Time Machine won't backup... because there's too much free space??

Hi all,
I'm getting a strange error from Time Machine:
"*Time Machine Error*
This backup is too large for the backup volume. The backup requires 147.8 MB but only 506.8 MB are available.
To select a larger volume, or make the backup smaller by excluding files, open System Preferences and choose Time Machine."
I should probably also note that, according to Finder, my Time Machine volume has only 27.5 MB available out of 182.89 GB.
I'm confused!
Thanks in advance,
Mike

Hi all,
Update: The same Time Machine Error message has just popped up again, only this time it says, "The backup requires 173.2 MB but only 823.1 MB are available."
Now I'm even more confused!
Thanks in advance (again),
Mike

Similar Messages

I phone won't sync because there is not enough free space

When I try to sync my phone it says there is not enough free space but I have 3.3 gigs available. What should I do?

It looks like it had to do with ICould storage. I had my older phones still attached to it so deleted them off and it gave me free space.

HT1766 How do I resolve the error "iTunes cannot restore backup because there is not enough free space on iPod"?

I have an iPod touch 4th generation 8gb and im having a time zone issue on it, so I just backed up and I want to restore from backup. When I try to restore from backup it tells me that there is not enough space on my ipod to restore backup. I have 687 mb free, how much space does it need? I dont want to restore then restore from backup in case something goes wrong like this and I have to start all over. Id rather have the time zone issue than an empty ipod. How do i resolve this? please help!

Try moving/deleting from your iTunes libary apps and music which were on the iPod when the backup was made. When selecting apps,select the ones with app data that you can lose.

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).

Time machine won't backup on second mac because it says sparsebundle is already in use?

time machine won't backup on second mac because it says sparsebundle is already in use. What is the fix?

Make sure that the first Mac is not backing up at the time....then....
Pull the power cord from the back of the Time Capsule
Count to ten
Plug the power cord back into the back of the Time Capsule
Try a backup again from the second Mac in a few minutes
Post on your results

Time Machine won't backup up to external firewire drive

MacBook Pro - Time Machine won't backup to firewire external drive. Has worked well in past few weeks..........any ideas?

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.
☞ If you’re running Mac OS X 10.7 or later, open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Console in the page that opens.
Select "system.log" from the file list. Enter "backupd" (without the quotes) in the String Matching text field. Post the messages from the last backup, beginning with "Starting standard backup."
Post the log text, please, not a screenshot. If there are runs of repeated messages, post only one example of each. Do not post many repetitions of the same message.
Some personal information, such as the names of your files, may be included — edit that out, too, but don’t remove the context.

Time machine won't backup. Says disk is full ( stand alone disk). Souldn't it delete enough to create new backup. Last backup was 7/20/11. When I click "enter time machine' it goes to mail screen and nowhere else.

Time machine won't backup. Says disk doesn't have enough room. Shouldn't it delete old info to make space for new.
When I click on "enter time machine" it takes me to the last backup 7/22/11 and doesn't allow me to go further back.

No idea's?
I'm starting to think I just need to delete the sparsebundle file altogether and start over again...

Time Machine won't backup to ext hard drive?

I keep receiving the error message that Time Machine won't backup to my ext hard drive since it can't create the backup file. Why? Same ext hard drive for over 2 yrs. Using iMac (early 2008) with Mountain Lion.

Is it at least twice the capacity of the original?
Is it formatted with a GUID partition?

My Macbook won't boot up because there isn't enough free space for my start up disk. It's now stuck on a blue screen. How am I meant to delete files to free up space if I can't access the computer?

My Macbook won't boot up because there sin't enough free space to run the startup disk. My Macbook now won't go past the blue screen so exactly how am I meant to be able to delete files if I can't access the computer?

Do you have a bootable backup?
What operating system are you running? If OS X 10.6 or lower, boot from your original OS X DVD or a retail OS X DVD and then delete files as needed. Your goal should be to get to 10% of your disk capacity free.
If you have OS X 10.7 Lion or 10.8 Mountain Lion, you don't have many choices in recovery mode (boot holding the command and r keys down).
If you have a FireWire or Thunderbolt connection, you can try target disk mode with another mac.
If none of those work, perhaps your local Apple store can help with a bootable external drive.

The iPhone "Nanou" cannot be synced because there is not enough free space to hold all of the items in the iTunes library (additional 3.30 GB required). I have been receiving this msg every time i wanna back up my iPhone 5 to my macbook pro. plz help

The iPhone “Nanou” cannot be synced because there is not enough free space to hold all of the items in the iTunes library (additional 3.30 GB required). I have been receiving this msg every time i wanna back up my iPhone 5 to my macbook pro. plz help

I'd like an answer to this one too. I need to backup my iphone5 and am getting the same message. My old laptop is pretty full. Isn't there a way to choose an external hard drive to back up to? If there is, I don't see it.

HT3680 I get the message 'your startup disc us full' at random time point I'm trying to import photos to iPhoto and get'iPhoto cannot import your photos because there is not enough free space on the volume containing your iPhoto library'.

I get the message 'your startup disc us full' at random time points. I'm trying to import photos to iPhoto and get'iPhoto cannot import your photos because there is not enough free space on the volume containing your iPhoto library'. This is a new Macbook Pro and all my files were transferred from my old Macbook.

What size internal drive do you have and how much of it is used?

"can't be copied because there isn't enough free space"

I am trying to transfer files to a USB stick that I've been using for ages. About halfway through it won't transfer any more files and says they "can't be copied because there isn't enough free space". USB stick is totally empty and the size of the files is much less than the capacity of the stick, so what's the problem?
I have freed up 6 GB on my hard drive (unused capacity now 79/500 GB) and have repaired disk permissons. Repaired USB stick, tried a different stick, turned it off & turned it back on again. I'm at a loss as to what to try next.
Also I could transfer the entire folder across, but then when I tried to get the files out of the folder directly onto the drive, the same thing happened. Also they all seem to be fine and I can access them on a PC which is why I need them on the stick.

I just ran into this issue moving around large VHD images. I found the cause to be local time machines backups. Time machine seems to keep backups on your local (i.e boot) drive by default, in addition to your nominated Time Machine drive. This is meant to be transparent and only consume free space, but clearly it's not smart enough to free the space when you actually need it.
If you launch the "System Information" utility, on the "Storage" tab you should see a large portion of your primary hard-disk consumed by "Backups".
To disable local time machine backups, run the folllowing at the terminal:
sudo tmutil disablelocal
This should immediately free up the space. If not, try running a Time Machine backup manually to kick it into gear. You may re-enable local Time Machine backups with the following:
sudo tmutil enablelocal
Hope this helps.
Tom

HT4527 error message:ITunes Music can't be copied because there isn't enough free space

I tried to copy Itune library from my previous MacBook pro to the new one (Itunes 10 to Itunes11). I used an external hard-drive. As soon as I drag the Itunes music folder into Music (new computer) I get the message"The item “iTunes Music” can’t be copied because there isn’t enough free space". I checked and do have enough space!Thanks for helping!

I just ran into this issue moving around large VHD images. I found the cause to be local time machines backups. Time machine seems to keep backups on your local (i.e boot) drive by default, in addition to your nominated Time Machine drive. This is meant to be transparent and only consume free space, but clearly it's not smart enough to free the space when you actually need it.
If you launch the "System Information" utility, on the "Storage" tab you should see a large portion of your primary hard-disk consumed by "Backups".
To disable local time machine backups, run the folllowing at the terminal:
sudo tmutil disablelocal
This should immediately free up the space. If not, try running a Time Machine backup manually to kick it into gear. You may re-enable local Time Machine backups with the following:
sudo tmutil enablelocal
Hope this helps.
Tom

IPod can't be synced because there is not enough free space?

At first, my iPod couldn't be synced because 'playlists doesn't exist'(there's another forum about this and apparently this comment helped a lot of people...
"Click on your 'DEVICE' on the left in ITUNES,
click the music tab and where it says Sync Music, hit the all songs and playlist radio button.... worked for me, hope that helps...."
So I did just that, but then songs still won't go in my iPod because...
When I click device and go to the music tab, I clicked 'all songs and playlists' then clicked apply. This message shows up:'...cannot be synced because there is not enough free space to hold all of the items in the iTunes library (2.99 GB required, 51.2 MB available)'
By the way, my iPod's supposed to store 1,000 songs/4 GB, and at this moment, my iTunes has about 700-800 something songs, that only takes up about 2-3GB.
At the bottom part in device, it says this...
Capacity - 3.77 GB
Audio - 851 KB
Other - 3.71 GB
Free Space - 51.2 MB
I basically don't get it. Isn't it supposed to store 4 GB and more than 2-3 GB? I feel so stupid, but anyway...
Should I delete more songs or is there really something wrong? Before my songs disappeared in my iPod, all the songs could fit into it, even more than what I have in my iTunes now. What's wrong?
Message was edited by: 8uh7yg

When you say restore it, do you mean restore the one in iTunes or restore my iPod itself? The press the circle button then press menu for a long time in my iPod? I already did that.
It says 174.32. I only have about 700 something songs because I tried deleting some to see if deleting some songs would help fix the problem but no. It's strange because before all my songs and playlists disappeared in my iPod, I even had more songs in my iPod than what I have in iTunes now.
About 15-30 minutes ago, I was able to put only about 9-10 songs in my iPod because it says it doesn't have enough free space. It's so strange, it really frustrates me.

"iPhone cannot be synced because there is not enough free space

I recently purchased a new computer and I used home sharing to get all of my media onto my new computer.
Every time I try to sync I get the message "The iPhone "(Insert iPhone name here)" cannot be synced because there is not enough free space to hold all of the items in the iTunes library (additional [amount of space needed] required)"
I have a 32GB iPhone and I have it set to sync my entire music library (9.3GB), selected movies (not all my movies)(9.6GB), and I also have it set to sync my apps (2.5GB). there is 3GB of photos and 1.32GB of other, I know there is enough room on my iPhone to house all of the content I have selected to be synced but for some reason I keep getting the same message which tells me I need an addition 15.30GB.
Also I have tried to re-sync my iPhone with the old computer I used to sync it to and now I'm getting the same message I get on my new computer on the old one. My old computer was windows as well.
I have the latest iTunes and iOS for my iPhone. I don't know what is wrong or how to fix it. I have tried to refer to the web and have had no results so far. Help would be greatly appreciated.

In case anyone is interested, I found a solution.
My interpretation of the problem is that somehow the iPhone lost track of free space and this process will clear that while not losing any data or settings on the iPhone.
This will also solve the problem where iTunes has lost the app/folder layout on the iPhone.
Please note I am not a technician and make no claim that this will work for anyone else, but it did for me. The steps below are as I remember them and may not be exactly the same for everyone.
1) Backup the iPhone - I used iTunes to backup although this may also work with iCloud but I've not tried
2) Reset the iPhone - from settings on the iPhone (settings/general/reset (etc))
3) Carefully follow all the steps and choose to restore when you get to that step
4) Keep you eye on iTunes as you will have to respond there when it askes which backup set to use for the restore - it is likely that the most recent will be the one you want.
Good luck.

Time Machine won't backup... because there's too much free space??

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for