Limit size of Time Machine backups

The only thing you can do is partition the drive so that TM can only use the space on that partition.

What might work for you is a slightly adjusted setup as described in [this|http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20071108020121567] article.

The quota part appears promising.
I don't think the MAX_SIZE setting refers to the backup size but the max size of a file that it will back up.

Barney-15E wrote:
... but the max size of a file that it will back up.

No, creating a "limited size sparsebundle" effectively limits the size available to Time Machine for its backups. Time Machine will start deleting old backups sooner is all.

Message was edited by: Bad Joss

I was referring to the parts in the comments about using Time Machine's MaxSize option, not the sparse bundle size. Sorry, I misspelled it in my original response.

Setting the sparse bundle limit should work as described, but seems a lot more trouble to set up for a network admin than setting a quota on the network share.
If you're just handling your own or a couple users, and there is not a way to set quotas, limiting the sparse bundle size might be the only alternative.

boltthecolt1 wrote:
I have just installed OSX server on my small network. I am using it as the destination for Time Machine Backups. My question is how do I prevent Time Machine over time using up all my server space for incremental backups? Can I impose a quota?

Since you're running Snow Leopard Server, yes. See page 241 of [Mac OS X Server User Management|http://images.apple.com/server/macosx/docs/User Managementv10.6.pdf].

Edit: Note that changing the maximum size of a sparse bundle won't "stick" on 10.6.3 or later; Time Machine now automatically increases it to the size of the volume it's on. See #A8 in [Time Machine - Troubleshooting|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/Troubleshooting.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).

Message was edited by: Pondini

wrong info - deleted

edited by the Jolly Green Giant (where Green stands for environmentally friendly)

Pondini wrote:
Edit: Note that changing the maximum size of a sparse bundle won't "stick" on 10.6.3 or later; Time Machine now automatically increases it to the size of the volume it's on. See #A8 in [Time Machine - Troubleshooting| http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/Troubleshooting.html ] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).

There's a fix to stop Time Machine from auto-increasing the size. In Finder, view the package contents of the sparse bundle. Check the box that says "Locked" in Get Info for Info.plist and Info.bckup. Now Time Machine won't be able to increase the size and will continue to work the way it did pre-10.6.3.

aspherical wrote:
. . .
There's a fix to stop Time Machine from auto-increasing the size. In Finder, view the package contents of the sparse bundle. Check the box that says "Locked" in Get Info for Info.plist and Info.bckup. Now Time Machine won't be able to increase the size and will continue to work the way it did pre-10.6.3.

That didn't work for a lot of folks, including me, on 10.6.3 and 10.6.4. I just tried it on 10.6.6 and it did work.

Do you know when it started to work, and whether it seems to work for everyone now?

Further testing shows, on my Mac anyway, that you don't need to lock anything; TM did not automatically resize the sparse bundle ?!

Can you confirm?

On my Mac with 10.6.6, I can see in the Console log that Time Machine is still attempting to increase the size of the sparsebundle. The "lock" trick has been working for me ever since they changed Time Machine to auto resize.

That's very strange. 😟

I booted up with a 10.6.5 clone, and it didn't try to increase the size, just as 10.6.6 didn't.

I know 10.6.3 did on my Mac, and I don't think I tested on 10.6.4.

Thanks for the response -- I just wish I knew what the heck it means. 😉

Thanks for the tips guys. A few quick notes/questions: the info.plist file is the sparsebundle has a key inside the file labeled "size" and has the maximum size of my drive (2gb). Wouldn't I need to adjust this to say, 1GB to limit my time machine backups to 1gb, and then lock the plist file?

Christopher Spitler wrote:
Thanks for the tips guys. A few quick notes/questions: the info.plist file is the sparsebundle has a key inside the file labeled "size" and has the maximum size of my drive (2gb). Wouldn't I need to adjust this to say, 1GB to limit my time machine backups to 1gb, and then lock the plist file?

No. Changing the size involves more than that. Use the procedure in #A8 of [Time Machine - Troubleshooting|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/Troubleshooting.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).

Then start a backup. See if Time Machine resets the size; if it doesn't, you're fine. If it does, cancel the backup, reduce it again, then lock those files.

I'd not recommend locking those files unless you have to; we don't know what other implications that may have. In general, Time Machine does not like us mere mortals fooling with things it doesn't expect, and you do not want to anger the TM gods if you can avoid it. 😉