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Time Machine nit backing up user folder on new Mac (El Capitan)

L

los-graphicos

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 14, 2010
32
0
Hopefully someone can help here - I bought a new iMac and used the Migration feature to import my user folder from my previous Mac (running Mavericks) to the new one. This process went fine, no problems or issues with it, but Time Machine is not backing up the user folder on the new Mac.

I'm using the same external drive for Time Machine which I used to run Time Machine on my old Mac, there's plenty of space on it but my new user folder is not being backed up at all now. Is there anything that needs changing or altering with permissions, anything like that?
 
Go into the Time Machine prefs to Options and make sure your user folder is not shown as excluded from Time Machine.
 
Yep it's definitely not excluded.

I can confirm that I selected "Inherit" when the option was there with the first run of Time Machine on the new Mac if that makes any difference. I did wonder if it was a permissions issue maybe, in Terminal they're currently listed as

drwxr-xr-x@ 42 Satis staff 1428 4 Jul 09:28 Satis (this is the troublesome account)

drwxrwxrwt 14 root wheel 476 12 Apr 12:31 Shared

drwxr-xr-x+ 11 simon staff 374 5 Apr 16:20 simon (this is second admin account that was set up for any troubleshooting purposes, Time Machine DOES back this account up)
 
I am guessing that if you ran inherit form Staff 374, it is likely that that is the user account that was inherited.

Are you running Time Machine while logged in as 1428?
 
The staff account, 1428, is the one that Time Machine is running in and it is the account that was active when the Inherit option was selected – 374 was created after if I remember correctly and hasn't ever been used, it's just for any troubleshooting in future.
 
I think I was wrong. It should back up all user folders. As well as checking the Time Machine prefs, make sure that Staff 374 is not excluded from Spotlight searches as Time Machine relies on the Spotlight index.

You might try excluding Staff 374 from the Spotlight search, then add it back in. Then do the same with the Time Machine exclusions.

Leave some time for Spotlight to re-index, then try Time Machine again.

If 1428 is only a troubleshooting account that does not change, you might exclude it from both Spotlight and Time Machine as there is a bug in El Capitan which may screw up Spotlight indexing if you try to index more than one accoun
 
Thanks, I've excluded 374 from the Spotlight and Time Machine preferences to see if that helps, that's the account that never changes. 1428 is the account that is in use very day and definitely needs backing up!
 
Don't forget to exclude then include 1428 from Spotlight and Time Machine and allow time for re-indexing.
 
I can't exclude 1428 from Spotlight or Time Machine as when I navigate to my users folders, either in the preferences or the desktop, it's not showing up?
 
los-graphicos said:
Hopefully someone can help here - I bought a new iMac and used the Migration feature to import my user folder from my previous Mac (running Mavericks) to the new one. This process went fine, no problems or issues with it, but Time Machine is not backing up the user folder on the new Mac.

I'm using the same external drive for Time Machine which I used to run Time Machine on my old Mac, there's plenty of space on it but my new user folder is not being backed up at all now. Is there anything that needs changing or altering with permissions, anything like that?
Click to expand...
Tell me more about how you did the migration. I'm curious because you are talking about two accounts now. Did you make a new account on the new Mac, then after that do the migration? If so, that can cause problems.

The first account on a new Mac will be user ID 501. If the account to be migrated in from the old Mac was also 501, it can cause permissions problems. Read this link.

http://pondini.org/OSX/MigrationProblems.html
 
Well, the order of events was this :

- waited for Time Machine to do a backup on my old Mac then turned Time Machine off and disconnected the external drive it was backed up onto.

- started up the new Mac and when the Migration Assistant came up, took that option and plugged in the external and transferred all my applications etc over to the new Mac

- continued using the new Mac, started Time Machine up and selected the "Inherit" option

- continued working on the new Mac, set up the second Admin account in case there were any problems down the road it could be used to troubleshoot

I had a loo kat that link, under the Users and Groups, the main 1428 is listed as 501, and 374 is 502.
 
los-graphicos said:
Well, the order of events was this :
Click to expand...

Okay then... ignore my earlier post. You don't have the issue I described since you added the account later.

los-graphicos said:
I can't exclude 1428 from Spotlight or Time Machine as when I navigate to my users folders, either in the preferences or the desktop, it's not showing up?
Click to expand...

This is odd. While logged in to 1428 can you see the users folders in Finder?

Look in Users and Groups while in 1428. Does it show that account as an admin account? Post #3 does not look like it.
 
Nope, I can't see it in Finder at all – (have had the odd anomaly such as Finder asking for my password to delete files when it shouldn't have)

In the User & Groups it reads as follows:

User ID: 501
Group: staff
Account name: Satis
Full name: Satis
Login shell:/bin/bash
Home directory: users/Satis

Apple ID and Aliases blank
 
Thanks, I've now tried that but still no luck sadly, just trying Time Machine now but the user folder is still not visible in the Finder at all - I can see the user folder if I do a search in the Finder – but aside from that it's still not visible :(
 
I am getting a bit confused. Could you please send us screenshots of your Users and Groups prefs panel and well as screenshots of a Finder window opened to the /users/ folder while logged in as each of the two users? Thanks.
 
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