Time Machine functionality

[cameronv]

I have a 150 gb external mounted for Time Machine. I have a 150gb MacBook Pro that is not full.

When my back up runs, every other day it says my external is full, and cant complete. I work on a lot of files, but not sure if that means it is rebacking up stuff that hasnt changed.

Cant figure out why my internal isnt full, but my external is full. Time Machine is only holding like 2 days of stuff, and then its maxed, which seems counterproductive in the sense that what happens if I need something from 5 days ago...

Thoughts, besides buy a bigger external. Not even sure if that would full rectify the problem, in that I might get 4 days of old data then, oppossed to 2.

Thoughts???

[houltmac]

There are a few things that aren't clear here:

1. How much space is used on the internal?
2. Does the error message say that Time Machine needs to delete old files and then it continues to do it's job?
3. Are you working with apps like Parallels, VMWare, Entourage etc. which store all their info in one large file?
4. When you say you work on a lot of files... what kind of files?

With these questions answered it will be easier to help.

[cameronv]

Answers to below:

1) 116gb
2) It does that, but after doing that like twice, it will error out and say their isnt enough spece on the drive. So imagine if you went into you TM, all you would have in the backups is today and yesterday. That is it.
3) I do unfortunately work with Parallels, which kills me....my machine performs sooo poorly when it is open....dont know why...RAM?
4) Excel, Word, email, pics, pdf's are my top files/programs that I am in

thanks

[houltmac]

Your issue seems to be a mix of the answers above. Once the first full backup has completed there will only be around 30GB of space remaining on your backup drive. If you change more than 30GB in any given 48 hour period it will create an issue for Time Machine, meaning it will have to start removing older files; hence your issue.

While 30GB of changed data seems like a lot, if your Parallels install (your Parallels *.hdd file) changes at all it will require backing up. I would imagine the file is between 5 and 50GB in size, being backed up many times a day (not over-writing, but rather in addition to older copies). I would suggest either getting a larger backup drive and/or telling Time Machine to ignore the Parallels *.hdd file.

With regard to Parallels running slowly, it's almost certainly a lack of RAM. How much physical memory does your machine have? How much of this is dedicated to Parallels? Do you have Parallels Tools installed?

[baseballboy828]

As houltmac says, you should probably tell Time Machine to ignore the parallels .hdd file and manually back it up. Also, make sure to go into Time Machine, find a backup of the parallels file, click the gear icon, and remove all backups of the file. This will make sure that not only is the Parallels hdd file excluded from future backups, but also removed from all past ones too.

2GB of RAM is pretty much a minimum for running multiple OS's simultaneously. I have 2GB because that's all my iMac can use, but every time I open Parallels I wish I could have more. If you have less than 2GB, it would explain why it's so slow.

[cameronv]

Forgive me for not knowing how to accomplish the below:

"I would suggest either getting a larger backup drive and/or telling Time Machine to ignore the Parallels *.hdd file."

I went into TM, and selected to ignore the Parallels folder in applications, and it was only 74mb...isnt that very small??

"How much physical memory does your machine have? How much of this is dedicated to Parallels? Do you have Parallels Tools installed?"

How do I determine what is dedicated to Parallels...i just bought (2) 2 gb of ram that i was told that I could install to help....what is Paralles tools? i really am starting to hate that application...

Thanks for clarifications.......

[houltmac]

No problem, lets start at the beginning:

Originally Posted by cameronv

"I would suggest either getting a larger backup drive and/or telling Time Machine to ignore the Parallels *.hdd file."

I went into TM, and selected to ignore the Parallels folder in applications, and it was only 74mb...isnt that very small??

Well, yes but only because you have selected the application, not the virtual hard drive. You can choose where you put the hard drive but it's most likely either in your Documents folder, or somewhere in your Library folder. If you go to either and use Spotlight in the top right corner of the window to search for Parallels then you should find the folder which will be much larger.

Originally Posted by cameronv

"How much physical memory does your machine have? How much of this is dedicated to Parallels? Do you have Parallels Tools installed?"

How do I determine what is dedicated to Parallels...i just bought (2) 2 gb of ram that i was told that I could install to help....what is Paralles tools? i really am starting to hate that application...

If you click the Apple logo (top left) and then About this Mac it should tell you how much physical memory you have total. If you then launch Parallels you can look at the configuration (in one of the menus, or above the system stats for the virtual machine) to see how much memory Windows has dedicated to it when it runs.

Parallels Tools can be installed from one of the menus when Windows is running in Parallels (forgive me, it's been a while since I used Parallels) and that would help with drivers and generally taking a little pressure off the machine when Windows is running.

[cameronv]

Did this...thanks...it was 32gb large...thats more like it...let me ask you this, being that I DO need my Quickbooks backed up, I would just select all the Parallels stuff to be excluded, expcept for the QB program, right?



"If you click the Apple logo (top left) and then About this Mac it should tell you how much physical memory you have total. "


Model Name: MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: MacBookPro3,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.4 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 4 MB
Memory: 2 GB
Bus Speed: 800 MHz

So since I bought 2 of those 2gb things, my memory will go to 4gb, right?



"If you then launch Parallels you can look at the configuration (in one of the menus, or above the system stats for the virtual machine) to see how much memory Windows has dedicated to it when it runs."

In the Parallels config, it shows 724mb....what would you suggest i bump it up to?? 1000mb good?

Thanks a lot...sorry...i dont know how to do that quote thing

[houltmac]

Originally Posted by cameronv

Did this...thanks...it was 32gb large...thats more like it...let me ask you this, being that I DO need my Quickbooks backed up, I would just select all the Parallels stuff to be excluded, expcept for the QB program, right?

Well, you can't pick and choose within Windows in Parallels, it's all or nothing. You could manually backup Quickbooks though I'm sure.

Originally Posted by cameronv

Memory: 2 GB
Bus Speed: 800 MHz

So since I bought 2 of those 2gb things, my memory will go to 4gb, right?

Since you have an 800MHz machine you can up your RAM to 4GB with those two 2GB modules yes.

Originally Posted by cameronv

In the Parallels config, it shows 724mb....what would you suggest i bump it up to?? 1000mb good?

I'd suggest you want 1024MB as a minimum (that's 1GB), especially when you up your RAM to 4GB physical. It would really depend how much you are doing in Windows vs OS X.

Originally Posted by cameronv

Thanks a lot...sorry...i dont know how to do that quote thing

All you need to do is hit the quote button. From there you can copy and past the quote tags like I have to quote multiple parts in this form:

<QUOTE=username;postnumber>The quote you want</QUOTE>

(just change the <> for [], and the ";postnumber" is optional)

[cameronv]

[quote=houltmac;17692]


All you need to do is hit the quote button. From there you can copy and past the quote tags like I have to quote multiple parts in this form:

Thanks a lot....hope I did that right.

C