Why won't Time Machine back up my desktop?!

For some odd reason Time Machine has stopped backing up my desktop, it last backed it up on September the 29th but every day since then shows my desktop from the 29th, nothing changes (even though my desktop has)!
As far as I can see other files on my HD are being backed-up, it just seems to be the desktop.
I have plenty of space on my external HD (where my Time Machine back-ups go) and back-ups are taking place as normal, every hour, with no warnings or alerts being given. Everything seems fine on the surface, it was only today, by chance, that I checked for an old file on the desktop from a few days back and made this discovery.
Any advice appreciated!

All you could ever need to know about Time Machine:
http://pondini.org/TM/Home.html
(from ASC contributor Pondini)

Similar Messages

Why won't time machine back up my computer?

Message was edited by: Linda K. Kadota My last back up was over 12 hours ago. I want to upgrade my computer with a new hard disc, so I removed Microsoft office, and now my computer will not work with Time Machine. I intended to take this computer into the shop 8 hours ago. Does anyone know what is wrong? I'm using OS X Mavericks 10.9.2.

In order to clone my hard drive, I would have to go out and buy another external hard drive. I have five obsolete drives sitting on the floor under my desk. I'm not really interested in going out and buying another new drive after spending a lot of money on a Time Capsule that is supposed to do the job--make that 3 Time Capsules.
If it were a corrupt file on the computer, why does the problem occur with all my computers running Mavericks (2) and doesn't occur on computers running Snow Leopard (2)? Unless the corrupted file came from Apple when I downloaded Mavericks, I don't see how the same problem could occur on both computers. (And the Apple tech person here in Japan admitted to me that others have complained of the same problem).
Actually, today is only the second time TM has failed on the computer I'm now using. It has failed repeadedly on my newer computer since November, 2014, and the release of iTunes 11.
I ended up doing a clean install of my new computer after the hard disc failed, but it is still acting buggy.
I'm curious about your offer to help. Do I need a couple of screwdrivers to do a clone back up? Or do I need the screwdrivers to replace my hard drive? I don't know how to do a clone back up, but I assume that I just need the right software program and a second drive. I will have the Apple Tech people replace my drive for me, so don't need to know how to do that. I've seen it done once and that was enough to convince me to leave the task to experts.

Why won't Time Machine back up onto this external hard drive?

I re-formatted a SimpleTech 320gb hard drive so it would erase the music and videos on it and format it for use with Time Machine. I thought it all went smoothly but then the initial back up which is about 91gb stops after it backs up about 22gb and says an error occured. No matter how many times I restart everything and try to back up more, it doesn't work. I've even tried using disk utility to erase it and that didn't work either. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

First, deselect the drive as your TM backup drive, then turn off TM. Now try this:
Extended Hard Drive Preparation
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder. If you need to reformat your startup volume, then you must boot from your OS X Installer Disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger or Leopard.)
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Set the number of partitions from the drop down menu (use 1 partition unless you wish to make more.) Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID (only required for Intel Macs) then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.
Be sure to re-select the drive for the TM backup drive.

Why won't time machine back up my HD?

I have used only 169 gb on my hard drive. There is still 86.66 gb available on my backup disk. Time Machine has always backed up flawlessly, but now it says that there is not enough space available. Can that be possible when I still have 86.66 gb of space available? I know any backup program needs some extra space to work with, but does it need more than 86 mb? Thanks.

All you could ever need to know about Time Machine:
http://pondini.org/TM/Home.html
(from ASC contributor Pondini)

Why won't Time Machine work with MouseKeys?

Why won't Time Machine respond to MouseKeys?

What format did you format the drive in? It should be Mac OS Extended (Journaled). If it isn't, try that and see if it fixes the problem. If it's already in that format I don't have any other ideas.

Sharing Time Machine Back Up with Desktop and MacBook

Hello,
In preparation for my work on the road I back up my desktop using Time Machine on my Time Capsule, wipe my MacBook clean and Migrate my files to the MacBook so I can take everything. In recent years I notice when syncing my devices, that process has improved and the iPhone,iPad recognises the MacBook as basically the same as my desktop and I don't have to wipe and sync the device. Thank you Apple engineers for that improvement.
This year is a bit different. I have done the migration, but am delayed departing. I would like to share my Time Machine back up across the two computers. Sort of a poor mans macbook sync. I would treat the Macbook as disposable and the Desktop as primary. Make changes to the iMac then update the MacBook before I leave.
Can I use my desktop , back it up to Time Machine, then update the macbook as required? I would do this until I leave.
Also I noticed for the first time the MacBook is running a different OS to the iMac. Will this matter to me?
Thanks,
Ken
Desktop is an iMac 24 running MacOS10.6.8, 2.4 GHz C2D
MacBook is an early 2008 running MacOS 10.6.3, 2.4 GHz C2D
Time Capsule 802.11n, 1st Generation, version 7.6.4
iPhone 3GS iOS 6.1.6
iPad 2 , iOS 7.1.2

So, the macbook today, I did get this message from the OS re TimeMachine
"Would you like to reuse the backup "/Volume/....sparsebundle"
The backup was created on a different computer. If you reuse this backup it can no longer be used by the original computer.
I selected Reuse Backup. This is very convenient. I am wondering now.
How do I select back and forth on the computer to reuse the various back ups?
Ken

Why won't time machine open up to the page where it gives me the option to back up my mac onto my external passport? It just brings me to this page where it gives me the option to scroll through my tabs.

My time machine application was working fine earlier, but when I clicked it again it just led me to this. How do I open up the page where it gives me the option to back up my mac? and how do I choose certain files to back up? Because I don't want to back up my whole mac, just certain files.

You are clicking on the wrong TM icon. Or not clicking it correctly.
Use the TM icon in the top menu area. You can always open TM preferences from System Preferences.
You can also right click OR Control Click on the TM icon in the dock.. and go to the same place.
Ie open TM preferences.
But it is not so easy as you seem to think to setup TM to backup this and not back up that.
See pondini for info on how to use TM.
http://pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html
See Q10 for excluding items.
And info on how to do backups manually.. just turn off auto backups.. you can start them manually when you like.

HT201250 Why won't Time Machine won't restore my iphoto library [says there is not enough room on my hard drive.] Any ideas?

I've got 20,000 plus photos on my HD [yes, I know, way tooo many]. I'm trying to clean up by storing them on an external HD, but for several months I've not been able to export iphoto [even geniuses can't figure out why]. So as a work around, I'm trying to export events and albums to external. However, I realized that I didn't export in the original format making the files too small. Now, I just want to restore my iphoto library to the date before I started this process and when I try to restore from Time Machine, it comes up with an error message that I don't have enough room on my HD. Any ideas out there? [The reason I want to restore is because I started to delete some of the iphoto files from my HD to clean it up and I want to get back to the original format for export].

In the simplest sense, archiving a file means making a copy that you never change and never discard. You already know how to do that.
iPhoto has built-in archival features, in the sense that it saves all versions of an image that you've modified. As long as you have adequate backups, you don't necessarily have any reason to archive an iPhoto library. If you want to delete images from the working library but still have access to them in case you change your mind, then you do need to archive those images. I don't have a specific suggestion as to how you should do that. You might post a question in the iPhoto forum.

Why is my time machine back-up is taking days?

I have recently had a problem with y time machine. Below is the story in short:
- Never had a problem with time machine backup
- Left for a few weeks as I was moving home
- Plugged in time machine. Error message saying 265Gb to back up but only 253gb worth of space
- Apple took me through variuos proceudre but in the end resulted in me wiping all backup's and re-formatting hard drive
- The time-machine has been running for days.
- I only have a 250gb harddrive. Its backed up 270gb.
- As i am writing this message it seems to be stuck on 26.3mb of 46mb and has been for the past hour
- What is going on???? Someone help!!! I need to upgrade my hard drive. I really cant be bothered to sit on the phone to an advisor for another hour!!!

Start Section D with in the 1st linked article.
Time Machine Troubleshooting
Time Machine Troubleshooting Problems

HT201250 Why won't time machine stop running?

Why does Time Machine dialog box appear after switching it to the off position?

In the simplest sense, archiving a file means making a copy that you never change and never discard. You already know how to do that.
iPhoto has built-in archival features, in the sense that it saves all versions of an image that you've modified. As long as you have adequate backups, you don't necessarily have any reason to archive an iPhoto library. If you want to delete images from the working library but still have access to them in case you change your mind, then you do need to archive those images. I don't have a specific suggestion as to how you should do that. You might post a question in the iPhoto forum.

Why won't time machine work? =[

So I wanted to show my buddy how time machine works. And so I downloaded a picture, titled it and backed up my computer (the picture was located on my desktop). I then proceeded to delete the picture. I went into finder to locate the file and it was not there, because I deleted it. So I opened up time machine and searched for the file with the name I titled it with. I could not find the file! Where did this file go? Did I do something wrong or is time machine still having glitches and problems?
Thanks in advance!
-Cookietrog
Edited: just realized something, are my hourly backups supposed to be larger then just backing up 1kb? Cause thats like all my computer backs up per hourly back up, or whenever I hit Backup Now!
Message was edited by: CookieTroglodyte

It's virtually filled with bugs and, in my opinion, was no where near being ready to ship. Lowered my regard for Apple by a fair amount, not that they care.
If your serious about data backup/recovery I'd look elsewhere at the moment.
Bugs I noticed up until it became apparent that it was unusable.
1) Very difficult to install on certain configurations. I succeeded after switching one of my externals to USB and using the other external as my boot drive... less than ideal.
2) System is not able to understand what TM is doing. Tried to restore the iPhoto folder as an experiment. System reported 200+ terrabytes of information to be copied -- 10,000 hours to complete. lol In actuality 10 gigs of which it recovered approximately 2GB in much less time than 10,000 hours, I'd say around 3 minutes --- overall unsuccessful.
3) Corruption of the backup drive's file system to the point of being unmountable or fixable with Disk Utility. Others have recovered with disk warrior -- I just simply plugged it into a PC and reformatted the drive with NTFS then back to the Mac where it was again recognizable. This was the deal breaker.
At anyrate just a glance at these forums should indicate that it is not a good situation. Great idea, just not ready .. how it made it out the door is beyond me... indicating that marketing has superseded the import of at least semi-functional software .. not good.
I've recommended to all the folks I know that use OSX that haven't already upgraded to Leopard to wait... as one of the primary attractions is broken.

Why won't Time Machine stay in my dock?

Whenever I remove Time Machine from my Applications Folder and place it in my Dock, it vanishes as soon as I move my cursor. Since Time Machine appears to to be working OK and and responds to commands from its place in my Applications Folder, it may not be worth fretting over. But I'm curious if there's some setting to make it stay in the Dock.
If the above is sufficiently obvious to solve, no need to read further. But I sense that I've inflicted minor grief upon myself by unwittingly creating a 2nd user name and password. (I "over-read" Apple's insistence that the "full benefits" of the Mac experience could be realized only by creating a user name according to the [email protected] then creating a more complex password according to Apple's directions.)
Since acquiring the additional I.D. and password, I haven't noticed any increased benefits but I have experienced added confusion in downloading apps and tunes. And a few minor programs, such as Calculator, have simply disappeared (from both my Dock and Applications Folder). Apple responded in an E-mail that it's impossible to change an I.D., or User Name, and that I'll be required to work with both I.D's. and Passwords. Is it possible that the machine is as confused as I am, thus accounting for the Dock's refusal to host my Time Machine program?
Thanks in advance for any diagnosis or possible solutions (or both),
Cap

I have several thoughts:
1) When you drag an application from the Applications folder to the Dock, you aren't "removing" it from anywhere. You're just making a specialized alias in the Dock.
2) I've never heard of anyone creating an OS X user name (if that's what you mean) like you describe. Is that what you mean? I'd avoid creating an OS X user name with special characters.
3) To try to keep that Time Machine icon in the Dock, launch Time Machine, then click-and-hold on the Time Machine icon in the Dock, then when the pop-up menu appears, roll up to "Options", then over to "Keep In Dock".

Why won't Time Machine recognize my seagate 2 TB external hard drive?

Hello,
I am trying to set up my Seagate External Hard Drive as my backup. When I click on Time Machine, then Set Up Time Machine, Choose Backup Disk, the list comes up blank. Even though my external hard drive is sitting on my desktop available for use. Thanks for the help. I appreciate it.

And then I found this on the Seagate website:
Formatting your drive for a Mac
STEP 1: Open Disk Utility like this:
Click Finder.
Click Applications.
Click Utilities.
Click Disk Utility.
STEP 2: Select the drive you want to format. Be sure it’s the correct drive.STEP 3: Go to the Partition tab.STEP 4: Click on the Current Volume Scheme drop-down menu and select One (1) partition.STEP 5: Click Options. From the Partition Schemes provided:
Click on the GUID Partition Table radio button.
--OR--
Click on the Apple Partition Map radio button.
STEP 6: Click OK. Select other options as desired (e.g., Volume Name, Format, etc).
STEP 7: Click Apply. The Partition Disk screen opens.
STEP 8: Click Partition. At this point, the volume dismounts from the desktop and the drive is partitioned and formatted.
Note: When Volumes are created, Time Machine may open, asking if you would like to use the volume for backups. Click Cancel to proceed.
STEP 9: When finished, select the Disk Utility from the Apple Menu and choose Quit Disk Utility.
And it worked.
Thanks for all the help guys. I appreciate it.

Why won't time machine give me access to backups?

My Macbook Pro wasn't working so I took it to an Apple store and they said the file system was corrupted and it needed be reformatted. I had a time machine backup and they said I should restore the files from it but not the complete restore or I would just recreate the problem.
So, my laptop is now up and running and it works again. But I can't get access to my old files. ACK!!!
The time machine backups are stored on an almost brand new "WD My Passport" external drive. I mounted the drive, went to time machine and selected "browse other backup disks". My old backup is there and I can select it. Then I zip into the Star Wars interface and...nothing happens. No backups ever show up as available. It just sits there and nothing happens when I click on the bar to the right or the arrows or any of the windows in the background. Nothing.
I know backups are there on the disk because there is a huge amount of disk space taken up in the partion with this backup and b/c I can "show package contents" in the finder and see gobs of files with in the "bands" folder (with meaningless names like "1a1c"). Also, I think the WD backup drive is fine b/c I can add, delete and access files from a separate (non-backup) partion on the disk. Also, I used disk utility to verify and repair all partions on the disk and they said OK.
I need these files! It's all my pictures, music and lots of important documents. What the heck!?!?!

Halbey, I understand your frustration. In the past couple of years a lot of terms updates have seemed invasive of privacy and software updates have seemed counter-intuitive. Because I don't simply blindly accept what's put in front of me, I don't enjoy "being a Mac" too much anymore either. Several years ago Apple's focus shifted from user experience to stock price, from creativity to mobile gaming, and the Mac experience began to die.
As Apple grows, it is turning into the very monster it once provided an alternative to.
iTunes has become what Internet Explorer used to be: a once great program now weighted down with years of patches and misdirection. Unfortunately Apple has made this bloated old patient both the cornerstone and connecting tissue of virtually every user function.
The reason we can't install previous versions is likely something to do with the terms of service that we're forced to agree to before installation. Remember that huge page of legal mumbo-jumbo? It's likely that some of the terms of service can no longer be supported by the old software.

Why won't Time Machine work with my 3TB LaCie d2 Quadra v3

I just got a brand new iMac a couple of weeks ago and migrated everything from an older iMac. I also bought a bigger external HDD for Time Machine use. I've always had fine luck with LaCie. But every time I try to run a Time Machine backup (whether connected with USB 3.0 or 2.0) on the new HDD I get an error message:
"Time Machine couldn't complete teh backup to 'Time Machine (New)' Unable to complete the backup. An error occurred while creating the backup folder."
I reformatted the drive per LaCie tech instructions, same result.
LaCie says it's a Time Machine problem. Yet Time Machine is working right now with a smaller, older d2 connected via USB 2.0.
I can return the drive and get by with the older drive for now. But I'm sure to need a bigger drive soon.

What format did you format the drive in? It should be Mac OS Extended (Journaled). If it isn't, try that and see if it fixes the problem. If it's already in that format I don't have any other ideas.

Why won't Time Machine back up my desktop?!

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