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Sudden TimeMachine problem
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Yokohama
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Feb 12, 2012, 12:40 AM
 
Been using TimeMachine for some time backing up to an external 2T LaCie drive on a 250GB partition. But yesterday I got the following message: "This backup it too large for the backup disk...." Yet I have chosen to have the oldest backups deleted when the disk is full. The full message says something like there is 13GB left, but the backup requires 26GB, and so I should remove some files etc to make room.
I used DiskUtility to repair the disc without success, and I've repeatedly tried backing up without success, always getting the same message. Since it happened I upgraded to 10.7.3 but this was no help either. I've been backing up for about 6 months without a problem on this partition until now.
     
ibook_steve
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Feb 12, 2012, 03:51 AM
 
Important info that you didn't provide: what's the size of the disk/partition you are trying to back up?

Steve
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Yokohama  (op)
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Feb 12, 2012, 04:03 AM
 
It's a 250GB partition, which I did state. The drive is divided into 3 partitions of 1.1TB, 600GB and 250GB.
     
ibook_steve
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Feb 12, 2012, 04:17 PM
 
You stated you were backing up *to* a 250 GB partition. You didn't say that was also the size of the partition you were backing up.

In most cases, it's better to have the backup drive/partition be bigger than the drive/partition you are backing up.

Steve
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reader50
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Feb 12, 2012, 06:20 PM
 
What is the size of your built-in drive? The one you are backing up from. And is it partitioned?

Internal (? GB)

-> to ->

External 2 TB LaCie
.. 1.1TB not backed up
.. 600 GB not backed up
.. 250 GB time machine backup

If your internal is 250GB, then you should have a larger space to back up to. The backup media should be at least 50% larger than the primary space.

If your internal is 160GB, then Time Machine has probably started backing up a partition you don't want it to. Like the 600 GB partition on the LaCie. Check your Time Machine prefs, click on (Options...), and make sure the other partitions are excluded.
     
OreoCookie
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Feb 12, 2012, 06:40 PM
 
These days, save for some rare cases, it's not really necessary to partition drives anymore. I also suspect your backup volume on your external drive is too small. As a rule of thumb, it should at least be twice as large as the total amount of data you're backing up.
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