Excluded Items in Time Machine are Still Backed Up

I setup my Time Capsule last night and in Time Machine Setting I selected my Desktop to be excluded. I just checked my backup today, and I can see all my desktop items in T.M.
Any ideas why?

Thank for the link. I am fully aware of this problem. However this link does not provide a solution to my problem.
I did all the things it suggested. I went over every detail with Western Digital tech support. Once the WD software is removed. And the firmware upgraded. And formated with Apple Format, and partitioned, and GUID and and and. I can transfer files without any difficulty in all circumstances; BUT ONE AND THAT IS WORKING WITH TIME MACHINE NOT ALLOWING THE BACKUP OF THE DATA ON THE WD DRIVE.
This is a Time Machine program error. If the disk exist for all other purpose, it should exist for Time Machine. It is a error to for Time Machine preferences to reverse a user selection. It needs to be fixed.

Similar Messages

I remove a disk from excluded items in time machine, save, and it does not remove it. Why

after the upgrade, time machine cannot use the extern disk in the backup.
It naturally excludes the external disk. I used to be able to remove the exclusion. After time machine I cannot.
The time machine preference is problematic. It shows the disk as remove, and calculated the space it will take to backup. However the save button undoes the selection,,,,, without showing that.

Thank for the link. I am fully aware of this problem. However this link does not provide a solution to my problem.
I did all the things it suggested. I went over every detail with Western Digital tech support. Once the WD software is removed. And the firmware upgraded. And formated with Apple Format, and partitioned, and GUID and and and. I can transfer files without any difficulty in all circumstances; BUT ONE AND THAT IS WORKING WITH TIME MACHINE NOT ALLOWING THE BACKUP OF THE DATA ON THE WD DRIVE.
This is a Time Machine program error. If the disk exist for all other purpose, it should exist for Time Machine. It is a error to for Time Machine preferences to reverse a user selection. It needs to be fixed.

After reformatting my 1 Tb WD ext drive and tinkering with the "exclude these items" list, I now get the following error message from Time Machine:Are you sure you want to back up to the same device your original data is on? the WD disk has mounted??

After reformatting my 1 Tb WD ext drive and tinkering with the "exclude these items" list, I now get the following error message from Time Machine: "Are you sure you want to back up to the same device your original data is on?" I've reformatted in Disk Utilities...not sure what I did wrong. Any help would be appreciated.

Not sure what you mean by "booted" from it.
If the Mac OS is installed on the external drive, then it's possible to start up from it, just as you do from your internal drive. Please open the Startup Disk preference pane in System Preferences, and verify that your internal drive is selected as the startup disk.
Assuming that's the case, then it may be that your TM settings have been corrupted. Turn off TM, then move or delete the file /Library/Preferences/com.apple.TimeMachine.plist. Turn TM back on, recreate your settings, and try again.

HT1998 Time machine no longer backs up. It prepares for back up OK but then fails to complete. The archive is still available. Any ideas? Thanks

Time machine no longer backs up. It prepares for back up OK but then fails to complete. The archive is still available. Any ideas? Thanks

Unfortunately, not much to go on here. There are any of twenty different reasons why backups are not occurring, and no shortcuts that I know of to find out why.
Work your way through Backup Failures in Pondini's excellent support document Time Machine --- Troubleshooting.
See C1 through C19.
http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html

Time Machine doesn't back up newest items

I have done the first round of time machine where it backs up everything on my mac- now when it backs up, it tells me it is backing up, but I don't see my newest files, photos, music, anywhere on the backup disc. what is happening? doing it manually just puts my entire photo library back onto the external HD again which would take forever. someone please HELP! thanks for your time

Having the same problem. Initial Time Machine backup goes fine. After that, no new files are backed up. I've reformated the external/Time Machine drive twice now.
Can someone suggest something. I've tried everything. No nothing is excluded, Time Machine does automatic/scheduled and manual backups just fine, but it doesn't actually appear to be backing up any new information.

My Time machine has stopped backing up saying there are some read only files.

My Time machine has stopped backing up and says that ther are some read only files preventing this. What steps do I need to take to fix it?

If you have more than one user account, these instructions must be carried out as an administrator.
Launch the Console application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Console in the icon grid.
Make sure the title of the Console window is All Messages. If it isn't, select All Messages from the SYSTEM LOG QUERIES menu on the left.
Enter the word "Starting" (without the quotes) in the String Matching text field. You should now see log messages with the words "Starting * backup," where * represents any of the words "automatic," "manual," or "standard." Note the timestamp of the last such message. Clear the text field and scroll back in the log to that time. Post the messages timestamped from then until the end of the backup, or the end of the log if that's not clear.
Post the log text, please, not a screenshot. If there are runs of repeated messages, post only one example of each. Don't post many repetitions of the same message.
When posting a log extract, be selective. Don't post more than is requested.
Please do not indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into a message.
Some personal information, such as the names of your files, may be included — edit that out, too, but don’t remove the context.

HT201250 where are the menu items in time machine

Where are the menu items in Time Machine. When I open the app all I see are stars and my various backups. Plus Cancel and Restore

https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-4055

My time machine will not back up. It says backup failed each time i try to back up. I tried switching it off but still nothing. It says "already in use" Please help!

My time machine will not back up. It says backup failed each time i try to back up. I tried switching it off but still nothing. It says "already in use" Please help!

The late James Pond left us these wonderful illustrated guides, including this one:
Time Machine - Troubleshooting
C12. "The Backup disk image ... sparsebundle ... is already in use."

Time machine did not back up photos

When I was preparing to upgrade from Mountain Lion to Mavericks, I heeded advice and purchased an external drive and backed up my iMac with Time Machine. I was very glad I did, because I encountered the 'There is a problem with your hard disc' message, so, I had to erase the hard drive and restore from Time Machine.
I felt very proud that I had been, for once, wise before the event, so I did not lose any of my important data.
That was a month ago.
Today, I decided to change my desktop picture and found no photographs available. When I opened iPhoto, it indicated that there were no libraries and prompted me to create a new one. No worries, I thought; the photos will all be on my external hard disc because of my prudence. But they were not there, as you, Dear Reader, will already have guessed.
I have looked at various Q & A discussions (here and elsewhere) and it seems at best that Time Machine is idisyncratic - and there are indications that it will not back up photos. This is despite the statement on the Apple website that says: 'Time Machine automatically backs up your entire Mac, including system files, applications, accounts, preferences, email messages, music, photos, movies, and documents.'
So, is there a solution to this? Am I missing something important? Or am I justified to feel outraged that I was fooled into thinking that a back-up would save my data for me to retrieve in the event of a crash, or the need to erase the hard disc? Is it simply a way of making people buy into iLife?
Please rescue me from my new-found cynicism

If it's true that the iPhoto library wasn't backed up, then it must have been excluded from your backups for some reason. Check the exclusion settings in the Time Machine preference pane. Even if you find nothing there, it's still possible for files to be excluded for other reasons, but that won't help you recover the lost data.
You can use Spotlight to search your backups:
Recover items using Time Machine and Spotlight

Time Machine isn't backing up external drive

I've been using Time Machine successfully for some time now. Recently I decided to move my iTunes music to an external drive (my internal drive was nearly full.) So I moved 150+ GB of iTunes library to the external drive successfully, but Time Machine seems to completely ignore the external (FireWire) drive. It's formatted as Mac OS Extended (that's HFS+, right?) so I don't understand what the problem might be.
Also, if I can get Time Machine to start backing up both drives correctly, should I erase the backup drive and start over? Otherwise, I assume that I'm going to be wasting a lot of (backup) drive space, since the 150GB iTunes library will be backed up from its original location on my internal drive, as well as from its new location on the external drive… what's the best way to deal with that?
Thanks in advance for the help.

Dave Troup wrote:
If V.K.s suggestion doesn't work, try excluding the drive, quitting System Preferences, then removing the exclusion.
Also, if I can get Time Machine to start backing up both drives correctly, should I erase the backup drive and start over? Otherwise, I assume that I'm going to be wasting a lot of (backup) drive space, since the 150GB iTunes library will be backed up from its original location on my internal drive, as well as from its new location on the external drive… what's the best way to deal with that?
You may not need to. TM will, eventually, delete it's copies of anything not still on your internal HD. When is just a question of how soon the TM drive/partition gets near full, and TM must start deleting your oldest "weekly" backups. You are supposed to get a message about that, if you have the appropriate box checked in TM's Preferences, but several folks here report they never did, so assume nothing.
Still, if you want, you can delete all the backups of a file or folder. Enter Time Machine, find and select the folder in question (presumably iTunes on your internal HD) in one of the "cascade" of Finder windows, then click the "gear" icon. That will give you an option to +Delete all backups of <folder>.+
You'll then get a confirmation prompt (may take quite a while, considering the size), then the usual place to enter your Administrator's password. The actual deletion will probably take quite a while, also. There was a report the other day that the item was still visible for quite some time after TM seemed to have finished the deletion, but eventually it did disappear.
Then make some change to the folder, or something within it, so TM will consider it changed and back-up the new (smaller) version.

Time Machine isn't backing up VMWare Fusion

Hello,
I understand Time Machine is supposed to backup Fusion Virtual Machines. It doesn't seem to happen for me. I was running Fusion 1.1.3 and my father inadvertently selected "Revert to Previous Snapshot" and lost all my latest files. I assumed I could just restore from yesterday's Time Machine backup--but it's not there. When I launch Time Machine, the 'virtual machines' folder is empty. I upgraded to Fusion 2.0 and it still doesn't seem to backup ('virtual machines' folder is still empty in TM). Anyone have an answer? How does Time Machine store these files?

This from VMWares' web site:
+"VMware Fusion 1.1.2 and Mac OS X Leopard Time Machine Issue Resolved
A bug in the Mac OS X 10.5-10.5.1 operating systems caused the system to fail if Time Machine attempted to back up live virtual machines. *To avoid this, VMware Fusion 1.1 excluded all virtual machines from Time Machine backups.* Apple resolved the Time Machine bug in Mac OS X 10.5.2, so VMware Fusion 1.1.2 now allows Time Machine backups of virtual machines if the Mac is running Mac OS X 10.5.2 or higher. This may result in larger Time Machine backups. If the backups are now too large, you can manually exclude your virtual machines from Time Machine backup and copy them separately to your backup disk.+
I realize you are running 10.5.5 and you have upgraded to Fusion 3. However, any chance you still have some Fusion 1.1 components still installed on the Mac that might be preventing TM from backing up Fusion?
Alternatively, others have not excluded anything in the TM Prefs Pane, yet certain files/folders were not being backed up. They cleared this up by deleting the following .plist.
*Delete Time Machine Preference .plist*
Go to --> Macintosh HD / Library / Preferences (Note: NOT Home / Library / Preferences).
Drag the .plist file labeled,
com.apple.TimeMachine.plist
to the root level of your Macs’ hard drive.
Reboot your computer.
This .plist file is automatically recreated at startup if it is missing.
Now try choosing the external HD in the TM Prefs for backup again.
Perform a backup and see if the missing file now appears in the last backup.
Glenn

Can i retrieve items from time machine into mavericks

Dear people
I am looking to install mavericks but don't want to do a clean install, ( i will if it messes my machine up though ).
If i install mavericks i take it that;
A: all the apple apps will still work.
B: if it is messed up then i wil be able to retrieve items from time machine back up.
C: is it worth doing a seperate back up to a hard drive other than by time machine.
D: i previously installed my last software via a clean install, as the upgrade to mountain lion messed up my emails
is it better to do a clean install or are the problems with email boxes etc not relevant in this up date.
Thank you

All the Apple apps will still work- that's a very positive, hopeful statement. Probably they will.
You should be able to retrieve something from your TIme Machine backup. Yes.
A duplicate backup: it depends on how criticially important your data is, and how paranoid you are. One backup is good enough for me.
I am a fan of the clean install. However, I did not do one this time with Mavericks. Lazy. But it works fine.
I would suggest that you restart in safe mode, though, before running the installer. I couldn't get the installer to work until I did.
Regarding a clean install vs. an update install, I think you are asking the wrong question. My opinion is that the vast majority of problems that people have with their Macs are due to:
crapware. I will elaborate on this if you want more. If not, stop reading now.
Crapware = unneeded "haxies", "cleaners", "optimizers", "defragmenters", antivirus software, and GUI modifiers. These are usually poorly written, typically ports from the Microsoft world. They are unnecessary and usually cause problems. They can be impossible to uninstall. They are popular with recent converts from the Microsoft world. I avoid them. My mac almost never, ever has any kind of problem, and I use it a lot, and not just for word processing and checking my email. I do audio recording and editing and some video editing too.
So I do not think the problems people report are due to the OS itself. People want to blame the OS, but I think it's unreasonable for Apple to be able to control and supervise every software developer on the planet.
I would suggest: if you have crapware on your computer, do a clean install, and then don't reinstall the crapware. Just my 2 cents.
If you don't have crapware, the Mavericks upgrade will probably work fine.
a good backup, Time Machine or otherwise, is always a good idea, especially when installing a new OS.

Time machine slow to back up tiny amounts of data

I'm running Snow Leopard 10.6.8 and trying to be satisfied that Time Machine has actually backed up my entire computer. It's running hourly, but backs up something like 50mb when there's nothing happening between backups. That's fine - I get there may be system files that change connected to the network.
But why does it take 20-30 minutes to back up this tiny amount of information via firewire? The backup drive is a 2TV drive with 500GB free. The imac has 12GB of RAM and 300GB of free space on the 1tb drive.
Right now it's been 15 minutes and says it is backing up 66kb of 2.6mb.
Then when it completes, if I restart Time Machine, it might find another 1gb to back up. or it finds 50K ITEMS to backup, again with nothing being done on the machine. Seems random.
Having experienced a nightmare restoring from a time machine backup on another machine, I'm not sure how you know if it's actually a "complete" backup? There are no parts of the drive excluded in TM Options.
Thanks

Check thru here, Pondini is the TM resident guru, there is a ton of info here, and check the FAQ section first.
http://pondini.org/OSX/Home.html

Time machine is not backing up - starts to, then stops. No error.

Time machine has stopped backing up. I have plenty of space on the external drive. When starting a backup, whether automatically or manually, the process will begin, and may even get to the backing up stage, then stop. No error message, but no backup either. This has been going on for 12 days, and I hadn't noticed as the icon at the top of the screen was not showing a backup issue.
I have checked and repaired permissions, and the external disk. There were a few issues, but they have been corrected. Still no luck.

Okay,
I ran the widget, and here are the results. The backup never got to actually backing up, it got stuck on "cleaning up". After 5 minutes, I hit stop backup up, and it was stuck on that till I restarted.
Starting standard backup
Error loading /Library/Plug-ins/DiskImages/NUMPlugin.bundle/Contents/MacOS/NUMPlugin: dlopen(/Library/Plug-ins/DiskImages/NUMPlugin.bundle/Contents/MacOS/NUMPlugin, 262): no suitable image found. Did find:\n /Library/Plug-ins/DiskImages/NUMPlugin.bundle/Contents/MacOS/NUMPlugin: mach-o, but wrong architecture
Cannot find function pointer VRPreviewCFPlugInFactory for factory 20D1C6B2-6A02-11D7-B5A6-000393D45566 in CFBundle/CFPlugIn 0x105937f30 </Library/Plug-ins/DiskImages/NUMPlugin.bundle> (bundle, not loaded)
Backing up to: /Volumes/Backup/Backups.backupdb
Event store UUIDs don't match for volume: Macintosh HD
Waiting for index to be ready (101)
Waiting for index to be ready (101)
Node requires deep traversal:/ reason:must scan subdirs|new event db|

How do I redirect time machine to current back up?

I just sent my Powerbook to Applecare for a repair (screen, fans, and keyboard), and I just received it yesterday. The first thing I did was click time machine to go back into time to retrieve some files that I didn't want to be somehow (purposely or more likely accidentally) affected by Apple's repair. Only the problem is, there is nothing there. Can't go back in time. Then an error pops up telling me that my disk has 1.99 GB's left to use and it needs 77 to create a new back up. The issue here is the fact that my partition has 200 GB's to back up on, and the reason that I only have 1.99 is because everything is already currently backed up to the backup bundle already created and used before sending it to Applecare. How do I make Time Machine recognize the current back up again (which has been in use since October) so that I can actually access all the files and continue to back up? I know the files are there, and I know the .sparsebundle still exists (I'm looking at), so how do I make Time Machine recognize and utilize it like nothing has happened?

Thanks a lot for responding, I really appreciate you taking the time to respond. I did check the computer name and it is the same. There are no new backups since I've received my computer back from Applecare so I'm not afraid to loose and current saves, all the ones I want are in that bundle. Once I saw that it tried to create whole new back up (sparsebundle) and couldn't because it didn't have enough space, I turned time machine off to make sure nothing changes from what was previously set. It's just a matter of figuring out how to make Time Machine recognize all the backups again so that I can access the them and continue to back up on it.
I'm not sure if I wrote this in already, but thought I would to see if it helps. My external hard drive is set up with the backups on it. When I access the external hard drive in finder, it shows a file that says "Kagan Buck's Powerbook G4's backups.sparsebundle" (not exact, but you get the drift). And it's trying to create a new one of those. So my basic question how do I make Time Machine access the current bundle again to utilize it like it always used too.
Sorry again if I'm being repetitious, but I feel like that's the first time I've actually correctly described the issue.
Thanks a lot.

Excluded Items in Time Machine are Still Backed Up

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