Time Machine exclusions problems

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Level 1

1 points

Time Machine exclusions problems

I have bought a hard drive to backup my mac. (Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex 1TB). And I have successfully managed to format it Mac OS extended journaled. I have also managed to make a few backups of the computer. However this is where the problems start to appear.

For some reason a few folders are not being backed up, including "/Applications", "/usr" (which I use for homebrew), and in fact most of the folders in "/" generally. I have tried to find out why they are excluded, but they are not listed in the .plist files that I have checked.

Also, when typing: "tmutil isexcluded /Applications/"

The output is: "[Excluded] /Applications"

Then I type: "tmutil removeexclusion /Applications/"

And again: "tmutil isexcluded /Applications/"

And the output is still: "[Excluded] /Applications"

I just cannot seem to find a reason why this is happening. Any help would really be appreciated. Thanks.

MacBook Pro (15-inch Mid 2010), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.4)

Posted on Aug 12, 2013 11:54 AM

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Answer 1

necival

Level 1

9 points

Jul 4, 2017 11:28 AM in response to ohope5

I tried with sudo, and got the same results. My time machine stopped working because it's excluding the whole Macintosh HD....

Mac-Book-Pro:Volumes necival$ sudo tmutil isexcluded /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD

[Excluded] /Volumes/Macintosh HD

Mac-Book-Pro:Volumes necival$ sudo tmutil removeexclusion /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD

Mac-Book-Pro:Volumes necival$ sudo tmutil isexcluded /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD

[Excluded] /Volumes/Macintosh HD

Also, from the settings, the Macintosh HD is greyed out, and cannot be removed.

Is there a solution besides re-installing the OS?

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Answer 2

necival

Level 1

9 points

Jul 4, 2017 3:20 PM in response to Eric Root

Thanks for the fast response, Eric.

Following A4 in the first link, I disabled Time Machine, then remove the plist:

Mac-Book-Pro:~ necival$ sudo rm -fv /Library/Preferences/com.apple.TimeMachine.plist

/Library/Preferences/com.apple.TimeMachine.plist

Mac-Book-Pro:~ necival$ sudo cat /Library/Preferences/com.apple.TimeMachine.plist

cat: /Library/Preferences/com.apple.TimeMachine.plist: No such file or directory

But got the same results at the end... Zero Kb backup size, no disks to back up.

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Answer 3

necival

Level 1

9 points

Jul 4, 2017 3:27 PM in response to necival

Also, I was thinking it might be the connection to the Airport device... so I plugged the HDD directly to my mac, repeated the process to reset. Got the same results. Of course, the Exclude list has both drives instead of just Macintosh HD.

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Answer 4

necival

Level 1

9 points

Jul 7, 2017 9:18 PM in response to Eric Root

I just tried deleting the plist file and rebooting, but got same result. The drives are greyed out and not clickable from the time machine "Options" menu.

I think maybe its a glitch with the latest update (I am on beta, after all)... I'll have to wait for Apple to fix it.

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Answer 5

Eric Root

Level 10

684,027 points

Jul 4, 2017 2:21 PM in response to necival

Start with A4 in the 1st linked article.

Time Machine Troubleshooting

Time Machine Troubleshooting Problems

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Answer 6

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,541 points

Aug 12, 2013 1:17 PM in response to ohope5

This simple procedure will clear your Time Machine settings, including exclusions. The backups won't be affected. If you have a long exclusion list that can't be recreated easily, you may prefer a more complicated procedure that preserves the exclusion list. In that case, ask for instructions. Otherwise, do as follows.

Triple-click the line below on this page to select it:

/Library/Preferences/com.apple.TimeMachine.plist

Right-click or control-click the highlighted line and select

Services ▹ Reveal

from the contextual menu. A Finder window should open with a file selected. Copy the file to the Desktop. Then move it (the original, not the copy) to the Trash. You'll be prompted for your administrator password. Reboot and recreate your settings in the Time Machine preference pane. It will show that you have no backups. Don't worry; that's expected. Run a backup to test. The backup may take much longer than usual. If TM now performs as expected, delete the file you copied to the Desktop.

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Answer 7

Eric Root

Level 10

684,027 points

Aug 12, 2013 1:23 PM in response to ohope5

Have you checked System Preferences/Time Machine/Options to see if any of the folders are excluded?

You might check this discussion.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4576043?tstart=0

http://pondini.org/TM/D5.html

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Answer 8

ohope5 Author

Level 1

1 points

Aug 12, 2013 1:33 PM in response to Linc Davis

I have already tried deleting com.apple.TimeMachine.plist The backup did take much longer, but I still had the same problem afterwards. And yes, there are no exclusions listed in system preferences.

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Answer 9

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,541 points

Aug 12, 2013 4:27 PM in response to ohope5

Rebuild the Spotlight index. If you try to search now from the magnifying-glass icon in the top right corner of the display, a pulsing dot will appear in the icon. When the dot disappears, the indexing is complete.

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Answer 10

necival

Level 1

9 points

Jul 4, 2017 4:01 PM in response to necival

Also, I had found this from google, but definitely I'm on the wrong OS forum. I'm using macOS High Sierra

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Answer 11

Eric Root

Level 10

684,027 points

Jul 5, 2017 7:33 AM in response to necival

You are welcome. In your last screen shot, can you select the drives and remove them using the minus sign at the lower left? Did you delete the .plist and restart the computer?

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Answer 12

Eric Root

Level 10

684,027 points

Jul 8, 2017 7:20 AM in response to necival

I think I've read a couple of posts by people testing 10.13 that indicated Time Machine isn't working.

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