Are Time Machine newly excluded backups deleted?

If you have an external disk included in your Time Machine backup, and then exclude that disk from Time Machine in system prefs, are the old backups of that disk erased/no longer included in the Time Machine backup?

Meetoo wrote:
Thanks, that explains it! I was also wondering, is there a way to have Time Machine only back up particular items on any drive, external or internal, or does it always back up the whole drive?
Time Machine is intended to back up your entire system, and it will do that by default (but it does skip some things like system work files, most logs and caches, and trash). You can exclude things, if you want, per #10 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). But see #11 there, too.

Similar Messages

Two 2TB internal drives in tandem for Time Machine; only one backup deletes.

I'm using two 2TB internal drives in tandem for Time Machine and deleted some backups while in Time Machine. They deleted from drive A, but drive B still has the files. Is there a way to delete these? I tried unmounting drive A in Disk Utility but then I can't enter Time Machine.
I love the dual backups, but should I be able to do dual deletes of all backups? I don't see a way to accomplishg this except to force Time Machine to do a backup, then do that again so it switches drives, but that seems a bit convoluted.
If one of you guru types has an answer I'd be most interested.
Thanks.
Mike
Mac Pro 3.1 8 Core ML.3

You can manually deal with this by using the "Browse Other Backup Disks" function which is accessed via holding the opt/alt key and while selecting the TM icon in the menu bar.
You can then delete the instances of the desired files in each backup set.
Not elegant, but I wouldn't expect that this will be done automatically, as there are a lot of permutations of how you use multiple backup sets.

HT201250 Can I recover the backups from Time Machine, but the backups is deleted by the Time Machine!

Unfortunately, the Time Macchine deleted my oldest backups in my hard drive.
I have the important files in the backups.
So hope someone could help me to recover the backups.

Time Machine will remove old backups automatically. It tells you when it does, but of course by then it's too late.
There is no recovering deleted backups, since it was necessary to overwrite them with newer backups.
For further explanation read the following entries from Apple Support Communities contributor Pondini's Time Machine FAQ:
12. Should I delete old backups? If so, How?
20. Once my Mac is backed-up, can I delete some stuff to save space?
Time Machine is for backups. It is not an archiving utility. To archive files requires something like one of these:
Carbon Copy Cloner ($39.95) http://sites.fastspring.com/bombich/product/ccc
or
SuperDuper! ($27.95) http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html

Time Machine - strange behavior while deleting old backups

Not sure if this is the right place, because this is actually not on Time Capsule, but on a Time Machine on an external USB drive.
In any case, I searched the web for "time machine delete old backups" and found many discussions of various aspects of this task. My objective is to clean up a partition on a the external drive that I no longer use for active TM backups, but to retain a small set of backups in case I need to go back to them. The partition now has other uses and I need the space. My main TM backup is now on a separate Time Capsule.
So again my objective is not to remove all backups, but just most of them.
It appears that the well-discussed procedure is the following:
Go into Time Machine.
Select the Macintosh HD.
Go back to one of the oldest backups.
Click on the Gear > click Delete Backup.
This procedure will remove one Backup at a time, and it seems to take 5 - 10 minutes for each backup.
Here is what I noticed that was "strange":
You could delete a selected backup using the above procedure.
For the first selected backup so deleted, there is a confirmation dialog with a warning message that it is not undoable.
After clicking OK on the warning message, the display backs up to the "Present" backup, and the administrative password is requested.
After the administrative password is entered, the backup starts but control is passed back to the user interface, and another backup can be selected to be deleted.
However, after the second backup is selected and deleted, there is no warning dialog, and no request for the administrative password. At this point the user interface is busy and nothing more can be done until the backup delete is completed. Except that the Time Machine can be exited by first pressing Escape, then Cancel on the lower left of the screen.
If the time machine is exited, there is a Delete Backups progress dialog with a progress bar for each backup so far requested. If the second backup was requested, as in the steps above, there would be two backups.
I discovered by playing around that either you had to wait within Time Machine for the deletion to complete, or alternatively exit Time Machine. While I was not sure what was going on, I kept starting one backup, then exiting Time Machine and re-entering Time Machine and requesting another delete operation. Each time after entering Time Machine, the warning/admin password sequence occurred and I was able to exit. And then immediately re-enter Time Machine and request another backup. Only by exiting and re-entering could another delete request be made.
When out of Time Machine, I thus saw the Delete Backups dialog with any number of concurrent "Delete One Backup" progress bars.
Because of the nature of the hard links used to indicate backups, I was wondering if these multiple delete operations could possibly be hung in a deadly embrace, so I decided to only do one at a time. Some further study to see if the multiple delete operations were all able to complete would be needed to know if this would be a good way to "queue up" multiple delete requests.
Bottom line: seems like kind of an odd implementation. Would be really nice if you could select many (say 30) individual backups and delete them all at once, rather than taking 5 - 10 minutes each. Again, this is because I am trying to reclaim disk space, but not delete all the backups from a Time Machine backup set that is not in active use.
Also, the method of "queuing up" backup delete requests is kind of odd, but seems to work, with the proviso that I have not yet confirmed that doing more than one at a time actually works.

Heinz-G?uenter Arnold wrote:
since the upgrade to SL it seem that Time Machine has problems to completely remove old backups completely. The "removed" backups do not show up in Time Machine anymore, but the backup folders and part of their contents can still be seen in Finder.
Hi, and welcome to the forums.
That happens occasionally, in both Leopard and Snow Leopard, sometimes after something was deleted from the Finder, but also after an abnormal shutdown or improper disconnection of the TM disk.
Run a +*Repair Disk+* on it via Disk Utility, in your Applications/Utilities folder. If it finds errors, but can't fix them all, run it again (and again) until it either fixes them all, or can't fix any more.

Time machine - possible to recover deleted backup files that have yet to be overwritten?

I recently had to wipe my hard drive and reinstall my OS after my MacBook Pro failed to start. I managed to restore all my files from a Time Machine backup on an external HD after installing OS Yosemite.
After my computer is up and running again, I switched on Time Machine again, which started deleting my older backup files to make room for a new backup. Before I know it, it has deleted all my backup files except for the latest one, the one which I used to restore my computer.
Then Time Machine discovered that it still would not have enough room for the new backup and stopped. So I don't think anything new has been written to my external HD yet. Given that Time Machine may not have overwritten the old backup images (fingers-crossed), is there any possibility that I could recover those? If so, how do I do it?
The old data backup is extremely important for me. Any help or advice will be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much.

I recently had to wipe my hard drive and reinstall my OS after my MacBook Pro failed to start. I managed to restore all my files from a Time Machine backup on an external HD after installing OS Yosemite.
After my computer is up and running again, I switched on Time Machine again, which started deleting my older backup files to make room for a new backup. Before I know it, it has deleted all my backup files except for the latest one, the one which I used to restore my computer.
Then Time Machine discovered that it still would not have enough room for the new backup and stopped. So I don't think anything new has been written to my external HD yet. Given that Time Machine may not have overwritten the old backup images (fingers-crossed), is there any possibility that I could recover those? If so, how do I do it?
The old data backup is extremely important for me. Any help or advice will be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much.

Time machine won't backup. Says disk is full ( stand alone disk). Souldn't it delete enough to create new backup. Last backup was 7/20/11. When I click "enter time machine' it goes to mail screen and nowhere else.

Time machine won't backup. Says disk doesn't have enough room. Shouldn't it delete old info to make space for new.
When I click on "enter time machine" it takes me to the last backup 7/22/11 and doesn't allow me to go further back.

No idea's?
I'm starting to think I just need to delete the sparsebundle file altogether and start over again...

Time Machine Error. Backup is too large for the backup disk. Backup requires 289.28 GB but only 177.01 GB are available.

My Mac has not been backing up for some time. Tried Apple Support, but couldn't figure out problem.
Receive the following error...
Time Machine Error
This backup is too large for the backup disk. The backup requires 289.28 GB but only 177.03 GB are available.

See #C4 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting.
If that doesn't clarify the situation, post back with:
How much data is on your internal HD (and any others being backed-up)?
How large is your Time Capsule?
Is there anything else on the TC besides these backups? If so, what and how large?

What size Time Capsule - i.e. how big are Time Machine Backups

Hi all,
Just trying to decide which Time Capsule to get...my question is basically how big are Time Machine backups.
For example I have a MacBook with 100gb harddrive. At the moment about 80gb in use.
I assume the Time Capsule will immediately backup that 80gb but how big are the incremental backups. If I modify about a GB's worth of data each day, does this GB get moved to the capsule or is Time Machine cleverer than this and only backups the changes at byte level for example.
Any pointers, thoughts, etc. much appreciated.
Michael.

I have an iMac with a 500GB hard drive and a MacBook with an 80GB hard drive. The MacBook is nearing capacity but the iMac has around 90GB of data (the Time Machine backup is around 93GB). I will likely opt for the 1TB version as I am eligable for a Government discount bringing the cost down to £303 (£183 for the 500GB version). As it's unlikely that it will be easy to upgrade the Time Capsule HDD then I'm looking at future proofing as I do not want to have to repurchase in a few years. I'm also likely to buying a second MacBook or MacBook Pro in the coming months so it does make sense.
Secondly, you can use the Time Capsule as a shared storage area as well as for the Time Machine function.

Time machine won't backup, yet plenty of space & not much used on Mac HD

Well, this is yet another "Time machine won't backup becuase there is not enough space" thread. I have searched Google and threads here but it's still a mystery why this error is occurring and it seems there is no clear solution. I also looked at the Apple Time Machine errors FAQ as well.
Here are my specs and what I have tried so far.
2010 Mac Pro Quad Core with 1 TB hard drive with 12 GB RAM. (137 GB used so far on internal Mac hard drive disk, so about 863 GB free space).
- New external 1 TB hard drive initialized as Time Machine backup disk when inserted for the first time.
The exact error I am getting is this: "This backup is too large for the backup disk. The backup requires 1.80 TB but only 999.20 GB are available."
I have tried deleting the Time Machine system preference, reinitializing the external disk, clearing the system caches with Cocktail, restarting and letting Time machine ask me all over again if I wanted to use the external drive for Time Machine. Still the same error.
My question is how on earth can 1.80 TB be required for the backup when I only have 137 GB of used space?

danomatic12 wrote:
My question is how on earth can 1.80 TB be required for the backup when I only have 137 GB of used space?
Two possibilities:
There's another disk (or disks) connected to your Mac. If they're formatted HFS+, Time Machine is trying to back it/them up as well. You can exclude them per #10 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). The 1.8 TB includes 20% for temporary workspace on the TM drive, so TM is estimating the backup at about 1.5 TB.
Something on your internal HD is corrupted, causing an incorrect calculation. Verify your internal HD, per #6 in [Formatting, Partitioning, Verifying, and Repairing Disks|http://web.me.com/pondini/AppleTips/DU.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of the +Using Snow Leopard+ forum).

Time Machine fails on backup. Have verified and reformatted external. Have also run etrecheck and Time Machine Buddy.

ETRECHECK:
Problem description:
time machine will not backup
EtreCheck version: 2.1.8 (121)
Report generated March 7, 2015 7:10:23 AM EST
Download EtreCheck from http://etresoft.com/etrecheck
Click the [Click for support] links for help with non-Apple products.
Click the [Click for details] links for more information about that line.
Hardware Information: ℹ️
    MacBook Pro (17-inch, Early 2011) (Technical Specifications)
    MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro8,3
    1 2.3 GHz Intel Core i7 CPU: 4-core
    8 GB RAM
        BANK 0/DIMM0
            4 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok
        BANK 1/DIMM0
            4 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok
    Bluetooth: Old - Handoff/Airdrop2 not supported
    Wireless: en1: 802.11 a/b/g/n
    Battery Health: Normal - Cycle count 680
Video Information: ℹ️
    AMD Radeon HD 6750M - VRAM: 1024 MB
        Color LCD 1600 x 1000
    Intel HD Graphics 3000 - VRAM: 512 MB
System Software: ℹ️
    Mac OS X 10.7.5 (11G63) - Time since boot: 8 days 7:40:9
Disk Information: ℹ️
    TOSHIBA MK7559GSXF disk0 : (750.16 GB)
        disk0s1 (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB
        Seagate Backup Plus Drive (disk0s2) / : 749.30 GB (325.92 GB free) - 29 errors
        Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted> [Recovery]: 650 MB
    MATSHITADVD-R   UJ-898
USB Information: ℹ️
    Seagate Backup+ Mac SL 1 TB
        disk1s1 (disk1s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB
        External Backup Time Machine (disk1s2) /Volumes/External Backup Time Machine : 999.86 GB (681.13 GB free)
    Apple Inc. BRCM2070 Hub
        Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller
    Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad
    Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)
    Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver
Thunderbolt Information: ℹ️
    Apple, Inc. MacBook Pro
Configuration files: ℹ️
    /etc/hosts - Count: 42
Kernel Extensions: ℹ️
        /System/Library/Extensions
    [loaded]    com.sophos.kext.sav (9.2.0 - SDK 10.8) [Click for support]
    [loaded]    com.sophos.nke.swi (9.2.0 - SDK 10.8) [Click for support]
Launch Agents: ℹ️
    [not loaded]    com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist [Click for support]
    [loaded]    com.adobe.CS5ServiceManager.plist [Click for support]
    [running]    com.brother.LOGINserver.plist [Click for support]
    [loaded]    com.divx.dms.agent.plist [Click for support]
    [loaded]    com.divx.update.agent.plist [Click for support]
    [running]    com.sophos.uiserver.plist [Click for support]
Launch Daemons: ℹ️
    [loaded]    com.adobe.SwitchBoard.plist [Click for support]
    [loaded]    com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist [Click for support]
    [running]    com.sophos.common.servicemanager.plist [Click for support]
User Launch Agents: ℹ️
    [loaded]    com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist [Click for support]
    [failed]    com.apple.CSConfigDotMacCert-[...]@me.com-SharedServices.Agent.plist
    [loaded]    com.google.keystone.agent.plist [Click for support]
User Login Items: ℹ️
    iTunesHelper    UNKNOWN Hidden (missing value)
    Dropbox    Application (/Applications/Dropbox.app)
    VerizonUpdateCenter    UNKNOWN (missing value)
    Google Chrome    Application Hidden (/Applications/Google Chrome.app)
    K9-MacOptimizer    UNKNOWN (missing value)
Internet Plug-ins: ℹ️
    Flip4Mac WMV Plugin: Version: 3.2.0.16   - SDK 10.8 [Click for support]
    JavaAppletPlugin: Version: 14.9.0 - SDK 10.7 Check version
    DivX Web Player: Version: 3.2.1.977 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]
    OVSHelper: Version: 1.1 [Click for support]
    LogMeIn: Version: 1.0.970 - SDK 10.7 [Click for support]
    QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.1
    LogMeInSafari32: Version: 1.0.970 - SDK 10.7 [Click for support]
    Google Earth Web Plug-in: Version: 6.0 [Click for support]
    SharePointBrowserPlugin: Version: 14.2.3 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]
    Silverlight: Version: 5.1.10411.0 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]
    iPhotoPhotocast: Version: 7.0 - SDK 10.8
Safari Extensions: ℹ️
    Twitter for Safari
    AllMyTube
    comicSansBeGone
    Better Facebook
3rd Party Preference Panes: ℹ️
    Flip4Mac WMV [Click for support]
    Growl [Click for support]
Time Machine: ℹ️
    Time Machine not configured!
Top Processes by CPU: ℹ️
         3%    WindowServer
         1%    Activity Monitor
         1%    activitymonitord
         0%    ps
         0%    SophosUIServer
Top Processes by Memory: ℹ️
    266 MB    mds
    180 MB    InterCheck
    120 MB    Finder
    94 MB    System Preferences
    77 MB    coreservicesd
Virtual Memory Information: ℹ️
    4.98 GB    Free RAM
    1.81 GB    Active RAM
    572 MB    Inactive RAM
    1.22 GB    Wired RAM
    34.27 GB    Page-ins
    2.72 GB    Page-outs
Diagnostics Information: ℹ️
    Mar 6, 2015, 08:16:26 PM    /Users/[redacted]/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/quicklookd_2015-03-06-201626_[ redacted].crash
    Mar 4, 2015, 11:56:25 AM    /Users/[redacted]/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/quicklookd_2015-03-04-115625_[ redacted].crash
    Mar 4, 2015, 11:55:37 AM    /Users/[redacted]/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/quicklookd_2015-03-04-115537_[ redacted].crash
    Mar 4, 2015, 11:53:07 AM    /Users/[redacted]/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/quicklookd_2015-03-04-115307_[ redacted].crash
    Mar 4, 2015, 11:52:42 AM    /Users/[redacted]/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/quicklookd_2015-03-04-115242_[ redacted].crash
    Mar 4, 2015, 11:52:41 AM    /Users/[redacted]/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/quicklookd_2015-03-04-115241_[ redacted].crash
    Mar 4, 2015, 11:33:39 AM    /Users/[redacted]/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/QuickLookUIHelper_2015-03-04-1 13339_[redacted].crash
    Mar 4, 2015, 11:16:53 AM    /Users/[redacted]/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/iPhoto_2015-03-04-111653_[reda cted].crash
TIME MACHINE BUDDY
Starting standard backup
Backing up to: /Volumes/External Backup Time Machine/Backups.backupdb
Ownership is disabled on the backup destination volume. Enabling.
Backup content size: 394.3 GB excluded items size: 14.0 GB for volume Seagate Backup Plus Drive
456.36 GB required (including padding), 930.57 GB available
Waiting for index to be ready (101)
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Library/Internet Plug-Ins/Flip4Mac WMV Plugin.plugin/Contents/Resources/WmvPluginPrefix.pch.pth to (null)
Copied 50.7 GB of 380.3 GB, 637488 of 970893 items
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Users/sandi/Dropbox/Airport Packages/-Presentation/PSD originals/A-2769 Guava and java.psd to (null)
Copied 136.5 GB of 380.3 GB, 652973 of 970893 items
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Users/sandi/Library/Application Support/iLifeAssetManagement/state/pub/227354896+3231309460012822759/queue.sqli te3 to (null)
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Users/sandi/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/73a83ed2b6f5f3f74e690a2ae7b99ef7515e76ae/ec3f6fda8662 e542ac7c67f2ebcfa860d3d2e7b6 to (null)
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Users/sandi/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/73f862553779c33821fe63b50ba4008f4ae89038/59ac936d3c1e 548ac04dfc28cd80ee7e8375e71c to (null)
Copied 211.8 GB of 380.3 GB, 703468 of 970893 items
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Users/sandi/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/73f862553779c33821fe63b50ba4008f4ae89038/878f9a9e9e99 35f370ab2a09d62665cafa4f723f to (null)
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Users/sandi/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/73f862553779c33821fe63b50ba4008f4ae89038/8ca38b8456a3 80c835e4535b71a6322258f782c5 to (null)
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Users/sandi/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/73f862553779c33821fe63b50ba4008f4ae89038/9d43f27ba634 c956751fb66aadb06f955e74b3c8 to (null)
Copied 273.7 GB of 380.3 GB, 794840 of 970893 items
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Users/sandi/Pictures/iPhoto Library/Masters/2014/01/10/20140110-100023/IMG_8819.JPG to (null)
Copied 345.8 GB of 380.3 GB, 880149 of 970893 items
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Users/sandi/Pictures/iPhoto Library/Masters/2015/02/21/20150221-163320/IMG_0946.JPG to (null)
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Users/sandi/Pictures/iPhoto Library/Masters/2015/02/21/20150221-163652/IMG_0878.JPG to (null)
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Users/sandi/Pictures/iPhoto Library/Masters/2015/02/26/20150226-202057/IMG_0789.MOV to (null)
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Users/sandi/Pictures/iPhoto Library/Previews/2015/02/21/20150221-162736/aNrBUprVRiGN3Ul+Yph5Jw/IMG_1181.jpg to (null)
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Users/sandi/Pictures/iPhoto Library/Previews/2015/02/21/20150221-162736/DDfJ%BYeR1mC2WtxQXpLdw/IMG_1180.jpg to (null)
E
In making an attempt to copy my files to a different external hard drive, I ran into several issues with document files that were "read-only" so the copying stops. (they were just a couple of pdfs and photos). I deleted all of those files. I then ran back up again after verifying the external I have designated for Time Machine. (Ive also completely erased, repaired and verified this drive several times over the past few weeks) Backup failed, again.
I feel like my next move is to start deleting the "files" that are causing the errors listed above in TM Buddy (they are mostly photos in iphoto)... but then I realized that some of those errors are associated with the backing up of my iphone.
Just now, I pasted a portion of my system log into Textedit, and the application just hanged... for 2 hours. I finally force quit it.

Hi! I did exactly as you said. I was able to backup with my home folder excluded, but was not able to do so after I removed the exclusion. It crapped out 5G before finishing.
Here's the TIME MACHINE BUDDY LOG:
Starting standard backup
Backing up to: /Volumes/External Backup Time Machine/Backups.backupdb
Ownership is disabled on the backup destination volume. Enabling.
Backup content size: 394.3 GB excluded items size: 14.0 GB for volume Seagate Backup Plus Drive
456.36 GB required (including padding), 930.57 GB available
Waiting for index to be ready (101)
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Library/Internet Plug-Ins/Flip4Mac WMV Plugin.plugin/Contents/Resources/WmvPluginPrefix.pch.pth to (null)
Copied 50.7 GB of 380.3 GB, 637488 of 970893 items
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Users/sandi/Dropbox/Airport Packages/-Presentation/PSD originals/A-2769 Guava and java.psd to (null)
Copied 136.5 GB of 380.3 GB, 652973 of 970893 items
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Users/sandi/Library/Application Support/iLifeAssetManagement/state/pub/227354896+3231309460012822759/queue.sqli te3 to (null)
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Users/sandi/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/73a83ed2b6f5f3f74e690a2ae7b99ef7515e76ae/ec3f6fda8662 e542ac7c67f2ebcfa860d3d2e7b6 to (null)
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Users/sandi/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/73f862553779c33821fe63b50ba4008f4ae89038/59ac936d3c1e 548ac04dfc28cd80ee7e8375e71c to (null)
Copied 211.8 GB of 380.3 GB, 703468 of 970893 items
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Users/sandi/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/73f862553779c33821fe63b50ba4008f4ae89038/878f9a9e9e99 35f370ab2a09d62665cafa4f723f to (null)
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Users/sandi/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/73f862553779c33821fe63b50ba4008f4ae89038/8ca38b8456a3 80c835e4535b71a6322258f782c5 to (null)
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Users/sandi/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/73f862553779c33821fe63b50ba4008f4ae89038/9d43f27ba634 c956751fb66aadb06f955e74b3c8 to (null)
Copied 273.7 GB of 380.3 GB, 794840 of 970893 items
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Users/sandi/Pictures/iPhoto Library/Masters/2014/01/10/20140110-100023/IMG_8819.JPG to (null)
Copied 345.8 GB of 380.3 GB, 880149 of 970893 items
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Users/sandi/Pictures/iPhoto Library/Masters/2015/02/21/20150221-163320/IMG_0946.JPG to (null)
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Users/sandi/Pictures/iPhoto Library/Masters/2015/02/21/20150221-163652/IMG_0878.JPG to (null)
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Users/sandi/Pictures/iPhoto Library/Masters/2015/02/26/20150226-202057/IMG_0789.MOV to (null)
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Users/sandi/Pictures/iPhoto Library/Previews/2015/02/21/20150221-162736/aNrBUprVRiGN3Ul+Yph5Jw/IMG_1181.jpg to (null)
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Users/sandi/Pictures/iPhoto Library/Previews/2015/02/21/20150221-162736/DDfJ%BYeR1mC2WtxQXpLdw/IMG_1180.jpg to (null)
E

Time machine makes 30 backups for the last two days, no backups for any earlier times: is there a way to control it?

I've been running Time Machine in the background for as long as I've owned my current Mac--- a few months. It is a completely generic set-up: it's a desktop (rarely shut off or asleep) connected to an external hard drive that is much larger (1 TB) than my internal hard drive (0.5 TB), and Time Machine is configured to save backups of my whole internal drive to the external drive. The external is half-full, and the internal is a little more than half-full. I often hear my external crunching away, working on something.
I recently needed to access an old file, so I went into Time Machine mode on the folder where it had been deleted a few weeks ago. While I'm not upset that it isn't available (it's my own fault for deleting it), I didn't expect the Time Machine to have such a bad distribution of saved backups. There are 30 backup snapshots of the past two days, and nothing earlier. I was expecting something more like a few from today, a few from this week, a few from this month, and a few going all the way back in time--- a broader distribution.
I don't see any way to control this in the Time Machine Preferences (in fact, very little control at all). Is there a secret way to control it, or some tip to ensure a more useful distribution of saved snapshots?
Thanks,
-- Jim

Thanks, but it doesn't exactly address my question. TimeMachineEditor allows me to set the intervals or times when backups occur, but it doesn't control the algorithm that decides which snapshots should be deleted. My problem was that Time Machine chose to delete all of the old snapshots and keep only the most recent ones: I'd like it to keep more of the recent ones than the old ones, but still keep some old ones.
In fact, the (unmodifyable) text on the Time Machine control panel says that it keeps:
hourly backups for the past 24 hours
daily backups for the past month
weekly backups for all previous months
That would be perfect if it were true.
Perhaps the algorithm did the wrong thing because the size of my internal hard drive varied quite a lot a few days ago: a process got out of control and used up all of my internal disk space. I killed the process and deleted its output (several times), so my internal disk eventually went back down to normal. Perhaps in the intervening hours, Time Machine made a backup, once an hour, and used up all of the external drive space. When it had to choose between keeping "weekly backups of previous months" and "hourly backups of the past 24 hours", it chose to keep hourly backups of the past 24 hours. This was the wrong choice in my case (it was the unwanted output) and is probably the wrong choice in most cases.
Is there a way to control the algorithm that decides which backups to keep and which to delete? I would have it delete the hourly, daily, and weekly backups in a way that preserves their relative distribution.
By the way, while I have made it sound like my problem was a runaway log file (something that would be easy to put in an excluded directory with Time Machine's "Options" button), it was a VirtualBox snapshot merge. The data in question are precious, but were unnecessarily copied many times while VirtualBox failed to merge them properly. I can't simply exclude a directory: I'm talking about a more general problem.
Thanks!
-- Jim

If i move itune to external drive does time machine still have backup?

if i move itune to external drive does time machine still have backup?
I just moved my itunes off my macbook pro because it was taking up too much space and put it on an external hard drive. i have a second external hard drive that i use for time machine. when i update time machine next will my itunes files be removed from the backup since they are no longer on my internal hard drive (what time machine backs up?) basically, i want to make sure i have a second copy of my itunes besides the one on my first external hard drive and i was wondering if time machine will still have all of that data (on the second external hard drive).
i cant find this answer anywhere!!! thanks so much!!!

Check to see whether or not it's excluded in the Time Machine pane of System Preferences.
Items deleted from the hard drive won't be deleted from the backup until the backup location runs out of space.
(63157)

Time machine will not backup but does restore

My Time machine will not backup, but will restore from prior backups - the last made three months ago (end of January). Can anyone help? When trying to run a backup the screen shows:
Select Disc (which I have already done)
704 GB of 1 TB available
Oldest backup: none
A continuosly revolving progress bar
"Preparing Backup"
Note that when I run Time Machine in order to restore, all backups prior to Jan 30th are there.
I am running OSX Mountain LIon Version 10.8.3

Mickmannock wrote:
I followed the proceedure described to delete /Library/Preferences/com.apple.TimeMachine.plist. However I note that there are very many versions of this file in other locations.
There shouldn't be. Delete any others.
Make sure the one you deleted was in your top-level /Library folder (not the Library folder inside your home folder). If you got the right one, when you went back to the Time Machine Preferences window, it should not have shown your TM drive or anything else.
I am running Parallels 8 and windows 7 in a Virtual machine, but these do not appear to have created problems in the past - over two years now.
You probably should exclude the VM files from Time Machine backups. That shouldn't be the cause of much of this problem, but may be a problem in the future. The reason is, to OSX, a VM file is one huge file -- if anything at all is changed, TM considers the whole thing changed, and will back it up again, taking time and lots of space on your backup disk.
Have you Verified your internal HD, and Repaired any other disks being backed-up, and your backups, per #A5 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting?
What are you backing-up to (external HD, Time Capsule, etc.)?

Time machine back up and deleting photos from macbook pro

I have a macbook pro. I need to free some space on my hard drive. As I am a keen photographer I decided it was best to have at lest to back up in the event than one fails. I keep one off site at a friends. This way if the unthinkble happens.. fire, flood theft etc I do not lose all my images. To do this I require 2 hard drives. Having purchased the second I thought it would make sense to actually do a Time Machine back up as previous back ups were only of photos.
A few seaches of different forums appeared to say that you cannot delete photos from your Mac as this will be just Mirrored on your next Timemachine back up. This makes sense as it is copying the Mac so anything not on there will not be on the Time Machine back up.
SOLUTION : On your hard drive of the time machine back up create an addition folder or folders and using finder drag and drop from your macbook. This way it will not effect your Time Machine. You can replicate with the other hard drive. Having backed up away from the Time Machine will mean the photos do not get deleted by Time Machine after you have removed them from your Mac.
I hope this makes sense! It is the first time I have posted :-)
I would like to know if others have other solutions or use this method. I should say that the hard drive I use for the Time Machine if Mac formatted. It is a 2 TB WD My Book Studio. I purchased from the Apple store. It is not an apple product but is mac of the sleek aluminum and goes well with it. Having said that I keep it at a mates house!

There are several concepts that may help you create a defense-in-depth approach to securing your valuable data.
- Your data is much more valuable than external disk drives. Do not hesitate to purchase the size and number of external drives you need for great (not just good) backup practices.
- Always maintain at least two copies of any data. This means never place live (offloaded) files on a backup volume, even in a separate partition. If the drive fails the backup and the live files will go poof together.
- Do not rely on retrieving live files from a Time Machine backup. Time Machine is for restoring files that were deleted or altered by mistake or for a full restore. It is not for offloading live files.
- Place the offloaded live files on a separate disk drive. Then you will need to backup that live volume or if that offload volume fails then poof again.
- You already some of this base covered. Maintaing two copies (one backup) is good practice. Maintaining more than two copies (two or more backups) is a better practice. Maintaining multiple copies in multiple backup formats is a great practice. Time Machine is great for restoring accidentally deleted or altered data but it is a complex system that is more prone to failure than simpler schemes such as cloning. I recommend maintaining both Time Machine and cloned backups of the internal drive and cloned backups of offload drive.
Backing up the offload disk is where partitioning the backup drive can be handy. Create one partition for your Time Machine backup and another partition for your external drive backup. Backup your internal drive with Time Machine and backup the offloaded files using cloning software such as Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper!
You could tell Time Machine to backup both your internal and external live files but then it gets tricky to do a full restore so I recommend using cloning software for backing up the external drive.
When you purchase another external drive, make it a sufficiently large one so you can divide it into multiple large partitions.
A good backup/offload map (two partitions per backup drive):
- Internal drive —> Time Machine backup partition A on the backup drives.
- External offload drive —> Clone backup partition B on the backup drives.
- Backup drives 1 and 2 (one onsite and one offsite), each with partitions A and B.
A great backup scheme includes three partitions on the large backup drives so you can backup the the internal drive with both Time Machine and CCC/SD:
- Internal drive —> Time Machine backup partition A on the backup drives.
- External offload drive —> Clone backup partition B on the backup drives.
- Internal drive —> Clone backup to partition C on the backup drives.
- Backup drives 1 and 2 (one onsite and one offsite), each with partitions A, B and C.
A great feature of having a clone of your internal drive is if the internal drive crashes you can boot off of the backup disk while you replace the internal drive. As mentioned above it also avoids Time Machine backup/restore problems. I have had Time Machine full restores fail so I do not trust them as my only backup method but I find them very handy for restoring individual files.
Create partitions sufficiently large enough for each backup source. Time Machine should be about 50% or more larger than the volume it is backing up to leave room for the older incremental backups. The cloned backup partitions need only be as large as the volumes they are backing up, or larger if you include incremental backups in your cloning scheme. This means you may need 2 or 3 TB backup drives. (4 TB drives are not yet reliable so avoid them.)
For more information on great backup schemes see:
Time Machine Basics: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1427
Most commonly used backup methods:
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3045
Methodology to protect your data. Backups vs. Archives. Long-term data protection:
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-6031
PlotinusVeritas gives some great suggestions for purchasing external hard drives in this thread:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5602141?tstart=0

Time Machine does not backup home/user directory (on separate drive)

I recently installed a SSD into my Mini. Due to size restrictions, my home/user directory has to be kept on another drive. I retained the stock 1TB drive that came with the Mini for this.
Ok, installed the SSD, restored a Time Machine backups (sans user data). Used a different admin user and configured my user to use the 1TB drive for it's home directory (/Volumes/1TB/home/<user>). Restart, log in as my user, all is good. All data, settings, etc is there. Everything looks normal.
Time Machine REFUSES to backup this directory. It will backup the 1TB drive and anyting else I create in it, but not the home directory. I tried every permission trick I could think of or found online. I even tested it further by formatting the 1TB drive fresh, adding a new user, configuring the user to use the 1TB for their home directory and it still won't back it up (this was a test of permissions the OS set, to make sure I didn't change my data perms somewhere along the way). Time Machine would not backup the new user's home directory on the 1TB drive.
Any thoughts? I can't be the first person to have their home directory on a non-OS drive.
If I were to create a folder/file in /Volumes/1TB/<test file> ... Time Machine gets it perfect. It just will NOT touch /Volumes/1TB/home/<anything here>
Thanks!

Open the Time Machine preference pane and unlock the settings, if necessary. Click the Options button. If there is one particular folder with items that are not being backed up reliably, add it to the list of excluded items. If there are many such folders, add your home folder to the list, or add a whole volume (i.e., what Apple calls a "disk.") Save the changes.
Start a backup, or wait for one to happen automatically. When it's done, open the preference pane again and remove the exclusion(s) you made earlier. Back up again and see whether there's a change.

Are Time Machine newly excluded backups deleted?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for