Time Machine does not backup all of my files

Question

Time Machine does not backup all of my files

Hi,

If I compare my Dropbox folder to what Time Machine backups there are differences which means that Time Machine does not backup all files:

diff <(cd "/Users/phil/Dropbox" && ls -R | sort) <(cd "/Volumes/TimeMachineBackup/Backups.backupdb/Computername/Latest/Macintosh HD/Users/phil/Dropbox" && ls -R | sort)

There are also differences if I compare my user folder to the Time Machine Backup:

diff <(cd "/Users/phil/" && ls -R | sort) <(cd "/Volumes/TimeMachineBackup/Backups.backupdb/Computername/Latest/Macintosh HD/Users/phil/" && ls -R | sort)

I did not exclude the folders affected from the Time Machine backup.

I have verified this behaviour on other computers as well.

Does anybody else have this kind of problem?

Philipp

Posted on Mar 27, 2014 7:22 AM

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Answer 1

Apr 18, 2014 2:36 AM in response to Philipp Metzler

These commands solved the problem for now:

1) Stop the Dropbox desktop application (if needed)

- Click on the Dropbox icon.

- Choose Quit/Stop/Exit

2) Open your Terminal app (Located at /Applications/Utilities/Terminal)

3) Copy and paste the following lines into the Terminal, one at a time, and press RETURN after each one. PLEASE make sure you copy and paste these commands (don't type them by hand), as getting them wrong could cause some harm. You'll be prompted for your computer user's password (not your Dropbox password) after entering the first command. Keep in mind that the password field in the terminal will remain blank as you type your password. After you type it, just press ENTER.

sudo chflags -R nouchg ~/Dropbox ~/.dropbox ~/.dropbox-master

sudo chown "$USER" "$HOME"

sudo chown -R "$USER" ~/Dropbox ~/.dropbox ~/.dropbox-master

sudo chmod -RN ~/.dropbox ~/Dropbox ~/.dropbox-master

chmod -R u+rw ~/Dropbox ~/.dropbox ~/.dropbox-master

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Answer 2

Jun 15, 2014 1:45 AM in response to Philipp Metzler

Got this answer from Dropbox:

did some additional research in your problem and this is most likely because of how Timemachine watches something called FSEvents. Dropbox had to implement its own File Event watch methodology since the updates sometimes fail to be reported correctly to third party applications. With that said, it is possible that since we use different file events schemes time machine is not picking up Dropbox initiated changes. Unfortunately there is no way to completely fix this unless FSEvents allows third party applications to interact and read without delays so Dropbox can get information reliably from there.

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