Time machine not adding to existing backups.

I have a Late 2013 MBP. i7,16GB RAM and 500GB HD.My Time Machine is a WD My Passport 2GB partitioned into to two 1GB partitions. Time Machine had 472GB used of 1GB in backups.
I was having issues with apps (Ableton Live 9, Serato, MS Word, and several others) NOT opening and freezing. And I had to force close them. And at times I would have to reboot. I finally decided to wipe the SDD, reinstall the OS. These are the steps I did.
Backed up on Time Machine
CMD+R on reboot to launch OS X Utilities
Used Disk Utilities to erase SDD
Reinstall OSX
Once fresh OS was installed. I selected to use Time Machine when prompted by Migration Assistant to recover ALL files (Applications, 2 Users, and computer/network settings)
Everything was loaded and transferred from Time Machine as I had expected. Launchpad apps had to be reorganized (grouped back together), but everything seemed to be ok. Then I waited until the next day to back up to Time Machine again, in case something didn't work right.
So here is the crux of my problem and question. Since everything is exactly the same (computer name, user names, locations of files, apps, SDD name, etc),
Why did Time Machine start making a new 472GB image, thus now using 954GB out of 1GB available? Instead of just continuing to make an additional snapshot and adding to the original "set / group" of backups already there? To further my point, I had 14 separate backups (Jan 4th - Feb 22nd) all totaling 472GB. Then on Feb 23rd Time Machine backed the same EXACT files as the previous backup I had restored from in the SAME Time Machine folder (right underneath the Feb 22nd), yet the newest backup is ANOTHER 472GB.
Does Time Machine know that it is a restored "version" of the same MBP? And Time Machine is making a completely new backup of the same files to be "safe" since there is room on the HD? Im assuming that as time goes on and more backups are made the older ones will be deleted. Thus the original 472GB of backups will be freed up?
My apologies if I am not using the correct terminology and verbiage. Any thoughts or answers would be appreciated.

Hello there, Kip057.
The following Knowledge Base article provides some great information on how to troubleshoot your issue:
Time Machine: Troubleshooting backup issues
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3275
Thanks for reaching out to Apple Support Communities.
Cheers,
Pedro.

Similar Messages

  • Time Machine won't use existing backup folder

    Time machine gave me the can't find back up drive error. I did what the support site says, went into the preferences, and reselected the appropriate drive, but now it won't use the existing backup folder. It keeps making a new one called 'user's MacBook Pro 2'. How do I force it to use the old folder, so that I can access my old back-ups?

    gilesrulz,
    First, you need to determine WHY it's not choosing to continue using the previous backups.
    Has your computer changed in some way? Logic board replaced by Apple?
    You reinstalled the Mac OS X system software?
    *_Time Machine Always Performs a Full Backup After a Full Restore_*
    Actually, this is normal. Anytime your hardware has changed, or you have reinstalled the operating system again, Time Machine will perform a new full backup. Consider the following according to the KB article below:
    *Full Backup After Restore*
    Bear in mind that in all cases Time Machine will perform a full backup after a full restore. This is normal. Time Machine will resume incremental backups after the full backup has completed. To view previous backups, Control-click or right-click the Time Machine icon in your Dock or Option-click the Time Machine menu extra and Choose "Browse Other Time Machine Disks," then select your previous backup volume. You will enter Time Machine and be able to browse your previous back ups and restore files. [http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1338]
    So even on unchanged hardware, if you reinstall your system software and restore your user data, Time Machine starts anew, and you will not be able to resume backing up with the same history as the previous backups.
    While there may be ways to fool/hack Time Machine into recognizing previous backups without performing another full backup, they are likely rather elaborate.
    Ultimately, though, in a couple of months, all the effort to preserve old backups may seem pointless. After all, Time Machine will eventually purge away that data anyways as it replaces it with new files.
    It may simply be easier to begin a fresh series of backups while saving the previous backups until your satisfied that you have enough history built up. Then delete the old backups.
    Hope this clarifies some things.
    Cheers!

  • Time Machine won't increment existing backup.

    I've had this problem for the last week and haven't been able to resolve it.
    I have a 1TB drive jacked into my Airport Extreme and have been using it for Time Machine forever. Recently however TM has been telling me that there isn't enough room on the drive to complete my backup. It doesn't seem to be recognising that it should be incrementing the existing 600Mb sparsebundle and is trying to create an entirely new backup.
    Yesterday I went as far as deleting the old backups off my drive. Then I jacked the drive directly into my MBP (Mountain Lion) and ran a brand new backup overnight.
    This morning I ejected the drive, stuck it back into the Airport, and trying to get TM to increment to it but again it's telling me there isn't enough room to create a new backup.
    I obviously has something to do with how my MBP is seeing the permissions on the sparebundle when I'm connecting to it via Airport versus directly, but I don't know why. As I said, I've been backing up to TM via Airport like this for years, no problems.
    Any help appreciated.

    Dominic Pfisterer wrote:
    "Time Machine completed a verification of your backups. To improve reliability, Time Machine must create a new backup for you.
    Not exactly one of Apple's clearest messages. 
    See #C13 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting.

  • Time Machine not completely deleting all backups.

    When I restore Time Machine it doesn't seem to erase everything. It states that there is 1.43 TB left when there should be 2 TB left. Any way to resolve this?

    See Pondini's TM FAQs, for starters.

  • Time Machine not backing up music added to iTunes since the original backup

    My girlfriend has a Macbook and I decided it was time for her to back up. I used Time Machine with my Lacie external HD. The original back up got all the music, documents, etc.
    This morning was the first time I had hooked up the external HD since the original back up. I manually ran it and wanted to check if it added the new music and documents. My resume, which I updated last night, was there. But when I looked in the iTunes folder the new music I had added was missing.
    Will the daily or weekly back up get the new music files? Is there something I did wrong with set up? Of course I could start over but I'd rather fix the issue and make sure everything is being backed up.
    Your suggestions or comments are appreciated.

    Erik Griffin wrote:
    My girlfriend has a Macbook and I decided it was time for her to back up. I used Time Machine with my Lacie external HD. The original back up got all the music, documents, etc.
    How long ago was this?
    This morning was the first time I had hooked up the external HD since the original back up. I manually ran it and wanted to check if it added the new music and documents. My resume, which I updated last night, was there. But when I looked in the iTunes folder the new music I had added was missing.
    How are you verifying whether they were backed-up? Use +Enter Time Machine,+ not the Finder.
    Will the daily or weekly back up get the new music files?
    The labels of hourly, daily, and weekly backups are just labels. The process is the same with each. The only thing that's different is how long TM will keep them. A TM backup is a TM Backup.
    Is there something I did wrong with set up? Of course I could start over but I'd rather fix the issue and make sure everything is being backed up.
    First, check TM Preferences > Options. Be sure nothing is listed there that would prevent any iTunes data from being backed-up.
    If you still don't see them, download the TimeTracker app, from www.charlessoft.com.
    It shows most of the files saved by TM for each backup (excluding some hidden/system files, etc.). That should show what was actually backed-up.

  • Time Machine couldn't complete the backup to "Time Capsule. The backup disk image /Volumes/Data/MacBook Pro.sparsebundle could not be created (error 60)"

    We are Mountain Lion using Time Machine to backup to Time Capsule. When the backup tries to run, an error appears after a couple of minutes saying "The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer." Then an error shows up saying "Time Machine couldn't complete the backup to "Time Capsule.The backup disk image /Volumes/Data/MacBook Pro.sparsebundle could not be created (error 60)"
    I low level reformatted the Time Capsule and that didn't fix it. I then tried using Time Machine on another computer to back up to that same Time Capsule and it worked- so I'm doubting it's the Time Capsule.
    I've noticed that when Time Machine runs, that a  folder called Data  at /Volumes/ appears while Time Machine is trying to back up. I think it's making the sparsebundle to transfer to the Time Capsule.
    However, after a couple of minutes- it comes back saying that the disk is unreadable.
    I think it's something wrong with either creating the sparsebundle or opening the disk image that seems to be a part of the Time Machine backup process on the local drive. 
    I am able to create a disk image with Disk Utilitiy without any problem on that system. I've repaired the disk and disk permissions with Disk Utility and replaced the directory with Disk Warrior. I've trashed what preference files I could find and restarted. I've completely removed the backup destination from the computer and added it back again.
    Help!
    Thanks,
    Neil

    neillhowell wrote:
    I've noticed that when Time Machine runs, that a  folder called Data  at /Volumes/ appears while Time Machine is trying to back up. I think it's making the sparsebundle to transfer to the Time Capsule.
    Yes, exactly.  It makes one sparse bundle per Mac.
    It's possible the TC's disk is too full for a new sparse bundle, or there may be some other problem.
    Via the Finder, locate the existing sparse bundle (see the pink box in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #17 if you're not sure how to do that).  See how large it is (plus how large anything else that may be there).  If the total is very near the size of the TC, that may be the problem.
    If not, a clue may be lurking in your logs.  Use the widget in #A1 of Time Machine - Troubleshooting to display the backup messages from your logs.  Locate the backup in question (probably the first one displayed), then copy and post all the messages here.

  • HT3275 Time Machine not deleting oldest backups when the disk is full

    Time Machine not deleting oldest backups when the disk is full

    Unfortunately, when this happens, Time Machine cannot erase enough space to create room for the new backup. Your options now are:
    1) Add a new Time Capsule or a hard drive to the USB port on the existing Time Capsule and continue with backups
    2) Manually delete backups from Time Machine....which is a long and tedious process.  After a few hours, not much space will be reclaimed and it will not be long before the Time Capsule is full again
    3) Erase the Time Capsule....if you really do not need all the old backups from months ago....and start over with a new Time Machine backup and move forward again

  • I just had to reformat the external hard drive that houses my iPhoto library, then restore it from a backup. Now Time Machine is telling me my backup hard drive suddenly does not have the space to complete a backup. I also noticed when I go in to Time Mac

    I just had to reformat the external hard drive that houses my iPhoto library, then restore it from a backup. Now Time Machine is telling me my backup hard drive suddenly does not have the space to complete a backup. I also noticed when I go in to Time Machine, there are only about 5 backups recorded on the ext. hard drive. There were many more before. Any idea what happened and if I have to buy a new back up hard drive?

    Hallo  Kieth ,
    I am not quite ready to restore the full iphoto library , as I have days of work re - imputting titles,descriptions and enhancement . I hope that your suggestion works , as I use my Macbook basically to work with digital photography. Through time , I will need to delete my library to recover more disc space and I would hate to have to spend more time re - imputting titles and descriptions all over again .
    Thanks for your interest and advice.
    regards  - Alan

  • Time Machine not completing backup to Time Capsule

    MY OS: 10.8.2
    My backups to the Time Capsule are interrupted with this message:
    Time Machine couldn't complete the backup to xxxxx's Time Capsule.
    The backup disk image "/Volumes/xxxx's Data/My MacBook Pro (2).sparsebundle" could not be accessed (error -1).
    Can someone tell me what I can do to fix this?
    Thanks

    http://pondini.org/TM/C17.html

  • Time machine couldn't complete the backup to johns airport time capsule. the backup disk is not available

    time machine couldn't complete the backup to johns airport time capsule. the backup disk is not available

    You may find answers at Pondini's Time Machine FAQ for help with all things related to Time Machine.

  • Time Machine couldn't complete the backup to time capsule-the backup disk is not available

    Time Machine couldn’t complete the backup to time capsule-the backup disk is not available

    Reboot the network in correct order.. modem.. router/TC.. clients.. 2min gap.
    This is just standard windows.. woops, Mac OS networking now.

  • Can Time Machine NOT backup USB exFAT drives?

    Hi folks.  So I partitioned my seagate freeagent drive using exFAT so I could swap it back and forth with Windows.  I went to setup time machine and I see the drive is excluded and I cannot remove it from the exclude list.  Can time machine not backup that partition type?  If not, what can I use that will be usable with both windows and os x and allow me to back it up with Time Machine?  Thanks.

    For fat or ntfs, you have to use something like Winclone to clone those partitions as a backup, but I have not tested winclone in Lion to see if it still works

  • Time machine not deleting old backups of recovery partition

    I have a Mac Mini running Lion Server. I have an external disk partitioned with a space for network backups and a smaller partition for backing up the server itself. The server has a 160GB disk, it is only using 29.27GB, the partition for backing up the server is 152GB (it's what was left over after creating the partition for the network backups). I figured since I'm only using about 30GB, 152GB should be plenty of space. However after 3 months of use I get the error "the backup is too large for the backup disk". In the past I have formatted the partition and restarted the backups, however it always fills up after 3 months. This time I decided to dig into it a bit more. I looked to see what was available in my backup, it only has one previous restore point. I browsed the disk and opened the backups.backupdb folder, checked the size of the folder with the computer name, it is only 9.44GB. I was wondering where all of the space went so I enabled hidden files, I found the .RecoverySets folder and found it was taking up 141.95GB. I looked at the recovery sets, there are 295 copies of com.apple.recovery.boot which all seem to contain the following files:
    .disk_label                         749b
    BaseSystem.chunklist       2KB
    BaseSystem.dmg              454.6MB
    boot.efi                              864KB
    com.apple.Boot.plist          431b
    kernelcache                       24.1MB
    PlatformSupport.plist         2KB
    SystemVersion.plist           478b
    Of those files, the only file not dated Aug 11, Oct 6 or 12, 2011 is com.apple.Boot.plist which has a date that corresponds to when the backup was performed. These backups go all the way back to Jan 30, the last time I formatted the partition, but the user data backups only go back to the 27th and it hasn't been able to complete a backup since.
    I thought Time Machine was supposed to only backup data that had changed since the last backup, and delete old revisions when space is running low, it seems that it is copying more than just the data that changed since the last backup and only deleting old revisions of user data, not system data. Is there a way to fix this permanently?

    See C18 in the first linked article. Also, your backup drive should be 2-4 times your hard drive capacity.
    Time Machine Troubleshooting
    Time Machine Troubleshooting Problems

  • HT1176 My airport TM will not backup and i keep getting the error msg "Time Machine couldn't complete the backup...An error occurred while copying files. The problem may be temporary. If the problem persists, use Disk Utility to repair your backup disk."

    My Airport TM will not backup and i keep getting the error msg "Time Machine couldn’t complete the backup...An error occurred while copying files. The problem may be temporary. If the problem persists, use Disk Utility to repair your backup disk."

    My Airport TM will not backup and i keep getting the error msg "Time Machine couldn’t complete the backup...An error occurred while copying files. The problem may be temporary. If the problem persists, use Disk Utility to repair your backup disk."

  • My Time Machine says there is no backup disk available.  I've never had any problems with my time machine.  I'm not technologically savvy, so if anyone can help, I'd appreciate it!

    My Time Machine says there is no backup disk available.  I've never had any problems with my time machine completing backups.  I was away from house with my laptop for about 9 days so I'm wondering if there is something I need to do now that I'm home to get it working again.  I'm not technologically savvy, so if anyone can help, I'd appreciate it!
    Thanks,
    Jana

    You can lose your ability to backup through TM for any number of reasons, but the most common is what happens after a update. If your drive still works, your best approach is to read this:
    http://www.chriscolotti.us/technology/how-to-fix-osx-mountain-lion-time-machine/
    The attached link contains helpful graphics, so don't worry if you're not tech savvy.

Maybe you are looking for

  • I can't print a PDF created in MAC with window 8.1?

    En pdf-fil skapad i MAC går inte att skriva ut med Wondows 8.1

  • Help! iPhoto and notes have become unresponsive, what can I do? Etre check results here

    this morning Notes was unresponsive when I click to share as a message, now iPhoto becomes unresponsive when I click to share. I ran etre check, and here are the results: Hardware Information:           MacBook Air (11-inch, Mid 2013)           MacBo

  • How to make JRE1.5.0 the default JRE

    Hi all, I have downloaded JRE1.5.0 and put it into the /usr/java folder where SJDS default JRE also is located. Then I went to -> Launch -> Preferences -> Java. In the Plug-in Control Panel I went to -> Advance, but JRE1.5.0 is not listed there. I cl

  • How to open a  Word document in forms

    Hi all , I need to open a document( MS Word) while clicking a button from forms.Will u please help me to do that ? Regards, Nycy

  • Can't Update to 9.1.3

    I can't update to 9.1.3. Please let me know if you have any insight. I did a straight upgrade from LP 8 to LP 9 when it was released. No fancy file name changes etc I upgraded to 9.0.2 when it was released, no issues with the upgrade I have been runn