Time machine asking for space it shouldn't need

I have successfully restored my iMac (running Snow Leopard) from a time machine backup following a disk erase and repartition. I have found now that Time Machine is failing to back up due to insufficient space on the external Time Machine drive. Given that it is looking for over 200Gb (it's a 300Gb machine) I suspect that it is attempting to back up the entire machine instead of just doing the incremental back up as it was previously. Can TM get out of synch with the back up drive in this way? If so, what might my solution be?

Have a look at Sections C and D here... Troubleshooting
More Info Here > http://pondini.org/OSX/Home.html

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Time Machine asks for password to access sparse bundle on a new mac while restoring

Hello,
i know this is a common issue so i excuse myself in advance, but i couldn't find the solution to my answer so here i am.
I have been backing up (and restoring) to an external HD connected via USB to my TM.
my mac eventually decided to die (apparently doesnt like orangejuice and collapsed after a few drops of it)
my TM is configured with username access and i can correctly connect to my TM with a backup mac with my username and password.
the problem is that connecting in this way the TM wouldn't let me open the backup from the external backup (connected to TM with a net cable) and prompts me for a password.
i disconnected the external hd and connected via USB to my new mac and now the system is asking me for a password again.
i understand this password should be the one i originally had on my old mac, so i reinstalled the new mac and setup a single user with the same name and the same password, to no avail.
i think the situation is the same as in this post https://discussions.apple.com/message/21373828 which was apparently solved but the user "forgot" to tell us how
i am on a trip now with my HD with me (i NEED the data i will try till i die to get it back)
any ideas?
Thanks in advance

thank you for your answer, but that option would be good if that was not my company's mac and policy says to send it to repair (we have apple care) untouched
other than that, i dont remember setting a password when i first started the backup.
the backup was set by me in the external disk, but i can't remember having set a password for the backup specifically
i read in a post that the password has to be the same as my user's password.
in case it should also be the same id, i also created subsequent users with which to try to open the sparsebundle (502, 503, ...)
no luck
so, i wouldnt want to wait for the genius to open the mac and give me the hd back (which will happen in a week), because i need my data now and because i wouldn't want to get in a position i cant have my data back in case enext time is not the mac to leave me but the disk!

Time Machine - "not enough space to back up" despite large drive

Hi,
I have a 2.7GHz Quad-Core 27" iMac from July 2011. It has a 2TB HD which I back up to an external single partition 2TB HD (WD MyBook) over Time Machine (TM). The iMac HD has about 1.4TB on it.
It was "just working" until about 2 weeks ago, when I got a message that says in essence "not enough space to back up: only 600GB available when 1.4GB is needed". There is one succesful 1.4TB backup. I get the error message hourly as it attempts to back up then fails. Previously there were multiple time stamped (houry, daily etc) backups but when I first got the error message, there was only one left, implying that TM deleted the earlier ones in its quest for more space.
As there is a 2TB drive to back up 1.4TB, there should be loads of space as each backup should just log the changes, not the whole drive.
However, TM is acting as if it needs the full 1.4GB free for each delta backup, rather than just space for the changes. This is new behaviour as it did not need this before.
I have googled the issue extensively, checked FAQs etc and found two potential causes.
The first is that I changed the name of my computer around the time that the problem appeared. This can apparently cause TM to not recognise old backups. I therefore deleted the old one and rebuilt my backup from scratch, hoping that the new name would be used. I was able to do one backup before the same issue appeared again.
The second is that the sparsebundle needs to be resized manually due to a bug, but I can't find the sparse bundle on the external HD, even using Disk Utility (this maty be because I am being very stupid - I am a recent Mac user and do not have much experience of digging into OS X's innards)
I am now at a loss as to what to do.
I would be very grateful indeed if anyone had any thoughts that they could share.
SE.

Semper Eadem wrote:
I got a message that says in essence "not enough space to back up: only 600GB available when 1.4GB is needed". There is one succesful 1.4TB backup.
It's trying to do a near-full backup for some reason, and it's already deleted all but the last remaining backup trying to make room. It was probably trying to back up about 1.2 TB, since it adds 20% to the estimated size. That's likely your entire home folder.
The first is that I changed the name of my computer around the time that the problem appeared.
No, that shouldn't cause it. Apparently on some of the very first versions of Leoaprd, it did, but not since.
The second is that the sparsebundle needs to be resized manually due to a bug,
No, there isn't a sparsebundle on backups made to an internal or directly-connected HD. Those are used only for network backups.
What else did you do around the same time you changed your computer name? See #D4 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting for common causes.
I'd recommend turning TM off, erasing the drive and doing a "full reset" per #A4 in that same link. Then exclude most of the large folders in your home folder, per #10 in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions. Then run a backup, and immediately run another.
If the second backup is more than a GB, use one of the apps in #A2 of Troubleshooting to see exactly what got backed-up the second time. That may tell us what's going on.
If it wasn't large, start removing the exclusions, one at a time. Run a backup (that should back up the excluded item(s), then run another and see how large it is. That should pinpoint the problem.

Can I use a single external drive to maintain time machine backups for two Mac computers?

Hello
We have an older mac mini and macbook air. I have one Western Digital external USB drive. Can I use the same drive to hold and maintain time machine backups for both machines?
I already have the macbook air time-machined on the WD drive. I now want to backup the mac mini onto the same drive. Is it going to over write the time machine backup or is the software smart enough to maintain two separate files, partitions, whatever it does..?

It will maintain separate backups. Note that it's generally advisable to use separate drives for best practice backup, but yes, it will work for both computers, provided you have enough space (need generally 2-3 times the total used file space for both Macs).
Matt

Time Machine backup for old computer has been named for new computer

On my new Time Capsule, I backed up the entire disk from my older computer. While consulting with a live help technician for an unrelated problem, he had me reset the Time Capsule using the newer computer. To resume use of the Time Machine backup from my older computer, I had to gain permission . . . and subsequently discovered the reason why. Reseting with the new computer caused the backup volume to be renamed with the new computer's name.
Sooo, 1) how do I correct the naming error, and 2) will further confusion occur when I then go to back up the new computer?

It may or may not ask you to reformat the disk when you set it up as the backup for that new computer. If it does, I think you can cancel it.
What I would do is open Migration Assistant, then import your applications/documents/etc. onto the new computer, and then use the Time Machine disk for backup (formatting it if it asks you to).
You'll at least have recent files and stuff like that, which may not be as good as an incremental history but at least it's something.

Time Machine takes up space on SSD

Hey guys,
First I wanna apologize if this has been addressed, I tried looking for it with no avail. Anyway, I had set up a NAS using my router, but it was formatted in NTFS so my Windows 8 laptop can use it as well.
Well after learning about the OWC SSD upgrade for the Macbook Pro Retina I decided that maybe I should purchase it, but I'll need to create a Time Machine back up so if I wanna restore it to the new SSD I can do so easily. I'm still unsure about the entire process, but I hope to learn it before I progress. I talked with both Apple and OWC and turns out this upgrade doesn't void any warranties, either from Apple care or origninal warranty as long as it's installed properly.
Anyway, after transferring everything from my external HDD to my SSD, I reformatted it to Mac Journaled then transferred everything back to the external HDD. Then I started my time machine backup.
After that completed, I unplugged it and carried on with my day. After restarting my computer I looked at my storage space and to my shock and dismay, I had over 100 GBs being taken up for 'backups' on my primary SSD and I couldn't figure out how to get rid of it.
By luck I turned off time machine and turned it back on and all that space was given back to me. I did another time machine backup several hours later and noticed 40 GBs were take up. Did the same thing (turning off and back on time machine) and the space was returned to me.
Basically why is this happening? Why is my internal SSD storing backups? Is this normal, should I ignore it and the system will remove this as needed? Or is it common practice to turn off and on the time machine to return that space back to me.
Thanks for the help and deeper understanding.
vahdyx

It's normal. Time Machine now stores local snapshots on portable Macs. The space used by backups is only used if there's space to do so - if you need the space for other file storage, they will be automatically deleted.
Matt

Last computer i was able to make 3 profiles and run 3 windows. each time it asked for the profile when i wanted to start each window. how can i set that up again

ast computer i was able to make 3 profiles and run 3 windows. each time it asked for the profile when i wanted to start each window. how can i set that up again

last time some1 set it up for me. i would only have 1 shortcut on my desktop. everytime i clicked on it, it would ask me which profile i wanted. even if i had 1 or 2 of the others open it would still ask me which profile i wanted to open. i want to be able to do it that way again.
yes i already set up the 3 profiles. but once i open up the one profile, and click on the short cut to open another, it just opens a brwser window with the profile in use. so i could open 10 windows, its only 1 profile, the first profile i used.
and yes i have the box not checked

My Time Machine Strategy for both iMac and MacBook...

1) Get 1TB external drive, format as HFS+ (including the Gizmodo hint about reformatting Fat32 drives properly by setting GUID Partition table)
2) Attach external drive to MacBook directly-run Time Machine overnight for initial full backup
3) Attach external drive to iMac directly-run Time Machine overnight for initial full backup
4) Attach external drive to my Mac Mini (running Leopard)-don't run Time Machine
5) Point the iMac and MacBook to the networked drive for future incremental Time Machine backups, by mounting the external drive permanently attached now to the Mac Mini as a shared drive.
This way, I get the tedious original backup thru direct connection-native Firewire speeds, then rely on the networked wired (iMac) and networked wireless (MacBook) connections for the incremental backups (which, given our usage, isn't that major on an hourly or daily basis)
Anyone tried something like this successfully?

If you have tried the fixes in Pondini's Time Machine Troublshooting, specifically #C12 and nothing helps, then it is time to let one of the genius types at an Apple Store take a look.
http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
If you cannot take the Time Capsule to an Apple Store, contact Apple Support directly.
http://www.apple.com/support/contact/

I have a mid2009 MacBook Pro for which I have been using a USB WD HD for Time Machine. I'd like to get a wireless HD and start a new Time Machine backup for this Mac and retire the 5 year old WD drive. Can I start over?

I have a mid2009 MacBook Pro running Mavericks for which I have been using a USB WD HD for Time Machine. I'd like to get a wireless HD and start a new Time Machine backup for this Mac and retire the 5 year old WD drive. Can I start over?

no archive/ backup is perfect, HD clones can be set to make incremental additions, same as time machine however, though they are more time involved in doing so.
See the + and - of all data backup/ archives below and "spread it around".... or the "dont put your eggs all in one basket" philosophy.
Peace
Data Storage Platforms; their Drawbacks & Advantages
#1. Time Machine / Time Capsule
Drawbacks:
1. Time Machine is not bootable, if your internal drive fails, you cannot access files or boot from TM directly from the dead computer.
2. Time machine is controlled by complex software, and while you can delve into the TM backup database for specific file(s) extraction, this is not ideal or desirable.
3. Time machine can and does have the potential for many error codes in which data corruption can occur and your important backup files may not be saved correctly, at all, or even damaged. This extra link of failure in placing software between your data and its recovery is a point of risk and failure. A HD clone is not subject to these errors.
4. Time machine mirrors your internal HD, in which cases of data corruption, this corruption can immediately spread to the backup as the two are linked. TM is perpetually connected (or often) to your computer, and corruption spread to corruption, without isolation, which TM lacks (usually), migrating errors or corruption is either automatic or extremely easy to unwittingly do.
5. Time Machine does not keep endless copies of changed or deleted data, and you are often not notified when it deletes them; likewise you may accidently delete files off your computer and this accident is mirrored on TM.
6. Restoring from TM is quite time intensive.
7. TM is a backup and not a data archive, and therefore by definition a low-level security of vital/important data.
8. TM working premise is a “black box” backup of OS, APPS, settings, and vital data that nearly 100% of users never verify until an emergency hits or their computers internal SSD or HD that is corrupt or dead and this is an extremely bad working premise on vital data.
9. Given that data created and stored is growing exponentially, the fact that TM operates as a “store-it-all” backup nexus makes TM inherently incapable to easily backup massive amounts of data, nor is doing so a good idea.
10. TM working premise is a backup of a users system and active working data, and NOT massive amounts of static data, yet most users never take this into consideration, making TM a high-risk locus of data “bloat”.
11. In the case of Time Capsule, wifi data storage is a less than ideal premise given possible wireless data corruption.
12. TM like all HD-based data is subject to ferromagnetic and mechanical failure.
13. *Level-1 security of your vital data.
Advantages:
1. TM is very easy to use either in automatic mode or in 1-click backups.
2. TM is a perfect novice level simplex backup single-layer security save against internal HD failure or corruption.
3. TM can easily provide a seamless no-gap policy of active data that is often not easily capable in HD clones or HD archives (only if the user is lazy is making data saves).
#2. HD archives
Drawbacks:
1. Like all HD-based data is subject to ferromagnetic and mechanical failure.
2. Unless the user ritually copies working active data to HD external archives, then there is a time-gap of potential missing data; as such users must be proactive in archiving data that is being worked on or recently saved or created.
Advantages:
1. Fills the gap left in a week or 2-week-old HD clone, as an example.
2. Simplex no-software data storage that is isolated and autonomous from the computer (in most cases).
3. HD archives are the best idealized storage source for storing huge and multi-terabytes of data.
4. Best-idealized 1st platform redundancy for data protection.
5. *Perfect primary tier and level-2 security of your vital data.
#3. HD clones (see below for full advantages / drawbacks)
Drawbacks:
1. HD clones can be incrementally updated to hourly or daily, however this is time consuming and HD clones are, often, a week or more old, in which case data between today and the most fresh HD clone can and would be lost (however this gap is filled by use of HD archives listed above or by a TM backup).
2. Like all HD-based data is subject to ferromagnetic and mechanical failure.
Advantages:
1. HD clones are the best, quickest way to get back to 100% full operation in mere seconds.
2. Once a HD clone is created, the creation software (Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper) is no longer needed whatsoever, and unlike TM, which requires complex software for its operational transference of data, a HD clone is its own bootable entity.
3. HD clones are unconnected and isolated from recent corruption.
4. HD clones allow a “portable copy” of your computer that you can likewise connect to another same Mac and have all your APPS and data at hand, which is extremely useful.
5. Rather than, as many users do, thinking of a HD clone as a “complimentary backup” to the use of TM, a HD clone is superior to TM both in ease of returning to 100% quickly, and its autonomous nature; while each has its place, TM can and does fill the gap in, say, a 2 week old clone. As an analogy, the HD clone itself is the brick wall of protection, whereas TM can be thought of as the mortar, which will fill any cracks in data on a week, 2-week, or 1-month old HD clone.
6. Best-idealized 2nd platform redundancy for data protection, and 1st level for system restore of your computers internal HD. (Time machine being 2nd level for system restore of the computer’s internal HD).
7. *Level-2 security of your vital data.
HD cloning software options:
1. SuperDuper HD cloning software APP (free)
2. Carbon Copy Cloner APP (will copy the recovery partition as well)
3. Disk utility HD bootable clone.
#4. Online archives
Drawbacks:
1. Subject to server failure or due to non-payment of your hosting account, it can be suspended.
2. Subject, due to lack of security on your part, to being attacked and hacked/erased.
Advantages:
1. In case of house fire, etc. your data is safe.
2. In travels, and propagating files to friends and likewise, a mere link by email is all that is needed and no large media needs to be sent across the net.
3. Online archives are the perfect and best-idealized 3rd platform redundancy for data protection.
4. Supremely useful in data isolation from backups and local archives in being online and offsite for long-distance security in isolation.
5. *Level-1.5 security of your vital data.
#5. DVD professional archival media
Drawbacks:
1. DVD single-layer disks are limited to 4.7Gigabytes of data.
2. DVD media are, given rough handling, prone to scratches and light-degradation if not stored correctly.
Advantages:
1. Archival DVD professional blank media is rated for in excess of 100+ years.
2. DVD is not subject to mechanical breakdown.
3. DVD archival media is not subject to ferromagnetic degradation.
4. DVD archival media correctly sleeved and stored is currently a supreme storage method of archiving vital data.
5. DVD media is once written and therefore free of data corruption if the write is correct.
6. DVD media is the perfect ideal for “freezing” and isolating old copies of data for reference in case newer generations of data become corrupted and an older copy is needed to revert to.
7. Best-idealized 4th platform redundancy for data protection.
8. *Level-3 (highest) security of your vital data.
[*Level-4 data security under development as once-written metallic plates and synthetic sapphire and likewise ultra-long-term data storage]
#6. Cloud based storage
Drawbacks:
1. Cloud storage can only be quasi-possessed.
2. No genuine true security and privacy of data.
3. Should never be considered for vital data storage or especially long-term.
4. *Level-0 security of your vital data.
Advantages:
1. Quick, easy and cheap storage location for simplex files for transfer to keep on hand and yet off the computer.
2. Easy source for small-file data sharing.

How to select correct time machine backup for migration assistant

We have two MacBooks backing up to one Time Capsule using time machine: let's call them H and R.
I have had to reinstall Leopard on Macbook H and am now trying to restore using Migration Assistant.
Migration Assistant finds the Time Capsule and identifies that there are two Time Machine Backups, but doesn't give an option to select the one to use.
Whenever I click 'Continue' it does the 'Checking time machine backup' (for hours), then brings up the data to restore, but every time it comes up with the data and settings from Macbook R.
How can I tell Migration Assistant which Time Machine Backup I want to use?

Brilliant. That was it.
I used the other MacBook to run Disk Utility on my backup volume and repaired it: #A5 is bang on.
Then, Setup Assistant saw both backups and let me select the one I wanted. It's now transferring my stuff.
Very relieved and extremely grateful.
Your apple tips should come with every mac and time capsule.

Time Machine Background for my desktop or screen saver

How can I use the vortex time machine background for my desktop or screen saver background?
Thanks

Hello,
In short....you can't. You can use the static image as a wallpaper or slideshow ScreenSaver but you cannot use the "Vortex" engine for the animated Time Machine effects. It appears that the "Vortex" engine is part of the Resources for the Finder application itself as evidenced by the related files and images found in the Finder application Package. I don't know if anyone could create a "hack", utilizing the existing resources, to make a ScreenSaver file or not. I have zero experience with ScreenSavers. I just use them.
I know that there are interesting integer parameters in some of the "Vortex" files but I do not have the "bullocks" to experiment with them.
Sorry.....
pw

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Time Machine storage for backups.

Hello
Quick question: I've been using an external USB drive as a Time Machine backup disk since I bought my MacBook Pro 13" in 2009. The MBP hard drive is 250GB whilst the external hard drive is 80GB. I've only just reached the point where the MBP's disk has just over 80GB of data on it.
Now I know that Time Machine has been deleting older backups on the external drive for some time because the disk is full. I realise that it deletes older backups because it is the multiple versions of backups that are taking up the drive space.
However, what happens when the total amount of data on the MBP drive exceeds the storage capacity of the external drive? I haven't asked it to exclude anything from the backups and as Time Machine makes a complete copy of everything on the MBP drive, how does it manage when the external drive is not as big as the data on the computer's drive?
I do realise that I may just have to buy another bigger external drive to deal with what was an inevitable problem but I'm curious as to how Time Machine is continuing to back up without any apparent problem.
Thanks for your help.

Thank Shootist007
I know.
What I was curious about was why Time Machine wasn't telling me that and was happily going on to do backups without any error messages.
Thomas's reply probably explains why so before I do get to that point, I will go and get another hard drive...
Cheers

I can see Time Machine backups for only last 10 days.

I lost majority of my Documents content.
To my surprise Time Machine has partial backup of that folder for only last 10 days.
Can I somehow access previous backups (that are not visible)?
thx

When you Enter Time Machine, do the older backups appear in the timeline on the right at all?
If they do, but the little "tick marks" are faded-out and you can't select them, see the pink box in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #15A.
If the backups don't appear at all, Time Machine probably ran out of space on the backup disk, and had to delete old backups to make room for new ones. If so, your backup drive is probably too small. See #1 in the above link.

Time machine asking for space it shouldn't need

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