Time Machine: Setting for frequency of backups?

How and where do I tell Time Machine
to do backups only every day, or week, or
whatever I choose?
Thanks
iMac
Leopard

You can just turn it "off" via the slider at the left of the TM Preferences pane, then do +Back Up Now+ from the TM icon in your Menubar, or right-clicking the TM icon in your Dock.
I hope you're better than me at remembering to actually do backups, though. It's easy to forget until about two seconds after a disk crash! (Another lesson I learned the hard way).

Similar Messages

My Time Machine Strategy for both iMac and MacBook...

1) Get 1TB external drive, format as HFS+ (including the Gizmodo hint about reformatting Fat32 drives properly by setting GUID Partition table)
2) Attach external drive to MacBook directly-run Time Machine overnight for initial full backup
3) Attach external drive to iMac directly-run Time Machine overnight for initial full backup
4) Attach external drive to my Mac Mini (running Leopard)-don't run Time Machine
5) Point the iMac and MacBook to the networked drive for future incremental Time Machine backups, by mounting the external drive permanently attached now to the Mac Mini as a shared drive.
This way, I get the tedious original backup thru direct connection-native Firewire speeds, then rely on the networked wired (iMac) and networked wireless (MacBook) connections for the incremental backups (which, given our usage, isn't that major on an hourly or daily basis)
Anyone tried something like this successfully?

If you have tried the fixes in Pondini's Time Machine Troublshooting, specifically #C12 and nothing helps, then it is time to let one of the genius types at an Apple Store take a look.
http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
If you cannot take the Time Capsule to an Apple Store, contact Apple Support directly.
http://www.apple.com/support/contact/

My Time Capsule/Time Machine has been showing Preparing Backup for past 48 hours continuously!

My Time Capsule reported Full the other day. I now have only 26.8MB of 497.96 GB available. Since then it seems to backing up continuously. The Time machine preferences window shows "Preparing Backup" andnothing else, and it has been doing so for at least past 48 hours. Any ideas as to the problem?
Stuartyboy

Yes, the problem is the drive is full.
If you have other files or TM back from other computers, TM on your computer having issues will not be able to delete enough to get sufficient space to backup.
Read how to clean up and delete parts of backups.. http://pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html
Not a good idea though.
Solution.
1. Buy a new bigger TC.. cheaper (Than the original 500GB at least), faster and now the smallest is 2TB.
2. Plug in a USB drive.. archive the TC.. then erase it and start a fresh set of backups.. April 1st great day to do it.
3. Open up your old TC.. remove the 500GB drive and install a 2TB (if Gen1 a 3TB might even work). Google for how to do a hard disk upgrade.
Problem.. old power supply could die the day after and then the total cost would approach 1. Better to backup, wipe the 500GB and sell it on ebay and buy a new TC with 2 or even 3TB (2TB is better value IMHO).
4. Plug in a USB drive .. formatted to HFS+ and use that as the target.
Very slow. much slower than the same drive plugged into your computer.

Time Machine "Looking for Backup Disk...." to Synology NAS

My time machine used to work well connected from my Macbook Pro (10.8.3) connected to my Synology NAS then suddenly stopped working a while ago.
I have finally got around to looking at it but cannot seem to get it to rework
I folloed all instructions on the http://pondini.org/TM/A4.html full reset option but without success.
I can view all the previous backups on the NAS by entering Time Machine but when trying to backup again now continually get "Looking for Backup Disk...."
Any ideas?

This happens when you backup to a non-apple device.. actually a TC in particular is the only apple supported network device for TM.
Did you try a reboot of the whole network.. and you can verify the backups .. see A5 in pondiini.
The same thing happens even on a USB drive plugged into an Airport Extreme. It can work fine for ages and then just suddenly refuses to connect.
See http://pondini.org/TM/Airport.html
Did this happen when you updated to 10.8.3.. does the date of the last backup correspond to the update? It would not surprise me if they did some little tweak that took out your non-authorised backup method.
Now I have not tried it but lots of these issues started with Lion when the security level in AFP was changed. Security for a file protocol is irrelevant on your local network so really only relevant to using BTMM and iCloud.. which was also introduced with Lion.. that is when everything went to pot.
I would look at the Synology as running better at the older level of security and making the adjustments required on your computer.
See http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4700
I have a NAS and I have the same issue happen a couple of times. I am still using Snow Leopard though so the above suggestion is not a cure all.. I think you just have to accept that Apple builds a walled garden.. if you try and step out of the garden.. anything over the wall.. can be expected to behave badly on occasions. Set up another folder on the synology and start a new TM backup. Or use CCC or superduper etc..

How can I force Time Machine to make a complete backup of my Hard Drive. I just installed a new external drive for Backup since my previous one failed. Now when I back up, Time Machine only backs up my data folder and the Users folder.

How can I force Time Machine to make a complete backup of my Hard Drive. I just installed a new external drive for Backup since my previous one failed. Now when I back up, Time Machine only backs up my data folder and the Users folder.
When I start a backup. Time Machine says "Oldest Backup: None; Latest Backup: None", so it seems like it should do a complete backup, but it only does a partial.

Hi I'd like to jump in here. Your app showed me this:
Time Machine:
          Skip System Files: NO
          Mobile backups: OFF
          Auto backup: YES
          Volumes being backed up:
                    Macintosh HD: Disk size: 749.3 GB Disk used: 453.81 GB
          Destinations:
                    Plastic Wrapper [Local] (Last used)
                    Total size: 999.86 GB
                    Total number of backups: 64
                    Oldest backup: 2013-07-24 23:25:11 +0000
                    Last backup: 2013-11-17 01:40:47 +0000
                    Size of backup disk: Too small
                              Backup size 999.86 GB < (Disk used 453.81 GB X 3)
          Time Machine details may not be accurate.
          All volumes being backed up may not be listed.
          /sbin excluded from backup!
          /usr excluded from backup!
          /System excluded from backup!
          /bin excluded from backup!
          /private excluded from backup!
          /Library excluded from backup!
          /Applications excluded from backup!
Aside from the size of my backup drive, which I will increase at some point, I'd really like to have time machine backing up all system folders, especially Applications. How to I reset this hidden exclusions?
Thanks,
Darcy

Time Machine must create a new backup for you

getting this error message Time Machine completed a verification of your backups. To improve reliability, Time Machine must create a new backup for you. don't want to lose the history off my backups how can i fix this without losing any backups.

You really can't.
That's not one of Apple's clearest messages; it means your backups are damaged beyond OSX's ability to repair them. See #C13 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting for details.

"....To Improve Reliability, Time Machine Must Create a New Backup for You"

I bought the new Apple 2 TB Time Capsule thinking it would be a great way to get a powerful wireless router and handle file backup for both me and my wife's iMacs. She is running an up-to-date version of Snow Leopard and I am on the most recent update of Mountain Lion. The Time Capsule was installed and running by the first of August and we had no problems until this monday (7 weeks later) when I got the message that "Time Machine completed a verification of your backups. To improve reliability Time Machinge must create a new backup" My wife's back up was still ok but I had to go though the 5-6 hour process of re-copying all my files(using an ethernet connection) to the device. All went smoothly for a few days until I got the same message again about creating a new backup. Also my wife cannot enter her time machine files even though the computer is still being backed up. We have a stable internet service and both computers recieve a strong signal from the router. Is it possible that the Time Capsule Drive is defective? Is there any sort of maintenance such as zpping the PRAM that would help? This is really frustrating as it looks like the timemachine backup is totally unreliable and not worth fooling with. Is there any way to use the storage capability of the time capsule without going through time machine?
Thanks,
Reid McCallister

hi
rest assured you are not alone. i have the same problem and i hate it with a passion. in fact, i am the victim of this message as of 20 minutes ago and doing a full backup as I am typing this. I am so overly ****** that I actually posted here and will be calling or emailing apple next because I cannot take this anymore. the problem lies in time machine and unfortunately, there is no fix for that. time machine is the best idea of apple with the worst implementation ever. you have no obligation to use time capsule to benefit from time machine as this would not be legal anyway. i will give you 2 temporary solutions and let you decide which one works best for you:
1) open time machine preferences and turn automatic backups off. create a new full backup from scratch and only backup manually whenever you remember, preferably every day. the automation process is the problem that lies within time machine. also make sure that your system does not go to standy or sleep whatever that may be called. Power nap, despite all claims, is not compatible with time machine. install CAFFEINE, an app that keeps your mac awake and prevents from going to sleep while back up is in progress. use it like this and pray it will all go fine for a long time. you may wish to duplicate the first full backup to save time in case this should happen again so you have a base to start on
2) install CCC (carbon copy cleaner) I have not used it myself yet, but probably will be installing it after finishing this post. it is claimed to be better, yet it is yet to be seen by me personally.
unless time machine can be trained without any addons to use a specific wifi only for backup, these issues will persist.

Time Machine storage for backups.

Hello
Quick question: I've been using an external USB drive as a Time Machine backup disk since I bought my MacBook Pro 13" in 2009. The MBP hard drive is 250GB whilst the external hard drive is 80GB. I've only just reached the point where the MBP's disk has just over 80GB of data on it.
Now I know that Time Machine has been deleting older backups on the external drive for some time because the disk is full. I realise that it deletes older backups because it is the multiple versions of backups that are taking up the drive space.
However, what happens when the total amount of data on the MBP drive exceeds the storage capacity of the external drive? I haven't asked it to exclude anything from the backups and as Time Machine makes a complete copy of everything on the MBP drive, how does it manage when the external drive is not as big as the data on the computer's drive?
I do realise that I may just have to buy another bigger external drive to deal with what was an inevitable problem but I'm curious as to how Time Machine is continuing to back up without any apparent problem.
Thanks for your help.

Thank Shootist007
I know.
What I was curious about was why Time Machine wasn't telling me that and was happily going on to do backups without any error messages.
Thomas's reply probably explains why so before I do get to that point, I will go and get another hard drive...
Cheers

Hello I bought a G-Raid GR4 4000 4 TB and used it for a backup with my new Imac27. Now this is all I get. "Time Machine couldn't complete the backup to "G-RAID". to complete backup. An error occurred while creating the backup folder.

Hello I bought a G-Raid GR4 4000 4 TB and used it for a backup with my new Imac27. Now this is all I get. "Time Machine couldn’t complete the backup to “G-RAID”. to complete backup. An error occurred while creating the backup folder."
Any idea what I should do?

If you have more than one user account, these instructions must be carried out as an 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. Clear the text field and scroll back in the log to that time. 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 (command-C) to the Clipboard. Paste (command-V) into a reply to this message.
If all you see are messages that contain the word "Starting," you didn't clear the search box.
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.

Getting this error: Time Machine completed a verification of your backups. To improve reliability, Time Machine must create a new backup for you.

I keep getting this error on my new Macbook Pro w/ Retina.
"Time Machine completed a verification of your backups. To improve reliability, Time Machine must create a new backup for you."
Connected to a wifi network and QNAP storage system. There are 5 computers on this network, and each backs up just fine. The issue is isolated to this one machine.
This error shows up every week or so.

A third-party NAS is unsuitable for use with Time Machine, especially if it's your only backup. I know this isn't the answer you want. I know Time Machine accepts the NAS as a backup destination. I know that the manufacturer says the device will work with Time Machine, and I also know that it usually seems to work. Except when you try to restore, and find that you can't.
Apple has published a specification for network devices that work with Time Machine. None of the third-party NAS vendors, as far as I know, meets that specification. They all use the incomplete, obsolete Netatalk implementation of Apple Filing Protocol.
If you want network backup, use as the destination either an Apple Time Capsule or an external storage device connected to another Mac or to an 802.11ac AirPort base station. Only the 802.11ac base stations support Time Machine, not any older model.
Otherwise, don't use Time Machine at all. There are other ways to back up, though none of them is anywhere near as efficient or as well integrated with OS X. I don't have a specific recommendation.
If you're determined to keep using the NAS with Time Machine, your only recourse for any problems that result is to the manufacturer (which will blame Apple, or you, or anyone but itself.)

Why do I get this message every time I travel with my laptop and then return home: To improve reliability, Time Machine must create a new backup for you.

Why do I get this message every time I travel with my laptop and then return home: "To improve reliability, Time Machine must create a new backup for you."
I get this on my new MacBook Air, but never got it on my old MacBook Pro.
Thanks!

See #C13 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting.

The message I get is: Time Machine could not complete the backup. This backup is too large for the backup disk. The backup requires 111.27 GB but only 42.1 GB are available.

I have a problem with my Time Capsule. The message I get is: Time Machine could not complete the backup. This backup is too large for the backup disk. The backup requires 111.27 GB but only 42.1 GB are available. As a result, my backups are no longer running. My umderstanding was that the Time Capsule would automatically delete old backups to make space. Can anyone help me figure out how to get my backups to run again?

If you have more than one user account, these instructions must be carried out as an 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. Clear the text field and scroll back in the log to that time. 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 (command-C) to the Clipboard. Paste (command-V) into a reply to this message.
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.

TS1550 Time Machine worked fine w. new HD for 16 backups, but started giving this mssg: [TIME MACHINE COULDN'T COMPLETE THE BACKUP TO "TOSHIBA EXT" ...An error occurred while creating the backup folder]

Time Machine worked fine w. new HD for 16 backups, but started giving this mssg: [TIME MACHINE COULDN'T COMPLETE THE BACKUP TO "TOSHIBA EXT" ...An error occurred while creating the backup folder]

Make sure your hard drive is formatted properly for the operating system installed. Go to Apple menu -> About This Mac to determine what it is. You posted to the 10.5 forum, but your signature says you have 10.9. Here is the tip on what formatting supports what operating systems:
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3003

I got the message: Time Machine completed a verification of your backups. To improve reliability, Time Machine must create a new backup for you. I got the message: Time Machine completed a verification of your backups. To improve reliability, Time Ma

I got the message:
Time Machine completed a verification of your backups. To improve reliability, Time Machine must create a new backup for you.
Here's what the text of the system.log says when I filter for backupd:
Jan 9 11:37:14 justin-steeds-macbook-pro com.apple.backupd[2618]: Starting standard backup
Jan 9 11:37:14 justin-steeds-macbook-pro com.apple.backupd[2618]: Network destination already mounted at: /Volumes/TimeMachine
Jan 9 11:37:33 justin-steeds-macbook-pro com.apple.backupd[2618]: Recovery backup declined by user.
Jan 9 11:37:33 justin-steeds-macbook-pro com.apple.backupd[2618]: Backup canceled.
Jan 9 11:48:20 justin-steeds-macbook-pro com.apple.backupd[2859]: Starting standard backup
Jan 9 11:48:20 justin-steeds-macbook-pro com.apple.backupd[2859]: Network destination already mounted at: /Volumes/TimeMachine
Jan 9 11:48:42 justin-steeds-macbook-pro com.apple.backupd[2859]: Recovery backup declined by user.
Jan 9 11:48:43 justin-steeds-macbook-pro com.apple.backupd[2859]: Backup canceled.
Jan 9 11:51:07 justin-steeds-macbook-pro com.apple.backupd[2917]: Starting standard backup
Jan 9 11:51:07 justin-steeds-macbook-pro com.apple.backupd[2917]: Network destination already mounted at: /Volumes/TimeMachine
Jan 9 11:51:34 justin-steeds-macbook-pro com.apple.backupd[2917]: Recovery backup declined by user.
Jan 9 11:51:34 justin-steeds-macbook-pro com.apple.backupd[2917]: Backup canceled.
Jan 9 11:53:50 justin-steeds-macbook-pro com.apple.backupd[2987]: Starting standard backup
Jan 9 11:53:50 justin-steeds-macbook-pro com.apple.backupd[2987]: Network destination already mounted at: /Volumes/TimeMachine
Jan 9 11:54:07 justin-steeds-macbook-pro com.apple.backupd[2987]: Recovery backup declined by user.
Jan 9 11:54:07 justin-steeds-macbook-pro com.apple.backupd[2987]: Backup canceled

Since this is a MacBook Pro hardware community, you might get better results by asking your question at the Time Machine forum, located within the Lion discussion group.
https://discussions.apple.com/community/mac_os/mac_os_x_v10.7_lion

Can Anyone Tell Me Why Time Machine Won't Create A BackUp Folder for a Programed Backup?

Does anyone know why my Time Machine is NOT creating a backup folder on and regular scheduled backup? Just recently I downloaded the Time Machine Editor and it said to turn off the regular Time Machine (ON/OFF) switch, and just run off the TM Editor. However, at 1am in the morning, it comes up with the error saying it can't create a Backup Folder. I'm sure this is a simple solution but I really don't know how to handle this... Would appreciate any and all help in this matter... Thanks, Gary

Were you already backing up with Time Machine - ie, did you have an existing backup folder on the drive before you started using Time Machine Editor? If not, you probably need to do at least one full backup with TM, and then start using TME to schedule backups.
Matt

Time Machine: Setting for frequency of backups?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for