My Time Machine says backup drive is too small

After upgrading to Lion I created a new backup. My Time Capsule had 400Gb free, and the full backup is 270gb. However after a day or so time machine cant perform a backup because there isnt enough space on the drive. It says it needs another 270gb. The size of the backup hasnt changed since snow leopard so im not sure why this has happened. I feel it could be to do with File vault 2 which I enabled after upgrading to Lion. Also after I did the full backup it said on the TC that it was only 22mb in size, but this has now changed.
Many thanks

gooober wrote:
What is strange is that I had the exact same problem with Time machine after I moved my Time machine drive from being directly connected to my Macbook Pro to connecting it to our Airport Extreme.
After I moved the drive, I got an error message stating the same - yet there was plenty space left on the drive!
That's a different problem. Time Machine stores backups differently when done over a network. See the blue box in #E2 of Time Machine - Troubleshooting.
And I hate to have to tell you this, but backing-up that way is unreliable and not supported by Apple. See Using Time Machine with an Airport Extreme Air Disk.

Similar Messages

Time Machine says Backup Delayed After Upgrading to Lion

Time Machine says Backup Delayed After Upgrading to Lion on both my Macs. It backs up fine when ever I connect to the USB drive but now seems to want to back up hourly when before weekly was OK. When it does not compleye an hourly backup it reports a delayed backup - failure on both machines. How do it revert back to it reminding me to do weekly backups?

I'm having the same issue with Time Machine on OS X Lion!
According to this webpage: http://web.me.com/pondini/AppleTips/LionChanges.html
Backups (i.e., Time Machine, SD, CCC, etc.) will only save the current "Version" of files.
The above statement sounds like the issue @iJRB and myself are having after upgrading to Lion where Time Machine shows the following error message below within "System Preferences > Time Machine"
@iJRB: Is this the error message you are seeing?

Time machine says my drive is full, but it's not

time machine says my drive is full, but it's not. it is a 298 gig external drive with 51 gigs available. my internal drive on my lap top (the one I am backing up) is a 148 gigs with 44 gigs available. the backup folder on the external drive is
152 gigs.
how can i fix time machine so it can figure out that the external drive isn't full?

Lisa W wrote:
Thank you both for your replies. Something is seriously wrong with a backup program that needs that much extra space! So much for incremental back ups.
It doesn't, necessarily. We still have no information on what's going on with your situation.
It's a back up for a laptop and I would like to connect it to the backup hard drive once a week or so, but from what I read time machine only works one way... for a computer to have it active all the time.
No. It works BEST that way, but isn't required.
That just won't work for me for many reasons. Most importantly, time machine slows up my computer and I have to leave it off to run my applications.
Then something else is wrong. Again, without any details, we can't help you determine what.
There is no setting to have it turn on in the middle of the night or once per week.
Not in TM itself. But there is a free 3rd-party app that will do this, Time Machine Editor: http://timesoftware.free.fr/timemachineeditor/
It would sure be nice if I could back up when I want. Seems like time machine is just one of those ideas that apple didn't think all the way through.
You can. And TM works just fine for most people. There is something unusual in your setup, or the way you're doing things, that's causing your difficulties.
Let's be clear: if you'd like some help with this, please answer my previous questions and download and post the messages from the wIdget.

Why is Time machine saying backup disk disconnected? Using MBP 17" Lion 10.7

Why is Time machine saying backup disk disconnected? Using MBP 17" Lion 10.7

Do you have an external drive connected?
If you do has it gone into sleep mode? There is a setting in the OS to put drives to sleep if they aren't being used. Energy Saver "Put the hard disk to sleep when possible".
Also most external drives have a built in sleep function that if they aren't being accessed for a period of time they go to sleep by themselves.

Time machine says back up is too large.

I am trying to back up my iMac with Time Machine and a connected G-Drive. I have deleted many old files and in Finder I have 320 GB available. Still, time machine says: "This backup is too large for the backup disk. The backup requires 210.66 GB but only 9.15 GB are available." What to do?

Try C4 in the 1st linked article.
Time Machine Troubleshooting
Time Machine Troubleshooting Problems

Time machine says back up is too large but there is room in my HD

ok searched the forums but could not find the answer....time machine was working perfectly...then..suddenly stated that the back up was too big. TM says the back up is 255.5mb but when I do a get info on my HD here is what it says...capacity 232.76gb available 11.77gb....i thought TM overwrites older stuff...can anybody help. my external HD is 250 gb. the other odd thing is tm only shows two back ups now.
Message was edited by: Chris Harmount

Chris Harmount wrote:
my back up drive is supposed to be 250G total. It says it has 185G available.
My computer drive is also 250G total. It says that I have about 20G available.
Time machine says my current back up is 260G??? I thought that 1. time machine overwrites old backups as the hard drive fills up. 2. I no longer see the history of when I first started theTM back ups. I only see one back up now and I can no longer use TM due to the error message?
It sounds like you internal drive has about 230 GB of data and the entire TM drive is 250GB? that will never work. TM needs some head room to operate. I don't know how much exactly but I know that it does.
also, i suspect that 250Gb is the advertised decimal GB capacity. the actual binary capacity is smaller and is probably around 230GB or less.
You definitely need a bigger TM drive.

Time machine multiple backup drives question

Time machine to backup to my 2TB MyBook drive. I wanted a second backup on a portable 1TB, so in time machine settings, I selected the 1TB drive, and then clicked the "Replace" button, instead of the "Use both" button. Currently the 1TB drive is backing up from scratch.
So will I be able to select my 2TB MyBook drive after the 1TB is backed up and disconnected? I mean, can I resume time machine backups where I left off?
Most of what I've read (after the fact) seems to suggest that I should have clicked the "Use both" button, then just removed the 1TB drive.
-Thanks

I find tm doesn't remember the drives anyway. I have a dedicated drive for lion and mountain lion as I have both lion and mountain lion installed on my mac. When I'm in either os and connect the appropriate drive and start tm I still have to go in and select the drive. Tm says there are no older backups, but there are, until the new partial backup completes. Then it lists al the backups on that drive.
Now maybe if you leave tm on all the time it might work differently but I don't care for it creating local snapshots and I only connect the externals when I want to do a backup.
So bottom line is you shouldn't have any problem when you connect the other drive. At that time, when you have to select that original tm backup drive, you can click the option to use both.

Time Machine says backup is too large for backup disk -- but it isn't...

I have a MacBook Pro with a 120GB drive and a 120GB external drive I use for Time Machine. Everything went fine for months until my laptop's drive got close to full (about 3GB of free space). Then Time Machine started saying it didn't have enough room to complete a backup: "needs 10GB but only 8.6GB is available"
So I told it to stop backing up my iTunes movies (about 7GB). Still didn't work -- same error message (the actual values may have changed some, I don't remember).
Next, I added another 10GB do the "do not back up" list. Still didn't work. Finally, I deleted (actually deleted, not just said "don't back up") about 5GB of files and emptied the Trash.
Now it says it needs 15.9GB of space to do a backup and only 8.6 is available... ??? I've restarted the machine several times, still doesn't work.
My solutions seem to be making it worse. Makes no sense to me.
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Peter,
Unfortunately, Apple hasn't documented this very well. However, those of us who know how Time Machine works behind the scenes know this to be true. Of course, Time Machine can back up a given machine at least once with only slightly more space on the backup drive than needed, but subsequent backups will fail.
I have to disagree, though, that most people would fill a 250 GB hard drive. I have what I would consider a "just barely manageable" amount of data in my HOME folder, and my installation clocks in at about 100 GBs. Those "big ticket" items that would tend to bloat my HOME folder- iTunes videos, folders of huge images, etc.- I regularly place on some form of external storage when I no longer need them, removing them from my HOME folder. In fact, I have a partition on an external drive just for the storage of iTunes videos that have already been watched.
If your installation is filling a 250 GB hard drive, you might consider your file management, and just what is consuming so much disk space. It could be that you have some data that would be better stored externally.
Those that would benefit most from using a Time Capsule are those using portable computers, since these are the least convenient to connect directly to an external drive. Certainly, it doesn't make sense to have a portable connected directly to an external to allow hourly backups, which could occur easily when using a Time Capsule. And, I dare say that most portable computer users have internal drives smaller than 250 GBs. I know I certainly do.
All this said, your question is really whether or not a Time Capsule is right for you. If you are filling a 250 GB hard drive, the 500 GB model would do, but just barely. Adding a second machine, also using all of a 250 GB hard drive, wouldn't be possible. In this case, even the 1 TB model would be just barely enough, if that. Again, you might want to consider your file management, or just stick with directly-connected external drives for use with Time Machine. There are scenarios where a Time Capsule makes sense, and scenarios where directly-connected solutions are better.
Scott

Time Machine says backup is larger then the actual disk

I recently had a HD die, I replaced it and restored from my TM back up. I then formatted the TM drive and am now trying to do a full back up however when I do I get an error saying that the back up size is 525GB but my HD is only a 500GB drive of which only 450GB are used.
I ran disk warrior on my main HD, ran disk utility to fix the disk and permissions. I formatted the TM drive and now I'm zeroing out the TM drive (hopefully that will work)
Anyone have any ideas why it would be reading the back up size wrong?
Thanks!
Message was edited by: zymosan

zymosan wrote:
I recently had a HD die, I replaced it and restored from my TM back up. I then formatted the TM drive and am now trying to do a full back up however when I do I get an error saying that the back up size is 525GB but my HD is only a 500GB drive of which only 450GB are used.
That's correct, as odd as it may seem.
Time Machine adds 20% to the estimated size of the backup, for workspace on the backup disk. That's usually not a problem, because a Time Machine disk should be much larger than the data it's backing-up; otherwise, there isn't enough room to keep old backups.
It varies greatly, of course, depending on how you use your Mac, but as a general rule, TM needs 2-3 times the space of the data it's backing-up to keep a reasonable "depth" of backups for you.
Short-term, you can "squeeze" a backup onto the disk by excluding something large (so the estimate is under about 410 GB) and run a backup. Then remove the exclusion and run another. Since the second backup will be much smaller, 20% of it will be much smaller, too, so it should fit.
Longer-term, you need a much larger HD; at least 1 TB.

Time Machine says backup disk is full

My Time Machine backup disk (FreeAgent GoFlex Drive: 1TB) says it's full. I thought Time Machine was supposed to delete old backups to make room for new backups on an on-going basis. I don't see a setting for it. I'm fairly new to Mac, so forgive me if this is supposed to be obvious. I did see some "expert" in this discussion tell someone to "buy a bigger drive." That's just arrogant and not helpful. Someone else bought a 4TB drive and it solved their problem -- duh! What happens when that's full? Don't need the arrogance, just would like to understand how it works. Thanks.

TM does thining, until you are left with only weekly backups. Then it deletes those backups from oldeset to newest.
However, it WON'T always delete a backup to make room, as this depends on a few particular details, and also it won't delete the only remaining backup.
Your 1TB isn't really that large anymore, so I can somewhat see why even an 'expert' would suggest a bigger drive. Most internal drives around 1 TB these days alone.

My Time Machine and backup drive are not recognized and do not work after this update...is there a way to fix this?

After I upgraded to Yosemite, my MAC Time Machine backup drive is no longer recognized and the process freezes when I try to re-install the drive from the drive's software. Is there a way to fix this?

Please read this whole message before doing anything.
This procedure is a diagnostic test. It’s unlikely to solve your problem. Don’t be disappointed when you find that nothing has changed after you complete it.
The purpose of the test is to determine whether the problem is caused by third-party software that loads automatically at startup or login, by a peripheral device, by a font conflict, or by corruption of the file system or of certain system caches.
Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed for the test, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards, if applicable. Start up in safe mode and log in to the account with the problem. You must hold down the shift key twice: once when you turn on the computer, and again when you log in.
Note: If FileVault is enabled in OS X 10.9 or earlier, or if a firmware password is set, or if the startup volume is a software RAID, you can’t do this. Ask for further instructions.
Safe mode is much slower to start up and run than normal, with limited graphics performance, and some things won’t work at all, including sound output and Wi-Fi on certain models. The next normal startup may also be somewhat slow.
The login screen appears even if you usually login automatically. You must know your login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin.
Test while in safe mode. Same problem?
After testing, restart as usual (not in safe mode) and verify that you still have the problem. Post the results of the test.

Time Machine USB Backup Drive fails to eject

Time Machine is freezing my iMac at logoff/shutdown. I noticed that in the log files for Time Machine backups that other folks posted that the the Time Machine target volume ejected and unmounted at the end of the backup. That isn't happening. I can turn Time Machine off and logoff, but if I leave it running everything freezes. Any ideas on how why Time Machine isn't ejecting the disk? I used the same disk with Snow Leopard (just upgraded lately) without issue. I've reformatted and re-set up the target volume with Lion so some kind of SL thing shouldn't be the issure.

with2ays wrote:
Yes, it is a portable drive. I've tried other cables and another Mac (on campus), but nothin' doin'. I bought it locally but I'd have to find the receipt. I installed a Scorpio Black 320GB HD on Saturday. Would that have anything to do with it?
It shouldn't, but the timing makes me wonder if it's not a coincidence.
Some things can go wrong with TM when you add/replace an internal, but if your Mac doesn't even see it, we can't begin to diagnose, much less fix it.
Still, if another Mac doesn't even see it, it's pretty likely dead. Might be fixable, but you need to take it back.

Since Lion, time machine says 'backup delayed' all the time??

Why, even after I have just completed a back up using time machine, is there an exclamation point and it says 'backup delayed'. It never did this before I upgraded to Lion and it doesn't show me the 'oldest backup' in preferences anymore..just a dash mark..almost like it's not been saving my backups? Anyone else experiencing this? Is it keeping track of my backups?

For those interested..I reported the bug to Apple and this was their reply. It is a known bug..so we just have to wait for the fix:
This is a follow up to Bug ID# 9975887. After further investigation it has been determined that this is a known issue, which is currently being investigated by engineering. This issue has been filed in our bug database under the original Bug ID# 9411363. The original bug number being used to track this duplicate issue can be found in the State column, in this format: Duplicate/OrigBug#.
Thank you for submitting this bug report. We truly appreciate your assistance in helping us discover and isolate bugs.
Best Regards,
Developer Support
Apple Worldwide Developer Relations

Time Machine says "Backup volume could not be found"

Okay, I know what I did; now I need help in untangling an unintended consequence.
I surmise from the error message (and from some info from Time Machine Buddy widget) that the problem is the cookie doesn't match.
"Cookie file is not readable or does not exist at path: /Volumes/BigBackup/.000d9356b794
Volume at path /Volumes/BigBackup does not appear to be the correct backup volume for
this computer. (Cookies do not match)
Backup failed with error: 18"
I can guess why: I had some significant cosmetic damage to my G5 desktop a week or so back, and I moved all internal parts -- drives, RAM, even the added cards -- over from the "injured" G5 to an identical G5 that I had in reserve. Booted up and ran perfectly, no problems with identification from any outside sources and all software thinks it's still "home" and is running fine.
However, if the cookie left by Time Machine on the backup uses a device identifier for the computer beyond just the basic computer network name (a safe guess!) then I see how I've created a problem -- yes???
So, without destroying all of my previous backups or rendering them unreadable from this machine, HOW can I fool Time Machine, the G5, the cookie, and/or the backup volume into believing they've all been in love forever and ignoring the "oops, it's just a clone" problem? Can I doctor or hack the cookie or otherwise un-mess my mess? Thanks!

Steve Jolly wrote:
However, if the cookie left by Time Machine on the backup uses a device identifier for the computer beyond just the basic computer network name (a safe guess!) then I see how I've created a problem -- yes???
Yes. Time Machine knows it's a different Mac, via the address that's embedded in the hardware of the replacement Mac's logic board.
So, without destroying all of my previous backups or rendering them unreadable from this machine, HOW can I fool Time Machine, the G5, the cookie, and/or the backup volume into believing they've all been in love forever and ignoring the "oops, it's just a clone" problem? Can I doctor or hack the cookie or otherwise un-mess my mess? Thanks!
You might be able to use the procedure in #C8 of Time Machine - Troubleshooting (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).

Time Machine error - backup drive not mounted

Our family has 3 iMacs now running 10.5. One has a hard drive connected to it. The others are networed via a couple of Airport Extremes. The network is fine (all have internet). Time Machine is running fine on the iMac connected to the hard drive and on one of the others via the network.
But on the 3rd I keep getting an error that the backup drive is not mounted. It can mount it manually and see it (and its files) fine. The hard drive is configured so that everyone has read & write access. I've tried restarting it and resetting prams. I've tried connecting to the hard drive as a guest and as an authorized user. I still get the same error.
Any ideas? Thanks.

It seems to be working now. I trashed the old sparsebundle file and let it start from scratch. Wish I thought of that earlier .......
Message was edited by: Neil Stone

My Time Machine says backup drive is too small

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for