Time machine automatically added my external hd to exclusion list
Has this happened to anyone?
Today I happened to open Time Machine and look at the exclusion list to find that my portable external hard drive, which I carry with my macbook everywhere and is where I store most of my files, and which I have always included in the backups, was now listed as being excluded. Entering Time Machine, I see that the last backup was in February of this year so it must have been excluded immediately after that. But I can't think of why the drive would have been added onto the exclusion list. I haven't changed the settings for at least a year. I have two drives that I backup to: one USB and one NAS, alternating. I've had this set up for about a year. I did move recently though, and I think maybe it was around February that I set up my NAS at this new place and resumed backing up to it along with my USB drive. I know TM excludes external drives by default. Is it possible that TM somehow reset itself when it reconnected with the NAS, which is why the external was re-excluded?
Of course I took it off the list again, but I'm just trying to understand why this happened, so I can avoid anything similar happening again in the future. It was pretty scary to discover, because I have very important documents on that drive that need to stay backed up.
Thanks!
Or do I just need to get a 2nd external HD with less memory and dedicate it to Time Machine?
Well, OP is considering this option, and it one way to go TM-dedicated TM external. Really their options depend on how much free space is present on their Mac internal and current external. Disk Utility erase/ partition options will reformat, quite obviously, but even if they have just one external available it is usually possible to backup video and other stored files to say DVD media while they reorganize/ reformat their backup drive.
Another choice is to turn TM off.
Due to the magic of shareware there are now third-party utilities that allow you to alter the frequency of Time Machine Back up.
http://www.klieme.com/TimeMachineScheduler.html
Similar Messages
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Time Machine automatically formats new external drive CASE-SENSITIVE?
I noticed a strange thing when I set up Time Machine. I'd bought an external drive that was presumably pre-formatted as FAT32 or NTFS, so when I connected it and told Time Machine to use that drive, it told me it needed to format the drive, so I told it to go ahead.
It happened so fast that I wanted to make sure it had worked, so I checked the stats on the drive, and I noticed that it was formatted "Mac OS Extended (Journaled, Case-sensitive)". I thought it was a bit odd that it was formatted case-sensitive. When I google for this, the only thing I find is people saying that the external drive should NOT be case-sensitive.
So what's going on here? Should it be case-sensitive? Is this a glitch? Should I be concerned? Should those who don't use case-sensitive be concerned?
Thanks!Well, I've been reading through some other discussions in this forum, and some people have attributed problems with Time Machine to the disk being formatted case-sensitive. So the issue is still up in the air. So far, I've only done an initial backup, and that worked fine. I've also read about people having trouble with subsequent backups. Also, some people report that Apple's tech support instructions specify that you format the drive explicitly without case-sensitivity. There are inconsistencies here, and Apple is mum about the details. So this kinda leaves this up in the air.
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Will Time machine automatically back up an external hard drive connected to my iMac?
I have a Lacie external firewire hard disc connected to my iMac, containing Aperture library. Will Time Machine automatically back up both the external disc and the iMac HD?
AdrianWill Time Machine automatically back up both the external disc and the iMac HD
Open System Preferences (gear icon on the dock) and open Time Machine
Click on Options
Do you see the name of your Lacie drive in the "Exclusions List"? If yes, the Lacie drive is currently not set to backup with your Mac.
Click on your Lacie drive to highlght it, then click the - (minus) button at the bottom of the list to remove the drive from the "Exclusions" list.
Now, Time Machine will backup both your Mac and the Lacie drive on the next pass. Allow plenty of time for this backup, avoiding wireless if possible, and connecting the Mac directly to one of the Ethernet ports on the Time Capsule. Ethernet will go 3-5 faster than wireless, on average. -
Does Time Machine automatically resume backing up when the external HD is connected?
My daughter has a MacBook Pro at college. I recently bought her an external hard drive to use with Time Machine. We connected the drive, the system said, "do you want to use this drive for Time Machine?", we said, "yes, please", and it started doing its backup thing.
Then we disconnected the drive, waited a few minutes, then re-connected it. I was expecting / hoping that Time Machine would automatically see the drive and resume its backup. But I didn't see any visual indication of this and am not convinced that's what happens.
My daughter is a college student and will probably not remember to start Time Machine every time she reconnects the hard drive. Is there a way to have Time Machine *automatically* resume its backup any time it sees the drive attached? Also, how do you see the status of the backup?
Thanks!webwiz wrote:
Then we disconnected the drive,
Oops. Never disconnect an external HD without ejecting it first. That can damage the file system on it, and Time Machine won't be able to back up to it without it being repaired (see below).
Did a backup complete? See what the System Preferences > Time Machine window shows:
You can also get to that by selecting the TM icon in the menubar, or right-clicking the TM icon in the Dock, and selecting Open Time Machine Preferences.
My daughter is a college student and will probably not remember to start Time Machine every time she reconnects the hard drive. Is there a way to have Time Machine *automatically* resume its backup any time it sees the drive attached?
TM will do backups hourly (just of what's been changed since the last one) while the disk is connected. If it's not available for over an hour, it will just wait until it is (and send a message after 10 days without a backup).
If the drive was only disconnected for a few minutes, though, it won't start a new one until the hour is up.
If the Preferences window doesn't show a "Latest backup," the backup may have been damaged. If it's been over an hour, and no new backup has started, try to repair the backups, per #A5 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting
You might want to review the Time Machine Tutorial, and perhaps browse Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions. -
Due to NAS issues, when I started a new time machine backup it did not have the old backups available. My question is do I need to delete them or will time machine automatically reclaim the space? There is only one sparse bundle but when I enter time machine I don't see my historic backups. I use a synology DS212 for my time machine. Started a new backup which is 218gb but it says 618 gb is occupied therefore it looks like 2 or 3 backups are still on the disk. Before my NAS issues the last backup was in 2014. As you can see there is a second sparse bundle from 2012. Not sure what that is.
This is an old message now, but what happened to me similarly was:
I had a major computer crash and through complicated pathways ended up reinstalling (Mavericks) as a new user (long story).
At least I had good Time Machine backups on an NAS drive (Synology DS212j), or so I thought - when I started Time Machine up again, the old backup file was gone, replaced by a new one using my "new computer" name. The old file was gone both by directly mounting the NAS drive and by clicking "Enter Time Machine".
It's like I had {OldShareName}.sparsebundle and then it was replaced by {NewShareName}.sparsebundle, all of the old info vanished.
(I have spent a week finding old files elsewhere and have completed a satisfactory self-restore. It pays to "archive" [my own variation of] as well as "back-up".)
My belief is that if this were a wired-netword-drive, e.g. plugged right into my iMac with a USB cable, then the old file would have remained.
But this is an NAS drive, connected directly to my Airport wireless router, and I don't know the significance of the fact that it stores its Time Machine backups as "sparsebundle" files rather than simply as plain(er) files.
As usual when things get complicated with computers (not just Apple computers) there was never a warning message. Something like "YOU'RE ABOUT TO DELETE A TIME MACHINE BACK-UP FILE!!!" would have made my life a lot simpler.
BTW, I did try a "restore from Time Machine" option the first thing I had my "new computer" (old hardware, 2009 iMac) up and running, using Migration Assistant, and it ran for many hours and then failed in the wee hours - what that has to do with anything I'm not sure.
I'm not sure that I have a question about this other than "why do these things happen to me?", but it's a warning. Apart from that I've been very happy with the stability and reliability (but not the cost or set-up complexity) of NAS vs. directly-cabled external drives.
Charles -
I need to create a second back-up of iPhoto from Time Machine to a separate external drive. The old iPhoto in TM will not open. Please help! And thank you!
Most Simple Back Up:
Drag the iPhoto Library from your Pictures Folder to another Disk. This will make a copy on that disk.
Slightly more complex: Use an app that will do incremental back ups. This is a very good way to work. The first time you run the back up the app will make a complete copy of the Library. Thereafter it will update the back up with the changes you have made. That makes subsequent back ups much faster. Many of these apps also have scheduling capabilities: So set it up and it will do the back up automatically.
Example of such apps: Chronosync - but there are many others. Search on MacUpdate or the App Store -
I'm using Time Machine and a LaCie external drive to backup. I also have a 8 GB LaCie flash drive I want to use for small jobs. If I plug the LaCie flash drive in, is my Mac going to think it is the LaCie external drive and start trying to backup?
no.
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i got a macbook pro 2008 and can not back up using time machine. it eject my external hard drive everytime. does anybody has a fix???
Does your external hard drive have it's own power supply? It should.
Is your external hard drive formatted with the NTFS file system? It won't work.
It needs to be formatted either with Mac OS Extended or FAT32.
(There are drivers available to add NTFS support to OS X but their quality is unknown, especially the "free" ones.) -
QUESTION.
Hallo , my question is ;whenever I delete a photo and restore it through Time machine and Western digital external hard drive , I am able to restore the photo but not the titles and descriptions . Western Digital inform me that it isn't their external hard drive problem and suggest that it is an Apple software problem ?
I am using a Macbook 4.1 , with Mac OSX 10.5.8 . I photo 7.1.5 , last modifie4d 01/05/2010 -universal . Should I be upgrading Iphoto ?
I hope that someone is able to help in this matter , as i have to restore 12000 photos !
Thanking you in anticipation.
Alan from WigtonHallo Kieth ,
I am not quite ready to restore the full iphoto library , as I have days of work re - imputting titles,descriptions and enhancement . I hope that your suggestion works , as I use my Macbook basically to work with digital photography. Through time , I will need to delete my library to recover more disc space and I would hate to have to spend more time re - imputting titles and descriptions all over again .
Thanks for your interest and advice.
regards - Alan -
I recently replaced my old Macbook Pro with a new Macbook Pro Retina.
The original MBP had Time Machine set up on an external HD, and I also had some manually saved/backed up files (stuff that didn't need incremental backups; very old stuff) on the disk as well, in folders. This worked fine and well for the life of the original MBP.
When I set up the MBPr, I did not elect to transfer everything over from a Time Machine disk, as I wanted a Fresh Install; I chose to just re-download/install the apps I needed from the App Store. Much cleaner, more stable. I updated to Yosemite immediately so, it gave me more of a clean install.
The problem is, Time Machine now won't read any Time Machine backups from that disk. Migration assistant can pull data from it, but it's a bit wonky. It was easier to just manually copy over what I needed.
Now, I just want to "reset", and completely remove the old Time Machine data from the external hard drive, since it is completely useless to me now (I can't access it on this computer, and it's taking up space). I want to remove the Time Machine data, as if it were never there, but keep my other folders/files that are on the disk (so, a format is not feasible).
I will then set the disk up as a new, fresh Time Machine disk for the new MBPr.
What is the proper method for removing Time Machine data from an external disk (which doesn't seem to be associated with this machine anyway)? I know a simple rm -rf will cause problems.
Thanks for any help provided.See the yellow box in #12 of Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).
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HT201250 How can I migrate a Time Machine backup from an external hard drive to a new TimeCapsuls?
I just got a 2TB Time Capsule. I want to migrate my time machine backups on an external hard drive to the new Time Capsule. I have about 430Gb of files to back up; I don't want to wait 7-8 days for the backup, unless I have to. I am using OS 10.7.5 (forget which cat that is). I have mounted the TC drive as 10.0.1.1; I tried to drag and drop from old to "data" on TC, but I get the error "The volume is the wrong format for a backup." Any ideas how I can move my old files to the new, and bypass creating a brand new backup file?
Thanks.Rather than do that, which means starting over from scratch, losing all your edits, organisation and so on, why not simply use iPhoto Library Manager to revert the Library to the older version? Easier, less destructive.
The instructions on that are here
If you really want to start over: you can access the Originals folder simply by going to your Pictures Folder and finding the iPhoto Library there. Right (or Control-) Click on the icon and select 'Show Package Contents'. A finder window will open with the Library exposed. -
Re Time Machine
I have an external hard drive with files I backed up manually over the past 2 years 1TB of memory.
I am finally taking the leap to use Time machine to back everything.
will I have to reformat that drive, thus wiping my previous back ups?
can I split it the drive in two partitions?
Also
as I have two separate Macbook Pro's- one older than the other.
OSX 10.68
the other is
OSX 10.75
can I back them up separately?
or even synch and merge files and folders etc? between the two?You CAN use a drive with files already on it to store Time Machine backups. But long term, that is not recommended. You do not need to reformat or re-partition the drive to do this. Once Time Machine Backups are established, you could remove the old files.
But do not delete Time Machines files with the Finder -- that can cause it to lose its place and lose everything.
With the cost of backup drives under US$100, it might be a better idea in the long run to get another drive. Best results from Time Machine is a drive about 3 times larger than the drive(s) you are backing up. -
I have just upgraded to Mavericks and have been using Time Machine on an external disk with Snow Leopard. Can I continue to backup with Time Machine on the same external disk or do I need a new disk since the operating system has changed?
Hi there,
I found that Time Machine in Mavericks will sort it all out for you. You shouldn't need to buy another backup drive, unless you have insufficient space left and can't afford to delete whats on there. It should just work fine. -
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 -
I've mistakenly deleted Time Machine backups from my external HDD. How do I fix this?!
I manually deleted several Time Machine backups from my external HDD. Whenever I attempt to empty trash, it states (error code -22) has occurred. How do I fix my predicament?
I understand (now) that I should never do this and ONLY delete from the Time Machine app itself but I did not assume this would be so complex by taking a blind stab at it. How do I either a) place the Time Machine backups where the originated (Put Back is not an option when right-clicked) or b) successfully delete these so I can clear my bin.
I am running Mac OS 10.10 on a 13" MacBook Air (mid-2013) w/ 4GB of RAM and 128GB SSD. My external drive is a 5400 RPM WD USB 2.0 External Hard Drive.Try Trash won't empty deleted time machine backups
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