iMac Time Machine Back Up

crotchrocket · Feb 1, 2017

My iMac has a 1TB hard drive, its about 2/3rds full. I also have a 1tb external drive also about 2/3 full.

For my time machine back up, i got a 2TB external drive, as i presumed it would be ideal (as its the size of both drives above full) But after a single back up, time machine fails as there isn't enough space on the 2TB disk. I presumed it would just continually overwrite and keep the 2TB drive up to date ?? Are there settings that can be altered for this or a better way / programme for backing up my two 1TB drives??

RedRick Esq. · Feb 1, 2017

crotchrocket said:
My iMac has a 1TB hard drive, its about 2/3rds full. I also have a 1tb external drive also about 2/3 full.

For my time machine back up, i got a 2TB external drive, as i presumed it would be ideal (as its the size of both drives above full) But after a single back up, time machine fails as there isn't enough space on the 2TB disk. I presumed it would just continually overwrite and keep the 2TB drive up to date ?? Are there settings that can be altered for this or a better way / programme for backing up my two 1TB drives??

Time machine should and I stress the word should delete the oldest backups automatically as space on the external drive gets tight.

as for settings i dont know but someone will but as said it should be automatic overwrite

crotchrocket · Feb 1, 2017

But does it need enough space to always have two back ups (or more) overwriting the oldest? or can it overwrite a single back up over and over

RedRick Esq. · Feb 1, 2017

crotchrocket said:
But does it need enough space to always have two back ups (or more) overwriting the oldest? or can it overwrite a single back up over and over

Dunno but as an idea that i would probably go with is

Delete all the old back ups and start again it will take time as it wont be incremental but will certainly clear space and as those back ups are only needed if it goes tits up you would only need the most recent anyway

I think

Nutty · Feb 1, 2017

crotchrocket said:
But does it need enough space to always have two back ups (or more) overwriting the oldest? or can it overwrite a single back up over and over

Mines been running for a few years, and deletes the oldest backup each day. IIRC, it keeps about a dozen back ups all the time.

Millmax · Feb 1, 2017

Your 2tb drive mate, is it formatted to a RAID configuration? For instance if your external drive is in RAID 1 and is made up of two drives they will copy each other in a mirror image so reducing the capacity to half.

crotchrocket · Feb 1, 2017

No it isn't, I formatted it with my Mac and its just a 2tb external drive when plugged in. I've just re-formatted it and its backing up now, will see when it next backs up if it has the issue again.

iMac Time Machine Back Up

crotchrocket

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RedRick Esq.

Telling Engineer to F**K off since 2023

crotchrocket

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RedRick Esq.

Telling Engineer to F**K off since 2023

Nutty

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Millmax

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crotchrocket

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