Exclude Movies from Time Machine backups

Is there a way to exclude iTunes movies from Time Machine backups? The "Movies" folder is visible and can be selected, but the "exclude" button grayed-out. I ask this question because I add TV shows and movies to iTunes really just for a short term, maybe a day or two, until I can watch them using AirPlay on my TV, and then they're deleted. For example, four 1-hour TV episodes equals about 20GB of mp4 files, and it's a waste of Time Capsule space to back them up. I can exclude individual movie files, but I need to exclude the entire folder because the file names are always changing.
Is there a terminal command I might be able to enter to exclude the "Movies" folder? Thanks in advance.

Exposing the /Home/Library/ Folder
Pick one of the following methods:
A. This method will make the folder visible permanently. Open the Terminal application in your Utilities folder and paste the following at the command prompt:
chflags nohidden ~/Library
Press RETURN.
B. Click on the Desktop, press the OPTION (⌥) button, select Library from the Finder's Go menu.
C. Select Go To Folder from the Finder's Go menu. Paste the following in the path field:
~/Library
Press the Go button.

Similar Messages

HT201250 How can I exclude mail from Time Machine backups?

How can I exclude mail from Time Machine backups?

Welcome to the Apple Support Communities
Mails are stored on ~/Library/Mail, being ~ your user folder. As you are running Snow Leopard, it's easy to exclude your mails from your Time Machine backup.
Open System Preferences > Time Machine > Options, and add ~/Library/Mail to excluded items, so the next backup won't include mails. Note that you have to go to your user folder, in order to access to this directory

Restoring movies from Time Machine backup

Last night I tried restoring my photos from a Time Machine backup. It appears that all my movies (.avi files) have been restored as .jpg files. When I open the pictures folder, it automatically opens iPhoto and starts importing my pictures. Is there something I can do to make sure that my .avi files are imported as .avi files and not .jpg files? Thanks!

From Apple Help:
To restore files:
Open a window for the item you want to restore.
For example, if you accidentally deleted a file from your Documents folder, open the Documents
folder. If you want to recover an email message, open your inbox in Mail.
If you’re missing an item from the desktop, you don’t need to open a window.
Click the Time Machine icon in the Dock.
If Time Machine isn’t in the Dock, look for it in the Applications folder.
Use the arrows or the timeline along the right side of your screen to browse through all the
backups Time Machine has created.
If you need more information about an item, double-click to preview it.
The windows behave just like Finder windows, so you can open folders, click items in the sidebar,
and use the search field in the upper-right corner of the window.
When you find the item you want to restore, select it and then click Restore.
You can restore individual items, multiple items, folders, or your entire hard disk.
If an item you restore has the same name as another item on your computer, you’re asked if you
want to keep the current item, the restored item, or both.
The restored item is returned to its original location. For example, if it is found in the Documents
folder, it is returned to the Documents folder. Time Machine may ask if you want to re-create one
or more folders in order to return a restored item to its original location.
Kj

Can't exclude folders from Time Machine backups

I am trying to exclude Folders from backups to preserve space.
Go into Time Machine preferences and Options - I can select + to Exclude Folders, and select a Folder, but on then selecting to Exclude nothing gets returned to the "Exclude these items from backups" form.
Help!

Welcome to the Apple Support Communities
Mails are stored on ~/Library/Mail, being ~ your user folder. As you are running Snow Leopard, it's easy to exclude your mails from your Time Machine backup.
Open System Preferences > Time Machine > Options, and add ~/Library/Mail to excluded items, so the next backup won't include mails. Note that you have to go to your user folder, in order to access to this directory

Creating a script to exclude files from Time Machine Backup

Hi guys,
I was looking for some input as I have rolled out Sophos Safeguard to a number of MacBook's in our company and with this you need to exclude sevral files from the Time Machine backup.
Rather than manually doing each user is there a scripting tool I could use to exclude these files? Have taken a look at apple script but don't think this supports the time machine application. Could the terminal be used? If so does anyone have any guidelines I could follow to create this?
Thanks for your time.

The exclusions are contained in the file
/Library/Preferences/com.apple.TimeMachine.plist
I suggest you deploy that file rather than trying to edit it, which could be quite complex.

Exclude Contacts from Time Machine backups

Hi Everyone.
Does anyone know if there is a way to exclude contacts db from my TM backups.
I know about and use the options button within TM to exclude folders and/or files from backup sessions, but since contacts metadata directory is under the hidden Library folder, I have not find a way to list it there.
Any help would be highly appreciated.

Exposing the /Home/Library/ Folder
Pick one of the following methods:
A. This method will make the folder visible permanently. Open the Terminal application in your Utilities folder and paste the following at the command prompt:
chflags nohidden ~/Library
Press RETURN.
B. Click on the Desktop, press the OPTION (⌥) button, select Library from the Finder's Go menu.
C. Select Go To Folder from the Finder's Go menu. Paste the following in the path field:
~/Library
Press the Go button.

Unable to exclude VMware disk image from Time Machine backup

In Time Machine Preferences, I elected to exclude home\Documents\Virtual Machines folder in my home directory. Whether I use the "+" button to add the exclusion or dragged it in from Finder, the exclusion list only shows [Virtual Machine]. Coming from a Windows world, I am concerned that I don't see the fully qualified path for the "Virtual Machine" folder name. Even the folder property doesn't show the full path information. Since I do not exclude Documents folder, it is included in all Time Machines backup. Unfortunately, so is my home\Documents\Virtual Machines folder.
Question #1: What am I missing?
This question is related to this next issue.
Question #2: If I have a folder called "Users Guide" in addition to the built-in "Documents folder in my home directory, and they each contain the sub-directory "Preliminary", how do I tell Time Machine I want to exclude the folder \User Guide\Preliminary from TM backup?

Thanks for the tip. Hovering does show the path. Now the mystery is a little worst than before, and I'm back to trying figure out how to exclude the home\Documents\Virtual Machines folder (where he VM disk images are stored) from Time Machine backups while it's allowed to backup home\Documents (as intended).
When I get back home tonight, I'm going to try excluding some other sub-folders (which I created) of [Documents] from Time Machine while I allow [Documents] to be backed up. I'll post the results, and hopefully can ask a smarter questions.

Not enough space on my new SSD drive to import my data from time machine backup, how can I import my latest backup minus some big files?

I just got a new 256GB SSD drive for my mac, I want to import my data from time machine backup, but its larger than 256GB since it used to be on my old optical drive. How can I import my latest backup keeping out some big files on the external drive?

Hello Salemr,
When you restore from a Time Machine back up, you can tell it to not transfer folders like Desktop, Documents. Downloads, Movies, Music, Pictures and Public. Take a look at the article below for the steps to restore from your back up.
Move your data to a new Mac
http://support.apple.com/en-us/ht5872
Regards,
-Norm G.

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.

How to move existent Time Machine backups to a NAS?

Hello everybody
I am not sure if I am posting this discussion in the correct community, so please move it to the right one in case you need.
Currently I am using a 1TB external hard drive to store all my time machine backups. This drive also contains other information (movies, photos etc). I bought a Western Digital MyBook World Edition II which is a NAS. I want it to move my Time Machine backups to my NAS. How can I do it? Just copy over the backups folder from the external hard drive to the NAS?
Thank you!
Gilson

That's just crazy slow.
It won't be fast, as the data can't go directly from the old disk to the new one. It must pass through your Mac, so is on the network twice, slowing the effective speed by roughly half. But that's awful.
There could be any number of causes, from bad ports or cables to problems with either drive or controller. I don't have any experience with modern RAID systems, but some of the older ones were extremely slow when there was a problem with one of the drives.
And it may get worse -- if the backups are damaged, the copy will fail and the result won't be useable.
About all I can recommend is the usual: it's always prudent to keep secondary backups. If you don't have any, I'd strongly recommend getting a (plain) external HD and making a "bootable clone" on it ASAP (that will probably slow the copy down somewhat). See Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #27 for details and some suggestions.
It wouldn't have to be a 2 TB drive, just the same size as your internal HD (or at least 10% larger than the data on it). You might consider getting a portable drive, so you can take it to a secure off-site location once you get your TM backups working to the new WD box. Then update it periodically.

10.5.8 mac pro cannot restore from time machine backup

Hey there,
I've had a mac volume die on me so I ordered the 10.5.8 cds from Apple. I installed the OS on a new hard drive and trying to migrate from time machine backup and the backup failed to move both my user and application settings. I've tried using the migration assistant, this also fails and doesnt show me the correct volumes in TM. Please help!

What have you done to repair and rebuild the directory of your old drives?
One word of caution is that Alsoft Disk Warrior is/was not (not sure latest version) to deal with the huge size of some TimeMachine backup volumes which as Ricks said, are complex and prone to failures.
I wanted to see how it would work to have one TM drive for dailys, another for just run once a week, and system clone before any updates. Plus a small handy emergency only boot drive volume (40GB).
So you are stuck with 10.5.8 due to cost of software applilcation upgrades? and with Lion there is no support for old PowerPC, no Rosetta to run and support those. And then ML coming soon which seems to drop support for pre-2008s.
Metadata is trash as in temp cache and in a smart backup - like CCC and such - would never be backed up or shouldn't be - they should be deleted and is one case and use for things like CCleaner to be run (until Safari and Chrome do job limited age and size of disk caches).
Caches and temp files and logs can be source of problems.
SyncServices - 10.5.x started using that and that would get messed up at least when I looked at it 10.5.2+ era.
I'd dual boot SL and 10.5.8
10.5.x came out 4.5 yrs ago. In that time I upgraded boot drive couple times, formatted/initialized when it came out and again a year later 10.5.6 and then with 10.6.0 or about once a year to clone, erase, restore.
You used your backup drive for two years.
Originally hoped that it would be easy and possible to clone TM backup drives for safety and so you coudl take a good set with a year of data on it and instead of start over, take it and make a copy for archive your files. A good file history.
There are programs that add to and help manage and allow the user to look at and choose backup sets from different points in time. I take it you can't do that.
I would invest in more backup drives, internal and external, while try to build a new solid footing and foundation - so you can install, clone, do more modifications and installs and updates, so you never have to redo.
With backup clones you would never have to worry about reinstalls or lost files. CCC will with a large enough volume also allow archive of file changes. TM is probably good - for those that didn't and dont' like to backup.
I would hope though have seen enough errors, but you are using the initial TM backup program which has had three more OS versions and 3 yrs since to improve form 10.5.8 (came out June '09).

Why are excluded folders in Time Machine Backups?

I have my top-level Virtual Machines folder excluded from Time Machine Backups. Yet, they are there, granted, only back to the top of this month, 4 days ago, but, there they are.
Why is this?

No, it has been in the exclusion list since June 2013 when I got the AirPort Time Capsule. (and even before that, when I got VirtualBox)

I'm having a problem with logging into a FileVault-protected user account after restoring from Time Machine backup.

Hi all,
My computer had been running really slowly for a while, so I decided to erase the whole hard drive and reinstall the operating system, and then I was going to restore the files I cared about from Time Machine. The main account, which had all my documents and photos, was FileVault-protected. The last thing I did before erasing the hard drive was to run one last Time Machine backup. As far as I remember, I always ran Time Machine backups with the FileVaulted user logged in.
I don't remember whether I was using FileVault 1 or 2. I had been using FileVault 1, but I installed Lion as soon as it came out and I thought I had migrated to FileVault 2 at that point.
Once I erased the hard drive and reinstalled the operating system, I browsed the Time Machine disk and, within the Users folder, there was no folder for the main user account. When I tried to reinstall everything by restoring from Time Machine backup, I'd get the option for all the user accounts, but when I tried to log in with the main one I'd get the dreaded "You are unable to log in to the FileVault user account "User" at this time. Log in failed because an error occurred." Finally, when attempting to restore from the Time Machine backup again, I noticed something strange: After the computer got to about 10% done restoring, it declared itself completed successfully and rebooted.
I've tried a number of tips that came up from questions about similar issues on the Apple support forum, but had no luck. Is there any way to get these files back? Did they ever even get backed up?
Thanks.

Hroodbwai wrote:
I can't find it! not sure what's going on but the only folder shown is the " Shared" folder.
Did you have only the one user account? If there were others, they should also be in the "Users" folder. You probably won't have access to the files inside them, but they should be there.
From what can make out, it looks like it's not backed up any of the files for the filevault account. Can't see user folder when looking through previous backups in Time Machine galaxy view.
Are you doing that from a Finder window set to your internal HD, or your computer name? It should look something like this (with the Finder in List view):
|
|
I'd been logging out and backing up manually on a regular basis.
Scheduled backups should run normally; but they won't back up the File Vault sparse bundle, nor will any run manually.
The only time it's backed-up is when you actually log out.
You should have seen this window on logout:
|
|
followed by this one:
|
|
If you didn't see the second one, or cancelled it, the account wasn't backed-up.

Error 150:30 after restoring CS4 from Time Machine backup

I just got myself a new Imac with OS X Maverick and set it up using a time-machine-backup. My Adobe CS4 now has a Problem with the license and shows me error: 150:30?
Do I need to uninstall CS4 and reinstall? Is there any easier solution to this problem?
Thank you anyone for some help.
chris

Thanks a lot for your help......everything back to normal after reeinstallation.
chris
Am 29.09.2014 um 23:28 schrieb John Waller <[email protected]>:
Error 150:30 after restoring CS4 from Time Machine backup
created by John Waller in Adobe Creative Cloud - View the full discussion
Do I need to uninstall CS4 and reinstall?
Unfortunately yes.
Also run the Cleaner Tool prior to reinstalling
Use the CC Cleaner Tool to solve installation problems | CC, CS3-CS6
Restoring from Time Machine backups invariably breaks the activation mechanism (Error 150:30) and there's no easy way to fix a 150:30 error other than via re-installing.
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Imac won't restore from time machine backup after HD (hard drive) recall replacement

I have an imac bought in 2011, running Snow Leopard. It required an HD replacement due to the 1 TB Seagate recall - the replacement was done by a certified Apple repair station yesterday. Before the guy left he started a backup/restore from my latest time machine backup set. It failed. I attempted it two times and got error messages that it failed and the computer needed to be restarted to try it again. No luck. I called the guy back and he told me to call Apple Care. Not thrilled about that response since the guy had just left my house I did what he told me to do. (A quick sideline here: I recognize that a time machine backup should be no big deal and SHOULD work everytime, but it doesn't. It irks me that Apple is replacing my HD through no fault of mine and yet they don't allow the restore of data to be a "covered" expense in this process - this isn't just because this was an authorized repair guy - the Apple store would have done the same).
Back to the issue. When I called apple care they pretty much had me try the same thing again with an earlier back up set. To my knowledge, it didn't work. I say this because it looked like it was working and when I came back to the imac later, it had restarted and once again booted to the OSX install. (The boot disc is still in the imac). When I tried to boot from another location, one did not show up to boot from so I assumed that the data didn't transfer and it forced another restart. So, I tried something else. I tried to re-install the snow leopard OSX without using the restore function. That appeared to work and then when the machine restarted it asked if I had another mac and I chose the option to get the files/apps/etc. from my time machine backup. The computer chose what I can only assume is the most recent backup set (It chose what I know to be a subfolder that appears under the dated backup folder - Macintosh HD--which btw is confusing seeing as that's always the name of the HD on the imac). I again stepped away from the computer so it could do its thing for two hours. When I returned, I was back to the MAC OSX screen that asks you to choose a language. There were no more options to choose DISK UTILITY or RESTORE FROM BACKUP, etc. When I clicked on English it took me right back into the screen where you say whether you have another Apple that you want to transfer data from. I realized that the imac must have restarted and I assumed maybe it was because the boot disk was still in - except how do you get the disc to eject? I also initially assumed that the backup had somehow failed again and triggered a restart. I tried to choose the option to just set up the machine without transferring data and when I got to the choose a name for your HOME folder message I tried to enter the same name I had it as before and it wouldn't allow me to do so, saying that that name was already in use. I also tried a different name and that didn't work either - got the same message (I assume if it is not the same name that it won't sync up with the time machine data from the backup set). So, I almost tried the "select time machine backup" option again until I looked at my HD space. Clearly, there is space that has been used. HD space was 997 at the start and now it's 636. My initial thought is to somehow get back into the setup area where I can use disc utility and erase the whole thing and then start over but 1) I don't think it's going to work even if I could get back there 2) I have no idea how to get this thing to reboot into that mode 3) I can't get the boot CD out to even try to restart to see if this thing did what it was supposed to, SO NOW I AM TOTALLY STUCK! I have not called Apple Care back because quite frankly they were useless the first time. I have a call into the repair guy but who knows how much help he will be. In the mean time, I have a million things to do and a computer that isn't working - Whoever said Apples never have issues needs to be seriously censored!
A few other notes: I use Time Machine Editor to run my backups weekly. It was set up that way from the get go by an Apple rep who came to my house to get us up and running. Editor should not effect the way that time machine does its work, so I doubt there is relevance but thought it worth mentioning.
One other note is that the Apple Care agent tried to have me do something called a "Source" something or other from the disk utility screen but when she realized that my backup file (shown by date) contained many other sub files (11-27-12/MacintoshHD/MyNamesIMAC/etc.), it was not possible to run this operation - thus we aborted. Sorry I don't remember the name of the process and unfortunately now can't access that option to go find it.
If you can help me, I would be eternally grateful! I am open to having a phone conversation if you are willing to give me your email to mail you my number. I have so much work to do this week and this was the last thing I needed. Did I mention this was supposed to be EASY?
I used to be quite the geek with my PC - still on the learning curve with the mac but not enjoying it. I am fairly tech savvy and I can follow instructions for a step by step solution if you've got one.

I got a recall and had the drive replaced. I have retored 3 timesa dn even had apple do the job and it is still not right. I still can't get a simple ghost of the data from time machineback tot he new drive.
This is Apple's explaination as taken from their web page.:
Restoring your entire system from a backup
If you are restoring a backup made by a Mac to the same Mac
With your backup drive connected, start up your Mac from the Recovery system (Command-R at startup) or Mac OS X v10.6 installation disc. Then use the "Restore From Time Machine Backup" utility.
Note: If "You can't restore this backup because it was created by a different model of Mac" appears when restoring a backup that was made on a different Mac, follow the onscreen instructions.
I even posted this information on the community and apple removed it... because they don't like the:
Off-topic or non-technical posts
Non-constructive rants or complaints
But here is my experieince:
Take in 27iMac running 10.6.8, 5-7 days, what a joke, my boss will be happy to pay for a week without working. Finally get, "if you have TM back up, 3 days." Get machine back with 10.6.3, hit the R recovery, click TM back up, runs for 2 hours, reboots, looks great. Box up take back to office... update to install - OH NO, still running 10.6.3. Updates crash with no specific error on install, BUG PROBELM, nothing runs.
Call Apple... after hours, tells me to boot using 10.6.2 disk, wipe, reinstall OS, udate to 10.6.8, THEN do the restore. GREAT! Only thing 10.6.2 DVD won't read... now back on phone... take back to the store, Genius says, he'll ix it just like it was. PROMISES it'll be fixed.
Pick up next day, supposedly, booted to disk, wiped drive, reinstalled, updated to 10.6.8 and THEN did the RIGHT restore... Looks GREAT... apps run and 10.6.8 OS. Back to the office... NOT RUNNING right!!!... fonts messed up, drop box app needs new install, cocktail needs upgrade, Fetch not working, memorized paths gone... back ups locked out of permissions... ***!!
4 hours on phone with apple and still no rsolution - to missing "settings". Seems there are THREE WAYS TO RESTORE (according to apply tech)... Running MIGRATE ASSISTANT and being able to choose your files, including settings, "R" RESTORE after they load a new OS... or NOW WAITING for them to send me a bootable 10.6.3 disk and then boot from disk, w/o installing OS and doing a restore from TM. I think this is done via the disk Utilties application.
So now can't back up without doing a full 400 GB back up since permissons are screwed and possibly destroying any good back ups... can't work, like having hands tied behind back. WAITING for solution! Very upset!!!
I did my first restore just like they said and now an 10 days without proper machine. Just FYI. I thnk I am going to make the store do the tech work so I have somthing to fall back on.

Exclude Movies from Time Machine backups

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