Make Time Machine use a specific amount of space on an external usb drive
I have 1tb external usb drive which i use for backup with TM. I want to set TM to use only 200GB space so I can always have 800GB available on the drive. This way I can prevent TM to keep backups that are too old and exanding backup data to all of the disk because when there is only 200GB available old backups are removed automatically. How can I do that?
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Similar Messages
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How can I make Time Machine use the ethernet cable to Time Capsule instead of the wireless connection? Wireless is too slow; has been taking 40 hours to create an initial 142 GB backup.
Plug in ethernet .. in the computer.. turn off wireless.
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I use Time Machine to back up my entire computer with my external hard drive. I am getting a brand new iMac this month and was wondering what is the process of using this back up to restore my new computer exactly how my old computer was? I want to make sure I will still have various important files on my new computer, like my songs in iTunes, my photos in iPhoto, etc, etc. Thanks so much in advance!
Welcome to the Apple Support Communities
When you turn on the new iMac for the first time, Setup Assistant will ask you to restore a backup, so connect the external disk and follow steps to restore all your files to your new iMac. Your new Mac will have the same settings and programs as your old computer.
In other cases, I would recommend to restore the whole backup without using Migration Assistant or Setup Assistant, but a Late 2012 iMac uses a special OS X build, so the OS X version that you're using on your old Mac won't work on the new one. For more information, see > http://pondini.org/OSX/Home.html -
I'm not sure if my iPhoto library is being backed up by Time Machine. I am backing up to a LaCie external hard drive. I can open photos ont the hard drive that are in folders but not those that are in iPhoto.
Do a restore from Time Machine. That will tell you.
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I have suddenly become unable to access photo library (iPhoto vers 9.5) on my external hard drive. Also time machine isnt backing up to same external hard drive (LaCie). The drive does show up on the desk top, but when i open iPhoto the library isnt listed, so I cant option click.
First, one should not try to run an iPhoto library from the same volume/drive that is being used by Time Machine for backups. TM will continue to fill up the drive thus squeezing out iPhoto from being able to be opened and used. Also that doesn't allow you to let TM backup your library as it does with other files on your boot drive.
If you partition the EHD into two separate partitions you can run the library from it but that won't let TM backup the library which is important.
Are you able to see the library on the EHD via the Finder? If so copy it back to your boot drive and open it there. You may have to do some fixing on it.
Solution is to either run the library from the boot drive or get a second EHD to run the library from and let TM back it up along with your boot drive.
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Make Time Machine backup to specific drive only on specific network?
I have an old macbook pro 2007 that I use for time machine backups over the local network. It works perfectly; however, my main computer is also a macbook pro (2013) I can only get backups to the MBP 2007 via a specified IP Address (10.0.1.232). The problem is, they're are 4 different networks I regularly connect to, and if I am on the wrong network, the backup will still be attempted. Sometimes, I get an authentication error, sometimes I get a disk not found error, and sometimes it successfully backs up, which I do not want unless I am on the correct network.
How can I make it only backup to 10.0.1.232 when on the appropriate network?
I understand that this is not a problem with time capsules, as it bases it off of more than the ip address, i cannot do this with my mbp as far as I am aware. If anyone knows how to change this, that could be an alternative solution.Benny B wrote:
Anyone want to help dumb this down for me? I got a new larger hard drive and want to move my old Time Machine drive over to the new one. I erased the new one using Disk Utility and followed the FAQ to do the Restore to move the old drive. I get a "Could not validate source - Bad file descriptor" error and it doesn't go further.
You need to do a +*Repair Disk+* (not permissions) on the old drive. If DU repairs some error(s) but not all, run it again (and again) until it either repairs them all or can't fix any more. If it can't fix them all, post back for options.
I'm already switched over to 10.6.1 - does that have something to do with it? If I use the Finder to move it over do I just take all the folders and move them over, rename the drive and fire up TM?
No, don't try that until you get the old backups repaired. The Finder won't be able to copy them, either. And you must copy the entire Backups.backupdb folder.
Oh, and please update your profile ... 10.4.10? -
Time Machine used up all my 500gig space!
Only a few days ago I set up a brand new external HD to use just for TM. Now it is almost full!! What is going on here?
I have a .Mac iDisk and have it set to store & sync with a local copy on my iMac. My iDisk contains around 2GB of files, and this amount is therefore also used up on my iMac by the local copy which is stored as a disk image. With the current Apple servers / iDisk sync malfunctions going on my iMac has not been able to synchronise the local copy with the online version - but behind the scenes it has been doing something...
I noticed a recent Time Machine backup taking a lot longer than normal, and checked the TM System Prefs to see how much was being copied - over 200GB! Now TM has been running smoothly for several days, and I knew I hadn't generated anywhere near 200GB worth of changes since the previous hourly backup. A quick investigation revealed that the available space on my iMac HD had also reduced by ~200GB, and I tracked the problem down to the local iDisk disk image (located at ~/Library/FileSync/). Instead of ~2GB it was now 207GB..! And growing at a rate of 8MB every minute or so.
TM backs up the local iDisk disk image by default along with everything else - so it was of course now dutifully backing up a 200GB (and growing) file. As it's a disk image it presumably gets backed up in its entirety every time a change is made to anything within, thus my large LaCie drive allocated for backing up to was going to get very full, very quickly.
The point of all this is, of course, if you're using iDisk with iDisk sync on, just check that the same isn't happening to you right now and using up all that backup drive space... -
Time machine: can i create a separate backup for an external hard drive?
I am already backing up my internal hard drive to External Hard Drive A
I would like to back up another external hard drive (External Hard Drive B) to another hard drive (Hard Drive C). Is this possible with Time Machine in Mac OS 10.7.5. If so, where might I find instructions?
Thank you!Sounds like you (or somebody) encrypted the disk with FileVault2.
When you enabled FileVault2, you should have received a message similar to the following:
WARNING: You will need your login password or a recovery key to access your data. A recovery key is automatically generated as part of this setup. If you forget both your password and recovery key, the data will be lost.
(That's the wording when encrypting the boot volume in Security & Privacy preference. The wording when creating an encrypted non-boot disk with Erase in Disk Utility is slightly different, but also includes red-letter WARNING about data loss if you forget the password.)
If the disk is encrypted with FileVault, better hope you can remember the password. As the help says, "The disk encryption in Mac OS X uses the government-approved encryption standard, the Advanced Encryption Standard with 128-bit keys (AES-128)." -
HT3275 Time Machine says there isn't enough room on my external hard drive to perform a backup.
But there was until very recently. The difference is about 100 times what Time Machine says is needed, and I know I didn't add that much stuff in the course of a few days.
Derby Dave wrote:
But there was until very recently. The difference is about 100 times what Time Machine says is needed, and I know I didn't add that much stuff in the course of a few days.
Sorry I am unclear.. how much space does TM say it needs and how much is free on the TC?
Sometimes it reports wrongly.. have you reboot the whole network.. restart modem, router / TC..clients.. and test again. -
Time Machine uses huge amount of processing power
When TM decides to do an incremental backup, the backupd process ***** up a huge amount of my processing power, typically upwards of 45%, causing severe delays and slowdown. Sometimes it's doing it in conjunction with mdworker, but not usually. Is there a way to make Time Machine less processor-intensive? It's really obnoxious.
Stellertony wrote:
When TM decides to do an incremental backup, the backupd process ***** up a huge amount of my processing power, typically upwards of 45%, causing severe delays and slowdown. Sometimes it's doing it in conjunction with mdworker, but not usually. Is there a way to make Time Machine less processor-intensive? It's really obnoxious.
I have not noticed that, but it takes less than a minute on my machine, so I may have missed it.
If you have a slow processor, it will certainly make a bigger "dent" on your system, but then, so does any major app or file transfer.
I suppose it would be possible to give it higher positive nice level. -
I am trying to get space on an external hard drive which has some old time machine back up files that I do not need but can not eliminate, even by going into the time machine, clicking on the backup file to be eliminated and using the drop down menu with the gear box symbol to eliminate
I cannot find this 300GB "Backup" in the Finder, only in the Storage info when I check "About This Mac".
You are probably using Time Machine to backup your MacBook Pro, right? Then the additional 300 GB could be local Time Machine snapshots. Time Machine will write the hourly backups to the free space on your hard disk, if the backup drive is temporarily not connected. You do not see these local backups in the Finder, and MacOS will delete them, when you make a regular backup to Time Machine, or when you need the space for other data.
See Pondini's page for more explanation: What are Local Snapshots? http://pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html
I have restarted my computer, but the information remains the same. How do I reclaim the use of the 300GB? Why is it showing up as "Backups" when it used to indicate "Photos"? Are my photos safe on the external drive?
You have tested the library on the external drive, and so your photos are save there.
The local TimeMachine snapshot probably now contains a backup of the moved library. Try, if connecting your Time Machine drive will reduce the size of your local Time Machine snapshots. -
Can Time Machine use a local server as a back up location
We have this really nice D-Link NAS with 4 drives set to Raid 5....and would LOVE to let Time Machine use it as a backup location.
Will Time Machine allow a server to hold its back up files?
Many thanks.Time Machine does not back up to network drives, except Time Capsules or USB drives connected to an Airport Extreme, or a drive on a Leopard server.
Here's the official word: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1733
You may find some "hacks" that might make it work, in some cases, to a degree. But use them at your own risk.
First, since this is *unsupported by Apple,* there's nowhere to go when there's trouble.
Second, you're risking a future update preventing it from working, and perhaps rendering your backups useless.
If you still think this is a good idea, do yourself a favor before you bet your backups on it: be sure it really works, at least for now:
1. Get a copy of CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper! or the like, and make a full bootable clone of your internal HD, on an external disk. Test it by booting from it. Then reboot from your internal HD.
2. Let TM do it's first, full, initial backup.
3. Attempt a full system restore (like you'll need when, not if, your internal HD fails), via the instructions in item 14 of the +Frequently Asked Questions+ post at the top of this forum.
Again, even if it works now, tomorrow is another day . . . -
I've tried all the reported fixes to make Time Machine to get past 9.5 GB.
I've tried all the reported fixes to make Time Machine to get past 9.5 GB. This is a brand new iMac that came with 10.4.11 installed, we then installed 10.5.2 that came in the box for this machine. I have a new 150GB Firewire HD that I formated and partitioned using "GUID" scheme. I repaired permissions on the iMac HD, with no errors. I tried "safe mode", reformatting and everything else that I can think of. Time machine still won't get by that 9. something GB and reports the error. Any help with this will be appreciated, Richard Dion (508) 881-2535
75 Concord Street
Ashland, MA 01721
[email protected]Can you detail what the error is, and what fixes you have tried?
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I am unable to create a new folder on either of my auxillary disk drives. I can access the files and folders that were there when I transferred one of the drives from a PC. Time machine uses one for backup and I want to use the other to store photos which are large files. An help would be appreciated.
Thanks for the reply. If I reformat the drive will I be able to access the files on it from the MAC. I do not share the drive with a PC. The files were originally created on a PC which I no longer use. I do want to continue to access the files put there by the PC. I would like to not have to copy them over to the MAC hard drive just to use them. The second aux drive is new and works fine because it was formatted by the MAC. I can drag and drop files there and work with just as if they were on the internal drive.
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I am running my first backup on Time Machine using a Seagate external hard drive with a thunderbolt adapter and cable. I have a MacBook Pro 2011. It is backing up 11GB, and is telling me it will take approx two days. Is this normal?
Download the supplemental fix to 10.7.5
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1599
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