Time Machine backup smaller than source

Hi everybody -
I just did my Time Machine backup, and I've noticed that the content on the backup is about 5 GB smaller than the content on my MBP's source. (And yes, this deficit is taking into account the items I have already excluded from backup.)
In fact, when I open up Time Machine options, and I see the list of excluded items, the "approximate size of backup" says 240GB, but the actual size of the backup is 235GB. Any idea what's going on here? Assuming that everything is working as it should, I'm not terribly concerned about this discrepancy, but if it's indicative of something not working properly, I want to get it taken care of, should I experience a need to restore to a previous backup at some point.
Ideas? Thanks!

Try a new post in the 10.6 Time Machine forum.
DALE

Similar Messages

Time Machine backup smaller than hard drive

Hi,
My Time Machine external hard drive became full so I dediced to erase it and start from scratch. I set it all up and it was going to take 4 hours to backup 300GB of data, which is the amount of space taken up on my internal HD. When I came back to my Mac a couple of hours later it had finished the backup but it only seems to be 160GB in size?! Is this something to be concerned about, I assumed the Time Machine backup would be the same size as the data currently occupying my internal HD.
Thanks.

Triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it:
tmutil compare | open -f -a TextEdit
Copy the selected text to the Clipboard (command-C).
Launch the Terminal application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.
Paste into the Terminal window (command-V).
The command may take a noticeable amount of time to run. Wait for a new line ending in a dollar sign (“$”) to appear.
A TextEdit window will open with the output of the command. Each line that begins with a plus sign (“+”) represents a file that has been added to the source volume since the last snapshot was taken. These files have not been backed up yet.
Each line that begins with an exclamation point (“!”) represents a file that has changed on the source volume. These files have been backed up, but not in their present state.
Each line that begins with a minus sign (“-“) represents a file that has been removed from the source volume.
Files that you’ve excluded from backup, or that are excluded automatically, are ignored.
At the end of the output, you’ll get some lines like the following:
Added:
Removed:
Changed:
These lines show the total amount of data added, removed, or changed on the source(s) since the last snapshot.

Time Machine Backup smaller than the actually used storage on my Mac

Hey there. I just made my first Time Machine Backup on my Time Capsule, but I was surprised to see, that the backup is only 118.73GB big, while my "Macintosh HD" says that I have already used 120.43GB. Fortunately everything works (further backups, entering Time Machine etc.).
Is that possible and normal? If yes: Why?
Best wishes,
Alexander Weis

Hi there,
I have the exact same issue, just on my hard drive, it didn't back up about 6gb of my files.
In the initial window that showed me the progress of the backup it told me that it was
going to back up 64gb of my data, which was correct. It then stopped so that there were
6gb of files that were not backed up.
I'll call AppleCare sometime to let them know, but until I suggest visiting
this site: http://shiftedbits.org/2007/10/31/time-machine-exclusions/
It shows which directories are not backed up by time machine,
so this could add up to your two missing 2 gb.
I hope I could help,
Sebastian

Initial time machine backup larger than actual computer harddrive

I've got an iMac with a 1TB harddrive and am trying to use a time machine set up to back up my harddrive. The external harddrive I'm using for my back up is also 1TB. I currently have about 135GB of free space on my iMac's harddrive and my external drive is completely empty. When I try to back up using time machine it tells me that the back up is 1.2TB and cannot fit on my 1TB external harddrive. What would cause the initial back up to be larger than the actual computers harddrive? Is there anything I can do to rectify this issue without me needing to purchase a larger external harddrive for back up?

Ikue wrote:
The external harddrive I'm using for my back up is also 1TB. I currently have about 135GB of free space on my iMac's harddrive and my external drive is completely empty.
That means you're trying to back up about 865 GB to a 1 TB drive; and that's not large enough for Time Machine.
Time Machine not only keeps copies of everything currently on your Mac, but also previous copies of things you've changed or deleted, so it needs a lot more space than the data it's backing-up.
What's causing your immediate problem is, TM adds about 20% to the estimated size of the backup, for workspace on the TM drive and in case the estimate is too small. So 865 GB + 173 GB = over 1 TB.
Long-term, you need a much larger drive for Time Machine, at least 1.5 TB, probably 2 TB.
Short-term, you can squeeze your backups onto the 1 TB drive by excluding some big stuff per Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #10 and running a backup.
Then remove the exclusion, and run another backup. Since the second backup will be much smaller, the additional 20% won't be so large as to exceed the size of the TM drive.
But TM won't be able to keep backups very long, and if it needs to do a large backup, there may not be room.

Initial time machine backup larger than the original

I have been using time machine with a 1 TB time capsule without issue on a older Macbook in the house. I just got a Macbook pro and am attempting to backup on the same time capsule. During setup, Time machine states there is 118GB to back up when looking under options (which is correct). Then when it goes to back up after "processing" it states that it is backing up 330gb (larger than my harddrive of 250GB). I took off about 167 GB of files off the time capsule. I erased the backup file on time capsule and started over. It still says that there is correctly 118GB to back up before it starts but now after processing it says it will be backing up 163 GB. (330GB-167GB=163GB) Of note there is 45GB of other stuff including the backup of the other Mac still on the time capsule. (163GB-45GB=118 GB.) It appears to be calculating to re-back-up what is already stored on the time capsule. How do I deal with this issue?

Your backup drive has been use to backup both computers. TM may think it should still be backing up both computers. If both computers are on the TC network that would be the normal expectation.
If that's not the case but you've given the new computer the same Computer Name as the old computer, then TM may be trying to backup files that are non-existent but still located in the backup set. If this is the case, then reformat the TC.

Can Time Machine backup more than just one disc?

I'm new to Time Machine and have set it up to back up my iMacs main hard drive and this seems to be working fine, but I would like Time Machine to back up one other folder on an external hard drive to.
Is this possible?
Hope someone can help.
Pete

Time Machine can back up external HDs, if they're formatted for a Mac. See how the drive in question is listed in the exclusions box in TM Prefs > Options. If it's listed in black, just select it and click the minus sign at the bottom of the widow. Then it will be backed-up.
If it's listed in gray, though, that means it's not formatted for a Mac and Time Machine cannot back it up (and you can't remove it from the exclusion list). You'll have to copy the data elsewhere temporarily, reformat it, then copy the data back. See #1 in Formatting, Partitioning, Verifying, and Repairing Disks if you need formatting instructions.

Time Machine backup larger than my new HD

Hello,
I am planning on buying a Retina MBP with 512GB storage. I recently sold my iMac and backed up my 600GB worth of data. I want to make sure I can at least transfer my core OS settings, apps, and files first, but I know the process isn't easily configurable. Will I have issues setting up my new mac and has anyone successfully done this using the wizard?
Thanks,
Jonathan

ultimatist wrote:
but I know the process isn't easily configurable. Will I have issues setting up my new mac and has anyone successfully done this using the wizard?
You can omit things, like entire user accounts, or the content of one or more of the sub-folders (Desktop, Documents, Music, etc.) in a user account.
By all means, use Setup Assistant when your new Mac first starts up, not Migration Assistant later. See Using Setup Assistant on Mountain Lion or Lion for the gory details.

Migration Assistant Mav.: not showing ML Time Machine backup

Hi Mac community,
my own MBP mid 2010:
clean install of Mavericks
connected FireWire 800 external hard disk with recent Time Machine backup done in Mountain Lion
started Migration Assistant, selected the Time Machine disk, and transferred all user data
everything worked absolutely PERFECTLY and now Mavericks runs smoothly with all my old user data
So I wanted to do the same thing with a relative's late 2009 iMac:
still in Mountain Lion, doing Time Machine backups to TWO different USB 2.0 hard disks
browsing the Time Machine disks manually to check whether all the files are there -- they are, including the (hidden) ~/Library folder
clean install worked fine, Mavericks runs OK
starting Migration Assistant in Mavericks ⇒ and - OH HORROR - the connected external Time Machine hard disk does not show up as a source - in fact, NOTHING shows up
So I copied over the data manually, for which I had to enable the root account (how else would one delete/replace a whole ~/Library folder??)
Then I tried to fix permissions manually (because other users could now read the files in the home folder).
All the old data (mails, contacts, calendars) is still there, but the whole thing doesn't really run smoothly; each time one logs into the account, keychain asks weird questions and dock icons pointing to programs show questions marks again. Later today, I'll try to fix permissions for the home folder as a whole (Recovery Boot ⇒ Terminal ⇒ resetpassword ⇒ Reset Home Folder Permissions and ACLs), but I'd rather do another clean install and somehow get Migration Assistant to offer me the Time Machine backup as a source for user data transfer - AS IT SHOULD in an OS that 'just works' ...
Anything I could do to convince Mavericks to use my old Time Machine backup??
This is a real nightmare for me ⇒ I f*cked up a relative's system -- really hope I can fix it again.
Cheers, folks!

sorry, i don't know what else it could be then. if you have another external drive you can try doing a full system restore from the TM backups onto that drive and see if MA will recognize that drive and migrate from it. other than this there is always manual migration. slow and tedious but it can be done. see this link for help with that
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=6185507

Importing Time Machine backup from an external hard drive

Hi...to all
Last week i bought a Macbook. I pluged in my external hard drive Maxtor OneTOuch 4 Plus and it did a time machine backup on the Maxtor OneTOuch 4 Plus. The folder that was generated by the time machine on my external hard drive has the name backups.backupdb.
Then, i decided to return the Macbook and bought a Macbook Pro.
When I pluged the same external hard drive, Maxtor OneTOuch 4 Plus, although I am able to access and open individual files and folders, I am not able to copy neither any nor all the folders/files from my external hard drive to my new Macbook Pro. Moreover, I am able to access/open the files located in my external hard drive but when try to copy specific files from this drive to my Macbook Pro I get the following error message: Sorry the operation could not be completed because an unexpected error ocurred (Error code -50). Now, here is where it gets interesting: after 2 failed attempts to copy any single file from my external hard drive to my Macbook Pro desktop and receiving the above error message I am then able to copy the specific file (singular). This would mean that to copy the files and folders in the external hard drive i would need to do it on a one by one basis? If so, it would take forever...
Can someone please kindly help out.
Thanks on advance

Are you referring to the files in Time Machine's backup directory on your hard drive? If so, and if what you are trying to do is to recover those from the backup to your working volume on the Macbook Pro (which is not what your title says you want to do but seems to be implied by the body of the question) then you need to have the computer name of the Macbook Pro the same as the computer name of the original Macbook (I think that step is required), then on the Macbook Pro choose "Browse Other Time Machine Disks" from the Time Machine menu in Dock. This will allow you to recover files or folder in the usual way.
Alternatively, if you wanted to transfer all your user data in one go, you could fire up Migration Assistant and choose the Time Machine backup as the source to transfer the user data from (again I think the computer names have to be the same but I'm not totally sure).

Setup Assistant from Time Machine Backup

I just ordered a new MacBook Pro from Apple.com. I am replacing an iMac which I will sell after I get the MacBook setup.
Background: In the past, I used Setup Assistant on my iMac and it transfered all my setting, apps, etc from my old MAc. BUT, it transferred a Windows Home Server application that runs from startup and sits dormant in my application bar in the upper right side of my screen. There is no application associated with this program and I don't see where it is being loaded from. (I assume it is buried somewhere in my libraries.) There is no uninstall for this program online. I have read that the only way to uninstall it is to use the original installation disc, which I no lobger have.
Question: I would like to use the Setup Assistant to get my user accounts and data to my new Macbook. I was planning to use a USB Time Machine backup as my source. (I can also use my iMac via Wireless if I have to....)
Is there a way to only transfer the user accounts and their data. (Especially contacts, email, calendars, docs, pics, itunes, etc.)?
I don't mind reinstalling applications. I would rather not have to re-setup email accounts (passwords and settings).
I see on the help pages that it appears I can select different options. Do I just select the user accounts? Will that include all the data and setting for the users?
My old iMac is running the latest version of Lion.
Thanks.

I just ordered a new MacBook Pro from Apple.com. I am replacing an iMac which I will sell after I get the MacBook setup.
Background: In the past, I used Setup Assistant on my iMac and it transfered all my setting, apps, etc from my old MAc. BUT, it transferred a Windows Home Server application that runs from startup and sits dormant in my application bar in the upper right side of my screen. There is no application associated with this program and I don't see where it is being loaded from. (I assume it is buried somewhere in my libraries.) There is no uninstall for this program online. I have read that the only way to uninstall it is to use the original installation disc, which I no lobger have.
Question: I would like to use the Setup Assistant to get my user accounts and data to my new Macbook. I was planning to use a USB Time Machine backup as my source. (I can also use my iMac via Wireless if I have to....)
Is there a way to only transfer the user accounts and their data. (Especially contacts, email, calendars, docs, pics, itunes, etc.)?
I don't mind reinstalling applications. I would rather not have to re-setup email accounts (passwords and settings).
I see on the help pages that it appears I can select different options. Do I just select the user accounts? Will that include all the data and setting for the users?
My old iMac is running the latest version of Lion.
Thanks.

10.5.x time machine backup to use in 10.8.x

I have a 10.5.x time mchine backup disk and recently had a disk crash. After replacing the disk I installed 10.6 that i purchased from dvd and after install immediately upgraded to 10.8
I am no longer able to use the external disk containing my time machine backup, other than wiping it clean and reuse it with a fresh backup.
How can I re-enable access to the 'old' time machine data on the USB disk?
Thanks
fd0

According to this Web page, "Leopard backups cannot be inherited without a very "techie" workaround. If there's room on your Time Machine drive, your best bet is to let Time Machine start a new set."

Initial Time Machine backup 60 GB smaller than HD content?

Hello,
I've just performed an initial backup with TIme Machine on an external HD. The result is that TM's backup's size is 360 GB, but my internal HD that has 420 GB of data...
I had no problems during the backup, no warning messages. I don't understand, so I'm not very confortable pursuing with this backup.
The only explanation could be that I've a lot of duplicates on my iMac (2x big iTunes library with same files...) at the moment: does TM save only one copy of same files that are in different directories of the source HD?
Thanks :)

You can verify your Time Machine backup.
Launch the Terminal application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the page that opens.
Drag or copy – do not type – the following line into the Terminal window, then press return:
sudo tmutil compare
You'll be prompted for your login password, which won't be displayed when you type it. You may get a one-time warning not to screw up.
The command will take at least a few minutes to run. Eventually some lines of output will appear below what you entered.
Each line that begins with a plus sign (“+”) represents a file that has been added to the source volume since the last snapshot was taken. These files have not been backed up yet.
Each line that begins with an exclamation point (“!”) represents a file that has changed on the source volume. These files have been backed up, but not in their present state.
Each line that begins with a minus sign (“-“) represents a file that has been removed from the source volume.
Files that you’ve excluded from backup, or that are excluded automatically, are ignored.
At the end of the output, you’ll get some lines like the following:
Added:
Removed:
Changed:
These lines show the total amount of data added, removed, or changed on the source(s) since the last snapshot.

Need a external HD 40% bigger than internal for Time Machine backups??

I've heard that using Time Machine as my backup program I need a hard drive that's about 40% bigger than the source (internal) hard drive I want to backup. Some in these forums have said I need a external HD 2x or 3x as big as the internal hard drive for Time Machine backups!
What's your general rule, and does Apple recommend a certain percentage increase of the target over the source hard drive?

There is no set rule, except that the drive being used for Time Machine must be at least as large as the data (not drive) being backed up.
So if you have an internal 500GB drive, but you only have 300GB full, and with exclusions (things that you select NOT to back up), only 200GB needs to be backed up, then a 320GB external drive could do an adequate job (even though the internal drive is 500GB).
During the first backup, Time Machine will back up everything (that is everything you have set it to backup). So the external drive volume used for the backup must be at least the size of the data being backed up. After that, Time Machine creates an incremental backup states every hour, for things that changed during that hour. But because it is Time Machine and not just Backup Machine, the previous versions of the files that changed are also retained. Therefore, over time, the Time Machine backup archive will take up more and more space.
Once you run out of space, Time Machine will tell you and start deleting the oldest backup states to make room for the newest states. So if you have a really huge volume for your Time Machine backup, you can +go back in time+ further (probably back to the date you started using Time Machine) than if you have an adequate but smaller size drive for that purpose.

Hard drive issues due to Time Machine backup? Can't source the problem.

Last night my computer began to run extremely slow. All apps simultaneously lagged (spinning wheel of death), but then began working again after about 0.5-1 minute. This whole-system crash repeated about every 10 minutes a total of probably 5-6 times. The last time all apps stopped functioning and (CPU usage of iTunes was 85-95% for some reason (viewed using activity monitor), I am guessing due to its use of multiple hard drives as my music is stored on an external drive) and my computer just shut off after about 3 minutes of completely stalling. Rebooted computer and was left with an EXTREMELY slow system; opening up the quick menu (forgot the name, button on the top row of keyboard) for booting applications took 2-3 minutes. I eventually started disk utility, verified disk. It said I needed to repair disk by restarting my computer while holding down [Command] R message. Made sure i had a backup (at the time of that backup my computer was experiencing the problems above, 11:21pm), so I restarted whilst holding command R. Booted into the OSX utilities, retried the disk repair, received the "Disk Utility cannot repair this drive: back up as many files as you can..." message. Erased/reformatted my internal hard drive, and ran "repair disk" again; disk utility found no problems with the disk. Restored my files to my internal hard drive using OSX utilities (using the full system restore of the 11:21pm backup), and left it running while ran some errands. When I came back to look at my computer, it had attempted startup and crashed with the "kernel error" or whatever where all the text is on the left of the screen. It said something about not being able to find "disk2", which I believe was the disk containing OSX utilities (as veiwed in disk utility while running OSX utilities). Force shutdown, reboot with command R, wiped my internal drive again. Decided to only install a fresh version of OSX in an attempt to scan for viruses (using Sophos Antivirus, running scan as I am typing this), as the slow behavior of my computer had been very strange and began almost instantaneously (seemed like a virus/malware). No threats found so far with Sophos (scanning all my external drives too to source the problem in time machine backups), but I have deduced that there is something wrong with the most current Time machine backup, as it re-established the "problem" (easily fixed once drive is erased using OSX utilities) with my hard drive once I restored it to my internal hard drive. I am wondering (if it is not a virus) if I will need to repeat this whole process with every time machine backup to find where it went wrong, or if i can somehow pinpoint the problem easier. Will all of my Time Machine backups be corrupted now? Why would the Time Machine backup affect the state of the hard drive (does in need to be repaired or not)? Very confused at these random problems. If it is a virus (I will post the results of the Sophos antivirus scan as soon as it is finished), can I remove it from the backup and then restore it with no problems? What do you suggest I do? Will it make a difference to restore the most recent backup (11:21pm) using Migration assistant now that I am running a fresh install of OSX mountain lion? How can I source and eliminate the problem?

Activity Monitor – Monitor Performance Problems
Performance Guide
Why is my computer slow
Why your Mac runs slower than it should
Slow Mac After Mavericks
Things you can do to resolve slowdowns see post by Kappy
Try running this program and then copy and paste the output in a reply. The program was created by Etresoft, a frequent contributor. Please use copy and paste as screen shots can be hard to read.
Etrecheck – System Information

Time Machine backup created on Mac with a large hard disk. What happens when restore to MacBook Air with small SSD drive?

What if a Time Machine backup was created on a Mac with a large hard disk, e.g. 500GB iMac - and I buy a new MacBook Air with a small SSD hard disk e.g 128GB. What happens when I need to use the larger Time Machine file to set up the new MacBook Air? What happens to all those files that can't fit on the smaller SSD drive?

It is not the HD size, but rather the size of the data it contains. If you right-click your 500GB drive and select "Get Info" you can see how much is actually being used.
Naturally if you are using more space than the new drive has, then you have to make some choices about what you want to keep and what you want to keep archived.
I don't know what options are available but you may simply have to do a manual restore of files you want, in groups.

Time Machine backup smaller than source

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