Limiting space for Time Machine backup-file

Hi,
I've got a time capsule and I'm using time machine to secure my files.
now the backup-file of time machine is constantly growing. however, I'd like to use the time capsule as a storage medium for my data too.
How can I limit the space, that the backup-file is allowed to use (say 400GB), so that the backup file doesn't block my whole space at some point.
Thanks for the help

So I opened the Disk Utility Program on the Mac and unluckily, the time capsule doesn't appear on the list. Why is that?
Not sure what you are seeing there.
When I click New Image in Disk Utililty, a Finder like interface appears to allow me to navigate to the Time Capsule disk. Double clicking on "Data", or whatever you have named the drive (Mine is named Time Machine Backups) will get you to the root level, where any number of Disk Images can be added.
Also, can I move/copy files from the existing image (where the data sits now) to the new one, or would it even be possible to wrap a new image around some of the folders I have there already?
Not sure what you mean when you say "existing image". Do you mean the sparsebundle file where all of the Time Machine backups are stored? If yes, leave that file alone.
I no longer use my Time Capsule to store Disk Images....it takes a long time to create each image, and a few extra steps to move files in and out of the images....so I use a separate hard drive for "other" data, and yet another drive for a "clone" of each Mac on the network.

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Macintosh HD not enough space for time machine backup?

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Making space for Time Machine backup

I am trying to backup my Macbook pro. I have a 500gb drive with 190gb free space. I have a 500gb external HD that I use for my Time Machine backups.
Shouldn't time machine automatically delete the old backup to make room or do I have to manually delete something?
Thanks,
Paul

See the pink box at http://pondini.org/TM/C4.html

Can I partition a hard drive so that one partition is for windows files and the other is for time machine backups?

I have a 1TB WD passport that currently contains windows files e.g photos, documents, etc. Can I partition it so that one partition contains these files and the other partition is used for time machine backups? Also, how do I change the partition system on the hard drive so that it uses the GUID partition system?
Thanks in advance.

Yes, you can, though you need to format and partition the drive from the scratch.
1) back up your PC data on other drive.
2) partitioning your drive into 2 partitions with Disk Utility.
3) format one partition by Mac OS extended (journaling) for Time Machine, the other by exFAT for PC data.
4) restore PC data on exFAT partitioned drive.

Select certain files for Time Machine backup?

Is it possible to select only certain files for Time Machine backup? Or does it automatically backup everything, including what you don't want saved?

Time Machine will backup all user files unless you select the ones you do not wish to have backed up. see the attached from System Preferences:
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My backup hard drive does not have enough space for time machine to perform a back up even after erasing entire contents of bu hard drive. The hard drive has been in service for almost two years performing this function with no sign of failure. How do I adjust time machine perameters?

The only way to limit the size of the backup is to exclude data from the backup, which you can do in Time Machine preferences.
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Is it possible to use an external hard drive for time machine backup and also as a regular hard drive?

Is it possible to use an external hard drive for time machine backup and also as a regular hard drive?

I am using an external drive in the exact way that you described. You just keep it plugged in to the computer when you want to access the movies and files. In order to put files on it, just go to finder open up the drive under devices and drag and drop files onto the drive. It is just like using a usb drive with a terabyte of space.

Need a external HD 40% bigger than internal for Time Machine backups??

I've heard that using Time Machine as my backup program I need a hard drive that's about 40% bigger than the source (internal) hard drive I want to backup. Some in these forums have said I need a external HD 2x or 3x as big as the internal hard drive for Time Machine backups!
What's your general rule, and does Apple recommend a certain percentage increase of the target over the source hard drive?

There is no set rule, except that the drive being used for Time Machine must be at least as large as the data (not drive) being backed up.
So if you have an internal 500GB drive, but you only have 300GB full, and with exclusions (things that you select NOT to back up), only 200GB needs to be backed up, then a 320GB external drive could do an adequate job (even though the internal drive is 500GB).
During the first backup, Time Machine will back up everything (that is everything you have set it to backup). So the external drive volume used for the backup must be at least the size of the data being backed up. After that, Time Machine creates an incremental backup states every hour, for things that changed during that hour. But because it is Time Machine and not just Backup Machine, the previous versions of the files that changed are also retained. Therefore, over time, the Time Machine backup archive will take up more and more space.
Once you run out of space, Time Machine will tell you and start deleting the oldest backup states to make room for the newest states. So if you have a really huge volume for your Time Machine backup, you can +go back in time+ further (probably back to the date you started using Time Machine) than if you have an adequate but smaller size drive for that purpose.

I have a time machine backup file on a USB hard drive. I bought a time capsule / airport extreme, flat 3TB. I wish to transfer the backup file from the usb hard drive to the time capsule hard drive. 10.6.8

I have a time machine backup file on a USB hard drive. I bought a time capsule / airport extreme, flat 3TB. I wish to transfer the backup file from the usb hard drive to the time capsule hard drive. 10.6.8

Unfortunately, Time Machine backups that are stored on a drive that has been connected directly to a Mac are completely different than Time Machine backups that are stored on a Time Capsule.
Frankly, it is not worth the effort and trouble to try to transfer the old backups to the new Time Capsule.....my opinion....having done this in the past.
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http://pondini.org/TM/18.html
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Hi Jossydtaylor,
Time Machine can use either an entire external disk or a partition of that disk:
OS X Mountain Lion: Disks you can use with Time Machine
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH11171
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http://support.apple.com/kb/PH5845
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Can two macs use same disk for Time Machine backup with Airport Extreme?

Hi
I use a Western Digital disk as a wireless Time Machine backup connected to the USB port on my Airport Extreme and it works great. My question is: can my girlfriend use that same disk for Time Machine backup from HER computer too? (I don't mind formatting the disk if needed.)
If she can't, is it then possible to connect a USB hub and have two disks hooked up to the Airport Extreme?
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Jakob

I've gone through the manual setup and the assisted setup and can't seem to get my MacBook to use the Time Machine. Any thoughts or help would be greatly appreciated.
Well, as the Jolly Giant points out....+this type of configuration is not supported by Apple+, so it's difficult, if not impossible, to provide a fix for something that Apple says that you cannot do. Reference these Apple Support documents regarding this topic:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2038
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.6/en/15139.html
Your situation is not unlike other users who try this and find that one computer may backup...(usually for a limited time before corruption issues start to creep in)...but another computer cannot backup. Count me as one of those users who thought that because things seemed to work that I had somehow "beat the system".
I started getting the corruption error messages after 4-5 weeks of successful backups, so I figured that it did not make sense to continue to try to get a second computer to backup (yes, I too could not setup a second Mac to backup).
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Maybe if Apple says you cannot do this, they just may be right?
Message was edited by: Bob Timmons

Is it possible to use more than one external hard drive for Time Machine backups?

I want to use two hard drives for Time Machine backups.
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HT201250 How do I find out what portable drive was the drive I used for Time Machine Backup?

Hi, I have 10.7.4 and need to figure out what drive I was using for Time Machine Backup. I have three drives and I have connected each of them to my macbook pro, but I get an error, "Time Machine Error, The backup disk is not available" when I hit the time machine icon on the top of the screen and the "backup delayed" prompt. If I try Back up Now I get message, "Time Machine could not complete the backup. Back up disk is not available." I am trying to figure out what the time machine back up would actually look like as a file on the drives but I don't see a folder/file name Time Machine. If I enter Time Machine I can see in the far right column, in purple, the last back up date (Sept. 12, 2012), but when I hit it nothing happens. In the Time Machine preference box the select disk has, in red and to the right, "Delayed" with an "i" within a circle, and the option indicates, "Next backup: when disk is connected."
I know I have a years worth of backups on one of the three drives, but I can't figure out how the heck to find them or how to determine what was the last drive I used for the backups within Time Machine. Help please.

Hi, I have 10.7.4 and need to figure out what drive I was using for Time Machine Backup. I have three drives and I have connected each of them to my macbook pro, but I get an error, "Time Machine Error, The backup disk is not available" when I hit the time machine icon on the top of the screen and the "backup delayed" prompt. If I try Back up Now I get message, "Time Machine could not complete the backup. Back up disk is not available." I am trying to figure out what the time machine back up would actually look like as a file on the drives but I don't see a folder/file name Time Machine. If I enter Time Machine I can see in the far right column, in purple, the last back up date (Sept. 12, 2012), but when I hit it nothing happens. In the Time Machine preference box the select disk has, in red and to the right, "Delayed" with an "i" within a circle, and the option indicates, "Next backup: when disk is connected."
I know I have a years worth of backups on one of the three drives, but I can't figure out how the heck to find them or how to determine what was the last drive I used for the backups within Time Machine. Help please.

Time Machine backup file corrupted and locked

This morning when I switch on my Mac there was a dialogue box telling me that my Time Machine backup file was corrupted and that Time Machine would have to create a new backup file.
I am backing up my Macs to a disk connected to my Airport Extreme. It's been working for months without any problems. Other than this morning. Time Machine buddy had the following message:
+Starting standard backup+
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+Mounted network destination using URL: afp://[email protected]/MyBookHome+
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aschmid wrote:
Yes you are right, I know it isn't supported - as so many other things but they work!
This one is notorious for working for a while, then . . . not.
In addition to the problems above I got a pop-up from Time Machine saying the backup file is broken and it needs to create a new one. I told it to go ahead and what happened is that it actually proceeded to DELETE the old backup file before creating a new one - there goes my several months of backup history!
Yes, just as it says in the message. See #C13 in [Time Machine - Troubleshooting|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/Troubleshooting.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).
All I can say do now is connect my drive directly to my iMac and figure out a way how I can backup my other iMac and the MacBook I have. On the AE this just worked remotely.
Yeah. Until it didn't.
Really not much options here to backup a home with 3 Macs!?!
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Using external hard drives for Time Machine backups

I would like to let everyone know about an important issue regarding what type of media to use, or better said not to use for Time Machine backups.
I tried to use a RAID 0 array disks ( FIY: RAID is a storage technology that combines multiple disk drive components into a logical unit for the purposes of data redundancy and performance improvement.), but after a few minutes the backup suddenly stopped giving me a message of failing to write to the disk.
I tried to back up several more times, but the result was the same. I called Apple Customer Support, they said there was nohing wrong using a RAID 0 array disk combination.
I checked the RAID disks with disk utility, the disks were okay, but it did not solve the problem.
I reformatted the RAID disks, but that did no help either.
Then I used a different disk not part of any RAID array, and the Time Machine backup was able to successfull finish he task.
I called Apple to tell them about this issue, and they finall confirmed I was right:
Conclusion: backing up to a RAID 0 array disks using Time Machine does not work

Is there anything else on the drive? If not, just erase it with Disk Utility.
If there is, have you emptied the trash? That will take a very long time, and may present problems wtih locked files, permissions, etc. If so, see #E6 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting.

Limiting space for Time Machine backup-file

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