Time Machine not backing up all my files

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Level 1

60 points

Time Machine not backing up all my files

Recently installed a new hard drive in my iMac. I restored the hard drive from my latest Time Machine backup and everything went fine except a few albums were missing from iTunes. The albums were still in iTunes, but the files werent on the hard drive so iTunes asked me to locate them. They weren't where they should be so I checked the Time Machine backup and sure enough, all those albums werent on the backup. So I downloaded them all again and put them back into iTunes and they are now there and iTunes is playing them fine. But for some reason, in my newest backups, those particular albums are still not being backed up. I have restarted my computer and erased the Time Machine backup and had it backup everything again but no luck. It just will not backup these certain albums. Its almost like iTunes is hiding them or something, very strange because Time Machine seems to have backed up every other file on my computer. Any ideas what could be causing this and how to fix it so that I can back up ALL the files on my computer?

Posted on Dec 5, 2012 6:09 PM

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Answer 1

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,547 points

Dec 5, 2012 7:39 PM in response to poil66

Check your exclusion list in the Time Machine preference pane.

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Answer 2

poil66 Author

Level 1

60 points

Dec 15, 2012 1:57 PM in response to Linc Davis

i am not excluding anything. its just certain albums in itunes, which are definitely there, in the right location in itunes, but just for some reason, the same albums refuse to backup

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Answer 3

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,547 points

Dec 15, 2012 2:06 PM in response to poil66

Launch the Terminal application in any of the following ways:

☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)

☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.

☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.

Drag or copy — do not type — the following line into the Terminal window, then press return:

tmutil compare

The command will take at least a few minutes to run. Eventually some lines of output will appear below what you entered.

Each line that begins with a plus sign (“+”) represents a file that has been added to the source volume since the last snapshot was taken. These files have not been backed up yet.

Each line that begins with an exclamation point (“!”) represents a file that has changed on the source volume. These files have been backed up, but not in their present state.

Each line that begins with a minus sign (“-“) represents a file that has been removed from the source volume.

Files that you’ve excluded from backup, or that are excluded automatically, are ignored.

At the end of the output, you’ll get some lines like the following:

-------------------------------------

Added:

Removed:

Changed:

These lines show the total amount of data added, removed, or changed on the source(s) since the last snapshot.

Do the albums appear in the file list? If so, what is their backup status?

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Answer 4

poil66 Author

Level 1

60 points

Dec 15, 2012 3:42 PM in response to Linc Davis

No, they don't appear on the list. The only iTunes things on there are podcasts, which makes sense. And just to clarify, I re-added the albums a while ago, and have started time machine over since then, and they still dont show up in any of the backups when i enter time machine.

Thanks a lot for the help by the way

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Answer 5

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,547 points

Dec 15, 2012 3:56 PM in response to poil66

Triple-click the line below to select it, then drag or copy into the Terminal window — do not type — and press the space bar:

tmutil isexcluded

Now switch to the Finder and drag one of the problem items into the Terminal window. More text will be added to what you entered.

Click in the Terminal window to activate it, then press return.

You should get a line of output beginning either with the word "Included" or "Excluded." Which is it?

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Answer 6

poil66 Author

Level 1

60 points

Dec 15, 2012 4:11 PM in response to Linc Davis

Excluded

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Answer 7

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,547 points

Dec 15, 2012 4:27 PM in response to poil66

You copied files that had been excluded from backup on another system. The exclusion sticks to the files. To remove it, proceed as follows.

Copy the following text into the Terminal window:

xattr -r -c

Press the space bar. Drag a folder containing all the excluded items into the Terminal window. Press return. When a new prompt appears, quit Terminal. Test.

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Answer 8

poil66 Author

Level 1

60 points

Dec 16, 2012 3:53 PM in response to Linc Davis

Tried this with two of the missing albums, then ran the backup and it did not back them up. I just dragged the exact albums that were missing, the terminal window didnt seem to do anything at all after this.

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Answer 9

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,547 points

Dec 16, 2012 4:02 PM in response to poil66

If a folder has been flagged "don't back up," then none of its contents will be backed up. You have to clear the flag from the highest-level folder copied from the old system. If you're not sure which that is, use the "tmutil isexcluded" command to check.

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Answer 10

poil66 Author

Level 1

60 points

Dec 16, 2012 4:07 PM in response to Linc Davis

so should i just drag in the entire itunes folder? and how do i use the "tmutil isexcluded" command, just type that in with the folder? I did that with a particular album and it says excluded, and then with the artist folder (where the album is included in that folder) and it said included. So that means the album folder should be the right one?

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Answer 11

poil66 Author

Level 1

60 points

Dec 16, 2012 4:10 PM in response to Linc Davis

It seems like the "xattr -r -c" then space then dragging in the folder isnt doing anything, or at least not bringing up any other text in the terminal

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