Time Machine stuck during backup

From December 28 to January 13 my Time Machine functioned without issue, using an external Seagate Free Agent Drive (300 GB) with a 150 GB partition devoted to TM. For whatever reason I didn't happen to connect the drive from the 13th to the 16th, and now it appears to be freezing during the preparation process or very early in the backup.
I've looked at some of the non-complete packages to try and ascertain the problem - so far it appears to always hang while backing up the Applications folder. Why it is re-backing up this whole folder at once is beyond me, as I'm only aware of one program I've recently updated - Flip4Mac. Incidentally, this was the program is was halting on initially - so I added that to the exclude list. Next go at it, and its stuck on a different program. Then another. Then another.
Do I really need to exclude my whole Applications folder? That seems a bit counterintuitive to me.

I've discovered the culprit after some additional searching here. Apparently Time Machine does not function correctly while the iSight is enabled. In the past I've had no trouble with Time Machine running in the background with a variety of other processes ongoing, but apparently this one is problematic. After quitting Skype I've found that backups completed quickly and painlessly. Hopefully this post is helpful to others as well, and hopefully Apple addresses this - at least through improving Time Machine's dreadfully horrible Help files.

Similar Messages

Time Machine Stuck (Incremental backup, not Initial)

Hey...me again.
I was finally successful yesterday backing up 160GB of data with Time Machine.
However, this morning, the incremental backup is taking forever. It's been stuck at "3.6MB of 6.7MB" for over 20 minutes. It would seem to me that 6.7MB should be pretty quick to backup.
I have received these messages from TM Buddy:
Starting standard backup
Backing up to: /Volumes/Time Machine/Backups.backupdb
No pre-backup thinning needed: 100.0 MB requested (including padding), 279.56 GB available
Unable to rebuild path cache for source item. Partial source path:
Copied 305079 files (49.1 MB) from volume Macintosh HD.
No pre-backup thinning needed: 100.0 MB requested (including padding), 279.31 GB available
And Console shows this:
Aug 25 10:23:53 Kieran-Roys-MacBook-Pro /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[254]: Backup requested by user
Aug 25 10:23:53 Kieran-Roys-MacBook-Pro /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[254]: Starting standard backup
Aug 25 10:23:53 Kieran-Roys-MacBook-Pro /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[254]: Backing up to: /Volumes/Time Machine/Backups.backupdb
Aug 25 10:26:21 Kieran-Roys-MacBook-Pro /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[254]: No pre-backup thinning needed: 100.0 MB requested (including padding), 279.56 GB available
Aug 25 10:27:51 Kieran-Roys-MacBook-Pro /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[254]: Unable to rebuild path cache for source item. Partial source path:
Aug 25 10:41:06 Kieran-Roys-MacBook-Pro /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[254]: Copied 305079 files (49.1 MB) from volume Macintosh HD.
Aug 25 10:42:21 Kieran-Roys-MacBook-Pro /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[254]: No pre-backup thinning needed: 100.0 MB requested (including padding), 279.31 GB available
Any idea on how to resolve?
Thanks,
K

kieranroy wrote:
Hey...me again
Hi again. You seem to have really angered the god of TM, haven't you!
However, this morning, the incremental backup is taking forever. It's been stuck at "3.6MB of 6.7MB" for over 20 minutes. It would seem to me that 6.7MB should be pretty quick to backup.
Unable to rebuild path cache for source item. Partial source path:
This usually doesn't cause a real problem, as long as it's occasional.
Copied 305079 files (49.1 MB) from volume Macintosh HD.
This we see on occasion -- the crazy high file count, and very slow backup.
Aug 25 10:42:21 Kieran-Roys-MacBook-Pro /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd254: No pre-backup thinning needed: 100.0 MB requested (including padding), 279.31 GB available
Normally, TM will make a second, "catch-up" pass if changes were made during it's first pass. Usually this is very quick, but since the first one way very slow, this one may be worse.
Do you have any folders, particularly email mailboxes, with a very large number of files (thousands), that are actively being added-to or changed? There was a similar situation recently where an app named SpamSieve was putting messages into a "spam" folder, and the user never cleared it out. Clearing it out helped, but excluding it from Time Machine solved the problem.
Click here to download the TimeTracker app. It shows most of the files saved by TM for each backup (excluding some hidden/system files, etc.). I think it will only show completed backups, so you may not be able to find anything. But look at what's being backed-up to see if any of the files, even if there's only one, are in extremely large folders. If so, try excluding the folder (TM Preferences > Options).

Time Machine Freezes During Backup!

Hi there,
When I back up my computer for the first time using Time Machine, it gets to around 53.2 GB. After that, it sits there with the blue progress bar at the same level. Then, i get a message that says I did not eject the disk properly, and then Time Machine alerts me that it could not finish the backup. NOTE: When it says the disk has not been ejected properly, I still see the disk in both Finder and disk utility. Also, I currently have the disk in 2 partitions, but I'm only using the Mac OS X (Journaled) partition for my Time Machine backups. Please help! Like I said, it seems to eject my external hard drive (Hitachi 250 GB Simple Drive) after freezing up for a while. I am able to use other things on my computer the whole time. The only application that was open during the backup was iTunes. Here is the log from Time Machine buddy:
Starting standard backup
Backing up to: /Volumes/External HD/Backups.backupdb
Backup content size: 142.3 GB excluded items size: 30.7 GB for volume Macintosh HD
No pre-backup thinning needed: 133.85 GB requested (including padding), 213.91 GB available
Waiting for index to be ready (101)
Copied 48.9 GB of 111.5 GB, 250192 of 667394 items
Stopping backupd because the backup volume was ejected!
Stopping backup.
Error writing to backup log. NSFileHandleOperationException:* -[NSConcreteFileHandle writeData:]: Input/output error
Error: (-36) SrcErr:NO Copying /Users/********/Library/Mail/IMAP-********@******[email protected]/INBOX.imapmbox/Attachments/3234/2 to /Volumes/External HD/Backups.backupdb/*******’s MacBook/2011-03-12-104926.inProgress/A8B8FCD0-3EA2-4A4D-B313-4A9EE0C56252/Macin tosh HD/Users/********/Library/Mail/IMAP-*********@********[email protected]/INBOX.imapmbox/Attachments/3234
Error writing to backup log. NSFileHandleOperationException:* -[NSConcreteFileHandle writeData:]: Input/output error
Copied 259985 files (49.5 GB) from volume Macintosh HD.
Error writing to backup log. NSFileHandleOperationException:* -[NSConcreteFileHandle writeData:]: Input/output error
Copy stage failed with error:11
Error writing to backup log. NSFileHandleOperationException:* -[NSConcreteFileHandle writeData:]: Input/output error
Backup failed with error: 27
Thank you so much!
Message was edited by: Host

As a first step, launch Disk Utility, select the backup volume, and run "Verify Disk" (NOT "Repair Disk"). It will take a long time to run, maybe hours. If any errors are found, copy all data on the device to another drive, then run "Repair Disk." Be prepared for the possibility that "Repair Disk" may destroy the volume beyond recovery. It may also fail to repair the damage, in which case you should replace the device -- DO NOT erase it and continue to use it.

Time Machine stuck verifying backup at 70%

Time Machine is continually verifying my backup. It gets to about 70% and then gets stuck at that point.
I have left it for hours, including overnight, to complete and it remains at 70%.
It looks like it is using fsck to verify the backup.
I am unable to determine why it is getting stuck at this point and am looking for suggestions.
I am going to try the basics first such as re-starting the computer and the time capsule.
Thank you for your courage.

I was able to get my time machine verification to complete. The solution was actually pretty simple.
When I noticed it was once again 'stuck' at 71%, I increased the wait time for my computer to go to sleep from a duration of 1/2 hour to 3 hours.
This allowed the verification process to churn away without interruption. It took several hours but it did eventually complete.
Thank you for your courage!

Time Machine stalls during backup to external HD

About a month ago, Time Machine began to stall when attempting to backup to my external HDD. Now when I attempt to backup, the progress will reach ~3 KB/4GB and will stop. I have no idea what the problem is or how to fix it.
I have tried running repair disk on my external hard drive, i was able to backup to the point of 1.58GB/4.09 GB before the progress stalled. I performed a search in console for "backup" and found an error that occurred 3 hours after the backup was started. This was the error "7/28/12 3:15:00.439 AM com.apple.var-db-shadow-backup: Error adding file shadow". I dont know exactly what it means or what to do about it.

Jul 30 19:06:13 Users-MacBook-Pro com.apple.backupd[3973]: Starting standard backup
Jul 30 19:06:13 Users-MacBook-Pro mtmd[2561]: Set snapshot time:1343689575 (current time:1343689573)
Jul 30 19:06:13 Users-MacBook-Pro com.apple.backupd[3973]: Backing up to: /Volumes/Iomega HDD/Backups.backupdb
Jul 30 19:06:20 Users-MacBook-Pro com.apple.usbmuxd[21]: _SendDetachNotification (thread 0x7fff72651960): sending detach for device 00:c6:10:ac:88:0f@fe80::2c6:10ff:feac:880f._apple-mobdev._tcp.local.: _BrowseReplyReceivedCallback got bonjour removal.
Jul 30 19:06:20 Users-MacBook-Pro iTunes[2382]: _AMDDeviceDetached (thread 0x10fd75000): Device 'AMDevice 0x7f921e9f66b0 {UDID = 2d1d4facae3fbd7ea8002b8d571a3009c9bae7bb, device ID = 214, FullServiceName = 00:c6:10:ac:88:0f@fe80::2c6:10ff:feac:880f._apple-mobdev._tcp.local.}' detached.
Jul 30 19:06:20 Users-MacBook-Pro iTunes[2382]: _NotificationSocketReadCallbackGCD (thread 0x7fff72651960): Unexpected connection closure...
Jul 30 19:06:20 Users-MacBook-Pro ath[2407]: _NotificationSocketReadCallbackGCD (thread 0x7fff72651960): Unexpected connection closure...
Jul 30 19:07:06 Users-MacBook-Pro com.apple.usbmuxd[21]: _SendAttachNotification (thread 0x7fff72651960): sending attach for device 00:c6:10:ac:88:0f@fe80::2c6:10ff:feac:880f._apple-mobdev._tcp.local.: _GetAddrInfoReplyReceivedCallback matched.
Jul 30 19:07:06 Users-MacBook-Pro usbmuxd[21]: _AMDeviceConnectByAddressAndPort (thread 0x100781000): IPv4
Jul 30 19:07:06 Users-MacBook-Pro iTunes[2382]: _AMDDeviceAttachedCallbackv3 (thread 0x10fd75000): Device 'AMDevice 0x7f921c9fa7f0 {UDID = 2d1d4facae3fbd7ea8002b8d571a3009c9bae7bb, device ID = 215, FullServiceName = 00:c6:10:ac:88:0f@fe80::2c6:10ff:feac:880f._apple-mobdev._tcp.local.}' attached.
Jul 30 19:07:06 Users-MacBook-Pro ath[2407]: _AMDDeviceAttachedCallbackv3 (thread 0x7fff72651960): Device 'AMDevice 0x10433b820 {UDID = 2d1d4facae3fbd7ea8002b8d571a3009c9bae7bb, device ID = 215, FullServiceName = 00:c6:10:ac:88:0f@fe80::2c6:10ff:feac:880f._apple-mobdev._tcp.local.}' attached.
Jul 30 19:07:06 Users-MacBook-Pro ath[2407]: _AMDDeviceAttachedCallbackv3 (thread 0x7fff72651960): Device 'AMDevice 0x104243d30 {UDID = 2d1d4facae3fbd7ea8002b8d571a3009c9bae7bb, device ID = 215, FullServiceName = 00:c6:10:ac:88:0f@fe80::2c6:10ff:feac:880f._apple-mobdev._tcp.local.}' attached.
Jul 30 19:07:41 Users-MacBook-Pro com.apple.usbmuxd[21]: _SendDetachNotification (thread 0x7fff72651960): sending detach for device 00:c6:10:ac:88:0f@fe80::2c6:10ff:feac:880f._apple-mobdev._tcp.local.: _BrowseReplyReceivedCallback got bonjour removal.
Jul 30 19:07:41 Users-MacBook-Pro iTunes[2382]: _AMDDeviceDetached (thread 0x10fd75000): Device 'AMDevice 0x7f921c9fa7f0 {UDID = 2d1d4facae3fbd7ea8002b8d571a3009c9bae7bb, device ID = 215, FullServiceName = 00:c6:10:ac:88:0f@fe80::2c6:10ff:feac:880f._apple-mobdev._tcp.local.}' detached.
Jul 30 19:07:41 Users-MacBook-Pro iTunes[2382]: _NotificationSocketReadCallbackGCD (thread 0x7fff72651960): Unexpected connection closure...
Jul 30 19:07:41 Users-MacBook-Pro ath[2407]: _NotificationSocketReadCallbackGCD (thread 0x7fff72651960): Unexpected connection closure...
Jul 30 19:08:23 Users-MacBook-Pro com.apple.backupd[3973]: 4.57 GB required (including padding), 213.21 GB available
Jul 30 19:10:28 Users-MacBook-Pro com.apple.usbmuxd[21]: _SendAttachNotification (thread 0x7fff72651960): sending attach for device 00:c6:10:ac:88:0f@fe80::2c6:10ff:feac:880f._apple-mobdev._tcp.local.: _GetAddrInfoReplyReceivedCallback matched.
Jul 30 19:10:28 Users-MacBook-Pro usbmuxd[21]: _AMDeviceConnectByAddressAndPort (thread 0x100781000): IPv4
Jul 30 19:10:28 Users-MacBook-Pro ath[2407]: _AMDDeviceAttachedCallbackv3 (thread 0x7fff72651960): Device 'AMDevice 0x104338da0 {UDID = 2d1d4facae3fbd7ea8002b8d571a3009c9bae7bb, device ID = 216, FullServiceName = 00:c6:10:ac:88:0f@fe80::2c6:10ff:feac:880f._apple-mobdev._tcp.local.}' attached.
Jul 30 19:10:28 Users-MacBook-Pro iTunes[2382]: _AMDDeviceAttachedCallbackv3 (thread 0x10fd75000): Device 'AMDevice 0x7f921ed04060 {UDID = 2d1d4facae3fbd7ea8002b8d571a3009c9bae7bb, device ID = 216, FullServiceName = 00:c6:10:ac:88:0f@fe80::2c6:10ff:feac:880f._apple-mobdev._tcp.local.}' attached.
Jul 30 19:10:29 Users-MacBook-Pro ath[2407]: _AMDDeviceAttachedCallbackv3 (thread 0x7fff72651960): Device 'AMDevice 0x1040be1e0 {UDID = 2d1d4facae3fbd7ea8002b8d571a3009c9bae7bb, device ID = 216, FullServiceName = 00:c6:10:ac:88:0f@fe80::2c6:10ff:feac:880f._apple-mobdev._tcp.local.}' attached.
Jul 30 19:11:03 Users-MacBook-Pro com.apple.usbmuxd[21]: _SendDetachNotification (thread 0x7fff72651960): sending detach for device 00:c6:10:ac:88:0f@fe80::2c6:10ff:feac:880f._apple-mobdev._tcp.local.: _BrowseReplyReceivedCallback got bonjour removal.
Jul 30 19:11:03 Users-MacBook-Pro iTunes[2382]: _AMDDeviceDetached (thread 0x10fd75000): Device 'AMDevice 0x7f921ed04060 {UDID = 2d1d4facae3fbd7ea8002b8d571a3009c9bae7bb, device ID = 216, FullServiceName = 00:c6:10:ac:88:0f@fe80::2c6:10ff:feac:880f._apple-mobdev._tcp.local.}' detached.
Jul 30 19:11:03 Users-MacBook-Pro iTunes[2382]: _NotificationSocketReadCallbackGCD (thread 0x7fff72651960): Unexpected connection closure...
Jul 30 19:11:03 Users-MacBook-Pro ath[2407]: _NotificationSocketReadCallbackGCD (thread 0x7fff72651960): Unexpected connection closure...

Time Machine crashing during backup

I have been having issues with TM for the past 2-3 days. It worked fine for the past year and has suddenly stopped working and generating errors after every attempt. I have verified, repaired permissions on both my internal HD and the Lacie 1 TB external drive (partitioned into 2x500G, one for TM and one for media). I have also erased the partition and resetup TM but still no luck. The backup seems to fail after copying 1.8GB of data of 178 GB. I have attached a copy of the log from Time Machine Buddy.
Thanks for any help.
Starting standard backup
Backing up to: /Volumes/Time Machine Backup /Backups.backupdb
Error parsing SystemMigration.log to determine source volume of system migration.
No pre-backup thinning needed: 198.26 GB requested (including padding), 431.11 GB available
Waiting for index to be ready (101)
backupd(317,0xb0185000) malloc: * mmap(size=2720010240) failed (error code=12)\n* error: can't allocate region\n* set a breakpoint in mallocerrorbreak to debug
backupd(317,0xb0185000) malloc: * mmap(size=2720010240) failed (error code=12)
* error: can't allocate region
* set a breakpoint in mallocerrorbreak to debug
terminate called after throwing an instance of 'std::bad_alloc'
what(): std::bad_alloc
2010-04-21 22:44:23.453 ReportCrash[320:1207] Saved crash report for backupd[317] version ??? (???) to /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/backupd2010-04-21-224423localhost.crash

Going to give the hardware test a run to see what it comes back with. I am quite confused as I am not seeing any other issues with the computer.
I have been working on computers for years and still do it for a living and can't figure this out for the life of me (The reason I use a mac is because I deal with PC issues all day long). I honestly am considering doing the actual complete wipe and reinstall even though its probably not going to help. I'm at a loss here and its frustrating because I deleted all my old backups as I originally thought it was the HD causing the problem and tried formatting the drive.
Thanks for all your help...Your assistance here is invaluable and you are great at articulating troubleshooting steps.
Crash Log:
Process: backupd [225]
Path: /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd
Identifier: backupd
Version: ??? (???)
Code Type: X86 (Native)
Parent Process: launchd [1]
Date/Time: 2010-04-22 19:16:59.553 -0600
OS Version: Mac OS X 10.6.3 (10D578)
Report Version: 6
Exception Type: EXC_CRASH (SIGABRT)
Exception Codes: 0x0000000000000000, 0x0000000000000000
Crashed Thread: 2
Application Specific Information:
abort() called
Thread 0: Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-thread
0 libSystem.B.dylib 0x94b632fa machmsgtrap + 10
1 libSystem.B.dylib 0x94b63a67 mach_msg + 68
2 com.apple.CoreFoundation 0x968f800f __CFRunLoopRun + 2079
3 com.apple.CoreFoundation 0x968f70f4 CFRunLoopRunSpecific + 452
4 com.apple.CoreFoundation 0x968fd034 CFRunLoopRun + 84
5 backupd 0x0001067d 0x1000 + 63101
6 backupd 0x00005f59 0x1000 + 20313
Thread 1: Dispatch queue: com.apple.libdispatch-manager
0 libSystem.B.dylib 0x94b89b42 kevent + 10
1 libSystem.B.dylib 0x94b8a25c dispatch_mgrinvoke + 215
2 libSystem.B.dylib 0x94b89719 dispatch_queueinvoke + 163
3 libSystem.B.dylib 0x94b894be dispatch_workerthread2 + 240
4 libSystem.B.dylib 0x94b88f41 pthreadwqthread + 390
5 libSystem.B.dylib 0x94b88d86 start_wqthread + 30
Thread 2 Crashed:
0 libSystem.B.dylib 0x94bd04be _semwait_signalnocancel + 10
1 libSystem.B.dylib 0x94bd03a2 nanosleep$NOCANCEL$UNIX2003 + 166
2 libSystem.B.dylib 0x94c4b2f2 usleep$NOCANCEL$UNIX2003 + 61
3 libSystem.B.dylib 0x94c6c9a8 abort + 105
4 libstdc++.6.dylib 0x98c8cfda _gnu_cxx::__verbose_terminatehandler() + 433
5 libstdc++.6.dylib 0x98c8b17a _cxxabiv1::_terminate(void (*)()) + 10
6 libstdc++.6.dylib 0x98c8b1ba _cxxabiv1::_unexpected(void (*)()) + 0
7 libstdc++.6.dylib 0x98c8b2b8 _gxx_exception_cleanup(_Unwind_ReasonCode, UnwindException*) + 0
8 libstdc++.6.dylib 0x98c8b658 operator new(unsigned long) + 101
9 libstdc++.6.dylib 0x98c8b703 operator new[](unsigned long) + 17
10 com.apple.DesktopServices 0x903096c4 TCFURLInfo::CopyExtendedAttribute(char const*, __CFString const*, int, __CFData const**) + 430
11 com.apple.DesktopServices 0x902c965b TCFURLInfo::CopyExtendedAttributes(__CFArray const*&, __CFArray const*&, unsigned long) const + 713
12 com.apple.DesktopServices 0x902c8e86 TCopyItem::TCopyItem(unsigned long, TCopyQueue*, TCountedPtr<TCFURLInfo>, TCountedPtr<TCFURLInfo>, TCopyBuffer*, unsigned long) + 454
13 com.apple.DesktopServices 0x902c89d2 TCopyReader::GetNextItem() + 1792
14 com.apple.DesktopServices 0x902c704a TCopyReader::Read(unsigned long long, TCountedPtr<TCFURLInfo> const&, TCountedPtr<TCFURLInfo> const&) + 166
15 com.apple.DesktopServices 0x902fd8ff TFSCopyOperation::CopyToTarget() + 613
16 com.apple.DesktopServices 0x902ffb00 TFSCopyOperation::DoCopy(TCountedPtr<TCFURLInfo> const&) + 780
17 com.apple.DesktopServices 0x90300170 TFSCopyOperation::Run() + 174
18 com.apple.DesktopServices 0x902f5a05 _NodeOperation + 438
19 backupd 0x0001978c 0x1000 + 100236
20 backupd 0x00018c90 0x1000 + 97424
21 backupd 0x0001325b 0x1000 + 74331
22 backupd 0x0000d96e 0x1000 + 51566
23 backupd 0x000089a3 0x1000 + 31139
24 com.apple.Foundation 0x934398dc -[NSThread main] + 45
25 com.apple.Foundation 0x9343988c _NSThread__main_ + 1499
26 libSystem.B.dylib 0x94b90a19 pthreadstart + 345
27 libSystem.B.dylib 0x94b9089e thread_start + 34
Thread 3:
0 libSystem.B.dylib 0x94b91262 _semwaitsignal + 10
1 libSystem.B.dylib 0x94b90f1e pthread_condwait + 1191
2 libSystem.B.dylib 0x94b92bb8 pthreadcondwait$UNIX2003 + 73
3 ...ple.CoreServices.CarbonCore 0x94598aee TSWaitOnCondition + 126
4 ...ple.CoreServices.CarbonCore 0x9458443d TSWaitOnConditionTimedRelative + 202
5 ...ple.CoreServices.CarbonCore 0x9457fe0f MPWaitOnQueue + 250
6 com.apple.DesktopServices 0x902c7ce1 TCopyQueue::Dequeue() + 69
7 com.apple.DesktopServices 0x902c7642 TCopyWriter::GetNextItem() + 42
8 com.apple.DesktopServices 0x902c730f TCopyWriter::Write() + 131
9 com.apple.DesktopServices 0x902c6c25 TCopyWriter::WriteTaskProc(void*) + 75
10 ...ple.CoreServices.CarbonCore 0x94563eb6 PrivateMPEntryPoint + 68
11 libSystem.B.dylib 0x94b90a19 pthreadstart + 345
12 libSystem.B.dylib 0x94b9089e thread_start + 34
Thread 2 crashed with X86 Thread State (32-bit):
eax: 0x0000003c ebx: 0x94bd0309 ecx: 0xb010008c edx: 0x94bd04be
edi: 0xa0639b10 esi: 0xb01000e8 ebp: 0xb01000c8 esp: 0xb010008c
ss: 0x0000001f efl: 0x00000247 eip: 0x94bd04be cs: 0x00000007
ds: 0x0000001f es: 0x0000001f fs: 0x0000001f gs: 0x00000037
cr2: 0xffe2aa10

Time Machine 'growing' during backup.

I've had this issue before, but has only just become a problem.
Basically, Time Machine starts, and (in Console) says it needs to backup 28.2MB of files ... here's the console text:
29/08/2012 18:53:09.181 com.apple.backupd[27535]: Will copy (28.2 MB) from iMac
29/08/2012 18:53:09.191 com.apple.backupd[27535]: Found 455 files (28.2 MB) needing backup
29/08/2012 18:53:09.227 com.apple.backupd[27535]: 403.3 MB required (including padding), 16.93 GB available
However, when it backs up, this size grows (it's currently counting up from about 6.95GB) until it says there's not enough room on the backup disk. If it only needs 28.2MB, why is it appearing to do a full 'first' backup?
I now cannot backup via Time Machine, as it's saying that I don't have the space. I've tried deleting the 'in.progress' file from the backup disk, and the .plist file from the root Library directory – but no joy: it still gets bigger and BIGGER.
Any one having the same issue?

I've heard virtual machines can cause issues, but I don't have any!
The only solution I've had is to manually (via TM's interface) a handful of my oldest backups. Afterwards, it backed up 58.4Gb and is working okay at the moment.
As with your backup, it said it was backing up much more than this (around 90-100GB), despite only copying 58.4Gb. I think it's just a case of TM not deleting outdated backups effectively when disk space is tight. My TM disk was rather full – but I hoped TM would deal with that!
I'll keep an eye on it, as much of what is backed up I wouldn't consider 'new' or altered files (many of my Apps, for instance, in the last big backup. Whether this is a Mountain Lion issue, I can't say, as it's taken two years to fill up my disk, so it's seen a few system migrations in its time.
Anyway, I'll keep an eye on it and see what happens when my free TM space gets to around 30Gb (which is when the problem occured).

Time Machine error during backup

After using my external USB drive as my backup target for several months I am not getting the following error:
Unable to complete backup. An error occurred while copying files to the backup volume.
My backup volume is an external USB formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled). I've reformatted and verified the external disk. I've also checked the permissions and verified my startup disk.
The same thing also happens on my firewire 400 external disk. I've tried the same things on that one.
Any one got any ideas? Thank you in advance.

You might try looking in the console log. Use the Console application in your Utilities folder. Look for entries related to the backup to see if there is more information that could give you a clue to the cause. In addition to a problem with the backup drive, the error could be caused by a corrupted file you are trying to back up.

Time Machine fails to backup HD and stalls computer when backing up to external HD (Western Digital WD5000MT) when using Firewire 800 but works fine using USB

I have a mid 2012 MBP (MacbookPro9,1) running Mountain Lion 10.8.2. When I start a Time Machine backup to an external Western Digital HD (WD5000MT) connected using a Firewire 800 cable, my open programs stop responding and in general my computer freezes up not allowing me to open activity monitor or the console utility. I can't even shut down or restart my computer and must hard boot to reset. Though removing the firewire cable that goes to the external HD can sometimes get my system working again. However, the WD external HD also has a usb port and when I connect it to my computer via a USB cable, Time Machine seems to backup my system fine without stalling my computer. This same external HD worked fine with Firewire 800 using my old late 2007 MBP running snow leopard. I should note that my brother has the exact same model WD external HD and he also had issues with the firewire port on his MBP running mountain lion. I have run the disk utility checking for disk/file permission errors and the drive itself seems fine. I initially formatted that drive as ExFAT but while troubleshooting reformatted to HFS+ and still had the same issue. I tested using a different firewire 800 cable but still had the same issue. Can't think of anything else to do. I don't have another firewire-compatible device to test if it is the HD vs the firewire port. I would prefer to use the firewire port for quicker transfer speeds but I'm stuck with USB for now. Any suggestions?

Maybe these will help:
http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH11194
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3275 (note - older article)
Have you tried looking at the Western Digital web site to see if you can find anything?
http://support.wdc.com

Time Machine freezes during back up to Passport Ext drive

Time Machine freezes during first back up to My Passport Ext drive. It is a 1TB, and seems to keep stopping at 6 to 10GB stage so never actually backs up. I have excluded files to limit first backup to about 40GB.

you sure this is a Mac Pro and not a MacBook Pro first. Most every report of issues with bus powered like Passport are best solved using a drive case with its own power instead.

When time machine does a backup I get an error message

Added a new Seagate 3T external as a backup drive Every time Time Machine does a backup I get an error message that the disk was not ejected properly, no bid deal just a pain. System 3.5GHz Intel Core i7... 16GB DDR# memory ... OSX 10.8.4. How do I get rid of this error??

Notes/Tips on OS X 10.8.5 External Drive Eject During Sleep:
Updated the previous page on OS X 10.8.5 Problems/Notes and Tips with more info regarding external drive 'eject' in sleep and on drives going to sleep/spinning down despite ES settings. I ran some tests with drives I had but so far have not seen those problems with my setup/drives at least. Apparently many have based on the still growing number of threads on the subject in Apple's Mountain Lion forum.
... you posted inaccurate information about a Mac that I pointed out.
Posts from and about Hackintosh do get removed.

Time Machine, Encryption and Backup

Hi,
I am using an encryption software to encrypt some folders of my account (called Kryptospace: http://www.cemacsoft.com/products/kryptospace/kryptospace.html)
So here is the situation:
* In Documents I have a folder called Private, this folder is the mount of an encrypted DMG (Located in ~/Library/Application Support/Kryptospace).
* I have got Spotlight to reference this DMG - which works fine
* By default TM set the folder as Excluded so I removed that from the Preference Panel
* But I noticed that Time Machine does not backup the data within the folder
Do you know how could I get TM to backup this folder, I don't mind if it's not encrypted since the backup is secured (unlike a laptop that I could lose).
Thanks & Regards,
Daniel

Daniel,
As long as Time Machine is backing up the disk image, itself, it is keeping your files backed up. The only problem with this scenario is that the entire disk image file must be re-written during every backup for which files inside the disk image have changed (the disk image file will have been modified, so a new, complete copy is backed up). This is less efficient from the standpoint of disk space usage.
What I have posted above will hold true, as long as the third-party software doesn't do something odd with the disk image. You are aware that there really is no need to use a third-party solution to do something that OS X, by itself, can handle quite well? You could create your own encrypted disk image using Disk Utility, store it somewhere convenient in your HOME folder, then create an alias that points to some location inside the disk image, and the results would be the same. If you included the key (password) for the image in your Keychain, access from your account would be seamless and transparent.
Scott

Time machine won't backup, yet plenty of space & not much used on Mac HD

Well, this is yet another "Time machine won't backup becuase there is not enough space" thread. I have searched Google and threads here but it's still a mystery why this error is occurring and it seems there is no clear solution. I also looked at the Apple Time Machine errors FAQ as well.
Here are my specs and what I have tried so far.
2010 Mac Pro Quad Core with 1 TB hard drive with 12 GB RAM. (137 GB used so far on internal Mac hard drive disk, so about 863 GB free space).
- New external 1 TB hard drive initialized as Time Machine backup disk when inserted for the first time.
The exact error I am getting is this: "This backup is too large for the backup disk. The backup requires 1.80 TB but only 999.20 GB are available."
I have tried deleting the Time Machine system preference, reinitializing the external disk, clearing the system caches with Cocktail, restarting and letting Time machine ask me all over again if I wanted to use the external drive for Time Machine. Still the same error.
My question is how on earth can 1.80 TB be required for the backup when I only have 137 GB of used space?

danomatic12 wrote:
My question is how on earth can 1.80 TB be required for the backup when I only have 137 GB of used space?
Two possibilities:
There's another disk (or disks) connected to your Mac. If they're formatted HFS+, Time Machine is trying to back it/them up as well. You can exclude them per #10 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). The 1.8 TB includes 20% for temporary workspace on the TM drive, so TM is estimating the backup at about 1.5 TB.
Something on your internal HD is corrupted, causing an incorrect calculation. Verify your internal HD, per #6 in [Formatting, Partitioning, Verifying, and Repairing Disks|http://web.me.com/pondini/AppleTips/DU.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of the +Using Snow Leopard+ forum).

How do I use a Mac Mini + Airport Express + Time Machine disk to backup another iMac

How do I use a Mac Mini + Airport Express + Time Machine disk to backup another iMac?
The question pretty much says it all.
I have a Mac Mini with an attached 3TB Hard Drive used for Time Machine Backups.
I have an Airport Extreme base station which services that machine plus several others.
I would like to backup my new iMac and a MacBook Pro to the Mac Mini.
What do I need to do on the mini to export that hard drive so that it can be used as a Time Machine target from the other systems?
All systems are running 10.6.8.

Well you would have to do backups over a network which is much slower and has highest chance of becoming corrupt. I think your best option would be to get an apple time capsule to act as a network and back if thats how you wanna do that

HT201250 Can I recover the backups from Time Machine, but the backups is deleted by the Time Machine!

Unfortunately, the Time Macchine deleted my oldest backups in my hard drive.
I have the important files in the backups.
So hope someone could help me to recover the backups.

Time Machine will remove old backups automatically. It tells you when it does, but of course by then it's too late.
There is no recovering deleted backups, since it was necessary to overwrite them with newer backups.
For further explanation read the following entries from Apple Support Communities contributor Pondini's Time Machine FAQ:
12. Should I delete old backups? If so, How?
20. Once my Mac is backed-up, can I delete some stuff to save space?
Time Machine is for backups. It is not an archiving utility. To archive files requires something like one of these:
Carbon Copy Cloner ($39.95) http://sites.fastspring.com/bombich/product/ccc
or
SuperDuper! ($27.95) http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html

Time Machine stuck during backup

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