Time Machine keeps running out of space

Nima Zahadat wrote:

Nothing else. I had it formatted using OS X and then gave it to Time Machine.

Double check that it has the GUID partition map scheme.

That's shown at the lower right when you click the top line for the drive (with the name and size) in Disk Utility's sidebar.

Funny thing is I have an iMac with 2TD disk and a 2TB backup for Time Machine and it runs just fine! This one is 768GB with a 1TB disk and it keeps running out and then Time Machine stops!

Those are both a bit on the small side, unless the internal HDs aren't much over half full. 😟 TM usually requires 3-4 times the space of the data it's backing up to be able to keep a few months of backups. How much is on the one with the problem?

When you disconnect the drive, are you sure to always eject it first?

This sounds like great advice but I do not know really what the heck you are talking about.

How would I know if I have a virtual something or other?

The only thing that I tend to use that is "virtual" is a printer to turn locked pdf files into files tht can be edited.

I am experiencing the same issues with running out of space. I am not going to keep spending 100 bucks for external drives just to be filed with backups.

Shouldn't the new one wipe out the old backup? If not, can I program it to do that?

I have a lacie 2 T back up. I am a photographer and most of the critical data im trying to save are raw picture files. My lacie had a message today it had erased several backups to backup my Mac. Is there any way to retrieve those backups? There are thousands of photos from a trip to the Blue ridage mountains. Also, can I keep my lacie from just randomly erasing old backups?

Thanks

I have the same issue, and without perusing this whole thread of responses here, my gut hunch is that it has something to do with sharing an external hard drive between Time Machine and other stuff (whether that be just files, a cloud-based directory, a partition, virtualization disk, blah blah).

In my case, I just have a bunch of files on the disk in addition to TM, but I suspect what happens is TM notices there isn't enough room for a new backup, and tries to see how much room there would be after removing the oldest backup, but still encounters a deficiency of space because it doesn't actually acknowledge the other files on the shared disk, hence the error. Perhaps TM is unable to remove more than one old-backup at a time to free up space?

I suspect there would be no issue if TM removed as many old-backups as necessary to make the new one, but again, my hunch is it can only remove one at a time, and if there are other things on that hard drive, then it's going to panic.

While I won't try it right now, but I'll reserve just one HD for TM in the future to test my hunch-hypothesis here.

I have an apple satellite backup drive and this happens to me all the time. No other drives involved. This is a real problem for many i suspect