Time machine backups, always nearly 5GB when I use iPhoto

Time machine backups, always nearly 5GB when I use iPhoto
I back up my computer using Time Machine and it's turned on. I've realized, though, that during every backup, nearly 5GB is copied. Now I know that I don't download that much in a few weeks. I was wondering--is there a chance that Time Machine is copying something over and over...and over again. I notice that it does that when I use iPhoto, but the iPhoto Librtary size is 219 GB

This solved my question
Problem solved:
Close iPhoto. In the Finder window go to images and right click on the iPhoto Library file and press "Show Package Contents", then chose "Thumbnails" -> "Segments" and move these folowing 3 big files to the Trash:
[thumb64segment.data]
[thumb32segment.data] - Sometimes this one is not there. Do not worry about it.
[thumbJPGsegment.data]
Now restart iPhoto. You'll be given a message that it's rebuilding the thumbnail caches.
After this my Time Machine backup went normal again.

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HT201250 I have two external hard drives. One is my Time Machine backup drive. The other I use for external storage of files (documents, photos, movies, etc). Can I set Time Machine to backup BOTH my Mac hard drive and my other external hard drive?

I have two external hard drives. One is my Time Machine backup drive. The other I use for external storage of files (documents, photos, movies, etc). Can I set Time Machine to backup BOTH my Mac hard drive and my other external hard drive?

Yes you can make multiple backups on one hard drive, for example if you’ve 1TB hard drive installed in your PC and you’ve two Mac Machines with 500GB drive each then you just make two backup images with size of 500GB each.
http://www.halfspot.com/use-your-pc-hard-drive-for-time-machine-backup/

Time Machine: Backup folder changing size when connected to different computers

Can someone please help me wrap my head around why the size of my Time Machine backup folder changes when connected to different computers? I tried to be as thorough as possible. Thanks in advance for taking the time to read this.
I made a backup of my one laptop (MacBook Pro running 10.6.8) before installing Mavericks. The backup folder size is 258.56 GB and it is on a 1TB WD external. There are no other computers backed up in this folder.
Last night, I tried to copy the backup folder to another 1TB WD external and ran into the “you can’t do that” message. After some researching, I came across articles explaining how Time Machine handles HDs and, in order for me to copy my backup folder, the drive I want to copy the folder to needs to have the “Ignore ownership on this volume” deselected.
Okay, so here is my situation: I have the “Ignore ownership on this volume” deselected and journaling is correct on the drive I want to copy the backup folder to. So I can continue working on my laptop, I want to use a different computer to copy the backup folder from one HD to the other. The problem I’m having is each computer I own is showing me a different backup folder size O.o.
(1) The computer I want to use – a Power Mac G5 Quad running 10.4.11 (non intel) – is showing a backup folder size of 592.7 MB, but the HD shows there is 258 GB being used. When I drag copy, I only get a 592.7 MB backup folder. For some reason, the backup folder is the only folder acting this way. I compared other folders from the same and different externals and all the sizes match up perfectly no matter the computer they were connected to. How is this possible?
(2) My second option - Mac Pro (early 2009) running 10.9.4 – is showing a 256.15 GB backup folder size. Very close, but not 258.56 GB.
(3) My last option is to use the computer I’m trying to stay away from, the MacBook Pro running 10.6.8. This is the computer I backed up and is showing me the correct folder size = 258.56GB. As I mentioned, I'd like to work on my laptop while copying the backup folder using one of my other computers.
I am able to drag and drop from each computer, but the folder size depends on the computer I’m using. I don’t understand why I can't do a simple drag and drop of a 258 GB folder.
Many thanks!!

The directory files that you are seeing are not real. They are links to the actual backup files that are stored in a hidden directory on the drive. If you were to look at the same drive on a pc, you would see the folders and you would a list files that are in the folders but the files would all be 0 byte files and Windows will tell you the file is empty because there is nothing there but a link which Windows does not understand.
So the point is you can't just copy the backupd files. The best solution that I know of (and maybe someone else will chime in) for copying them is to mirror the drive with something like Carbon Copy or some other program.
See this site for more information about time machine and how it works: http://pondini.org/OSX/Home.html

Aperture 3 - does Time Machine backup the entire library when you modify it

Since installing Aperture 3 and importing my iPhoto library, I've noticed that my daily Time Machine backups are now ~40GB. My Aperture library is 60GB, so I guess it can't be doing a full backup of it every day but I'm suspicious that it's Aperture related. Anyone know how I can see what's going on?

The only way to test a back up is to do a restore.
FWIW Time Machine does incremental back ups - i.e it backs up the changes - rather than doing a whole back up each time.
There's a Time Machine forum here
http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=1342
with some very knowledgeable people posting on it.
Regards
TD

HT4500 Support Apple advice does not work; I followed the instructions; Time Machine backups cannot be found, possibly in use. Right after an installation of OS.

How can I recover my files using Migration Assistant? Time machine backups cannot be found.
I tried recovery by entering time machine and selecting the files, but they don't appear anywhere; they're on the HD somewhere but neither Finder nor Spotlight can 'find' them.

Have you repaired your permissions? This can be a very frustrating situation which I encountred after a logic board replacement.
What I did was start a TM backup, but excluded items too make it a minimal backup. Make sure you select verify in the TM option before you backup. After the current backup I was able to see the sparse bundle and the prior backups in the Finder. (Check and see after this backup if your oldest and current backups are llisted. If not read on) However, it would not remain seen in the Finder after I closed it. Somehow I was able to see my prior backups again in the Finder. This time I deleted the current TM App in the applications and copied the old one from the TM. It now shows me both old and current backups for selection.
I do not profess to be an expert on the TM. This is just how I accidentally solved my problem.
I wish Apple or a Apple Developer would make an App for these problems. Someone could make a lot a money.

Time Machine backups always fail

Hello,
I have been trying for a week to get time machine working with my time capsule and it just wont do the initial backup. It starts out fine but then after so many gigs have been tranferred (anywhere from 10 -20 of 70 total) it just fails. If I try to start it again it shows it going from 1kb to 10mb to 35mb at which point it always fails again. I have tried different suggestions from around the forum but none of them have worked. I have even tried to backup to a different external hard drive over usb and it still gives the same error.With the time capsule I have tried over wireless and ethernet with same results.
please help

I am having the same issue. I just purchased a new iMac and transferred my data from my MacBookPro during initial startup. I'm guessing there is a file that Time Machine does not like. My plan is to reinitialize my iMac to factory and, instead of transferring data, I will re-install inidividual programs. Any suggestions to make this less painful would be helpful.
To initial poster: sorry I don't have an answer. Hopefully there is an answer out there for both of us. Thank you!

Time Machine backup always says 19:22

Even if Time Machine is backing up every hour (which it is), when I look in Time Machine for the backups, they are all at 19:22 (24 hour clock) even if the items backed up are different. They used to say the time at different hours like 14:22, 15:22, 16:22 etc. Does anyone have this problem?

scapesuiter wrote:
Thanks nerowolfe but I already thought of corrupted preference file and that isn't the problem since generating a new Time Machine preference file doesn't help.
Did you actually trash the original .plist and reboot?
Open TM preferences and turn it off. Then trash the plist and reboot.
Finally turn TM back up.
Also run DU on both your internal HD and the TM HD and repair them.

Why is my time machine backup so slow even when directly connected with usb 3.0?

On my new 15" Retina running OS 10.7.5 the backup of about 225 GB would estimate about 17 hours and then stall out around 22 GB or so.
Now it seems to hang on the setup.
I've just gone back to my old machine (late 2008 15" MBP running OS 10.7.4) to see if it would work any faster I am getting an estimate of "about a day" on about 280 GB. (Backwards compatible at USB 2.0 speeds of course).
In both instances I am directly connected via USB 3.0 to a Seagate 3TB desktop drive that I reformatted to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) right out of the box.
I bought this drive to replace my old 500 GB Time Capsule which is much too small to maintain backups for my MBP and my wife's Air. My plan was to run the initial backups hard-wired (for speed) and then attach it to a new Airport Express for subsequent backups.
No network or wireless to potentially cause this lag.
Any thoughts?
Thanks!

It's true. I love Google. Miss the maps on the iPhone5 for sure.
Like you say, I end up expanding all my searches in Google to give me more results within apple discussions rather than search here.
I moved the external 3 TB drive over to the Time Capsule via its USB port and it is showing up. So that's one bullet maybe dodged so far.
On a grander scale, I'm currently in the midst of trying to redo my home network and I'm in a little over my head.
I will try to explain...
My previous network ran as follows:
Time Warner cable coax ----------> their provided Motorola modem ----via ethernet---> My old 500 GB Time Capsule creating the WIFI network for my place and feeding three other old style Airport Express devices in various rooms extending the network but essentially just for AirTunes
Also, the Time Capsule ran ethernet cables to my Western Digital TV and Western Digital MyBook Live Duo 4TB drive. Both of these Western Digital devices have wifi built in but I wasn't getting the playback speeds I was expecting so I hardwired them with ethernet for faster service which has been working for a while.
NOW.....
I am replacing the three old Airport Express devices with three new Airport Express devices and making one of them the Master device to create a new network (dumping the old one and trying to start fresh).
Here's my plan and what I have hooked up so far.
TWC coax ----> Motorola modem ---ethernet----> Airport Express #1 (creating WIFI network for Airport Express #2 and #3 AND ---------ethernet-------> Old 500 GB Time Machine-----ethernet #1-----> WDTV Live AND ----ethernet #2------> WD MBLD 4TB AND NOW -------USB-----> 3TB Seagate external for Time Machine drive expansion. ALSO POSSIBLY -----ethernet #3------> Apple TV 2 for the same reasons I have the WD devices hooked up via ethernet. I don't trust the wifi to be fast enough for video streaming.
Now, despite having read wikis and other explanations for Bridge mode, DHCP and NAT settings for routers (in this case, the TM) I still can't figure exactly what mode the TM should get setup with.
Also all of these devices are set up in different pockets on the same shelf so I was worried that all the WIFI signals would interfere with each other (hence all the ethernet).
My plan was to turn of the wireless in the TM and have all of these devices branch off via ethernet. Which brings me back to my uncertainty regarding whether to set the TM to Off (Bridge Mode), DHCP, or DHCP and NAT.
From what I've read I would think it should be in Bridge mode but I also read some things about how bandwidth use in bridge mode can be very high and could cause problems using the internet possibly over my overall wifi network? Although I'm not sure I'm understanding that correctly.
I apologize for my lack of understanding in setting up a complicated network. I've just been wanting to get all of this working the way I've hoped (correctly) for a long time.
Thanks in advance for any more advice!

Time Machine Backup Failed - on three Macs. Used to work fine.

"*+Time Machine Error*+
+Unable to complete backup. An error occurred while copying files to the backup volume.+"
Last week all three machines were running fine. The Time Machine disk is hooked up to an Airport Extreme running 7.3.2 firmware. I updated it today to 7.4.1 in hopes of fixing the problem. All Macs are on 10.5.6 and have been for a month or more.
When "Backup now" is selected all machines stick on Preparing backup" for a few minutes and then fail.
I'm bummed that this is happening now. I used to use SilverKeeper (free from LaCie). It's faster and more comprehensive, but somehow I got sucked in by Apple's futuristic (historic?) interface. Now, in order to use SilverKeeper I need to erase the Time Machine drive - all 1.2TB.
I don't feel TM is ready for storage of important data. A commercial product would never make it to market if it continually had issues like this. Nearly 10,000 topics in this forum, and a good portion have just plain bad things to say.
I'm sure a lot of people have run into this on their own setups. Has anyone solved the issue? Please help.

Yes, perhaps we're missing something. But I'd rather stick with what works. Here's a software review that pretty much echo's my feelings:
*+I've tried to love Time Machine. I really have. It was one of the reasons I was in an all-fire hurry to upgrade to 10.5. I spent the cash, installed the OS, and immediately set up TM. Or at least I tried to. My new Airport Extreme wasn't allowed to access the USB disk for this purpose.+*
*+But I found a hack and things were good. For about a day. "To **** with it" I thought and went back to Carbon Copy Cloner. An excellent and free app that got me thru years of work with no loss of data. But wait! Now that I upgraded to 10.5 CCC no longer works.+*
*+So I played with it for a few weeks and eventually, I got it to work.... Until Apple released the official software upgrade that allowed Airport Extreme disks to work with TM and it broke again. Another 4 days of playing and reinstalling, and reformatting, and shuffling data. Still nothing.+*
*+****, you should have seen the look on their eyes when I showed up to the Apple store toting my G5 PowerMac Dual, AirPort Extreme, MacBook Pro, wife's MacBook, and two USB drives. AND my Apple ProCare card.+*
*+I took up half the Genius Bar for about 2 hours and still left with a backup scheme that would only partially work. Then, upon arriving home, the IP addresses had changed so I had to repeat half of the steps I barely remembered (and the Genius made up on the fly).+*
*+Finally all was good in the world. Until last week. My wife asked me to send her a picture I took of her with our new puppy at our new house about 6 months ago. I pulled up iPhoto and couldn't locate the picture. "No problem, I've got Time Machine" I thought.+*
*+The story is getting long and you can see where it's going. Not only was the picture missing, but 4 months of pictures were missing. 4 months starting when I stopped using CCC and, even though TM was running, it deleted the oldest files without any warning, any notification, or any reason. In fact the TM drive still had over 400GB free.+*
*+Yes, I had to replace a drive in that 4 month window and yes, I made sure I pulled the data off of Time Machine. HUGE pain in the @ss - it took nearly 4 days to copy the data from TM to the new drive, and apparently a big chunk was lost.+*
*+Finally, the end of my little story. I'm back using CCC. v3 is out and it works with 10.5 and reportedly, 10.6. Four years of using CCC and I've never lost so much as an email (much to the chagrin of my old landlord that emailed me that dogs were perfectly fine, only to try to sue me later).+*
*+For all of those who trust Time Machine, go ahead and try to find a file from a few months ago. It's not as easy as the interface makes it look, and it may not be there at all.+*
*+Time Machine - go sparse yourself. And thanks Bombich software for a superior product in Carbon Copy Cloner.+*

Time Machine backup disk - accidentally selected Do Not Use

I had an issue I was trying to correct- I selected the backup volume, to which I had previously backed up to, and choose "Do Not Use."
Now, when I choose the "browse other backups" option from the Time Machine menu, it does not show the original back up volume at all.
I deleted the Time Machine plist file - but, the volume is still not showing up. It is a TM volume - etc.
Does anyone know where that excluded volume information may be stored?

SOLVED:
I tried a number of things based on various posts. This is what worked for me:
On the iMac with the attached TM volume:
Added the Time Machine volume as a shared folder in System Preferences - Sharing
Changed permissions for Everyone to Read/Write - I think this would have worked by itself
On the Macbook Air (whose drive I back up):
Mounted the Time Machine via the Finder prior to attempting to select it (Note: I did not force mounting via “Connect to Server” - although I can)
Selected the Time Machine volume from the TM preferences pane
Backup is working very well - and very fast. What I don’t know how to determine - which protocol is being used between the Air and iMac. It may be the new SMB version - it is unusually fast.
Setup:
TM Volume is on a new iMac running Mavericks 10.9.1
On the iMac - File Sharing is turned on in System Prefs
The iMac Sharing Options only has AFP checked - SMB is not checked - however, it shows one user connected - and one is connected under AFP
The TM Volume is on on an attached Firewire Seagate 3 TB drive - connected via a Thunderbolt firewire adapter - and is daisy changed - it is the second drive - the first is a Seagate too
The iMac host is connected via Ethernet to a central router
The Mac Air is connected via Wifi to an Airport Extreme - which is connected to the central router
The Mac Air is running 10.9.1
Prior to the TM volume not showing up - this setup worked, at least once, after I updated both systems to 10.9.1
What had no impact on the solution:
Changing the iMac Computer Name to pure alphanumeric - no spaces - no special characters, etc.
Mounting the TM Volume via Connect to Server
The TM volume was already formatted per requirements - no changes made

Time machine backup says latest bacup already in use, cannot complete backup

I had to close off my Imac by switching it off, because it hung. Since then the hourly incremental backups fail. I get the message "The backup on the time machine is already in use". I can't erase my time machine, because it doesn't show up as an external drive in the disk utility.
Anyone who has a solution?

First, restart the Time Capsule by disconnecting the power adapter and reconnecting it. If other devices on the network can see it, you can skip this step.
From the menu bar, select
 ▹ System Preferences ▹ Network
Click the lock icon in the lower left corner of the window and authenticate to unlock the settings, if necessary. Click the Advanced button, then select the TCP/IP tab in the sheet that drops down. Click Renew DHCP lease.
Try again to back up.
If you still can't, open the Time Machine preference pane and delete the TC from the list of backup destinations. You may have to unlock the settings by clicking the lock icon in order to do this. Then add it back.

How do i increase capacity in my basic memory when i have unused memory in my time machine backup??

how do i increase capacity in my basic memory when i have unused memory in my time machine backup?

No. The Time Machine backup size will increase as you use the source machine. When it nears its volume's capacity limit Time Machine will automatically delete old backups according to its algorithm. Just let it work.

Time machine backup space after I open iPhoto

Hi, yesterday, after I had wrong delete some photo from my iphoto library, I have decided to restore entire iphoto library from Time machine backup.
I have select last backup and I select desktop destination folder for restored library. Then, i have delete original library and cut paste restore library from desktop.
I have backup all with time machine.
Now, when I open iphoto and close it without any changes, Time Machine backup always 450mb...
Is normal?? I have fixed permission and restore iphoto database.

Vailfox wrote:
Ok, I have tried TimeTracker with these results:
in iPhoto Library
-> Database folder = 171MB
If you're really making no changes at all, not even browsing, I wouldn't expect much to be backed-up.
I don't have a current version of iPhoto avaiable at the moment, so can't check. But with a fairly small iPhoto '09 library (just under 1 GB), it backs-up just under 1 MB after just opening and quitting. It's no doubt making some minor changes to lock and unlock things, perhaps keep track of when things were lasted opened, etc. A lot of it appears to be metadata.
That likely explains the database changing -- if anything changes in any kind of file, including a database file, the whole thing gets backed-up next time.
-> Thumbnails/Segments folder 181MB
The backup data regards only iPhoto.
Should I regenerate iPhoto Thumbnails?
Might be worth a try.
Stil, I wouldn't worry about this too much -- as Time Machine deletes all but the first backup of the day after 24 hours, the most space those backups will take is 400 MB/day. And, after a month, they're further "thinned" to one per week.
Not really a lot in relation to a 32 GB iPhoto library.

Can i restore from a time machine backup that is not the latest one?

I am trying to restore from a May 7th time machine backup. At that time my username was michaelhood. I had a system crash and when my computer was returned to me I inadvertently set it up under a different username, thinking I would do the restore later. Between May 13 and today, Time machine did backups under the name mhoo4494. Changing the name didn't let me access my May 7 backup, nor did creating a different user account. I have erased the hard drive and am reinstalling from the Install CD. I have set up a third user name. I now want to restore my data from the Time Machine May 7 backup. How do I do that? Migration assistant saw two users -- mhoo and mhoo4494 (michaelhood was not an option). I selected them both, but got no data for either -- no docs, no music, no pictures. This procedure should not be this hard~!!

Hi uclamikey90,
It is possible, using Migration Assistant, to restore the contents of your hard drive selectively. See this article -
Mac OS X v10.6: How to use Migration Assistant to transfer files from a Time Machine backup - Apple Support
In particular -
To migrate data from a Time Machine backup
In Finder, press Command-Shift-U.
Double-click Migration Assistant.
Click "Continue" and enter an administrator name and password when prompted.
Select the "From a Time Machine backup or other disk" option, then click "Continue".
Select your Time Machine backup disk or Time Capsule (enter the user name and or password if prompted), then click "Continue".
Select the Time Machine backup you would like to restore (such the most current one you just made), then click "Continue".
Select Items to Migrate, then click "Continue". Note: The "Continue" button will be dimmed until the "Calculating…" stage is complete.
A user account sheet may appear if you have a user name on your Mac that is the same user name in your Time Machine backup. You will have to give the username in your Time Machine backup a new username to avoid conflicts. Note: This will create a new user account on your Mac to hold the data from the Time Machine backup. After migration, you can use the /Users/Shared folder to transfer data files the accounts.
Migration Assistant will begin the process of transferring the items you selected to migrate. When it is finished, click "Quit" to exit.
When you reach step 7, deselect items that you do not wish to migrate. Videos, photos and music are likely candidates for this as they take up a lot of disk space. You can later put items on an external hard drive.
Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.
Best,
Brett L

Iphoto library and time machine backup on a same drive ?

Hi
I want to free up some space on my MBP so I am planning to move my iphoto library from MBP to an external hard drive. Can I also use the same external drive to keep Time Machine backups ? In short if I buy a large size external drive can I use it as a TM backup drive and also as iphoto library home location ? Or do I have to keep two separate external drives...one for TM and the other for iphoto library.
Thanks
Mandar

Yes, you can, but I wouldn't recommend it. Should your backup drive fail then you not only lose your Time Machine backups but you will also lose your iPhoto Library. But if you put each on two different drives then you lose none. If the iPhoto drive fails your library is still backed up on the Time Machine backup drive. If you lose the Time Machine drive then you lose a backup that can be easily recreated, but you still have the iPhoto drive. Two drives is a much better strategy. Always keep backups separate from all other external drive uses.

Time machine backups, always nearly 5GB when I use iPhoto

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