Time machine backup size fail error

Hi there, Aaargh, Time machine says I need 1.04 Tb for my backup when in fact all i've used up on the hard drive is about 250-300gb. I've excluded assorted folders to no avail. Restarting & relaunching finder seemed to work previously I vaguely recall. I wonder if it 'resets' itself if the external hard drive is unplugged & replugged??
using osx 10.6.8 - everything up to date
my external hd is a new portable WD 1TB, ext. journaled drive, with about 455gb space. Other manul backups on it already, no issues etc etc
thanks in advance!
ps I'm currently reading this which will hopefully work...
http://pondini.org/TM/6.html

Disregarding the Mac/Win partitions, my internal HD as a whole is 298GB. My external USB drive is 153GB.
nestea247,
Your computer info says : iMac Aluminum 24" ....... 320GB HD.
So, I assumed your internal HD is 320GB and you are currently using 298GB of it. Therefore my simple calculation was not "298GB + 153GB" but "320GB + 153GB(ca.)". Did I misunderstand?
My point was: For the first-time backup, in order to copy the entire image (including the *free space*) of the volume to backup, TM might think it needs about the same size of backup volume as your internal HD ( + external USB drive, in your case). Not simply adding up the size of the *used space*.
Leter, however, it will get more realistic and adjust to the actual data size; so, after completing all the hard link setup, the size of its backup seems to "shrink." Your TM could be still calculating.... perhaps struggling to adjust? (I too hope it is not a critical bug.)
I'm afraid my reply doesn't help solve the mystery of 478.0GB. Hope someone else can.
Best of luck!

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Since upgrading to Lion, my time machine backups are failing - error message: The backup disk image "/Volumes/Jackie Scanlon's Time Caps/Jacqueline Drabczynska's MacBook.sparsebundle" could not be accessed (error -1). Any ideas?

Since upgrading my Macbook to Lion, the time machine backups are failing - error message: "The backup disk image “/Volumes/Jackie Scanlon's Time Caps/Jacqueline Drabczynska’s MacBook.sparsebundle” could not be accessed (error -1)." I have rebooted the TIme Capsule and it worked OK, but don't want to do that every time. Any suggestions? Thanks

Any new info on this?
I had the exact same problem and went crazy and spent a hecka lot of time trying to deal with my brand new 2TB Time Capsule and almost brand new MacBook Pro. Then I thought I fixed it...and I tried SO MANY things, I don't really know what did it...except taking out any apostrophe's in names of stuff that Apple puts in there...BUT...now it's back.
Grrr...

Time Machine Backup Size Calculation Error

This is what I have:
Internal:
Mac OS partition: 266GB (257GB Used)
BootCamp partition: 32GB ( 12GB Used)
External:
External USB 2.0 HD: 153GB (142GB Used)
TM Backup Drive: 466GB ( 0GB Used)
*What I have excluded:*
- TM Backup Drive
- BootCamp partition
*Therefore what I'm trying to backup are only:*
- MacOS partition
- External USB 2.0 HD
Time Machine Preferences Options Pane reports "Total Included: 398.4GB", and that's totally correct for what I'm intending to backup (i.e. MacOS partition + External USB 2.0 HD = 257GB + 142GB = 399GB). So far so good.
But when TM kicks off after the countdown, an error dialog pops up saying:
*Time Machine Error*
This backup is too large for the backup volume. The backup requires 478.0 GB but only 465.5GB are available.
To select a large volume, or make the backup smaller by excluding files, open System Preferences and choose Time Machine.
[Preferences] [OK]
Now how does TM figure out that 478.0GB number?
If I add up all used spaces for all drives (excl. TM drive), I only get 411GB.
If I add up all capacity of all drives (excl. TM drive), I only get 451GB.
How in the world did TM calculate that 478.0GB number? Why is there a discrepancy between what's reported in the options pane and the error dialog?
BTW, I have verified all my disks and they are all fine.
All my drives and partitions (except the bootcamp partition) are formatted properly to Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
Someone please advice.
Much appreciated.

Disregarding the Mac/Win partitions, my internal HD as a whole is 298GB. My external USB drive is 153GB.
nestea247,
Your computer info says : iMac Aluminum 24" ....... 320GB HD.
So, I assumed your internal HD is 320GB and you are currently using 298GB of it. Therefore my simple calculation was not "298GB + 153GB" but "320GB + 153GB(ca.)". Did I misunderstand?
My point was: For the first-time backup, in order to copy the entire image (including the *free space*) of the volume to backup, TM might think it needs about the same size of backup volume as your internal HD ( + external USB drive, in your case). Not simply adding up the size of the *used space*.
Leter, however, it will get more realistic and adjust to the actual data size; so, after completing all the hard link setup, the size of its backup seems to "shrink." Your TM could be still calculating.... perhaps struggling to adjust? (I too hope it is not a critical bug.)
I'm afraid my reply doesn't help solve the mystery of 478.0GB. Hope someone else can.
Best of luck!

Upgraded to Mavericks and time machine backups keep failing.

I upgraded to Mavericks a few days ago and now I find my time machine backups keep failing. I first tried turning off the power to the time machine then turning it on again and I managed to get one complete backup but that took over 20 hours to complete.
The time machine backup mode never seems to get beyond " preparing backup" then showing the message "backing up failed, disc already in use"
The time machine backup worked fine before I upgraded, is there a way round this problem or will I have to go through reloading the time machine as if it were a new piece of equipment?
My wife's iMac is still on mountain lion 10.8.5 and the backups on the same Time Machine work fine.
Any help would be gratefully received
Greg

Hi,
I have exactly the same problem.
MBP 2011 running 10.9 named "ebook"
MacMini running 10.8.5 server with TM share
everything works fine UNTIL for some reason the MBP is interrupted during a TM backup ...
After that I get the disk already in use error !
Rebooting the MBP wont help, but I narrowed the problem down ...
Looking on the Mini server I noticed :
- the TM backup user stays connected over AFP, even after several hours of inactivity and a couple of reboots of the MBP. Killing the AFP connection works, But problem stil continues !
- looking on the MBP with "lsof | grep ebook" showed me that the SparseBundles were still in use by the AFP process ... Using the Server control panel and restarting AFP solved that ...
After restarting the AFP process the remote TM Backup started to work again !
A couple of days later, the same problem occurred again, fixed it by this work around ...
I hope there will be a more permanent solotiun for this !

My Time Machine backup keeps failing. I get a message the "Volume has the wrong case sensitivity for a backup". Please advise.

My Time Machine backup keeps failing. I get a message the "Volume has the wrong case sensitivity for a backup". Please advise.
Thanks, Howard

You can change the case sensitivity of the sparsebundle.. but I really doubt the error is real.
See A8 here.
http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
The sparsebundle should have case sensitivity turned on.
I cannot even fathom how it could have changed.
Let me recommend before you start fooling around with the sparsebundle.
Do a full network start.
Power everything off.. start up modem.. wait 2min.. power up the TC.. wait 2min.. power up any other network gear like switches.. wait..
Now power up the computer and try it.
If the error is the same.. I would do a factory reset of the TC.. give it all short names, no spaces and pure alphanumeric. Then reset TM .. see A4 in the same reference as above.. and do a verify of the backups.. A5 above and try the backup again..
No luck..
Then erase the TC and start over.. it is sometimes necessary as TM does get itself in a knot.

Limiting Time Machine backup Size with WD MyBookLive and 10.8

I cannot take credit for the any part of this solution; merely for merging and clarifying how the solutions discovered by 2 Apple Support Communities contributors much smarter than I (namely “Pondini” – Florida and “himynameismarek”) - worked perfectly for my situation. All cudo’s to these two!
I have about average or better PC skills, but am an absolute newbie with Apple. This week I got a new iMac. Having a number of home PC’s all sharing files and back up space on a Western Digital MyBookLive (“WD MBL”) 3TB network drive (NAS), naturally I wanted to use it to backup the new Mac rather than rushing out to buy an Apple Time Capsule.
There are hundreds of threads on limiting size of a Time Machine (“TM”) backup, many of which required entries in “Terminal” or were devised on older versions of OSX. I’m running OSX Mountain Lion 10.8, so was concerned they may not work.
The issues I wanted to resolve were:
Time Machine will use up all of the space on my WD MBL if left to it’s own devices.
The WD MBL is compatible with Mac and PC’s… which is good… but unlike a back up in Windows 7 Pro which will allow you to make backups in a mapped “share” you create yourself, Apple TM Backups will not; they end up in a hidden folder on the NAS (much like PC backups done with WD Smartware)
At first I thought maybe I could limit the size of a share created in the MBL, but not possible, at least not that I've seen and I have searched for days.
The solutions:
First make sure you have the latest firmware for the WD MBL as of today it is MyBookLive 02.11.09-053. From what I’ve read Western Digital fixed the compatibility issues with 10.8 Mountain Lion just recently.
Next you need to start TM so that it starts to create a back up. You can stop the back up once you see files being copied. Do this before you walk thru the video tutorial by my Marek below. WD MBL will create the hidden folder you need to find for TM Backups. This folder is called “TimeMachine” but it is not visible even in the “MBL_NAME-backup” folder in Finder.
Open safari and type “ afp://xxx.xxx.x.xxx ” but use your own ip address of your MBL. Mine was 192.168.1.120, yours will be different.
It will ask how you want to connect. CHOOSE AS A GUEST even if your MBL is protected… I’m not sure why it works but it does. Then a window will come up asking which share you’d like to mount. You will see all of your own shares plus one called software and now one called “TimeMachine”. Choose that one.
Now in “Finder” you will see a mounted shared item called “YOUR_MBL_NAME-“ (the same as the one that is probably already there but with a dash(-) at the end). You’ll also see a new “device” in the device list called “Time Machine Backups” (If you already have watched the video tutorial by Marek, you’d know you are looking for a file called “YOUR_MACHINE_NAME.sparsebundle”. Well if you browse the folder “Backups.backupdb” in the Time Machine Backups device you won’t find it… again I don’t know why but you won’t. It resides in the hidden folder called “TimeMachine” that is now visible in the thing you just mounted in step 4)
NOW watch this video tutorial http://youtu.be/Nq7mSizqUSI and follow it step by step.
Voila... issues resolved. Thank you Pondini and Marek!

Try Use Terminal to limit Time Machine sparcebundle size on timecapsule,
should work to limit Time Machine backup size on any NAS or external disk (or not...)
sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.TimeMachine MaxSize 500000
to return to ilimited
sudo defaults delete /Library/Preferences/com.apple.TimeMachine MaxSize
if you want to reclame deleted files space shrink it use
hdiutil resize -size 500g -shrinkonly /Volumes/TimeMachineYOURNAME/YOURNAME.sparsebundle/
Regards

Limiting Time Machine backup size onto external drive

I have a 6TB RAID LaCie external drive that I would like to use with Time Machine. My mac has a 1TB HD which is not full. I do not want Time Machine to fill up my external drive with multiple backups. Is there some way to limit how much space Time Machine will use on an external drive? My understanding is that Time Machine will fill up the drive completely, then start overwriting the oldest files.
I do not think that I could partition the drive. But I am not sure how to do that, if it works with mac, and if I can do it now without reformating the drives. I am looking to see if there is a solution on the Time Machine software side.

Try Use Terminal to limit Time Machine sparcebundle size on timecapsule,
should work to limit Time Machine backup size on any NAS or external disk (or not...)
sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.TimeMachine MaxSize500000
to return to ilimited
sudo defaults delete /Library/Preferences/com.apple.TimeMachine MaxSize
if you want to reclame deleted files space shrink it use
hdiutil resize -size 500g -shrinkonly /Volumes/TimeMachineYOURNAME/YOURNAME.sparsebundle/
Regards

My Time Machine backup keeps failing...how do I find out why?? MacBook Pro 5,1 OS 10.5.8, 6GB ram backing up to new OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro 2TB

Forgive my clumsiness ---
My Time Machine backup keeps failing...how do I find out why?? MacBook Pro 5,1 OS 10.5.8, 6GB ram backing up to new OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro 2TB

Have you formatted the disk to Mac OS Extended (Journaled)?
Caio.

My time machine backup keeps failing

My Time Machine Backup keeps failing . Does anyone know what I should do

Launch your console program (located in the utilities folder) and click on all messages in then left column then type "backupd" in the filter box in the upper right. Read the messages, it may give you a clue as to what's causing the problem.

Time Machine backup size has doubled since updating to iMovie 10.0

So since installing Mavericks and running iMovie 10.0, the size of my Time Machine backup has increased enormously.
It seems clear that Time Machine is backing up my iMovie content twice, that is seeing the old iMovie Events and iMovie Projects folders (which are still present in my Movies folder), and the new iMovie Library package, as separate things even though they cannot be separate as they are not taking up any more space on the disk.
The backup is also taking much longer than usual, though I'm not so worried about that.
Any ideas about the cause or how to fix this?
I'm running Mavericks on a late 2008 MacBook 2.4 GHz Unibody with 8GB RAM and 250GB SSD, backing up to Time Capsule with 2TB hard drive

What I have found so far is that when upgrading to iMovie 10 there is a conversion/duplication process that takes place in order to make your iMovie 9 events compatible with iMovie 10.
They should be nearly identical in size. You can confirm this by right clicking the "iMovie Events" folder (iMovie 9) and the "iMovie Library" package (iMovie 10) and selecting "Get Info" and their respective sizes should be nearly identical. The reason for this is unclear other than you retain the ability to run iMovie 9 which will continue to access the "iMovie Events" folder. iMovie 10 will access the newly created/duplicated "iMovie Library" package. Any new video you add using iMovie 10 will also be stored in the new "iMovie Library".
If you want to see the contents of the "iMovie Library" then right click and select "Show Package Contents". You should see all the folders (events) you created originally in iMovie 9.
At some point I presume you have the option to delete the "iMovie Events" folder if iMovie 9 will no longer be utilized or, better yet, back it up on a separate drive if like me you don't like deleting files until you're absolutely sure you don't need them. Otherwise, from what I have found, you are in fact backing up two sets of files.
For now I had to exclude the "iMovie Events" folder from my Time Machine backup because, like you, my back up nearly doubled in size (videos take up a lot of space) otherwise I got an error message from Time Machine indicating that my external drive did not have enough space for the backup file.

I had my hard drive replaced and since my Time Machine backups say failed

I had my hard drive replace and since my Time Capsule backups are failing. The exact message is:
The backup was not performed because an error occurred while copying files to the backup disk.
The problem may be temporary. Try again later to back up. If the problem persists, use disk utility to repair your backup disk.

No, replacing your hard drive has nothing to do with it. There is a problem with your backup drive. As far as Time Machine is concerned replacing a drive is no different than buying a new computer. Time Machine will need to make a brand new backup from scratch.
If you have a large enough backup drive this may not be a problem. Otherwise, you may not have sufficient space to maintain a new backup and keep the old one. So, I would suggest under the circumstances that you erase your backup drive, then start a new Time Machine backup from scratch.
Drive Erase
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
2. After Disk Utility loads select the volume you wish to format from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the Disk Utility main window.
3. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Erase button and wait until the process has completed.
For additional help with Time Machine: Visit Pondini's Time Machine FAQ for help with all things Time Machine.

Time Machine - backup size seems wrong

I just started my first Time Machine backup. I am doing to to an external USB drive. My MAC drive shows 27 GB used. I have a 60gb boot camp partition but I don't think that comes in to play here.
The backup status shows xxx-of 37gb backed up. What's the deal, I only have 27gb on the source drive.
Thanks,
Kevin

What I have found so far is that when upgrading to iMovie 10 there is a conversion/duplication process that takes place in order to make your iMovie 9 events compatible with iMovie 10.
They should be nearly identical in size. You can confirm this by right clicking the "iMovie Events" folder (iMovie 9) and the "iMovie Library" package (iMovie 10) and selecting "Get Info" and their respective sizes should be nearly identical. The reason for this is unclear other than you retain the ability to run iMovie 9 which will continue to access the "iMovie Events" folder. iMovie 10 will access the newly created/duplicated "iMovie Library" package. Any new video you add using iMovie 10 will also be stored in the new "iMovie Library".
If you want to see the contents of the "iMovie Library" then right click and select "Show Package Contents". You should see all the folders (events) you created originally in iMovie 9.
At some point I presume you have the option to delete the "iMovie Events" folder if iMovie 9 will no longer be utilized or, better yet, back it up on a separate drive if like me you don't like deleting files until you're absolutely sure you don't need them. Otherwise, from what I have found, you are in fact backing up two sets of files.
For now I had to exclude the "iMovie Events" folder from my Time Machine backup because, like you, my back up nearly doubled in size (videos take up a lot of space) otherwise I got an error message from Time Machine indicating that my external drive did not have enough space for the backup file.

Restore from Time Machine backup is failing

The internal drive on my daughter's iMac has failed for the second time in less than two years. I'm not able to restore from the Time Machine backup. The Time Machine restore process failed last time as well. Not surprisingly I'm now questioning whether Time Machine is an appropriate backup solution.
First question: *Is Time Machine a reliable backup and restore solution?*
- I get no errors whatsoever during backup from Time Machine
- Have yet to successfully be able to restore system (TM is 0 for 2 for us)
Second question: *Is it an issue with my setup?*
Based on the Macs and other items I already had, the setup that the local Apple store recommended to me for backup is what I followed. Here's a summary:
- 4 Macs on a network with Airport Extreme for router/wireless access
- Mac mini with 10TB of external storage has one 2 TB drive setup as a centralized Time Machine drive, which all the Macs on the network connect to
Backups all work with no error messages. Restoring individual files here and there through Time Machine has worked fine. Never really needed, but I tested it a few times from each Mac just to ensure everything was working fine.
Unfortunately, when my daughter's iMac internal drive failed I discovered that the restore not work. First issue was that restoring the system during OS X install was not an option because I was not able to get it to use the network drive. I was told to go ahead and install OS-X and then use the migration assistant, which unfortunately didn't work. Summary of what happened:
- My account on the iMac was successfully restored
- The main account with all the critical data (my daughter's) was created, but none of her data (iTunes music, school work, photos, etc) were restored
- No error message at the end of the restore
I know the Time Machine backup for her account was working as I had specifically checked to make sure that her iTunes music and photos were included in the backup just a week ago. Since the backup was being done to a drive connected to another Mac on the network, her iMac's backup was stored as a sparsebundle. In speaking with Apple support this morning, they had me try to mount the backup by double-clicking on the sparsebundle, which results in an error message indicating that it is corrupt. ARG!
After two failed restores, I'm convinced I need to change the setup either moving to drives directly connected to each Mac (seems like a waste) using Time Machine or switch to another backup tool.
What are your recommendations?

It may be helpful for others for me to post the approach I've decided to take, which seems to be working well.
Background:
I've confirmed with an Apple genius and with support, that the likely issue with both of the failed TM restores is that the TM backup was corrupted by the drive failures. Files get corrupted and are backed up to the drive. That is why in both cases it is the specific account that was running (also the highest priority for restore) is the one that is corrupted.
In nearly 3 decades of computing, I've yet to ever need to restore a single file or folder that I accidentally deleted. It's just not a scenario I care about. TM seems to fit this requirement well and has a very cool user experience to do it. Unfortunately, it also seems to have a tendency (0 for 2 in my case) to fail at restoring after drive failure.
Decision: no TM in my back up approach.
My primary need is for backup in case of drive failure. I also have some files that are extremely important that I want redundant backup for.
Decision:
1. ChronoSync for bootable backup clone of drives scheduled monthly and done over the home network. Can easily be triggered manually if there is a big change (SL install, etc) that I want to make sure is included
2. ChronoSync based sync of just critical files to a shared network drive that syncs daily. This is actually a large amount of data and includes family photos (Lightroom catalog and all photos), iTunes libraries, PLEX media library and other user created files.
Pluses:
1. Allows me to keep drives centrally located, which is definitely preferable for me
2. Easy rotation of drives with critical files for offsite storage
3. Over the network sync is fully supported by ChronoSync
4. Easy yet highly configurable UI. Unlike with TM I'm finding I can get the software to do precisely what I want, when I want.
Cons:
1. $40 cost for ChronoSync
I also looked at SuperDuper and Carbon Copy Cloner.
I tried implementing the above first with SuperDuper, but found the setup confusing and the overall execution and sync was not what I expected. For example, SuperDuper encountered some file errors and just halted the sync as a result.
I tried Carbon Copy Cloner next. The setup was more intuitive than SuperDuper; even though the UI is not as polished. I kept the offending files on the drive to see how CCC handled them. It did much better in that it identified the file issues, but completed the sync for the rest to the files on the system. Clear error message at the end with summary information and the ability to look at the details in the log.
Since I wasn't thrilled with either SD or CCC, I decided to check out ChronoSync. For me, it does a very good job of presenting a simple UI with the ability as need arrises to get in to adjust and fine tune the specifics (options, configuration, schedule, etc) to precisely what I want. Scheduling, including sequencing, is very well done. Performance was the best of the three. Full cloning and incremental sync/backups with ChronoSync were the fastest. Not really an issue for me, but still a plus. A big plus for ChronoSync was that it did by far the best job of maintaining file permissions. SuperDuper did the worst. For some reason after all three uses of SuperDuper with the backup approach above many of the original files had user and file permission changes. For example, user name was "Rachel" with Read/Write access. After sync/clone, user became "_unknown" with read/write access. CCC did a better job; though I did have a number of issues when using cloned drive to boot (these were resolved) and with restore some file permissions were not maintained.
I really think Apple (at least retail and genius employees) should be clearer about the limitations and issues with TM. After my first failed restore, I was told it was an unusual and very rare case. I was assured that the approach (including using a network drive was fine). With a second failed restore from TM, it became crystal clear in my opinion that this is not a very rare occurrence; and that there are fundamental aspects of TM that make it susceptible to backup corruption when a drive fails.
TM is a sexy solution for incremental file backup and restore when you accidentally delete a file or folder. If that's what you need, go for it. As part of a backup solution for drive failure? I just don't see the value UNLESS you want to have incremental hourly, daily, weekly, monthly backups that you can use for accidental deletions. The accumulation of all those snapshots ends up taking up a fair bit of space. I was surprised at my actual backup storage needs in my switch to the above approach.
Your needs are likely unique to you, so your mileage may vary. This is just my perspective after a fair bit of pain and a lot of discussion, reading and testing.

Time Machine backup size discrepancy

Apologies if this has already been answered, but I just did my first Time Machine backup to a new external HD and when I compared the amount of data on the Time Machine drive to the internal HD I backed up, it's about 7 GB smaller (149 GB vs. 156 GB). Is it normal to have a discrepancy in the initial backup file like this? I didn't exclude anything on the internal drive from the backup. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

Frank O'Connell wrote:
Oops! You're right, I meant Spotlight (you use a Mac for 25 years and you get confused sometimes!). Anyway, I checked the entire log folder and it's less than 100 MB. Could the other things you mentioned (temporary files, swap files etc.)
yes, they could although it's somewhat uncommon. swap files are in /var/vm. DO NOT delete those by hand. restarting the computer will reset them to the default size. sleepimage is in the same directory too. you can delete that one but if you have safe sleep enabled then it will be recreated next time you sleep the computer. also check your Trash size.
account for that big a difference, and if not, should I be worried that my TM backup is incomplete?
no, I wouldn't worry about that. check your TM exclusion list in TM system preferences->options. if nothing is on it and nothing is obviously missing you should be fine. but i would be worried about having a lot of stuff that's abnormally large and takes away space. for example, if it's the swap files that take so much space it means that you need more RAM.

Cannot Restore From Time Machine Backup - Account Exists Error

I used Time Machine to perform a full backup of my machine, then performed a Delete and Install of Leopard. I am trying to use Migration Assistant to restore from my Time Machine backup, however it tells me my account name already exists. It will not allow me past this screen no matter what I try to rename the account I am transferring. It will not allow me to choose to replace the existing account name either.
I tried to create a new Admin account to use for Migration Assistant as other posts suggested, but it still will not allow me to migrate the files from the Time Machine back. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

Create another account. Login to this account and delete the account that in conflict and then try Migration Assistant again to restore from TM backups.

Time machine backup size fail error

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