¿ªÔÆÌåÓý

ctrl + shift + ? for shortcuts
© 2025 Groups.io
  1. Macgroup
  2. Topics

Time Machine

 

I have a 1 TB thumb drive which I use for Time Machine on my M2 Mac book pro (the computer has a 2TB ssd drive and there is more than 1.5TB available).

The thumb drive worked fine Time Machine backups for over a year but since February it doesn¡¯t complete the backup and ejects the disk (not physically) and I get a message that essentially says the disk was ejected improperly. If I remove the drive and reinsert it and start Time Machine backup again, the same thing happens.

There are about 300GB available on the thumb drive. Isn¡¯t Time Machine supposed to delete the oldest backup when space is needed for the latest backup?

Is the thumb drive at fault or is Time Machine not functioning properly?

Should I reformat the Thumb drive and start over? Or should I replace the thumb drive? Or using disk utility run first aid?

If I replace the drive should I get an ssd drive or a mechanical drive. Is a 1tb drive sufficient for Time Machine on my computer?

Lots of questions. Hope someone has answers.

TIA

Harry
 

I thought that the Time Machine backup disk was supposed to be at least twice the size of the drive being backed up. I get that your's is twice the size of the files you have, but I'm not sure that's really enough. If I had to take a wild guess (as opposed to knowing), I'd say that there could be problems because Time Machine is trying to keep track of files in case the backup gets interrupted, and this plus the overhead of backing up your computer is too much for the size of the backup drive.

Since it sounds like you attach and detach the thumb drive, instead of having a dedicated backup drive which is always available (say, over wireless), if I were you, I'd grab a copy of Carbon Copy Cloner at <>. It can make snapshots and all that other stuff, and is very fast.

Bill

On Apr 25, 2025, at 11:11, Harry Jacobson-Beyer via groups.io <hejb44@...> wrote:

I have a 1 TB thumb drive which I use for Time Machine on my M2 Mac book pro (the computer has a 2TB ssd drive and there is more than 1.5TB available).

The thumb drive worked fine Time Machine backups for over a year but since February it doesn¡¯t complete the backup and ejects the disk (not physically) and I get a message that essentially says the disk was ejected improperly. If I remove the drive and reinsert it and start Time Machine backup again, the same thing happens.

There are about 300GB available on the thumb drive. Isn¡¯t Time Machine supposed to delete the oldest backup when space is needed for the latest backup?

Is the thumb drive at fault or is Time Machine not functioning properly?

Should I reformat the Thumb drive and start over? Or should I replace the thumb drive? Or using disk utility run first aid?

If I replace the drive should I get an ssd drive or a mechanical drive. Is a 1tb drive sufficient for Time Machine on my computer?

Lots of questions. Hope someone has answers.

TIA

Harry
 

Bill, thanks.

I don¡¯t disconnect the drive it does so itself. This afternoon I ran disk utility on the thumb drive. I went away and when I came back Time Machine had backed up. I¡¯ll see if it continues to work.

On Apr 25, 2025, at 4:30?PM, Bill Rising via groups.io <brising@...> wrote:

I thought that the Time Machine backup disk was supposed to be at least twice the size of the drive being backed up. I get that your's is twice the size of the files you have, but I'm not sure that's really enough. If I had to take a wild guess (as opposed to knowing), I'd say that there could be problems because Time Machine is trying to keep track of files in case the backup gets interrupted, and this plus the overhead of backing up your computer is too much for the size of the backup drive.

Since it sounds like you attach and detach the thumb drive, instead of having a dedicated backup drive which is always available (say, over wireless), if I were you, I'd grab a copy of Carbon Copy Cloner at <>. It can make snapshots and all that other stuff, and is very fast.

Bill



On Apr 25, 2025, at 11:11, Harry Jacobson-Beyer via groups.io <hejb44@...> wrote:

I have a 1 TB thumb drive which I use for Time Machine on my M2 Mac book pro (the computer has a 2TB ssd drive and there is more than 1.5TB available).

The thumb drive worked fine Time Machine backups for over a year but since February it doesn¡¯t complete the backup and ejects the disk (not physically) and I get a message that essentially says the disk was ejected improperly. If I remove the drive and reinsert it and start Time Machine backup again, the same thing happens.

There are about 300GB available on the thumb drive. Isn¡¯t Time Machine supposed to delete the oldest backup when space is needed for the latest backup?

Is the thumb drive at fault or is Time Machine not functioning properly?

Should I reformat the Thumb drive and start over? Or should I replace the thumb drive? Or using disk utility run first aid?

If I replace the drive should I get an ssd drive or a mechanical drive. Is a 1tb drive sufficient for Time Machine on my computer?

Lots of questions. Hope someone has answers.

TIA

Harry
 

CCC is great and so is SuperDuper, which I have used for decades to create bootable clones every night. More than once I have had a motherboard or other failure and have been able to buy/rent a new computer, boot from the external drive and be up and running in minutes.

Multiple backups and formats are your friend in a disaster recovery. And yes, you will need at least the size of the main drive for a clone. Pocket drives are so cheap, there is no excuse these days.

::-)

Jonathan



On Apr 25, 2025, at 4:30?PM, Bill Rising via groups.io <brising@...> wrote:

I thought that the Time Machine backup disk was supposed to be at least twice the size of the drive being backed up. I get that your's is twice the size of the files you have, but I'm not sure that's really enough. If I had to take a wild guess (as opposed to knowing), I'd say that there could be problems because Time Machine is trying to keep track of files in case the backup gets interrupted, and this plus the overhead of backing up your computer is too much for the size of the backup drive.

Since it sounds like you attach and detach the thumb drive, instead of having a dedicated backup drive which is always available (say, over wireless), if I were you, I'd grab a copy of Carbon Copy Cloner at <>. It can make snapshots and all that other stuff, and is very fast.

Bill



On Apr 25, 2025, at 11:11, Harry Jacobson-Beyer via groups.io <hejb44@...> wrote:

I have a 1 TB thumb drive which I use for Time Machine on my M2 Mac book pro (the computer has a 2TB ssd drive and there is more than 1.5TB available).

The thumb drive worked fine Time Machine backups for over a year but since February it doesn¡¯t complete the backup and ejects the disk (not physically) and I get a message that essentially says the disk was ejected improperly. If I remove the drive and reinsert it and start Time Machine backup again, the same thing happens.

There are about 300GB available on the thumb drive. Isn¡¯t Time Machine supposed to delete the oldest backup when space is needed for the latest backup?

Is the thumb drive at fault or is Time Machine not functioning properly?

Should I reformat the Thumb drive and start over? Or should I replace the thumb drive? Or using disk utility run first aid?

If I replace the drive should I get an ssd drive or a mechanical drive. Is a 1tb drive sufficient for Time Machine on my computer?

Lots of questions. Hope someone has answers.

TIA

Harry








--
Jonathan Fletcher
Workplace Innovation Facilitator
jonathan@...

1 - 4 of 4