Time Machine Does Not Seem To Back-Up Data

[razorboy1969]

I own a uMBP late 09 running 10.6.2. Recently, i bought a Seagate FreeAgent Go 320Gb to use as back-up for both Mac and Windows. I partitioned it into equal HFS+ and FAT32, the former exclusively for Time Machine (which i will be using for the first time), and the latter for Windows.

Initial back-up via TM was successful, as i was able to store about 80Gb of data from my Macintosh partition into the ext drive. The problem is this : After several days of backing-up data, Time Machine displays the same set of files as the initial one. During this time, i have made various additions to my iTunes library as well as movie clips and other documents. These changes/additions did not reflect on the subsequent back-ups made by TM. The initial size of the back-up data stayed the same, pegged at 80Gb.

Am i doing something wrong here? The ext drive does not remain connected to my notebook always, and i only do force back-ups via the TM icon. Also, i have not encountered a single error/failed message when backing-up. On the options menu, i excluded only the Download folder. No other settings were altered.

Any help would appreciated. I have just erased all my previous data from the TM, and is attempting to redo it now.

 

[Objectivist-C]

Did you try running Time Machine to see if the restore points were showing up?

 

[razorboy1969]

Yes. There are several restore points. But the problem is, they all look the same and contain the same files, as if no changes were made, even though i have added several multimedia files since the initial back-up. In other words, the new files were not being backed up.

Ff-up question : I reformatted the drive and did TM all over again. This time, i excluded the 'Download Folder' (about 15Gb of data) prior to the back-up. How come it was still backed up and still shows up at the back-up folder ?????? This is driving me nuts. Googled but still no answers.

 

[razorboy1969]

Update : After reformatting the ext drive for the 3rd time and performing a software update, Time Machine backs up data correctly now. Problem seemed to be solved, although i still don't know what did the trick. The software updates were related to Safari and Java.

 

[georgegarrigues]

Update : After reformatting the ext drive for the 3rd time and performing a software update, Time Machine backs up data correctly now. Problem seemed to be solved, although i still don't know what did the trick. The software updates were related to Safari and Java.

Probably was the software update, since that was the only new thing you did. What software did you update anyway?

Questioningly, your friend, George