Time machine/TC is backing up suddenly my entire disc again.

hi - anyone have an idea why TC is backing up entire external HD again? i rearanged the folders on it but i can't put my finger on wheater or not that's when it started backing up everything again... would that "confuse it" to think that it's all new content?
it's a first gen TC on which i upgraded the HD capacity.
OSX MT Lion, imac 27 in/3.4 ghz/32 gb
thanks so much!

Do you mean it is backing up the entire external drive on every backup? I would not be surprised if it did it once for the reorganisation.. but should not do it continually.
Are you doing the backup over wireless? That does tend to cause a level of corruption.
You should get some messages from TM why it is doing what it is doing.
Load the widget to get some log info from TM.
A1 here
http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
There is also a few guides to fixing continual full backups or over large backups.

Similar Messages

Time machine no longer backing up...please help!

I've scanned a lot of the posts already so I'm going to try to include as much information as I can:
*The last time TM performed a backup was on 3/15 of this year. (hmmm...now that I look at it...perhaps it was the Ides of March that botched it all?...i digress...) All of the sudden it was telling me that my backups were huge (can't remember specifically how big at the moment) and that it could not complete the back up.
*When I look in my backup volume (500GB WDMB) in the backups.backupdb folder under my computer, I see a file that is named 2009-03-15-145335.inprogress...no idea what that means but I thought I'd mention it.
*My HD shows 465GB capacity with 139GB available.
*To my knowledge, I do not run any programs like Parallels. (This was mentioned as a possible problem in other posts so I thought I'd include that info)
*I just downloaded the TM widget and attempted to do another backup, which also failed, the details of which I will post here:
+Starting standard backup+
+Backing up to: /Volumes/My Book/Backups.backupdb+
+Starting pre-backup thinning: 18.07 GB requested (including padding), 4.32 GB available+
+No expired backups exist - deleting oldest backups to make room+
+Error: backup disk is full - all 0 possible backups were removed, but space is still needed.+
+Backup Failed: unable to free 18.07 GB needed space+
+Backup failed with error: Not enough available disk space on the target volume.+
+65 days since last backup+
Please advise! Thanks for any help!
Cecilia

Pondini wrote:
CeciMami wrote:
Then either hold down the +Option +key while selecting the TM icon in your Menubar (or control-click/right-click the TM icon in your Dock) and take the +Browse Other Time Machine Disks+ option. Select your TM disk, then again note the oldest backup you see.
When I do that, I don't get a "Browse other TM disks" option.
Uh, you should. Are you sure you're on 10.5.6? Try this one again. What options do you see?
Ok, I'm a dork, just tried it again and got the option. Checked the date on the backup and it is the same, March 15th.
Do you often go several days (more than 10 or so) without a backup?
I have never gone that long without a backup. The only reason I stopped was because TM stopped doing them. About two weeks ago I got aggravated and just turned TM off because I was tired of getting those error messages...but I really want to resolve this issue since I have very important pictures/movies/stuff on here that I want to be safe and backed up!
That's the only other reason I can think of that would cause TM to do new, full backups, and perhaps start a new sequence.
If it does that, sometimes it thinks you have a new Mac. Then it won't delete the oldest backups from the old sequence to make room for new ones (because it thinks they're for a different Mac).
Very carefully, look at your TM disk again with the Finder (this is probably best in List mode (View > As List).
In the Backups.backupdb folder should be a single folder with your computer name (but I suspect there may be more).
There is only one folder, named after my computer.
In that folder should be folders named with dates and times, like the one you found (but without ".inProgress" at the end).
See if there are more than one with your computer name, and the range of dates in each one.
The only folder with a date (other than the .inprogress one) is listed as 2009-03-15-135352. When I look it there, there seems to be a happy backup inside.
Your earlier post said *My HD shows 465GB capacity with 139GB available.* I assume that's your internal HD? How big is your TM disk?
My TM disk is listed as having a capacity of 465.76GB with 4.32GB available.

I'm running Pages version 5.2 on a Desktop Mac version 10.9.2. with the Pages app open how do I use the Time Machine to go back five hours to see the work?

I'm running Pages version 5.2 on a Desktop Mac version 10.9.2. With the Pages app open how do I use the Time Machine to go back five hours to see my page? Can I access Time Machine within an app like Pages? How do I enter Time Machine within the application? It always takes me to the Finder. I apolgise for the mumbo jumbo. I simply do not know how to use Time Machine. It makes sense when I follow the Tutorial but then I lose it.

OK. You've kind of skipped over the reason why you want to go back five hours, but my assumption would be that you've made changes to a Pages file that you want to revert.
There are two ways to tackle this. From Pages itself, open the current version of your document, and from the File menu, click Revert To, and Browse All Versions. You'll then be in the Time Machine interface for that file, and can browse back to the version you want.
Or, outside of Pages, you can select the file (or the folder it was originally in, if you've since deleted it) and enter Time Machine from the TM menu (it sounds like you've already tried this?)
best
Matt

Having downloaded Mavericks to my IMac I now find Time Machine couldn't back up to the Time Machine HDD. I am using a WD 1TB independent Hard drive

Having downloaded Mavericks to my IMac two weeks ago, I now find Time Machine couldn't back up to the Time Machine HDD. I am using a WD 1TB External Hard drive. I understand that a number of people have lost data since installing Mavericks on their Western Digital external drives. Has anyone any futher info. Or is there a better way of backing up my computer. Thanks. Lee

Check the More Like This section at the right particularly i upgraded my imac hard drive to a 2tb drive. how do i use time machine to get my computer back to normal?

Time MAchine won't back up due to not enough space, but there is

TIme Machine won't back up. Displays this:
Actual capacity of the external backup drive is 999.68 GB and available is 135 gb .
The imac internal HD capacity is 999.01GB and used space is 636.321 GB.
This problem has occured periodically in the last 12 months or so, so prior to OS version10.8 install in Jul 2012.
I previously called AppleCare, as I have a contract, and tech said I just need to reformat the external drive and start over.
I did that the last time this happened a few months ago, but I don't like that option, as it eliminates all the prior backups,
What if I needed to try to recover something I deleted 3 weeks ago, for example. I couldn't do so as all backups would have been deleted, of course, by me having refomatted the drive and basically starting over. Also, I noted in another post about a person having a problem due to using a partitioned drive. Mine is not partition, as far as I can tell. See this:
Any ideas? Thanks

The solution is essentially "simple." You need a larger hard drive for these backups or you need to use a different backup solution. By this I mean using backup software that does not preserve an archive of old copies of a file, but simply erases old copies in order to replace them with the new copies. By replacing your backup drive can always accommodate the drive it backs up if it is large enough - say the same size. I can suggest:
Backup Software Recommendations
Carbon Copy Cloner
Data Backup
Deja Vu
SuperDuper!
Synk Pro
Tri-Backup
Others may be found at VersionTracker or MacUpdate.
Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on backup and restore. Also read How to Back Up and Restore Your Files.
All of the above are capable of being scheduled. Synk Pro makes immediate backups of any changed file on the hard drive. You may configure it to archive changes (like Time Machine) or to delete prior copies.

Time machine won't back up

I just got a new MacBook Air with Lion. On my old Mac, I thought I remembered that Time Machine would only backup files that have changed since the last time I backed up my drive. I used Time Machine to transfer my old desktop to my new Air. Today when I tried to use TIme Machine to back it up, it said I did not have enough space.
I'm not clear if it's trying to back up the whole drive or just things that have changed since the install (which is all I need).
What should I do to make more room for my current back up or to instruct Time Machine only to back up items that have changed since the last backup?
Thanks.

FWIW I had this sort of problem which generally #$%^& me off. I had a brainstorm and tried somebody's MBP and it worked just as expected. So I reinstalled Leopard after erasing and formating the drive and using time machine off my external LaCie.
That didn't work worth a #$%^&
So I once again, reformatted the drive and reinstalled leopard FROM THE DVD and then used time machine as part of the migration assistant, and everything worked perfectly, and I can now use TC with my Mac Pro octo.
So something MIGHT be hosed on your system, and if you feel that you have a solid back up, reinstall off the DVD and then migrate with time machine.
Hope this helps. I spent about 2 days getting this straightened out.

Time Machine won't back up after system restore

I just restored my system after a failure, and now Time Machine won't back up my hard drive. It gets about 40 out of 90 Gigabytes done, and then gives me an error message that just says that there was an error while backing up, and doesn't give any other information. I ran a Verify Disk with Disk Utility, and there is nothing wrong with the backup drive, and there is more than 200 Gigabytes of space left on that drive.
Thank You.

zhoffmanster wrote:
Ok, so here's the thing: I tried backing up again today, and it worked just fine. Before, what would happen is a message would pop saying "an error has occurred during backup" (or something close to that). The point is, the message didn't give any detail.
No, the point is, you seem to have ignored this:
See the Time Machine - Troubleshooting post at the top of this forum.

Time Machine won't back up to drive. Five days backing up so far

A week ago I got a message saying that Time Machine could not back up to my external hard drive but that I could access my old backups. I pointed Time Machine to another hard drive and it has been backing up there for five days so far - all the time stating Time remaining 5 seconds. It is now in a cleanup mode. I have been reading about various bugs concerning Time Machine and wonder if there is a fix I can carry out so that I can use the original external hard drive again.

Stop the backup. Boot in safe mode and log in. Note: If FileVault is enabled, or if a firmware password is set, or if the boot volume is a software RAID, you can’t do this. Ask for further instructions.
Safe mode is much slower to boot and run than normal, and some things won’t work at all, including Wi-Fi on certain iMacs. The next normal boot may also be somewhat slow.
The login screen appears even if you usually log in automatically. You must know your login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin. Test while in safe mode. Same problem? After testing, reboot as usual (i.e., not in safe mode) and verify that you still have the problem. Post the results of the test.

Time Machine won't back up external drive to Time Capsule

I recently got a Time Capsule, and successfully set it up to back up my iMac's primary drive, but for some reason Time Machine won't back up my external drive to the Time Capsule.
I removed the external drive from the exclusion list in System Preferences > Time Machine > Options, and from what I've read this should be sufficient to make Time Machine back up the drive.
The external drive is connected to my iMac via Thunderbolt > Thunderbolt-to-Firewire adaptor > Firewire 800 input, and the Time Capsule is connected via Ethernet to my LAN.
Since I'm using Ethernet, I've disabled Wi-Fi on the Time Capusule by going to AirPort Utility > My Time Capsule > Edit > Wireless > Network Mode > Off.
The reason I believe the external drive is not being backed up is because when I click the Time Machine icon in the upper-right status bar and choose "Enter Time Machine", none of the folders on external drive show any older versions.
Furthermore, when I click Finder > Time Machine Backups > Backups.backupdb, I can see only one sub-folder which has the name of my iMac's primary drive. I can't see any equivalent folder for my external drive.
Any idea what I'm doing wrong?

I don't see anything you have done wrong.. perhaps it does backup in a different way.
Load the widget.. A1 here... http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
That will allow you to track the log of TM to see what it is doing.
I would also try rebooting the computer.. exclude the drive again.. reboot.. and remove the exclusion.
You should be able to check the actual settings of TM in plist file.
And you can do a full reset of TM as well.. See A4. Check what is in the file. Pondini lists the location for you.
Nothing surprises me with Mountain Lion ...!!

Time Machine Didn't Back Up

I have two hard drives that are both 2 Terrabytes. One is the main and the other is the Time Machine backup.
I just accidentally overwrote a Flash FLA file, so I selected it and ran Time Machine. There is no backup of this file even though it's on the main hard drive and Time Machine has been backing up every hour for months.
In fact, if I select the folder and check out Time Machine, it doesn't have a backup of the entire folder all the way back to the first week of April.
Yes, Time Machine is backing up, I didn't turn it off.
Does anyone have an idea why Time Machine would arbitrarily decide to not back up this folder? What happens if it runs out of space on the backup hard drive?
Thank you!

OK, I just checked the preferences and the Main Hard drive was put on the 'don't back up' list somehow. Weird. I must have accidentally did that. I'm backing up NOW!!

Time machine no longer backs up after cloning startup disk

I cloned my startup disk (250 mb) in April 2013 to a 500 mb disk and replaced it with the cloned disk. Before the clone, Time Machine was backing up properly to the 6tb external drive designated for backup. Since installing the clone Time Machine has not backed up anything. Everything (all the apps) is working properly on the cloned disk except, apparently, Time Machine. In fact, I cannot get Time Machine to allow me to make any adjustments to the settings. I went on the Apple Support website to see if I can reinstall Time Machine, but could not find anything. Any suggestions?
Model Name:          Mac Pro
Model Identifier:          MacPro1,1
Processor Name:          Dual-Core Intel Xeon
Processor Speed:          2.66 GHz
Number Of Processors:          2
Total Number Of Cores:          4
L2 Cache (per processor):          4 MB
Memory:          12 GB
Bus Speed:          1.33 GHz
Boot ROM Version:          MP11.005C.B08
SMC Version (system):          1.7f10

If only the system was cloned with CCC it should work, though if you change names who knows.
Delete the plist and turn off and on.
they don't make 6TB so you're using some kind of array or JBOD.
http://www.apple.com/support/timemachine
subsection in Mac OS X forum.
TimeMachine 101
https://support.apple.com/kb/HT1427
Lion Recovry & TimeMachine
http://www.apple.com/support/lion/installrecovery/
http://www.apple.com/support/lion/
Time Machine’s Gory Details:
https://www.apple.com/support/timemachine/
How To Restore Your System
http://pondini.org/TM/14.htmlMac OS X v10.7 Lion
Back-In-Time 2: Unleash the power of Time Machine
Restore Time Machine data: Time Machine is a great basic backup tool. But the options for locating and restoring data are quite limited. Back-In-Time gives you total flexibility in discovering and recovering your data to any location on your Mac. See more...

Time machine has stopped backing up to my Western Digital Network Drive

I have a WD 1TB World Edition drive which pretty much worked plug 'n' play when I bought it in early Jan backing up with with Time Machine instead of the bundled software. I've had a few troubles backing up, but largely due to router problems. Time machine has worked great with the drive, as promised.
Until a few days ago, when it stopped backing up altogether. The usual backup icon stopped appearing on the desktop and it came up with error message saying the backup file cannot mount or something like that. Strangely, the shared folders on the drive still show up and I can access all the mp3 files, etc I have loaded up. So, I checked the router, cabling to the drive, rebooted the drive, resetted the drive and checked the settings using MyBookWorld. This stopped the error message showing when I tried to backup and the backup icon now shows on the desktop again. But it won't backup !!! It just stalls and in Time Machine says its configuring without doing anything. I have tried hooking up to the drive directly, still no joy.
I'm now at the end of my tether. Does anyone have any ideas? I have asked WD support and they were next to useless. Thanks !

Hi, and welcome to the forums.
Time Machine does not back up reliably, if at all, to most network drives, except Time Capsules or a shared drive on another Mac running Leopard or Snow Leopard on the same local network.
Here's the criteria they must meet: Disks that can be used with Time Machine. And be careful here: just because some 3rd-party hardware claims to support Time Machine doesn't necessarily mean that Apple supports it, or that it will work in all circumstances.
We've seen a number of problems reported with that drive. Have you downloaded the firmware update that's supposed to make it work?
with error message saying the backup file cannot mount or something like that.
The exact message might help.
Time Machine says its configuring
Is the word "configuring" or is it "Calculating changes"? "Configuring" sounds more like a message from WD, or perhaps your router, than one coming from Time Machine.
Click here to download the +Time Machine Buddy+ widget. It shows the messages from your logs for one TM backup run at a time, in a small window. Navigate to the backup in question, then copy and post all the messages for that run here.
You might also try to Repair the backups. I don't know exactly how you'd get to them on a NAS, but try the procedure for a Time Capsule in #A5 of the Time Machine - Troubleshooting *User Tip,* also at the top of this forum.

Time Machine isn't backing up to Time Capsule

My Time Machine isn't backing up to my Time capsule.
I am using OS X 10.8.2 which I believe is the latest version.
The problem I have is the following error message pops up on my Macbook pro screen :
Time Machine couldn't complete the backup to "Alec McDermott's Time Capsule".
The backup disk image "/Volumes/Alec McDermott's
Time Capsu/Alec McDermott's MacBook
Pro.sparsebundle" is already in use.
Any assistance anyone can offer would be very much apprecated.
Alec

See here...
The Backup disk image ... sparsebundle ... is already in use.
From Pondini’s excellent Information Here...
http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.htm

HT201250 My time machine is not backing up automatically to my time capsule since my upgrade to Moutain Lion.

Since I upgraded my iMac,my time machine is not backing up automatically to my time capsule since my upgrade to Moutain Lion.

I have a similar problem. On my iMac, I swapped out (at Genius Bar) my HD via Seagate replacement program. Ever since my time machine won't backup. I get a error msg that says:
Time Machine couldn't complete the backup to "[my time machine name]"
The backup disk is not available.
Any suggestions.
Thanks

HT1998 Time machine no longer backs up. It prepares for back up OK but then fails to complete. The archive is still available. Any ideas? Thanks

Time machine no longer backs up. It prepares for back up OK but then fails to complete. The archive is still available. Any ideas? Thanks

Unfortunately, not much to go on here. There are any of twenty different reasons why backups are not occurring, and no shortcuts that I know of to find out why.
Work your way through Backup Failures in Pondini's excellent support document Time Machine --- Troubleshooting.
See C1 through C19.
http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html

Time machine/TC is backing up suddenly my entire disc again.

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