User profile for user: jeremyweiss
jeremyweiss Author
User level: Level 1
12 points

Time Machine error: not enough space

A little while ago I got an error from my Time Machine backup, stating, "The backup disk needs 349.72 GB for the backup but only 327.67 GB are available. Select a larger backup disk or make the backup smaller by excluding files." This was not a new backup, and I couldn't see any reason why Time Machine would deviate from the usual small incremental backups. I finally ended up formatting my Time Capsule and starting over. Things were going fine until today, when I got the same message. Any idea why this is happening and what I can do to fix it?


The backup is for my iMac, running OS 10.10.3, the Time Capsule is 1 GB. I don't have any partitions, and the total backup for my computer should be only around 500 GB according to the Time Machine preferences. I do have an external hard drive connected, which holds videos and photos and is included in the backup.

iMac, OS X Yosemite (10.10.3)

Posted on Apr 20, 2015 4:50 PM

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7 replies
User profile for user: Linc Davis
Linc Davis
User level: Level 10
209,739 points

Apr 20, 2015 7:34 PM in response to jeremyweiss

Time Machine automatically deletes older snapshots to make room for new ones. If your backup history is shorter than you expect, it may be because you're backing up one or more large files frequently.

Virtualization software such as VMware, Parallels, or VirtualBox creates a large virtual-disk container that is constantly changing, so it has to be backed up every time Time Machine runs. That will quickly fill up any backup destination.

You should exclude the virtual-disk file(s) from your Time Machine backups. To do that, click the Options button in the Time Machine preference pane. You may also be able to do it in the virtualization app's settings. Back up the files on the virtual disk from within the guest system, using a native backup application.

A compromise solution is to create a "snapshot" of the virtual machine in the virtualization software (not a Time Machine snapshot.) That will give you a single large file that never changes and only has to be backed up once. All the subsequent changes will be stored in a new file that's initially much smaller, but will grow over time. You should still exclude that file from TM backup. If you ever need to restore the VM from Time Machine, you'll have a working setup, which will make it easy for you to restore the rest of the data from within the guest system.

Another common cause of large TM snapshots is native OS X disk images. If you store a lot of data on one or more writable disk images, they should be in "sparsebundle" format, which will be backed up much more efficiently than any other format. A sparsebundle will not be backed up at all while the image is mounted. Make sure you unmount the image often so it can be backed up. Consider eliminating large read/write disk images from your workflow, if possible.

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User profile for user: jeremyweiss
jeremyweiss Author
User level: Level 1
12 points

May 2, 2015 5:52 AM in response to Linc Davis

Thanks for the comment but I don't think I'm having any of those issues. Time Machine will work fine for a while, and then it suddenly decides it needs to back up almost 350 GB of "new" data even though there haven't been any changes that would justify that large a backup. This is what I see in the Time Machine Buddy widget:


Starting manual backup

Attempting to mount network destination URL: afp://Jeremy%20Weiss;AUTH=SRP@Jeremy's%20AirPort%20Time%20Capsule._afpovertcp._ tcp.local./Jeremy%20Weiss's%20Time%20Capsule

Mounted network destination at mount point: /Volumes/Jeremy Weiss's Time Capsule using URL: afp://Jeremy%20Weiss;AUTH=SRP@Jeremy's%20AirPort%20Time%20Capsule._afpovertcp._ tcp.local./Jeremy%20Weiss's%20Time%20Capsule

Disk image /Volumes/Jeremy Weiss's Time Capsule/Weiss's iMac.sparsebundle mounted at: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups

Backing up to /dev/disk3s2: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb

Will copy (602.4 MB) from Macintosh HD

Will copy (Zero KB) from My Book for Mac

Found 157930 files (327.16 GB) needing backup

350.45 GB required (including padding), 327.67 GB available

Ejected Time Machine disk image: /Volumes/Jeremy Weiss's Time Capsule/Weiss's iMac.sparsebundle

Compacting backup disk image to recover free space

Completed backup disk image compaction

Starting manual backup

Network destination already mounted at: /Volumes/Jeremy Weiss's Time Capsule

Disk image /Volumes/Jeremy Weiss's Time Capsule/Weiss's iMac.sparsebundle mounted at: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups

Backing up to /dev/disk4s2: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb

Will copy (602.6 MB) from Macintosh HD

Will copy (Zero KB) from My Book for Mac

Found 158025 files (327.16 GB) needing backup

350.45 GB required (including padding), 327.67 GB available

Deleted backup /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/Weiss's iMac/2015-05-02-084159.inProgress/2A826121-7477-4D3F-A86A-FE5FFEEC0B19 containing 4 KB; 327.67 GB now available, 350.45 GB required

Deleted backup /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/Weiss's iMac/2015-05-02-084159.inProgress/5BF1ECEE-6819-4A94-A9A3-7DB133F7D617 containing 4 KB; 327.67 GB now available, 350.45 GB required

Removed 2 expired backups so far, more space is needed - deleting oldest backups to make room

Deleted 2 backups containing 8 KB total; 327.67 GB now available, 350.45 GB required

Backup date range was shortened: oldest backup is now May 2, 2015

Backup failed with error 7: Not enough available disk space on the target volume.

Ejected Time Machine disk image: /Volumes/Jeremy Weiss's Time Capsule/Weiss's iMac.sparsebundle

Ejected Time Machine network volume.

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User profile for user: Gary Jaz
Gary Jaz
User level: Level 1
10 points

Nov 8, 2015 5:28 PM in response to jeremyweiss

This has been happening to me for half a year. I can erase the time capsule and time machine will work for a while then it runs out of space. It's trying to back up 700 gigs when it should only be back up what's new since the last backup, which is never more than a few gigs. I wonder if the computer name is being changed (ie., imac, imac (2), imace (3)). Had this issue interfering with my Sonos library.


Using 10.10.5

Late 2012 imac (3.2, 24 gigs RAM)

Have photo library on external disk (which I include in TM backups)

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Time Machine error: not enough space

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