Time Machine backup too large for backup disk

My Mac hard drive is 750GB (25GB free).
My LaCie external dedicated backup hard drive is 1TB (342GB free).
I am now getting the error "Time Machine couldn't complete the backup" "This backup is too large for the backup disk"
I thought once my initial backup of 750GB happened, it would be incremental backups from then on (with old changes betting deleted as space was needed for new changes).
Is this not the case? Do I need a much larger backup drive or something?
Thanks much for any help.

It's true but Time Machine has also to make complete backups again in case you want to restore your Mac with a more recent Time Machine backup.
Clearly the external drive you have doesn't have enough storage to back up your Mac. As you have about 725 GB of used space, I recommend you to get at least a 3 or 4 TB external drive to make backups, and even with this, don't think you will have more than four backups. Another thing you can do is to remove folders from the backup in System Preferences > Time Machine > Options

Similar Messages

Backup too large for the backup volume??

Hi,
My disk is 30Go of windows and 120Go of Mac. Only 115Go are used. My backup volume is 185Go.
But Time machine tells me, *on the first backup*, that it needs 330Go for backup??? What the f**?
All my external disks are excluded, and it does say the size of the included files is 115Go. How come time machine needs *three times* the space of the original data??

When my Time Machine disk had only 50GB left, I got the message that it couldn't back up because it required 118GB to do so. Because there was, for some reason, only one day backed up, I deleted the backup files to start fresh. Now I am getting the message:
"This backup too large for the backup volume. The backup requires 1056.6 GB but only 929.4 GB are available."
Well, the backup only require 118GB a little while ago, and the initial full backup that I deleted was 880 GB. Nothing has been added to the startup disk, and a 400GB disk has been excluded to try to make this work, so this message can't be right.
How do I make this work? I did not interrupt or abort another backup, and I've already reformatted the drive, with the same result. Do I have to keep reinstalling Time Machine every time I want to backup?

Backup too large for volume

I have 2 macbook pro's (120GB & 160GB) backing up to a 500GB TM.
both were backing up just fine, however in the past month the 160GB
macbook pro keeps getting this message.....
"backup too large for volume?"
and subsequently the backup fails?
the size of the backup is less than the free space on the TM drive...
any help?

dave,
*_Incremental Backups Seem Too Large!_*
Open the Time Machine Prefs on the Mac in question. How much space does it report you have "Available"? When a backup is initiated how much space does it report you need?
Now, consider the following, it might give you some ideas:
Time Machine performs backups at the file level. If a single bit in a large file is changed, the WHOLE file is backed up again. This is a problem for programs that save data to monolithic virtual disk files that are modified frequently. These include Parallels, VMware Fusion, Aperture vaults, or the databases that Entourage and Thunderbird create. These should be excluded from backup using the Time Machine Preference Exclusion list. You will, however, need to backup these files manually to another external disk.
One poster observed regarding Photoshop: “If you find yourself working with large files, you may discover that TM is suddenly backing up your scratch disk's temp files. This is useless, find out how to exclude these (I'm not actually sure here). Alternatively, turn off TM whilst you work in Photoshop.” [http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1209412]
If you do a lot of movie editing, unless these files are excluded, expect Time Machine to treat revised versions of a single movie as entirely new files.
If you frequently download software or video files that you only expect to keep for a short time, consider excluding the folder these are stored in from Time Machine backups.
If you have recently created a new disk image or burned a DVD, Time Machine will target these files for backup unless they are deleted or excluded from backup.
*Events-Based Backups*
Time Machine does not compare file for file to see if changes have been made. If it had to rescan every file on your drive before each backup, it would not be able to perform backups as often as it does. Rather, it looks for EVENTS (fseventsd) that take place involving your files and folders. Moving/copying/deleting/saving files and folders creates events that Time Machine looks for. [http://arstechnica.com/reviews/os/mac-os-x-10-5.ars/14]
Installing new software, upgrading existing software, or updating Mac OS X system software can create major changes in the structure of your directories. Every one of these changes is recorded by the OS as an event. Time Machine will backup every file that has an event associated with it since the installation.
Files or folders that are simply moved or renamed are counted as NEW files or folders. If you rename any file or folder, Time Machine will back up the ENTIRE file or folder again no matter how big or small it is.
George Schreyer describes this behavior: “If you should want to do some massive rearrangement of your disk, Time Machine will interpret the rearranged files as new files and back them up again in their new locations. Just renaming a folder will cause this to happen. This is OK if you've got lots of room on your backup disk. Eventually, Time Machine will thin those backups and the space consumed will be recovered. However, if you really want recover the space in the backup volume immediately, you can. To do this, bring a Finder window to the front and then click the Time Machine icon on the dock. This will activate the Time Machine user interface. Navigate back in time to where the old stuff exists and select it. Then pull down the "action" menu (the gear thing) and select "delete all backups" and the older stuff vanishes.” (http://www.girr.org/mac_stuff/backups.html)
*TechTool Pro Directory Protection*
This disk utility feature creates backup copies of your system directories. Obviously these directories are changing all the time. So, depending on how it is configured, these backup files will be changing as well which is interpreted by Time Machine as new data to backup. Excluding the folder these backups are stored in will eliminate this effect.
*Backups WAY Too Large*
If an initial full backup or subsequent incremental backup is tens or hundreds of Gigs larger than expected, check to see that all unwanted external hard disks are still excluded from Time Machine backups.
This includes the Time Machine backup drive ITSELF. Normally, Time Machine is set to exclude itself by default. But on rare occasions it can forget. When your backup begins, Time Machine mounts the backup on your desktop. (For Time Capsule users it appears as a white drive icon labeled something like “Backup of (your computer)”.) If, while it is mounted, it does not show up in the Time Machine Prefs “Do not back up” list, then Time Machine will attempt to back ITSELF up. If it is not listed while the drive is mounted, then you need to add it to the list.
*FileVault / Boot Camp / iDisk Syncing*
Note: Leopard has changed the way it deals with FileVault disk images, so it is not necessary to exclude your Home folder if you have FileVault activated. Additionally, Time Machine ignores Boot Camp partitions as the manner in which they are formatted is incompatible. Finally, if you have your iDisk Synced to your desktop, it is not necessary to exclude the disk image file it creates as that has been changed to a sparsebundle as well in Leopard.
If none of the above seem to apply to your case, then you may need to attempt to compress the disk image in question. We'll consider that if the above fails to explain your circumstance.
Cheers!

Time Machine completes once, then says "too large for backup disk"

Hello all,
I'm a very experienced, certified Apple tech, with over 15 years' experience working on Macs, having used them since 1984.
Client's iMac (27-inch, Late 2009)
Mac OS X 10.6.8, fully up to date
12 GB RAM
History: Internal 1 TB hard drive was failing. Mac out of warranty, so HDD was replaced with a new 1 TB hard drive.
Data was cloned from old drive using SuperDuper!
Now, Time Machine will not back up more than once.
The error reads:
"Time Machine could not complete the backup.
This backup is too large for the backup disk.
The backup requires 728.32 GB but only 568.57 GB are available."
The backup drive is 1.5x the size of the internal drive. There are no other hard drives attached that would be included in the backup.
Internal hard drive: 1 TB
Available: 392 GB
Used 608 GB
External backup drive 1.5 TB
Available 568.57 GB
Used 931.39 GB
I have tried many steps from the pondini.org site and other blogs and internet forums, including this one.
External hard drive has been reformatted/erased several times.
We have disabled indexing, deleted the Spotlight index, and re-enabled indexing.
I can't determine why the Time Machine backup is 1.5 times the size of the data on the internal boot drive.
This was never a problem before the internal hard drive was replaced, so I think it's related to that.
I had the client install BackupLoupe. Her computer is not at our office, but I can get more info from her if needed.
If there's something obvious I'm missing, let me know.
Thanks in advance,
Dave

That's been done, and here are the results:
July 13 6:22am
Starting standard backup
Backing up to: /Volumes/a***r/Backups.backupdb
Node requires deep traversal:/ reason:must scan subdirs|
No pre-backup thinning needed: 678.09 GB requested (including padding),
831.97 GB available
Copied 122.0 GB of 564.1 GB, 246633 of 523955 items
Copied 294.4 GB of 564.1 GB, 320260 of 523955 items
CoreEndianFlipData: error -4940 returned for rsrc type open (id 128, length
12, native = no)
CoreEndianFlipData: error -4940 returned for rsrc type open (id 128, length
12, native = no)
Copied 444.4 GB of 564.1 GB, 453652 of 523955 items
Copied 523956 files (554.8 GB) from volume Macintosh HD.
Starting post-backup thinning
No post-back up thinning needed: no expired backups exist
Backup completed successfully.
July 13 6:42am
Starting standard backup
Backing up to: /Volumes/a***r/Backups.backupdb
Node requires deep traversal:/ reason:must scan subdirs|
Starting pre-backup thinning: 678.15 GB requested (including padding),
268.78 GB available
No expired backups exist - deleting oldest backups to make room
Deleted backup /Volumes/a***r/Backups.backupdb/iMac/2013-07-13-021422: 831.05 GB now available
Pre-backup thinning completed successfully: 1 backups were deleted
Backup date range was shortened: oldest backup is now Jul 13, 2013
Copied 69.2 GB of 564.1 GB, 228921 of 523955 items
Copied 231.8 GB of 564.1 GB, 294537 of 523955 items
CoreEndianFlipData: error -4940 returned for rsrc type open (id 128, length
12, native = no)
CoreEndianFlipData: error -4940 returned for rsrc type open (id 128, length
12, native = no)
Copied 379.7 GB of 564.1 GB, 409687 of 523955 items
Copied 543.7 GB of 564.1 GB, 517846 of 523955 items
Copied 523967 files (554.8 GB) from volume Macintosh HD.
July 13 1102 am
Starting standard backup
Backing up to: /Volumes/a***r/Backups.backupdb
Node requires deep traversal:/ reason:must scan subdirs|
Starting pre-backup thinning: 678.15 GB requested (including padding),
268.78 GB available
No expired backups exist - deleting oldest backups to make room
Deleted backup /Volumes/a***r/Backups.backupdb/iMac/2013-07-13-021422: 831.05 GB now available
Pre-backup thinning completed successfully: 1 backups were deleted
Backup date range was shortened: oldest backup is now Jul 13, 2013
Copied 69.2 GB of 564.1 GB, 228921 of 523955 items
Copied 231.8 GB of 564.1 GB, 294537 of 523955 items
CoreEndianFlipData: error -4940 returned for rsrc type open (id 128, length
12, native = no)
CoreEndianFlipData: error -4940 returned for rsrc type open (id 128, length
12, native = no)
Copied 379.7 GB of 564.1 GB, 409687 of 523955 items
Copied 543.7 GB of 564.1 GB, 517846 of 523955 items
Copied 523967 files (554.8 GB) from volume Macintosh HD.
Backup completed successfully.
July 13 307pm
Starting standard backup
Backing up to: /Volumes/a***r/Backups.backupdb
Node requires deep traversal:/ reason:must scan subdirs|
Starting pre-backup thinning: 679.38 GB requested (including padding),
267.58 GB available
No expired backups exist - deleting oldest backups to make room
Deleted backup /Volumes/a***r/Backups.backupdb/iMac/2013-07-13-062230: 829.87 GB now available
Pre-backup thinning completed successfully: 1 backups were deleted
Backup date range was shortened: oldest backup is now Jul 13, 2013
Copied 80.4 GB of 564.1 GB, 235855 of 523977 items
Copied 218.1 GB of 564.1 GB, 289940 of 523977 items
CoreEndianFlipData: error -4940 returned for rsrc type open (id 128, length
12, native = no)
CoreEndianFlipData: error -4940 returned for rsrc type open (id 128, length
12, native = no)
Copied 347.4 GB of 564.1 GB, 395287 of 523977 items
Stopping backupd to allow ejection of backup destination disk!
Copied 395788 files (353.7 GB) from volume Macintosh HD.
Backup canceled.
July 14 11:02am
Starting standard backup
Backing up to: /Volumes/a***r/Backups.backupdb
Node requires deep traversal:/ reason:must scan subdirs|
Starting pre-backup thinning: 680.07 GB requested (including padding),
470.83 GB available
No expired backups exist - deleting oldest backups to make room
Error: backup disk is full - all 0 possible backups were removed, but space
is still needed.
Backup Failed: unable to free 680.07 GB needed space
Backup failed with error: Not enough available disk space on the target
volume.
July 14 12.48pm
Starting standard backup
Backing up to: /Volumes/a***r/Backups.backupdb
Node requires deep traversal:/ reason:must scan subdirs|
Starting pre-backup thinning: 680.07 GB requested (including padding),
470.83 GB available
No expired backups exist - deleting oldest backups to make room
Error: backup disk is full - all 0 possible backups were removed, but space
is still needed.
Backup Failed: unable to free 680.07 GB needed space
Backup failed with error: Not enough available disk space on the target
volume.

I have a 500 GB hard drive and a 1TB Time Capsule running on a MacBook Pro. It was all working well until the MacBook went in for a repair a week or so ago. Since then, TC will not perform a backup; instead, it says the backup is too large for the disk

Since having my MacBook Pro repaired (for a video problem) Time Capsule returns the following message: "This backup is too large for the backup disk. The backup requires 428.08 GB but only 192.14 GB are available."
I notice that there is also a new sparse bundle.
Since TC has my ONLY backup (going back about 4 years) I am reluctant to wipe it and start over fresh as I am afraid of losing files.
Is there a way of dealing with this?
I am using Snow Leopard 10.6.8

The repair shop likely replaced a major circuit board on your MacBook Pro, so Time Machine thinks that you have a "new" computer and it wants to make a new complete backup of your Mac.
You are going to have to make a decision to either add another new Time Capsule....or USB drive to your existing Time Capsule....and in effect start over with a new backup of your Mac and then move forward again.
For "most" users, I think this is probably the best plan because you preserve all your old backups in case you need them at some point, and you start over again with a new Time Capsule so you have plenty of room for years of new backups.
Or, as you have mentioned, you have the option of erasing the Time Capsule drive and starting all over again. The upside is that you start over and have plenty of room for new backups. The downside is that you lose years of backups.
Another option....trying to manually delete old backups individually....is tricky business....and very time consuming. To get an idea of what is involved here, study this FAQ by Pondini, our resident Time Capsule and Time Machine expert on the Community Support area. In particular, study the pink box.
http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/12.html
Once you look through this, I think you may agree that this type of surgery is not for the faint of heart. I would suggest that you consider this only if one of the other options just cannot work for you.

Time machine backup too big for empty disk??

So I restart my MacBook Pro a few minutes after completing a full Time Machine backup. When it restarts it goes through the grey startup screen, then gets stuck on the blue screen just before the desktop normally appears. This happens whenever I startup. I am still able to hit the power button and get the Restart/Shut Down dialog, so I restart using my Snow Leopard boot disk, run Disk Utility, repair permissions, and repair disk, but the problem still remains. I decide to Restore from Time Machine Backup, so I erase my disk (80 GB, had only 200 MB free), go to the Restore screen and connect my backup disk. Now the weird part -- it says my latest backup is too big for the disk, even though i just erased everything, and 74.2 GB show as free. All my previous backups seem to fit fine, but apparently the last time Time Machine backed up more from my disk than can fit on my disk! It seems having a hard disk close to full is enough to render a backup effectively useless. Guess I'll have to restore from a previous backup, then manually copy the newer files. Just wanted to alert others to this insane problem, so it doesn't happen to them.

dgordon412 wrote:
(80 GB, had only 200 MB free)
That's likely corrupted your system. You should have a minimum of 10% - 15% free at all times. That's almost certainly why it wouldn't restart.
even though i just erased everything, and 74.2 GB show as free.
There must be something else on the drive; if you erase it, it should have just under 80 GB free. Is there another partition?
Did you erase with a Leopard Install disc or a Snow Leopard disc? If you used a Leopard disc, that might explain showing only 74.2 GB free (it counts differently).
If so, use your +Snow Leopard+ install disc to do a complete reformat, and try to restore the backup. A Leopard disc cannot restore a Snow Leopard backup. Even the Snow Leopard disc may not work, as it's just too full and/or your system was damaged by getting too full.
All my previous backups seem to fit fine, but apparently the last time Time Machine backed up more from my disk than can fit on my disk! It seems having a hard disk close to full is enough to render a backup effectively useless.
Having an OSX drive that full will make your Mac extremely sluggish, cause data corruption and/or loss, apps to crash, etc.
Guess I'll have to restore from a previous backup, then manually copy the newer files. Just wanted to alert others to this insane problem, so it doesn't happen to them.
If you can get your Mac running, you need to make several GBs of space immediately.
If all else fails, reformat the internal HD and install OSX from your Snow Leopard Install disc, then use +Setup Assistant+ after the Welcome video to transfer +*most, but not all+* of your stuff from the backup. Omit the contents of one or more large sub-folders in a home folder (such as Photos, Music, or Movies).
See #19 in [Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/FAQ.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum), for details.

"Backup is too large for backup volume" error

When I try to backup my StartUp Drive (931.2 GB capacity, 348.2 GB Available, 583.0 GB Used) to my Backup Drive (931.2 Available) which is mounted in the adjacent bay I have begun to get an Error Message that says "This backup is too large for the backup volume. The backup requires 1379.1 GB but only 931.0 GB are available." Clearly something is amiss. It was backing up to this hard drive just fine.
Here is the log from the Backup Buddy Widget
Starting standard backup
Backing up to: /Volumes/2 Backup/Backups.backupdb
Event store UUIDs don't match for volume: 4 Movies
Event store UUIDs don't match for volume: 1 Start Up
Event store UUIDs don't match for volume: 3 Media
Backup content size: 466.2 GB excluded items size: 0 bytes for volume 4 Movies
Backup content size: 583.0 GB excluded items size: 1.9 MB for volume 1 Start Up
Backup content size: 99.9 GB excluded items size: 0 bytes for volume 3 Media
Starting pre-backup thinning: 1.35 TB requested (including padding), 930.96 GB available
No expired backups exist - deleting oldest backups to make room
Error: backup disk is full - all 0 possible backups were removed, but space is still needed.
Backup Failed: unable to free 1.35 TB needed space
Backup failed with error: Not enough available disk space on the target volume.
Message was edited by: James Pittman1

James Pittman1 wrote:
I installed a new hard drive ( replaced a 250 GB with a 1 T drive), I deleted a sparse image from another drive (neither of these drives were included with the backup from TM) and I renamed the TM drive from "Backup" to "2 Backup" after I erased it. I then attempted the full back up from the "Startup" drive to the newly erased "2 Backup" drive and got the error message. All drives are internal.
According to the messages you posted earlier, you're trying to back-up three drives:
Backup content size: 466.2 GB excluded items size: 0 bytes for volume 4 Movies
Backup content size: 583.0 GB excluded items size: 1.9 MB for volume 1 Start Up
Backup content size: 99.9 GB excluded items size: 0 bytes for volume 3 Media
That's a total of 1149.1 GB. TM then adds about 20% for workspace it will need (the "padding" in the next message):
Starting pre-backup thinning: 1.35 TB requested (including padding), 930.96 GB available
You need a bigger TM drive, or to back-up one or more of the other drives some other way, and exclude them from TM.
A 1 TB drive is just barely large enough to back-up your +Start Up+ drive, as TM really should have 2-3 times the space of the data it's backing-up.

Time Machine says backup is too large for backup disk -- but it isn't...

I have a MacBook Pro with a 120GB drive and a 120GB external drive I use for Time Machine. Everything went fine for months until my laptop's drive got close to full (about 3GB of free space). Then Time Machine started saying it didn't have enough room to complete a backup: "needs 10GB but only 8.6GB is available"
So I told it to stop backing up my iTunes movies (about 7GB). Still didn't work -- same error message (the actual values may have changed some, I don't remember).
Next, I added another 10GB do the "do not back up" list. Still didn't work. Finally, I deleted (actually deleted, not just said "don't back up") about 5GB of files and emptied the Trash.
Now it says it needs 15.9GB of space to do a backup and only 8.6 is available... ??? I've restarted the machine several times, still doesn't work.
My solutions seem to be making it worse. Makes no sense to me.
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Peter,
Unfortunately, Apple hasn't documented this very well. However, those of us who know how Time Machine works behind the scenes know this to be true. Of course, Time Machine can back up a given machine at least once with only slightly more space on the backup drive than needed, but subsequent backups will fail.
I have to disagree, though, that most people would fill a 250 GB hard drive. I have what I would consider a "just barely manageable" amount of data in my HOME folder, and my installation clocks in at about 100 GBs. Those "big ticket" items that would tend to bloat my HOME folder- iTunes videos, folders of huge images, etc.- I regularly place on some form of external storage when I no longer need them, removing them from my HOME folder. In fact, I have a partition on an external drive just for the storage of iTunes videos that have already been watched.
If your installation is filling a 250 GB hard drive, you might consider your file management, and just what is consuming so much disk space. It could be that you have some data that would be better stored externally.
Those that would benefit most from using a Time Capsule are those using portable computers, since these are the least convenient to connect directly to an external drive. Certainly, it doesn't make sense to have a portable connected directly to an external to allow hourly backups, which could occur easily when using a Time Capsule. And, I dare say that most portable computer users have internal drives smaller than 250 GBs. I know I certainly do.
All this said, your question is really whether or not a Time Capsule is right for you. If you are filling a 250 GB hard drive, the 500 GB model would do, but just barely. Adding a second machine, also using all of a 250 GB hard drive, wouldn't be possible. In this case, even the 1 TB model would be just barely enough, if that. Again, you might want to consider your file management, or just stick with directly-connected external drives for use with Time Machine. There are scenarios where a Time Capsule makes sense, and scenarios where directly-connected solutions are better.
Scott

Time Machine Backup Is Too Large For Backup Disc NOT

Hi, I have not been able to locate anything to help me with a time machine/time capsule issue I am experiencing. I have a 750 GB internal and a 1tb capsule. I have been using it to back up for well over a year with no real troubles. About three months ago, a message appeared that my time machine drive was basically filling up and that it was going to start deleting old backups to replace with new ones. No big deal I knew that this day would come. Well, today, I receive a message that it wants to back up 621.99 gbs (the entire drive!) and there is only 59.33 gbs of space. This should not be the case, it seems to think it is backing up a brand new initial back up for some reason when it shouldn't be. Why is it trying to back up the entire drive? I can't figure out what to do to get it back on track. This is the problem with my Apple products, problems are so few and far between for me that I don't remember what to do to correct the issues that arise every couple years. Can anyone guide me?

...have not been able to locate anything to help me with a time machine/time capsule issue I am experiencing.
Nothing here, John?
User Contributed Tips:
Pondini - Time Machine - TROUBLESHOOTING (Sept 25, 2009)
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2057525
Pondini - Time Machine -- Frequently Asked Questions (Apr 3, 2009)
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1964018

Time Machine stuck at "Looking for backup disk" after installing Windows 8 via Boot Camp

I've been backing up via Time Machine to an external USB drive and it's been working fine. I recenty installed Windows 8 via Boot Camp and now TM gets stuck forever at "Looking for backup disk...".
I've tried the following, to no avail:
Using "Select Disk" in TM preferences to re-select the disk
Deleting /Library/Preferences/com.apple.TimeMachine.plist
Running system maintenance via Onyx
Resetting PRAM
Formatting the drive and setting it up for TM backups again
The Boot Camp partition is on the same drive as OS X (on a 180GB Intel 330 series SSD). During the Windows installation I re-formatted the partition as NTFS.
If I start OS X in Safe Boot mode, TM backups work. In Safe Boot mode, the NTFS partition isn't loaded so I suspect it has something to do with this. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

I installed Paragon NTFS for Mac and it started working all of a sudden.

Time Machine stuck at "Looking for backup disk"

I've been backing up via Time Machine to an external USB drive and it's been working fine. I recenty installed Windows 8 via Boot Camp and now TM gets stuck forever at "Looking for backup disk...".
I've tried the following, to no avail:
Using "Select Disk" in TM preferences to re-select the disk
Deleting /Library/Preferences/com.apple.TimeMachine.plist
Running system maintenance via Onyx
Resetting PRAM
Formatting the drive and setting it up for TM backups again
The Boot Camp partition is on the same drive as OS X (on a 180GB Intel 330 series SSD). During the Windows installation I re-formatted the partition as NTFS.
If I start OS X in Safe Boot mode, TM backups work. In Safe Boot mode, the NTFS partition isn't loaded so I suspect it has something to do with this. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

I'm going to assume during the install setup of Windows, you deleted the partition made by Apple and created your own and formatted in NTFS. This is probably the cause as to what happened.
Try this:
1. backup anything you did in Windows 8.
2. In Boot Camp, remove the Windows Partition. Reboot when prompted.
3. Try and see if Time Machine works again.
If its working, create a bootcamp partition and re-install Windows. Do not delete the partitions that Boot Camp created. See if TM works again after that.

Time Machine hangs 'preparing items for backup'

Time Machine continually spinning 'preparing items for backup'
TM Logs say:
Starting standard backup
Backing up to: /Volumes/MyBook TimeMachine/Backups.backupdb
Error (256): fetching properties: Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=256 UserInfo=0x100190560 "The file “bzdone_20090128_1stats.xml” couldn’t be opened." Underlying Error=(Error Domain=NSPOSIXErrorDomain Code=5 UserInfo=0x100177910 "The operation couldn’t be completed. Input/output error")
Error (256): fetching properties: Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=256 UserInfo=0x100521200 "The file “bzdone_200901311.bzff” couldn’t be opened." Underlying Error=(Error Domain=NSPOSIXErrorDomain Code=5 UserInfo=0x100177910 "The operation couldn’t be completed. Input/output error")
Error (256): fetching properties: Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=256 UserInfo=0x100521fa0 "The file “bzdone_20090131_1stats.xml” couldn’t be opened." Underlying Error=(Error Domain=NSPOSIXErrorDomain Code=5 UserInfo=0x100177910 "The operation couldn’t be completed. Input/output error")
Error (256): fetching properties: Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=256 UserInfo=0x100521200 "The file “bzdone_200902041.bzff” couldn’t be opened." Underlying Error=(Error Domain=NSPOSIXErrorDomain Code=5 UserInfo=0x100177910 "The operation couldn’t be completed. Input/output error")
Error (256): fetching properties: Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=256 UserInfo=0x1001d5530 "The file “bzdone_20090204_1stats.xml” couldn’t be opened." Underlying Error=(Error Domain=NSPOSIXErrorDomain Code=5 UserInfo=0x100177910 "The operation couldn’t be completed. Input/output error")
Error (256): fetching properties: Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=256 UserInfo=0x1001d5510 "The file “bzdone_200902051.bzff” couldn’t be opened." Underlying Error=(Error Domain=NSPOSIXErrorDomain Code=5 UserInfo=0x100177910 "The operation couldn’t be completed. Input/output error")
Error (256): fetching properties: Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=256 UserInfo=0x100522610 "The file “bzdone_20090205_1stats.xml” couldn’t be opened." Underlying Error=(Error Domain=NSPOSIXErrorDomain Code=5 UserInfo=0x100177910 "The operation couldn’t be completed. Input/output error")
Error (256): fetching properties: Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=256 UserInfo=0x1005220f0 "The file “bzdone_200902061.bzff” couldn’t be opened." Underlying Error=(Error Domain=NSPOSIXErrorDomain Code=5 UserInfo=0x100177910 "The operation couldn’t be completed. Input/output error")
Can't find anything relevant googling the error message - seems to appear on damaged software install CDs so possibly the files are corrupt on my harddrive? I think .bzff file are from 'Backblaze' online backup, but given the date in the file name they have previously backed up successfully.

chassa wrote:
I think .bzff file are from 'Backblaze' online backup, but given the date in the file name they have previously backed up successfully.
Try excluding them from Time Machine, per #10 in [Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/FAQ.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).
If that doesn't help, it may be something else on your internal HD. Verify it, per #A5 in [Time Machine - Troubleshooting|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/Troubleshooting.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).

Is time machine what I want for backup??

I've tried several external drives for my mac and the first one crashed after a year, the second one (ClickFree Backup) doesn't work the way we'd like. It requires connection by the main computer to back up both computers which isn't how it was sold to me.
Ideally I'd like a wireless backup that can be used by both the Mac and PC in our household, and be able to access files between the two. If that can't happen (and I'm assuming it cannot), then I'd like something just for my Macbook Pro. I'd like to put all music and photos on it rather than on my hard drive, so not sure if it's okay to go with Time Machine or if Time Capsule is necessary. I use my laptop all over the house so it's only in the evenings when I dock it and would plug in to back up. So Time Machine, Time Capsule, or something else you'd recommend for backup?

heather713 wrote:
Ideally I'd like a wireless backup that can be used by both the Mac and PC in our household, and be able to access files between the two.
That can probably be done, depending on your router. It can be done with a Time Capsule.
I'd like to put all music and photos on it rather than on my hard drive, so not sure if it's okay to go with Time Machine or if Time Capsule is necessary.
You're talking about two very different things: extra space for originals vs. backups.
Time Machine is a backup app; their whole role in life is to keep extra copies of your originals, in case something awful happens to the originals. Those copies can't be used by most apps; they must be restored somewhere to be used.
You can use a Time Capsule for backups, or for originals, but it's not a good idea to try to use it for both. This is partly because Time Machine will use all the empty space available to it; and partly because Time Machine can't back up the originals that are on a network.
I use my laptop all over the house so it's only in the evenings when I dock it and would plug in to back up.
With a Time Capsule, Time Machine can make quick backups of whatever's changed every hour, via your network, as long as your Mac is awake and in range.
The closest you could get to everything you want would be to get a Time Capsule and a USB drive to connect to it. Use the TC's internal HD for your Mac's backups and the USB drive for the shared data. But you'd need some way (and some place) to back up the shared data.
The shared data on the USB drive presents another problem. Macs can't read and write to most drives formatted for a PC, and vice-versa. Both can use the +MS-DOS (FAT)+ format, but Time Machine can't back that up, even if you connect it to your Mac. There are some 3rd party apps (I think one is named MacDrive) for a PC that will read and write Mac-formatted drives, and one for Macs that will read and write NTFS (PC) formatted drives.

TIME MACHINE Error: This backupup is too large for the backup volume ...

Hi Folks !
I have also my first problems with TM. It was running, the first time nicht&day to make the first backup and now seems the device to be full! This TimeMachineError was displayed:
This backup is too large for the backup volume. The backup requires 127.5 GB but only 46.5 are available. To select a larger volume, or make the backup smaller by excluding files, open System Preferences and choose Time Machine.
END OF ERROR Message
First thing > if I choose SystemPrefs/TM there is no chance to exclude file or folders the only dialog is for Volumes
Any Idea ?
Are the TM Preferences corrupted or why I cannot choose to define my backup ?
Ciao
Massimo

When my Time Machine disk had only 50GB left, I got the message that it couldn't back up because it required 118GB to do so. Because there was, for some reason, only one day backed up, I deleted the backup files to start fresh. Now I am getting the message:
"This backup too large for the backup volume. The backup requires 1056.6 GB but only 929.4 GB are available."
Well, the backup only require 118GB a little while ago, and the initial full backup that I deleted was 880 GB. Nothing has been added to the startup disk, and a 400GB disk has been excluded to try to make this work, so this message can't be right.
How do I make this work? Do I have to keep reinstalling Time Machine every time I want to backup?

Moved Time Machine drive - can't see backup.

I was having trouble with my Time Machine drive, which was connected by USB to my Airport Extreme. I moved the drive to a USB connector on my MacBook Pro to improve the speed, and after formatting the drive, made a complete, new backup with Time Machine, which took about 8 hours.
Then I moved the drive back to the AirPort and told Time Machine to use it for backup. Time Machine doesn't see the earlier backup (I can verify that it's there using the Finder) and is now doing another complete backup of my MBP.
What's wrong here? How can I tell Time Machine to use the backup it made yesterday instead of starting over?
Walt

Actually, Tech Support told me that they support only Apple Time Capsules connected to the Air Port Extreme. They most certainly do NOT support using Seagate drives such the ones I have been using successfully for over three years, on two MBPs.
I firmly believe (but Apple does not want to hear this) that my problem originated with the erratic WIFI connections since I upgraded to Lion, which has been discussed at length in the forums. Time Machine reported backups failing when the WIFI connection could nto be restored after waking from sleep.
My wife's MBP, running Snow Leopard, is working just fine on the same hardware.
Walt
EDIT: I tried "Inheriting" the backup that was made via the direct USB connection, but it still doesn't show up in the TM history. The tmutil program is interesting - it does distinguish between the "machine_directory" - the backups.backupdb folder that was made by the direct USB backup, and the sparse_bundle file that was created by the AirPort backup.

Time Machine backup too large for backup disk

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