Hello,
I just ran a time machine backup (to a time capsule), the first one on this drive. I am concerned it is not working properly. I have selected to exclude only my iTunes folder, leaving a backup size of 135 GB. The backup is complete, and the Sparse Disk Image Bundle size is 90 GB.
Why is there a 45 GB difference between the size of what is supposed to be backed up and the backup?
Thanks for any help.
-MS
Mac OS X (10.7.2)
Madvillain wrote:
. . .
I did browse through it and thought it would be the 'laptop running lion' issue, but that data shouldn't show up as used.
Depends on where you're looking. The Finder is supposed to omit them, but Get Info on the drive counts them, as does Disk Utility.
Bad link, I found it on google though. Thanks, I was about to create a bootable flash drive.
The drive is now repaired.
Some Q's for you:
What would cause those errors?
What was actually fixed?
Do I need to be worried that something is missing somewhere (I'm confused how something can be repaired like this)?
Madvillain wrote:
Bad link, I found it on google though. Thanks, I was about to create a bootable flash drive.
Sorry, this forum sometimes doesn't insert the link properly. Recovery HD
What would cause those errors?
Hard to tell (I'm not an internals guru), but a power failure or forced power off at just the wrong time might, or some sort of problem with OSX deleting something but not getting everything synchronized properly.
Do I need to be worried that something is missing somewhere (I'm confused how something can be repaired like this)?
Probably not, especially if you're not having any other problems. It sounds like an incomplete deletion, where a file was deleted but the free block count didn't get updated, so the repair tool just recalculated and updated it. You might want to run the verify every now and then to see if it happens again.
Did the amount or space used or free change significantly?
Thanks for the info.
No, the space used did not change - the 'estimated size of full backup' in Time Machine is still the same.
Do you think maybe this was a coincidence and not the source of my missing 1/3rd?
Madvillain wrote:
Thanks for the info.
No, the space used did not change - the 'estimated size of full backup' in Time Machine is still the same.
Do you think maybe this was a coincidence and not the source of my missing 1/3rd?
It may be related, but clearly didn't change much.
I'm not sure whether Local snapshots are excluded from that estimate. Compare Time Machine's estimate to what Get Info shows as used on your internal HD, less the size of your iTunes folder.
If you haven't yet, you may want to work your way through the other things in the Where did my Disk Space go? article.
I did go through the rest of the "Where did my Disk Space go?" article. Everything else seems to be in order and it all adds up here:
Is it possible that whatever was messed up on my drive and is now repaired was causing the TM backup to skip a portion of something, resulting in an incomplete backup?
Madvillain wrote:
I did go through the rest of the "Where did my Disk Space go?" article.
Does the Finder show the same 525.56 GB available on your internal (at the bottom of Finder window -- you may have to select View > Show Status Bar on a Finder menubar)?
What did you do about Local Snapshots?
I assume you didn't find big log files, anything in /Volumes, etc.
Do you use apps that support AutoSave and Versions very much? The Versions database is very hard to deal with; I added a section about it in the Where did my Disk Space go? earlier today.
Is it possible that whatever was messed up on my drive and is now repaired was causing the TM backup to skip a portion of something, resulting in an incomplete backup?
Possible, but doubtful. Run another backup and see what happens. Unless you've changed or deleted a lot, the new backup should only backup anything that was missed. See how much it backs up, and how big the sparse bundle is afterwards.
Thank you for all of the help - seriously. Very nice.
The finder shows 525.65 GB available.
For local snapshots I went through the finder originally and checked there. I did not see anything abnormal. Just now, to double check, I turned TM off and then on again. Total backup size changed by 2 GB and is now 139 GB.
Nothing big in /volumes.
I think Pages is the only app I used with versions - and I have no idea how it works. The other apps I mainly use are Lightroom and Photoshop.
Unfortunately I assumed my sparsebundle was no good as it's so much different than my supposed backup size. I wiped it and was going to do a clean backup. I'm assuming that's the dumbest thing you've read all day. 🙂
While I'm at it here...
This is what I have been doing:
I have a Time Capsule that I connect a 2 TB drive to. I use the 2 TB drive for the TM backups of two macs. Every few weeks I swap out the drive with an identical unit. Basically, I cycle through two 2 TB drives. I assume that TM looks at the sparsebundle after the swap and thinks it has not backed up anything for a few weeks and adds the difference. Is this correct, or do I have this messed up as well?
Thank you.
Madvillain wrote:
. . .
For local snapshots I went through the finder originally and checked there. I did not see anything abnormal. Just now, to double check, I turned TM off and then on again. Total backup size changed by 2 GB and is now 139 GB.
Ok, that rules them out.
Nothing big in /volumes.
And no large log files?
I think Pages is the only app I used with versions - and I have no idea how it works.
Unless you make lots of changes, and/or have large Pages documents, the Versions database probably isn't significant.
Unfortunately I assumed my sparsebundle was no good as it's so much different than my supposed backup size. I wiped it and was going to do a clean backup. I'm assuming that's the dumbest thing you've read all day.
No, not dumb. Won't hurt a thing, except the next backup will take a while.
If there's still a big difference, you're probably going to need one of the apps mentioned in the Other large files section, to figure out what's taking up all that space.
Madvillain wrote:
. . .
I have a Time Capsule that I connect a 2 TB drive to. I use the 2 TB drive for the TM backups of two macs. Every few weeks I swap out the drive with an identical unit. Basically, I cycle through two 2 TB drives. I assume that TM looks at the sparsebundle after the swap and thinks it has not backed up anything for a few weeks and adds the difference. Is this correct
Yup. 🙂
No large log files.
I have used pages for about 3 documents since I started with this MBP. They are all small files.
I'll run the backup and see how it works out. I'll report back when it's complete. It will probably be a good half day or so.
Thanks for the help.
No luck. Sparsebundle size is 93 GB.
Using WhatSize I have found a 34.5 GB Adobe Camera Raw cache located in:
users/me/library/caches/adobe_camera_raw
Is this it?
When I look using the finder, I don't see this. My library at the top level has a very small cache, and there is no library associated with my user. Your app is good.
I purged the ACR cache and TM estimates the backup size to be 105 GB.
Looks like it's solved.
Thank you for all the help.
Time Machine sparse bundle smaller than MacHD?
