Time Machine Backup Filled Internal Disk

[matbishop]

Hi everyone.

Yesterday I tried to make a Time Machine backup of my MBP14 for the first time in two and a half months. During the backup, my Mac started running low on storage and I started deleting some files.

After a while of doing this (and clearing the bin), I could not delete more files. I got an error that I cannot move items to the bin as my Mac has a full disk. Other applications also stopped functioning, giving similar full disk errors.

I cancelled the time machine backup (which was about 70% done), and rebooted my Mac. Since then, I’ve been completely unable to log into my mac. I cannot even boot into safe mode. When I enter my password, it starts loading and then gets stuck. After a few minutes, the screen turns black and there is no way to turn it on (the trackpad clicks, indicating the computer isn’t off). The only way to get something on the screen again is by holding the power button to restart the machine.

My theory is that my computer’s internal disk completely filled up during the time machine backup, as it has been a long time since the previous one and the temporary files take up an enormous amount of space. It is even possible that I deleted some of these temporary files during my cleanup.

Now the internal drive seems to be completely corrupted, and I’ve tried everything I could think of. As mentioned, I can‘t boot into safe mode - the same login issue happens. I can open disk utility from the boot options, and I‘ve tried using first aid on the volumes etc. and it picks up some errors, and states that it has fixed them. However the problem unfortunately persists.

I want to try everything possible before restoring to my old time machine backup, as like mentioned it is old and I‘m unsure of all the files I’ll lose. I went to the equivalent of an Apple Store in my country today, but they charge a fee I can’t currently afford (and there is no guarantee they can fix it, so ultimately it would also be a gamble). The old backup might even be corrupted for all I know.

Any thoughtful suggestions would be sincerely appreciated, I want to try them all before giving up. Thank you in advance.

 

[Fishrrman]

Fishrrman's Mac Rule 23:
Never, never, NEVER trust time machine. Ever.

You should be using either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper.
And don't wait "months" to do a backup.
At least once or twice a week!
It's also wise to have a SECOND backup drive.

Now, to get to MBP with a completely full drive.
What I'd try:
1. Boot to recovery. You must be powered off to do this.
So... if the lid is open, press AND HOLD the power on button continuously until the display goes dark. Now you know it's powered off.

2. Press AND HOLD the power on button continuously. You should see "continue holding for startup options".

3. When "loading startup options" appears, let go.

4. You should see a screen with an icon for your internal drive on the left and and a "gear-shaped circle" to the right named "options". Click on "options" and then click "continue" to get to recovery.

5. In recovery, try clicking on "disk utility". Then click "continue"

6. Look up in the menu bar for the "View" menu. Choose "show all devices".
After that, choose "Show APFS Snapshots".

7. Do you now see a bunch of snapshots "down below" (they should appear at the bottom of disk utility's window)?

8. If there ARE one or more of them, you need to click on them and then DELETE them. I think there's a popup menu for that. (I have my own MPB open to du at the moment, and there aren't any, that's probably because I've never used time machine, ever)

When done, command-Q to quit disk utility.
Then reboot and see what happens.

9. Try this first and get back to us.
PRINT OUT this reply and keep it close by as you work on things.

Good luck.

 

[matbishop]

Fishrrman's Mac Rule 23:
Never, never, NEVER trust time machine. Ever.

You should be using either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper.
And don't wait "months" to do a backup.
At least once or twice a week!
It's also wise to have a SECOND backup drive.

Now, to get to MBP with a completely full drive.
What I'd try:
1. Boot to recovery. You must be powered off to do this.
So... if the lid is open, press AND HOLD the power on button continuously until the display goes dark. Now you know it's powered off.

2. Press AND HOLD the power on button continuously. You should see "continue holding for startup options".

3. When "loading startup options" appears, let go.

4. You should see a screen with an icon for your internal drive on the left and and a "gear-shaped circle" to the right named "options". Click on "options" and then click "continue" to get to recovery.

5. In recovery, try clicking on "disk utility". Then click "continue"

6. Look up in the menu bar for the "View" menu. Choose "show all devices".
After that, choose "Show APFS Snapshots".

7. Do you now see a bunch of snapshots "down below" (they should appear at the bottom of disk utility's window)?

8. If there ARE one or more of them, you need to click on them and then DELETE them. I think there's a popup menu for that. (I have my own MPB open to du at the moment, and there aren't any, that's probably because I've never used time machine, ever)

When done, command-Q to quit disk utility.
Then reboot and see what happens.

9. Try this first and get back to us.
PRINT OUT this reply and keep it close by as you work on things.

Good luck.

Hi, thanks for the reply. I’m usually very good with backups - using time machine, Backblaze, GDrive, iCloud etc. Unfortunately I stopped my Backblaze subscription recently and since then locked my time machine backup in a safe, causing me to not back up as often as I once did.

I’ve already looked for the Snapshots yesterday, there was only one, and the size (and actual size toggled in options) showed zero. This was strange to me, I also thought this would be of help. Unfortunately no dice - I’ve already deleted it.

 

[Brian33]

IF the boot problem is really lack of disk space on the boot volume, it should be possible to boot to Recovery and delete some files/directories using Terminal commands.

However, I don't recommend it for anyone who is not very familiar with commands like df, du, and rm. Every command you enter is executed with "sudo" privileges and you could easily make a mistake with 'rm' and permanently delete a ton of the wrong stuff!

The first hurdle is mounting the Data volume read-write. On my Monterey system (NOT and M-series mac), I was unable to determine the correct command to use in Terminal. However, I was able to use Disk Utility (after turning on View-->Show all Devices) to mount the proper Data volume read-write. I went back to Terminal and used 'mount' to see that the volume was indeed mounted read-write.

(Side note: at this point you could use Disk Utility to delete some APFS snapshots that exist on the boot volume. Turn on View-->Show APFS Snapshots, and select the correct volume. IMHO Time Machine snapshots should be safe to delete. Maybe that alone would clear enough space to boot normally.)

Back in Terminal, I would use 'df' to see if the volume was actually full, 'du' to find some big files or directories (probably within my user's home dir) as candidates to delete, and 'rm' to remove them.

I'm not saying to go this route; I'm just saying that with the proper knowledge it appears possible to clear out some free storage space on the boot volume from Recovery.

 

[Fishrrman]

An editorial, of sorts.

It's common for folks to say, with Apple Silicon, you no longer need a bootable cloned backup because it serves no purpose, but...
...Here's one example of where having a BOOTABLE backup could still come in handy.

The OP could:
1. Connect the backup
2. Invoke startup options
3. Boot from the backup (even though the drive may be "full", booting externally should still be possible so long as the internal drive has not "failed")
4. Now, examine the internal drive in the finder. If it appears to be full or nearly-full, it should then be possible to delete stuff from the "HD Data" volume until there's enough free space to enable a "normal boot".

/end of editorial

 

[Fishrrman]

OK, here's something else you could try.

You'll need an external USB3 drive.
A small SSD would do.
If you don't have one, you can get a 128gb SATA 2.5" SSD for less than $20, and get a USB3 enclosure for it, for about another $12 (I suggest "Orico").

Put the drive into the enclosure and connect to the problem Mac.
Boot back to startup options, select options to get to recovery.
Open disk utility and erase the EXTERNAL SSD to APFS.
Now open the OS installer.
Start clicking through, but when the installer asks WHERE you want to install, "aim it" at the external SSD.
Let the installer put a copy of the OS onto the SSD.
When done, you should be booted to the EXTERNAL SSD, so set up a very basic account.
All you need to do is "get to the finder".

When you get to the finder, you should be able to see the "Macintosh DATA" volume of the internal drive.
First thing I'd try is this:
Type Command-i to bring up the "get info" box.
Take a look and see how much free space is left.
If there isn't much, then you have to start deleting files.
BUT
If there IS "free space"... this suggests that the drive being "full" IS NOT "the problem".

IMPORTANT:
You probably can't delete files UNTIL you do the following:
In get info, go to the bottom and click the lock icon.
Now, type the password you're using on the NEW EXTERNAL BOOT DRIVE.
Then, put a checkmark into "ignore ownership on this volume" (in sharing and permissions).
Now you should be able to delete things without problems.

Hope something here helps.

 

[matbishop]

In the end I could solve the issue by deleting the Time Machine snapshot in Disk Utility, which was 60GB in size. I tried this initally, but the trick was to first mount the "Data" volume, which contained the snapshot. Thank you for the suggestions and your time.

 

[greentheglobe12]

Hi everyone.

Yesterday I tried to make a Time Machine backup of my MBP14 for the first time in two and a half months. During the backup, my Mac started running low on storage and I started deleting some files.

After a while of doing this (and clearing the bin), I could not delete more files. I got an error that I cannot move items to the bin as my Mac has a full disk. Other applications also stopped functioning, giving similar full disk errors.

I cancelled the time machine backup (which was about 70% done), and rebooted my Mac. Since then, I’ve been completely unable to log into my mac. I cannot even boot into safe mode. When I enter my password, it starts loading and then gets stuck. After a few minutes, the screen turns black and there is no way to turn it on (the trackpad clicks, indicating the computer isn’t off). The only way to get something on the screen again is by holding the power button to restart the machine.

My theory is that my computer’s internal disk completely filled up during the time machine backup, as it has been a long time since the previous one and the temporary files take up an enormous amount of space. It is even possible that I deleted some of these temporary files during my cleanup.

Now the internal drive seems to be completely corrupted, and I’ve tried everything I could think of. As mentioned, I can‘t boot into safe mode - the same login issue happens. I can open disk utility from the boot options, and I‘ve tried using first aid on the volumes etc. and it picks up some errors, and states that it has fixed them. However the problem unfortunately persists.

I want to try everything possible before restoring to my old time machine backup, as like mentioned it is old and I‘m unsure of all the files I’ll lose. I went to the equivalent of an Apple Store in my country today, but they charge a fee I can’t currently afford (and there is no guarantee they can fix it, so ultimately it would also be a gamble). The old backup might even be corrupted for all I know.

Any thoughtful suggestions would be sincerely appreciated, I want to try them all before giving up. Thank you in advance.

In the future I would recommend using terminal. Recovery mode has a minimal bash shell. Eg running df would have told you right away that you had an unmounted snapshot. diskutil in the terminal is far more useful in these situations than the GUI alone.