Time Machine: what huge file is being backed up repeatedly?

[fearlessfool]

I noticed that several times each night, when my machine is quiescent, time machine is backing up a 6 GB+ file.

Short of running lsof while a backup is in process, os there a sensible way to discover what file or files causing this? (Ps: I don't use entourage, so I know that's not the problem.)

 

[dazed]

Do you run any virtual machines? Ie inside vmware fusion.

 

[hiddenmarkov]

virtual machines are a usual suspect here. I personally do my backups by hand as needed and leave them exlcuded.

If this is not the case you may need to find out if another app for whatever reason has very large datafiles that if touched are a a 6gb backup.

 

[velocityg4]

It could also be a database file. Such as from Outlook or some other e-mail database.

 

[fearlessfool]

No outlook, no vm. Maybe a db file (eg postgres or MySQL), but how would you go about sniffing out the culprit?

 

[kryten2]

No outlook, no vm. Maybe a db file (eg postgres or MySQL), but how would you go about sniffing out the culprit?

You search for it.

 

[mike08b]

If you do not have a VM, it is probably that it is a database file. Do you use other backup programs or an online sync program (CCC, Dropbox, Carbonite, etc.)? Programs like these use databases to maintain a file list and the database can become fairly large at certain times, usually while the program is in process. If you use a program like this, search for its DB file and try excluding it from the Time Machine backup and see if that makes a difference.