Time Machine doing full backup of external drive again

I have a Time Capsule, as well as an external data drive connected to my Mac. The external drive (named Yoda) is NOT excluded from backups. Yoda has about 703 GB of data on it.
I recently replaced the hard drive inside my time capsule. Consequently, a full backup was made, which was to be expected.
When the new full first backup was done, I disconnected the Yoda drive. A day later, I reconnected it, and now Time Machine is saying it's doing a 703 GB backup. Since the size TM indicates its backing up is ever so slightly larger than the total amount of data on Yoda, I'm assuming it's doing a full backup of the Yoda drive for some reason (the only other drive, the system drive, only has about 200 GB on it).
The files on Yoda weren't changed, certainly not all 703 GB of them. No hardware changes were made, no updates, tinkering, modifications, or anything. The Mac itself has not even been shut down or logged out. The ONLY thing that's happened was the Yoda drive was unmounted and disconnected, then several hours later it was reconnected.
Why is Time Machine repeating a full backup of this external drive? Is this going to happen every time I disconnect and reconnect the drive? Is there any way to make this not happen, short of excluding the drive (which I don't want to do)?

After posting this thread, I did find a similar thread (in the "More Like This" section) and saw your responses in it. You had suggested the same thing, as well as doing #A5 if that didn't work.
I tried #A4 and although that seemed to work in the other thread, unfortunately it didn't work for me. So I moved on to #A5, but I could not get my Time Capsule drive to show up in the Disk Utility. I didn't see a "data folder", but I did try directly dragging the sparsebundle to the left pane of the Disk Utility, but that seemed to hang Disk Utility.
At this point I'm probably going to try deleting the plist file as per #A4, erasing (reformatting) the drive, rebooting, and starting a whole new backup from scratch. It's not going to take much longer than backing up the entire external drive by itself would have, and I still have older backups (up to a few days ago) on the original Time Capsule drive in case of massive disaster.
So we'll see how that goes...

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HT201250 Time machine does not recognize WD external drive

Time machine and back-ups worked fine on my MacBookPro. It stopped working, no I believe it is still working but the MackBookPro does not recognize it and when clicking "Back up" I receive the message that the external drive is not available. Thanks to Bootcamp the computer also has a Windows side which I use mainly to run a soaring flight simulator called Condor. When I turn on the MacBookPro and click on "Choice" the window I receive shows the Mac and Windows operating systems, the Back-up and "My Passport." When I click on "My passport" it actually opens...When I turn the computer off and reboot it again there is no sign of "My Passport."
Now, I have a second WD My Passport which I bought for the Windows side of the computer. When I attach it before turning on the computer, I shows up on Finder, however, when I click "Back up" here it seems like it is starting back-up but only for a few seconds and then I get the message that the drive is a Windows formatted drive and that a back-up cannot be completed.
Why does the Windows formatted drive show up in Finder and also when I run the Windows side, however, the driver for the Mac does not show up on Finder?
I now have only the Mac formatted external drive attached and I just received the following messages: Can't back up. Reformat the disk. Files can still be read but the drive can no longer be used for back-ups. Get a new external drive. Run back-ups as soon as possible.
Can anyone help?
Thank you.

OK, so it sounds like you have a Mac formatted drive that you have used previously for Time Machine, and disconnected it for a few weeks, and you can now see files on it OK from your Mac. However, when the system tries to run a Time Machine backup, you get an error message "Can't backup. Reformat the disk. Files can still be read but the drive can no longer be used for back-ups. Get a new external drive. Run back-ups as soon as possible."
I have not seen this problem before, and would recommend that you look through the Time Machine troubleshooting information at http://pondini.org/TM/Home.html
For instance, http://pondini.org/TM/B1.html or http://pondini.org/TM/B6.html could help in your situation. I'm assuming (but probably shouldn't) that you've verified that your hard drive doesn't need repair (another Disk Utility function) and that there is still a Time Machine backup on that drive - look for the directory Backups.backupdb.
I hope that helps. If not, perhaps someone with more Time Machine knowledge will pop along soon to help you further.

Reset Time Machine Password to Backup Using External Drive

I have been using Time Machine to backup my files regularly on an External drive. I usually backup my files (using Backup Now option) and then turn off Time Machine. I have been doing this successfully for a month on my new MacBookPro (late 2013 version, purchased 5 March 2014). I used this same procedure successfully since 2010 on a previous Macbook Pro I owned.
I just tried to backup my files, all of a sudden Time Machine now asks me for a password which I don't remember setting. Time Machine Preferences looks like this.
When I try to set Time Machine On I cannot do it (I used to be able to do it). When I click unlock and try to input my MacbookPro login username and password, but this login/password is not accepted.
Frankly, I have no idea what happened. I must have pushed the wrong button at some point. I don't mind losing my old backus and resetting the password on Time Machine software, provided I can and backup my files right away.
How can I reset the Time Machine password? Any help will be much appreciated.
Francisco

Dear Eric,
I am using a Western Digital Ultra external drive that I myself formatted Journaled. It is not encrypted.
I went to the keychain and I could not find the password for Time Machine. (Frankly, I am not sure where to look).
I also ran Keychain first aid and no problem was found. I also ran Keychain first aid repair and everything seems fine.
Tomorrow Monday I will call the repair shop, as I suspect they introduced a different password.
Many thanks for now. I will keep you posted.
Francisco

Time Machine won't backup my external drive

I have my iTunes library stored on an external drive and I want Time Machine to back it up.
I have a brand new TM drive. I've been using it without problems to backup my 250Gb iMac. As soon as I add the external drive to the TM backup, it fails. I have other data on this drive that I don't need backed up, so I've only included the sub directory iTunes (by excluding all the others).
I followed a couple of similar threads, but the situations don't seem to apply. I did install Time Machine buddy so I could see the error messages.
Starting standard backup
Backing up to: /Volumes/Time Machine/Backups.backupdb
Node requires deep traversal:/Volumes/Music:DVDs reason:must scan subdirs|
No pre-backup thinning needed: 151.31 GB requested (including padding), 1.56 TB available
Error: (2) setxattr for key:com.apple.backupd.SnapshotVolumeUUID path:/Volumes/Time Machine/Backups.backupdb/Tori's iMac/2009-11-25-182722.inProgress/3B5DD274-5AB6-44D1-9F1B-561934FB44AD/Music/DV Ds size:37
Stopping backup.
Copied 0 files (0 bytes) from volume Music/DVDs.
Copy stage failed with error:11
Backup failed with error: 11
Drives are all formatted OS Extended Journaled
I've run Disk Util on all the drives - no errors.
Any ideas or other things I should try?
If I remove the external drive from the backup, it starts to work again.

The mystery deepens . . .
I tried to replicate the problem. Renamed an empty partition from Misc2 to Misc2/test and copied some docs into it and ran a backup.
Sure enough, the message refers to it as Misc2:test and the deep traversal took almost a minute and a half (one folder, 3 sub-folders, total of about 30 items!), but it ran successfully.
So renamed it again, to Music/DVDs exactly like yours. No deep traversal, and it does call it Music:DVDs in the messages, but it backed-up properly.
Perhaps it was fixed in Snow Leopard? Or just another of TM's many little quirks? Perhaps the phase of the moon?
Edit: Some of your posts say you're on 10.5.3, others 10.6.2. Which is correct?
Message was edited by: Pondini

New Macbook hard drive can't locate Time Machine files of backup on external drive

I just got my hard drive replaced as it was failing. Just before I took it to the apple store I backed up my hard drive using time machine, on a separate hard drive: phew! I checked that time machine was operating fine before I took it in to get the new hard drive - it was fine, I was able to "go back in time" and access my files.
I tried to reload from time machine as soon as it started up, but it wasn't working, so I figured I'd just work on transferring the files after I booted up. Now I have a new hard drive and then plugged my external hard drive with the back up stored on it into my computer, but it cannot get the backup on my fixed macbook! It says it can't find it, and when I've looked at the disk in Finder (in backups.backupdb) it shows as a folder of my computer's name, and the only file inside is It is called: 2013-11-22-133614.inProgress (not even the correct date of the back up!).
Now time machine won't go back in time any further than the age of the new hard drive.
I can't understand that it seemed to be there, but now it is incomplete - this is ridiculous!
What has happened?
Has Time Machine failed me?
Are the files there somewhere hidden away?

Check here, Pondini has extensive info on TM:
http://pondini.org/OSX/Home.html

Time machine does not recognize my external drive

I have a perfectly good IOgear externaldrive with four partitions which I have used for years to backup files from variuos macs.
Upon connecting the drive to backup my current imac (os 10.6.8), it informed me that time machine would erase one of the 4 partitions in order to do the backup. Fine .After this happened, the partition simply disappeared from the Time machine menu, so I attempted to re-mount the external drive. The computer then gave me a message- 'the diskyou have mounted is not recognized by this computer.' Not very informative.
I attempted to use disk utility to repair the disk, no luck. Although botht the System disk and my external drive are recognized as in the same format, the external drive is 'not mounted' Tried disk repair, but says it cannot repair the disk.
Very disheartening, since I have used this external drive for years and have collected a massive number of files on it. Moreso since the system one depends upn for security ends up destroying your files My fear is that the information is not retrievable, that the drive will have to be reformatted, if that's possible. Any suggestions would be appreciated..>????

Yep, certainly looks that way. For 5 or 6 years I've been happily culling, backing up, and restoring files from/to my external drive, neatly arranged in 4 partitions.Ten minutes with Time Machine, and all that seems to be lost. I'm sorry I ever set eyes on that ugly little icon on my desktop.I can certainly understand an error occuring while erasing a partition, but rendering the entire drive useless and unretrievable? This should never happen, not in this day and age.
Sorry for the rant, but I'll never use Time Machine again...

Time Machine: Multiple volumes backup to external drive

It is slightly more complicated:
I have a Mac Pro with two internal hard drives. Drive A has 5 partitions and Drive B has a single large partition.
I have one external drive that I divided into two partitions, with the plan of backing up Drive A to one and Drive B to the other.
The backup of Drive A to the first partition went well. The problem is that I cannot figure out how to get Drive B to the 2nd partition on external drive.
Suggestions?

By default, Time Machine backs up everything on all attached drives.
You can reduce the size of the backup set (by about 10 to 20GB depending on Applications installed) by choosing to exclude System files and Applications. Then you can back those up separately if you prefer.
Time Machine's claim to fame is that it is the backup that actually happens, as opposed to the more specific hand crafted backup that, oops, did not get done since last month.

Time Machine does not start after external hard drive is connected

Time Machine does not start after external hard drive is connected

These are the iCloud storage options: http://www.apple.com/icloud/includes/lightbox-storage.html
Also bear in mind that:
1. restoring data over icloud takes time
2. iCloud is not designed as a replacement to Time Machine.

When using Time Machine to back up to external drive, does Time Machine back up content in your Trash folder?

When using Time Machine to back up to external drive, does Time Machine back up content in your Trash folder?

Go to System Preferences (under the Apple menu) > Time Machine and click the Options button. Click the "+" button in the lower left. In the resulting dialog, check the Show invisible items checkbox. Go to your home folder and look for Trash. Click the Exclude button in the lower right.

I am trying to move previous Time Machine back ups off an external drive to my new Time Capsule. How do I do that?

I have my previous time machine back ups on an external drive and I want to move those to my new 2tb Time Capsule. How can I make this happen?

You probably cannot do it..
The backup is very different from a local drive to a network drive.
Look through the Pondini KB.
http://pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html
You can move the backup from a local to another local disk or network to another network.. but there are issues even doing that.
IMHO.. don't... just start a new backup and keep what you already have saved up.. if you don't need it in 6months time.. or a year.. then you can wipe it.

When time machine does a backup I get an error message

Added a new Seagate 3T external as a backup drive Every time Time Machine does a backup I get an error message that the disk was not ejected properly, no bid deal just a pain. System 3.5GHz Intel Core i7... 16GB DDR# memory ... OSX 10.8.4. How do I get rid of this error??

Notes/Tips on OS X 10.8.5 External Drive Eject During Sleep:
Updated the previous page on OS X 10.8.5 Problems/Notes and Tips with more info regarding external drive 'eject' in sleep and on drives going to sleep/spinning down despite ES settings. I ran some tests with drives I had but so far have not seen those problems with my setup/drives at least. Apparently many have based on the still growing number of threads on the subject in Apple's Mountain Lion forum.
... you posted inaccurate information about a Mac that I pointed out.
Posts from and about Hackintosh do get removed.

Time machine does not backup anymore

Hello all,
I've been using my time machine for a month now, I kept it turned off and only connected the disk when I wanted to make a backup. Then I just hit Back Up Now from the menu and it always backed up everything (I used to check it afterwards). FYI, I've got a 500GB drive and for backups I use a 500GB partition on an external disk, where about 100GB is still free. All of a sudden, my time machine does not backup anymore. It does its run, whether a scheduled hourly one when turned on, or an on-demand one, but it only lasts a split second as though there is nothing to backup and when I enter the time machine, the files are really missing. I can't make it backup anything anymore. What is going on?
thanks everyone

cukerko wrote:
Hello all,
I've been using my time machine for a month now, I kept it turned off and only connected the disk when I wanted to make a backup. Then I just hit Back Up Now from the menu and it always backed up everything (I used to check it afterwards). FYI, I've got a 500GB drive and for backups I use a 500GB partition on an external disk, where about 100GB is still free.
It's not related to this problem, but that may not be large enough. What's important is not the size of your internal HD, but how much is on it (or is expected to be on it in the next year or so). It varies widely, of course, depending on how you use your Mac, but Time Machine usually needs 2-3 times the space of the data it's backing-up.
. . . it only lasts a split second as though there is nothing to backup and when I enter the time machine, the files are really missing.
That sounds like the year-old unfixed bug detailed in red in #D5 of [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).

Can I use Time Machine to archive like an external drive?

I've backed up my computer to Time Machine and everything from my computer is there, but I have a new project which needs me to archive 21 pieces of artowrk that have multiple photo images for aech, and they are large size originals. Can I upload these files to a folder in Time Machine or directly on my external drive, so I don't have to have all of these files taking up space on my main computer?

You can, but it is not recommended.
Apparently you cannot partition an existing Time Capsule volume if that is what you are using.
Excerpt from ASC contributor Pondini's Time Machine FAQ:
3. Can I use my TM disk for other stuff?
Yes. Time Machine will not delete anything you put there.
But it's much, much better to partition an external drive into 2 (or more) parts, also called volumes. Assign one to Time Machine, for its exclusive use for backups; use the other partition(s) however you want.
(Unfortunately, though, you can't partition a Time Capsule's internal disk. See #Q3 in Using Time Machine with a Time Capsule for some alternatives)

How do I tell Time Machine to add a new external drive to be backed up?

How do I tell Time Machine to add a new external drive to be backed up? I have an external drive with data I need to add to my overall back up with what's on my mac. I have a separate drive already active as the Time Machine backup disk. I can see how to EXCLUDE disks, but how do I ADD that new external drive to regular backups?
I have 10.8.5 system on my Mac laptop.

Remove the drive from the list of items set to be excluded. It needs to be formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) for this to be possible.
(110504)

HT201250 Time Machine cannot find my external back-up drive when I click on the "select disk" button. No drive is found. I have run a Time Machine back-up to this external drive in the past. I'm on the latest version of Snow Leopard. Thank you!

Time Machine cannot find my external back-up drive when I click on the "select disk" button. No drive is listed. I have run a Time Machine back-up to this external drive in the past. Any suggestions

Does the disk appear in Disk Utility?

Time Machine doing full backup of external drive again

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