Time machine reporting impossible needs

On November 14, Time Machine made its last successful backup. Since then, it reports that there isn't enough space to back up onto, any more. It tells me that it needs over 5 TB of space in the alert window, but on close inspection of the preference window for Time Machine, it claims that a full backup would only take 750 GB. The 4 TB dedicated backup drive has only 2 TB of history on it with 187 GB of empty space, ready to go.
Is there a way to get this working again without losing all that history? A prefs file, or something simple?

These instructions must be carried out as an administrator. If you have only one user account, you are the administrator.
Launch the Console application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Console in the icon grid.
The title of the Console window should be All Messages. If it isn't, select
SYSTEM LOG QUERIES ▹ All Messages
from the log list on the left. If you don't see that list, select
View ▹ Show Log List
from the menu bar at the top of the screen.
In the top right corner of the Console window, there's a search box labeled Filter. Initially the words "String Matching" are shown in that box. Enter the word "Starting" (without the quotes.) You should now see log messages with the words "Starting * backup," where * represents any of the words "automatic," "manual," or "standard."
Each message in the log begins with the date and time when it was entered. Note the timestamp of the last "Starting" message that corresponds to the beginning of an an abnormal backup. Now
CLEAR THE WORD "Starting" FROM THE TEXT FIELD
so that all messages are showing, and scroll back in the log to the time you noted. Select the messages timestamped from then until the end of the backup, or the end of the log if that's not clear. Copy them to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. Paste into a reply to this message by pressing command-V.
☞ If all you see are messages that contain the word "Starting," you didn't clear the text field.
☞ The log contains a vast amount of information, almost all of which is irrelevant to solving any particular problem. When posting a log extract, be selective. Don't post more than is requested.
Please don't indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into this discussion.
Please don't post screenshots of log messages—post the text.
☞ Some private information, such as your name, may appear in the log. Anonymize before posting.

Similar Messages

Time Machine hard drive need to be reformatted?

I upgraded from Leopard about 6 hours ago and so far I haven't had any issues with Snow Leopard and it is noticeably faster and more stable. However, when I just plugged in my Time Machine backup drive I got a message saying the "disk was unreadable by this computer". That never happened until I installed Snow Leopard. Does my time machine backup HDD need to be reformatted to work with Snow Leopard??? Is there a chance that version 10.6.1 will fix this little issue soon?

If you're sure you've got all your data on your Mac now, and it's solid, you could erase your external drive and do a backup right off.
I also would search as I thought I saw someone with a simple fix for a similar issue here.
Scott

Time Machine reports issue backing up to Time Capsule

Ever since I have upgraded to 10.6.4, I have been unable to complete a Time Machine backup. My backup volume is contained on a 2TB Time Capsule. Paraphrasing the error message, "Time Machine reports that it is unable to backup due to a problem with the disk, this problem may be temporary, try again later."
Has anyone seen this? Any suggestions?

The exact error message reported:
The Backup was not performed because an error occurred while copying files to the backup disk.
The problem may be temporary. Try again later to back up. If the problem persists, use Disk Utility to repair your backup disk.
I used Disk Utility on the external disk, and also ended up just erasing the volume on this disk, and attempting a fresh backup. Still no go.
The Time Capsule is connected directly to the iMac via Ethernet.

Time Machine reports, "backup failed." What do I do?

Time Machine reports, "backup failed." What should I do?

See if Pondini's great site helps...
http://Pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html

I have a new mac book pro/LION and can't access my back up data when I click on "enter time machine". I need the back up data that I could access on my old mac book pro (that is now broken). Tnx so much

I have a new mac book pro/LION and can't access my back up data when I click on "enter time machine". I need the back up data that I could access on my old mac book pro (that is now broken). I can only access time machine back up data that I've obtained since starting the new mac book pro. Tnx so much

Try doing a click-and-hold on the Time Machine icon in the Dock, then select "Browse Other Time Machine Disks".
By the way, you've been misled by poor field labeling on this forum into typing a large part of your message into the field intended for the subject. In the future just type a short summary of your post into that field and type the whole message into the field below that.

My time machine says it need more room to complete back up, how do i make more room? up

My time machine says it need more room to complete back up, how do i make more room?

Delete the old backups..
There is a reason though for this to happen. Tell us what model Time Capsule you are using and what size disk it has .. how much free space is available and how much is now required. If you upgraded to Mavericks it probably needs to do a whole new backup and simply doesn't have the space .. nor can it delete the old backup.
Please read Pondini FAQ for details of these issues.. deleting backups for example Q12
http://pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html
There is also info on how much space is required for backups.
eg Q9

Time Machine reported 'volume is read only' & rolled back to old state

I've been in love with Time Machine ever since Leopard arrived. This has all come crashing down over the last few days...
Firstly I got a new 1tb drive, so I mirrored my old TM drive (using SuperDuper), and all seemed to be fine – backups were chugging along for a week or so as normal on the new, bigger drive.
A few days ago I got a time machine error stating that "The backup volume is read only". I thought this was strange as the drive was working without issue for a week. I checked permissions, format, etc and all were set correctly. I restarted and Time Machine kicked back in and all seemed to work fine other the fact that there seemed to be no backups created for 6 hours before I got the error message. Then I made a scary realisation, somehow the files on my computer had been restored to a state from 6 hours prior, all the work I'd done for the morning was gone.
I put this down to a one off glitch (stupid, stupid, stupid). I've today got the same "backup volume is read only" message again, and this time around my files have been restored to a state from 3 days ago. Fortunately this time around Time Machine has a backup of the important stuff a few hours ago.
I am now very worried about using the same disk with Time Machine. I also have no idea if Time Machine is the culprit (but logic tells me with the rolling back of files it must be). What should I do? How can I figure out what is going on?

This may fix the "read only" problem:
What to do if Time Machine reports you don't have permission
This was posted in the Apple Discussions by V.K. I have only modified it slightly to be more generic.
The problem seems to be that 10.5.6 changes permissions on a file so that even the root user doesn't have write peivileges. I have no idea why they did this. The workaround suggested in [an]other post will probably work, too, but i did something less drastic. Instead of deleting the file I changed permissions on it, and it worked just fine. An added benefit is that the permission change seems to stick, so you don't have to delete the file every time you change a drive.
[Open the Terminal application in your Utilities folder. At the prompt [enter] the following command:
sudo chmod 644 /volumes/"TM drive name"/.xxxxxxxxxxxx
The name of the file .xxxxxxxxxxxx is based on the MAC address of your computer and will be different for every computer. Put the name of the TM drive in the above and keep the quotes.
You'll have to enter your admin password (which you won't see) which is normal.
This was edited by Kappy just for cleanup.
Enable Finder to Show Invisible Files and Folders
Open the Terminal application in your Utilities folder. At the prompt enter or paste the following command line then press RETURN.
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE
To turn off the display of invisible files and folders enter or paste the following command line and press RETURN.
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles FALSE
Alternatively you can use one of the numerous third-party utilities such as TinkerTool or ShowHideInvisibleFiles - VersionTracker or MacUpdate.

Time Machine reports backup disc needs to be 8.78 Tb. I only have a 250Gb system drive???

Thought I'd do a TM backup before installing Mavericks. It messed up big time!
I backup manually depending on how much stuff has accumulated. It varies between a few Mb to 3 or 4 Gb sometimes more. Today Time Machine decided that it wanted to reorganise the backup in some way. I watched as the available space on the TM disk went up as TM set about the task. After a couple or three hours TM actually started to do the backup. The size of the backup being 500Gb or something like that. Several hours later of listening to my fans working flat out I cancelled the back up with TM reporting that there was 200 odd Gb to go. No warning from TM to say this was a bad idea. It had been chuntering away for something like 5 hours.
After halting the backup I thought I'd start the backup again just to see how much more needed to be done. This is when I got the report that the backup disk needed to be in the order of Tb. And the oldest backup is now Nov 2013. The oldest backup before this was way back in June 2012 (MacBookPro Rertina mid 2012) when I first bought the computer.
Entering TM I find that even that is not complete. All but a couple of applications have dissapeared as have many other files.
Trouble is I use it as an archive and happily delete files on my hard drive knowing that there is a copy in a backup that pre dates the deletion.
There is also an earlier backup from my previous machine - again as a rarely accessed archive. So that's another reason not to reformat.
I'm pretty sure all is lost and I think I just have to bite the bullet and risk not needing anything from the archive. After all I have CD and DVD backups/archives that go back to the late '90s and I have rarely needed to access them over the years. The biggest loss will be photos. ****!
Anyway. What happened? Why has TM gone off the rails? I have done nothing different to what I have done in 5 years or so. Is this normal behaviour? If I hadn't have cancelled the back up would TM have slowly rebuilt all my backups as was?
Andy

Trouble is I use it as an archive and happily delete files on my hard drive knowing that there is a copy in a backup that pre dates the deletion.
Before going any further please understand that's a very bad idea. It's beyond Time Machine's scope to do that. It is not an archival system and cannot be made to become one. Time Machine guarantees nothing other than one complete copy of the source volume's contents. Anything erased from the source becomes fair game for Time Machine to delete from the backup, the moment it requires the space it occupies.
Next: I have no idea why the problem occurred, but a first and harmless troubleshooting step is to reset Time Machine by doing the following:
Turn off Time Machine first, and make sure a backup is not in progress.
Triple click to select the entire line, then control-click and select Services > Reveal in Finder. Drag the selected file to the Desktop, or directly to the Trash:
/Library/Preferences/com.apple.TimeMachine.plist
This will not delete your existing backups.
Turn on Time Machine and reselect your backup volume. The effect of deleting that file will cause erroneous values to be shown in the "backing up xxx of yyy" messages until the subsequent backup.
If it's any consolation, terminating Time Machine as you did is not an abnormal user action and did not cause the problem. It may have resulted in inaccurate information being written to the property list, which you will fix by deleting it. It's quite possible that your backups have remained intact. Just remember that anything you delete from the source may no longer exist following the subsequent backup, and that is to be expected.

Time machine reporting space error

My TM backups are coming back with an error saying that my backup is XX.X and I only have XX.X space on my external drive. The confounding thing is that the external HDD has more than double the space that the backup needs. I have attached a couple of screen shots with the error. I have done a surface scan with Drive Genius 3 to make sure that a bad block wasn't the cause.
Any ideas?

Time Machine works on a recursive algorithm to try and maximize the archival capability of its backups. If it can't maximize it, it will report an error. Generally speaking your backup drive needs to be at least twice the size of the original. Because the algorithm itself gives you no control over when it considers an archive too old to preserve, I recommend making manual Time Machine backups instead of automatic by controlling it with Time Machine switch in Apple menu -> System Preferences -> Time Machine. When off, go ahead and backup the archives that are most important to you, somewhere other than the Time Machine drive. Otherwise if the original drive does not retain the data, it will eventually vanish.

Why did my Time Machine backup drive need 712GB for initial backup

I recently replaced the failing 1TB drive in my wife's old mid-2010 27" iMac with a 2TB drive (OS X 10.9.4, 3.6 GHz, 8GB 1333 MHz DDR3). After bringing all of her data on board, I erased and reformatted the backup 2TB hard drive and initiated a fresh backup using Time Machine. I was surprised to see that Time Machine needed 650+GB for the initial backup. I checked the new HD and sure enough, it reported 652GB of data.
What puzzles me is that the hard drive has only four visible folders, Applications, Library, System Info and Users Info, holding 15GB, 9GB, 6GB and 30GB respectively -- a total of roughly 60GB.
Any idea what the additional 590GB of required storage is holding and whether it's necessary? Could there be old data hidden somewhere on the iMac's new hard drive? I've looked at hidden folders and files in the top level folder. There are a couple dozen or so, including one named .DocumentRevisions-V100 (from old Mac).
However, I can't display the contents of the hidden folders and they won't calculate or display the folder sizes, so all that leaves me a bit in the dark.
Any suggestions on how to identify and reduce the amount of data I'm backing up? I'm afraid the 2GB drive will soon be overwhelmed with data.
Thanks.

Empty the Trash if you haven't already done so. If you use iPhoto, empty its internal Trash first:
iPhoto ▹ Empty Trash
Do the same in other applications, such as Aperture, that have an internal Trash feature.
See this support article for some simple ways to free up storage space.
You can more effectively use a tool such as OmniDiskSweeper (ODS) or GrandPerspective (GP) to explore the volume and find out what's taking up the space. You can also delete files with it, but don't do that unless you're sure that you know what you're deleting and that all data is safely backed up. That means you have multiple backups, not just one. Note that ODS only works with OS X 10.8 or later. If you're running an older OS version, use GP.
Deleting files inside an iPhoto or Aperture library will corrupt the library. Any changes to a photo library must be made from within the application that created it. The same goes for Mail files.
Proceed further only if the problem isn't solved by the above steps.
ODS or GP can't see the whole filesystem when you run it just by double-clicking; it only sees files that you have permission to read. To see everything, you have to run it as root.
Back up all data now.
If you have more than one user account, make sure you're logged in as an administrator. The administrator account is the one that was created automatically when you first set up the computer.
Install the app you downloaded in the Applications folder as usual. Quit it if it's running.
Triple-click anywhere in the corresponding line of text below on this page to select it, then copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C:
sudo /Applications/OmniDiskSweeper.app/Contents/MacOS/OmniDiskSweeper
sudo /Applications/GrandPerspective.app/Contents/MacOS/GrandPerspective
Launch the built-in Terminal application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.
Paste into the Terminal window by pressing command-V. You'll be prompted for your login password, which won't be displayed when you type it. Type carefully and then press return. You may get a one-time warning to be careful. If you see a message that your username "is not in the sudoers file," then you're not logged in as an administrator. Ignore any other messages that appear in the Terminal window.
The application window will open, eventually showing all files in all folders, sorted by size. It may take a few minutes for the app to finish scanning.
I don't recommend that you make a habit of doing this. Don't delete anything as root. If something needs to be deleted, make sure you know what it is and how it got there, and then delete it by other, safer, means. When in doubt, leave it alone or ask for guidance.
When you're done with the app, quit it and also quit Terminal.

When Time Machine tries to back up to my Seagate HD before the HD is fully on, it fails. Then Time machine thinks it needs to back up the entire drive and there's not enough room. It won't just do the backup of new info now. Any thoughts?

When I try to do a Time Machine backup with my Seagate HD, and if I accidentally have Time Machine automatically on, it will fail if the HD is not fully on and recognized by the computer yet. But the problem is that when this has happened (twice now), it seems it loses all knowledge that it has backed up using Time Machine before and it will only try to back up the entire Mac HD to the Seagate. The Seagate already has 147 GB of data from prior Time Machine backups and I only need to backup the latest stuff since my last backup, but it won't let me do that. It tries to do the whole drive and it says it can't because there is only 135 GB of space left and it needs to backup 147 GB. Anyone know how to fix this and get it to start backing up again without erasing the drive and starting over? That's what I did last time. I erased the Seagate and then reset it as my Time Machine drive and it started working fine again until it failed and reverted to the problem. Thanks

These instructions must be carried out as an administrator. If you have only one user account, you are the administrator.
Launch the Console application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Console in the icon grid.
Make sure the title of the Console window is All Messages. If it isn't, select All Messages from the SYSTEM LOG QUERIES menu on the left. If you don't see that menu, select
View ▹ Show Log List
from the menu bar.
Enter the word "Starting" (without the quotes) in the String Matching text field. You should now see log messages with the words "Starting * backup," where * represents any of the words "automatic," "manual," or "standard." Note the timestamp of the last such message that corresponds to an abnormal backup. Now
CLEAR THE WORD "Starting" FROM THE TEXT FIELD
so that all messages are showing, and scroll back in the log to the time you noted. Select the messages timestamped from then until the end of the backup, or the end of the log if that's not clear. Copy them to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. Paste into a reply to this message by pressing command-V.
If all you see are messages that contain the word "Starting," you didn't clear the text field.
If there are runs of repeated messages, post only one example of each. Don't post many repetitions of the same message.
When posting a log extract, be selective. Don't post more than is requested.
Please do not indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into this discussion.
Some personal information, such as the names of your files, may be included—anonymize before posting.

HT201250 When using time machine do I need to keep my drive plugged in all the time or can I back up when I wish?

Is it necessary to keep the external drive plugged in at all times? Or can I unplug it and choose when I wish to back up my system.

No, I do not believe so. Time Machine would keep all those now-deleted files in previous backups, and as time goes by those backups might be deleted if you needed room, but it would still keep one backup from each day in last month, as well as one from each week forever, as long as you don't start running out of room, then just the oldest would be deleted to make room if needed.
I use a backup drive about double the size of my drive to be backed up, so I would guess it will never get to the point where deleted files being replaced by new ones being backed fill up that drive to the point where backups actually have to get deleted.

Time Machine Restore Help Needed

Hello All,
I replaced my hard drive and restored from Time Machine.
I have a MacBook Pro that just missed the age barrier for Mountain Lion, so I have the latest Lion - 10.7.4.
Now that my laptop is more or less back in shape, I cannot play music in iTunes, the message says can't find originals. I have tried restoring the Music file again, but to no avail.
As well, my Mail is messed up. It has been running for 2 hours now with the message "Importing Mailbox . . ."
Alas, iPhoto cannot locate my pictures.
I need help. When I backed up to Time Machine before all this happened, everything had backed up and was working. I clicked ctrl R to begin the back up.
HELP - I am not sure what to do. I havn't had the heart to check my videos!! As well, my budget spreadsheet in excel was an original document when it was backed up, not it is an 'alias' and I am getting the message that the original cannot be found.
Thanks to all who can offer some guidance - this is way to stressful.
Clint

Well, iPhoto and Mail are back to normal. But for the life of me, the following are still giving grief - ANY SUGGESTIONS would be welcome:
I cannot play music in iTunes, the message says can't find originals
my budget spreadsheet in excel was an original document when it was backed up, not it is an 'alias' and I am getting the message that the original cannot be found.
Clint

Time Machine Preference doc needed

I recently somehow deleted my time machine preference found in Drive/System/Library/PreferencePanes. Can someone email this document to me or where can I download it?

<font "size=+1">How to Use Pacifist to Replace Deleted OS X Applications
Download the shareware utility Pacifist from VersionTracker or MacUpdate. Use it to extract a fresh copy from the file archives on your OS X installation DVD. The file archives are in the /System/Installations/ folder.
Here are Four Basic ways to use Pacifist (courtesy of George Orville.)
A. Drag a .pkg icon onto the Pacifist window .....proceed to step 7.
B. Click on “Open Package ....” and navigate to package desired and click “Open” in the open/save window.....proceed to step 7.
C. Insert Mac OS X installer CD and when it mounts, navigate to .... Menu/Go/Go to Folder, and in the window, type....
/Volumes/disc name/System/Installation/Packages
where disc name is the name of the CD/DVD that you inserted.
• Click "Go".....
• Drag .pkg to Pacifist..... proceed to step 7.
D. Insert your Mac OS X install disk 1 .... and open Pacifist.
1. In Pacifist, select "Open Mac OS X Install Packages" ... dialog may appear asking for disk 2, then disk 3 and finally disk 1 again....{if DVD is not used)...If “Stop Loading” is selected...the procedure will stop!!!
2a. When loading is complete, a new window appears, click the triangle to display contents of each package...Select item and proceed to step 7.
2b. or click the “Find” icon in the Pacifist window and type the name of the software you need.
3. In the list that comes back, click the top most entry for the item that you want. ..... that is the one for the English language.
4. On the top of the Pacifist window, click “verify” .... you will probably be prompted for your password.
5. Enter checks for.... “verify permissions” and “verify file contents.” and click “verify” ....enter password when prompted.... you will get back output which may look like this:
20 files were scanned.
20 of 20 files were present on the hard disk.
0 of 20 files had file permissions that did not match those specified in the package.
0 of 20 files had checksums that did not match those specified in the package.
6. Click “close”. Go to step 7.
Extract or Install........
7. In the Toolbar (upper left), you now have the option to extract or install. Click a file in the lower list and those two icons will be enabled.
8. If “Extract to...” is selected.... navigate to the location where the file will be placed, select “choose”, select “extract” in new dialog that appears,authenicate , if prompted, click “OK”.
9. In the next dialog, click “Extract”.
10. If “Install” is selected... dialog will appear with the location/path of the installed software. Click “Install”
11. Type in your password, click “OK”
• Pacifist will begin to extract files.
12. In steps 8/10ß.... you also have the choice to “cancel”
Notes.....
• Pacifist may find that a file it is installing already exists on the hard disk. Pacifist will present you with an alert panel....
Stop
Leave original alone
Update ..... Default selection
Replace .... Replace option should only be used on full install packages

Time Machine Full! Need help!

I have a FireLite hard disk backup connected via Time Machine and a USB port. I have been informed that the FireLite is full. I'd like to make room by deleting, say, half the earlier backups to make space for new ones. Is there a way to do this?

JakeP wrote:
I have been informed that the FireLite is full.
How were you informed of that? Did OSX tell you that, or some other software?
Most likely, you got the message in the blue box of #C4 in [Time Machine - Troubleshooting|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/Troubleshooting.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of the +Time Machine+ forum). If so, you don't need to do anything at all.
But if you got the one in the pink box, see the explanation and instructions there.
I'd like to make room by deleting, say, half the earlier backups to make space for new ones. Is there a way to do this?
Ordinarily it's much better to just let Time Machine delete the oldest backups when necessary.
If you're putting other data there, besides your Time Machine backups, that's not a good idea. See #Q3 in [Using Time Machine with a Time Capsule|http://web.me.com/pondini/TimeMachine/TimeCapsule.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).
But if you really want to delete some backups, see #12 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 the +Time Machine+ forum).
Message was edited by: Pondini

Time machine reporting impossible needs

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