Duplicate Tracks - Time Machine?

I keep getting duplicate track listings and even though I delete them they seem to be continuing to appear. It's not consistent though - some tracks have MANY dupes (7 or more sometimes!), some none, and others just a few.
Is it possible that Time Machine is making them or is it something else? I have a new Nano, the last model Nano, an old model Shuffle, and a Gen 2 iPod Classic 20GB model. Is it the many iPods, Time Machine, or something else? It seems like I can never quite rid myself of iTunes dupes!

Why not just use TM to back up to 2 external drives. TM will alternate between the two when it backs up.
Alternately, you could have a 2 back up strategy like others have using SuperDuper! or Carbon Copy Cloner. Both are excellent 3rd party apps to clone your internal drive(s) and both have schedulers.

Similar Messages

  • I can't clone (Duplicate) my Time Machine backup properly via Disk Utility

    I have an ext. HDD Time Machine backup sitting beside my 10.8 MBP.
    I want to create an identical ext. HDD Time Machine backup, because it's safe to have 2 identical HDDs backing up my system.
    But when I follow this apple guideline, a problem occurs:
    Time Machine: How to transfer backups from the current backup drive to a new backup drive
    URL: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht5096
    The problem is I get a strange path even if I drop "Backups.backupdb" of 3TB1 (The source HDD) onto the root level of 3TB2, the destination HDD (I mean there's nothing in there so I just drag & drop onto the HDD).  And the result is my new ext. HDD eating up about 60GB more space.
    I have attached pictures of the paths for both Source HDD and Destination HDD, please look.
    Why does it alter my file hiearchy like this?
    Please help some high-level Mac guy thanks!

    Why not just use TM to back up to 2 external drives. TM will alternate between the two when it backs up.
    Alternately, you could have a 2 back up strategy like others have using SuperDuper! or Carbon Copy Cloner. Both are excellent 3rd party apps to clone your internal drive(s) and both have schedulers.

  • Too many duplicate files in time machine

    How do I remove duplicate movie files from time machine

    How do I remove duplicate movie files from time machine
    What do you mean by duplicate?
    Time Machine will keep 1 copy of a unique file and then us hardlinks in all the incremental backups to the single original.  A new file will not be put into Time Machine unless it is moved to a new location or the file in a given location has changed.
    Please explain what you mean by duplicate.

  • How do i restore photo albums from time machine backups without duplicates?

    how do i restore photo albums without duplicates from time machine backups? thx

    Worth updating?  Totally a personal decision. For some it would be. For others it would not?
    Upgrading, if there are no problems, does not affect your data. And since bad things do happen you always have a good backup. Especially when doing any upgrade.
    Your password question has nothing to do with iPhoto. Try it in the OS forum
    LN

  • External HD as Startup Disk won't work after Restoring with Time Machine

    Hey all, this seems very simple; very, very simple at that... But I might be overlooking something here:
    I recently had a MacBook running the latest OS X Leopard, until my cat decided I didn't need it anymore and added a glass of water to the mix! So after weeks of freaking out and praying... I found myself with a loaner computer, this iMac G5 1.8 GHz, successfully running leopard for the most part.
    Here's the good news: I had Time Machine backing up all my files from the MacBook that can't swim. It was backed up on a partitioned 1tb Western Digital hard drive, like 700gb for TM and 300gb for an external HD.
    What I am trying to accomplish is to use the TM backups from the 700gb side to "restore" the system onto the other 300gb external HD side, and use this is the main disk on my iMac G5.
    So far, after a 7 and a half restoring session with my Leopard install disc, I think the 300gb external HD is prepped and ready to go, but I can't select that HD as a startup disk, and when I first restarted after the restoring session with my Leopard disc, the startup disk I wanted was "not found" and it quickly went back to the 80gb iMac internal drive. HELP!
    Maybe this isn't possible because I'm backing up and installing onto the same HD?

    So far, this is where I am at... and I think I'm on the right track!
    I don't care what is on this loaner computer (it's one of those... you know, "long-term" loans from my parents...) So I reinstalled Leopard, fresh install. I had an option of restoring from Time Machine, and then I realized I'd be restoring to the wrong disk, so why not install Leopard onto my external partitioned HD that I have been wanting this whole time?
    Looking closer, apparently I need to completely repartition my WD external hard drive with an Apple Partition Map because I'm using it with my Power PC-based iMac G5 (beggars can't be choosers!) If I had an Intel-based Mac, I'd be OK with my partitioned HD that I set up with a GUID Partition Table with my drowned MacBook, right?
    So, like I said, I am on the right track... all I'm waiting for is to borrow an addition external HD to shuffle some files around before I can do this right... hopefully. Another question: am I able to duplicate my Time Machine Backup HD to another external HD? Or will I have to get really creative or "ghetto" in my attempts to bring one restore of my past computer?
    Thanks for all your help and support! And to answer the other question so far, all my HDs are connected via firewire. Thanks!!
    -kevin
    Message was edited by: Kevin Cramblet

  • How can I easily delete duplicate files in old Time Machine archives?

    I have multiple older Time Machine archives from different Macs that I have been going through manually and picking files out and copying them to another drive file by file. I'm running into massive quantities of duplicate files and the biggest problem is muliple iphoto pictures including the same picture in different sizes.
    I wanted to give up and just throw the whole Time Machine archive onto another disk so I could format the one it was on and use it for something else. But I got a message reading, "The backup can’t be copied because the backup volume doesn’t have ownership enabled." So I went to manually copy each "Macintosh HD" folder for each date into it's their own respective folders. It worked but required my password for each folder and each of the 19 folders were all ~75GB. Which is impossible because all of that data was on a 500GB drive.
    What should I do? This has become a two month long nightmare.

    I really don't know exactly, but since no one else has a answer I'll give it a shot.
    I don't know much about TimeMachine at all, however I did assist someone that their TM was corrupted and they needed to salvage what they could off the drive, so I'll start with that.
    There is software called Data Rescue and it's designed to read the 1's and 0's of any data on the drive, deleted or not, regardless of the file structure, and output the results to another drive.
    TimeMachine tries to save space, so it uses what appears to be duplicate files, but contain no data as they are placemarks for files in later states that went unchanged from the previous states.
    If Data Rescue has the option of recovering files independently of the file/folder structure this would result in all your files from the recoved TM drive being on all one level on the second drive.
    From that second drive one could run software called DeCloner, which would flag the actual duplicate files of content, not just by name.
    The next stage perhaps would be to eliminate files with no data, the placeholders, using the Finder "size" as a sorting option.
    Saving all this remaining content to another drive to work on further, perhaps all the remaining image files can be seperated, sorted according to largest size, the largest ones (usually the ones you want to keep as they contain more quality)  and opened into iPhoto or Aperture for further refinement as you add a small batches of smaller image sizes in to compare with the larger versions for duplicates/unwanted sizes.

  • How can I prevent my mouse from erratic tracking with time machine on?, How can I rpevent my mouse from errtic tracking with time machine on?

    I am running 10.8.5 on my MBP, and external monitor, keyboard and Magic Mouse. When I have Time Machine on the mouse is a pain to use use as it does not track properly. Is there anyway to have Time MAchine come on after 30 minutes of inactivity or something? I have yet to find that prference.
    Thanks,
    Jim

    4 MB 
    I was doing that and I wanted something on Sept 18 and I shut it off on 8/20 and never turned it back on. So that will work but you have to remember to turn it it. There should almmost be an option somewhere to check that when the system goes to sleep, turn on Time Machine. All my PC back-up stuff has that option. Surprised TM doesn't. If raising the memory will do it it seems to cheap enough. Will that help you think. And I did just reboot my machine yesrday so it is pretty clean:).

  • Time Machine creates duplicate bu of external hard drive

    First, some disclosure:
    1. I utilize Logic Studio (Pro 9) and use it daily. It crashes 2-3 times a week with little justification.
    2. I have begun getting a prompt that says I’ve removed a drive without ejecting it first....but in reality, I haven’t ejected anything.
    3. I get a prompt stating that a backup has failed.... but it appears my backups have all been completed.
    With these problems I’m wondering if I’d be better off making the move to Lion, or would this just complicate my problems? Well, that's why I'm telling you folks my tales of woe....
    I was using Time Machine for about 6 months when the following problem occurred:
    Last July I went to check a backup and saw that an external drive, called...VIDEO  was backed up, BUT Time Machine also created another backup of the same drive called VIDEO 1. The same exact number of files and same number of bytes appeared to be in this "newly created" 1 backup. I did not check exactly when Time Machine starting creating this duplicate.
    I contacted Apple for service and eventually a tech walked me through the steps to eliminate the problem. I’m sorry but I don’t remember the steps that were taken. I later found the external BU drive had a problem and figured that's what may have created the duplication. I replaced it with a new BU drive and life was good. This happened last October.
    Tonight I checked one of my Time Machine backup files. I found that TM had again created a duplicate backup of an external drive. It was neither the same VIDEO drive nor the same data that had been involved in the earlier occurrence. TM again used the number 1 to differentiate it from the actual drive that it was supposed to back up.
    I went back and found this recent duplication had first occurred on a backup created Dec 21st. The backup from Dec 20th did not have this duplication, nor did any other previous backups on this new hard drive. I do not remember the significance of that date but I “think” I installed Snow Leopard sometime in December.
    Tonight, using Disk Utility, I’ve verified the permissions on the drive which TM duplicated and it says they’re OK. I’ve verified the permissions of the internal drive and they’re OK.  I’ve verified the permissions on the external BU drive and they’re OK. 
    If I need to send screenshots of logs or whatever, I apologize but I might need a bit of an explanation as to how to get to that information. 
    Thanks much in advance for all replies.

    SO, I downloaded and installed Lion. Lion seems a bit faster than SL but Time Machine is still creating the duplicate drives with the number 1 after the name of the legitimate drive.
    That's all I got.

  • Deleting duplicates in iPhoto - Effects on Time Machine Backup

    I am new to Time Machine Backup. I have a query, (perhaps a silly one?)
    Out of 4500 photos in my iPhoto, I have trashed 300 duplicates.
    On my next backup in Time Machine on an Ext HD, will the deleted photos be also gone?
    What about the duplicates that I originally stored in my Hard Drive under My Pictures? Are they also stand deleted?

    Hi blissalvacion,
    Time Machine takes exact copies of your HD at the time the backup occurs. Here's an example:
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    05/05/10 @ 11:00am - 3300 photos
    So at some point in that hour block, you deleted 200 photos. All of sudden at 11:15am National Geographic calls and wants to pay you $1,000,000 for those 200 photos. If you click on the Time Machine icon in the menu bar at the top and select "Enter Time Machine" you can then view your HD as it looked at 10:00am and restore those deleted 200 photos.
    The catch, unfortunately, is that with iPhoto the iPhoto Library is a container file (it's really a folder just doesn't look like one). So if the photos were deleted from within iPhoto you'd need to restore the entire iPhoto Library to how it looked at 10:00am. Based on the size of your iPhoto Library, the restore might take a little while.

  • How does Time Machine track changes?

    My Leopard upgrade got stuck with a minute to go - I had to hold down the power button to restart my Mac, but to my surprise Leopard launched and everything seemed to work fine. I set up Time Machine and it's been running without problems, backing up to my 2nd internal drive. The only problem I noticed was that a few hidden files weren't hidden - presumably it hadn't finished cleaning up after itself. So, I carried on using Leopard until today when I finally decided it might be a good idea to run the installer again. The installation completed fine, and everything is running nicely.
    My question is: will time machine track any changes that have been made from re-running the installer, or does it only track changes that are made while Leopard is running? Should I switch off Time Machine, delete the backups, and start again, or will it handle these changes?

    When I log back into 10.8 Mountain Lion and Time Machine does it's normal back up thing, does it recognize changes that were made to internal disks, folders, and files that were made when I was previously booted into 10.7 Lion?
    Yes.

  • Many events and photos are missing from my iphoto.  I have time machine and would like to restore without creating duplicates. The issue is although my photos are presently blank time machine/iphoto does see the file so importing them will create duplicat

    For some unknown reason, events and photos in my Iphoto are appearing blank. The photos have a title / placeholder but no picture. I use time machine and have back ups, my goal is to restore the photos without creating duplicates. Unfortunately iphoto sees the blank photos as if the picture exists?  Help

    If you want to use your back up you need to restore then entire Library from Time Machine, and then replace the damaged Library with it.
    Regards
    TD

  • Time Machine/Capsule and Duplicate emails

    I recently got a Time Capsule. Even more recently, I've started getting tons of duplicate emails -- emails that I've already read show up as unread (usually one or two, this morning 4 new copies). It makes me feel very popular to see that I have 315 new emails, but it's a pain to have to go back and re-delete them. Help?

    eroomekim wrote:
    This is happening every Thursday when TimeCapsule runs.
    Do you mean you only do Time Machine backups once a week?
    I would say that it's when TImeCapsule does it's weekly compressed file, though that is a shot in the wind.
    There is no such thing as a "weekly compressed file" in Time Machine. All TM backups are the same. The only difference is, when "thinning" expired backups, TM keeps one per week for as long as there's room; the first of each day for a month; and all others are deleted after 24 hours.
    Would love it if Apple would respond to this issue as it's a serious time waster and annoyance.
    Apple does not respond to posts here. This is a user-to-user forum. If you want to contact Apple, try Canada technical support at (800) 263-3394.

  • Time Machine / Time Capsule duplicate drive names

    Not sure if this belongs in Time Machine or Time Capsule thread, but here goes.
    I have a 500GB Time Capsule providing wireless to a couple of MacBook Pros and an Apple TV.
    Have been backing up 1 of the MBPs to the Time Machine internal disk (named TC internal) since January. All has been well.
    With no changes to system or setup of any kind, 2 or 3 days ago I noticed the backup taking an endless amount of time "preparing". I stopped the backup and checked my settings. Time Machine Preference showed no oldest or latest backup dates. I clicked on 'change disk' to make sure my TC internal drive was still selected, and there were 2 listings for the same drive, both named TC internal.
    I connected my MBP via ethernet to the Time Capsule, and let it run its course. The backup finished in about 45 minutes. Only when it was done, the backup drive was listed as TC internal-1.
    Backups have progressed normally since then, but sometimes the drive name in the TM preference panel is listed as TC internal, and sometimes TC internal-1.
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    FWIW, after poking around for some time, I found a way to do away with the duplicate drive in the list of available drives for time machine backup.
    I turned OFF the ability to access my time capsule via the internet, in Airport Utility.
    Lo and behold, the duplicate drive name went away.

  • Duplicate Admin accounts on restoring from Time Machine backup

    I need help to remove duplicate accounts, created after restore from Time Machine Backup.
    Here is the situation:
    1. I was running SL on a Mac Pro with Time Machine backup. I had 5 User Accounts on the Login Window: Shared (Admin account), Dear Wife (DW, also Admin), Kid1 (managed), Kid2 (managed) and Guest (standard), and two 750 GB hard drives, HD1 and HD2.
    2. Mac Pro would not boot past the Apple logo with spinning icon.
    3. After talking to with Apple Support, it turned out that HD1 had crashed. I took it in to the Genius Bar, where they checked and confirmed HD1 crash and took it in for repair.
    4. Apple replaced HD1 and reinstalled SL.
    5. I picked up the Mac Pro. At home I reconnected TM and restarted.
    6. Upon restart, I clicked on restore from TM backup and there was only 1 TM backup visible to select. After several hours of Transferring Information, about 700 GB was restored
    7. Upon finishing restore, I saw the same Login Window as before crash, with the same 5 accounts - Shared, DW, Kid1, Kid2, Guest.
    8. Issue: From the Login Window, logging into Shared and clicking on HD1>Users, I now see: Home Icon with Shared1, and four additional folders: Shared, DW, Kid1, Kid2
    It seems I now have duplicate Shared accounts in the User folder - Shared1 with the Home icon, and a separate folder with name Shared.
    I cannot "Move to Trash" Shared, since I get the message: “Shared” can’t be modified or deleted because it’s required by Mac OS X.
    When I go into System Prefs>Accounts: I see My Account: Shared, and Other Accounts: DW, Kid1, Kid2, Guest. After unlocking the accounts, and right clicking on Shared for Advanced Options, I see:
    User: "Shared"
    -- Account Name: shared
    -- Home Directory:/Users/shared1
    Question: How do I consolidate or get rid of the duplicate Shared/Shared1 account? I have 350 GB of video/pictures/music in each of these accounts, which is unnecessarily eating up the new HD1.
    Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

    I solved the duplicate account problem.
    I had used Setup Assistant to restore from TM Backup and that gave me the duplicate accounts, i.e., method used was:
    http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/19.html
    After carefully reading Pondini's FAQs, I instead used the Restore and install Method, i.e.,
    http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/14.html
    No duplicate accounts anymore, problem solved.

  • Lost I tunes tracks after restore from time machine

    Hi all
    I have had to restore OS X using a backup from time machine for resons I wont go into.
    The backup was only from a few days previous, all seemed well but when i went into itunes I had gone from nearly 8000 tracks to less than 3000.
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    And I do mean lost they are no longer listed in itunes
    What the **** is going on?
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    Hi, and welcome to the forums.
    First, are you running Leopard or Snow Leopard? Your settings at the bottom of your post say Snow Leopard, but this is the +Leopard > Time Machine+ forum, so I'm not sure which is right.
    Did you do the full system restore, starting by booting from your OSX disc? If not, what exactly did you do?
    Exactly what is wrong with Software Update? What happens, or doesn't happen?

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