Fix file size of local time machine backup

[Paul E]

Hi all,

I'm having an issue where after copying over Backups.backupdb from my 1.5 GB external drive to another iMac, it shows that folder as now being 6.27 TB. The local disk on the iMac is 1 TB.

The resson I copied over Backups.backupdb to the iMac is that suddenly one day when connecting the external drive to my MacBook, (This external drive was used with the MacBook as a Time Machine backup) I was promted with a warning that there was a problem with the external drive and that I should copy the files over to another location and reformat the external drive. After copying over the files on the external drive to the iMac I then reformatted it.

So, the issue is that Finder reads that the Backups.backupdb is 6.27 TB and I can't copy it back over to the newly reformatted external drive.

If anyone has any insight, I would really apreciate it if someone could tell me if it's possible to:

-modify Backups.backupdb and it's contents sitting on the iMac to show it's actual file size, correct the permissions and extended attributes?

-copy over Backups.backupdb to the external dirve in some other way (I tried via Terminal but with no luck)?

Thanks in advanced!

Paul

 

[Bruno09]

Hi,

what did you try in Terminal ? The "rsync" command?

 

[Paul E]

Hey Bruno,

I think I tried copying the files over with the cp command, although I'm inexperienced with Terminal. Should I try something like this?:

rsync -av /path/to/source/* /path/to/destination/

 

[Bruno09]

I don't know if this will work for Time Machine backups specifically (I mean will that copy actually work as the original folder).

I have just checked that it works fine for normal folders.


1. on the external 1.5 TB drive (wich should be empty), create a new folder named : "Backups.backupdb" (the exact name of a Time Machine backups folder).

2. open a Terminal window

3. type :

rsync -r

Note : insert a space after "-r"

4. open the Backups.backupdb folder on the iMac

5. select all (Cmd + a)

6. drag this selection into the Terminal window

7. drag the "Backups.backupdb" folder of the external drive into the Terminal window

8. from the Terminal window, hit Enter.


This will take a while, of course.

Again, I do not know if this will actually work for Time Machine backups.

Note : you might also use Carbon Copy Cloner, which is a GUI for "rsync".

 

[Paul E]

Thanks a lot for the tip! I'll give it a try now...

 

[Paul E]

I'm noticing that while the files are being copied over to the external drive, I'm getting a "failed: Permission denied (13)" message at the end of each line.

Is there something I can add to the command to add the necessary credentials?

 

[Bruno09]

I am not skilled enough to know what is wrong, although I am not surprised that permissions issues occurred when copying Time Machine backups.

I can only suggest that you use Carbon Copy Cloner instead (3.4.7 is free).

Sorry that I can't be more helpful, hope someone else will come and help you.

 

[Paul E]

I'll give Carbon Copy Cloner a try. Thanks again for Your help!

 

[Bruno09]

Take a look at this : http://apple.stackexchange.com/ques...y-time-machine-files-from-one-disk-to-another

Looks like rsync is not the right tool because it does not understand hard links that are used in TM backups.