Time Machine backs up even when no change

Hi, I use Time Machine to automatically back up whenever I am connected to my wi-fi network at home. Every day, it runs through a backup of 21.84 GB, even when I haven't used the Macbook in between. Is this normal, and how do I find out what it is that is being backed up? Most days it seems to complete ok, so I don't get an error message, but the next day, there we go again - 21.84 GB all over again.
Thanks, in advance of any pointers.
Richard

No, that's not normal. See #D7 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting.

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I work with a Mac & I had to restore my computer for my time machine back-up. When I attempt to open/edit a photo with either camera raw or photoshop I get the following error message: Error 150:30 , it also sys that licensing for the product has stopped

I work with a Mac & I had to restore my computer for my time machine back-up. When I attempt to open/edit a photo with either camera raw or photoshop I get the following error message: Error 150:30 , it also sys that licensing for the product has stopped working?

Unfortunately when Adobe products are restored from backup, especial CS4 and especially Mac, it breaks licensing.
There is a python script included in the license recovery kit that should work if you are familiar with Terminal.
If not, you must reinstall your CS4 suite. You don't need to delete your preferences, so it should be the same as before.
Error "Licensing has stopped working" | Mac OS
Gene

How do I retrieve my iphoto library from the Time Machine back-up drive, when the original iphoto library was on a separate external hard drive that has crashed?

I recently backed up my iMAC and Simpletech external hard-drive to a 1 TB WD Passport external hard drive, using Time Machine's back-up utility. Today, I tried to access my iphoto library from the back-up drive, but received a message saying "the iPhoto library is a Time Machine back up, and so cannot be used as the main library. Relaunch iPHoto with options key held down to choose another library." Since my Simpletech died on me, what other iPhoto library is it expecting me to access? I know approximately 169 GB were backed up, and my iPhoto library is roughly 54 GB.
Angie in Charlotte

Thanks. I will try going through TM. Since my Simpletech is on the way out, I'll be plugging in a new external hard drive (other than the back-up drive) and trying to restore the library to the new drive. Any advice or warning if this is NOT the right thing to do?
Meanwhile, that is a great tip to do an alternate back-up using a different means. It's been tough to figure out how to "preserve access" to digital images and files for posterity, knowing the hardware will always fail/obsolesce sooner or later, and that "clouds" are only as good as their consistent and reliable accessibility. Upping the odds with redundancy will help dull the edge of my "access anxiety", though logically, it can never relieve it. Will look into
Carbon Copy Cloner.

Time Machine Back up Drive cannot be changed

Hi - I've been using Time Machine since it's been available and never had an issue....until today.
I am unable to change the drive that it backs up to. The old drive shows "waiting for backup" when
it's not connected and I'm unable to remove the old drive from the list.
Help!!!!
Thanks so much

There is no relation.
Time Machine backups : my opinion is that this is a real waste of disk space, usefull for a few number of files but that's all ! In case of a reinstallation, everyone is performing a fresh installation ... In addition, after a certain time, TM erases the oldest files.
I personnaly backup only on mediums (CDs, DVDs, DVDs) etc ... then i'm always sure to find again what i'm searching for.
iTunes : a "!" means that you have moved from one place to another an audio file (or erasing it by error) and iTunes has just stored a link to the file and not the file inside its own folders. Probably you have never consolidated you library. The question is : where are you storing your files ? inside your mac plus inside external drives ? Please make sure, if you are managing often files in iTunes, to consolidate them in order for iTunes to copy them inside its own folders, else it becomes quickly a nightmare.
iTunes manages files on 3 different ways now :
- real files inside it
- links to files out of its folders
- files from iTunesMatch

Does time machine back up purchased iTunes items?

I just started to use a Mac and time machine. Does Time Machine back up even purchased items, or do I need to burn those to disk?
Thanks,
Dan

My Time Machine backs them up, and when i bought my new iMac, I just migrated everything from the Time Machine backup and all was there.

Can not installed mountain lion msg" macintosh hd is using for time machine back up" please help

I downloaded mountain lion but can not install, msg" macintosh HD is using for time machine back up , how can I change that...thanks

Somehow, a Backups.backupdb folder got created on your startup drive.
You won't find it via a Spotlight or Finder search, so open your internal HD via the Finder.
That folder is at the top level. Just delete it.

Time machine backs up 32K files even when nothing changed.

I just received a brand new OSX Lion Server (Mac Mini). I also installed an external USB HD for backup.
Unfortunately, each Time Machine back-up eats up about 1.9GB and backs up 32K files, even if nothing changed (e.g. I leave it on over night).
Below is the log, which I received with time machine buddy (a widget).
Starting standard backup
Backing up to: /Volumes/backup/Backups.backupdb
Waiting for index to be ready (101)
1.93 GB required (including padding), 363.27 GB available
Copied 326275 files (64.7 MB) from volume Server HD.
1.91 GB required (including padding), 363.10 GB available
Copied 326402 files (16.8 MB) from volume Server HD.
Starting post-backup thinning
No post-back up thinning needed: no expired backups exist
Backup completed successfully.
In this case, there were small changes, so 17 or 65MB sounds about right. What bugs me is that the backup took 2 hours(!) and required 1.91 GB. As every backup is longer than the hourly interval, in the current setup, if I switch on TM it is continuously backing up all day all night.
I have already erased the backup disk twice and have also tried to delete the .inProgress file. After such a restart, the first backup is big and real fast, and then it is just as slow as ever.
Does anybody have any idea what it could be? Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,

Use either of these to see what it is actually being backed up?
http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/A2.html
regards,
Colin R.

Is it possible to change the read/write permissions on a time machine back-up of iTunes? I need to restore it, but old version is locked....

Is it possible to change the read/write permissions on a time machine back-up of iTunes? I'm needing to restore it as my phone deleted half our playlists during sync & am not seeing a way to unlock the permissions. I have the current version unlocked, but can't seem to get the backed-up version. When I click on restore I get a pop-up that says iTunes can't be deleted as it is part of the OS. I'm not even trying to delete, just restore the old version. Any suggestions?

Hmmm, ok I'll give it a shot. I've always had the iTunes sync w/ my phone set up to only load selected playlists to the phone b/c there's a lot more in iTunes than I have room or desire for on my phone. A few months back I started having trouble w/ trying to sync everything & subsequently adding more to the phone than it could hold. The quickest thing at the time was to unclick the sync music option in iTunes so I could still backup the phone to the computer & not have a problem.
When I asked about it during one-to-one session shortly after, they advised me to delete the music off my phone & then re-sync it to the computer, run a backup of the phone & redownload the music to the phone. When I tried this it ended up deleting all my playlists (but not my husband's) from iTunes. Irritating, but I've been rebuilding the playlists since. I had also unclicked sync music again & an Apple person told me the most likely best fix was to delete & reload iTunes completely.
A few days ago I realized I hadn't backed up the phone to the computer in over a month so after deleting & reinstalling iTunes, & w/o changing anything (sync music was STILL unchecked) I ran a backup & my phone went from having 4 GB free space to being 2 GB over capacity due to iTunes trying to download the entire music library to the phone. I made a one-to-one appt again & it was suggested AGAIN that I delete all the music off my phone & then resync it to the computer & redownload the music. We did this (though a few random songs that had previously been purchased somehow remained on the phone), I got home, connected the phone & instead of the music that shows as 'on my device' disappearing from iTunes it just sat there, so, as the guy had told me I MIGHT have to do, I threw all those songs showing in iTunes as being on my phone, in the trash so that it was completely clear.
At this point I checked sync music, made sure the options were 'selected playlists only', checked the ones from my own list that I wanted (I usually have one playlist of comedians from my husband's folder that I also have on the phone, but didn't check it at this point). It uploaded all my stuff just fine, but for whatever reason when it saw that I wasn't uploading that comedy playlist any longer, it not only didn't upload it but proceeded to delete my husband's entire folder of playlists from iTunes. -_- I got on the phone w/ an Apple support person right away but he wasn't able to tell me anything .. basically said we'll have to rebuild everything. I asked about the possibility of using time machine, he said he's not qualified to answer that, so that's when I started looking around online & found, among others, the link I referenced a couple replies ago.
I hope this all makes sense. It's been a long-term issue so I'm trying to go from memory as I figured to begin w/ that I had just made a mistake somewhere, so didn't try to document anything. Now w/ it having happened a 2nd time, I'm not sure if it was 'user error' or something else.......

HT201250 when does time machine back up?

I don't see an option to set when time machine backs up.

Time Machine makes hourly backups, and there's no way to change that without hacking. There's also no good reason to change it.
These statements are sheer nonsense. There are not only good reasons to change Time Machine's backup time frames (even if it's personal desire), but there are simple and effective means of doing it that do not adversely affect the system. Time Machine Editor is one of them, and has worked quite effectively for numerous people.
BTW, your link you use to support your argument was quite arguably not from the use of Time Machine Editor, as the user had numerous other and true "hacks" installed that were the root of numerous console errors and problems. I'm glad the developer chimed in and investigated, and pretty much invalidated your unfounded initial claim of "the mess he created" with his program. Libel is a pretty outrageous practice.

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 eliminate

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.

How to restore Time Machine back-up if not even Recovery Tools work?

After a hard and unexpected crash on 2012 macMini I tried everything from this list: OS X Yosemite: Ways to start up your Mac Only 2 things worked: hardware test (via Ethernet: option+D; everything passed) and detailed status mode (command+V) which listed a bunch of errors concerning booting (missing or corrupted files and/or folders). Which is probably the reason I couldn't launch Recovery Tools - neither locally nor directly via Internet (Ethernet plugged in, option+command+R). I would get the message that the Tools are launching, but after the Apple logo showed up followed by the spinning circle, the screen would go light grey 4-5 seconds into the process and the thin black progress bar would appear. It would grow to 1/3 of its length, stop for several seconds, then the computer would restart, the bar would show up again, grow to 1/3 etc., etc.
Assuming that nothing else could be done I started the mini in the target mode (T), plugged it into my old 2007 mini and re-formatted the internal drive, thinking that I could either try Recovery Tools again (no luck) or just clean install Yosemite on the 2012 mini first and then use my Time Machine back-up to restore my files. Unfortunately 2007 mini can only install Lion - even on the external drive - but nothing higher (so I can't upgrade to Mountain Lion, Mavericks and finally to Yosemite). And 2012 would not start with Lion on it. Still no luck with Internet Recovery Tools btw (same symptoms).
The only other thing I can think of is finding a newer Mac and use it to install Mavericks or Yosemite on my 2012 mini. If this fails, it's a trip to the Apple store.
If anyone has any other ideas, please share.
(2012 has no CD/DVD drive)

Your description of Internet Recovery sounded much like Safe Mode, not Internet Recovery. I don't think you will see an Apple at all. It should be a spinning Globe. Or, when you say "spinning circle" was that the globe spinning?
From the App Store on the 2007 mini, can you download the Yosemite installer?
That's about all I can think of besides taking it to an Apple Store.

HT201250 How to change Time Machine back up time

Is there a way to change the hourly Time Machine back up time to once or twice a day?

Tidy wrote:
Now I have my original back up on time capsule which time machine can't see and it keeps starting over again to make a new backup - so my time capsule disk shows two separate backups one the original one of 2 days ago named for my computer and a new one almost the same gigabytes (139gb) which it has called Macintosh sparse bundle ????
It's possible the first one is damaged, but that seems unlikely, unless you turned the TC or Mac off while it was trying to do a backup. But even that shouldn't cause TM to start a new one (absent any messages to that effect). And it shouldn't be named "Macintosh" unless you've changed your computer name to that via System Prefs > Sharing.
A clue may be lurking in your logs. Use the widget in #A1 of Time Machine - Troubleshooting to display the backup messages from your logs. Locate both backups in question, then copy and post all the messages for each one here. (Since the first backup has been a couple of days, the widget may not show the messages for that backup; if not, the pink box shows how to use the Console app to find them.)
With the messages from both backups, we may be able to see what's going on.
I'm thinking that I should just leave time cap ON and see which it backs up to then delete the other one.
Let's see what we can find first.
I assume connecting iMac to time cap via Ethernet cable would not be a problem?
Correct. Doing the first, full backup via Ethernet is recommended.
Also if just turning time machine off is enough to disrupt time capsule backups how about turning the iMac off, which I will have to do once in a while.
Neither should be a problem, unless a backup is in progress and either the TC or Mac is shut down abnormally.

Why does time machine back up change root directory of software?

about a year ago i did a time machine back up of my old macbook pro, then when i came to use a piece of software (native instruments-traktor) it said the root directory had been changed and it couldnt find the file. i had to remove the whole program from my mac and redownload it. then since then had no problems.
now ive just purchased a new macbook today and wanted all my old files and software on it so i did a migration expert with time machine. it seems to have bought most things over.....a few files are missing from logic but again when i went open traktor, again it said root directory changed,,,im not to good with these root directorys so havent got a clue what to do so again ive had to remove the program and redownload it which is a bit of a pain.
any ideas why time machine changes it??

I'm also puzzled because it continually wants to back up some 15MB or more when I've changed nothing
Suggest that you download and install BackupLoupe to find out exactly what is being backed up on each pass.
soma-zone: BackupLoupe
If you want to change the backup frequency of Time Machine, an application like Time Machine Editor will allow you schedule backups whenever you like. But, you may not need to do this if you can figure out what might be causing the first issue.
TimeMachineEditor
If you ever decide to delete Time Machine Editor, be sure to change the backup frequency back to hourly before you delete the application.

Western Digital My Book World EditionI have bought a WD My Book World Edition to use for back-up of my iMac, but when I try and log onto the drive with Apple time Machine (back-up software) or connect in any other way i get the message 'There was a proble

I have bought a WD My Book World Edition to use for back-up of my iMac, but when I try and log onto the drive with Apple time Machine (back-up software) or connect in any other way I get the message 'There was a problem connecting to the server "MybookWorld.local" The version of the server you are trying to connect to is not supported. Please contact your system administrator to resolve the problem'
It is a brand new iMac and running Lion OSX
Any ideas on how to solve would be gratefully received?

Followed the directions on this page and it worked!
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1102423
Part One - Turn on SSH (in the admin panel)
[1] Go to to http://mybookworld.local
[2] login: username will be admin, password will be whatever you have setup. If you can't remember it should be in your Mac OS X keychain (Utilities > Keychain Access, search for "mybookworld"). If you have not changed if from the default the password will be admin as well.
[3] Switch to advanced mode.
[4] From the System tab, pick Advanced.
[5] Enable SSH Access, and click submit.
[6] Click on the network tab and then the LAN button
[7] Make a note of the IP address
Small, maybe obvious, but nevertheless important point: For the install to work, your NAS needs to be connected to a router with internet access.
Part Two - Install netatalk2.2
[8] Open Terminal.app (Utilities > Terminal)
[9] Enter the following command (substitute in 127.0.0.1 for the actual IP address you noted down in step 7), then hit return:
Code:
ssh [email protected]
[10] When prompted, enter the ssh password (will be welc0me).
[11] You are now going to download the installer. Enter the following command, then hit return:
Code:
wget http://mybookworld.wikidot.com/local--files/netatalk2-2-on-whitelight/install_netatalk.sh -O install_netatalk.sh
[12] Once completed, you will need to run the installer. Type:
Code:
sh install_netatalk.sh
[13] You will be asked a number of question during install, answer yes to all. When asked about the "DHX2 login process", I opted to install the modified version, so I can confirm it works.
[14] Once the box has restarted, you should be able to connect to your afp shares and continue to use Time Machine.

Time machine backing up when pref is turned off

I noticed yesterday and today, after replacing my TimeMachine with a new one, that even though I had temporarily turned off the Time Machine backup in my system prefs because I didn't want it running while I was editing a video, it will still backing up. And backing up a huge amount of data. A Google search using "time machine backs up when turned off" as the search phrase led me to: <http://toti.posterous.com/hidden-local-backups-with-mac-os-x-lion-filli> in which I learned that TM is doing local backups to my laptops' hard drive. Don't want this, but as usual Apple is assuming most people would welcome this safety feature and so don't offer (a) information on it or (b) the option in system prefs to turn it off. Anyway, on that page there is a command for the Terminal which will turn off this feature:
sudo tmutil disablelocal
One could easily be fooled into thinking your computer had less disc space than you actually have due to this feature. Pretty well everytime there is a "smart" application within the ever expanding OS, there is a downside to it. If only there was an "I'm no dummy" mode which would allow users to tailor various features without mucking about in the Terminal, which I know little about and try to stay away from, except for the occasional "fsck -fy" command at startup.

john2b_75 wrote:
My MacBook does this too. No amount of turning on and off the Time Machine in Preferences has any impact on its behaviour.
Have you ever used a 3rd-party utility, such as Time Machine Editor, Time Machine Scheduler, or the like, to alter Time Machine's behavior? If so, that's the problem -- those set up a completely separate schedule. Use the same app to set it back to the defaults or OFF.
If that doesn't help, it's possible the preferences file (where the ON/OFF switch, among other things, is stored), is damaged. Try a "full reset" of Time Machine, per #A4 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting.
My Time Capsule drive is stuffed (indexed to death) and even Disk Warrior can't fix it,
If your backups are corrupted beyond Disk Utility and Disk Warrior's ability to repair, nothing can. Erase the disk via the Disks tab of Airport Utility, and let Time Machine start fresh (via Ethernet cable if at all possible).
Actually, take the time to select a Zero-Out, not the quick erase -- if that fails, you know the TC's HD is failing. If not, it's probably ok.
But the disk being full and/or corrupted has nothing to do with Time Machine starting backups.
after 24 hours of grinding away it fails only halfway through.
With what message?

Time Machine backs up even when no change

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