Time Machine Not Backing Up New Files

SeattleMacUser wrote:

In a response that does not appear to be displaying correctly

Yeah, the forums are behaving quite badly today. 😟 Usually, if you post anything at all, that will make the replies appear. (You may see some posts with nothing but a dot.

I then altered the documents and created new ones as well, then ran Time Machine again. All files in the new user account (modified and newly created) were successfully backed up. 🙂

At the same time, newly created and recently modified documents in the original user account were NOT backed up. 😟

Yup, I was afraid of that. It's something to do with your home folder. It doesn't seem to be an extended attribute (although if you want, you might try running this in Terminal:

xattr -l /users/<homefoldername>

After the dash is a lowercase letter L followed by a space followed by /users/ followed by your home folder name.

It should look something like this:

That result (just another prompt) means there are no extended attributes on my home folder. If something is shown when you do that, tell us what or post a screenshot.

Rats. That was a very long shot, but worth a try.

Another long shot: try:

ls -dlO /users<homefoldername>

(-dlO is dash, lower case D, lower case letter L, upper case letter O).

Ok, so it's not some bizarre flag, either. 😟

I cannot imagine what it is; we used to see posts like this on occasion, but I haven't in quite a while. A few were reported to Apple a year or two ago, and their only advice was to create a new user account and copy everything to it.

To do that properly, you usually have to copy everything twice; once as the original user, either to the special /Users/Shared folder or the Public/dropbox folder; then as the new user, from there to the new user's home folder.

It's usually easiest to do this one sub-folder (Desktop, Documents, etc.) at a time, via Fast User Switching. The hidden Library folder is a bit harder; not only do you have to display it first (hold Alt/Option while selecting GO in a Finder Menu), but delete much or all of the default contents of the one in the new user account.

Sorry not to have a better workaround. 😟

SeattleMacUser wrote:

. . .

Also, any advice you can give to preserve as many attributes from my current user setup would be much appreciated. For instance, will this affect things like iTunes authorizations, Mailbox settings, Keychain passwords, iPhone backups, software registrations, etcetera?

Keychain maybe. I think if you use the same password, it may not need to be changed; otherwise, when you log on to the new account, you'll be asked to upgrade the keychain password. Since there's a new account name, you may get that anyway.

Mail & settings should be the same. Note that you'll need the whole ~/Library/Mail folder for the mailboxes, e-mails, etc., and the ~/Library/Containers folder for the preferences, etc. (since Mail is now sandboxed, that's moved from ~/Library/Preferences).

If you use the same Apple ID for the new user account, I don't think you'll have a problem with iTunes authorization, since you're also on the same Mac. Ditto most software registrations -- they're usually hidden in the top-level /Library folder, but you never know where some developers may put them.

Thanks again for your help in identifying the nature of this frustrating issue.

You're quite welcome. Just wish we could figure out exactly what's wrong, as then somebody might be able to finagle an actual fix. 😟

Also, any advice you can give to preserve as many attributes from my current user setup would be much appreciated.

If you do as I suggested, and it works, you won't have to create a new account.

You are referring to erasing and restoring the source volume entirely from the Time Machine backup?

You'd need at least two complete backups, one preferably not made with Time Machine. You already know a workaround for the bug that lets you make a complete backup with TM.

Wouldn't that just restore the volume to the same state at which I was experiencing this issue?

Not necessarily. The premise is that there's subtle corruption in a low-level volume structure. By erasing the volume, you would eliminate that corruption. I don't know whether it will work, but it makes more sense to me than creating a new user account.

Actually I would suggest repartitioning the drive, rather than just erasing the boot volume. To do that you need to boot into Internet Recovery or from a local Time Machine volume.

Just wanted to chime in and say that I am also having this problem. My research group has a current-gen mac mini running 10.8.3, hosting a 2TB external hard drive. A second 2TB external HD serves as the TM backup drive.

Since upgrading to the new mac mini and 10.8.3, I've noticed that files and folders all over the shared drive are not being backed up. I have already checked the exclusion lists, and followed all of the other suggestions I've been able to discover - to no avail.

tmutil shows that there is approximately 43.3GB that needs to be backed up, but these files and folders are never copied to the TM drive. When I swapped the current TM backup drive with an identical, but empty drive about three weeks ago, everything was backed up properly - but the issue has returned since then.

I'm pretty handy with the terminal and other utilities, and have extensively investigated this issue, but I'm at my wits end.

O157-H7 wrote:

. . .

I've noticed that files and folders all over the shared drive are not being backed up.

Are all those files in the same folder(s); and are other files in the same folders backed-up properly?

Did they get backed-up the first time?

I have already checked the exclusion lists, and followed all of the other suggestions I've been able to discover - to no avail.

Some "extra" apps, including both Apple and 3rd-party, exclude certain of their files (such as caches), but are not shown on the TM Prefs window. That doesn't sound like what you're seeing, but look for "sticky" exclusions, per the tan box in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #11. There's also a link to more technical details, including a way to see "fixed path" exclusions also used by some apps.

tmutil shows that there is approximately 43.3GB that needs to be backed up, but these files and folders are never copied to the TM drive. When I swapped the current TM backup drive with an identical, but empty drive about three weeks ago, everything was backed up properly - but the issue has returned since then.

That sounds more like a problem with one or more folders, where everything gets backed-up properly at first, then no additions or changes do. Other than a home folder, the fix is easy -- rename the folder, create a new one with the original name, and copy the contents of the old one to the new one.

Pondini wrote:

Are all those files in the same folder(s); and are other files in the same folders backed-up properly?

Did they get backed-up the first time?

The files and folders that are not being backed up are scattered all over the drive. Some files that were added yesterday are backed up just fine, whereas some that were added last week are not present. As I mentioned, when I swapped out the previous TM drive for a new one, everything present at that time was backed up correctly.

I am running another full tmutil compare to see if I can discern any rhyme or reason. Just to make this clear: tmutil compare correctly detects the changed files and folders (and the total size of the changed items), but when TM runs (either from the commandline or the preference pane), some files/folders are not copied to the TM drive.

Some "extra" apps, including both Apple and 3rd-party, exclude certain of their files (such as caches), but are not shown on the TM Prefs window. That doesn't sound like what you're seeing, but look for "sticky" exclusions, per the tan box in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #11. There's also a link to more technical details, including a way to see "fixed path" exclusions also used by some apps.

This is a bone-stock as-shipped install of 10.8.3. The only program I've installed is TextWrangler, in fact. I have verified that none of the offending files (or their enclosing folders) have any extended attributes set. I've ran tmutil isexcluded on the files (and enclosing folders), and none of them appear to be excluded. In desperation I've also checked the time machine preferences plist, and everything looks good there.

That sounds more like a problem with one or more folders, where everything gets backed-up properly at first, then no additions or changes do.

Correct on the first count, but incorrect on the second: it's the inconsistent backing up of additions and changes that worry me.

Other than a home folder, the fix is easy -- rename the folder, create a new one with the original name, and copy the contents of the old one to the new one.

Sorry, but I don't really see this as a fix - it may remedy the problem for now, but it doesn't answer what's going wrong in the first place, or how soon the problem will happen again. The inconsistent nature of the backups is making me a little paranoid, and although I have systematic offsites every night, I'd really like to know why TM is failing. It doesn't engender much confidence.

In any case, thank you for your help, and I'll see if I can uncover any more information. Let me know what specific info you'd like and I'll try and post it asap.

O157-H7 wrote:

Pondini wrote:

Are all those files in the same folder(s); and are other files in the same folders backed-up properly?

Did they get backed-up the first time?

The files and folders that are not being backed up are scattered all over the drive. Some files that were added yesterday are backed up just fine, whereas some that were added last week are not present. As I mentioned, when I swapped out the previous TM drive for a new one, everything present at that time was backed up correctly.

Uh, sorry, but the question is, for the files in question, are other files in the same folder(s) as the files in question backed-up correctly when added or changed?

Everything being copied on the first backup to a new/empty drive is a different process, that seems to work fine. It's the incremental process that seems to skip additions and changes in existing folders after their initial backup.

In desperation I've also checked the time machine preferences plist, and everything looks good there.

Be sure it's not damaged. Do a "full reset" of TM, per #A4 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting.

That sounds more like a problem with one or more folders, where everything gets backed-up properly at first, then no additions or changes do.

Correct on the first count, but incorrect on the second: it's the inconsistent backing up of additions and changes that worry me.

Again, please confirm whether, after an initial backup, other files added or changed in the same folder are, or are not, backed-up.

Other than a home folder, the fix is easy -- rename the folder, create a new one with the original name, and copy the contents of the old one to the new one.

Sorry, but I don't really see this as a fix - it may remedy the problem for now, but it doesn't answer what's going wrong in the first place, or how soon the problem will happen again.

Yes, as posted, we don't know what causes it. But that will fix it, and I don't recall anyone posting back that it didn't "stick."