Time Machine Error - this backup is too large....;

My time capsule no longer backs-up. I get an error Time Machine Error....This back up is too large for the back up disk. I havent much to the HD to have it all of a sudden do this. I did install a new HD about a year ago and some posts seem to indicate that perhaps it keeps backup all files and therefore duplicating. Not sure.

See Pondini's TM FAQs, for starters.

Similar Messages

  • Time Machine Error This backup is too large for the backup disk

    Hi, I have a 1TB Time Capsule which backs up my Mac. I was having some issues with my mac so I decided to perform an erase and install and then use Migration Assistant to transfer everything back to my Mac.
    After I reinstalled Snow Leopard and restored my Mac using Migration Assistant, Time Machine says that the backup has failed. It says " Time Machine Error This backup is too large for the backup disk. The Backup requires 663 GB but only 255 GB are available.
    What do I do? Is my only option to erase my Time Capsule and have it back everything up from scratch?

    Hi, thanks for the help. I erased everything off of the Time Capsule and it's backing up my Mac from scratch. It's almost finished backing up my whole mac. It's now at 641.86gb of 646.54gb but it's now backing up very slowly. It's backing up .1 every few minutes. Is this normal?
    Here's the log from Time Machine Buddy:
    Starting standard backup
    Attempting to mount network destination using URL: afp://Stuart%[email protected]/Time%20Capsule
    Mounted network destination using URL: afp://Stuart%[email protected]/Time%20Capsule
    Creating disk image /Volumes/Time Capsule/StuartsMacPro.sparsebundle
    QUICKCHECK ONLY; FILESYSTEM CLEAN
    Disk image /Volumes/Time Capsule/StuartsMacPro.sparsebundle mounted at: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups
    Backing up to: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb
    Ownership is disabled on the backup destination volume. Enabling.
    Detected system migration from: /Volumes/My Book
    Backup content size: 850.0 GB excluded items size: 606.5 GB for volume Stuart's Drive
    Backup content size: 425.9 GB excluded items size: 67.3 GB for volume Macintosh HD
    No pre-backup thinning needed: 722.56 GB requested (including padding), 928.68 GB available
    Waiting for index to be ready (101)
    Copied 28.3 GB of 602.1 GB, 29340 of 1478089 items
    Copied 55.0 GB of 602.1 GB, 41596 of 1478089 items
    Copied 82.9 GB of 602.1 GB, 55899 of 1478089 items
    Copied 110.7 GB of 602.1 GB, 63347 of 1478089 items
    Copied 138.8 GB of 602.1 GB, 83831 of 1478089 items
    Copied 166.8 GB of 602.1 GB, 94574 of 1478089 items
    Copied 194.7 GB of 602.1 GB, 102854 of 1478089 items
    Copied 222.8 GB of 602.1 GB, 114388 of 1478089 items
    Copied 129159 files (242.5 GB) from volume Stuart's Drive.
    Copied 248.4 GB of 602.1 GB, 130414 of 1478089 items
    Copied 265.5 GB of 602.1 GB, 355699 of 1478089 items
    Copied 293.6 GB of 602.1 GB, 382912 of 1478089 items
    Copied 322.1 GB of 602.1 GB, 387974 of 1478089 items
    Copied 349.8 GB of 602.1 GB, 399204 of 1478089 items
    Copied 378.3 GB of 602.1 GB, 399358 of 1478089 items
    Copied 406.9 GB of 602.1 GB, 399441 of 1478089 items
    Copied 434.5 GB of 602.1 GB, 415817 of 1478089 items
    Copied 461.5 GB of 602.1 GB, 471528 of 1478089 items
    Copied 488.2 GB of 602.1 GB, 537277 of 1478089 items
    Copied 515.1 GB of 602.1 GB, 580446 of 1478089 items
    Copied 541.3 GB of 602.1 GB, 590386 of 1478089 items
    Copied 566.8 GB of 602.1 GB, 602496 of 1478089 items
    Copied 593.3 GB of 602.1 GB, 649575 of 1
    Message was edited by: Stuart Lawrence
    Message was edited by: Stuart Lawrence

  • Time Machine Error.  Backup is too large for the backup disk.  Backup requires 289.28 GB but only 177.01 GB are available.

    My Mac has not been backing up for some time.  Tried Apple Support, but couldn't figure out problem.
    Receive the following error...
    Time Machine Error
    This backup is too large for the backup disk. The backup requires 289.28 GB but only 177.03 GB are available.

    See #C4 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting.
    If that doesn't clarify the situation, post back with:
    How much data is on your internal HD (and any others being backed-up)?
    How large is your Time Capsule?
    Is there anything else on the TC besides these backups?  If so, what and how large?

  • Time Machine Error - The backup is too large for the backup disk

    I have been using Lion (currently 10.7.1) on my MacBook Pro (13" - early 2011) since it was released.  I haven't had any serious problems with it.
    All of a sudden, I am getting an error in Time Machine.  When it tries to run a backup, the error "This backup is too large for the backup disk.  The backup requires 7.51 GB but only 630.1 GB are available."  What gives?  That's plenty of room.  I have installed Logic Studio and a few plug-ins, so the 7.51 GB is probably right.  The free space is correct as well.  I can't understand what the problem is.
    The backup disk is an external USB 2.0 drive with no other Time Machine backups on it or any other files.  The folder "Backups.backupdb" is the only thing on the root of the disk.
    I am reluctant to reset the Time Machine and lose all of the backups, but I will if anyone recommends it.

    Hi Linc,
    It is not working at the moment, as I have restored the original Lion image again; it has all my work and apps on it.
    Many thanks for the info on the log, though.  It tells a strange story.  Here's the log from the last backup that worked to the first one that failed: --
    Sep 12 17:15:55 Johns-MacBook-Pro com.apple.backupd[674]: Starting standard backup
    Sep 12 17:15:55 Johns-MacBook-Pro com.apple.backupd[674]: Backing up to: /Volumes/Backup/Backups.backupdb
    Sep 12 17:15:55 Johns-MacBook-Pro com.apple.backupd[674]: 100.0 MB required (including padding), 633.72 GB available
    Sep 12 17:15:55 Johns-MacBook-Pro com.apple.backupd[674]: Waiting for index to be ready (100)
    Sep 12 17:16:00 Johns-MacBook-Pro com.apple.backupd[674]: Copied 793 files (601 KB) from volume System.
    Sep 12 17:16:00 Johns-MacBook-Pro com.apple.backupd[674]: 100.0 MB required (including padding), 633.72 GB available
    Sep 12 17:16:01 Johns-MacBook-Pro com.apple.backupd[674]: Copied 89 files (93 bytes) from volume System.
    Sep 12 17:16:01 Johns-MacBook-Pro mds[34]: (Error) Volume: Could not find requested backup type:2 for volume
    Sep 12 17:16:01 Johns-MacBook-Pro com.apple.backupd[674]: Starting post-backup thinning
    Sep 12 17:16:01 Johns-MacBook-Pro com.apple.backupd[674]: Deleted /Volumes/Backup/Backups.backupdb/John’s MacBook Pro/2011-09-11-154229 (1.1 MB)
    Sep 12 17:16:01 Johns-MacBook-Pro com.apple.backupd[674]: Post-back up thinning complete: 1 expired backups removed
    Sep 12 17:16:01 Johns-MacBook-Pro com.apple.backupd[674]: Backup completed successfully.
    Sep 13 10:34:12 Johns-MacBook-Pro com.apple.backupd[287]: Starting standard backup
    Sep 13 10:34:12 Johns-MacBook-Pro com.apple.backupd[287]: Backing up to: /Volumes/Backup/Backups.backupdb
    Sep 13 10:34:52 Johns-MacBook-Pro com.apple.backupd[287]: 7.51 GB required (including padding), 630.11 GB available
    Sep 13 10:34:52 Johns-MacBook-Pro com.apple.backupd[287]: No expired backups exist - deleting oldest backups to make room
    Sep 13 10:34:52 Johns-MacBook-Pro mds[32]: (Error) Volume: Could not find requested backup type:2 for volume
    Sep 13 10:35:03 Johns-MacBook-Pro com.apple.backupd[287]: Backup failed with error: Not enough available disk space on the target volume.
    I don't understand.  For starters, I think it's a little wasteful that 3.5 GB has been used to back up 601 KB.  That's the difference in free space on the backup volume between the two backups.  That can't be normal, surely.
    The only error is that mds[32] error, and from what I've read on forums, that seems to appear on backups that work perfectly.
    Too weird.  It looks like I'll have to reinstall Lion and all my applications again to get Time Machine working, or find another backup solution.

  • 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?

  • HT3275 my time machine says the backup is too large but it should only be incremental

    I have time machine trying to back up my mac (OSX10.6) to a time capsule but it gives the error:
    "This backup is too large for the backup disk. The backup requires 240.66 GB but only 8.25 GB are available."
    This time capsule is used for backups on multiple macs in our house and has previously performed a successful full backup for this mac. I thought it would just delete old backups to create space for new ones, but it doesn't seem to want to do this.
    How can I fix this?

    TM often seems unable to fix the old backups if the disk is used by several computers.. so this is not unusual.
    You either need to delete the sparsebundle for your computer and start a fresh backup.. 240GB is a lot of stuff btw.. is it restarting or corrupted an old backup and needs to restart.
    The alternative is to use a USB drive connected to the TC and use that as the TM target. A local external disk would do the same thing of course.

  • Time Machine says the backup is too large but it is not

    Time Machine says the backup is too large but it is not.
    While it is true my hard drive is very full (150 Gb used of the available 160Gb), this is way less than 42 Pb!!!!
    I have tried numerous time to reset it and still the same issue.
    Here is the reoccurring message:
    Advice?

    PB.. what the heck is a PB.. I kind of thought TB are still in fairly low digits.
    Do a disk verify.. something is seriously stupidly wrong.. Otherwise ring Apple support and give them an earful about nonsense popups.
    http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html  A5

  • Error: "This backup is too large for the backup volume."

    Well TM is acting up. I get an error that reads:
    "This backup is too large for the backup volume."
    Both the internal boot disk and the external baclup drive are 1TB. The internal one has a two partitions, the OSX one that is 900GBs and a 32GB NTFS one for Boot Camp.
    The external drive is a single OSX Extended part. that is 932GBs.
    Both the Time Machine disk, and the Boot Camp disk are excluded from the backup along with a "Crap" folder for temporary large files as well as the EyeTV temp folder.
    Time Machine says it needs 938GBs to backup only the OSX disk, which has 806GBs in use with the rest free. WTFFF? The TM pane says that "only" 782GBs are going to be backed up. Where did the 938GBs figure come from?
    This happened after moving a large folder (128GB in total) from the root of the OSX disk over to my Home Folder.
    I have reformated the Time Machine drive and have no backups at all of my data and it refuses to backup!!
    Why would it need 938GBs of space to backup if the disk has "only" 806 GBs in use??? Is there anyway to reset Time Machine completely???
    Some screenshots:
    http://www.xcapepr.com/images/tm2.png
    http://www.xcapepr.com/images/tm1.png
    http://www.xcapepr.com/images/tm4.png

    xcapepr wrote:
    Time Machine says it needs 938GBs to backup only the OSX disk, which has 806GBs in use with the rest free. WTFFF? The TM pane says that "only" 782GBs are going to be backed up. Where did the 938GBs figure come from?
    Why would it need 938GBs of space to backup if the disk has "only" 806 GBs in use??? Is there anyway to reset Time Machine completely???
    TM makes an initial "estimate" of how much space it needs, "including padding", that is often quite high. Why that is, and Just exactly what it means by "padding" are rather mysterious. But it does also need work space on any drive, including your TM drive.
    But beyond that, your TM disk really is too small for what you're backing-up. The general "rule of thumb" is it should be 2-3 times the size of what it's backing-up, but it really depends on how you use your Mac. If you frequently update lots of large files, even 3 times may not be enough. If you're a light user, you might get by with 1.5 times. But that's about the lower limit.
    Note that although it does skip a few system caches, work files, etc., by default it backs up everything else, and does not do any compression.
    All this is because TM is designed to manage it's backups and space for you. Once it's initial, full backup is done, it will by default then back-up any changes hourly. It only keeps those hourly backups for 24 hours, but converts the first of the day to a "daily" backup, which it keeps for a month. After a month, it converts one per week into a "weekly" backup that it will keep for as long as it has room
    What you're up against is, room for those 30 dailies and up to 24 hourlies.
    You might be able to get it to work, sort of, temporarily, by excluding something large, like your home folder, until that first full backup completes, then remove the exclusion for the next run. But pretty soon, it will begin to fail again, and you'll have to delete backups manually (from the TM interface, not via the Finder).
    Longer term, you need a bigger disk; or exclude some large items (back-them up to a portable external or even DVD/RWs first); or a different strategy.
    You might want to investigate CarbonCopyCloner, SuperDuper!, and other apps that can be used to make bootable "clones". Their advantage, beyond needing less room, is when your HD fails, you can immediately boot and run from the clone, rather than waiting to restore from TM to your repaired or replaced HD.
    Their disadvantages are, you don't have the previous versions of changed or deleted files, and because of the way they work, their "incremental" backups of changed items take much longer and far more CPU.
    Many of us use both a "clone" (I use CCC) and TM. On my small (roughly 30 gb) system, the difference is dramatic: I rarely notice TM's hourly backups -- they usually run under 30 seconds; CCC takes at least 15 minutes and most of my CPU.

  • HT3275 time machine states: the backup is too large for the backup disk?? not sure what to do here,

    does anyone know what to do here?? time machine will not complete any backups- every time it attempts it states the backup disk is not large enough

    If you decide to erase the Time Capsule and start over with a new set of Time Machine backups.....
    Open Macintosh HD > Applications > Utilities > AirPort Utility
    Click on the Time Capsule icon, then click Edit
    Click the Disks tab at the top of the window
    Click Erase Disk
    The Quick Erase option will only take a few minutes
    Once the procedure is complete, close AirPort Utility
    To start over with a new set of Time Machine backups.....
    Click the Time Machine clock icon at the top of the Macs screen
    Click Open Time Machine Preferences
    Make sure Time Machine is On
    Click Add or Remove Disks
    Click your Time Capsule
    Click Use Disk
    A new backup should start in a few moments. Allow plenty of time for the first backup because the entire contents of your Mac will be copied over on this backup.
    If you want to keep your current backup history and add a new Time Capsule, we'll need to understand how you have your Time Capsule set up in your network at the present time.
    Is the Time Capsule now connected to a modem with a wired Ethernet cable?
    What is the make and model number of the modem?
    Does the Time Capsule provide your wireless network signal, or does another modem/router perform this service?

  • Time capsule says: This backup is too large for the backup volume.

    What should I do. Has been working quite happily for a year or so. Now every time it tries to back up i get the error message "backup requires 66.4 gb but only 45.3 available."

    Welcome to the discussions!
    Your Time Capsule is almost full. You have a few options:
    1) Add another Time Capsule to keep your current backups and continue future backups. This is a good solution, but it requires an additional purchase.
    2) Erase the Time Capsule disk that you have now and start over with the backup process. If you don't really need all the backups to indicate how your computer looked months ago, this is an economical option.
    The downside to this option is that you will be without backups at all during the period between the time you erase the disk and make master backups for each computer. In the unlikely event that one of your computers might fail at the wrong time, you would lose the data on that computer.

  • Time machine error: doesnt backup  due a wrong calculation of space availab

    296.4 GB are bigger than 6.8 GB, isnt it?
    well, time machine is not doing the backup because detects that 296.4GB are lower than 6.8GB !!!
    Time machine error:
    This backup is too large for the backup volume. The backup requires 6.8 GB but onlye 296.4 GB are available.
    To select a lrger volume, or to make the backup smaller by excluding files, open sustem preferences and chose Time Machine
    any idea how to correct this error?
    thanks a lot

    296.4 GB are bigger than 6.8 GB, isnt it?
    well, time machine is not doing the backup because detects that 296.4GB are lower than 6.8GB !!!
    Time machine error:
    This backup is too large for the backup volume. The backup requires 6.8 GB but onlye 296.4 GB are available.
    To select a lrger volume, or to make the backup smaller by excluding files, open sustem preferences and chose Time Machine
    any idea how to correct this error?
    thanks a lot

  • This backup is too large for the backup volume - ridiculous backup size

    I have had big problems with Time Machine today. I have been successfully using it for 2 months now. I have about 30Gb spare on my iMac hard drive (out of 233Gb) and my Time Machine uses 195Gb out of 466Gb available.
    However, today I have lost all my Time Machine history except for one backup made this morning, and I am now getting an error message saying:
    "Time Machine Error
    This backup is too large for the backup volume. The backup requires 161061280.0 GB but only 270.4 GB are available.
    To select a larger volume, or make backup smaller by excluding files, open System Preferences and choose Time Machine"
    Clearly the required backup volume is wrong - that's 161,000.0TB!!!
    The same message has come up 3 times now.
    Can anyone help/advise on what to do next?

    Thanks Peggy,
    I re-indexed Spotlight and ran Time Machine again, but got exactly the same error message and the same massive storage required.
    I've opened Console as you suggested and these are a set of the messages from one back-up attempt yesterday (Console doesn' show anything earlier than 17.32 yesterday - but the problem started earlier than that I believe):
    "16/01/2008 17:32:52 /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[326] Backup requested by automatic scheduler
    16/01/2008 17:32:52 /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[326] Starting standard backup
    16/01/2008 17:32:52 /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[326] Backing up to: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb
    16/01/2008 17:32:53 /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[326] Event store UUIDs don't match for volume iMac Hard Drive
    16/01/2008 17:32:53 /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[326] Node requires deep traversal:/ reason:kFSEDBEventFlagMustScanSubDirs|kFSEDBEventFlagReasonEventDBUntrustable|
    16/01/2008 17:44:48 /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[326] Starting pre-backup thinning: 157286.40 TB requested (including padding), 270.35 GB available
    16/01/2008 17:44:48 /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[326] No expired backups exist - deleting oldest backups to make room
    16/01/2008 17:44:48 /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[326] Error: backup disk is full - all 0 possible backups were removed, but space is still needed.
    16/01/2008 17:44:48 /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[326] Backup Failed: unable to free 157286.40 TB needed space
    16/01/2008 17:44:49 /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[326] Backup failed with error: Not enough available disk space on the target volume."

  • Time machine says back up is too large.

    I am trying to back up my iMac with Time Machine and a connected G-Drive.  I have deleted many old files and in Finder I have 320 GB available.  Still, time machine says: "This backup is too large for the backup disk. The backup requires 210.66 GB but only 9.15 GB are available."  What to do? 

    Try C4 in the 1st linked article.
    Time Machine Troubleshooting
    Time Machine Troubleshooting Problems

  • This backup is too large...

    Hi
    My Time Machine won't backup my data. I receive this error:
    "This backup is too large for the backup disk. The backup requires 255.27 GB but only 185.90 GB are available."
    However, I have excluded more than 180 GB of data. Available disc space is 187 GB. Under Options the estimated full backup is 56 GB so I can't figure out what is going on.
    Johan

    johsve339 wrote:
    Hi
    My Time Machine won't backup my data. I receive this error:
    "This backup is too large for the backup disk. The backup requires 255.27 GB but only 185.90 GB are available."
    However, I have excluded more than 180 GB of data. Available disc space is 187 GB. Under Options the estimated full backup is 56 GB so I can't figure out what is going on.
    It's possible the preferences file, where the exclusions are stored, is corrupt. Try a "full reset" per #A4 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).
    But that's only a temporary solution; it sounds like your TM drive is too small. It varies greatly, of course, but it usually needs 2-3 times the space of the data you're backing up. Apparently there's about 235 GB of data on your system; how large is your backup drive?

  • HT201250 This backup is too large for the backup disk. The backup requires 1.42 TB but only 998.49 GB are available.

    I am getting the error ¨This backup is too large for the backup disk. The backup requires 1.42 TB but only 998.49 GB are available¨ when I try to do a time machine backup.  I have a Retina Macbook Pro and am only using 250 GB on the internal drive.  My 1TB external drive that I am trying to use has been complete reformated (case sensitive journaled) and therefore completely empty.  Any ideas why time machine is saying my drive has 1.14 TB when its capacity is no where near that? 

    Well, at this point I might recommend that you reboot your MacBook Pro while simultaneously holding down the Command - R keys and booting into the Lion Recovery Partition.  There I would enter the "Disk Uility", highlight your Mac HD in the left hand column to select it and run "Repair Disk", and then run "Repair Permissions" twice.  They may resolve the hard drive's confusion in Time Machine.
    Hope this helps

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