Time machine won't do full back up

Ok, so having installed mavericks it's taken about 2 months to address all the other teasing problems associated with them. However, there is one that i just cannot get my head around is my time machine. It will not do a full back up. I have looked through the forums and seen similar problems and all actions recommended in there i have addressed. Yet, still i won't do what it previously did. It starts doing the back up at the correct speed (which the slower speed was addressed) says it is backing up 20/30gb and so on of the 380gb. However after 40gb it says first part of back up complete. It doesn't take me to another part. I want it to do a full back up of all my applications, files etc etc. I know 30gb is not a full back up of my system.
Am I missing something very simple?
Previously it was all fine, since Mavericks it doesn't want to play at all  

First, make at least two current backups of all data. One backup is not enough to be safe. Warning: Time Machine does not back up a legacy FileVault while you're logged in.
Then delete most of the data in your home folder. No less than about two-thirds. Deleting means moving to the Trash and emptying the Trash. Log out and log back in. You should then be able to deactivate legacy FileVault in the Security & Privacy preference pane.
Finally, restore the files you deleted. That will be easier if you don't use Time Machine to back up. If you do use it, you'll have to dig down into the backups folder to find the most recent snapshot of your home disk image file, then mount it and copy the files back to their original location. You can't use the time-travel interface for this purpose. The disk image file, named "you.sparsebundle" (substitute your short user name for "you"), will be in the snapshots of your home folder.

Similar Messages

  • Time Machine won't create diff. back-ups despite sufficient disk space

    Hi,
    I have one full back up on my external HDD, and several differential back ups. However, despite there being over 80GB left on my external HDD, Time Machine will fail to complete further differential back ups when I disconnect my external HDD and then reconnect (say a week later or so). Time Machine seems to want to create another full backup when I reconnect my external HDD (or it seems this way). My questions are: why won't Time Machine create further differential backups based on my original full backup when I reconnect my external HDD and/or can I change a setting so that TM will create ONLY differential backups (given that one full back up already exists)?
    Advice appreciated,
    SM

    I should add that when TM attempts to create another backup after I reconnect my external HDD, it fails, stating 'not enough disk space' - which is why I assume it's attempting another full backup. Cheers, SM.

  • Time Machine won't let me back up an external hard drive

    Hello,
    I am running time machine to backup onto a 500GB USB drive and keep my iTunes library on a firewire 250gb drive. When I looked in time machine options in system preferences I found that my firewire disk is already listed as 'do not back up'. I want it backed up and don't seem to be able to remove it from that list. Anyone have an ideas why?
    Cheers
    Steve
    PS First ever post!

    Are you referring to the drive used for backups, or the drive I want to back up? When I first used Time Machine, my external drive (used to house my itunes library) was on the exclude list. I easily removed it and the TM window reflected the additional contents (indicating a backup of about 75G (27 on internal drive, remainder on external). But backups are being done only on the contents of the internal drive.
    I too have re-included the external drive on the exclude list, then removed it. No help. Do I have to reformat my external drive and lose all of my itunes music?
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  • Time machine makes too many full back-ups

    Yes, this has been written about ad nauseam almost since Time Machine's been around. But I am really tired of going through 3 and 4 TB hard drives because of a Time Machine bug/error/glitch/what-have-you. The latest message (from the Time Machine Buddy widget) is this:
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    Thanks for the quick reply Eric.
    Yeah, I'm certainly aware of these pages. I'm running Mavericks, and there is nothing after 10.8 listed in the otherwise comprehensive resource. But more to my issue, there was only a small bit (D3) that I could find about doing full backups, none of which applied to my situation. Basically I'm wondering why there is a "new" event data base.
    Same drive
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    but I have noticed issues when waking from sleep
    I'm not aware of any potential issues with the Mac's routine maintenance operations. But again, it's an external drive (via FW)
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  • I bought a new external hard drive for backups, but time machine won't do a full back up.  I think it is remembering backing up onto previous external hard drives, which I don't own anymore.  How do I do a new full backup?

    I bought a new external hard drive for backups, but time machine won't do a full back up. 
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    When I bought the new (used) iMac, I also bought an external hard drive for backups.  It worked fine, but my husband stole it.
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    Triple-click anywhere in the line below to select it:
    tmutil compare -E
    Copy the selected text to the Clipboard (command-C).
    Launch the Terminal 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 Terminal in the icon grid.
    Paste into the Terminal window (command-V).
    The command will take at least a few minutes to run. Eventually some lines of output will appear below what you entered.
    Each line that begins with a plus sign (“+”) represents a file that has been added to the source volume since the last snapshot was taken. These files have not been backed up yet.
    Each line that begins with an exclamation point (“!”) represents a file that has changed on the source volume. These files have been backed up, but not in their present state.
    Each line that begins with a minus sign (“-“) represents a file that has been removed from the source volume.
    At the end of the output, you’ll get some lines like the following:
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    Removed:
    Changed:
    These lines show the total amount of data added, removed, or changed on the source(s) since the last snapshot.

  • Time machine won't do a full back up

    I have tried everything to get Time machine to do a Full Backup including editing the plist file and deleting the EXLUDE section of this file, saving then rebooting the machine. But still Time Machine does only my Home Folder as a backup. No other directries Like Applications, Library, System etc. Just Users.
    Can someone please help me to get a full backup before I lose everything.

    If that happened to me, here's what I would do:
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  • 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.
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    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.
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    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.
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    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
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    I would also try rebooting the computer.. exclude the drive again.. reboot.. and remove the exclusion.
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    Nothing surprises me with Mountain Lion ...!!

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

    TIme Machine won't back up. Displays this:
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    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 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.

  • After upgrade to mavericks: time machine keeps asking for my back up disk and won't open unless i plug in the disk. any solutions?

    after upgrade to mavericks: time machine keeps asking for my back up disk and won't open unless i plug in the disk. any solutions?
    before the upgrade, i could open time machine without the need for having the back up disk plugged in.

    Ok. I got it to work, sort of....
    As I mentioned before I tried the "disk password" and the "Time capsule Password" options to see if I can start the back up again or start a new backup. Neither worked. So I tried the firmware down grade, but like you said that did not work. I then decided to try the "Account password" option and I have never used this option before becasue it states that if there is data on the drive it would not be acessable after creating an account. Since I wiped out the disk that was nno problem. When I created the new account and choose the drive it asked for the user name and password. I entered the info for the new account I just created(FYI this has nothing to do with your login username and password), bingo! It worked!
    Now I have two partitions on the TC disk. The old one and now the new account. I am guessing this is to be used if I have multiple computers, which I don't.
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  • The memory on my MAC is full. It holds 4GB of RAM of which 79GB are photos. I would like to back up my photos to an external drive but just don not know how. I do not wish to use time machine. How do I back up my photo library, then delete the them t

    The memory on my MAC is full. It holds 4GB of RAM of which 79GB are photos. I would like to back up my photos to an external drive but just do not know how. I do not wish to use time machine. How do I back up my photo library, then delete them from my MAC to free up that 79GB? Thank you.

    Hi
    Just to clarify a couple of points in your post.
    RAM (memory) is different from hard drive space. You have 4GB of RAM, but that has no bearing on the amount of drive space you have, of which we know that 79GB are photos.
    If those photos are in iPhoto, you should be able to move the entire iPhoto Library, from the Pictures folder, to your external hard drive. You can just drag and drop. Do not have iPhoto open while you're doing this. Once it's done, you can double-click on the moved iPhoto Library file to associate it with iPhoto, so that the app remembers where the library is for next time.
    One more thing. When you move a file to a different location, and then delete the original, you don't have a backup. You still only have one copy. So if that external drive dies, you will lose all your photos. Time Machine is a very good way to prevent this from happening. You should dedicate a different drive for Time Machine backups.
    Matt

  • HT201250 I want to use Time Machine to back up my pictures because my hard drive is full but I'm wondering if once I back up the pictures then delete them will time machine delete them off the back up too?

    I want to use Time Machine to back up my pictures because my hard drive is full but I'm wondering if once I back up the pictures then delete them will time machine delete them off the back up too?

    Evetually yes.
    If your pictures have been in the same location (same folder, same subfolder, ...) for more than a week, then copies if them will remain in your TM backups until it fills up. They are then vulnerable to being deleted.
    If they've been there for less than a week, TM could delete them as early as a month from now. If they've been there for only a few hours, chances are TM will delete them tomorrow.
    This is why TM is not the best tool to use to archive data that you will be deleting from your main hard drive. Copy them to a dedicated external drive, or burn DVDs.

  • My Time machine won't back up.  Recently updated to OS x 10.7.5.  Error message is as follows:  "The backup disk image "/Volumes/Time Machine Backup/Scott's MacBook Pro.sparsebundle" is already in use."  What is wrong and how do I fix it?  Thanks.

    My Time machine won't back up.  Recently updated to OS x 10.7.5.  Error message is as follows:  "The backup disk image “/Volumes/Time Machine Backup/Scott’s MacBook Pro.sparsebundle” is already in use."  What is wrong and how do I fix it?  Thanks.

    Have you tried restarting the computer? Also, see Time Machine Error from this pages sidebar under More Like This.

  • After installing Mountain Lion, my Time Machine won't back up ... says the sparsebundle is in use

    After installing Mountain Lion, my Time Machine won't back up ... says the sparsebundle is in use

    Standard problem in ML.. apple do not seem to want to recognise.
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  • Time Machine won't back up onto Time Capsule

    I upgraded to Mountain Lion last week, and Time Machine won't back up to my Time Capsule. When it fails, I get the message:
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    The backup disk image "/Volumes/Data/TomsMac.sparsebundle" could not be created (error 60)
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    I also get the following error message popup (even though the disk is the one in my Time Capsule):
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    My local Apple Store Genius concluded that the problem must be with the Time Capsule, so I bought a new one. That didn't fix the problem.
    Time Machine Buddy messages:
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    Attempting to mount network destination URL: afp://Tom%[email protected]/Data
    Mounted network destination at mount point: /Volumes/Data using URL: afp://Tom%[email protected]/Data
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    Failed to create disk image /Volumes/Data/TomsMac.sparsebundle, status: 60
    Backup failed with error: 20
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    Just to be sure, we're talking about a Time Capsule -- not an AirPort Extreme connected to an external hard drive. Right?
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    Please read this whole message before doing anything.
    This procedure is a diagnostic test. It’s unlikely to solve your problem. Don’t be disappointed when you find that nothing has changed after you complete it.
    The purpose of this exercise is to determine whether the problem is caused by third-party system modifications that load automatically at startup or login. Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed for the test, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards. Boot in safe mode* and log in to the account with the problem. The instructions provided by Apple are as follows:
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