jun  2013 .TemporaryItems
    drwx-wx-wx@  3 domingosmiguel  staff     102 12 Dez 18:40 .Trashes
    -rw-r--r--   1 root            wheel  162570 25 Ago  2011 .VolumeIcon.icns
    -rw-r--r--@  1 domingosmiguel  staff     312 13 Jun  2013 .apdisk
    -rw-r--r--   1 domingosmiguel  staff       0  6 Mai  2011 .com.apple.timemachine.supported
    -rw-r--r--   1 root            staff     785 25 Nov  2013 .disk_label
    -rw-r--r--   1 root            staff    3149 25 Nov  2013 .disk_label_2x
    drwx------  27 domingosmiguel  staff     918 15 Dez 12:39 .fseventsd
    drwxr-xr-x+  6 root            staff     204 14 Dez 16:43 Backups.backupdb
    -rwxr-xr-x@  1 root            wheel  115716 29 Set  2013 tmbootpicker.efi
    I thank you again for the help

  • Limit Time Machine Backups Folder Size?

    It there a way to limit the size of the Time Machine backups folder? I have 100GB of data on my MacBook's drive that TM is backing up to a 500GB external drive. In 18 months the backups folder has grown to 375GB. I'd prefer not to have to get another drive in 6 months, so can I put a limit on this somehow?

    Roast Beef wrote:
    It there a way to limit the size of the Time Machine backups folder? I have 100GB of data on my MacBook's drive that TM is backing up to a 500GB external drive. In 18 months the backups folder has grown to 375GB. I'd prefer not to have to get another drive in 6 months, so can I put a limit on this somehow?
    That's exactly how TM is designed. It will use all the space assigned to it for backups.
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