Hello- I keep getting the "not enough disk space" Error, though I am using a blank 2 TB drive trying to do a first time backup of my internal hard drive which has @550GB on it. I have tried two different blank drives for this- reformatted /erased (and tried a different name) each time and keep getting this error, I've tried a fresh backup from scratch 5 times now. Any suggestions are appreciated!
MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 11.6
Hi esteinberg1, We appreciate you reaching out to us. We understand that you are experiencing issues setting up your Time Machine backup, because you are getting a "Not enough disk space" message.
We’d like to gather additional details that may help us be in a better position to assist you.
Have you had the chance to try a different external drive?
Are you using the same steps in the article below to set up your Time Machine backup?
Back up your Mac with Time Machine I the meantime, we recommend that you check if the issue persists when signed in on a different user account.
The article below can help if you do not have any other user account to test with.
Set up users, guests, and groups on Mac
If you are experiencing the issue when signed in on a different user account, we recommend that you check if the issue persists while on safe mode.
Below is an article to help guide you through the process.
How to use safe mode on your Mac
Take care!
Hello, thanks for the reply. Yes I have tried using multiple different external drives for this- I keep getting the same error. To be clear, I am not trying to save an old backup but start a brand new time machine backup. It keeps giving me the same error "not enough drive space" although the total size of the backup is 550 GB, which should fit without issue onto a 2 TB drive.
Hello Grant- thanks for the good question. The source drive has 550GB data, it is a 1TB drive. I can't imagine I can only fill the drive halfway and still be able to use time machine... right? I believe I've been using it for years with drives more full than this one, but please correct me if I'm wrong!
Your numbers do not indicate disk full. But it may be worth doing a disk repair, or a restart, or a restart into Safe mode before proceeding.
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Another completely different idea . Maybe it is trying to say, "not enough space of exactly the kind I want to see..." to test that, you could completely ERASE the proposed backup (by immutable Hardware DEVICE-Name) and create an exFat Volume, which Time machine will NOT use, then allow Time Machine to re-initialize the drive to its own liking.
Update: Tried all of the good suggestions above (THANK YOU) to no avail- nothing worked. I took the plunge and updated to Monterey 12.2 and Time Machine is working again as expected.
esteinberg1,
Thank you for keeping us posted. We recommend that you reach out to us here so we can take a closer look into the issue: Get Support
Take care!
Is there enough space on the SOURCE drive to create the required snapshot on which your backup will be based?
Source disk too full could mean backup not possible.
Time Machine saying "Not enough disk space"
