LDMartin1959

Q: time machine not backing up system files

I have discovered that Time Machine is not (and apparently has not been for some time) backing up system files (Applications, Utilities, System and Library). What's going on? They are not excluded in the options. Anyone have this problem and know of a solution?

iMac, OS X Mountain Lion

Posted on Nov 30, 2012 1:50 PM

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Q: time machine not backing up system files

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  • by WendyRobin,

    WendyRobin WendyRobin Dec 8, 2012 11:30 AM in response to WendyRobin
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Mac OS X
    Dec 8, 2012 11:30 AM in response to WendyRobin

    As an update, I have "fixed" the problem, although I have no idea why the change I made would have fixed it.  The user library that I wanted to have backed up was pinned to my finder sidebar.  It was not being backed up, even though it had not been excluded.  I removed it from the sidebar, and on the next Time Machine backup, it was included.  Makes no sense, but that honestly seems to be what happened.

  • by LDMartin1959,

    LDMartin1959 LDMartin1959 Dec 8, 2012 3:17 PM in response to WendyRobin
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Dec 8, 2012 3:17 PM in response to WendyRobin

    Something is definately amiss because the system files and application files on my system keep getting excluded. And contrary to what anyone might want to insist, they are not being excluded by being added to the exclusions list by me.

  • by Linc Davis,

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Dec 8, 2012 3:44 PM in response to LDMartin1959
    Level 10 (207,990 points)
    Applications
    Dec 8, 2012 3:44 PM in response to LDMartin1959

    You wrote before that the files were now being backed up. Has that changed? How do you know they're not being backed up?

  • by LDMartin1959,

    LDMartin1959 LDMartin1959 Dec 8, 2012 3:57 PM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Dec 8, 2012 3:57 PM in response to Linc Davis

    Something strange is going on. I went into TimeMachine (just prior to my last post) and my System and Application files were "not there". I deleted the plist, rebooted and now there "are there".

     

    So, apparantly the second issue I had (just now noticed) was not the same as the first, inasmuch as the files were being backed up (and have been since 1 December, when I first deleted the plist) but for some reason they were not visible to me until I deleted the plist. Possibly a different (but related) problem, but definately not the exact same issue as previously. Something strange is definately happening here. I've also had issues of TM backups failing "due to lack of space", which should not happen since the oldest backups should simply be deleted when that occurs, and I wonder if the two things could be somehow related to each other.

  • by ashwin103,

    ashwin103 ashwin103 Jan 3, 2013 8:46 AM in response to Gilby101
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 3, 2013 8:46 AM in response to Gilby101

    Oh god the exact same thing has just happened to me. I got a replacement hard drive, swapped out my old one, only to find that my time machine backup was incomplete

     

    At first I thought I had accidentally excluded System Files, so I swapped back in my old hard drive and checked. Nothing was excluded (supposedly). Anyways I found a CNET article telling me to turn SkipSystemFiles to false through terminal so I did that, re-did a WHOLE NEW backup on a new hard drive and system files are still absent!!

    So finally at the end of the day I come here and see your comment. Same issue. All my system files in "ExcludeByPath" just randomly. For what its worth, I too have Silverlight installed.

    Have you reported the potential bug in the API?

  • by LDMartin1959,

    LDMartin1959 LDMartin1959 Jan 8, 2013 1:26 PM in response to ashwin103
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Jan 8, 2013 1:26 PM in response to ashwin103

    ashwin103 wrote:

     

    Have you reported the potential bug in the API?

     

    Not at this point. I'm not sure if it's an issue with the app or some other happening from some other source. And Apple is probably getting tired of me... I seem to have a knack for "breaking" things (in the sense of finding flaws). I've long said I should be a beta tester for someone because of that ability to break anything but it hasn't ever happened1

  • by bjornga,

    bjornga bjornga Jan 17, 2013 1:32 PM in response to WendyRobin
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 17, 2013 1:32 PM in response to WendyRobin

    I am on Mountain Lion moved from Snow Leopard.

     

    Moving the Applications folder out of the finder sidebar also fixed my problem.

    I did a re-boot after removing the folder. A window came up asking me if I want to use the current drive I was using for time machine backups. I agreed and a backup started.

    All my missing folders are now backing up.

    One of those mysterious Lion things going on.

    The strange thing is that a MacbookPro Retina has the folders in the Finder sidebar and there is no problem with Time Machine.

  • by Tony Furniss,

    Tony Furniss Tony Furniss Jan 28, 2013 6:28 AM in response to LDMartin1959
    Level 1 (19 points)
    iPhone
    Jan 28, 2013 6:28 AM in response to LDMartin1959

    TM is not backing up my Applications, Library and System files either.

     

    I have not excluded anything from my TM backups.

     

    I tried the Terminal code, but it could not find:

    domain (/Library,Prefersnces/com.apple.TimeMachine.plist) not found

     

    Presumably because I have not excluded anything.

     

    Any ideas hoew I can make TM back up these files.

     

    Thanks.

  • by Tom in London,

    Tom in London Tom in London Jan 28, 2013 7:10 AM in response to Tony Furniss
    Level 4 (1,626 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jan 28, 2013 7:10 AM in response to Tony Furniss

    In view of all the problems being reported here, why not just dump Time Machine and use a reliable cloning utility such as SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Cloner? Trying to get Time Machine to behave properly sounds like flogging a dead horse. If TM isn't reliable, what use is it?

  • by ashwin103,

    ashwin103 ashwin103 Jan 28, 2013 8:11 AM in response to Tony Furniss
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 28, 2013 8:11 AM in response to Tony Furniss

    Tony Furniss wrote:


    I tried the Terminal code, but it could not find:

    domain (/Library,Prefersnces/com.apple.TimeMachine.plist) not found

     

    Presumably because I have not excluded anything.

     

    The plist will always be there, as long as Time Machine has been turned on. Instead of doing it via Terminal, try turning off Time Machine, finding the file via Finder (Go>Go to folder> "/Library/Preferences") and deleting the TimeMachine plist, and then turning Time Machine back on. That should create a brand new plist with nothing excluded. At least, this worked for me.

  • by Tony Furniss,

    Tony Furniss Tony Furniss Jan 28, 2013 8:30 AM in response to ashwin103
    Level 1 (19 points)
    iPhone
    Jan 28, 2013 8:30 AM in response to ashwin103

    The TM plist was there.

     

    Followed your instructions.

     

    TM still does not backup my Applications, Library nor System files.

  • by LDMartin1959,

    LDMartin1959 LDMartin1959 Jan 28, 2013 8:32 AM in response to Tony Furniss
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Jan 28, 2013 8:32 AM in response to Tony Furniss

    While you are there (and this would apply to everyone), change the finder view to Column, select the Library folder and then make an Alias of it in your user directory. This could save you a tremendous amount of time and frustration in the future.

  • by ashwin103,

    ashwin103 ashwin103 Jan 28, 2013 10:15 AM in response to Tony Furniss
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 28, 2013 10:15 AM in response to Tony Furniss

    Tony Furniss wrote:


    Followed your instructions.

     

    TM still does not backup my Applications, Library nor System files.

    Well what does the plist say now? Are the files still there in <ExcludeByPath> ?

  • by Tony Furniss,

    Tony Furniss Tony Furniss Jan 28, 2013 10:30 AM in response to ashwin103
    Level 1 (19 points)
    iPhone
    Jan 28, 2013 10:30 AM in response to ashwin103

    I guess they are still there.

             !"#7_  SkipSystemFiles[BackupAlias]ExcludeByPath]MobileBackupsZAutoBackup_  RequiresACPower_  AlwaysShowDeletedBackupsWarning_  DestinationUUIDsYHostUUIDs^RootVolumeUUID_  LastDestinationID\Destinations_  PreferencesVersion O  6 6   TimeMachineÃ¡Ê H+  TimeMachine Ã¡Ê ˇˇˇˇ TimeMachine  áʠ  áʠ   TimeMachine:TimeMachine   TimeMachine   TimeMachine   /Volumes/TimeMachineˇˇß       ]/ApplicationsX/LibraryW/SystemT/binX/privateU/sbinT/usr ¢  _ $D2772994-E400-3958-80D7-D85560ABC08E_ $D346E6A9-FA9A-367B-8FD6-B1EC5908DE3A° _ $0742FC7E-0752-540C-9A87-2EA3810C97A3_ $49DB845A-A6FF-3655-920F-1B2EE93D3248_ $0CF789DE-8BAB-4E9B-93D9-5E33D276872B°$Ÿ%&'()*+,-./0123456VRESULTYBytesUsed]Des tinationID[BackupAlias]SnapshotCount_ $kCSBackupdOldestCompleteSnapshotDate_  BACKUP_COMPLETED_DATE^BytesAvailable_  DestinationUUIDs   8E¿_ $0CF789DE-8BAB-4E9B-93D9-5E33D276872BO  6 6   TimeMachineÃ¡Ê H+  TimeMachine Ã¡Ê ˇˇˇˇ TimeMachine  áʠ  áʠ   TimeMachine:TimeMachine   TimeMachine   TimeMachine   /Volumes/TimeMachineˇˇ -3A∂Nw#3A∂∂˘£  ≈tK¢     #5AO]hzúØπ»‹È˛ˇ 9 A O X ` e n t y z { | } Ä ß Œ – ˜   E G Z a k y Ö ì ∫ “ · Ù ˆ ˇ & ` b k t } Ä  8 Ç
  • by ashwin103,

    ashwin103 ashwin103 Jan 28, 2013 10:40 AM in response to Tony Furniss
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 28, 2013 10:40 AM in response to Tony Furniss

    Tony Furniss wrote:

     

    I guess they are still there.

    Ok well then are you sure it got deleted in the first place? Make sure you turn off Time Machine and quit System Preferences and everything, then delete, then Empty Trash, make sure its gone, and then turn on Time Machine again. If <ExcludeByPath> is still there, you might want to try editing the plist in TextEdit or something and removing then manually but that is a bit dangerous.

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