Strange Time Machine issue

[reykjavik]

First I get this error message which makes no sense whatsoever:
(not verbatim as it wouldn't let me copy it)
"This backup requires 435 MB of space and the Backup HD has only 9.16 GB therefore the backup could not continue"

Yes, 435 MB is smaller than 9 GB, it makes no sense.

Then I check the HD and it indeed shows that I only have 300 MBs left which is also bizarre being that I checked the HD just yesterday and it showed 9 GBs of space available. I don't see what would have used up 9 gigs of space as I didn't even add anything to my computer in the last day. The only thing I did different was add a 2 gig stick of ram (which shouldn't have any effect on time machine!).

Also, is there a way to have TM just delete old stuff so that theres always room?

Any ideas as to whats going on?

 

[Nugget]

Is your time machine volume a directly-connected HFS+ volume, or have you used one of the hacks that's floating around to allow you to use a non-HFS or network-attached volume?

Some people are having similar problems with Time Machine backing up to non-supported volumes.

 

[reykjavik]

Is your time machine volume a directly-connected HFS+ volume, or have you used one of the hacks that's floating around to allow you to use a non-HFS or network-attached volume?

Some people are having similar problems with Time Machine backing up to non-supported volumes.

No hacks being used. TM actually worked perfectly for me and I never got any error messages since using it until now. And this error message is somewhat legitimate (I just can't figure out what would have used 9 gigs of space in one day being that I didn't add anything to my comp).

 

[Billious]

Same strange problem: "1.8 too big for 6.3"

I'm having the same problem, and also thought the backup drive would just get full and then Time Machine would begin automatically deleting the oldest archives to make room for the new ones.

But today I'm getting an error message that says: "This backup is too large for the backup volume. The bacup requires 1.8 GB but only 6.3 GB are available."

Not only is the math terrible, but I didn't think this could happen.

I'm using a 500 GB Neptune drive bought from OWC for just this purpose. This drive is partitioned into 100 GB for general archives and 400 GB for Time Machine. Since I have an Intel MacBook, I set it up with the GUID partition system as instructed. Everything is strictly by the book, Firewire connected.

My laptop is using about 90 GB of its HD and has about 65 GB available. I've been running Time Machine since November 1st -- or at least that's what it tells me is the farthest back it can go.

I've also posted this message on the MacFixit forum and even left a detailed critical note on the Apple web site when it asked me if its help message answered my question.

WAZZUP?

 

[THX1139]

I've had great luck with TM so far. Then I decided to go in and delete old files manually and that mucked it all up. I had backups from Nov. 1st that were no longer needed. So, I went to the newest directory in that series and selected "delete all backups of the file". It took awhile for TM to think about it and do the deletions. Next time TM ran, I got a backup failure error. I restarted and waited an hour. Same thing happened. I wound up reformatting my drive and resetting TM. Now it's working fine... that is unless I decide to modify the files again.

On another note, TM sucks up resources when you are trying to get real work done. I was working in Final Cut last night and TM was taking over 60% of the CPU cycle! Every hour!! What I wound up doing was turning off the backup every hour and set it up to backup every 24 hours instead. Now TM isn't filling up my drive and I don't need to deal with sharing resources when I'm trying get work done. I think backing up every hour is overkill. Besides, I can always do it manually if I think I need a backup. My next backup should be happening around 3AM when I'm asleep.