Time Machine wants to back up everything

[aviary99]

I am using a Macbook Pro that has had another user copied over to it from a Macbook. When using Time Machine (TM) for the new user the backup wants to backup 65GB of data (the entire machine) despite the fact that every possible exclusion has been selected (Library, Developer, Users, etc). The only thing not selected was a couple of log files.

This backup will take too long and most likely fail unless i can whittle them down to start.

What in the world is going on and how can I fix it? This is the first backup since the laptop has been re-tasked so reformatting after I have backed up is not really feasible.

Thanks in advance.

 

[surflordca]

I am using a Macbook Pro that has had another user copied over to it from a Macbook. When using Time Machine (TM) for the new user the backup wants to backup 65GB of data (the entire machine) despite the fact that every possible exclusion has been selected (Library, Developer, Users, etc). The only thing not selected was a couple of log files.

This backup will take too long and most likely fail unless i can whittle them down to start.

What in the world is going on and how can I fix it? This is the first backup since the laptop has been re-tasked so reformatting after I have backed up is not really feasible.

Thanks in advance.

I am not a Time Machine lover but the more I read about it the more I understand it. In this months MacWorld it has an article about time machine. It say's that you need a back up drive 1 1/2 times bigger than the drive you want to back up. This is likely what my problems were. I was backing up a 750gb drive to a 750gb drive. Even though it was not full. I switched to SuperDuper and love it.

Being your first back up, you want to back up everything with Time Machine. You might think that you only need to restore a certain file but the computer might need another that you don't know about. With a full back up you would have that file...

 

[-tWv-]

For your first backup, definitely back up the whole system. That is what time machine is for and what time machine is supposed to do. Just make sure you have a big enough hd, 1.5-2x the amount of space you have in you internal hd. The bigger hd you have, the more incremental backups you can have, and the farther "back in time" you can go.

 

[Tumbleweed666]

This backup will take too long and most likely fail unless i can whittle them down to start.

Why would it take too long? Too long for what? Leave it overnight.

Why would it fail? If its because you don't have enough disk space, you need a bigger disk for backups, 65Gb isnt that big these days, what is that maybe a dozen DVD's?