Configure Time Machine to only backup changes?

After I setup an exernal drive on my network, I started using Time Machine. However, I did not know how slow my computer would become when it backs up and it backs up constantly. This is on my home computer, and there isn't that much irreplaceable data, I just want to backup documents and my photo library as they change. But it seems like Time Machine keeps backing up too much. I may not make any new documents or import any new files, and yet when time machine is backing up it says it's backing up several gigabytes; and it does so while slowing down my internet and computer processes.
All I want to do is have it backup documents and photos/media. I know you can choose to exclude certain things, but is there a way to configure it so it only backs up the things that I choose?

Try a program called: SuperDuper!
It is free, and there is a paid version with more features, but with SuperDuper! you can:
Choose only what you want to back up, or like with Time Machine, back up everything.
Unlike Time Machine, there are not any files to choose from by "going back in time" to grab a file that you did last week.
However, it will give a "snapshot" of what is going on at the time of the SuperDuper! backup. And, the backup is bootable You can start your computer, or ANY computer with the SuperDuper! backup disk by holding down the alt/option key during the boot, and select the SuperDuper! drive. You can boot from there and actually use it to do work.
SuperDuper! - a great alternative backup solution you should check out. It is made by "Shirt Pocket." Here's a link to information about SuperDuper! and on that page is a download link: http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html
By the way, I use both Time Machine AND SuperDuper!
Good luck!

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Just wondering, how can i use time machine to only backup my system once? Just this once and not on a weekly basis?

Upgrade. My three year old Mac Pro and year old MacBook Pro have no problem. Both seem faster.
And there's your problem reading entirely subjective views on forums, from people that might or might not have decently maintained systems, good operating practices, or whatever....
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How can I get Time Machine to only backup new and changed files?

Time machine is backing up more than just new and changed files and is filling up my back up disk too fast. How can I change it so that it will only back up the new or changed files instead of the whole drive? I used to have my backups go back months, but now it is backing up only a couple days back, since there is no room left on my back up hard drive. Each back up is like 400 gigs, instead of just the amount of the changed or new files.
Thanks for any ideas or help!
kt

Thank you Eric! I did go look at this info and tried to do a full reset of TM and I am still getting full backups of my HD instead of just new/changed files. The weird thing is that I have 9 BU's from over the last 2 days and they all seem to be around 415 gigs and my backup HD is only 750 gigs! I don't get it. It shows that I have around 75 gigs of free space on that 750 gig drive. It doesn't make sense.
So I am having the same problems even after doing the full reset of TM. I am using Mavericks 10.9.5 which they don't talk about in this info.
Does anyone have any further ideas on this? I don't understand how I could possibly have that many full BU's on my HD that is only 750 gigs.
Thank you,
kt

How do I get Time Machine to ONLY backup my main drive?

I am a video editor that has clients continuously bringing me hard drives to edit from. The problem is that every time I plug in a new disk, I need to disable it in Time Machine. If I forget to disable it, then Time Machine will automatically try to shove it on itself and in the process will wipe out all past versions of my main drive. The ONLY drive that I EVER want backed up is my main drive. I love the feature of Time Machine where there might be some old file I had on my desktop the week before that I deleted and now need back. Well, I can't get it back, because during the process of trying to backup some random drive that a client gives to me, it will automatically wipe out all previous backups of my main drive to try to make room.

All true, and I do not actually use CCC that way. I use TM for my daily backup (actually, I have it set to run every 12hours), and I use SuperDuper for a pair of clones (one offsite) that I manually incremental update weekly or so. I also have CCC for a monthly additional clone that lives in my firesafe when not being updated.
There is an older freeware (or maybe it is donationware ?) utility named Time Machine Scheduler still around, but I do not know how or even if it runs on OS X 10.8, although it runs on 10.7 so may well work fine - it will let you specify a particular time to backup.
The default TM backup frequency can be easily modified from the command line:
sudo defaults write /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.backupd-auto StartInterval -int 43200
Where the number is in seconds, so 43200 means to kick off a TM backup every 12 hours (the default in the *.plist file is 3600, or every hour).

Configuring Time Machine to backup certain folders and files.

Can it be done? I have 3 externals and don't want it to back up one of them. I removed it from the backup list but it still continues to backup that particular drive. Also wondering if I could configure Time Machine to not backup certain folders. I felt like when I first set up Time Machine, I was able to do this.
Thanks everyone.

Hello Warren:
That should be available to you in system preferences>Time Machine>options.
Barry

Time Machine Folder-Specific Backup

Hello all,
I have a new external hard drive that I want to use as a Time Machine backup drive. I want Time Machine to only backup 4 folders. Documents, Movies, Music, and Pictures. I just want the data in those folders to be backed up. No system backups, preferences, applications, etc... I just want those 4 folders and their contents, but I'm seemingly unable to figure out how. Thank you!
Nick

Nicolas Online wrote:
Yeah I kinda figured.
If I backup everything, when I do a restore, it will restore everything including all the system files etc.
that would only be if you do full system restore. you can easily restore any individual files you want without restoring the whole system. nothing is stopping you there. full system backups gives you flexibility to go with either option and there is never a worry that you forgot to back up something. for example, you mentioned only
Documents, Movies, Music, and Pictures. what about your Mail data? your address book data? your passwords, your bookmarks? you don't want any of these?
The advantages of installing a fresh copy and just re-installing the applications one needs is advantageous. Furthermore, when one does a full system restore its usually because things weren't going well, so to decide at which backup point it is better is subjective. I think time machine is great for retrieving files deleted by accident and/or having it automatically backup new pictures, movies, music, etc...
Are you familiar would you recommend "Backup 3.1" it's available to MobileMe users.
I don't use Mobile me so I'm not familiar with Backup.

"Time Machine Error The backup volume is read only"

Lately, every time I try to backup to my Time Capsule using Time Machine it fails and I get a message saying "Time Machine Error The backup volume is read only. To select a different volume, open system preferences and choose Time Machine" So I do that and I see the Time capsule listed. I don't want to select anything but the Time Capsule, cuz what else do I have, right? Am I wrong in assuming the "backup volume" is the Time Capsule? Anyway, I have tried changing the permissions on the time capsule, but when I get the "get info" box for the time capsule, there is not an option to change those settings, they are grayed out. Every thing worked well for about a week and then this started. My backup volume must have been "Read & Write" at first, because I can see what was backed up when I open Time Machine. Anybody have a clue what's going on? How can I make the back up volume "Read & Write" again and why did it change to "Read Only?"

Nope, I am using the same passwords as ever, both users have the same password, BTW. The password I gave to the Time Capsule is different, tho, but that password is for the wireless aspect of the Time Capsule, so that wouldn't have anything to do with it, would it?
I also get a message box that says "Disk Repair The disk "Backup of XXX's Computer" was not repairable by this computer, it is being made available to you with limited functionality. You must back up your data and reformat the disk as soon as possible." This box appears in conjunction with the appearance of the Norton's virus scan box scanning the time capsule.

I recently upgraded to Mavericks and the time machine is failing to backup. Time Machine began only backing up twice a day and now has stopped.

I recently upgraded to Mavericks and the time machine is failing to backup. Time Machine began only backing up twice a day and now has stopped.

This is the error message I got:
2014-03-18 17:02:30 -0400 com.apple.backupd[4971]: Error: (22) setxattr for key:com.apple.backupd.HostUUID path:/Volumes/TOSHIBA EXT/Backups.backupdb/Quincy‚Äö√Ñ√¥s iMac size:37
2014-03-18 17:02:30 -0400 com.apple.backupd[4971]: Backup failed with error 2: 2

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?

Carbon Clone and Time Machine: developing a backup plan

Howdy all!
This is a second post that sort of flows on from another I have written today
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4649740
I initally put them all together, but they were too rambling and disconnected, so it seemed better to seperate them. The question I have here is how best to organise my backup plan? I have a few ideas, but, basically, want to make sure I get the whole setup right the first time and would appreciate any advice from others that have been down the path before. As I am still waiting for some parts to arrive in the mail, I have a little time to think about how to go about setting up my Mac.
Basically the setup is:
Mac Mini 2012, boot drive is a Samsung 256GB 830 series SSD, seconday drive for data is a 1TB mechanical disk. I plan on having all my data on the seconday mechanical disk (photos, movies, music etc) and only the OS and Applications on the SSD. To this end, I understand I only have to move /Users to the mechanical disk to achieve this. I then also have 2x 2TB Western Digital MyBook Essential USB 3 disks for Time Machine backups. I plan on rotating them on a weekly basis (storing the disk not in use in a safe or offsite), and then, depending on costs a cloud backup service for some data (music, photos etc) which I might want to access when im not at home.
So I have been thinking for a few days now on the benefit of having a Carbon Clone bootable recovery drive. The thinking goes along these lines. As my data is on a seperate drive, and is backed up to Time Machine, in the event of an OS disk failure, I can replace the disk and then point /Users to the new drive, and I can be up and running once I have reinstalled the apps i need. Now, I understand the idea of the Carbon Clone backup is such that it speeds up the time to rebuild the OS disk, but I have to question, how useful is this in reality?
Consider, I can sit down now and write down all the apps I have needed in the past, install Mac OS, set it up (possibly with a generic admin password), install the apps I need from the App store and DVDs etc and then take a Carbon Clone at this point before any setup of Apps are done. If the apps configuration is backed up in the Time Machine backup (i.e.: the config files exist under /Users) then this is almost workable - in a recovery situation, the CC clone is used to rebuild the OS drive, the config files are pulled from the TM backups, and we're back up and running. Where this fails, is if I have installed (or removed) apps since the CC clone was made. At this point then, is it best to (a) make a new clone when a new app is added/removed or (b) make a note of apps added/removed, which will then have to be reinstalled if a recovery is required. I tend to think the (b) method is best here, as it preserves the integrity of the clone. If the machine has been compromised (malware etc) then remaking the clone, causes the clone to be compromised and hence the reinstalled machine as well. Though this method could be a pain if the machine state has changed somewhat over time. Also, it means that the reinstalled system will be missing updates etc which could be time consuming to apply anyway, so the usefulness of a clone is slightly reduced anyway.
Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Some days I think having a clone will be useful esp. as most of my software was delivered on CD (Adobe Creative Suite, Office) or are large install bases (XCode), but other days I think, "its not a mission critical machine", i can survive a day without it while I rebuild the install, and so I dont achieve much by having a clone which is likely out-of-date by the time I go to use it.
Also, in this backup plan, is it best to rely on TM for things like email backup or a dedicated mail backup utility? can a Carbon Clone exist on the same disk as Time Machine uses, or do I need to invest in a new disk or two for the CC clones?
As I say, I want to make sure I have this machine setup right from the start, and would really appreciate any pointers, tips or advice.

There is one big advantage of a clone. You can immediately reboot
to it and continue working and deal with the regular boot drive faiure,
what ever it may be, later. Especially since all your data and such
is on another drive. If you use your computer for work and time
critical projects, this is a major plus!
In the case of a hard drive failure/replacement, copying the clone
to the drive is the fastest way to get the system and all your settings
back.
Time Machine and incremental backups have a place as well. It is best
suited for "incremental" problems. Examples are installing an upgrade to
software that doesn't work or just don't plain like. With Time Machine it
is easy to just restore back to the point before the install.
Something else I do is backup current project files to USB memory sticks.
If you are using your computer for business, you can never have too many
backups. Coralllary 456 of Murphy's Law is the "number of backups that
you need will be one more than what you have!"

Time Machine Setup "Choose Backup Disk" Won't Recognize ANY Disks

I'm trying to configure Time Machine for the first time. I open Time Machine preferences and slide the slider to ON. Because no backup disk is selected, a window pops up where possible drives are to be listed. The Time Machine instructions say this...
Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, and then click Time Machine.
Open Time Machine preferences
Slide the switch to On if Time Machine is off.
Click Choose Backup Disk (or click Change Disk if you have already set up Time Machine).
Step 4 - Choose a disk where backups will be stored, and click “Use for Backup.”
You see a list of every available disk that can be used to store backups, including internal hard disks (except for your startup disk), most external disks, and any Time Capsule devices set up for use with Time Machine. If you have partitioned a disk, the partitions are listed.
I do not see a list of any available disks, not even the internal hard disk on my computer. I only have two button options--Setup Time Capsule or Cancel.
When I click Setup Time Capsule it opens my Airport Utility and takes me to the setup page for my Airport Extreme. Why? My Airport Extreme Base Station is already setup and running. How do I get drives to appear in the Time Machine setup window?

My two external drives are connected to my Airport Extreme Base Station via USB. My tower is connected to the Base Station via Ethernet. My internal drive is, of course, internal and is supposed to show and it's not. Here's their formats...
Internal Drive - Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
My two external drives don't seem to show up in Disk Utility. In Finder the format shows as...
External Drive 1 - SMB (FAT)
External Drive 2 - Has two partitions (rather, 1 partition and two volumes) both of which are listed as Apple Share.
I just re-read your note. I connected External Drive 1 directly to the tower and Time Machine spoke right up and asked if I wanted to use the drive for backing up. The format then appeared in Disk Utility as MS-DOS (FAT32).
- It would appear the drive must be directly connected to the tower to be used by Time Machine. Is this true?
- Why does my internal drive not appear as the Apple Help file says it should?
- I may have to purchase another external hard drive. If so, is there a particular format it should be in for use with Time Machine?
Thanks...

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.

Doesn't Time Machine delete old backups when it needs more space?

I've had time machine running for a long time now. It worked flawlessly for quite some time.
Today it gave me the error that there was not enough free space on the disk to complete the backup (the error message says something like there is 360 GB of data on the Time Machine drive already, 140 GB of free space and it would require more than that to complete my backup). I have a 500 GB Time Machine disk and my Mac has a 500 GB hard drive, so I should technically never run out of space.
The Time Machine almost acts like this is the first time I've ever backed up, which is not true. Shouldn't Time Machine delete old backups to make space for the new? What's even weirder is that if I open the "Star Wars" window of Time Machine I only see one backup from March 31, 2011, but I have been running Time Machine for well over a year now. I'm totally confused as to what happened. Any advice on how to get my Time Machine back up and running (without buying a new drive) would help!

You see only one backup in the Time Machine window because Time Machine has deleted the older backups to make space to do the current backup.
Time machine needs some working space to do its backups, and so backing up a 500GB drive onto a 500GB time machine volume is not ideal.
However, I do essentially the same thing, and what I do, when I have this problem, is exclude things from the backup.
First off, figure out what you changed. If you moved things from one partition to another, then that will cause a backup of the size of the thing that was moved. This may be why you have a large backup.
When I have this problem, I exclude large things that have changed recently from the backup. This makes the backup smaller, and means that there is less working space needed. I do this until I get a successful backup. Then I remove things, one by one, from the exclusion list, and back up after each one.
So, for instance if you just put 4 new folders on your drive, each of which s 20GB of data and they are named A, B, C and D, add all four to the exclusion list, do a backup, then remove A from the exclusion list (leaving B, C & D on it) and do a backup, and continue like this, adding 20GB of backup data each time until none of the new data is on the exclusion list and you get a completed backup.
Another possible issue, if you use multiple partitions, is that Time Machine may be keeping an obsolete backup of a partition that you previously reformatted. To see if this is the case, go into time machine (The universe interface) and go back to the most recent backup it shows. Click on your computer and see what partitions show up-- are any of them old ones that have been reformatted and renamed? You may be storing a duplicate backup because Time Machine does not realize that the disk that went away isn't coming back (because it has been reformatted as a different partition)
You can right-click on these items and remove them from your backup by sleecting "Delete all backups of...." This will free up space as well.

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
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            4 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok
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        Color LCD 1600 x 1000
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System Software: ℹ️
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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
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USB Information: ℹ️
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        disk1s1 (disk1s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB
        External Backup Time Machine (disk1s2) /Volumes/External Backup Time Machine : 999.86 GB (681.13 GB free)
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3rd Party Preference Panes: ℹ️
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Time Machine: ℹ️
    Time Machine not configured!
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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

Configure Time Machine to only backup changes?

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