Time Machine BIG APPETITE

I have a 500 GB hard drive on my G5.
"Get Info" says there is: 285.64 GB Available
Used: 180 GB
My new 500 GB external hard drive will not accept the backup from Time Machine.
This screen pops up:
"Time Machine Error
This backup is too large for the backup volume. The backup requires 677.8 GB but only 465.GB are available.
"To select a larger volume, or make the backup smaller by excluding files, open System Preferences and choose Time Machine."
Why does Time Machine appear to want more than double the space on my 500 GB external than the 180 GB contents of my built in Hard Drive?

Daisy Chain? Nope. Firewire 800- cable is connected direct from my G5 into my external drive. It's a one-way connection.
I've done several screen grab pictures to illustrate what's happening:
http://homepage.mac.com/boot321/TimeMachProb/PhotoAlbum11.html
1. Time Machine Error -- message when I last attempted to backup.
2. Time Machine System Pref screen showing detail
3. Get Info grab of my 500 GB internal hard drive
4. Get Info grab of my 500 GB external LaCie drive (could sharing and permissions be any issue?)
5. View when "options" in Time Machine are selected. Strange that "FireWire Disk" at 154 MB shows up inside itself (?)
6. View of current contents of my FireWire drive.
End of my show & tell for now. Time Machine for me has been very time consuming.

Similar Messages

Not enough space on my new SSD drive to import my data from time machine backup, how can I import my latest backup minus some big files?

I just got a new 256GB SSD drive for my mac, I want to import my data from time machine backup, but its larger than 256GB since it used to be on my old optical drive. How can I import my latest backup keeping out some big files on the external drive?

Hello Salemr,
When you restore from a Time Machine back up, you can tell it to not transfer folders like Desktop, Documents. Downloads, Movies, Music, Pictures and Public. Take a look at the article below for the steps to restore from your back up.
Move your data to a new Mac
http://support.apple.com/en-us/ht5872
Regards,
-Norm G.

Time Machine, Migration Assistant, and a BIG headache

Set up my new rMBP from a time machine backup on external and worked great. I removed some applications from the dock that didn't transfer over successfully (i.e. Word 2004). I didn't include iTunes during the transfer. Once time machine restore was complete, everything on the rMBP worked great. I wanted to get my iTunes from the external and so I used the Migration Assistant to copy over JUST the music. I unchecked all the boxes except Music. Took over 1 hour just to copy over 30GB of music and so I was suspicious...
After completion, I see that it copied over my music, BUT
- all Documents gone
- applications previously deleted WERE BACK (i.e. Word 2004)
Went back to my old 2010 MBP to do another time machine backup, and signed into Mail....
Signed into Mail on the rMBP....
Got an email that my apple ID was used to sign into iCloud....
Then now rMBP Mail can't access ANY of my email accounts....
What in the world happened? I just wanted to copy over my Music and now it's a BIG headache.....
I knew I should have avoided Migration Assistant and should have transferred over Music upon initial setup of the rMBP....
Tried to restore the rMBP from time machine but cannot b/c the time machine backup was done under snow leopard....
So uninstalled Mavericks and reinstalling....1 hour wait to download...
Then (hopefully) will restore from time machine (make sure to include Music this time)....which takes about 2 hours....
So 3 hours just to get Music, when it should just be a simple copy/paste job....
On the bright side, I got a Samsung display and so I'm happy with that...the display is sharp, evenly bright, and no creaking case

Hey hp12c,
Thanks for the question. The following article may provide the information you are looking for:
Mac Basics: Time Machine
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1427
Restoring specific files or folders
Choose Enter Time Machine from the Time Machine menu and the restore interface appears. You can literally see your windows as they appeared "back in time."
You can use the timeline on the right side of the window to reach a certain point back in time (the timeline shows the times of all backups on your backup drive). If you don’t know exactly when you deleted or changed a file, you can use the back arrow to let Time Machine automatically travel through time to show you when that folder last changed.
Note: Dates in pink indicate the data resides on your Time Machine backup device. Dates in white indicate the data resides on your Mac. In OS X Mountain Lion and Lion, portable Macs have the feature of local snapshots. See this article for details.
You can also perform a Spotlight search in the Time Machine Finder Window search field to find a file. Simply type the Spotlight search field and use the back arrow to have Time Machine search through your backups to find what you are looking for.
Before you restore a file, you can also use Quick Look to preview a file to make sure its the one you want. Highlight the file and press the Space Bar to bring up a quick look.
To restore, select the file/folder and click the "Restore" button. The file will automatically be copied to the desktop or appropriate folder. If the file you are restoring has another file in the same location with the same name, you will be prompted to choose which file to keep or keep both.
Thanks,
Matt M.

How big a hard drive do I need for iMac and Time Machine?

Sorry if this has been answered elsewhere already. I am going to buy an iMac, probably the new 24" with a 320G internal HDD. I already have one Lacie external 320G HDD so I was wondering whether I can use this for Time Machine backups, or do I need to buy a bigger one? If so, how big? Is there a rule of thumb for working out how much hard drive space you need to have for Time Machine, for instance if I were to buy the 500G iMac what would I need?
thanks.

I agree with the "double the size" rule of thumb. You should also consider how much of the 320GB you are actually using and are likely to use in the next year or two. After all, it's the amount of storage you use that matters, not the size of the disk. Disks will very likely be cheaper soon. You should also keep in mind that TM deletes old archive data when it runs out of disk space. So as long as you have more disk space than you have data to back up, TM will work, though you will lose older versions of your data.
So if your 320GB drive only has 100GB used and you're not the kind of person who eats up disk like there's no tomorrow, the 320GB drive should be fine for now. If you expect that 320GB disk to be full soon then a 750GB TM disk is more like what you need.
The same logic applies to a 500GB iMac. If you only expect to use 250GB in the next year or two then a 500GB TM disk should be OK. A 1TB drive will be a lot cheaper next year or the year after.

How big should my external hard drive be for me to use Time Machine?

i am a student and dont have a significant amount of files and that on my computer so how big shuld my external hard drive be?
I will be using a normal external hard drive so will i be getting the full and the important features out of time machine if i do this?

There are two questions you should ask yourself:
1. How long will it take me to fill up my internal HDD?
2. How far back chronologically do I realistically expect to have go to retrieve data?
I submit that in the vast majority of cases, a HDD of the same size as you have in your MBP will be ample. If things change, adjustments can be made well in advance. Its the very rare user that will generate multi GBs of data and file changes every session.
As an example, I have a 750GB HDD in my MBP and a 750 HDD dedicated to Time Machine. The oldest backup goes back 7 months. At the rate that I update Time Machine, I expect the Disk to be filled and start deleting old data in about 3 months. For me, that is more than sufficient.
There is another aspect of backup strategy you should consider. I would highly reccomend that you have a second external drive to store your most important files that may be duplicates of those in Time Machine. All HDD will fail. You just never know when that will happen. If your Time machine disk expires, this way you are not left in a calamitious situation.
Though some of my views may be in the minority, the final decision is always yours.
Ciao.

Time machine too big : wants 1000 gb to back up my 500 gig drive

I have tried to find this on the forums. but I am SOL.
I use the internal 500 gig drive on my iMac, most current OS for all my work. We have two user accounts. I bought an external LaCie 500 gig drive to use as my time machine backup drive.
It wants 1,019 GB to make an initial backup, and only 465 is available. On my internal drive, I only have 191 gig used, with 273 available.
What is going on?
Also, does Time machine automatically back up both users or do I have to go to the other account and set it up as well?
We have a hurricane coming here in a few days and I would like to have this backup working....

HI!
Thank you for that thought. I have a second external HD which is not attached, it just contains my backups from OS 10.4 (I know I am a slow adopter, but I really hate fixing bugs like the one I am in now). So, that can not be the reason.
Still a mystery as to why it wants more than a TB of space. I do not think there is a drive that big on the market!

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.

Time Machine, backup is too big

Hi guys, I want to make a backup of all my data using time machine. But showed size by TM is too big. I've checked the size of my datas and it is 71.2GB (/Users) ,but time machine showed total size 176GB so how many GB has OSX? It can't be more than 100GB or yes? I want to make backup on 128GB USB key ,so I have to solve this problem out. Thanks

If you select your boot volume in the Finder and invoke File > Get Info, you'll be able to see the gross amount of data on that volume. Time Machine won't back up every bit of that, but with the padding it will add, the amount of space Time Machine will want will probably exceed the amount of data on the volume.
This Web page recommends that you have several times the amount of space on a Time Machine volume than what you're trying to back up. If you're stuck with using that 128GB flash drive, you may just want to to one single copy of your data to it, rather than trying to use Time Machine.

Mountain Lion: Time Machine Backups Get Very Big!

This weekend I upgraded from Lion to Mountain Lion, and most things work fine. I use an USB hardrive for backups, it's the same volume I used under Lion. Mountain Lion was able to continue using it, so I did not lose the history of my documents. So far, so good.
But: From time to time backups get really big. One example: This morning the backup that finished at 10:30 was about 50 MB at size, which is ok. The next backup started at 11:15 (and is still in progress), and while backing up, the estimated size grows and grows. Currently it's about 26,55 GB estimated, with 24 GB already backed up. But I did not produce more than 26GB of new or changed files, I just visited some websites, read news in Reeder and read some emails with Mail.app.
I saw this behaviour several times since monday, which lead time machine to clean old backups (previously I had backups from March, now the oldest backup is from May). What causes time machine to think that there is so much data not backed up, and why doesn't time machine know the size of the backup before copying the files, as it did in Lion?
Any suggestions?
Marcus

I have something similar. On three of the last 4 days, I have one TM backup which is about 56GB. And this is when I have not (knowingly) done anything to create 56GB data.
But, I have found something very odd. I have a large backup today. I then look at the previous hour's backup - it is missing /Applications, /System, /Library, etc. (it does have /Users and /opt). Given that, it is not surprising that the following backup is very big when it needs to redo /Applications, etc. (about 56GB).
So the strange behaviour is not the big backup, but the small one that preceded it!!
The .Backup.log and .exclusions.plist (in the TM backup location) look normal (or should I say no different to any others). In partciular the .exclusuions.plist doesn't have extras.
The entries in system.log look normal to me, as well.
And today, the small backup was at 4:22 am when I was fast asleep.
Is your behaviour like this Marcus?

What size Time Capsule - i.e. how big are Time Machine Backups

Hi all,
Just trying to decide which Time Capsule to get...my question is basically how big are Time Machine backups.
For example I have a MacBook with 100gb harddrive. At the moment about 80gb in use.
I assume the Time Capsule will immediately backup that 80gb but how big are the incremental backups. If I modify about a GB's worth of data each day, does this GB get moved to the capsule or is Time Machine cleverer than this and only backups the changes at byte level for example.
Any pointers, thoughts, etc. much appreciated.
Michael.

I have an iMac with a 500GB hard drive and a MacBook with an 80GB hard drive. The MacBook is nearing capacity but the iMac has around 90GB of data (the Time Machine backup is around 93GB). I will likely opt for the 1TB version as I am eligable for a Government discount bringing the cost down to £303 (£183 for the 500GB version). As it's unlikely that it will be easy to upgrade the Time Capsule HDD then I'm looking at future proofing as I do not want to have to repurchase in a few years. I'm also likely to buying a second MacBook or MacBook Pro in the coming months so it does make sense.
Secondly, you can use the Time Capsule as a shared storage area as well as for the Time Machine function.

I'd like Time Machine to backup my personal account's files separately from my guest account's files. Both have big files. What's the best way to do this? Should I connect 2 external HD to my new iMac, one for each account?

I'd like Time Machine to backup my personal account's files separately from my guest account's files. Both have big files. What's the best way to do this? Should I connect 2 external HD to my new iMac, one for each account?

NeuroBrain wrote:
Since my new external hard drive is have a lot of space, I'm thinking of splitting it for Time Machine and external storage.
This is a common mistake and I highly advise against it.
1: TimeMachine saves states of changes and thus requires more room on the TM drive than the boot drive it's backing up.
2: Something happens to the TM drive, loss, theft, dropped, power surge, etc., you lose both backups.
3: The storage drive might become a portable need, with it being on the TM drive, now your increasing the risk to the TM backup that something could happen to it along with the storage drive, due to increased movement.
Seriously, have a read,
Most commonly used backup methods
it's ASC User Tip that saves us regulars all the trouble of having to repeat ourselves over and over again in the posts, because we tend to forget things too, or not here sometimes etc.
"Plan for the worst and the good will take care of itself" - Donald Trump

Time Machine backup on new Mac - but too big?

Hi,
I am the current owner of a Macbook and i use 160GB of my harddrive. I am contemplating on buying a Macbook Air 11" with 128GB "HD", but I am hesitant, since I don't know how the computer would handle having to start up from a Time Machine-back up made from my Macbook, that would of course be larger than the Macbook Air has capacity for.
Is it even possible?

firemandan900 wrote:
I just had to replace my 13" Macbook Pro through warranty. When I first turned it on I selected to restore the computer from my time machine backup and after several hours it finished successfully with the exception of Ilife which on the restore had to be updated before it would open the restored databases. The other issue I am having is that timemachine is no longer working. I would prefer to have timemachine backup to the existing archive structure it created on the old machine but right now it just says it can not find the volume. Is there a way to keep using the existing backup
If there's room, TM can start a new set of backups for the new Mac on the same disk or Time Capsule. But it will make a new, full backup of the new Mac, so if your TM disk/partition isn't at well over twice the size of the data it's backing-up, your best bet will be to erase the drive with Disk Utility and let TM start over.
There's a downside to that, though. TM on the new Mac won't delete the oldest backups from the old Mac when it needs room for new backups.
Instead, it will delete the oldest backups from the new Mac, leaving the old backups "stranded." Without erasing the TM disk/partition, you'll have to delete the old backups one at a time, via the TM interface, which is quite tedious and time consuming. See the instructions in item #12 of the Frequently Asked Questions post at the top of this forum.
or do I need to delate the archives and start a new archive?
That's probably your best option.

How big of an external disk do I have to use to back up my mac mini using the time machine app?

I have a new Mac Mini, and I wanted to begin using time machine to back up my files. I tried to use an external hard drive that is used for our other machines (PCs) and it would not allow that hard drive to be used b/c it did not have a valid file structure. I did not know how to fix that, so I was going to buy another external hard drive to support backing up the Mac Mini with OSX10.8.1 and a 500GB hard drive. I saw somewhere that as lonmg as I had twice the RAM (4GB) it should be ok, but that seemed to be too small. I was considering buying a 500GB if necessary.
Does anyone know if I can use a small 8GB flash drive to support the backups or do I need a 500GB or similar external hard drive to backup the Mac Mini with time machine?
Thanks.

It is recommended that Time Machine has its Own Dedicated Hard Drive that is at least Twice the size of the Drive(s) you intend to Backup.
Time Machine > http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1427

Can Time Machine combine two HDs into one big one?

I know Mountain Lion added the ability to use multiple HDs simultaneously (I have done this). As it stands, it just rotates among the different HDs each time it does a backup. Is there a way to have OSX combine two HDs to make a 'virtual' bigger HD?
The reason I ask this is because my existing iMac has a 1TB internal hard drive. I have two external LaCie drives of 2 TB each that I use for Time Machine. I'm planning on getting one of the new iMacs and custom-ordering it with a 3TB internal drive. Obviously a 2TB drive won't fit, but if OSX can combine the two HDs virtually, it'll end up with a 4TB volume, right? Can it do that?

A hardware RAID is as reliable as the hardware. I believe the LaCie product you mention is a hardware RAID. I have no opinion of its reliability, and I don't know whether you can configure it as a mirrored RAID.
Maybe I should clarify. I see no reason to use a RAID for backup unless you need the space. If you need a 6 TB Time Machine volume, you have to use a RAID -- striped, not mirrored. For the safety of your data, regardless of the amount, you need redundant backups, not RAID. That is, you should have at least two independent backups, at least one of which is off site at all times.

Time Machine Error - Time Capsule not big enough?

I have a 500GB Time Capsule which I use solely to back up my Macbook. Time Machine is giving me an error message as below:
This backup is too large for the backup disk. The backup requires 176.38 GB but only 121.14 GB are available.
Looking on the Time Capsule, the current Sparsebundle is about 376GB - so I'm not sure why Time Machine is suddenly failing to just increment onto that?
Am I missing something?

pompeygreg wrote:
I have a 500GB Time Capsule which I use solely to back up my Macbook. Time Machine is giving me an error message as below:
This backup is too large for the backup disk. The backup requires 176.38 GB but only 121.14 GB are available.
Looking on the Time Capsule, the current Sparsebundle is about 376GB - so I'm not sure why Time Machine is suddenly failing to just increment onto that?
Do the math: 500 GB less 376 GB gives 124 GB, around the size that Time Machine says is available. It seems that Time Machine is trying to create an entirely new, complete backup of your computer. Did anything change with your computer recently, such as the disk drive or main logic board? Either of these can make Time Machine want to start over.

Time Machine BIG APPETITE

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for