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Runaway Time Machine

smartalic34

smartalic34

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
I've noticed Time Machine making some huge backups lately (over 1.5 GB) so I used the app timetracker to see what was up.

I've used time machine since october, and last week it saw fit to rebackup my ENTIRE documents folder. this morning, apparently there was 1.9GB worth of changes to my Macintosh HD/Library folder.

what's up? how did /System change so much, and why would TM back up my documents folder again, as opposed to any new files in it separately?
 
smartalic34 said:
I've noticed Time Machine making some huge backups lately (over 1.5 GB) so I used the app timetracker to see what was up.

I've used time machine since october, and last week it saw fit to rebackup my ENTIRE documents folder. this morning, apparently there was 1.9GB worth of changes to my Macintosh HD/Library folder.

what's up? how did /System change so much, and why would TM back up my documents folder again, as opposed to any new files in it separately?
Click to expand...

Have you done any changes to your home folder, like restoring it from a clone or backup recently or anything else?

TM looks at the date stamp of files and compares this to the last time it backed up and will backup anything with a newer date.
 
that's the odd thing... I haven't done anything out of the ordinary. I mean I've created new documents, but surely that doesn't warrant backing up the entire Documents folder again? Also, I used the app TimeTracker to observe what was backed up, and over 1 GB of changes to /System/Library/Frameworks

Why would Frameworks change so much in a matter of hours (after sleeping overnight, no less)? I haven't done anything with clones or other backups, which is why this is so weird.

any suggestions/ideas?
 
smartalic34 said:
that's the odd thing... I haven't done anything out of the ordinary. I mean I've created new documents, but surely that doesn't warrant backing up the entire Documents folder again? Also, I used the app TimeTracker to observe what was backed up, and over 1 GB of changes to /System/Library/Frameworks

Why would Frameworks change so much in a matter of hours (after sleeping overnight, no less)? I haven't done anything with clones or other backups, which is why this is so weird.

any suggestions/ideas?
Click to expand...

Wow, this is really strange.

I would suggest running a lot of maintenance tasks such as:
1. Reset SMC/SMU/PMU (as I don't know what machine you have).
2. Reset PRAM
3. Boot in "Safe Mode" (runs a lot of cleanup and file system checks/repairs)
4. Repair Permissions (Disk Utility)
5. Run a utility to clean all caches (OnyX - free)
6. Boot from either your startup DVD or a clone and run Disk Utility from that and do a "verify disk" to see if you have problems.

Something on your system is "touching" all of your files. Did you install anything new since this problem began? Is your system clock synchronizing with an external time server correctly (Date & Time)? Are you running any virus protection software that does automatic scans?

It is hard to say what is causing these files to update, but it sounds like there is some underlying process running that is doing this.
 
merl1n said:
Wow, this is really strange.

I would suggest running a lot of maintenance tasks such as:
1. Reset SMC/SMU/PMU (as I don't know what machine you have).
2. Reset PRAM
3. Boot in "Safe Mode" (runs a lot of cleanup and file system checks/repairs)
4. Repair Permissions (Disk Utility)
5. Run a utility to clean all caches (OnyX - free)
6. Boot from either your startup DVD or a clone and run Disk Utility from that and do a "verify disk" to see if you have problems.

Something on your system is "touching" all of your files. Did you install anything new since this problem began? Is your system clock synchronizing with an external time server correctly (Date & Time)? Are you running any virus protection software that does automatic scans?

It is hard to say what is causing these files to update, but it sounds like there is some underlying process running that is doing this.
Click to expand...

Minor correction to a question I asked:
"Did you install anything new since this problem began?" should read "Did you install anything new prior to this problem first occurring?
 
smartalic34 said:
I've noticed Time Machine making some huge backups lately (over 1.5 GB) so I used the app timetracker to see what was up.

I've used time machine since october, and last week it saw fit to rebackup my ENTIRE documents folder. this morning, apparently there was 1.9GB worth of changes to my Macintosh HD/Library folder.

what's up? how did /System change so much, and why would TM back up my documents folder again, as opposed to any new files in it separately?
Click to expand...

If you look at the logs in Console.app.....does a previous backup have a bunch of errors with it?

I have a case on my Mac Pro, where everyone once in a while, TM will have an error copying files from my /Applications folder. I'll see the errors in the system.log.

At some later backup, TM will decide it needs to backup my entire /Applications folder again (4+GB).

I've also had this happen to me ~/Library folder.

I have no idea why. The only thing close is that it has errors at some point prior. Why did it have copying errors....no idea. Sometimes the errors happen during a backup overnight, when I'm not even using the machine.

For /Applications I've resorted to deleting all the /Applications backups in Time Machine and letting it start fresh.

-Kevin
 
thanks for the replies, everyone.

I cleaned my caches, reset PRAM, etc. We'll see if anything happens...
I had over 300MB of files in my Safari cache haha

I do, by the way, use a external time server in Date & Time... should I uncheck that box?

My machine is in my signature, by the way.


I tried checking my logs, but they don't go back far enough. They are about 12 hours short of when the last big backup occurred.
 
unfortunate update:

Time Machine decided to back up the Macintosh HD/Library folder... 4 GB worth! I haven't added any apps, or done anything except using Mail and Safari. here's what updated...

any ideas?
 

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smartalic34 said:
unfortunate update:

Time Machine decided to back up the Macintosh HD/Library folder... 4 GB worth! I haven't added any apps, or done anything except using Mail and Safari. here's what updated...

any ideas?
Click to expand...

How are you verifying what TM has backed up?

-Kevin
 
yes that's the app I've been using... and the screenshot I posted is from TimeTracker.


why would Time Machine decide to update 4 GB worth of Application Support files? I haven't even opened most of those apps since the last backup...

???
 
Twice today Time Machine had a bunch of Error -43 during a backup. One resulting in a later backup, backing up 6GB of data, and another resulting in a 9GB backup.

The second was odd because it was on a bunch of folders on a second internal drive that I have client files in. I wasn't even using the machine at the time.

How come I get this feeling that Time Machine is great as a temporary backup solution, but I think I'll have to go in a wipe backups every once in a while to keep it in line.

Anyone have any idea what the Error -43 is?

-Kevin
 
kbmb said:
Twice today Time Machine had a bunch of Error -43 during a backup. One resulting in a later backup, backing up 6GB of data, and another resulting in a 9GB backup.

The second was odd because it was on a bunch of folders on a second internal drive that I have client files in. I wasn't even using the machine at the time.

How come I get this feeling that Time Machine is great as a temporary backup solution, but I think I'll have to go in a wipe backups every once in a while to keep it in line.

Anyone have any idea what the Error -43 is?

-Kevin
Click to expand...

Hi All,
I'm brand new to Mac and have been playing around trying stuff out. I also recieve error-43 from TM. I also have a problem with formatting my external drive (40 Gb Cutie - yes it is small, but until I work out the Mac way I'm not willing to commit a bigger drive to be trashed). Is it possible there is a link between the external drive and TM (maybe TM is trying to back-up continually?) and this error 43? Does anyone have any suggestions? Any assistance would be appreciated.
 
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