Time Machine is Ignoring My Excluded Items

[nictan]

Hi all, ive tried searching all over for a solution, but have come up empty.

I have a 10mth old MBP. Ive been using time machine for just as long. However, i recently changed the external HD that im using for my time machine backups.

My MBP uses about 130GB of space. The folders that i am excluding take up about 50GB. This means i should only be backing up 80GB of info onto my external HD using Time Machine. Even under the Time Machine Preferences, the estimated space says ~80GB.

However, when i start the backup, initially it say 0MB of 69GB. And then when it reaches 69GB, the amount just increases. e.g. 72.3GB of 72.3GB. 79.25GB of 79.25GB. And it just keeps going till 80+ 90GB. For some reason, it is ignoring the excluded command.

Ive tried reformating my external HD as well as disabling time machine and doing everything from scratch. But it still ignores my Excluded items.

Help!!!!!!!!

 

[r.j.s]

Have you actually let the backup finish?

Are the files you excluded actually on the TM drive?

Does it reach the full 130GB, or does it stop somewhere around 90GB?

 

[nictan]

ive not let it back up finish, but i stopped because it really was way off mark. 130GB is taken up, the folder is 50GB to be excluded. it shouldnt hit anywhere near 90GB either way.

 

[r.j.s]

ive not let it back up finish, but i stopped because it really was way off mark. 130GB is taken up, the folder is 50GB to be excluded. it shouldnt hit anywhere near 90GB either way.

Turn OFF Time Machine.

Delete the exclusions, then add them again.

Turn ON Time Machine.

Start a backup and let it finish - no matter what.

Post the results.

 

[nictan]

Turn OFF Time Machine.

Delete the exclusions, then add them again.

Turn ON Time Machine.

Start a backup and let it finish - no matter what.

Post the results.

i just did that. and it worked. stopped at 80GB.

the funny thing is, ive tried the exact same thing twice before. and it happened to finally work now.

 

[nictan]

Turn OFF Time Machine.

Delete the exclusions, then add them again.

Turn ON Time Machine.

Start a backup and let it finish - no matter what.

Post the results.

oh my. now its ignoring my exclusions again. the very first backup worked normally. but im doing my second backup now. and after waiting for the backup to finish, i entered time machine and i found the excluded items in my backup. anyone knows how to solve this?

 

[nictan]

any help?

if it helps, the external HD im using is originally an internal HD housed in an enclosure.

 

[razorboy1969]

Yes, it's like that for me too. The initial TM back up always backs up almost every file in my system, including the ones that are in the exclusion list. I had to manually delete the folder (in my case, the Download folder) via the TM interface. Subsequent back ups on that same day will exclude the Download folder. BUT, when i do another back up after a few days / weeks, TM again backs up everything, including the Download folder which is still listed in the exclusion list. To add insult to injury, TM neglects to back up the other files which were meant to be backed up. This includes music files and some documents. Anybody with a solution ?

 

[joanaugusts]

Hi i did the following in that particular order:
1. Remove all exclusions
2. Disable backup and turned off time machine
3. Deleted time machines plist
4. Reformatted my external HD
5. Eject and disconnect my external HD
6. Re-connected my external HD
7. Re-enable time machine and re-added all exclusions
8. Did a backup.

 

[razorboy1969]

Hi there. I just performed the steps you enumerated, and the initial back up still included the folder i listed on the exclusion list. After deleting that particular folder via the TM interface, i then added a couple of mp3 files into the Music folder then did another back up. The excluded folder did not show up in the second back up, but neither did the new mp3 files.

I read in another forum that a possible solution is to reinstall Snow Leopard then update it again to 10.6.2. In other words, reinstall the Time Machine app. I might try to do it some other time, as i'm too lazy to do it right now. I still don't understand how this could happen, as this is the first major problem i have encountered since switching to the Mac platform (aside from poor Windows boot camp support).