amount being backed up by Time Machine keeps growing during full backup

Question

Level 1

4 points

amount being backed up by Time Machine keeps growing during full backup

After some problems with Time Machine backup, I removed a bunch of stuff from my internal hard drive, reformatted my external HD used for backups, and started a new full backup. Time Machine has been running for about 24 hours and gives me a status of Backing up: xx GB of yy GB. Both xx and yy keep growing (apace) so that I don't believe xx will ever equal yy.

To cryptic? Here are real numbers. My internal disk being backed up contains 469.39 GB. Backup status now says Backing up: 685.78GB of 754.42 GB. Both numbers just keep growing. What's going on here? I'm happy to let Time Machine overnight (again) but, really, this can't be normal.

iMac, OS X Mavericks (10.9.4)

Posted on Dec 6, 2014 7:18 PM

Reply

Answer 1

LMM53 Author

Level 1

4 points

Dec 6, 2014 7:36 PM in response to LMM53

Now at 10:35pm, the message says Backing up: 698.18GB of 768.10 GB.

It's never going to catch up, right?

Reply

Answer 2

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,547 points

Dec 6, 2014 9:53 PM in response to LMM53

Start up in Recovery mode, launch Disk Utility, select the startup volume ("Macintosh HD," unless you gave it a different name), and run Repair Disk (not Repair Permissions.) If any problems are found, repeat. Then restart as usual.

If you don't already have a current backup, you must back up your data before you take the above step. You may be able to back up, even if the system isn't fully functional. Ask if you need guidance.

Directory corruption in a MacOS journaled volume is always the result of a drive malfunction. It's not caused by power failures, system crashes, or anything else. You might choose to tolerate such a malfunction once in the life of a drive. If it's repeated, the drive must be replaced, or there is some other hardware fault that needs to be corrected. Ignoring repeated directory errors will result in data loss.

Reply

Answer 3

LMM53 Author

Level 1

4 points

Dec 7, 2014 6:26 AM in response to Linc Davis

Turns out the backup did complete overnight and incrementals were performed each hour since.

So, I'm happy to follow your instructions to repair my disk, but what makes you think I have directory corruption? And why do I have to boot up in recovery mode to repair it?

Reply

Answer 4

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,547 points

Dec 7, 2014 7:17 AM in response to LMM53

If Time Machine is working now, you don't need to repair the disk.

Reply