Time machine wont back up, time machine wont back up
Hi - my time maching backups wont work. I have plebty of room on the hard drive but it keeps saying that I don't! Can someone please help me to work out how I can get my back ups working again? I dont want to spend money on buying a new hard drive! Thankyou!!!
Start with C4 in the first article.
Time Machine Troubleshooting
Time Machine Troubleshooting Problems
Similar Messages
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How do I delete time machine backups if I can't zoom back in time?
Hi,
I'v been backing up my 250GB HD using time machine very successfully over the years. I store additional home movies that aren't on my HD on my time capsule machine in a seperate folder from the backups that are made daily. My 250GB HD is now full and it has been duplicated and placed on a much larger 1TB HD drive back inside my iMac. Because it is a new HD, time machine is wanting to do a new 250GB backup of it (which is ok), BUT there is not enough space on my time machine drive to do a 250GB backup. I need to delete the prior time machine backups to make space. However, because the HD is new, I'm unable to zoom back in time with time machine and delete backups from the time capsule. When I open time capsule in finder I see a .sparsebundle folder which I assume must contain all my old HD time machine backups. To free up time capsule space, can I simply delete the .spersebundle folder? I'm nervous to do that and don't want to mess anything up, so I'm asking for advise. Any advise would be much appreciated. Thx.brettnbee wrote:
Hi,
I'v been backing up my 250GB HD using time machine very successfully over the years. I store additional home movies that aren't on my HD on my time capsule machine in a seperate folder from the backups that are made daily.
That's a problem, as you now see. When you get this sorted out, see #Q3 in Using Time Machine with a Time Capsule for an explanation and some workarounds.
because the HD is new, I'm unable to zoom back in time with time machine and delete backups from the time capsule.
You can see and delete individual backups from an old drive, per #E3 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting. Deleting a lot of them will take a very long time, of course.
When I open time capsule in finder I see a .sparsebundle folder which I assume must contain all my old HD time machine backups. To free up time capsule space, can I simply delete the .spersebundle folder?
Yup, that's an option, too but will also take quite a while. See #Q5 in Using Time Machine with a Time Capsule for details.
Whatever you do, by all means, connect via Ethernet cable if at all possible. It will still be slow, but be 2-3 times faster than a good wireless connection. -
Time Machine takes very long time to back up with new large drive
I started using Time Machine on my 17" MBP about a month ago. I was using a 250 GB Samsung drive. When I discovered that TM will back up other external drives (I have several firewire pocket drives), I purchased a 500 GB Cavalry drive with USB 2.0 and eSATA connections. The first backup of my MBP drive (about 85 GB) took several hours (4-6?). I backed up one of my pocket drives (about 60 GB), which took 3-4 hours. Then, when I changed the back-up drive in Time Machine to the new 500 GB drive with the eSATA connection, I stopped it after an hour, because only 2 GB had been backed up. I erased the drive and restarted using the USB connection. It backed up 3 GB in an hour. So, now I'm back to using the original back-up drive. I've performed benchmark tests on all drives (the Samsung 250, Cavalry USB and eSATA 500 GB, and the MBP internal drive) with Xbench. The USB speeds on the Samsung and Cavalry drives came out about the same with a slight edge to the Cavalry drive. The eSATA connection with the Cavalry drive operated at over twice the speed of the USB connections and at about twice the speed of the MBP internal drive (which is a 1.5 Gb/s SATA drive). Basically, I can't figure out why Time Machine takes so incredibly long to back up when I switched to the new drive. Any ideas?
JeffIt took me 20 hours to backup 32GB out of 65. I don't know why. Using carbon copy clone to download to another backup drive I did it perfectly in about 30 minutes. I expect that those appllications which show applicatiions are at fault and will try later getting rid of apps such as F-10 and pathfinderfor the first download. I have no idea why this is so slow. Everything is so slow.
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How can I force Time Machine to make a complete backup of my Hard Drive. I just installed a new external drive for Backup since my previous one failed. Now when I back up, Time Machine only backs up my data folder and the Users folder.
When I start a backup. Time Machine says "Oldest Backup: None; Latest Backup: None", so it seems like it should do a complete backup, but it only does a partial.Hi I'd like to jump in here. Your app showed me this:
Time Machine:
Skip System Files: NO
Mobile backups: OFF
Auto backup: YES
Volumes being backed up:
Macintosh HD: Disk size: 749.3 GB Disk used: 453.81 GB
Destinations:
Plastic Wrapper [Local] (Last used)
Total size: 999.86 GB
Total number of backups: 64
Oldest backup: 2013-07-24 23:25:11 +0000
Last backup: 2013-11-17 01:40:47 +0000
Size of backup disk: Too small
Backup size 999.86 GB < (Disk used 453.81 GB X 3)
Time Machine details may not be accurate.
All volumes being backed up may not be listed.
/sbin excluded from backup!
/usr excluded from backup!
/System excluded from backup!
/bin excluded from backup!
/private excluded from backup!
/Library excluded from backup!
/Applications excluded from backup!
Aside from the size of my backup drive, which I will increase at some point, I'd really like to have time machine backing up all system folders, especially Applications. How to I reset this hidden exclusions?
Thanks,
Darcy -
After reformatting my 1 Tb WD ext drive and tinkering with the "exclude these items" list, I now get the following error message from Time Machine: "Are you sure you want to back up to the same device your original data is on?" I've reformatted in Disk Utilities...not sure what I did wrong. Any help would be appreciated.
Not sure what you mean by "booted" from it.
If the Mac OS is installed on the external drive, then it's possible to start up from it, just as you do from your internal drive. Please open the Startup Disk preference pane in System Preferences, and verify that your internal drive is selected as the startup disk.
Assuming that's the case, then it may be that your TM settings have been corrupted. Turn off TM, then move or delete the file /Library/Preferences/com.apple.TimeMachine.plist. Turn TM back on, recreate your settings, and try again. -
HT201250 How to change Time Machine back up time
Is there a way to change the hourly Time Machine back up time to once or twice a day?
Tidy wrote:
Now I have my original back up on time capsule which time machine can't see and it keeps starting over again to make a new backup - so my time capsule disk shows two separate backups one the original one of 2 days ago named for my computer and a new one almost the same gigabytes (139gb) which it has called Macintosh sparse bundle ????
It's possible the first one is damaged, but that seems unlikely, unless you turned the TC or Mac off while it was trying to do a backup. But even that shouldn't cause TM to start a new one (absent any messages to that effect). And it shouldn't be named "Macintosh" unless you've changed your computer name to that via System Prefs > Sharing.
A clue may be lurking in your logs. Use the widget in #A1 of Time Machine - Troubleshooting to display the backup messages from your logs. Locate both backups in question, then copy and post all the messages for each one here. (Since the first backup has been a couple of days, the widget may not show the messages for that backup; if not, the pink box shows how to use the Console app to find them.)
With the messages from both backups, we may be able to see what's going on.
I'm thinking that I should just leave time cap ON and see which it backs up to then delete the other one.
Let's see what we can find first.
I assume connecting iMac to time cap via Ethernet cable would not be a problem?
Correct. Doing the first, full backup via Ethernet is recommended.
Also if just turning time machine off is enough to disrupt time capsule backups how about turning the iMac off, which I will have to do once in a while.
Neither should be a problem, unless a backup is in progress and either the TC or Mac is shut down abnormally. -
I am doing this because I have run out of space on my internal hard drive as I have over 100 GB of memory in pics.
I think I am misunderstanding how time machine works/how it backs things up. Can someone please explain it to me? Thanks and I appreciate it! :)Rick,
For everything you should know about Time Machine, see http://pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html.
If your photos were on your internal drive then, yes, they are likely to have been backed up by Time Machine.
However, if Time Machine starts running out of space, it will delete old back ups and thus your photos aren't really 'safe' just on a Time Machine back up. What you really need to do is either:
Buy another external hard drive for storing your photos and other files, or;
Back up your photos to DVD's: there are a number of cataloging apps that you can use to catalog your files or, if you have named them something specific, use something like DiskTracker.
Either way, don't rely on your Time Machine back-up to store your photos.
Good luck - call back if you need more information,
Clinton -
Unable to back up external hard drive via Time Machine. Says no room but has back ups from two previous Mac notebooks on it. Tried deleting them and now can't do anything. Any ideas?
As john noted, eventually that external is probably not going to be big enough, but it certainly is for now. The HD just needs enough capacity to cover the amount of data on your internal HD, not the internal HD's total capacity.
Format/partition the external as follows and you should be set to go:
1. Connect the external HD to the MBP.
2. Open Disk Utility on the MBP.
3. Select the external HD in the left pane.
4. Click on the Erase tab.
5. Choose the Format: Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
NOTE: if you want to zero the HD (which I always think is a good idea, but does take time), click on Security Options, click the button for Zero Out Data, click OK. The larger the HD, the longer this will take, in some cases several hours.
6. Click on Erase and wait for the entire process to finish.
7. Click the Partition tab.
8. Click on Volume Scheme: and choose the number of partitions (just one in this situation).
9. Click on the Options button (located underneath the Volume Scheme pane) and select GUID.
10. Click Apply.
11. Quit Disk Utility.
Backup your internal to the external. What application are you using to backup with? I highly recommend both SuperDuper! and CarbonCopyCloner. -
Time Machine will not let me restore from backups after June, 2013. I can see the files on the external hard drive but Time Machine skips all of them and goes back to June, 2013. Does anyone have any idea what the problem is?
rtilghman wrote:
telling me to buy a new router is NOT a solution.
And why not? Apple is selling these things like BigMacs. They can't make enough of them. You've been suffering since May because you refuse to get a decent router.
Can you imagine if a company that makes a refrigerator told me that I needed to upgrade my electrical system to rectify a problem with their device? What kind of response IS that?!?!
What if the problem with their device is that it requires a new-fangled "grounded" outlet and your circa 1890 house doesn't have grounded outlets. Would you refuse to purchase a $ 25 adapter on principle? -
Long story short....I restored my computer to an earlier point using time machine and now all of the previous back-ups are gone. My question has to do with itunes...is it possible to restore my itunes library to the most recent backup because the restore that I did was in march and the latest backup was in may....the reason being is that there were app that i had downloaded that are in my most recent back-up, that were not in the backup I restored to. Is it possible to just restore one application ie)itunes?
See this post.
tt2 -
I am backing up to my time capsule for the first time. It has been stuck on 348mb of 20.1 gb for days. Is this normal or is the machine not functioning correctly?
That seems to be OK via WLAN!
It ist better to do the first backup via LAN-cable. -
Not sure where my old backs up went, in time machine. I am only now able to see 3 days ago? Did it delete any old stuff after it gave me a message when I was attempting to download a movie project to my hard drive, and it told me that I was out of space? Is there any way now to go back in time? JMB
See Pondini's TM FAQs for starters.
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I have a mid 2010 Macbook Pro running Snow Leopard and foolishly upgraded to Yosemite. Now have numerous problems. Is it possible to go back in time with Time Machine and reinstall Snow Leopard? Then upgrade to Lion or Mavericks? Any other ideas on how I can exit Yosemite?
Once you get yourself back to Snow Leopard, if you still want to upgrade somewhat, I would suggest the following:
1. Get an external hard drive that you can use for experiments with new OS versions. You could partition it into 2 or 3 partitions. You could then clone your existing Snow Leopard system to one partition using Carbon Copy Cloner (well worth $40) or SuperDuper ($25).
2. Buy OS X Mountain Lion for $20, through the Apple online store (I don't think it's available through the App Store). Apple has decided to make it very difficult for anyone to get Mavericks unless they have already downloaded it.
You will receive two e-mails from Apple, one containing a PDF with a redemption code, and one with the password you will need to unlock the PDF. Using the code, you will download Mountain Lion from the App Store, where it will appear among your Purchased items.
After ML finishes downloading, its installer app will launch itself. When you see this launch screen, QUIT the install app immediately! Go to your applications folder, find the Install OS X Mountain Lion app, and copy it to a safe location outside of your Applications folder. Keeping one or more copies will allow you to reinstall without unnecessary aggravation if you later need or want to do that. At this point, you can re-launch the Installer in the Applications folder and let it run. You can install it on a clean partition on your external HD, or you can allow it to upgrade the Snow Leopard clone you created on your external drive, or you can do both. This should allow you to test how everything works for as long as you like.
3. If you left yourself a free partition on your test drive, try a clean install of Yosemite and set everything up from scratch (do not migrate anything). This will allow you to see whether your problems with it were related to something in your Snow Leopard system. -
Time Machine: External Hard Drive with Additional Files + Back-up
Hi-
I am hoping someone can clarify something for me. I use a 500GB external drive (WD-My Book) to back-up my macbook periodically (2x month). I also use this same external drive to store additional files from an old computer.
I just spoke with some folks at Apple and they confused me and made me think that I might have inadvertently deleted some of the original non-back-up files. However, I have scoured the drive and everything seems to be there IN Addition to the backups.backupdb folder.
Can someone reassure me that I have not somehow corrupted/lost either the original files or the back-up files?
I have read the tutorials posted in 2009 - and realize that I should have partitioned the drive, but I didn't. Moving forward I will purchase a dedicated drive just for back-ups - but want to be able to sleep tonight and not worry . . .
Thanks!claisb wrote:
Wow-Thanks again.
Apple Support was marginally helpful. After the rep told me I probably lost data, my anxiety rose . . .
My original Time Machine question to Apple Support =
My MacBook cannot handle all the media I have. So, I bought a Seagate 1TB to hold movies, photos, and music. If I have the 1TB Seagate plugged in to my MacBook at my designated back-up time, will Time Machine back both the HD and Seagate 1TB to a new (yet-to-be-purchased) 2TB External drive (which will be purchased solely for Time Machine files)?
Yes, as long as both are formatted for a Mac (see #1 in Formatting, Partitioning, Verifying, and Repairing Disks).
The Seagate might have been automatically excluded from backups; if so, it's easily removed, via Time Machine Preferences > Options. If it's listed in the exclusion box +*in black,+* (while it's connected) just select it and click the minus sign at the bottom. If it's listed in gray, it's not formatted properly -- Time Machine can't back it up, and you can't remove it from the exclusion list.
I'm having a difficult time knowing if I'm utilizing Time Machine properly. Since I have a MacBook it doesn't make sense for me to have Time Machine continuously running in the background. So, I only back-up 2 or 3 times a month. And, each time - I seem to get nervous that I'm not doing something correctly.
Time Machine was designed to back up hourly. On a desktop Mac, it's best to let it do just that.
On a laptop, of course, that's rarely practical. But you probably should back up more often -- when your internal HD fails (they all do, sooner or later), or something else awful happens to your Mac, you risk losing everything you've done since the last backup. Think of your Address book, browser bookmarks & history, documents, and especially your media files.
You might want to consider backing-up over your network. It doesn't sound like you also have a desktop Mac, but if you do, you can back up to a "shared" drive on it.
It's a lot more money, but Apple designed the Time Capsule as a combination wireless router and hard drive specifically for Time Machine backups. Most folks do the initial backup while connected via an Ethernet cable, but subsequently Time Machine can do those hourly backups wirelessly, as long as your Mac is awake and in range of the Time Capsule. See http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC344LL/A/Time-Capsule-2TB?fnode=MTY1NDA0Mg&mc o=MTMzNzU2MjI
But as long as you're diligent about doing your backups regularly via an external drive, a TC may not be worth the big bucks, especially if you already have a wireless router. -
working in adobe illustrator - computer crashed - will not soft boot or reset PRAM - should i reinstall from CD snow leopard 10.6.3? I have an extra hard drive in my MAC with time machine on it set to do auto back ups. How do i recover ?
Well first you have to figure out what is wrong with the machine and solve that problem first.
Your post is very vague on what occured, and there are many types of "crashes" it really depends upon what see on the screen and what the hardware does, we can't see it to tell you, so you have to tell us.
I suggest you run through these user tips and provide more information about your hardware.
Disconnect the TimeMachine drive for now
..Step by Step to fix your Mac
Help us to help you on these forums
Create a data recovery/undelete external boot drive
If this is going way over your head, there are local PC/Mac techs that will assist you for a fee, Apple only does hardware repairs and is advised to use them if you discover it is, especially if under warranty/AppleCare.
Hard drive and RAM upgrades can be handled yourself or by a outside tech in many older models of Mac, but don't expect Apple to cover the new parts.
Install/upgrade RAM or storage drive in Mac's -
Had to reinstall os ,and cannot access itunes although backed on time machine help
had to reinstall OS last july after exel update installed virus and cannot access itunes although backed on time machine help
You should still be able to recover your media through iTune's "open" feature:
Connect your time machine drive and navigate to it in Finder.
Open the backup.backupd (or similar) folder.
Pick a recent date (folder)
Pick through to your home folder
drag the music folder onto itunes in the dock
Hope this helps, It might not be very clear.
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