Time Machine Operation after Re-install of OSX

Sorry if this question has been asked before.
On several occasions I have been forced through HD failure to completely reinstall OSX on my startup disk which I call HD-A
Luckily time machine has worked perfectly and when prompted to do so I have restored from my internal backup drive which I call HD-B.
The problem happens when I then try and use HD-B as my backup drive again.
Timemachine gives me an error saying the drive is full. Each time I have ended up erasing my HD-B backup drive. Re-assigning it in time machine and then it works fine.
Why is this?
There has got to be a better way to make time machine re-recognize my backup drive?
Its also dangerous because for the period of time (several hours) that I'm re-backing up by main drive then I am at risk if my main drive should go down.
Can anyone give me some tips on how to make the backup drive be recognized after a OSX re-install?
Thanks,
Steve.

Steve McRea wrote:
Sorry if this question has been asked before.
On several occasions I have been forced through HD failure to completely reinstall OSX on my startup disk which I call HD-A
Luckily time machine has worked perfectly and when prompted to do so I have restored from my internal backup drive which I call HD-B.
The problem happens when I then try and use HD-B as my backup drive again.
Timemachine gives me an error saying the drive is full. Each time I have ended up erasing my HD-B backup drive. Re-assigning it in time machine and then it works fine.
Why is this?
Because when you erase a drive, it gets a new UUID (Universally Unique Identifier), and is treated as a different drive: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1338
Its also dangerous because for the period of time (several hours) that I'm re-backing up by main drive then I am at risk if my main drive should go down.
It appears that your Time Machine drive is too small. If it were at least 2 1/2 times the size of the data it's backing-up, Time Machine would be able to delete enough old backups to make room for the new one.
It's always a good idea to keep secondary backups, and especially so if your primary backups are on an internal HD, since a problem with your Mac could damage both drives; see #27 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 some suggestions.

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Hi,
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Hatrabbit wrote:
Naturally I went to my Time Machine backups and was surprised the music was gone from the backups, all the way back to the first backup. Very wierd.
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http://forums.macnn.com/90/mac-os-x/509489/potential-time-machine-issue-maverick s-leaving/
http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/130955/some-files-are-gone-after-recove ry-from-time-machine-backup-why/150230
http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/136453/time-machine-not-detecting-chang es-in-certain-folders
https://twitter.com/ThatDJJP/status/526429152153714690
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PD. Are you from Spain?

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DanK wrote:
I had a system crash on my G4 iBook running Leopard. Based on advice given at the Apple store genius bar, I reinstalled Leopard from an install DVD, reformatting the drive. During the system installation process I used my Time Machine backup to reinstall the former users (but nothing else). I then installed my needed applications. So far so good.
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Now I'm in the situation where I have an external drive with the Time Machine backup of the pre-crash iBook, and I'm not sure how to proceed. Do I start over and do a new backup (effectively erasing all my pre-restore data)? Or can the old backup still be used, and added to? While losing the pre-restore time machine data would not be a major loss, it would be kind of nice to have.
Your next backup will be a full one; everything on your internal HD is considered as changed, so will be backed-up again.
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