Time Machine backs up everything every hour!

What we really need to do here is determine what exactly is being backed up each time, then go from there. There's a 3rd party utility that can do exactly that:
https://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/36691/timetracker

Also, could you post a screen cap of Disk Utility showing what drives/volumes you have, and another screen cap of Time Machine's exclusions list?

Nice find, by the developer of Pacifist.

I really appreciate everyone for all attempts at helping me with this ongoing problem.

New info:

The amount of data being backed up does not significantly change the amount of time it takes to back up.

That is, whether the backup contains 127 megabytes or 1.3 gigabytes, the backup process takes 1-1/4 hour plus or minus 5 minutes.

That is the same using either the Seagate Backup Plus or the LaCie external hard drives.

Maybe this will spark an idea?

Thanks.

PeterSG said:

I really appreciate everyone for all attempts at helping me with this ongoing problem.

New info:

The amount of data being backed up does not significantly change the amount of time it takes to back up.

That is, whether the backup contains 127 megabytes or 1.3 gigabytes, the backup process takes 1-1/4 hour plus or minus 5 minutes.

That is the same using either the Seagate Backup Plus or the LaCie external hard drives.

Maybe this will spark an idea?

Click to expand...

Please go back and read my last reply. You have yet to indicate you acted on those suggestions/requests.

Thank you, Life's.

I updated my profile to include info regarding my Mac.

The TimeTracker page states that "TimeTracker is in an extremely early state, and is as such very unpolished."

I rely on my Mac for many hours daily for important-to-me work. Therefore, it seems risky to run this program.

My workaround for the TimeMachine problem is to leave my two external drives (Seagate & LaCie) unconnected. When I need a TM backup, I connect & run TM.

I truly appreciate your wisdom and research.

Thank you.

Just did 2 separate backups.

38 GB took 1-1/2 hour

20 MB took 1-3/4 hour

During all backup runs Time Machine's progress bar moves sporadically.

That is, it starts, sends some bytes, K bytes, or MB bytes. Then it stops. It remains in pause mode for anywhere from 3 minutes to 12 minutes. Then it shoots out another few chunks of data of some size and pauses and repeats until complete -- well over an hour in total.

I have cleared and changed the exclusion list of files repeatedly over the last years. This changes the amount of data backed up, but not the duration of the backups.

I wonder why TM takes such long breaks and pauses so many times. Should I pay it more than minimum wage?

PeterSG said:

Just did 2 separate backups.

38 GB took 1-1/2 hour

20 MB took 1-3/4 hour

During all backup runs Time Machine's progress bar moves sporadically.

That is, it starts, sends some bytes, K bytes, or MB bytes. Then it stops. It remains in pause mode for anywhere from 3 minutes to 12 minutes. Then it shoots out another few chunks of data of some size and pauses and repeats until complete -- well over an hour in total.

I have cleared and changed the exclusion list of files repeatedly over the last years. This changes the amount of data backed up, but not the duration of the backups.

I wonder why TM takes such long breaks and pauses so many times. Should I pay it more than minimum wage?

Click to expand...

We really can't provide much help until you start providing information we ask for. Like in this reply of mine from.... a YEAR ago????
http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/ap...s-up-everything-every-hour-6.html#post1532204

I even reminded you to check those instructions. I'm not going to beg you to help us help you. Don't wanna use the TimeTracker app due to it's current state of development? Fair enough. But WHERE are the screen caps I also requested?????

About my Mac:

Purchased June, 2009.

Model Name: MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: MacBookPro5,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.4 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 3 MB
Memory: 4 GB
Bus Speed: 1.07 GHz
Boot ROM Version: MBP51.007E.B06
SMC Version (system): 1.41f2
Serial Number (system): W89215158Q1
Hardware UUID: DE2795D3-AF3E-59E7-96F7-86931AD6DF67

Software:

Parallels 7, Windows 7, Snow Leopard, 10.6.8

The Resolution

All back-up times, item counts, and total megs backed up have been consistent within a relatively narrow range over the years of posting on this thread.

All parameters on Parallels, Windows, and the Mac remained constant over the years of this thread's existence. The only exceptions to that include specific recommendations made by helpful members on this forum. Thank you!

Nearly all of everyone's advice has been applied and tried as reported in my responses posted on this thread.

Thank you all.

~~~~~

My last back-up before today was July 2.

Today I plugged in my Seagate, formatted-for-Mac, external drive. That's the same drive that I purchased to replace the LaCie drive that we suspected had been causing the problem documented in this thread. I ran my regular, every-two-week, TM back up.

Today's back-up using TM ran with the usual & same parameters specified, same exclusions, same inclusions, as tested & used over the life of this thread. That is, just as over the 6 years of owning this Mac took 7 running the same Snow Leopard.

But today TM took 7 minutes to back-up 263 megs, approximately 700,000. That is the same amount of data and the usual number of items.

But TM ran in 7 minutes instead of nearly 2 hours.

~~~

For the first time in years I left the Seagate plugged in all day. It is running back-ups every hour. TM is working just as it is supposed to work.

SO....... Who do I thank for fixing TM?

My sincere Thank You to all here who gave serious thought and made many suggestions.

Perhaps this has been discussed earlier in the thread if so my apologies.

I wonder if the indexing/checking that Tm does to determine which files need to be backed up doesn't take longer because of the amount of time that has elapsed since the last backup. The software group responsible for TM's development clearly wrote it with the assumption that backups would be done hourly to a volume that was always connected.

SO....... Who do I thank for fixing TM? you ask??

I guess you'd have to thank the forum as a whole, but after a very quick review, I'd really question whether your TM was even broken, ever, and maybe the Admins could confirm if this is one of the longest running threads???

Anyway, glad to read a solution and fix was finally found. ;D

Slydude said:

Perhaps this has been discussed earlier in the thread if so my apologies.

I wonder if the indexing/checking that Tm does to determine which files need to be backed up doesn't take longer because of the amount of time that has elapsed since the last backup. The software group responsible for TM's development clearly wrote it with the assumption that backups would be done hourly to a volume that was always connected.

Click to expand...

Backups could not run every hour because each backup took nearly 2 hours. TM could be started, it would take nearly two hours, and then I could force it immediately to start another backup 10 seconds after completion of the previous backup.

That next backup would run for nearly 2 hours. This could be repeated indefinitely.

There was never diminution of time to run a backup.

While TM would be executing, it would pause for several minutes, start up for several minutes, and pause for several minutes, and so on until finished, and take in total nearly 2 hours.

That is why my procedure was to eject the drive & wait days before running TM again. This was the procedure required for the last years.

Strange… even though I don't use TM and I have read of some problems some users have had with it, never have I read of anything even close to this:
"… That is why my procedure was to eject the drive & wait days before running TM again. This was the procedure required for the last years."

Oh well….

We are told above that this is one of the longest running threads on this forum.

I thank everyone for allowing this thread to go on & on & on & on....

My difficulties with TM also went on & on.... The TM problem caused me to purchase additional external drives and spend many hours over an extended problem duration of years.

In an effort to provide, I hope, the final posting of info for those who assisted me, please accept this final assessment of this situation.

~~~

It is now four days since I discovered that TM is now working exactly as it should. Over the recent years and relevantly last months, there have been no changes in my general use of this MacBook Pro. That includes use of Windows 7, Parallels, and all features and systems.

Over the four days since discovery, I have variously allowed TM to run as it chose, ejected the external drive, mounted that drive, run 1, 2, 3, and more backs during various periods of use.

The results after these four days is consistent:

TM selects about 500 to 700 items, backs up approximately 250 megs to 550 megs, depending upon and seemingly roughly correlated to my use. Each back-up takes 3-1/2 to 4-1/2 minutes. TM then schedules its next back-up correctly.

~~~

I apologize if this thread ran too long. I felt from the first post that the knowledgeable people on this forum, by posting and reading, were interested in this situation.

Thank you to everyone.

Let us hope that all other problems are resolved in fewer posts -- and as well resolved.

Thanks for letting us know the result. Glad things are finally working for you. Personally I don't have a problem with the thread going this long because it was productive in the sense that the contributions were for the most part on point.