Time Machine stopped updating files in subfolders on my external drive

I've been using Time Machine for about a year. I have two external drives connected. One is 2TB and is the "BACKUP" drive used for TM backups. The other, "VOLUME ONE" is 1TB and is used for client and media files. I went to look for a file in TM backups that had been on Volume One and it's not there. I then noticed that TM while had been performing backups, nothing was actually updating since August 3 (I'm not sure if that's the actually date but it was the most recent date on a quick check).
I then repaired permissions on the iMac Hard drive, repaired both external disks, trashed TM preferences, and shut down and then restarted. Seems everything is now backing up correctly except if you go into the subfolders on Volume One. For instance, "TestFile" is updated when it's VOLUME ONE/Folder1/Folder2/TestFile, but not if it gets placed one position down, VOLUME ONE/Folder1/Folder2/Folder3/TestFile. The only items I have excluded from backups are the BACKUP drive, /Applications and System Files and Applications. The files not being updated are not applications or preferences. Also, my BACKUP drive says it has 1.2 TB available.

My understanding of how this works is that hourly & daily backups "expire" & are automatically removed after 24 hours & one month respectively, but weekly backups never expire -- they are kept, as the preference panel says, until your backup disk is full.
Thus, if your backup drive fills up, TM will try to create space by removing older, unexpired hourly or daily backups (& optionally warn you about this) to make room for new ones, but it will not remove older weekly backups to make room for new hourly or daily ones.
If you think about it, this makes sense: a weekly backup is most likely much larger (in terms of actual file space) & contains many more files than a daily or hourly one, so it would be undesirable to delete a lot of files to make room for relatively few others.
IOW, the drive will eventually fill up with weekly backups & at that point, it is full, period.
Related comments:
I believe there is no danger in using the Leopard Finder to 'delete a file' in the time-stamped folders it exposes. Because of the changes made in the file system to support TM, what happens is only the link in that folder is deleted. Links in any other folders remain unaffected. Only when you remove the last link to the actual file does the file system mark its space unused in the directory, effectively the same as a normal file delete.
This is why just deleting an instance of a TM backed up file won't gain you more than a few bytes of drive space -- only by deleting all instances is the file space of the actual file freed up.
For similar reasons, Disk Utility's 'erase free space' function should be safe to use on a Time Machine volume for security reasons. Just don't use any disk utilities on this or any other Leopard-formatted drive that aren't rated for use with Leopard -- they don't know about the changes in the file system & could really mess things up if (for instance) they try to rebuild the directory structure from scratch.

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HT201250 Can I do a backup using Time Machine on a server, or it needs an external drive only?

Can I do a backup using Time Machine on a server, or it needs an external drive only?

Time Machine can back up to a server. The drive or partition used still needs to be formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
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To improve NTFS read performance and enable writing, I have been using Paragon NTFS for about 2 months very successfully.
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Is this a bug or intentional? This is a huge drawback, as I really didn't want to migrate everything off this huge drive just to re-format it because of this.

Had similar problem. Upgraded to Lion, couldnt read any NTFS drives! Turns out old NTFS drivers from Paragon dont work in Lion, so had to buy new one. That also didnt work. Eventually followed discussion thread on Paragon support, deleted (manually) the offending drivers (UFS/NTFS) from Library, uninstalled Paragon.
Could now see NTFS drives R/O.
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Now my time machine has stopped working, don't know if they're related.

Time Machine doesn't manage the space on my external drive- no space left

I have a 500GB internal drive and have a 500Gb external firewire drive. I have around 200Gb of music and video files but had been happily letting TM get on with things. Today i started to get an error screen saying that the external drive was out of space and the backup had failed. Does TM not manage the backups and automatically delete the oldest to make space for the newest one?
I'm a little confused and the logic used in the help options seems to point to me either excluding items going forward (which seems counter productive) or buying a new external drive to fill up each month. Can someone please shed some light for me.

My understanding of how this works is that hourly & daily backups "expire" & are automatically removed after 24 hours & one month respectively, but weekly backups never expire -- they are kept, as the preference panel says, until your backup disk is full.
Thus, if your backup drive fills up, TM will try to create space by removing older, unexpired hourly or daily backups (& optionally warn you about this) to make room for new ones, but it will not remove older weekly backups to make room for new hourly or daily ones.
If you think about it, this makes sense: a weekly backup is most likely much larger (in terms of actual file space) & contains many more files than a daily or hourly one, so it would be undesirable to delete a lot of files to make room for relatively few others.
IOW, the drive will eventually fill up with weekly backups & at that point, it is full, period.
Related comments:
I believe there is no danger in using the Leopard Finder to 'delete a file' in the time-stamped folders it exposes. Because of the changes made in the file system to support TM, what happens is only the link in that folder is deleted. Links in any other folders remain unaffected. Only when you remove the last link to the actual file does the file system mark its space unused in the directory, effectively the same as a normal file delete.
This is why just deleting an instance of a TM backed up file won't gain you more than a few bytes of drive space -- only by deleting all instances is the file space of the actual file freed up.
For similar reasons, Disk Utility's 'erase free space' function should be safe to use on a Time Machine volume for security reasons. Just don't use any disk utilities on this or any other Leopard-formatted drive that aren't rated for use with Leopard -- they don't know about the changes in the file system & could really mess things up if (for instance) they try to rebuild the directory structure from scratch.

Time machine is making two backup folders for my external drive

I have two external drives connected to my iMac, running 10.6.8. One is the Time Machine drive; the other is PhotosMovies. I've been having trouble for the last several months where about once a week my Time Machine backups won't finish, no matter how long I wait. I may have figured out that it gets hung when I have left a Sparsebundle open and the computer has gone asleep.
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How do I get TM to understand that PhotosMovies 1 is no longer on the system?

Does the drive have its own external power supply brick or is it bus-powered? Firewire or USB?
Try resetting the buses per the five steps listed in this document: What to do if your computer won't recognize a FireWire or USB device

External Hard Drive for Time Machine - 2 TB. Can I remove other external drives it was backing up?

I have an external drive dedicated for Time Machine, it's 2 TB. Last year I started backing up computer (500 GB) and one external hard drive that has 500 GB. IAlso, I have another external drive that is 1 TB connected to my computer. I noticed last week that I was hearing that other external drive sounding funny, so I thought I would add it to Time Machine to back up. Now today my Time Machine failed. I tested the drive or verified the drive and all was well. My thought is because I added this drive to Time Machine it failed because of not enough room? Is there a way to remove that other external hard drive and go back to just the computer and the 500 GB?
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aashton wrote:
Now today my Time Machine failed. I tested the drive or verified the drive and all was well. My thought is because I added this drive to Time Machine it failed because of not enough room? Is there a way to remove that other external hard drive and go back to just the computer and the 500 GB?
When you say the Time Machine failed, do you mean the drive containing the Time Machine backups failed, or what failed was trying to back up the new drive you added? If Time Machine was able to complete the first full backup of the new drive, then adding Time Machine didn't cause the problem, it was a coincidence. If Time Machine runs out of space it just starts deleting the oldest backup. I suppose it might fail on the first Time Machine run after the initial backup if it didn't have space to delete stuff. When you look at the Time Machine drive in the Finder, is it in fact full? If there's plenty of space left on it, it's not clear what the failure was about.
Also, testing and verifying with Disk Utility will spot some problems but not all.
aashton wrote:
I did btw out of a panic mode buy the GDrive that has Thunderbolt with 3 TB, yet I can't use Thunderbolt because that plug is used for my monitor, bummer. But, maybe using this new external drive I can back up the 500, the computer and the 1TB. Any thoughts?
Thunderbolt can be daisy-chained, so if it or other Thunderbolt devices have a pass-through port it might be possible to do all that. But it might be better to return the drive and get a USB 3 drive instead. It would be fast enough, cheaper, and more versatile. For a single hard drive (not a RAID or SSD), Thunderbolt is not really much faster than USB 3.

Time machine broke my Events an Projects on my external drive, help?

So, for reasons I'm not going to get into (or debate), I had to start using my scratch disk as a time machine backup today. When I set the computer to do the backup, it made it so that all of my events and projects on that disk no longer show up in FCPX. Anybody have any ideas?

Nothing you can do except either switch off Time Machine or move the Events and Projects to another disk.

Is there a way to use Time Machine to backup my Macbook Pro to an external drive connected to my iMac?

I recently purchased a Seagate Goflex Desk 2TB and I've already used Time Machine to backup my iMac running 10.5.8 to the drive. Is there a way to backup my Macbook Pro running 10.6.8 to the drive using Time Machine while the drive is still connected to my iMac? Any help is appreciated!

Choose Connect to Server from the Finder's Go menu, provide the first computer's IP address, log in, and set it up in the Time Machine pane of System Preferences.
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Yes, make sure the drive is not excluded under the Privacy tab in Time Machine.
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Can time machine backups and data live on the same external drive?

I have a 1TB drive, more than enough for my data and backups. Question is, I already have it partitioned as Mac OSX extended (Journaled), and when I plugged it in my new mac with my old data, it said, do you want to use this as a backup drive. I selected yes, not thinking anything. But then I wondered, can I continue saving new data on this drive (music, videos, photos, etc) AND use it as a time machine backup drive, or is it either or? Hope this question makes sense. Thanks!

To expand on Lyssa's answer a bit, it really depends on what other data you want to put there.
If it's something like "scratch" space for editing video, etc., then no problem, except perhaps some contention for the drive while TM backups are running. Be sure to exclude the partition from TM, via TM Preferences > Options.
But if it's important data that's not backed-up elsewhere, then you can let TM back-up that other partition along with your internal HD. That's better than no backup of it at all, but not much.
So, consider backing it up separately, either to another external HD or (especially if it's something like photos or videos that don't change a lot) to DVDs (that you can take off-site for extra security).
But whatever you do, don't put other data in the TM partition. That will probably bite you sooner or later!

Can Time Machine back up data stored on a mounted external drive?

Can Time Machine back up the data that I have stored on an external drive? It's mounted on the desktop but I can't seem to add it to Time Machine.
Is it that Time Machine doesn't back up mounted External Hard Drives? If so, does anyone have a hack?

then the problem is not those external drives. As I said, I've never seen this particular error message.
Try using a different connection or a different port for your TM drive. If that doesn't help I'm afraid your options are very limited.
Unfortunately, TM is configured in such a way that when anything goes wrong, there is usually nothing a user can do short of reformatting the TM drive and starting backups anew. I'm very much afraid that's what you are looking at.
At least, I have no other advice to offer.

My Time Machine will no longer back up to my external disk for unknown reasons. It would not accept my password and said the disk is read-only and damaged. How can I copy my files to my Mac so I can repair it?

My Time Machine will no longer back up to my external drive for unknown reasons. It began after a series of power outages (my equipment is protected by a surge protector with battery backup), and was shut down correctly. Then it began by not recognizing my disk and my Time Machine password, although I am positive it was correct. I tried NUMEROUS times to get into it. It says the disk is damaged and needs to be erased and started over. How can I back up my files on my Mac so I can do that? I have no other disk to back up to. I found the files in a folder called "Backups.backupdb", and tried to copy them into a folder, but get the message "The volume has the wrong case sensitivity for a backup." The "lost+found" folder did copy for me. Will I just have to lose 4 years of backups?

Hi there,
I have the same issue. Usually hangs after 10K od sometimes after 18MB of backup file.
Config: iTunes 10.4., Win 7 64bit, iPhone 4 with iOS 4.3.3
I tried all of these without success:
- deleted backups via iTunes / Preferences
- deleted backups from sync folder
- created a new admin user and tried to sync
- reinstalled iTunes
- ran all Windows updates, restarted, reinstalled iTunes
- ran iTunes / Diagnostics (says everything okay, only info which is strange: diag says I am not a admin user, which is not correct)
Nothing helped. Who can help. I hope someone from Apple can take care, as I seem not to be the only one. Actually iTunes is the worst part about iPhone. Hope with iOS 5 and Cloud sync to get rid of iTunes.
Any hints welcome,
Cheers,
Miguel-KA

Time Machine in combination with Airport Extreme and an external disk

I have a MacBook upgraded from Tiger 10.4 to *Snow Leopard OS X 10.6.1.* I'm now using *Time Machine* to make back-ups on a *MiniMax external drive* through an USB connection. However, I wish to make wireless back-ups by connecting the external drive to my *Airport Extreme*. I learned that this wasn't possible until the recent release by Apple of the software update "*About Time Machine and AirPort Updates v1.0*". The minimum system requirement for this software update is OS X 10.5.2. I should think this requirement is met because I have upgraded to 10.6.1. But when I try to install the software I get the message that the system requirement is at least 10.5.2. and as a result *I can't continue installing*. Apparently my OS update is not recognized by the software. Is there a solution for this problem? Many thanks.

GJinAmsterdam wrote:
I have a MacBook upgraded from Tiger 10.4 to *Snow Leopard OS X 10.6.1.* I'm now using *Time Machine* to make back-ups on a *MiniMax external drive* through an USB connection. However, I wish to make wireless back-ups by connecting the external drive to my *Airport Extreme*. I learned that this wasn't possible until the recent release by Apple of the software update "*About Time Machine and AirPort Updates v1.0*".
this has been possible for a long time, since about February 2008 when those updates came out.
The minimum system requirement for this software update is OS X 10.5.2. I should think this requirement is met because I have upgraded to 10.6.1. But when I try to install the software I get the message that the system requirement is at least 10.5.2. and as a result *I can't continue installing*. Apparently my OS update is not recognized by the software. Is there a solution for this problem? Many thanks.
you don't need to install those updates. they are for leopard, not snow leopard. you should be fine as is. do keep in mind that TM backups to air disks are not "officially" supported but they have worked for a long time. also, keep in midn that you'll need to start a new backup sequence once you move the drive to AEBS as remote backups are stored differently from directly attached ones.

Time Machine stopped backing up certain files

Hi, I am running OS X Server 10.5.4. (Yes, upgrade is planned)
Time Machine has been running fine, backing up everything, etc.
However, at some point, Time Machine stopped backing up certain files regularly. The affected files are all Frontier databases (frontierkernel.org). They are 'open' files, and I wonder if this is the cause. However, I know that they used to be backed up regularly, without problems. So, maybe Time Machine was updated in 10.5.4 to change this behavior?
If I quit Frontier and then reopen it, Time Machine will back up the files. So, this tells me that TM can back up open files... sometimes. But, if I let the machine run for days, TM often skips these files, even though they have been updated on disk.
I've checked and these files are not set to be excluded from TM.
Any ideas? Thanks.

Bill Dennen wrote:
Waiting for index to be ready (-911 < 0)
Bulk setting Spotlight attributes failed.</div>
These aren't the cause, but might indicate a problem with, or communicating with, your TM drive. Try the things in #D2 of the Time Machine - Troubleshooting *User Tip,* also at the top of this forum.
Everything else looks normal (assuming the files in question are on the 06-0834 drive).
Since the same files are backed-up sometimes but not others, it's probably also not something corrupted (usually, corruption will cause the backup to fail, but rarely a whole folder won't get backed-up).
So we're back to your original suspicion that they weren't backed-up because they were open. Normally, an open file will be backed-up. In the case of large databases, that's often a problem, as the entire database is backed-up if only a single small change is made, often taking up a lot of time and disk space. There are a many threads here about that.
There does appear to be an extended attribute that will prevent TM from backing up a file. XCODE seems to set that on it's "build" folders, for example. Perhaps the Frontier package sets it while the files are open, and removes it when they're closed? If so, maybe there's an option somewhere to disable that?
Can you check with the Sourceforge folks about that?
Otherwise, sorry, but I'm out of ideas.

Time Machine stopped updating files in subfolders on my external drive

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