Large Aperture file backup strategy

Hi All,
I my Aperture library is just a little north of 800GB in size on a 1TB LaCie FW 800 HD (primary). My previous backup strategy was to copy the library via a spare Mac Server via 1 GB ethernet to a 36TB Isilon NAS and then copy this back to an identical 1 TB LaCie (backup). This gave me three backups in three locations.
This worked fine and only took about 4 to 5 hours to backup the primary disk to the Isilon and I didn't care how long it took to make the LaCie backup.
Once I hit 800 GB the time to backup the drive to the Isilon started to get in the range of 12 to 14 hours with more than a 1/2 million files being copied.
Obviously this isn't working from an efficiency standpoint and I need to come up with a better backup plan one thats reasonably easy to use and faster to get done without sacrificing security of multiple backups in multiple locations.
Thanks
Mike

First, make and confirm two back-ups of your Library and of any Referenced Masters. Your originals and each of your back-up sets should be on separate spindles. Move one of the back-up sets off-site. End of terror: it is now virtually impossible to lose any work you've done up to the point you made the back-ups.
A good set-up to end up with is this:
- Library on SSD
- Masters older than 60 days on external FW800 drive (these will be Referenced Masters; let's call this drive your Referenced Masters Drive).
- - - These constitute a complete Aperture "set".
- Back-up Library _and_ Referenced Masters to _another_ external drive (1st Back-up Set)
- Back-up Library _and_ Referenced Masters to a third external drive (2nd Back-up Set)
- Keep one Back-up Set off-site. Never have all three Sets in the same location.
- Import new files into Library as Managed Masters. Set Previews to be the size of your laptop screen.
- Every 60 days, using a Smart Folder to identify Images with Managed Masters older than 60 days, relocate those Managed Masters to your Referenced Masters external drive
- Back-up regularly
The above is just a template: adjust to suit. (Added:) How you get there will depend on where you are. I didn't untangle your post.
When Images' Masters are off-line (you laptop is not connected to your Referenced Masters drive), you will be able to do all metadata administration, including moving Images, etc. You will not be able to make Adjustments, Export, or Print. (But you can drag the Preview out of Aperture and use it.)
Message was edited by: Kirby Krieger

Similar Messages

Managing Large Aperture file backup and export

I have a 250GB Aperture library file with 30,000 photos on my Mac Book Pro with a 500GB Solid State driive. I bought a 1TB GoFlex external drive with FireWire 800. I copied the entire 250gb Aperture file to the drive. After 24 hours the file size changed to 180GB? I exported the Masters (full size) from Aperture to the external drive in a separate file that is 60GB as a second backup. I tried to "RELOCATE MASTERS" to the external drive, but it did not reduce the Aperture Libray size by anything. I also exported all of the Versions (full sze) from Aperture to the external drive as a third backup. I am terrified of losing my work which is now all backed up in three forms on a single hard drive. What do I do now?
I must decide whether to use the full Aperture.library on the external drive.. which is HUGE and will only get more bloated.
or import the versions with metadata into a new library but manage previews better.
or what?
Thanks

First, make and confirm two back-ups of your Library and of any Referenced Masters. Your originals and each of your back-up sets should be on separate spindles. Move one of the back-up sets off-site. End of terror: it is now virtually impossible to lose any work you've done up to the point you made the back-ups.
A good set-up to end up with is this:
- Library on SSD
- Masters older than 60 days on external FW800 drive (these will be Referenced Masters; let's call this drive your Referenced Masters Drive).
- - - These constitute a complete Aperture "set".
- Back-up Library _and_ Referenced Masters to _another_ external drive (1st Back-up Set)
- Back-up Library _and_ Referenced Masters to a third external drive (2nd Back-up Set)
- Keep one Back-up Set off-site. Never have all three Sets in the same location.
- Import new files into Library as Managed Masters. Set Previews to be the size of your laptop screen.
- Every 60 days, using a Smart Folder to identify Images with Managed Masters older than 60 days, relocate those Managed Masters to your Referenced Masters external drive
- Back-up regularly
The above is just a template: adjust to suit. (Added:) How you get there will depend on where you are. I didn't untangle your post.
When Images' Masters are off-line (you laptop is not connected to your Referenced Masters drive), you will be able to do all metadata administration, including moving Images, etc. You will not be able to make Adjustments, Export, or Print. (But you can drag the Preview out of Aperture and use it.)
Message was edited by: Kirby Krieger

[SOLVED] File backup strategy

Hi,
I have a cronjob running backup script every 8hrs to make timestamped tar archive of important stuff.
Basically, i just wanted to know if there's some more elegant way of achieving the same/better effect as, for some reason, i don't feel this is the right way of doing it.
0 */8 * * * sh /home/pentago/.backup/cron-backup > /dev/null 2>&1
Backup script:
#!/bin/zsh
cd /home/pentago/.backup && \
tar cvpf backup-`date +%d.%m.%y--%I.%M%p`.tar $(cat /home/pentago/.backup/files) \
--exclude="/home/pentago/Public" \
--exclude="/home/pentago/.irssi/logs" \
--exclude="/home/pentago/.config/google-chrome" \
--exclude="/home/pentago/.config/sublime-text-3/Cache" \
--exclude="/home/pentago/.config/sublime-text-3/Backup" \
--exclude="/home/pentago/.config/sublime-text-3/Index" \
--exclude="/home/pentago/.Skype/shared_dynco" \
--exclude="/home/pentago/.Skype/shared_httpfe" \
--exclude="/home/pentago/.Skype/DbTemp" \
--exclude="/home/pentago/.Skype/shared.lck" \
--exclude="/home/pentago/.Skype/user.name/chatsync" \
--exclude="/home/pentago/.Skype/user.name/httpfe" \
--exclude="/home/pentago/.Skype/user.name/voicemail" \
--exclude="/home/pentago/.Skype/user.name/*.db" \
--exclude="/home/pentago/.Skype/user.name/*.db-journal" \
--exclude="/home/pentago/.Skype/user.name/*.lock" \
--exclude="/home/pentago/.Skype/user.name/*.lck" \
--exclude="/home/pentago/.Skype/user.name2/chatsync" \
--exclude="/home/pentago/.Skype/user.name2/httpfe" \
--exclude="/home/pentago/.Skype/user.name2/voicemail" \
--exclude="/home/pentago/.Skype/user.name2/*.db" \
--exclude="/home/pentago/.Skype/user.name2/*.db-journal" \
--exclude="/home/pentago/.Skype/user.name2/*.lock" \
--exclude="/home/pentago/.Skype/user.name2/*.lck" \
Backed up files:
/home/pentago/Downloads
/home/pentago/Music
/home/pentago/Pictures
/home/pentago/Public
/home/pentago/Videos
/home/pentago/.config
/home/pentago/.asoundrc
/home/pentago/.elinks
/home/pentago/.filezilla
/home/pentago/.fonts
/home/pentago/.gimp-2.8
/home/pentago/.irssi
/home/pentago/.mpd
/home/pentago/.mpdconf
/home/pentago/.packages
/home/pentago/.share-credentials
/home/pentago/.Skype
/home/pentago/.ssh
/home/pentago/.vim
/home/pentago/.gtk-bookmarks
/home/pentago/.tmux.conf
/home/pentago/.vimrc
/home/pentago/.xinitrc
/home/pentago/.Xresources
/home/pentago/.zshrc
/etc/fstab
/etc/hostname
/etc/locale.conf
/etc/locale.gen
/etc/locale.nopurge
/etc/localtime
/etc/ntp.conf
/etc/ssh/sshd_config
/etc/pacman.conf
/etc/makepkg.conf
/etc/netctl/wlp3s0
/etc/netctl/enp4s0
/etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
/etc/samba/smb.conf
/etc/ufw/ufw.conf
/etc/vconsole.conf
/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/50-synaptics.conf
/usr/lib/ufw/user.rules
/usr/lib/ufw/user6.rules
Thanks.
Last edited by pentago (2013-11-22 18:29:52)

As graysky said, this isn't exactly a backup, it's more a history of your files. If you're willing to use BTRFS (I am on many computers without a problem) you might be better off using subvolumes and snapshots. I setup a script which takes snapshots of my home directory which is called through cron like:
*/10 * * * * snap 10m 12
0 * * * * snap 1h 24
0 0,12 * * * snap hd 14
0 13 * * * snap 1d 30
The first argument to snap is an arbitrary label and the second is the number of copies of that label to keep (first in first out). So I keep 2 hours of 10-minute snapshots and 2 weeks of half-day snapshots of my home directory. Also, I have ~/Local and ~/.cache as separate subvolumes so that they are not included.
I also take snapshots in two other places:
- Whenever I log in I run "snap profile 5" so that I have a snapshot created for my previous 5 logins (tty, X11, ssh, tmux, etc).
- Whenever I run my personal rsync wrapper to another host.
Elaborating in the second item, I have 5 machines which are configured in the same way. I manually run my rsync wrapper to sync among them (so I usually need to keep track of my most recently used machine to avoid my files from diverging). The rsync wrapper calls "snap <source-hostname> 3" so that I also have snapshots created before I sync files between two hostnames.
So you get the idea, I currently have all of these snapshots:
@2013-11-17 00:00:01 MST - hd @2013-11-25 18:58:13 MST - profile @2013-12-03 17:00:01 MST - 1h @2013-12-04 20:00:01 MST - 1h
@2013-11-17 12:00:01 MST - hd @2013-11-25 19:01:41 MST - spruce @2013-12-03 18:00:01 MST - 1h @2013-12-04 20:30:01 MST - 10m
@2013-11-17 13:00:01 MST - 1d @2013-11-26 10:32:28 MST - profile @2013-12-03 19:00:01 MST - 1h @2013-12-04 20:40:01 MST - 10m
@2013-11-18 00:00:01 MST - hd @2013-11-26 10:33:19 MST - profile @2013-12-03 20:00:01 MST - 1h @2013-12-04 20:50:01 MST - 10m
@2013-11-19 00:00:01 MST - hd @2013-11-26 12:26:14 MST - profile @2013-12-03 22:00:01 MST - 1h @2013-12-04 21:00:01 MST - 10m
@2013-11-22 00:00:01 MST - hd @2013-11-26 13:00:01 MST - 1d @2013-12-03 23:00:01 MST - 1h @2013-12-04 21:00:01 MST - 1h
@2013-11-22 09:53:13 MST - sunflower @2013-11-26 22:52:20 MST - profile @2013-12-04 07:00:01 MST - 1h @2013-12-04 21:10:01 MST - 10m
@2013-11-22 09:59:24 MST - sunflower @2013-12-02 14:02:55 MST - profile @2013-12-04 08:00:01 MST - 1h @2013-12-04 21:20:01 MST - 10m
@2013-11-22 12:00:01 MST - hd @2013-12-02 14:16:07 MST - profile @2013-12-04 09:00:01 MST - 1h @2013-12-04 21:30:01 MST - 10m
@2013-11-23 00:00:01 MST - hd @2013-12-03 09:00:01 MST - 1h @2013-12-04 10:00:01 MST - 1h @2013-12-04 21:40:01 MST - 10m
@2013-11-24 13:00:26 MST - 1d @2013-12-03 10:00:01 MST - 1h @2013-12-04 11:00:01 MST - 1h @2013-12-04 21:50:01 MST - 10m
@2013-11-24 20:30:27 MST - sunflower @2013-12-03 11:00:01 MST - 1h @2013-12-04 12:00:01 MST - 1h @2013-12-04 22:00:01 MST - 10m
@2013-11-25 09:34:19 MST - profile @2013-12-03 12:00:01 MST - 1h @2013-12-04 12:00:01 MST - hd @2013-12-04 22:00:01 MST - 1h
@2013-11-25 09:43:12 MST - old mutt config @2013-12-03 12:00:01 MST - hd @2013-12-04 15:53:35 MST - spruce @2013-12-04 22:10:01 MST - 10m
@2013-11-25 09:43:51 MST - old mutt config @2013-12-03 13:00:01 MST - 1d @2013-12-04 16:00:01 MST - 1h @2013-12-04 22:20:01 MST - 10m
@2013-11-25 12:00:01 MST - hd @2013-12-03 13:00:01 MST - 1h @2013-12-04 17:00:01 MST - 1h @head
@2013-11-25 13:00:01 MST - 1d @2013-12-03 16:31:21 MST - profile @2013-12-04 18:00:01 MST - 1h
@2013-11-25 14:54:05 MST - profile @2013-12-03 16:31:32 MST - spruce @2013-12-04 19:00:01 MST - 1h
It seems like a lot, but they barely take up any space.
@head is my actual home directory and is the only read/write subvolume, all of the other snapshots are immutable.
Last edited by dgbaley27 (2013-12-05 05:30:27)

My time Machine keeps saying, "Time Machine could not complete the backup. This backup is too large for the backup disk. The backup requires 345.74 GB but only 289.80 are available." I have already excluded files. I have a 1tb external drive. HELP!!!

For over two weeks now I have been frustated and not having my TIme Machine back up to my 1tb external drive. I dont understand why now its a problem. It keeps saying
"This backup is too large for the backup disk. The backup requires 345.74GB but only 289.80GB are avialable. Time Machine needs work space on the bakup disk, in addition to the space required to store backups. Open Time Machine preferences to select a large backup disk or make the bakup smaller by excluding files." So I have already excluded almost all of my files, and even deleted the backup disk yet, that quote still keeps popping up. I am truly at a wall with this. I have a Mac OS X version 10.7.5. CAN SOMEONE HELP ME PLEASE????

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. If you don't see that menu, select
View ▹ Show Log List
from the menu bar.
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. Select the messages timestamped from then until the end of the backup, or the end of the log if that's not clear. Copy them (command-C) to the Clipboard. Paste (command-V) into a reply to this message.
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 this discussion.
Some personal information, such as the names of your files, may be included — anonymize before posting.

IPhoto file and backup strategy

I am new to iPhoto in last 9 months, but before I get in too deep, would love some advice about how I am structuring the library and about my backup strategy.
Spent many years on Windows where I would use a typical file Windows file structure. Broke my pics down into years, then events, then pics. Some pictures I would rename "Ella Bday 2006" and others are simply "jpeg-10006". When I moved to the Mac, I've started to use events "Ella Bday 2008" or else "Jan-Mar 2009". I've read that many prefer to create albums and not rely so much on the events. I am not there yet, but that's my next goal.
My questions are multiple. First, what is the best way to backup all this data so that if I crash, I can easily recreate? I backup the windows files in the same file structure as they existed on my HD, but with photos, events, albums, etc I am not sure the best way on the Mac.
I did import all the windows pics into iPhoto -- so now I have a single app for all photos dating back to 2004. I am not using Time Machine (remember I am a newbie) at the moment, and my initial plan is to back up each year to a separate DVD for off-site storage. Once this is done, I will look for a more permanent and recurring backup strategy - Time Machine I suppose - that will use an external HD.
Sorry if my post is convoluted, or if my questions are ignorant, but I was a lifetime Windows guy who is just exploring all the features/functions of Mac -- so any advice or redirection would be fantastic!
Thanks in advance

First, what is the best way to backup all this data so that if I crash, I can easily recreate?
Make a copy of the iPhoto Library in your Pictures Folder. That gets all the photos and database files which contain your organisation.
If you want to burn a copy of the Library to DVD use the Share => Burn command.
FWIW here's my back up system. I used to use DVDs but it was too tedious and a bit expensive too. Remember, if you burn, say 2005 to DVD ths year, you will be burning it again in a couple of years as DVDs to degrade over time.
My Library lives on my iMac.It’s Backed up to two external hard disks every day. These disks are permanently attached to the iMac. These back ups run automatically. One is done by Time Machine, one is a bootable back up done by SuperDuper
It’s also backed up to a portable hard disk when ever new photos are added. This hard disk lives in my car. For security, this disk is password protected. For this job I use DejaVu because it makes a simple back up that is clear and can be tested easily without doing an full restore.
I have a second off-site back up at a relative’s house across town. That’s updated every 3 or 4 months.
My Photos are backed up online. Personally I use SmugMug but there are many options including flickr. However, check the terms of your account carefully. While most sites have free uploading, you will often find that these uploads are limited in terms of the file size, or the bandwidth you can use per month. For access that allows you to upload full size pics with no restrictions you will need to pay.
Every couple of months I test the back ups to make sure they are working correctly. It’s very easy to mis-configure a back up application, and the only way to protect against that is to do a restore.
Regards
TD

HT3275 2 problems: All files are locked - how to globally unlock on the backup drive? I am backing up large video files 500GB on a 2 TB machine. Time Machine repeatedly copies everything using up all of disk space. I only need 1 copy not, twenty. What to

2 problems: All files are locked - how to globally unlock on the backup drive? I am backing up large video files 500GB on a 2 TB machine. Time Machine repeatedly copies everything using up all of disk space. I only need 1 copy not, twenty. What to do?

2 problems: All files are locked - how to globally unlock on the backup drive? I am backing up large video files 500GB on a 2 TB machine. Time Machine repeatedly copies everything using up all of disk space. I only need 1 copy not, twenty. What to do?

Error: "This backup is too large for the backup volume."

Well TM is acting up. I get an error that reads:
"This backup is too large for the backup volume."
Both the internal boot disk and the external baclup drive are 1TB. The internal one has a two partitions, the OSX one that is 900GBs and a 32GB NTFS one for Boot Camp.
The external drive is a single OSX Extended part. that is 932GBs.
Both the Time Machine disk, and the Boot Camp disk are excluded from the backup along with a "Crap" folder for temporary large files as well as the EyeTV temp folder.
Time Machine says it needs 938GBs to backup only the OSX disk, which has 806GBs in use with the rest free. WTFFF? The TM pane says that "only" 782GBs are going to be backed up. Where did the 938GBs figure come from?
This happened after moving a large folder (128GB in total) from the root of the OSX disk over to my Home Folder.
I have reformated the Time Machine drive and have no backups at all of my data and it refuses to backup!!
Why would it need 938GBs of space to backup if the disk has "only" 806 GBs in use??? Is there anyway to reset Time Machine completely???
Some screenshots:
http://www.xcapepr.com/images/tm2.png
http://www.xcapepr.com/images/tm1.png
http://www.xcapepr.com/images/tm4.png

xcapepr wrote:
Time Machine says it needs 938GBs to backup only the OSX disk, which has 806GBs in use with the rest free. WTFFF? The TM pane says that "only" 782GBs are going to be backed up. Where did the 938GBs figure come from?
Why would it need 938GBs of space to backup if the disk has "only" 806 GBs in use??? Is there anyway to reset Time Machine completely???
TM makes an initial "estimate" of how much space it needs, "including padding", that is often quite high. Why that is, and Just exactly what it means by "padding" are rather mysterious. But it does also need work space on any drive, including your TM drive.
But beyond that, your TM disk really is too small for what you're backing-up. The general "rule of thumb" is it should be 2-3 times the size of what it's backing-up, but it really depends on how you use your Mac. If you frequently update lots of large files, even 3 times may not be enough. If you're a light user, you might get by with 1.5 times. But that's about the lower limit.
Note that although it does skip a few system caches, work files, etc., by default it backs up everything else, and does not do any compression.
All this is because TM is designed to manage it's backups and space for you. Once it's initial, full backup is done, it will by default then back-up any changes hourly. It only keeps those hourly backups for 24 hours, but converts the first of the day to a "daily" backup, which it keeps for a month. After a month, it converts one per week into a "weekly" backup that it will keep for as long as it has room
What you're up against is, room for those 30 dailies and up to 24 hourlies.
You might be able to get it to work, sort of, temporarily, by excluding something large, like your home folder, until that first full backup completes, then remove the exclusion for the next run. But pretty soon, it will begin to fail again, and you'll have to delete backups manually (from the TM interface, not via the Finder).
Longer term, you need a bigger disk; or exclude some large items (back-them up to a portable external or even DVD/RWs first); or a different strategy.
You might want to investigate CarbonCopyCloner, SuperDuper!, and other apps that can be used to make bootable "clones". Their advantage, beyond needing less room, is when your HD fails, you can immediately boot and run from the clone, rather than waiting to restore from TM to your repaired or replaced HD.
Their disadvantages are, you don't have the previous versions of changed or deleted files, and because of the way they work, their "incremental" backups of changed items take much longer and far more CPU.
Many of us use both a "clone" (I use CCC) and TM. On my small (roughly 30 gb) system, the difference is dramatic: I rarely notice TM's hourly backups -- they usually run under 30 seconds; CCC takes at least 15 minutes and most of my CPU.

Backing up and Restoring a large Aperture library

One of our departments is looking to backup their Aperture library (170 Gb and growing). They would like to do an initial backup of everything, and then incrementally from that point. We tried using Retrospect it backed up fine although it took about 30 hours to do it, but when we tested the restore after the full back up a good portion of the photos were inaccessible.
We then backed up a small portion of the library and then tried a restore and all the photos are there.
Any suggestions?
Does Vault allow for incremental backups?
Thank for any help
Denny

I simply copy Aperture Library file (approximately 76 Gb) on an external Hard disk (FW800).
Time of copying approximately 1 hour.
Thus backup copy works perfectly. I have one more Mac and Aperture (MacBook). I once a week copy Aperture Library file on MacBook, it as reserve working station for me, and also on some photos session I take MacBook with myself. Aperture (witch backup library from iMac) works on it fine.

How can I transfer all my photos from mb aperture file to a external hdd?

The problem is it is taking too much of my internal memory therefore I want to transfer all my photos from mb to external. can somebody help me???

More complete explanation:
First make a Vault to an external drive as backup.
Then from within Aperture:
File Menu--> Relocate Masters.
Next back up the drive that the Masters were relocated to, because now you have a Referenced Masters Library so Masters are backed up (once) separately from the Library Vault backups.
In the future back up originals (once) on external drives prior to import into Aperture or any other images app. I cannot overstate how important that is, and various manuals, texts, etc. present workflows that skip that critical step. Also back up the Aperture Library using Aperture's Vaults, which are designed for that purpose.
A complete Referenced-Masters workflow follows. Note that for image security reasons Aperture is not involved until the end of the process:
• Create a folder ("abc") for the incoming images. Easiest is to create the folder on the external hard drive where the Masters will permanently live, but Referenced Masters can be temporarily on the laptop's internal drive, then moved later as described above. I initially put Masters referenced on my MBP internal drive, then after backup and editing I use File Menu--> Relocate Masters to move the Masters to a permanent external drive location.
• Connect a card reader with the camera card in it. The camera card should show on the desktop. If it does not show, restart the Mac with the reader and card still plugged in. You can of course use the camera directly in this step, but I do not recommend it. Obviously cameras like the iPad2 do require direct camera-to-computer uploading.
• Drag the contents of the card's image folder(s) to the abc folder that you previously created on the hard drive.
• Review the abc folder contents to be sure they all copied properly.
• Software-eject the camera card.
• Physically disconnect the camera card reader from the Mac. This step is important to help avoid all-too-common human error.
• Again review the abc folder contents to be sure they are indeed all there (because stuff happens sometimes...).
• Back up the abc folder contents on to another drive.
• Review the files on the backup to be sure they all copied properly.
• At any time after but not before the previous step you can reformat the camera card in-camera. Do not delete images on the card using the computer.
• Start Aperture.
• Import the images from folder abc into Aperture, selecting "Store Files: In their current location" on the right-hand side of the import window (important!).
HTH
-Allen Wicks

"This backup is too large for the backup volume" - Info

Hi there. I had a problem with my time machine and got an error stating "This backup is too large for the backup volume". I did noticed after logging in that TM was indexing in the upper right corner [magnifier with a flashing dot(spotlight)] for a few seconds. So then I went on to "back up now" and it was preparing and then I got the Error message described above. So I uninstalled my anti-virus (you must disable auto protection/or exclude timemachine.app and its plist file (location below)from Anti-virus preferences in the case you have a anti-virus app, otherwise it will take forever to back up.) though that was not my issue. I then turn off time machine and deleted this .plist file in Macintosh HD > Library > Preferences > com.apple.TimeMachine.plist....STOP here if this fixed your problem after restarting. Time machine External Drive in Disk Utility **THESE STEPS WILL ERASE YOUR ENTIRE BACKUPS** ( "Erase" and rename or "partition" to make more that one partition on the External Drive if you wish, and Rename) (Disk utility> Partition tab> "option" you must - guid=intel / apple partition map=PowerPC)...sorry alot of newbie out there...by deleting the "com.apple.TimeMachine.plist" = when you plug in you TM it will ask you if you want to use the drive as a TM back up automatically. This did the trick. But to let you guys know I also used Cocktail (app) and used a feature it has to erase my computers spotlight index and rebuild it. Also in Cocktail, when you have your time machine plugged in you can erase its index and disable it all together. I recommend you first disable spotlight (before the first initial TM backup) in system preferences > spotlight> Privacy (tab) and plus to add time machine ...which has to be mounted (plugged in) to add from window under "Devices".

http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?story=20090403093528353

Time Machine Error - The backup is too large for the backup disk

I have been using Lion (currently 10.7.1) on my MacBook Pro (13" - early 2011) since it was released. I haven't had any serious problems with it.
All of a sudden, I am getting an error in Time Machine. When it tries to run a backup, the error "This backup is too large for the backup disk. The backup requires 7.51 GB but only 630.1 GB are available." What gives? That's plenty of room. I have installed Logic Studio and a few plug-ins, so the 7.51 GB is probably right. The free space is correct as well. I can't understand what the problem is.
The backup disk is an external USB 2.0 drive with no other Time Machine backups on it or any other files. The folder "Backups.backupdb" is the only thing on the root of the disk.
I am reluctant to reset the Time Machine and lose all of the backups, but I will if anyone recommends it.

Hi Linc,
It is not working at the moment, as I have restored the original Lion image again; it has all my work and apps on it.
Many thanks for the info on the log, though. It tells a strange story. Here's the log from the last backup that worked to the first one that failed: --
Sep 12 17:15:55 Johns-MacBook-Pro com.apple.backupd[674]: Starting standard backup
Sep 12 17:15:55 Johns-MacBook-Pro com.apple.backupd[674]: Backing up to: /Volumes/Backup/Backups.backupdb
Sep 12 17:15:55 Johns-MacBook-Pro com.apple.backupd[674]: 100.0 MB required (including padding), 633.72 GB available
Sep 12 17:15:55 Johns-MacBook-Pro com.apple.backupd[674]: Waiting for index to be ready (100)
Sep 12 17:16:00 Johns-MacBook-Pro com.apple.backupd[674]: Copied 793 files (601 KB) from volume System.
Sep 12 17:16:00 Johns-MacBook-Pro com.apple.backupd[674]: 100.0 MB required (including padding), 633.72 GB available
Sep 12 17:16:01 Johns-MacBook-Pro com.apple.backupd[674]: Copied 89 files (93 bytes) from volume System.
Sep 12 17:16:01 Johns-MacBook-Pro mds[34]: (Error) Volume: Could not find requested backup type:2 for volume
Sep 12 17:16:01 Johns-MacBook-Pro com.apple.backupd[674]: Starting post-backup thinning
Sep 12 17:16:01 Johns-MacBook-Pro com.apple.backupd[674]: Deleted /Volumes/Backup/Backups.backupdb/John’s MacBook Pro/2011-09-11-154229 (1.1 MB)
Sep 12 17:16:01 Johns-MacBook-Pro com.apple.backupd[674]: Post-back up thinning complete: 1 expired backups removed
Sep 12 17:16:01 Johns-MacBook-Pro com.apple.backupd[674]: Backup completed successfully.
Sep 13 10:34:12 Johns-MacBook-Pro com.apple.backupd[287]: Starting standard backup
Sep 13 10:34:12 Johns-MacBook-Pro com.apple.backupd[287]: Backing up to: /Volumes/Backup/Backups.backupdb
Sep 13 10:34:52 Johns-MacBook-Pro com.apple.backupd[287]: 7.51 GB required (including padding), 630.11 GB available
Sep 13 10:34:52 Johns-MacBook-Pro com.apple.backupd[287]: No expired backups exist - deleting oldest backups to make room
Sep 13 10:34:52 Johns-MacBook-Pro mds[32]: (Error) Volume: Could not find requested backup type:2 for volume
Sep 13 10:35:03 Johns-MacBook-Pro com.apple.backupd[287]: Backup failed with error: Not enough available disk space on the target volume.
I don't understand. For starters, I think it's a little wasteful that 3.5 GB has been used to back up 601 KB. That's the difference in free space on the backup volume between the two backups. That can't be normal, surely.
The only error is that mds[32] error, and from what I've read on forums, that seems to appear on backups that work perfectly.
Too weird. It looks like I'll have to reinstall Lion and all my applications again to get Time Machine working, or find another backup solution.

How large of a backup drive should I get for my 500 GB MacBook Pro?

I have a MBP with a 500 GB hard drive. How large of a backup drive should I get for time machine backups? If I get a 500 GB drive will it just back up everything twice (as I have 250 used) and then delete the second backup every time it rebacks up so I will just have 2 backups? Or does time machine only backup changes every time it backs up? Thanks in advance.

tehsnyderers wrote:
OK, so I ordered a Seagate 1.5 TB external drive. That should suffice for my iMac w/ 320 GB and MBP w/ 500 GB shouldnt it?
Probably. See #1 in the Frequently Asked Questions *User Tip* at the top of this forum.
Should I just partition it 750/750? or maybe 600/600/300
Use roughly the same proportions as the data on the two Macs, adjusted for how you use them. If one changes lots of big files frequently and the other doesn't, give more space to the first one.
so I have space to put random files as well?
If you put important stuff on a 3rd partition, you can have TM back it up, too (unless the drive is attached to your Airport), but it will send you a warning reminding you that it's not a good idea to have both originals and backups on the same physical disk. You'll be much better off finding another way to back that up, perhaps archiving to CDs/DVDs.
Am I able to partition it and use it with my airport extreme?
Officially, no: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.6/en/15139.html
and: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2426
But some folks (including me) are doing it anyway!
So if it works for you, just be aware it's technically unsupported, and you'll get little or no help from Apple if there are problems. And a future update may break it.

"Backup is too large for the backup volume" error

I've been backing up with TM for a while now, and finally it seems as though the hard drive is full, since I'm down to 4.2GB available of 114.4GB.
Whenever TM tries to do a backup, it gives me the error "This backup is too large for the backup volume. The backup requires 10.8 GB but only 4.2GB are available. To select a larger volume, or make the backup smaller by excluding files, open System Preferences and choose Time Machine."
I understand that I have those two options, but why can't TM just erase the oldest backup and use that free space to make the new backup? I know a 120GB drive is pretty small, but if I have to just keep accumulating backups infinitely, I'm afraid I'll end up with 10 years of backups and a 890-zettabyte drive taking up my garage. I'm hoping there's a more practical solution.

John,
Please review the following article as it might explain what you are encountering.
*_“This Backup is Too Large for the Backup Volume”_*
First, much depends on the size of your Mac’s internal hard disk, the quantity of data it contains, and the size of the hard disk designated for Time Machine backups. It is recommended that any hard disk designated for Time Machine backups be +at least+ twice as large as the hard disk it is backing up from. You see, the more space it has to grow, the greater the history it can preserve.
*Disk Management*
Time Machine is designed to use the space it is given as economically as possible. When backups reach the limit of expansion, Time Machine will begin to delete old backups to make way for newer data. The less space you provide for backups the sooner older data will be discarded. [http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.5/en/15137.html]
However, Time Machine will only delete what it considers “expired”. Within the Console Logs this process is referred to as “thinning”. It appears that many of these “expired” backups are deleted when hourly backups are consolidated into daily backups and daily backups are consolidated into weekly backups. This consolidation takes place once hourly backups reach 24 hours old and daily backups reach about 30 days old. Weekly backups will only be deleted, or ‘thinned’, once the backup drive nears full capacity.
One thing seems for sure, though; If a new incremental backup happens to be larger than what Time Machine currently considers “expired” then you will get the message “This backup is too large for the backup volume.” In other words, Time Machine believes it would have to sacrifice to much to accommodate the latest incremental backup. This is probably why Time Machine always overestimates incremental backups by 2 to 10 times the actual size of the data currently being backed up. Within the Console logs this is referred to as “padding”. This is so that backup files never actually reach the physically limits of the backup disk itself.
*Recovering Backup Space*
If you have discovered that large unwanted files have been backed up, you can use the Time Machine “time travel” interface to recovered some of that space. Do NOT, however, delete files from a Time Machine backup disk by manually mounting the disk and dragging files to the trash. You can damage or destroy your original backups by this means.
Additionally, deleting files you no longer wish to keep on your Mac does not immediately remove such files from Time Machine backups. Once data has been removed from your Macs' hard disk it will remain in backups for some time until Time Machine determines that it has "expired". That's one of its’ benefits - it retains data you may have unintentionally deleted. But eventually that data is expunged. If, however, you need to remove backed up files immediately, do this:
Launch Time Machine from the Dock icon.
Initially, you are presented with a window labeled “Today (Now)”. This window represents the state of your Mac as it exists now. +DO NOT+ delete or make changes to files while you see “Today (Now)” at the bottom of the screen. Otherwise, you will be deleting files that exist "today" - not yesterday or last week.
Click on the window just behind “Today (Now)”. This represents the last successful backup and should display the date and time of this backup at the bottom of the screen.
Now, navigate to where the unwanted file resides. If it has been some time since you deleted the file from your Mac, you may need to go farther back in time to see the unwanted file. In that case, use the time scale on the right to choose a date prior to when you actually deleted the file from your Mac.
Highlight the file and click the Actions menu (Gear icon) from the toolbar.
Select “Delete all backups of <this file>”.
*Full Backup After Restore*
If you are running out of disk space sooner than expected it may be that Time Machine is ignoring previous backups and is trying to perform another full backup of your system? This will happen if you have reinstalled the System Software (Mac OS), or replaced your computer with a new one, or hard significant repair work done on your exisitng Mac. Time Machine will perform a new full backup. This is normal. [http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1338]
You have several options if Time Machine is unable to perform the new full backup:
A. Delete the old backups, and let Time Machine begin a fresh.
B. Attach another external hard disk and begin backups there, while keeping this current hard disk. After you are satisfied with the new backup set, you can later reformat the old hard disk and use it for other storage.
C. Ctrl-Click the Time Machine Dock icon and select "Browse Other Time Machine disks...". Then select the old backup set. Navigate to files/folders you don't really need backups of and go up to the Action menu ("Gear" icon) and select "Delete all backups of this file." If you delete enough useless stuff, you may be able to free up enough space for the new backup to take place. However, this method is not assured as it may not free up enough "contiguous space" for the new backup to take place.
*Outgrown Your Backup Disk?*
On the other hand, your computers drive contents may very well have outgrown the capacity of the Time Machine backup disk. It may be time to purchase a larger capacity hard drive for Time Machine backups. Alternatively, you can begin using the Time Machine Preferences exclusion list to prevent Time Machine from backing up unneeded files/folders.
Consider as well: Do you really need ALL that data on your primary hard disk? It sounds like you might need to Archive to a different hard disk anything that's is not of immediate importance. You see, Time Machine is not designed for archiving purposes, just as a backup of your local drive(s). In the event of disaster, it can get your system back to its' current state without having to reinstall everything. But if you need LONG TERM storage, then you need another drive that is removed from your normal everyday working environment.
This KB article discusses this scenario with some suggestions including Archiving the old backups and starting fresh [http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.5/en/15137.html]
Let us know if this clarifies things.
Cheers!

This backup is too large for the backup disk

I have a 1TB time capsule used to backup two MacBooks. One backup file is 817GB (MacBook 1) and the other one is 137GB (MacBook 2).
I get an error message when running the backup on MacBook 2. It says "Time Machine could not complete the backup. This backup is too large for the backup disk. The backup requires 55.64GB but only 42.98GB are available"
I always though the TimeCapsule would automatically remove older backupos to make space and you would never run into such an issue.
Please not that my MacBook 1 was stolen a while ago so I do not know how to reduce the size of the larger backup.

Karl R. wrote:
I always though the TimeCapsule would automatically remove older backupos to make space and you would never run into such an issue.
Usually that's true, but not always. One exception is, Time Machine will delete the oldest backups of the Mac it's running on, but not any other Mac's backups. That's probably what you've run up against here.
Please not that my MacBook 1 was stolen a while ago so I do not know how to reduce the size of the larger backup.
First, connect to the TC via Ethernet.
If you want to delete all the backups from MacBook 1, double-click your Time Capsule via the Finder, then you should see two +sparse bundles,+ one for each Mac. Delete the one for the old Mac. That will take a long time, even via Ethernet. If it's taking extremely long, see the blue box in #Q5 of [Using Time Machine with a Time Capsule|http://web.me.com/pondini/TimeMachine/TimeCapsule.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).
Or, you can delete individual backups of the other Mac. To see them, you'll need the +*Browse Other Time Machine Disks+* option, per #17 in [Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/FAQ.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of the +Time Machine+ forum). To delete individual backups, see #12 in the FAQ, and don't miss the pink box there.
Message was edited by: Pondini

Today, I randomly happened to have less than 1GB of hard drive space left. I found very large "frame" files, what are they?

I found very large "frame" files, what are they & can I delete them? (See screenshot). I'm a (17 today)-year-old film-maker and can't edit in FCP X anymore because I "don't have enough space". Every time I try to delete one, another identical file creates itself...
If that can help: I just upgraded to FCP 10.0.4 and every time I launch it it asks to convert my current projects (I know it would do it at least once) and I accept, but everytime I have to get it done AGAIN. My computer is slower than ever and I have a deadline this friday
I also just upgraded to Mac OS X 10.7.4, and the problem hasn't been here for long, so it may be linked...
Please help me!
Alex

The first thing you should do is to back up your personal data. It is possible that your hard drive is failing. If you are using Time Machine, that part is already done.
Then, I think it would be easiest to reformat the drive and restore. If you ARE using Time Machine, you can start up from your Leopard installation disc. At the first Installer screen, go up to the menu bar, and from the Utilities menu, first select to run Disk Utility. Completely erase the internal drive using the Erase tab; make sure you have the internal DRIVE (not the volume) selected in the sidebar, and make sure you are NOT erasing your Time Machine drive by mistake. After erasing, quit Disk Utility, and select the command to restore from backup from the same Utilities menu. Using that Time Machine volume restore utility, you can restore it to a time and date immediately before you went on vacation, when things were working.
If you are not using Time Machine, you can erase and reinstall the OS (after you have backed up your personal data). After restarting from the new installation and installing all the updates using Software Update, you can restore your personal data from the backup you just made.

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