Time Machine-not enough space

Question

Time Machine-not enough space

I started getting messages that there was not enough space on the external hard disk I use for Time Machine. I tried to trash older files but I was having difficulty, so I used Disk Utility and erased the disk. I pressed back up and I now get a message "Preparing". I guess this will take awhile, but will be functional again? I've used Time Machine for three years and never got the message "not enough space" before. Isn't it supposed to delete oldest backup to give space for the newest one? Is there a preference I need to check?

Thanks,

Stu

iMac 20 in., Mac OS X (10.5.8)

Posted on Sep 11, 2011 5:45 AM

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Answer 1

Eric Ross

Level 6

11,807 points

Sep 11, 2011 5:53 AM in response to Stuart Goldberg

It's like a new hard drive it will take sometime for a new backup. Normally Time Machine will delete files to make room for a new backup, if this happens again you can manually delete back-ups by going into Time Machine and selecting a backup (right click) and select delete.

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Answer 2

Sep 11, 2011 2:56 PM in response to Stuart Goldberg

When I am backing up I get a "Backup Failed". It has backed up as much as 6-8 GB of 50GB to be backed up. I have rebooted, doesn't seem to change anything. When I erased I did it as Mac OS (journeled). Any Suggestions? Does reinstalling Time Machine sound like something I should do (I guess off my original disk/custom/time machine)? Everytime I have tried I have used Backup Now rather than t

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Answer 3

BDAqua

Level 10

238,961 points

Sep 11, 2011 3:03 PM in response to Stuart Goldberg

Time Machine backup error: Too big for backup volume...

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-10330105-263.html?tag=mfiredir

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Answer 4

Sep 12, 2011 5:06 AM in response to BDAqua

Thank, the article's instructsions seem ed to do the trick. It's on it's second backup as we speak.

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Answer 5

BDAqua

Level 10

238,961 points

Sep 12, 2011 10:05 AM in response to Stuart Goldberg

Great to hear, thanks.

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Answer 6

TonyInSF

Level 1

21 points

Aug 14, 2014 9:55 AM in response to BDAqua

I'm having a similar problem. I have a Mac Pro running OSX Server 10.5.8. The system disk is 1 GB and the Time Machine is 1 GB. Both are approximately 75% used and 25% available.

Yesterday, I got an error message that there wasn't enough space, and it appears as though it's not automatically deleting old backups.

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Answer 7

vcfss

Level 1

4 points

Dec 18, 2014 7:28 AM in response to Stuart Goldberg

I went through the steps suggested and the problem still exists.

I just purchased a new MacBookPro and encountered this problem on my first backup

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Answer 8

TonyInSF

Level 1

21 points

Dec 19, 2014 12:12 PM in response to vcfss

Check and make sure that it's not trying to backup an external, mounted drive, CD, or DVD. I believe external drives are excluded by default, but I remember this happening to someone else.

Also, I keep a folder on my desktop called "Don't Backup" where I put all kinds of large, temporary files that I don't need backed up so I've added this folder to the list of items to be excluded. It saves time and disk space.

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Answer 9

vcfss

Level 1

4 points

Dec 20, 2014 8:30 AM in response to TonyInSF

Thanks TonylnSF. I had to contact Apple support and they ended up erasing everything on Time Machine and eventually got it to work.

I like the idea of a Don't backup" folder on the desktop. I will definitely use that.

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Answer 10

REINALD0

Level 1

0 points

Apr 5, 2015 6:34 PM in response to TonyInSF

This was also happening to me.

The issue was, as per TonyInSF, that it was trying to back up an external disk. All disks were selected by default already, but one of them (A) used to be a back up disk, and must not have automatically been added to the exclusion list when I made the change from backing up to disk A to disk B.

Thanks!

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