How to stop Time Machine from creating entirely new backup of external drive?

I've included an external drive to be backed up into Time Machine. For a few days, the drive was disconnected, however, so only Macintosh HD was getting backed up. I recently re-added the external drive. However, now it appears that since the external wasn't included in the most recent backups, it's decided to re-backup the entire drive.
Is there any way to prevent it from backing up the entire external drive and instead just backup the changes made, or is that not possible because there is a gap in the backups made for the external?

First, the amount that TM says it's going to back up is not necessarily the amount it will back up. You'll only know that when the backup finishes.
I haven't tried this myself, but it may be that after you exclude a volume, TM loses continuity with the previous snapshot. In that case, future backups should be incremental, as long as you don't exclude the volume again.

Similar Messages

  • How to stop Time Machine from backing up Temp Files?

    Hi folks!
    I am trying to find out how to stop Time Machine from constantly backing up 'useless' temporary files accumulated from web browsing? Although I don't change or add large files to my HD, Time Machine backs up hundreds of MBs every hour. Those file amounts make sense when I consider that I browse a lot to YouTube, SoundCloud, etc to watch videos or listen to music - I just don't want them to be backed up.
    Under Time Machine Options I already excluded the following items from backups:
    ~/Library/Caches
    /Library/Caches
    ~/Downloads
    But even though I did this weeks ago, Time Machine stills finds large files to be backed up every hour and my only guess is that I am still missing a location where either Safari or Firefox - the two web browsers I use - store temporary files.
    Can you help?
    Thanks a lot in advance!

    oas2103 wrote:
    they come from my anti-virus software
    Are you sure you need that? There are no viruses that run on OSX. None. Zip. Zero.
    If you're running Windoze on your Mac, that's the same as running it on a PC, so it needs all the same anti-everything stuff you'd use on a PC.
    There is some "malware," such as Trojans, for Macs, though. But (unlike viruses that can get onto your system without your knowledge), you must approve their installation (via your Admin password) and/or operation (via the "This application was downloaded from the internet ..." prompt).
    Appropriately enough, some of these Trojans are included in pirated versions of Apple software, such as iWork!
    For the gory details, see Thomas Reed's [Mac Virus Guide|http://www.reedcorner.net/thomas/guides/macvirus].
    Thanks a lot again!
    You're quite welcome, and thanks for posting back.

  • Time Machine must create a new backup for you

    getting this error message Time Machine completed a verification of your backups. To improve reliability, Time Machine must create a new backup for you. don't want to lose the history off my backups how can i fix this without losing any backups.

    You really can't. 
    That's not one of Apple's clearest messages;  it means your backups are damaged beyond OSX's ability to repair them.  See #C13 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting for details.

  • Time Machine would create a NEW backup

    Hello,
    sorry for my bad english, I'm not a native speaker.
    I'm useing Mac OSX 10.7.3
    Since a few days, I've some trouble with Time Machine. When TM would create a new backup in the normal hourly loop it creates the following message:
    Time machine has completed the review of its backups. To improve the reliability time machine must create a new backup. (i hope it's the correct translation in englich)
    Now I've to options:
    1. I can create a new backup later
    2. create a new backup
    Does anyone knows what is wrong? I don't want to create a new backup, I want to use the old one.
    I still have enough space on my backup volume. I'm using the Airport Extreme and a WD hard drive.
    Thank you for your assist.
    David

    Unfortunately, the issue is that the wireless connection isn't fast enough. The error is saying that basically its going to take too long to do the work.
    Not sure how apple makes the time capsule faster,but apparently it works.
    Apple suggested configuration is either by a direct USB or FireWire connection, or use a time capsule.
    Linc is correct in his last post.   You can actually plug in your USB drive at random intervals and time machine will see it and do its thing. This will probably work better in the long run, even though you haven't had any issues up until now.

  • Getting this error: Time Machine completed a verification of your backups. To improve reliability, Time Machine must create a new backup for you.

    I keep getting this error on my new Macbook Pro w/ Retina.
    "Time Machine completed a verification of your backups. To improve reliability, Time Machine must create a new backup for you."
    Connected to a wifi network and QNAP storage system.  There are 5 computers on this network, and each backs up just fine.  The issue is isolated to this one machine.
    This error shows up every week or so.

    A third-party NAS is unsuitable for use with Time Machine, especially if it's your only backup. I know this isn't the answer you want. I know Time Machine accepts the NAS as a backup destination. I know that the manufacturer says the device will work with Time Machine, and I also know that it usually seems to work. Except when you try to restore, and find that you can't.
    Apple has published a specification for network devices that work with Time Machine. None of the third-party NAS vendors, as far as I know, meets that specification. They all use the incomplete, obsolete Netatalk implementation of Apple Filing Protocol.
    If you want network backup, use as the destination either an Apple Time Capsule or an external storage device connected to another Mac or to an 802.11ac AirPort base station. Only the 802.11ac base stations support Time Machine, not any older model.
    Otherwise, don't use Time Machine at all. There are other ways to back up, though none of them is anywhere near as efficient or as well integrated with OS X. I don't have a specific recommendation.
    If you're determined to keep using the NAS with Time Machine, your only recourse for any problems that result is to the manufacturer (which will blame Apple, or you, or anyone but itself.)

  • Why do I get this message every time I travel with my laptop and then return home: To improve reliability, Time Machine must create a new backup for you.

    Why do I get this message every time I travel with my laptop and then return home: "To improve reliability, Time Machine must create a new backup for you."
    I get this on my new MacBook Air, but never got it on my old MacBook Pro.
    Thanks!

    See #C13 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting.

  • I got the message:   Time Machine completed a verification of your backups. To improve reliability, Time Machine must create a new backup for you. I got the message:   Time Machine completed a verification of your backups. To improve reliability, Time Ma

    I got the message:
    Time Machine completed a verification of your backups. To improve reliability, Time Machine must create a new backup for you.
    Here's what the text of the system.log says when I filter for backupd:
    Jan  9 11:37:14 justin-steeds-macbook-pro com.apple.backupd[2618]: Starting standard backup
    Jan  9 11:37:14 justin-steeds-macbook-pro com.apple.backupd[2618]: Network destination already mounted at: /Volumes/TimeMachine
    Jan  9 11:37:33 justin-steeds-macbook-pro com.apple.backupd[2618]: Recovery backup declined by user.
    Jan  9 11:37:33 justin-steeds-macbook-pro com.apple.backupd[2618]: Backup canceled.
    Jan  9 11:48:20 justin-steeds-macbook-pro com.apple.backupd[2859]: Starting standard backup
    Jan  9 11:48:20 justin-steeds-macbook-pro com.apple.backupd[2859]: Network destination already mounted at: /Volumes/TimeMachine
    Jan  9 11:48:42 justin-steeds-macbook-pro com.apple.backupd[2859]: Recovery backup declined by user.
    Jan  9 11:48:43 justin-steeds-macbook-pro com.apple.backupd[2859]: Backup canceled.
    Jan  9 11:51:07 justin-steeds-macbook-pro com.apple.backupd[2917]: Starting standard backup
    Jan  9 11:51:07 justin-steeds-macbook-pro com.apple.backupd[2917]: Network destination already mounted at: /Volumes/TimeMachine
    Jan  9 11:51:34 justin-steeds-macbook-pro com.apple.backupd[2917]: Recovery backup declined by user.
    Jan  9 11:51:34 justin-steeds-macbook-pro com.apple.backupd[2917]: Backup canceled.
    Jan  9 11:53:50 justin-steeds-macbook-pro com.apple.backupd[2987]: Starting standard backup
    Jan  9 11:53:50 justin-steeds-macbook-pro com.apple.backupd[2987]: Network destination already mounted at: /Volumes/TimeMachine
    Jan  9 11:54:07 justin-steeds-macbook-pro com.apple.backupd[2987]: Recovery backup declined by user.
    Jan  9 11:54:07 justin-steeds-macbook-pro com.apple.backupd[2987]: Backup canceled

    Since this is a MacBook Pro hardware community, you might get better results by asking your question at the Time Machine forum, located within the Lion discussion group. 
    https://discussions.apple.com/community/mac_os/mac_os_x_v10.7_lion

  • "....To Improve Reliability, Time Machine Must Create a New Backup for You"

    I bought the new Apple 2 TB Time Capsule thinking it would be a great way to get a powerful wireless router and handle file backup for both me and my wife's iMacs.  She is running an up-to-date version of Snow Leopard and I am on the most recent update of Mountain Lion.  The Time Capsule was installed and running by the first of August and we had no problems until this monday (7 weeks later) when I got the message that "Time Machine completed a verification of your backups. To improve reliability Time Machinge must create a new backup"  My wife's back up was still ok but I had to go though the 5-6 hour process of re-copying all my files(using an ethernet connection) to the device. All went smoothly for a few days until I got the same message again about creating a new backup.  Also my wife cannot enter her time machine files even though the computer is still being backed up. We have a stable internet service and both computers recieve a strong signal from the router. Is it possible that the Time Capsule Drive is defective? Is there any sort of maintenance such as zpping the PRAM that would help?  This is really frustrating as it looks like the timemachine backup is totally unreliable and not worth fooling with.  Is there any way to use the storage capability of the time capsule without going through time machine?
    Thanks,
    Reid McCallister

    hi
    rest assured you are not alone. i have the same problem and i hate it with a passion. in fact, i am the victim of this message as of 20 minutes ago and doing a full backup as I am typing this. I am so overly ****** that I actually posted here and will be calling or emailing apple next because I cannot take this anymore. the problem lies in time machine and unfortunately, there is no fix for that. time machine is the best idea of apple with the worst implementation ever. you have no obligation to use time capsule to benefit from time machine as this would not be legal anyway. i will give you 2 temporary solutions and let you decide which one works best for you:
    1) open time machine preferences and turn automatic backups off. create a new full backup from scratch and only backup manually whenever you remember, preferably every day. the automation process is the problem that lies within time machine. also make sure that your system does not go to standy or sleep whatever that may be called. Power nap, despite all claims, is not compatible with time machine. install CAFFEINE, an app that keeps your mac awake and prevents from going to sleep while back up is in progress. use it like this and pray it will all go fine for a long time. you may wish to duplicate the first full backup to save time in case this should happen again so you have a base to start on
    2) install CCC (carbon copy cleaner) I have not used it myself yet, but probably will be installing it after finishing this post. it is claimed to be better, yet it is yet to be seen by me personally.
    unless time machine can be trained without any addons to use a specific wifi only for backup, these issues will persist.

  • How to stop time machine from backing up encrypted lion partition

    I am using 10.6.8 but I created a Lion partition on the same disk. I am trying out Lion and I do not want Time Machine to back it up. I was able to exclude the Lion volume until I encrypted the Lion partition using Filevault 2. Now when I'm using Snow Leopard, there doesn't seem to be a way of preventing Time Machine from backing up the Lion partition. Am I missing something?

    The FAQ says Snow Leopard can't read the Filevault 2 disk which seems to imply I won't be able to keep Time Machine from backing up the Lion partition. That seems wrong. How can Snow Leopard's Time Machine see the disk to back it up, but can't see it to exclude from backup?

  • How to stop Time Machine from trying to resize a sparse bundle

    With 10.8, I'm backing up wirelessly from my MacBook Pro to a sparse bundle on a Drobo connected to a Mac mini on the same network. I used Drobo's Time Tamer to create the sparse bundle. The sparsebundle is a set size and cannot be resized (this is intentional to avoid filling the Drobo which is mostly used to store non-backed up non-critical data.
    Every step of the backup process works, but Time Machine spends a good 20-30 minutes during each backup "resizing" the disk image. It doesn't actually suceed in resizing the disk image, but it displays "Looking for Backup Disk" in the Time Machine menu while Console reveals that it's resizing the disk image ("Resizing backup disk image from 17.59 TB to 17.59 TB"). It doesn't cause any errors, but it does turn the backup time from a few minutes
    Does anyone know of a workaround to disable this resizing step or to make it fail quickly and proceed with the rest of the backup normally?
    I wasn't using Time Machine before upgrading to 10.8 from 10.7, so I don't know if this is a new issue with Mountain Lion. I suspect that this would happen in earlier OS versions too.

    I'm experiencing it on a Synology NAS. Time Machine always starts by "Resizing backup disk image from 1.07 TB to 1.07 TB." In the status bar, it just displays "looking for backup disk."
    I don't have any solutions yet. Would definitely be interested to hear. I think it might have to do with the fact that I increased the user's disk quota (on the NAS) after doing the initial time machine backup. While Time Machine correctly identified the extra space as available, it somehow can't get over the fact that it changed once.
    Things I have done:
    Manually ran hdiutil resize -size 1000g *.sparseimage. This did change the reported disk size in the disk's Info.plist, but the next backup still did the resize step.

  • How to stop Time Machine from polling disks

    I have shut off Time Machine in system preferences but it continuously asks if I want to use it with a disk that is attached.
    The questions is simple - how can I stop this from happening?
    I have already tried:
    defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.TimeMachine DoNotOfferNewDisksForBackup -bool YES
    It still continues to harass me daily. Any suggestions appreciated!

    I may have spoke to soon. I think I finally squashed the prompts with the terminal command I noted above.
    Essentially what you are saying is let TM set up a preference file then shut it off - that would probably work. Thanks for the suggestion - if I get the prompt again from TM I will try your idea.

  • How to stop time machine from filling up trash

    I've been using time machine to backup my mac and I've noticed that whenever it deletes old backups to make room for the new ones it leaves my trash bin with about 30,000 files. This takes up a lot a space and is very time consuming to empty. Does anybody know how to prevent it from sending the old files to the trash or have any suggestions period? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

    Fox 8991 wrote:
    I've been using time machine to backup my mac and I've noticed that whenever it deletes old backups to make room for the new ones it leaves my trash bin with about 30,000 files. This takes up a lot a space and is very time consuming to empty. Does anybody know how to prevent it from sending the old files to the trash or have any suggestions period? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
    That's not how it should work, and something I've never seen on this forum. We do see this when people delete backups manually, via the Finder (which can cause all sorts of troubles).
    How large is your internal HD, and how much data is on it?
    Where does TM put your backups (external drive, Time Capsule)?
    Click here to download the +Time Machine Buddy+ widget. It shows the messages from your logs for one TM backup run at a time, in a small window.
    Navigate to a backup where this happened, copy and post the messages here, please.

  • How to stop Time Machine from deleting historical backups

    So for the first time I encountered what happens when Time Machine runs out of room - IT DELETES THE OLDEST BACKUPS UNTIL IT HAS ENOUGH ROOM!!!
    That's terrible if you rely on those backups. We've been using it like an archive and it's been spectacular. Work on a project and delete it when I'm done because I know Time Machine has a copy.
    Well, I no longer have copies of my work from Arpil until July because Time Machine deleted those AUTOMATICALLY to make room. I had always thought that it would warn me it was going to delete older backups and I could just decline. Then I'd go out and get a new drive. This make Time Machine unusable for my purposes.
    Is there a was to make Time Machine just stop backing up or warn you before it erases old backups? Some way where it cannot erase them on it's own? Perhaps some Terminal command or anything?
    Thanks!

    Landon White wrote:
    So for the first time I encountered what happens when Time Machine runs out of room - IT DELETES THE OLDEST BACKUPS UNTIL IT HAS ENOUGH ROOM!!!
    That's terrible if you rely on those backups. We've been using it like an archive and it's been spectacular. Work on a project and delete it when I'm done because I know Time Machine has a copy.
    Well, I no longer have copies of my work from Arpil until July because Time Machine deleted those AUTOMATICALLY to make room. I had always thought that it would warn me it was going to delete older backups and I could just decline.
    in system preferences->Time machine->options there is a check box "warn when old backups are deleted". if this box is checked TM is supposed to warn you when it first starts deleting old backups. However, that particular feature is quite buggy and TM is well known not to do that on occasion. there are also other situations when it might decide to delete old backups without warning. Therefore you should NOT use TM as an archiving utility. apart from the above issues it also thins old backups and THAT is always done without warning. TM is a backup tool not an archiving one and you shouldn't use it as such.
    Message was edited by: V.K.

  • How to stop Time Machine from constantly asking do I want to use it.

    Every time I use my SuperDuper app to backup to my external drives I get the pesky "do you want to use Time Machine to backup to that drive?" I say "Don't Use," but it never "remembers" and asks everytime I do a backup. Is there any way to convince it I really don't want to use it!

    When you decline a prompt from Time Machine to use a volume as a backup destination, an invisible, empty marker file named ".com.apple.timemachine.donotpresent" is written to the top level of the volume. If that file is deleted (for example, because the volume has been erased or cleaned up somehow) or if it can't be written at all (for example, because the volume is in Windows NTFS format), then you'll be prompted again the next time the volume is mounted.
    If you can't determine why the marker file is being deleted or you can't do anything about it, you have the option of disabling all automatic prompts to adopt a backup volume.
    Back up all data before proceeding.
    These instructions must be carried out as an administrator. If you have only one user account, you are the administrator.
    Please triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it:
    sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.TimeMachine DoNotOfferNewDisksForBackup -bool YES
    Copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C.
    Launch the built-in Terminal 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 and start typing the name.
    Paste into the Terminal window by pressing the key combination command-V. I've tested these instructions only with the Safari web browser. If you use another browser, you may have to press the return key after pasting. You'll be prompted for your login password. Nothing will be displayed when you type it. Type carefully and then press return. If you don’t have a login password, you’ll need to set one before you can run the command. You may get a one-time warning to be careful. Confirm. You don't need to post the warning.
    If you see a message that your username "is not in the sudoers file," then you're not logged in as an administrator. Log in as one and start over.
    Wait for a new line ending in a dollar sign ($) to appear below what you entered. You can then quit Terminal. The change will take effect the next time you restart the computer.
    To revert the change, enter the following command in the same way:
    sudo defaults delete /Library/Preferences/com.apple.TimeMachine DoNotOfferNewDisksForBackup

  • Time Machine completed a verification of your backups. To improve reliability, Time Machine must create a new backup for you.

    I just wanted to collect all my messages since oct 16th. under one roof. I have spent too much time with this problem already, will NOT edit this the way I should. It REALLY bugs me that Apple doesn't acknowlege it - would make life easier knowing that they are working on it.
    I have the same problem. It all started around Oct. 13th when my old 13'' MacBook was doing it's last backup just before I got my current 15'' Pro. It was running up-to-date SnowLeopard, and have 1TB TimeCapsule (1st generation).
    Now I have had this same problem every two weeks running Lion in my new MBP.
    This does not seems to be just Lion-related, or because of lack of space - my HD was 320MB, now 750MB (350MB used).
    TM will erase the disk in this particular case, and you will loose all the data history!!!
    You should make a backup with CCC or similar on a separate disk to be on safe side.
    I think that there will be a fix for this problem, we are not the only ones complaning.
    After more research I ended up with two options: either the TC HD is at the end of it's 4 year life OR Lion TM settings > options > lock documents 2 weeks after last edit is somehow behind this problem. I unchecked this setting and will see after two weeks...
    Meanwhile, fingers crossed.
    SAME BIG PROBLEMS HERE TOO. JUST GOT A NEW 2TB TC bacause thought that my 4y. old 1st gen is kaput - but the problem returned just after 5 days of usage. And the newest airport firmware update did not help the situation at all...
    Disk Utility verified TC disk OK, new MBP running Lion disk ok as well.
    Tried about everything with my old MB with SnowLeopard.
    I mean I have tried really everything since the problem occurred mid-september - new MBP, new OSX (Lion this time), new TC THIS WEEK, started fresh from the very beginning but the problem still exists.
    I have no other software in my mac but from Mac App Store + Nikon + Adobe.
    A virus? Others have it too?
    Studied all day today and tried many options including ethernet / wireless settings (FYI: found out also that in Airport Utility alt-key brings the missin options in setting up wireless- and radio modes - confusing since no mention of this in the manuals).
    There is a firmware/OSX - problem and it bugs me that Apple doesn't acknowlege it - would make life easier knowing that they are working on it.
    Too many people are having these problems, and also I lost a couple of days of work while solving this on my own.
    Here we are solving this mess as well. My 1st gen TimeCapsule began to work odd two months ago, needed to do fresh backups every week or two. Finally got a new one this week. Seemed to work fine first, but today a complete stop with my network. Problems occured not immediately after the firmware 7.6 update though. Seems that my iWork backups are a bit of a mess too since Pages keeps showing an unwanted photo in a written article after deleteting it from there...
    I have my new TC 2TB as a base station downstairs + express extending to upstairs study + express joining for AirTunes (+ the old TC to play with). Lion and Airport Utility up-to-date.
    Got also new MBP two months ago.
    First thought that Lion is the problem, then that old TC is the problem - seems like APPLE is the problem...
    BTW - DID YOU KNOW THAT YOU NEED TO HIT ALT-KEY TO SEE ALL OPTIONS FOR WIRELESS MODE AND RADIO MODE??? AND THAT SOMETIMES IPHONE AIRPORT UTILITY SHOWS THOSE OPTIONS, SOMETIMES NOT... sort of hard to figure that out without a mention in the instructions...

    Unfortunately, the message pretty much says it all.
    What it does not tell you is that your Time Machine backups are corrupted and Time Machine cannot repair them, so it wants to delete your entire backup file and start with a new one.
    I'm afraid that AppleCare will tell you the same thing, but it's worth checking with them to see if there are any new developments in this regard for this puzzling issue which affects a small percentage of users.
    Please post back on your findings if you pickup some additional useful information when you speak to Apple.

Maybe you are looking for