Time machine always backs up a minimum 2GB to Time Capsule

For some reason Time Machine always likes to back up a minimum of 2GB, even with virtually no use of my laptop. I do not think it did this before I got the Time Capsule, but its quite obvious now since the Time Capsule is noticeably slower.
Does anyone else have this occur and is there a way to prevent it?

Welcome to the discussions!
Are you running Aperture, Entourage, VM Fusion or other programs with a monolithic file structure? One small change in one email results in the entire Entourage data base being backed up since the program views any change as a total change. Same for the other programs. This can fill up a drive really fast.
Download Time Tracker to get a look at what is being backed up on each pass that Time Machine makes.
It takes some time for the program to load, so allow 4-5 minutes before you start to click on the backups to see what is taking up all of the space.

Similar Messages

  • Time machine always backs up same amount of data

    When backing up with Time Machine it always backs up the same amount of data each time (140GB).  I am not modifying 140GB of data each day or even each week so why does Time Machine always default to this amount of data?
    I would like TM to only backup modified data so that I am not waiting hours for TM to complete backup.  Looking for a reset or workaround for this issue. 
    Mac Pro 10.8

    See D4 in the 1st linked article.
    Time Machine Troubleshooting
    Time Machine Troubleshooting Problems

  • My Imac drive just died. Always backed up with Time machine to a WD My Passport. But after connecting it to my other imac (also running Snow Leopard) all the files are missing. I click on backup.backupdb but no files - just applications. Any ideas?

    My Imac drive just died. Always backed up with Time machine to a WD My Passport. But after connecting it to my other imac (also running Snow Leopard) all the files are missing. I click on backup.backupdb but no files - just applications. Any ideas?

    Welcome to the Communities.
    We want to help you but unfortunately you have given us insufficient information.
    Please find a moment to tell us more about your machine, the model identifier, the OS version, and the total amount of RAM you have.   It also helps to know where you are, nothing specific, just the country.   Macs do not run on iOS 6.1.6 as your profile says.
    Then fill those same details in your profile for future use
    These documents may prove helpful .. Solving Time Machine problems        Pondini FAQ
    http://pondini.org/TM/  Troubleshooting.html

  • After installing lion, time machine does not always back up.  The back up disk is occasionally not recognized.

    after installing lion, time machine does not always back up.  The back up disk is occasionally not recognized.  Help!

    This is easy one.. for most.. just restart the TC.. ie pull out the power.. count to 10.. plug in the power.
    If the simple doesn't work you can see more info here.
    C12 http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html

  • Time Machine stopped backing up but doesn't give warning/error

    Hi,
    by chance I noticed, that Time Machine doesn't backup up any more, but still doesn't give errors.  In Console I see the following for a now typical run:
    21.04.15 09:58:11,493 com.apple.backupd: Starting standard backup
    21.04.15 09:58:12,043 com.apple.backupd: Backing up to: /Volumes/drosera-backup-02/Backups.backupdb
    21.04.15 09:58:41,729 com.apple.backupd: 5.18 GB required (including padding), 96.84 GB available
    21.04.15 09:58:55,149 com.apple.backupd: Copied 23 files (93 bytes) from volume Macintosh HD.
    21.04.15 09:59:04,385 com.apple.backupd: Copied 36 files (93 bytes) from volume DATA.
    21.04.15 09:59:06,100 mds: (Error) Volume: Could not find requested backup type:2 for volume
    21.04.15 09:59:06,102 com.apple.backupd: Starting post-backup thinning
    21.04.15 09:59:07,668 com.apple.backupd: Deleted /Volumes/drosera-backup-02/Backups.backupdb/drosera/2015-04-20-183344 (24.0 KB)
    21.04.15 09:59:07,668 com.apple.backupd: Post-back up thinning complete: 1 expired backups removed
    21.04.15 09:59:07,762 com.apple.backupd: Backup completed successfully.
    The 5.18 GB are never backed up.  The backup drive (drosera-backup-02) is attached by FireWire.  I have checked the disk with First Aid, I have disconnected and reconnected it.  I removed the backup disk from Time Machine, stopped TM and reconfigured.  I stopped mds, ran backups and reenabled mds.  All to no avail.
    I am at a complete loss and I'd appreciate to get this running w/o having to remove all existing backups.  Any ideas or pointers?
    I'm running Mac OS X 10.7.5 on a Mac mini
    Cheers
    Frank

    Thx.  I had already tried the hints from mds: (Error) Volume: Could not find requested backup type:2 for volume to no avail.  Your tip to rebuild the Spotlight index would probably helped, too.  But just before getting yout comment and after reading http://pondini.org/TM/Works.html and http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/69054/force-time-machine-to-perform-a-d eep-traversal I had simply removed /.fseventsd and reran a backup.  That seems to have fixed the problem (at least for the time being).
    Interesting side note: During the non-backup phase I created a new account on the Mac and ran TM.  This triggered a one-time working backup of the whole system, but all subsequent backups again failed silently.  Additionally the externally attached FireWire harddrive was always backed up correctly, only backups of the local drive failed.

  • Time Machine stops backing up in the middle of preparing items

    Note: As it may soon become clear, I'm not all that computer literate (i.e. many of the solutions I've read here for problems similar to mine tend to leave my head spinning), so please be as patient & as simple as possible in answering.
    My Intel MacBook from 2006 runs OS X 10.6.8. I've always backed up via Time Machine to a Protronix external HD, and for a while, it worked just fine. Sometime in April, I disconnected the external from my MacBook in order to travel with it, and I just hadn't bothered reconnecting it until a few days ago (these days, I don't use my computer nearly as often as I used to). The external is still recognized just fine, and I can even browse through my older backups in Time Machine. However, whenever it attempts to backup now, either on schedule or if I click to do so manually, it successfully scans some 700K or so items, then it starts preparing them, and then it just stops after preparing 21K or so items. No error message, nothing. If I watch the progress bar closely, I can sometimes see the status change to "cleaning up" for maybe half a second, but then it still stops entirely, as if it had somehow finished (though no message says so). I've tried dozens of times now, and I have rebooted the MacBook &/or disconnected the external drive several times, yet after every backup attempt it always says my latest backup is from April.

    Select "Back Up Now" from the Time Machine icon, and wait for it to complete. From what you describe that won't take long.
    Then:
    Find the Console app - it is in your Utilities folder and looks like this
    You can find it by selecting Utilities from the Finder's Go menu.
    Open Console.
    If the log list column on the left is not already displayed, show the log list by selecting Show Log List from Console's View menu.
    Locate system.log in the list and select it. Many date and time-stamped entries will appear, hundreds of them, and you must find the entries relevant to your Mac's problem.
    To do that type the words backupd in the Filter field at the upper right of the Console window. That will cause all log entries to be hidden, except for the entries containing those words.
    Copy and paste those log entries in a reply. If hundreds of the same repetitive messages appear, please edit them before posting.
    Most of the entries will be cryptic but will contain information you might consider personal such as your Mac's name. If you do not want that information to appear, delete or obscure it when posting your reply. Leave enough information so that the entries can be deciphered.

  • Time Capsule as external hard-drive, as back-up drive with Time Machine

    Two questions today:
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    Thanks in advance, LeRoy

    LeroyHoward wrote: So, does this mean that TM never deletes a file?
    It will when it starts to run out of space and it should likely be the oldest deleted files first.
    As I understand it, as long as I have a multi-linked file icon on the TM, I have the original data. And everytime the TM backs-up, it recreates every multi-linked file icon on the previous back-up. Right? So, if you delete a file by mistake, you can go back and find it. But I see a contradiction here. If you delete it on your desktop, shouldn't it be deleted from the back-up of that desktop? We expect it to be on earlier back-ups, but not the most recent one right? So, eventually as the TM fills up and begins deleting earlier back-ups, that data will be lost.
    The newest timeline will not point/display the deleted file(s), but it still exists on the backup until the backup drive fills up and needs to erase deleted data.
    I'm trying to understand this aspect of the TC and TM, because we want to use it as both an external HD and as one of our back-ups. Any light you can shed on this will be greatly appreciated.
    Thanks, LeRoy
    Read Glenn's response to dedicating TC to TM backup and the difficulty in partitioning the TC HDD.
    Glenn Carter wrote:
    However, this is not an option for Time Capsule users as there is not an easy way of partitioning the Time Capsules’ internal had disk without elaborate effort. In this case, use the Time Capsule hard disk solely for Time Machine backups. Then attach an additional hard disk to the Time Capsules USB port and store additional files there. This added disk will still be available to all Macs that can access the Time Capsule.
    This works to share the files on the USB HDD attached to TC, but if you want this drive backed up by TM (and this drive is formatted HFS+), then it needs to remain plugged into the Mac directly for TM to back it up.

  • Is there a way to recover hard drive data after backing up via Time Machine (from Time Capsule)?

    iMac 27", Mid 2011
    2.7GHz Intel Core i5
    Mac OS X Lion 10.7.5 (11G63b)
    Apple Time Capsule (May 2012)
    Greetings,
    Is there a way to recover the most recent version of your hard drive, after you installed an earlier version. I accidentally restored to an earlier version of my Mac Book lap top and installed it on my iMac desk top. I installed the earlier version using an Apple Time Machine and Apple Time Capsule.
    I see some recovery software online, but I'm not sure if I should buy one or if there's another way to approach this problem.
    The restored version has some of my files, but it's 2 full years old!
    Am I dead in the water?
    I appreciate any advice you can offer on alternative recovery techniques or recovery software recommendations.
    Sincerely,
    Chuck "dying over here" B.

    Hey R,
    Thanks for the quick reply.
    Unfortunately the whole time I thought the TM/TC was backing up correctly as the thing was starting and stopping as if everything was fine. I guess I was blinded by the little green light that was always on.  So actually it does not have a recent version of my iMac, - it only lists old 2011 and 2012 versions of my Macbook.   I suppose I screwed something up at setup, and as it was hard lined (via a T5 cable) into my iMac, and the Macbook was shut down in a drawer, I never realized the error.
    The restored version is less than a Gig, so there's plenty of room left on the iMac (1TB HD). As such, I'm hoping that most of the files have not really been overwritten.
    I'm willing to pay to have it professionally recovered, but is that even possible?
    C

  • Time machine has stopped backing up to time capsule. message is that sparse bundle is in use

    Time machine suddenly stopped backing up to time capsule returning this message:
    The backup disk image “/Volumes/Data-1/xxnymacbooknamexx MacBook.sparsebundle” is already in use.

    Complex procedure that will almost always solve this bug:
    Pull the power cord from the back of the Time Capsule
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    Wait a few minutes, then try a backup again.

  • Time Machine Backing Itself up On Time Capsule

    I'd posted this in the Mtn Lion discussion area, but figured I'd see if I got any thoughts from the Time Capsule Area...
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    Anyone else seen this problem using a Time Capsule for TM backup?
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    LaPastenague,
    Thanks for your input...
    My initial analysis was quite limited... 
    I first thought there might be a problem when I noticed that in the left-hand column of Time Machine's finder window, under "devices" my Time Machine Backup (which I'll refer to as device).  This  device did not have any past backups, and only seemed to have a reference time/date of "now".  I then noticed that this device was not in TM's exclusion list, nor was I able to  to exclude this device--something that I was able to do under Leopard, Snow Leopard, and Lion. 
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    I'll take a look at Pondini's A2...I don't recall if I had read it or not... 
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  • Time Machine not backing up 2nd external drive, remove option grayed out

    I have two external hard drives, 300gb (firewire) and 500gb (usb). Time Machine is backing up to the 300gb. In Time Machine's options, the 500gb is excluded from being backed up, and the remove option is grayed out.
    The 300gb Time Machine Backup drive is formatted as Mac OS Extended. The 500gb drive is formatted as MS-DOS (FAT32).
    I know the backup drive needs to be formatted as Mac OS Extended, but will it not even back up other drives that are FAT32?

    I am having a similar problem. I initially set it up 3 days ago and had it back up just the iMac to Time Capsule (about 120 GB) which it did no problem (I initially had my LaCie drive excluded). I then un-excluded my other drive, where all my photos and music reside (about 130 GB). Since then, it keeps trying to back up about 102 GB each time. Looking at the list of backups it does not appear that it has ever successfully backed up the LaCie. I am not aware of any error messages, but I have not been home much. I normally shut down the computer at night but I have been leaving it on trying to let Time Machine do its thing. All I can say is that every time I am at the computer TM is running and it always looks like it is in the middle of backing up 102 GB (usually seems to be near the beginning, never seem to see it more than halfway done). Looking at the TM panel it says the latest backup was 2 days ago. I'd appreciate any advice!

  • How do use Time Machine to back up to my network drive?

    I have been dealing with this issue for days. When I had bought my MacBook Pro a couple of weeks ago I figured Id try and back it up to my 1.5tb Western Digital HD that's plugged into the USB port on my router. I Have connected to it through finder and can access it fine however my main point in getting to it is to back up my MacBook with Time Machine over the air to the external HD. I have researched and tried many tricks such as running codes in finder to create a "sparsebundle" using the code " hdiutil create -size 100g -fs HFS+J -volname "Time Machine" COMPUTERNAME_XXXXXXXXXXXX.sparsebundle " in Terminal. I was able to succeed in creating one but my problem comes when I want to transfer it to the network drive. I use the code " rsync -aE COMPUTERNAME_XXXXXXXXXXXX.sparsebundle /Volumes/NETWORKDRIVE/ ". However I get error codes such as "file could not be transferred (23)" and "no file or directory (2)". Also before I did all of these steps I made sure to make network drives discoverable in Time Machine by running the code " defaults write com.apple.systempreferences TMShowUnsupportedNetworkVolumes 1 " in Terminal. However without using the trick that I keep getting errors with Time Machine gets error message 45 when attempting to back up to the Network Drive straight after making the Drive discoverable. I know Apple niched Time Machine back ups on network drives after or toward the end of Leopard and thats why it is so hard to do it now but I was hoping someone can aid me in my never ending problem?

    Hi Barney
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    I also believe it has to be an Apple Airport Extreme router.
    Again, that is not the case. I am successfully using Time Machine to an Iomega network drive for the last 12 months. No issues at all.
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    There may be an element of truth to this, however, I have used the "Star Wars" interface to recover individual files directly.  If I should need to perform a larger recovery and for some reason I can't get the usual access through Apple software, I have established that I can directly access the sparse bundle on the drive and mount it on the computer. Once there, I can just copy files directly from it. The sparse bundle folder structure makes it easy to get the latest version of every file with a couple of mouse drags.  This means that I will always be able to get access to my backups.
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    I don't know why Apple nixed it - I've had zero problems with this configuration and it is by far the most sensible way to use Time Machine. It seems completely pointless to have a portable MacBook and then have to physically connect a drive to it permanently for backup purposes.
    I've only had personal experience with the Iomega drive - maybe it only works with a limited number of manufacturers?
    Bob
    Message was edited by: Bob Lang1

  • Time Machine not backing up other external hard drive

    Hi,
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    I am having a similar problem. I initially set it up 3 days ago and had it back up just the iMac to Time Capsule (about 120 GB) which it did no problem (I initially had my LaCie drive excluded). I then un-excluded my other drive, where all my photos and music reside (about 130 GB). Since then, it keeps trying to back up about 102 GB each time. Looking at the list of backups it does not appear that it has ever successfully backed up the LaCie. I am not aware of any error messages, but I have not been home much. I normally shut down the computer at night but I have been leaving it on trying to let Time Machine do its thing. All I can say is that every time I am at the computer TM is running and it always looks like it is in the middle of backing up 102 GB (usually seems to be near the beginning, never seem to see it more than halfway done). Looking at the TM panel it says the latest backup was 2 days ago. I'd appreciate any advice!

  • I had two computers backing up on my time capsule, with time machine. Main computer with ethernet cable and laptop... airport. My iMac hard disc failed and I can't find the back up on time machine. Please help!

    I open time machine preferences and only see the backup for the laptop. Have no idea what to do at this point. The time machine was backing up my iMac just fine until it stopped working.

    obesity wrote:
    It was really empty. Clicked on, nothing.
    But no prohibited signs, like these:
    Get info on folder, zero kb. Just one user account on each mac.
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  • Moving iPhoto pictures to an external HD and then backing the HD u on time capsule using time machine

    I have reached capacity on my 250 gb HD that is in my MacBook Pro. The majority of the space is consumed by iPhoto pictures and 45second videos. So I bought a 4 tb external HD to expand capacity. How do I put the pictures and videos on the external HD? And, please, explain it to me like I'm a 2-year-old:  step-by-step.
    Once that is done, can this setup be configured such that when I insert my SD card of 150. Baby photos from the previous day and upload them to iPhoto, can they save directly to external HD, or will I need to manually move them there?
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    To move the Library:
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    3. Hold down the option (or alt) key while launching iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Choose Library' and navigate to the new location. From that point on this will be the default location of your library.
    4. Test the library and when you're sure all is well, trash the one on your internal HD to free up space.
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    There is no risk of library corruption while running a back up.
    I'd ask the specifics of how to do it on the Using Mac OS X forum for your version of the OS.
    Regards
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