Time Machine should automatically delete the oldest backups when your disk becomes full, however, there may be circumstances when you need to delete old backups yourself, perhaps if you are.
Message 4: The backup disk is almost full. When the backup is disk full and lock of enough space, the Time Machine will delete old backups to make room for new ones. If you are not willing to remove old backups, please open Time Machine preferences to set up a new backup disk. Message 5: No volumes to be backed up were available. Time Machine couldn’t complete the backup to Seagate Backup Plus Drive Two of the disks to back up have the same name. Rename one of the disks named Macintosh HD. Last successful backup: Today, 6:24 AM The drives are listed as: Macintosh HD Macintosh HD – Data This is the same thing it did before. A general 'rule of thumb' is, to keep a reasonable 'depth' of backups, Time Machine needs 2 to 4 times as much space as the data it's backing-up (not necessarily the entire size of your internal HD). Be sure to add the size of the data on any other drives/partitions you want to back up. But this varies greatly, depending on how you use your Mac. How to create a full system backup in Windows 10. It's an oldie but goodie: Creating a system image of your Windows 10 PC in case your hard drive goes belly up and you need to recover your files.
- Updated on 2019-12-10 to Mac Data Recovery
For Mac OS X users, Time Machine is not strange. It is a backup software application that keeps a copy of all your files, and allows you to restore the whole system or specific files whenever you need. Recently, however, we found that many users are discussing on forums about Time Machine backup error and failure. Are you wondering why Time Machine failed to backup? This article contains answers to many common issues about Time Machine backup and troubleshoots to alert messages while time machine could not complete the backup.
Troubleshooting-Time Machine Failed to Complete Backup
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Solution to First Backup Failure
If this is your first backup, or the first time to a new external drive/partition, the most common cause might be that the drive has not been formatted properly. Follow the steps to set up using Disk Utility.
- Open Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities folder.
- Select Startup drive, it usually names Macintosh HD on the second line of the side bar. On the bottom you will see detailed information of this HD.
- In Format it is Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
- Select the line for your external drive that you set up to backup files. If you are not sure, please check in Time Machine Preferences.
- The format of this drive should be the same as your Startup drive. If they are not the same, you need to erase the partition and select the format to the same as Startup drive.
If Time Machine is still unable to complete a backup, please note the alert message it sends. If you missed it, you can open Time Machine preferences, and click the red 'I' icon for more info.
Solutions to Specific Alert Messages When Time Machine Failed to Complete the Backup
Regardless of what warning message it appears, firstly you should make sure your software is up-to-date.
Messages you may receive while Time Machine failing to complete a backup:
Message 1: The backup volume is read only
- Turn Time Machine Off: Launch System Preferences >Time Machine, move the slider to OFF.
- If your backups are on an external HD, please eject the drive from your computer and disconnect it for a while. And then restart the Mac to connect the drive again.
Full Backup With Time Machine
Message 2: Time Machine could not complete the backup.
The entire alert message like this:
Usually this problem can be resolved after you restart the Mac. If this does not help, please format your external HDD and create a new partition for your backups.
Message 3: An error occurred while copying files.
This message occurs for no specific reason. Restart and then try the backup once again should fix it.
Message 4: The backup disk is almost full
When the backup is disk full and lock of enough space, the Time Machine will delete old backups to make room for new ones. If you are not willing to remove old backups, please open Time Machine preferences to set up a new backup disk.
Message 5: No volumes to be backed up were available.
Open System Preferences, in Time Machine preferences pane, click Options. Please check and confirm you have not excluded all available volumes.
Conclusion
We wish you can fix the Time Machine backup issues disturbing you. If the problems you are having do not include here, write on the comment and we will respond as soon as we can. If you lose files on Mac, the Mac Data Recovery aims to help you recover deleted files.
(Mac OS X 10.6.x+)
By default, Time Machine can run an automatic backup every hour. This valuecan be changed by following this tutorial.
Option 1: Manually Edit the Time Machine Preference File
Mac Time Machine Backup Full
Note: this is a more technical procedure, for those who will need to changethe frequency on a regular basis, or those who would like a more user-friendlymethod of editing this value, please see Option 2.
Time Machine Backup Drive Full
The one-hour default is actually a «magic number» stored in a preferencefile; the default value of 3600 represents the number of seconds betweenbackups.
The file we need to edit is located under
/System/Library/LaunchDaemonsOpen
com.apple.backupd-auto.plistwith a text editor on your machine(e.g., TextEdit) and find the following in the file:As mentioned, the default value is 3600, representing 3600 seconds = 1 hour.Here are some other second values that could be used:
Desired Frequency Seconds Once an hour 3600 Once every 2 hours 7200 Once every 6 hours 21600 Twice a day (12 Hours) 43200 Once per day 86400 - Recommended interval:
- For laptop users, the default (once per hour) will work fine.
- For desktop users, twice per day.
- Recommended interval:
Replace the
3600with the desired frequency value and save the file. Asthis file is a protected system file, you will be required to enter yourpassword to save the file.
Note: If you receive a message that you cannot save the file, try using adifferent text editor, as some will prompt for a system password and otherwill return an error message when writing over protected files. You canalso change the permissions using
chmodbefore editing, to enable writingto the file:>cd /System/Library/LaunchDaemons>chmod u+w com.apple.backupd-auto.plist
… edit the file … save the file …>chmod u-w com.apple.backupd-auto.plistIf you receive a permissions error, you can use
sudo chmodinstead ofchmodin the above script to invoke super user permissions.
- You’re Time Machine will now perform the automatic backup at the intervalspecified. This second-timer will start counting down from the time at whichthe system is turned on.
Option 2: TimeMachineEditor
TimeMachineEditor is a GUI-based software that allows the customization of howfrequently Time Machine will backup. If you do not feel comfortable manuallychanging the frequency (or have a need to change the value quite often), thismay be a more appealing option
- Go to the homepage for TimeMachineEditor
- Download the latest version of TimeMachineEditor
- Follow the installation instructions
Override Time Machine
- Go to System Preferences and open the Time Machine settings
- Turn OFF automatic backups
- Reboot your machine to ensure these changes are applied
- After rebooting, you can open TimeMachineEditor and schedule your backup ona basis of either frequency per day / week / month, OR at regularlyscheduled calendar intervals (e.g., every Sunday at 2:00 AM).
- Slide the switch at the bottom left of TimeMachineEditor to the «ON»position to enable TimeMachineEditor managed backups.
- Note: Under the Time Machine settings in System Preferences, leave theswitch for automatic backups in the «OFF» postion