Time Machine makes small volume

[Ayrehead]

I used Time Machine to restore from a backup and the resulting volume uses much less bytes than the original.

Original volume 37.16 GB
Restored volume 25.22 GB

There is one folder on the original that I excluded from TM, it is 1.2 GB. So there is about 37 - 25 - 1 = 11 GB reduction due to TM. I'm wondering why. The new volume works ok, I don't see anything missing yet. It's mojave.

I restored to a new separate volume that i created for this purpose, not to the original volume. Would that cause a reduction?

TM excludes some files such as cache and log files, but would that account for so much reduction?

 

[Brian33]

I agree 11 GB sounds like more than I would have expected, but I think Time Machine's "built-in" exclusions are the explanation. Some could be quite large. For example, '/var/vm/sleepimage' is 2 GB on one of my Macs and 8 GB on another, but could be much larger (up to the size of your installed memory, if I understand its use correctly).

I think if it runs correctly and nothing obvious is missing, you are fine.