Continuous Spotlight reindexing of Time Machine/Capsule backup

I have recently noticed that Spotlight tries to reindex the mounted image of the backup on the desktop and that prevents the machine from going to sleep, etc., as I have 113 GB of data being backed up and it is done wirelessly to a Time Capsule. So, anyway to prevent it from doing this? Just using Spotlight preferences to do this doesn't work as the next time it mounts for backup the reindexing starts again.
It is very annoying.

I have done that a myriad times, but all of a sudden the problem went away on its own. For a week or two it was really bad.
The Privacy tab solution is a temporary one until the .dmg file gets unmounted, then it is like you never used the privacy tab to exclude that volume because the next time the volume gets mounted it is like starting from scratch. That's why I made the original post.

Similar Messages

Time Machine/Capsule backup

I have searched the manuals and this site and I do not see my problem. I keep getting an error "unable to complete backup Error creating backup folder". I have selected my time machine. I have two external hard drives but they are not selected. I have unplugged, and reset, and still get the same message. The problem started when I switched location of my backups from an external hard drive to the time capsule. After a week, I deleted the old backups from the external drives so I could start using them for something else.
Thanks in advance for any help you may provide.

I tried unplugging the external hard drives, but the error still appears.

I accidentally renamed all the file names on every single one of my 24000 photos in aperture using batch change ( keywords, metadata etc) Can I undo this action or will I need to restore from an earlier time machine/capsule backup?

Undoing a batch metadata filename change in Aperture3?

You're welcome.
A second copy of the iPhoto library on a second drive is always good. I once lost my backup drive and the system drive at the same time, because a lightning caused a power surge that killed both my macs system drive and the connected backup drive. I was lucky to have a bootable clone of the system drive as a second backup.
I like this version of the quote you cited:
A little learning is a dangerous thing;
drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring:
there shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
and drinking largely sobers us again.

HT3275 What do i do when, having reconnected my Time-Machine Backup disk, i'm told that there is not sufficient space to do a backup ? it seems somehow that my previous backup was "closed" and i cannot continue using it, so Time machine appears to start a

I use an external 500 GB WD hard drive for my Time-Machine backup.
Sometimes - several times - after i've disconnected the drive to go travelling, when i reconnect the external drive, Time Machine tries to resume but tells me there is not enough space on the drive, and to chose a bigger disk.
It is as if the previous backup file is "closed' and cannot be written to again.
The only fix i can find is to erase, start again from scratch and do a full backup from scratch - which totally defeats the purpose of Time Machine.
I've tried repairing the disk, nothing appears to allow the previous backup to be continued.
Suggestions please ??
Jean-Noel Cozon

Hi Linc,
Thanks for getting back - if i understood correctly, the info you suggested i collect is hereunder ...
Jan 22 06:08:09 MBP-15 com.apple.backupd[4353]: Starting standard backup
Jan 22 06:08:10 MBP-15 com.apple.backupd[4353]: Backing up to: /Volumes/Time-Machine MBP15 Backup/Backups.backupdb
Jan 22 06:10:54 MBP-15 com.apple.backupd[4353]: No pre-backup thinning needed: 3.12 GB requested (including padding), 234.07 GB available
Jan 22 06:18:20 MBP-15 com.apple.backupd[4353]: Copied 28083 files (2.2 GB) from volume MBP-15.
Jan 22 06:21:57 MBP-15 com.apple.backupd[4353]: No pre-backup thinning needed: 3.13 GB requested (including padding), 231.88 GB available
Jan 22 06:29:10 MBP-15 com.apple.backupd[4353]: Copied 23509 files (2.2 GB) from volume MBP-15.
Jan 22 06:32:01 MBP-15 com.apple.backupd[4353]: Starting post-backup thinning
Jan 22 06:32:01 MBP-15 com.apple.backupd[4353]: No post-back up thinning needed: no expired backups exist
Jan 22 06:32:02 MBP-15 com.apple.backupd[4353]: Backup completed successfully.
Jan 22 07:08:09 MBP-15 com.apple.backupd[4474]: Starting standard backup
Jan 22 07:08:10 MBP-15 com.apple.backupd[4474]: Backing up to: /Volumes/Time-Machine MBP15 Backup/Backups.backupdb
Jan 22 07:10:52 MBP-15 com.apple.backupd[4474]: No pre-backup thinning needed: 3.13 GB requested (including padding), 231.88 GB available
Jan 22 07:18:26 MBP-15 com.apple.backupd[4474]: Copied 28091 files (2.2 GB) from volume MBP-15.
Jan 22 07:22:02 MBP-15 com.apple.backupd[4474]: No pre-backup thinning needed: 3.13 GB requested (including padding), 229.69 GB available
Jan 22 07:29:22 MBP-15 com.apple.backupd[4474]: Copied 23517 files (2.2 GB) from volume MBP-15.
Jan 22 07:32:14 MBP-15 com.apple.backupd[4474]: Starting post-backup thinning
Jan 22 07:32:14 MBP-15 com.apple.backupd[4474]: No post-back up thinning needed: no expired backups exist
Jan 22 07:32:15 MBP-15 com.apple.backupd[4474]: Backup completed successfully.
Jan 22 08:08:10 MBP-15 com.apple.backupd[4595]: Starting standard backup
Jan 22 08:08:10 MBP-15 com.apple.backupd[4595]: Backing up to: /Volumes/Time-Machine MBP15 Backup/Backups.backupdb
Jan 22 08:10:56 MBP-15 com.apple.backupd[4595]: No pre-backup thinning needed: 3.13 GB requested (including padding), 229.68 GB available
Jan 22 08:18:19 MBP-15 com.apple.backupd[4595]: Copied 28099 files (2.2 GB) from volume MBP-15.
Jan 22 08:21:50 MBP-15 com.apple.backupd[4595]: No pre-backup thinning needed: 3.14 GB requested (including padding), 227.49 GB available
Jan 22 08:29:18 MBP-15 com.apple.backupd[4595]: Copied 23525 files (2.2 GB) from volume MBP-15.
Jan 22 08:32:09 MBP-15 com.apple.backupd[4595]: Starting post-backup thinning
Jan 22 08:32:09 MBP-15 com.apple.backupd[4595]: No post-back up thinning needed: no expired backups exist
Jan 22 08:32:10 MBP-15 com.apple.backupd[4595]: Backup completed successfully.
Jan 22 09:08:09 MBP-15 com.apple.backupd[4716]: Starting standard backup
Jan 22 09:08:10 MBP-15 com.apple.backupd[4716]: Backing up to: /Volumes/Time-Machine MBP15 Backup/Backups.backupdb
Jan 22 09:10:55 MBP-15 com.apple.backupd[4716]: No pre-backup thinning needed: 3.13 GB requested (including padding), 227.49 GB available
Jan 22 09:18:48 MBP-15 com.apple.backupd[4716]: Copied 28107 files (2.2 GB) from volume MBP-15.
Jan 22 09:22:40 MBP-15 com.apple.backupd[4716]: No pre-backup thinning needed: 3.27 GB requested (including padding), 225.30 GB available
Jan 22 09:32:35 MBP-15 com.apple.backupd[4716]: Copied 23533 files (2.3 GB) from volume MBP-15.
Jan 22 09:35:25 MBP-15 com.apple.backupd[4716]: Starting post-backup thinning
Jan 22 09:35:25 MBP-15 com.apple.backupd[4716]: No post-back up thinning needed: no expired backups exist
Jan 22 09:35:26 MBP-15 com.apple.backupd[4716]: Backup completed successfully.
Jan 22 10:08:09 MBP-15 com.apple.backupd[4840]: Starting standard backup
Jan 22 10:08:10 MBP-15 com.apple.backupd[4840]: Backing up to: /Volumes/Time-Machine MBP15 Backup/Backups.backupdb
Jan 22 10:10:51 MBP-15 com.apple.backupd[4840]: No pre-backup thinning needed: 3.14 GB requested (including padding), 225.18 GB available
Jan 22 10:18:12 MBP-15 com.apple.backupd[4840]: Copied 28115 files (2.2 GB) from volume MBP-15.
Jan 22 10:21:49 MBP-15 com.apple.backupd[4840]: No pre-backup thinning needed: 3.14 GB requested (including padding), 222.99 GB available
Jan 22 10:29:05 MBP-15 com.apple.backupd[4840]: Copied 23541 files (2.2 GB) from volume MBP-15.
Jan 22 10:32:00 MBP-15 com.apple.backupd[4840]: Starting post-backup thinning
Jan 22 10:32:00 MBP-15 com.apple.backupd[4840]: No post-back up thinning needed: no expired backups exist
Jan 22 10:32:01 MBP-15 com.apple.backupd[4840]: Backup completed successfully.
Jan 22 11:08:09 MBP-15 com.apple.backupd[4963]: Starting standard backup
Jan 22 11:08:10 MBP-15 com.apple.backupd[4963]: Backing up to: /Volumes/Time-Machine MBP15 Backup/Backups.backupdb
Jan 22 11:10:53 MBP-15 com.apple.backupd[4963]: No pre-backup thinning needed: 3.14 GB requested (including padding), 222.82 GB available
Jan 22 11:18:10 MBP-15 com.apple.backupd[4963]: Copied 28123 files (2.2 GB) from volume MBP-15.
Jan 22 11:21:46 MBP-15 com.apple.backupd[4963]: No pre-backup thinning needed: 3.14 GB requested (including padding), 220.63 GB available
Jan 22 11:30:13 MBP-15 com.apple.backupd[4963]: Copied 23553 files (2.2 GB) from volume MBP-15.
Jan 22 11:33:03 MBP-15 com.apple.backupd[4963]: Starting post-backup thinning
Jan 22 11:33:03 MBP-15 com.apple.backupd[4963]: No post-back up thinning needed: no expired backups exist
Jan 22 11:33:04 MBP-15 com.apple.backupd[4963]: Backup completed successfully.
Currently, having once again yesterday flattened and restarted my T-M from scratch i probably overwrote all the backups since the last time i had to do that - and as long as i don't disconnect my external backup drive it seems OK now.
I'm a bit paranoid as i use my MBP both as my Mac, but also as my Virtual PC so i have a lot of technical and commercial data which i need to keep properly backed up.
Is it possible when i've ejected my TM backup disck, gone travelling, and then reconnected it some days later - that i am causing a new backup to start by hitting the 'Backup Now' command on the menu bar.... should i let TM pickup by itself automaticvally without porvoking a Backup Now command ?
Thanks in advance for any futher advice

Time Machine/Capsule Continually Failing Back-up

Hi,
I have been having this issue for weeks now but whenever I attempt to back up my iMac (Mid 2011 Model, with Mountian Lion 10.8.3) it constantly fails and I have been running around these forums like crazy trying to find a solution. I bought my Time Capsule with my iMac, 2TB version. I also back-up my MacBook Pro (Mid 2012 Model) All of this started when for some reason Time Machine stopped working and I wipped everything and started again.
It is connected wirelessly to my router and to both Macs (Too far away for me to hard wire).
Here are the Logs:
This is the first back-up I attempted
Starting manual backup
Attempting to mount network destination URL: afp://James%20Manning;[email protected]/James%20Manning's%20Ti me%20Capsul
Mounted network destination at mount point: /Volumes/James Manning's Time Capsul using URL: afp://James%20Manning;[email protected]/James%20Manning's%20Ti me%20Capsul
Disk image /Volumes/James Manning's Time Capsul/James Manning’s iMac.sparsebundle mounted at: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups
Backing up to: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb
Forcing deep traversal on source: "Macintosh HD" (mount: '/' fsUUID: 3311EE67-6B40-3289-B7AD-B3B6E5D57FDA eventDBUUID: D93C99D1-2C53-45B1-ADCC-5BA677F55A72)
Warning: Bytes to copy estimate was negative (-41364310749)
Found 956922 files (104.9 MB) needing backup
104.9 MB required (including padding), 760.66 GB available
Indexer unavailable (1)
Copied 382.1 MB of 382.1 MB, 341734 of 956922 items
Stopping backup.
Error writing to backup log. NSFileHandleOperationException:*** -[NSConcreteFileHandle writeData:]: Input/output error
Error: (-34) SrcErr:NO Copying /System/Library/Perl/Extras/5.10/Regexp/Common/_support.pm to /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/James Manning’s iMac/2013-03-24-211355.inProgress/98ABE1C5-5F7D-47A3-9E56-7460EB79983E/Macintos h HD/System/Library/Perl/Extras/5.10/Regexp/Common
Error writing to backup log. NSFileHandleOperationException:*** -[NSConcreteFileHandle writeData:]: Input/output error
Error writing to backup log. NSFileHandleOperationException:*** -[NSConcreteFileHandle writeData:]: Input/output error
Error writing to backup log. NSFileHandleOperationException:*** -[NSConcreteFileHandle writeData:]: Input/output error
Copied 732284 files (388.8 MB) from volume Macintosh HD.
Error writing to backup log. NSFileHandleOperationException:*** -[NSConcreteFileHandle writeData:]: Input/output error
Copy stage failed with error:28
Error: (5) getxattr for key:com.apple.backupd.SnapshotVolumeUUID path:/Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/James Manning‚Äôs iMac/2013-03-24-211355.inProgress/98ABE1C5-5F7D-47A3-9E56-7460EB79983E/Macintos h HD
Error writing to backup log. NSFileHandleOperationException:*** -[NSConcreteFileHandle writeData:]: Input/output error
Error writing to backup log. NSFileHandleOperationException:*** -[NSConcreteFileHandle writeData:]: Input/output error
Error writing to backup log. NSFileHandleOperationException:*** -[NSConcreteFileHandle writeData:]: Input/output error
Backup failed because the network destination disk was ejected or disconnected unexpectedly!
Backup failed because the destination disk was ejected or disconnected unexpectedly!
couldn't determine volume-uuid of mount point: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/James Manning’s iMac, error: Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=4 "The file “James Manning’s iMac” doesn’t exist." UserInfo=0x7f873c049840 {NSURL=/Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/James Manning’s iMac, NSFilePath=/Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/James Manning’s iMac}
Backup failed with error: 27
[SnapshotUtilities mountPointForVolumeRef] FSGetVolumeInfo returned: -35
Failed to eject volume (null) (FSVolumeRefNum: -106; status: -35; dissenting pid: -1)
Failed to eject Time Machine disk image: /Volumes/James Manning's Time Capsul/James Manning’s iMac.sparsebundle
Starting automatic backup
Attempting to mount network destination URL: afp://James%20Manning;[email protected]/James%20Manning's%20Ti me%20Capsul
Mounted network destination at mount point: /Volumes/James Manning's Time Capsul using URL: afp://James%20Manning;[email protected]/James%20Manning's%20Ti me%20Capsul
Disk image /Volumes/James Manning's Time Capsul/James Manning’s iMac.sparsebundle mounted at: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups
Backing up to: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb
Forcing deep traversal on source: "Macintosh HD" (mount: '/' fsUUID: 3311EE67-6B40-3289-B7AD-B3B6E5D57FDA eventDBUUID: D93C99D1-2C53-45B1-ADCC-5BA677F55A72)
Found 956922 files (Zero KB) needing backup
104.9 MB required (including padding), 759.62 GB available
Indexer unavailable (1)
Copied 95 KB of Zero KB, 431762 of 956922 items
Copied 1.8 GB of Zero KB, 796914 of 956922 items
Copied 7.66 GB of Zero KB, 796914 of 956922 items
Copied 12.17 GB of Zero KB, 796914 of 956922 items
Copied 17.61 GB of Zero KB, 796914 of 956922 items
Copied 23.05 GB of Zero KB, 796914 of 956922 items
Copied 27.14 GB of Zero KB, 796914 of 956922 items
Copied 29.02 GB of Zero KB, 796914 of 956922 items
Copied 31.41 GB of Zero KB, 796914 of 956922 items
Copied 33.26 GB of Zero KB, 796914 of 956922 items
Error writing to backup log. NSFileHandleOperationException:*** -[NSConcreteFileHandle writeData:]: Input/output error
Error: (-36) SrcErr:NO Copying /Users/Deleted Users/Rocvig.dmg to /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/James Manning’s iMac/2013-03-24-211355.inProgress/78ABD744-A744-4FCE-8767-3C0A5DC00400/Macintos h HD/Users/Deleted Users
Backup failed because the network destination disk was ejected or disconnected unexpectedly!
Backup failed because the destination disk was ejected or disconnected unexpectedly!
Backup failed because the destination disk was ejected or disconnected unexpectedly!
Backup failed because the destination disk was ejected or disconnected unexpectedly!
Stopping backup.
Error writing to backup log. NSFileHandleOperationException:*** -[NSConcreteFileHandle writeData:]: Input/output error
Error: (-8062) SrcErr:NO Copying /Users/Deleted Users/Rocvig.dmg to /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/James Manning’s iMac/2013-03-24-211355.inProgress/78ABD744-A744-4FCE-8767-3C0A5DC00400/Macintos h HD/Users/Deleted Users
Error writing to backup log. NSFileHandleOperationException:*** -[NSConcreteFileHandle writeData:]: Input/output error
Copied 796914 files (113.2 GB) from volume Macintosh HD.
Error writing to backup log. NSFileHandleOperationException:*** -[NSConcreteFileHandle writeData:]: Input/output error
Copy stage failed with error:11
Error writing to backup log. NSFileHandleOperationException:*** -[NSConcreteFileHandle writeData:]: Input/output error
couldn't determine volume-uuid of mount point: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/James Manning’s iMac, error: Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=4 "The file “James Manning’s iMac” doesn’t exist." UserInfo=0x7f873c02dc90 {NSURL=/Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/James Manning’s iMac, NSFilePath=/Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/James Manning’s iMac}
Backup failed with error: 27
[SnapshotUtilities mountPointForVolumeRef] FSGetVolumeInfo returned: -35
Failed to eject volume (null) (FSVolumeRefNum: -108; status: -35; dissenting pid: -1)
Failed to eject Time Machine disk image: /Volumes/James Manning's Time Capsul/James Manning’s iMac.sparsebundle
And the Lastest attempt:
Starting manual backup
Attempting to mount network destination URL: afp://James%20Manning;[email protected]/James%20Manning's%20Ti me%20Capsul
Mounted network destination at mount point: /Volumes/James Manning's Time Capsul using URL: afp://James%20Manning;[email protected]/James%20Manning's%20Ti me%20Capsul
Disk image /Volumes/James Manning's Time Capsul/James Manning’s iMac.sparsebundle mounted at: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups
Backing up to: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb
Forcing deep traversal on source: "Macintosh HD" (mount: '/' fsUUID: 3311EE67-6B40-3289-B7AD-B3B6E5D57FDA eventDBUUID: D93C99D1-2C53-45B1-ADCC-5BA677F55A72)
Found 956922 files (Zero KB) needing backup
104.9 MB required (including padding), 659.19 GB available
Copied 2.43 GB of Zero KB, 79237 of 956922 items
Copied 4.32 GB of Zero KB, 79237 of 956922 items
Copied 6.13 GB of Zero KB, 79237 of 956922 items
Copied 8.81 GB of Zero KB, 79237 of 956922 items
Copied 11.55 GB of Zero KB, 79237 of 956922 items
Copied 13.49 GB of Zero KB, 79237 of 956922 items
Copied 15.91 GB of Zero KB, 79241 of 956922 items
Copied 18.65 GB of Zero KB, 209186 of 956922 items
Copied 21.6 GB of Zero KB, 250539 of 956922 items
Backup failed because the network destination disk was ejected or disconnected unexpectedly!
Stopping backup.
Error writing to backup log. NSFileHandleOperationException:*** -[NSConcreteFileHandle writeData:]: Input/output error
Error: (-34) SrcErr:NO Copying /Applications/StarCraft II/Campaigns/Liberty.SC2Campaign/Base.SC2Assets to /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/James Manning’s iMac/2013-03-24-211355.inProgress/E9E8BB3A-3DDF-4E77-B2B0-02BA29A6D68B/Macintos h HD/Applications/StarCraft II/Campaigns/Liberty.SC2Campaign
Backup failed because the destination disk was ejected or disconnected unexpectedly!
Backup failed because the destination disk was ejected or disconnected unexpectedly!
Error writing to backup log. NSFileHandleOperationException:*** -[NSConcreteFileHandle writeData:]: Input/output error
Copied 250539 files (23.96 GB) from volume Macintosh HD.
Error writing to backup log. NSFileHandleOperationException:*** -[NSConcreteFileHandle writeData:]: Input/output error
Copy stage failed with error:28
Error writing to backup log. NSFileHandleOperationException:*** -[NSConcreteFileHandle writeData:]: Input/output error
couldn't determine volume-uuid of mount point: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/James Manning’s iMac, error: Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=4 "The file “James Manning’s iMac” doesn’t exist." UserInfo=0x7feea2428c30 {NSURL=file://localhost/Volumes/Time%20Machine%20Backups/Backups.backupdb/James %20Manning%E2%80%99s%20iMac, NSFilePath=/Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/James Manning’s iMac}
Backup failed with error: 27
[SnapshotUtilities mountPointForVolumeRef] FSGetVolumeInfo returned: -35
Failed to eject volume (null) (FSVolumeRefNum: -106; status: -35; dissenting pid: -1)
Failed to eject Time Machine disk image: /Volumes/James Manning's Time Capsul/James Manning’s iMac.sparsebundle
Any help would be appreciated!

Hello CaribouMaine55,
Thank you for using Apple Support Communities!
I was researching what might be going on here, and found a great article named Time Machine: Troubleshooting backup issues found here http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3275.
It is pretty lengthy but I feel has the best advice for getting your Time Machine up and running.
All the very best,
Sterling

HT4522 Time Machine's backup to Time Capsule has stopped working

TM reports "an error". The Time Capsule is visible in the "shared" tab of the Finder window, but is listed as "Not connected". It is visible and connected to another Mac on the net. Is there a solution short of using the Airport Utility to erase the drive?

Hi there Cinclus,
You may find the troubleshooting steps in the article below helpful.
Time Machine: Troubleshooting backup issues
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3275
-Griff W.

Just bought a 3TB Time Capsule for a small office. Will have 4 users with MacBooks. What would ne the best setup for time machine individual backups and internet sharing in a secure way?

Just bought a 3TB Time Capsule for a small office. Will have 4 users with MacBooks. What would ne the best setup for time machine individual backups and internet sharing in a secure way?

Set up each Mac for Time Machine backups in the normal way. Time Machine will keep each backup separate on the Time Capsule, so users will only be able to see the backups of their own Mac.
Yes....there are convoluted workarounds that might allow one user to see the backups of another.....IF...they know the administrator password of the "other" Mac.
As far as Internet sharing, all users will have access to the Internet if they have a wired or wireless connection. If a Mac connects using wireless, it is possible to limit the time that they are allowed to connect to the network.
For example, you might limit the ability to connect to the wireless from say each Weekday from 8 AM to 6 PM.
With a wired Ethernet connection, you cannot limit access times to the Internet.

Time Machine hourly backup seems a tad large

Hi all
Occasionally, my hourly Time Machine incremental backups to my Time Capsule seem a tad large. One hour the backup is a sensible size, then an hour later, when I've been doing very little on my machine, the backup is massive (as in, several gigabytes).
Not only that, but the backup seems to grow in size as its happening. the pictures below should help illustrate.
The backup is listed as being 719MB, only an hour after a more modest backup. Time Machine seems to be claiming that is has transferred all of the required backup:
!http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/4988/picture2gih.png!
But then, only two minutes later, see how the situation has changed:
!http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/3739/picture3m.png!
And the situation continues:
!http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/9339/picture5.png!
Any ideas? This issue happens intermittently (although it is happening now... that last image was taken a few minutes ago and the backup was still going - up to 3.1GB - before I told it to stop).
I'm not certain if Time Machine is actually transferring this amount of data to the Time Capsule or not.
Cheers.

Hi,
I had the same problem today as well. The last backup was done this morning at 2 a.m. When I turned my PowerBook G4 on again this afternoon, the backup size continually grew, just like on your machine, Rob. I aborted the backup a couple of times, deleted the inProgress file, but it always got bigger and bigger. After downloading Time Machine Buddy and Time Tracker, I just let Time Machnine "do it's thing". Luckily, I had enough free space on my WD MyBook 500 GB I use for the backups, because it stopped only at 24.8 GBs, after initially displaying 61,3 MB in the menu bar, and requesting 1.05 GB according to Time Machine Buddy.
Time Machine Buddy protocol:
Starting standard backup
Backing up to: /Volumes/My Book/Backups.backupdb
No pre-backup thinning needed: 1.05 GB requested (including padding), 32.74 GB available
Copied 139261 files (24.8 GB) from volume Macintosh HD.
No pre-backup thinning needed: 1.16 GB requested (including padding), 7.36 GB available
Copied 7042 files (2.0 MB) from volume Macintosh HD.
Starting post-backup thinning
Deleted backup /Volumes/My Book/Backups.backupdb/Claas Olthoffs PowerBook/2009-03-05-202501: 7.36 GB now available
Deleted backup /Volumes/My Book/Backups.backupdb/Claas Olthoffs PowerBook/2009-03-05-192342: 7.37 GB now available
Deleted backup /Volumes/My Book/Backups.backupdb/Claas Olthoffs PowerBook/2009-03-05-123736: 7.37 GB now available
Deleted backup /Volumes/My Book/Backups.backupdb/Claas Olthoffs PowerBook/2009-03-05-113526: 7.38 GB now available
Post-back up thinning complete: 4 expired backups removed
Backup completed successfully.
So I took a look at Time Tracker to see what was backed up. I was suprised to see, that the biggest chunk was my Macintosh HD/Library/Application Support folder. This folder is 23,9 GB in size, mainly because it contains Final Cut Studio media and templates. Time Machine backed it up completey. This seems weired, because none of the files I looked at in this folder were changed during the last couple of months, if not the last year, since I installed them. I don't know why Time Machine would backup all of those unchanged files.
For the sake of completeness, the external drives contains other, non-backup, files as well.
I hope this gives you some more information to work with Pondini.
Greetings,
Claas

Repeated Corruption of Spotlight Database on Time Machine disk?

I'm going to try this here since I don't seem to get much traction with this question in the Time Machine forum, and there is no forum here specific to Spotlight issues in Leopard:
I've been seeing repeated corruption of the Spotlight database on my external, Fireware 800, LaCie drive which is used exclusively for Time Machine. The symptom is that searches done in the Finder window after entering Time Machine produce no results or partial results.
There is no problem with Spotlight on the main hard drive for my laptop.
I received instructions from AppleCare for how to find and delete the hidden folder which makes up the Spotlight database on that drive -- an action which causes Spotlight to immediately rebuild the database on that drive from scratch -- but within days after doing that the database is corrupt again.
An additional symptom is that errors appear in the Console during a reboot -- but only if the Time Machine drive happens to be attached during the reboot. If the drive is attached AFTER booting and logging in, no such errors appear. The errors are from the "mds" process, and indicate either that a portion of the Spotlight database's "Stores" folder is having problems "storing dirty pages", and/or that a portion of the Spotlight database needs to be "recovered". Once those error messages start to appear, they will appear (identically) on every reboot where the drive is attached. No "recovery" happens. And searches after entering Time Machine fail to produce full results as described above.
There are no other Console complaints that appear relevant. No corrupt files during Time Machine backups, no errors when having entered Time Machine to view or restore files, no errors during searches themselves while in Time Machine.
Attempting to rebuild the Spotlight datbase on that drive by dragging it into the System Preferences > Spotlight > Privacy list and then removing it are fruitless. Spotlight indexing fires up for only a couple seconds after removing the disk from Privacy and there is no change in the search failures. And no new error message are entered in the Console. The same thing happens when attempting to use the "mdutil" command from Terminal to force a rebuild (as instructed by AppleCare). Only completely trashing the hidden Spotlight database folder on that drive suffices to get Spotlight to rebuild the database from scratch and start over in a fresh, uncorrupted state. But that doesn't last!
Meanwhile, Time Machine backups themselves are working just fine. No errors -- everything seems to be getting over to the drive -- and viewing within or restoring from Time Machine continues to work without problem. That is, the problem is entirely and ONLY within Spotlight for the Time Machine drive. (Again, that drive is used only for Time Machine.)
And as stated above, Spotlight continues to work without issue on the main hard drive.
Disk Utility > Verify Disk also has no complaints about that Time Machine drive (or the main hard drive)
And the usual panacea cures (booting once in Safe Mode, reset PRAM, reset PCU, Repair Permissions) also have no effect on this problem.
The computer in question was an "upgrade" install from 10.4.10 and has two accounts on it -- a non administrative account for normal work and an Administrator account that is almost never used. Only the one drive, the main hard drive, is being captured by the Time Machine backups. Nothing has been excluded from the Time Machine backups. I've even done a successful "full restore" of the system from that Time Machine. I.e., this is all very plain vanilla stuff. I can't fathom why I'm having this problem.
My Time Machine dates back to after installing 10.5.1. I've tried the process of deleting, and thus recreating, the Spotlight database several times without any luck.
Yesterday, after applying the "Time Machine and Airport Drivers" update to my 10.5.2 system, I decided it was time for a fresh start just in case there was something about the data put onto the drive by the older, 10.5.1, Time Machine that was causing Spotlight such grief.
So I erased the Time Machine drive and did an entirely new initial backup.
That completed without errors.
I then did a few incremental backups on top of that. After which I did a reboot to see if there were any Console error messages from mds. There were none, and my tests of searches while viewing in Time Machine all produced correct and complete results.
So far so good.
However, this morning, after I booted up with the Time Machine drive attached, I went immediately into Console and found the dreaded error messages from the mds process. And sure enough my searches inside of Time Machine now only produce partial results again. Here are the two messages I'm getting at the moment (with personal information "xxx"d out):
3/20/08 1:48:48 PM mds[26] (/Volumes/xxxxx Time Machine/.Spotlight-V100/Store-V1/Stores/4CE0F19E-8757-43F1-A5DD-06B1DCAD0E50)(E rror) IndexStore in SIStoreDirytySDBChunks:Error storing dirty sdb pages: 30
3/20/08 1:48:48 PM mds[26] (/Volumes/xxxxx Time Machine/.Spotlight-V100/Store-V1/Stores/ABE285E8-4E3D-45BD-A3EF-D9A5B4A149DA)(E rror) IndexStore in SIStoreDirytySDBChunks:Error storing dirty sdb pages: 30
So far I have NOT yet seen the messages saying that the Spotlight database "needs recovery".
I'm at a loss on this one. Again, the Time Machine backups themselves seem to be fully complete and fully functional. And Spotlight was perfectly happy after the new, initial backup, and a few incremental backups.
But I just can't get Spotlight to STAY happy with this Time Machine drive.
Any suggestions?
--Bob

OK I've completed the repartitioning test and the results are unexpected! Here's what I did and what I've spotted so far:
First, the only differences between what I'm going to list here and what I've done before is the repartitioning of the drive and the fact that I decided to do things this time entirely while logged in to my Administrator account. In the past, I did this stuff logged into my "standard" account and supplying Admin passwords when requested:
@ Rebooted with the drive attached and logged in to Admin
@ In System Preferences > Time Machine, did a Change Disk to No Disk to turn off Time Machine backups.
Note: In what follows, each of the several times Time Machine asked me if I wanted to use the external drive as the new Time Machine drive I selected "Cancel".
@ Used Disk Utility to re-partition the Time Machine drive into 2 untitled partitions (Apple Partition Map since this is a Powerbook Mac, Mac OS X Extended (Journalled) formatting, Mac OS 9 drivers turned off). I then partitioned it AGAIN back to 1 partition titled as my Time Machine drive (same settings). I did this two step process to make SURE the partitioning data was actually being re-written.
@ Used Disk Utility to Erase the single partition just created -- using the option to Write 0's to the drive to make sure all of the drive was exercised.
@ Checked and found the Time Machine volume was now identified as disk1s3.
@ Used Disk Utility to Verify Disk on my main hard drive.
@ Checked in Console after all of this and there were no I/O or other errors logged.
The next few steps were done to maximize the chances that my new "initial backup" would be as clean as possible.
@ Shut Down the computer and rebooted once into Safe Mode to let the Safe Mode boot delete caches and do its other background maintenance tasks. Shut Down immediately from the Safe Mode login window instead of logging in.
@ Rebooted while resetting PRAM. Just because.
@ Logged in as Admin, and used Disk Utility to Repair Permissions on the main hard drive. No messages were generated by this.
@ Rebooted once again and logged back in as Admin to get things into a fresh state.
At this point I was now ready to start the new, Time Machine "initial backup". However before I did that I decided to check the Console one more time.
Imagine my surprise when I found one each of the two Spotlight related error messages I reported above! There was one "needs recovery" error and one error trying to "store dirty pages"! (Note that normally I see TWO of each of these.)
Keep in mind that the drive had just been freshly partitioned and then erased again. Time Machine had never been given access to the drive. And no other user applications had been run. And yet the Spotlight database was ALREADY generating errors on that drive!
Upon checking further, I discovered that the first pair of these error messages was generated during the Safe Mode boot above. They were generated again during the boot where I reset PRAM.
BUT, there were NO ERROR MESSAGES in the most recent reboot I had just completed!
At this point I decided to do a 2 more reboots and there were NO ERROR MESSAGES in either of those.
Curious indeed! Well perhaps some sort of recovery had happened.
In any event, at this point I decide to do the "initial backup".
@ In System Preferences > Time Machine, I selected the drive for Time Machine use and let the initial backup complete. I also had Console running during this. The backup completed without any significant messages. In fact one additional incremental backup also completed without errors before I noticed it was done.
At this point, I entered Time Machine and tried my usual test searches which have demonstrated the Spotlight corruption in the past, and there were no problems. Spotlight was apparently good.
I then rebooted and checked the Console and son of a gun but the Spotlight error messages were back -- this time 2 of each.
However, when I checked searches in Time Machine -- THEY WORKED! This is the first time I've ever seen a case where the presence of those error messages during reboot wasn't accompanied by search failures inside of Time Machine.
I immediately did another reboot -- AND NO ERROR MESSAGES!
I've since done several additional incremental backups and several reboots, and I can't find a pattern anymore. The error messages OFTEN appear on reboot (if the Time Machine drive is attached), but not ALWAYS as was the case in the past. And up to now searches inside of Time Machine are working without problems.
I can see several possible explanations:
1) The error messages are spurious (or there is some sort of automatic recovery that is working now when it didn't work before) and the repartitioning above actually fixed the problem.
2) The database is indeed corrupted, but the corruption has moved to a portion of the database that my test searches aren't exercising.
3) I need to do more incremental backups before the database corruption will actually become visible in my test searches. I.e., the problem just hasn't had time to develop yet.
Meanwhile I heard back from LaCie support that they have not heard of a problem like this for Time Machine or Spotlight on this particular drive. I've also pointed them at this thread for details.
So I'll just continue to use this Mac normally over the next few days, while periodically checking to see if the Spotlight search failures reappear and to see if I can spot any pattern as to why those Console error messages sometimes appear on reboot and sometimes not.
I'll report back when I have more info.
Again, if anyone has any insight into what those 2 Console error messages actually mean, or if anyone else is seeing those error messages, or is having Spotlight search failures when inside Time Machine whether or not you see those error messages, please chime in.
--Bob

Can I use time machine to backup on my server HD?

I've mac Leapard with Time Machine but never made use of it because:
- I don't have and don't want to have an external HD.
- Don't have Time Capsule, and cannot afford it.
Yet I was wondering if it was somehow possible to use Time Machine, to backup directly to my server (online) for example.

-(.)^(.)- wrote:
Time Machine backups are NOT supported for NAS devices except Time Capsule or a USB HDD connected to an AirPort Extreme Base Station. All other options are hacks.
I would add that even if a network drive were available, unless it was formatted HFS+ with either GUID or APM depending, it would not be acceptable anyway for TM.

Trouble getting time machine to backup latest numbers file.

I'm able to use Time Machine to backup my macbook wirelessly to an external hard drive attached to my iMac. However, I recently noticed that I am failing to back up the latest version of a numbers file.
Has anyone noticed any incomplete or outdated files - that shouldn't be - in their number file back ups?

Well, Time Machine unfortunately is bugged beyond use for some people. It is nearly impossible to tell if TM will work every single time until Apple will take a look at their programming and fix the darn thing.
Anyways, back to the point. The problem with updated files is that TM will look for new things that are indexed as new, and by indexed as new as in the Spotlight regards the file as updated since last backup. I don't really know if this would work, but you could give it a try.
Try this:
1) Duplicate the file into the same folder with a different name
ex. filename.doc, and make a new file called filename_1.doc
2) Make sure that this file is in the same folder as the other file.
3) Back up
I think that would make Spotlight tell TM to backup the updated documents.

Time machine/capsule

I cant seem to find my time machine=( i have an external harddrive, but i have to take backup maually, ive looked on apple downloads page, but i dont find it =(
can someone help me?

Hey!
Looking at your OSX you're running 10.4. (Tiger).For Time Machine/capsule you need 10.5(Leopard) which is available to buy from Apple or other Software distributors.You do not have it with Tiger.
Cheers,
John

Time Machine - Preparing backup - It's endless

My C2D Mac Mini is hanging on Time Machine - Preparing Backup for the second time since "Upgrading" to 10.5.2
I had to re-format my backup disk last time and start all the backups again.
Here is an extract from the console log:
29/04/2008 23:50:13 /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[1094] Starting standard backup
29/04/2008 23:50:13 /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[1094] Backing up to: /Volumes/LaCie Disk/Backups.backupdb
29/04/2008 23:50:15 /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[1094] Event store UUIDs don't match for volume: Macintosh HD
29/04/2008 23:50:15 /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[1094] Node requires deep traversal:/ reason:kFSEDBEventFlagMustScanSubDirs|kFSEDBEventFlagReasonEventDBUntrustable|
Does anyone recognise this? I'm a Mac novice so I don't understand what it all means. I hope I don't have to reformat and start again as I was converted to Mac from PC on the advice that "A Mac Works!"
My backup drive is a 500GB Lacie Mini if that is of any relevance. Spotlight is told not to index the drive and also the Lacie drive is told not to back itself up.
Can anyone help as it's driving me nuts!

Are Lacie really that bad? I thought that the main reason they are mentioned in these forums is that Lacie are one of the only brands of external storage that apple actively promote through their own web stores so there a good chance that quite a few Mac users will buy one. Anyway I can't afford to buy another Hard Drive at the moment and the lacie works perfectly apart from Time Machine.
The problem seems to be with Mac OS the more I delve into these forums and more importantly the 10.5.2. update which is where Time Machine appears to be providing users with a lot of troubles.
The Apple support self service on the website is far from comprehensive as I guess they want you to purchase Apple Care for ongoing support after the 90 days initial period but come on apple give us a break and sort it out or provide a support email address for specific problems!

Time Machine same backup size every time

Anyone have any idea why Time Machine would backup the same amount every time? Every hour mine backs up 1.8 GB, unless I've added more than that to my hd.
I only back up the internal drive on my macbook to a 500 GB Time Capsule via wifi (802.11n only, 5GHz). Not that I figured it would make a difference, but it still does it if backed up via ethernet.
I've also noticed that as soon as it completes the backup, it will backup all over again - and not because an hour has passed. I'm not sure if it does this every time (but I think i does), or if it does it more than twice when it happens.
Thanks in advance!

See if the following might give you some ideas as to why...
*_Incremental Backups Seem Too Large!_*
Open the Time Machine Prefs on the Mac in question. How much space does it report you have "Available"? When a backup is initiated how much space does it report you need?
Now, consider the following, it might give you some ideas:
Time Machine performs backups at the file level. If a single bit in a large file is changed, the WHOLE file is backed up again. This is a problem for programs that save data to monolithic virtual disk files that are modified frequently. These include Parallels, VMware Fusion, Aperture vaults, or the databases that Entourage and Thunderbird create. These should be excluded from backup using the Time Machine Preference Exclusion list. You will, however, need to backup these files manually to another external disk.
If you do a lot of movie editing, unless these files are excluded, expect Time Machine to treat revised versions of a single movie as entirely new files.
If you frequently download software or video files that you only expect to keep for a short time, consider excluding the folder these are stored in from Time Machine backups.
If you have recently created a new disk image or burned a DVD, Time Machine will target these files for backup unless they are deleted or excluded from backup.
*Events-Based Backups*
Time Machine does not compare file-for-file to see if changes have been made. If it had to rescan every file on your drive before each backup, it would not be able to perform backups as often as it does. Rather, it relies on a process called FSEvents. This is a system log that records changes that occur with all the directories on your Mac. Moving / copying / deleting / & saving files and folders creates events that are recorded in this log. At the beginning of each backup, Time Machine simply looks at this log to determine what has changed since the last backup. [http://arstechnica.com/reviews/os/mac-os-x-10-5.ars/14]
Installing new software, upgrading existing software, or updating Mac OS X system software can create major changes in the structure of your directories. Every one of these changes is recorded by the OS as an event. Time Machine will backup every file that has an event associated with it since the installation.
Files or folders that are simply moved or renamed are counted as NEW files or folders. If you rename any file or folder, Time Machine will back up the ENTIRE file or folder again no matter how big or small it is.
George Schreyer describes this behavior: “If you should want to do some massive rearrangement of your disk, Time Machine will interpret the rearranged files as new files and back them up again in their new locations. Just renaming a folder will cause this to happen. This is OK if you've got lots of room on your backup disk. Eventually, Time Machine will thin those backups and the space consumed will be recovered. However, if you really want recover the space in the backup volume immediately, you can. To do this, bring a Finder window to the front and then click the Time Machine icon on the dock. This will activate the Time Machine user interface. Navigate back in time to where the old stuff exists and select it. Then pull down the "action" menu (the gear thing) and select "delete all backups" and the older stuff vanishes.” (http://www.girr.org/mac_stuff/backups.html)
*TechTool Pro Directory Protection*
This disk utility feature creates backup copies of your system directories. Obviously these directories are changing all the time. So, depending on how it is configured, these backup files will be changing as well which is interpreted by Time Machine as new data to backup. Excluding the folder these backups are stored in will eliminate this effect.
*Backups WAY Too Large*
If an initial full backup or a subsequent incremental backup is tens or hundreds of Gigs larger than expected, check to see that all unwanted external hard disks are still excluded from Time Machine backups. Time Machine will attempt to backup any hard disk attached to your Mac, including secondary internal drives, that have not been added to Time Machines Exclusion list.
This includes the Time Machine backup drive ITSELF. Normally, Time Machine is set to exclude its’ own backup disk by default. But on rare occasions it can forget. When your backup begins, Time Machine mounts the backup on your desktop. (For Time Capsule/AirDisk users it appears as a white drive icon labeled something like “Backup of (your computer)”.) If, while it is mounted, it does not show up in the Time Machine Preferences “Do not back up” list, then Time Machine will attempt to back ITSELF up. If it is not listed while the drive is mounted, then you need to add it to the list.
*Recovering Backup Space*
If you have discovered that large unwanted files have been backed up, you can use the Time Machine “time travel” interface to recovered some of that space.
Launch Time Machine from the Dock icon.
Initially, you are presented with a window that represents “Today (Now)”. DO NOT make changes to file while you see “Today (Now)” at the bottom of the screen.
Click on the window just behind “Today (Now)”. This represents the last successful backup and should display the date and time of this backup at the bottom of the screen.
Now, navigate to where the unwanted file resides.
Highlight the file and click the Actions menu (Gear icon) from the toolbar.
Select “Delete all backups of <this file>”.
*FileVault / Boot Camp / iDisk Syncing*
Note: Leopard has changed the way it deals with FileVault disk images, so it is not necessary to exclude your Home folder if you have FileVault activated. Additionally, Time Machine ignores Boot Camp partitions as the manner in which they are formatted is incompatible. Finally, if you have your iDisk Synced to your desktop, it is not necessary to exclude the disk image file it creates as that has been changed to a sparsebundle as well in Leopard.
Let us know if this resolved your issue.
Cheers!

Time Machine starts backup then fails

I'm trying to use Time Machine to backup wirelessly to Time Capsule. It starts but then fails after about 40 Mb, telling me an error occurred.
I've browsed these forums and tried reading Console Messages, but they don't mean much to me.
This is the first of 6 similar messages.
07/03/08 7:11:02 com.apple.backupd[49744] 2008-03-07 07:11:02.298 diskimages-helper[49755:1603] Error loading /Library/Plug-ins/DiskImages/VirtualPCDiskImagePlugin.bundle/Contents/MacOS/Vir tualPCDiskImagePlugin: dlopen(/Library/Plug-ins/DiskImages/VirtualPCDiskImagePlugin.bundle/Contents/Ma cOS/VirtualPCDiskImagePlugin, 262): no suitable image found. Did find:
Does anyone have any suggestions ? Am I on the right track ?

I'm trying to use Time Machine to backup wirelessly to Time Capsule. It starts but then fails after about 40 Mb, telling me an error occurred.
I've browsed these forums and tried reading Console Messages, but they don't mean much to me.
This is the first of 6 similar messages.
07/03/08 7:11:02 com.apple.backupd[49744] 2008-03-07 07:11:02.298 diskimages-helper[49755:1603] Error loading /Library/Plug-ins/DiskImages/VirtualPCDiskImagePlugin.bundle/Contents/MacOS/Vir tualPCDiskImagePlugin: dlopen(/Library/Plug-ins/DiskImages/VirtualPCDiskImagePlugin.bundle/Contents/Ma cOS/VirtualPCDiskImagePlugin, 262): no suitable image found. Did find:
Does anyone have any suggestions ? Am I on the right track ?

Continuous Spotlight reindexing of Time Machine/Capsule backup

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