Are Time Machine backups limited as for the maximum size?

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Level 1

8 points

Are Time Machine backups limited as for the maximum size?

I'm trying to backup my 4TB macbook pro on an external backup unit. When the backup is almost complete (about 20 hours) I got this message

"Time Machine cannot complete the backup on 'TimeMachineBackup'. Time Machine partially completed the backup (94%) because there is not enough free space on the backup disk"

The external backup unit is 8TB and I just reformatted it before starting the backup. I see a 3.4TB "MacBook Pro di stefano.sparsebundle" file in the unit, and the control panel of the unit says "3.99TB free".

I would like to know if TimeMachine backups have a backup limit that I can remove somewhere so that I can complete the backup. I'm running macOS Sonoma 14.3.1.

MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 14.3

Posted on Nov 21, 2024 12:24 AM

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Answer 1

Barney-15E

Level 10

116,758 points

Nov 22, 2024 1:52 PM in response to s_federici

If it is a network backup to a Sparse Bundle Disk Image, it will be initially created with some maximum size. I don’t know what that might be, but would think it is the full size of the available space on the drive. A network drive can be set to limit the size when set as a backup drive.

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