OS X :: Time Machine Backups Not Working / Stuck At Preparing Backup?
Aug 8, 2009I just updated to 10.5.8 and my Time Machine will not backup. It is stuck at "Preparing Backup". I tried rebooting and it did not work.
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MacBook Pro :: Time Machine Not Working / Preparing Backup...
Aug 5, 2009It just says "Preparing Backup..." It stays like this forever until I stop it and I tried re-connecting the hard drive. Why won't this work? I tried re-starting...
View 6 Replies View RelatedOS X V10.7 Lion :: Changed Time Machine Drives Now Stuck In "Preparing Backup..."
Mar 17, 2012I was using a 1TB drive for Time Machine; I've now upped it to a 3TB drive. The new drive is an exact copy of the old one. But when I try to do a Time Machine backup, it's been stuck in "Preparing Backup..." for over 12 hours.
Info:
Mac OS X (10.7.3), 2.5 GHZ Intel Core 2 Duo, 4 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM
OS X :: Time Machine Not Working Correctly/stuck On Backup?
Jul 17, 2009I have been trying to backup my computer for the longest time. It has been stuck on (53.4MB of 62.5MB) for about 45 minutes now. Any ideas? It is on an ethernet connection.
View 3 Replies View RelatedOS X :: Time Machine Stuck On Preparing - Restart The System?
Feb 11, 2008When I backup Time Machine it's just stuck on Preparing. I've tried stopping it then starting again. I've also tried dismounting the drive then remounting then backing up
View 24 Replies View RelatedOS X Yosemite :: Time Machine Stalls At Preparing Backup
Dec 6, 2014Am I understanding correctly (from reading some other discussions here) that there are issues with Time Machine back ups and Yosemite, and that it's not just me having these problems? Since I upgrade I am having major issues with wifi connection being dropped and my Time Machine hasn't performed a back up in 19 days. It looks as though it will but stalls at "preparing back up". When it finally stops I get an error message saying it can't find the disc. I've restored the Time Machine to factory settings and started over more than once but still get the same message. Am I doing something wrong or is this an Apple issue?
Info:
MacBook Pro
OS X :: Time Machine Randomly Gets Stuck On Backups?
Nov 1, 2007I set up Time Machine the yesterday, it completed it's initial backup fine, and performed about 10 or so hourly backups, then randomly on one of it's hourly backups it got stuck. It never actually started the backup. The preferences said it was backing up, but the progress bar wasn't moving, and there was no activity on the drive. I stopped the "backup", and from then on I could not get it to do another backup.
So last night I reformatted the external and decided to let TM start over. Once again it finished the initial backup fine, and I went to bed. While I was in bed it finished 3 more hourly backups, and I woke up this morning to find it stuck again, trying to do it's 2:05AM backup. The computer was awake all night, so it should have no problems. The preferences say it is backing up, but never makes any progress, and there is no drive activity.
Here is the relavent errors from my System log:
Nov 1 02:05:50 todd-sullivans-imac /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[304]: Backup requested by automatic scheduler
Nov 1 02:05:50 todd-sullivans-imac /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[304]: Starting standard backup
Nov 1 02:05:57 todd-sullivans-imac /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[304]: Backing up to: /Volumes/Backup/Backups.backupdb
Nov 1 02:05:57 todd-sullivans-imac /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[304]: Ownership is disabled on the backup destination volume. Enabling.
Nov 1 02:05:57 todd-sullivans-imac KernelEventAgent[35]: tid 00000000 received unknown event (256)
Nov 1 02:05:59 todd-sullivans-imac /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[304]: Event store UUIDs don't match for volume  Macintosh HD
Nov 1 02:05:59 todd-sullivans-imac /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[304]: Node requires deep traversal:/ reason:kFSEDBEventFlagMustScanSubDirs|kFSEDBEventFlagReasonEventDBUntrustable|
Nov 1 02:09:45 todd-sullivans-imac /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[304]: No pre-backup thinning needed: 14.57 GB requested (including padding), 132.30 GB available
Nov 1 02:09:46 todd-sullivans-imac /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[304]: MDBackupBegin() returned result (909) > 0, waiting
Nov 1 02:10:16 todd-sullivans-imac /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[304]: MDBackupBegin() returned result (906) > 0, waiting
Nov 1 02:10:46 todd-sullivans-imac /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[304]: MDBackupBegin() returned result (906) > 0, waiting
I bolded the entries that I assume are the problem, but I don't know what it could be. Why does it randomly get stuck on hourly backups. BTW The "waiting" is just repeating over and over etc. Tried it a 3rd time, and this time it managed to do 25 hourly backups before getting stuck. does anyone have a clue here, I'd like to get this working. Every time it stops working I have to format the drive and start over to get it to backup again.
OS X :: Backup Data Using Time Machine / Saving Old Backups?
Oct 7, 2010So I just successfully migrated all of my data and settings from my old iMac to my new 27 inch iMac using the Time machine backup on my Western Digital 1 TB external hard drive. Aside from the Time machine backup folder I also dragged a few other things over to the external hard drive because there was so much extra space on it. The drive is not partitioned.
So I'd like to start using Time machine with this new 27 inch iMac but the empty space that's left on the external hard drive is barely large enough to cover what I now have on the internal hard drive on my new 27 inch iMac. If I were to remove the Time machine backup from my old iMac there would be plenty of space again unless starting Time Machine on this new 27 inch iMac will just copy right over that backup file? Everything on this new iMac, the data and settings and so forth, is exactly the same. So is the user account. However the previous Mac was running Leopard while this new iMac is running Snow Leopard.
So if it doesn't copy over the old backup it will just create a new backup file? And if it does create a new backup file is there any point to keeping the old backup file since I no longer have the old iMac and wouldn't be able to access it again? Obviously if I didn't have to keep it I could erase it which would create plenty of extra space for me to start using Time machine again but with this new iMac.
OS X :: Time Machine Not Doing Backups / Unable To Complete Backup
Aug 5, 2010I have an Imac 24" and a Mybook external HDD. Ever since Leopard came out Ive been doing backups with time machine, then ...one day..I start time machine for my weekly backup..and this message comes up: "Unable to complete backup. An error occurred while copying files to the backup volume."
Now I notice that my external HDD was almost not spinning while time machine was trying to backup ... the status bar of time machine saying how much files need to be copied and the total amount of space needed was super slow .... and stoped at something like maybe 10 mb ...
I started time machine again ... same message.
I though maybe Mac OSX needed some permission repaires. So I did just that and after that did time machine again ... same problem ....
Then I said to myself ... maybe my External HDD has problems ... so I even formated the HDD, then stated Time machine again ... this time it was running smoothly just like before I had the problem ... but the problem came back after 6 gig being copied out of the 25 gig needed to complete the backup process.
Now ... I hope I dont need a clean install of my Mac OSX ... or maybe its my external HDD ... maybe my USB having problems?
OS X :: Time Machine Not Working - No Backups Available
Jan 9, 2010Time Machine has always been working correctly but I no longer can make it work. I noticed no backup was available, only "Now" is in the time axis. So, I erased the entire disk and tried to set it up again, but still it doesn't work. 30GBs has been stored, but nothing is in the time axis except "Now". Any idea why it is not backing up?
View 2 Replies View RelatedOS X :: Time Machine Don't Delete Older Backups To Make Room For New Backup?
Dec 3, 2008i have a macbook with an internal drive of which about 230gb if full and used.
I have a 250gb external which i have been using to back up with time machine, done it several times over a few months.
Now there is like 70gb left on the external, and when i try to back up, it says failed, not enough space on external.
But i thought when there is not enough space, it simply deletes and backs over older time machine backups.
OS X V10.7 Lion :: Have Time Machine Overwrite An Existing Backup Instead Of Making Excessive New Backups?
May 28, 2012Is it possible to have Time Machine overwrite an existing backup instead of making excessive new backups? If not, is there a way to control when Time Machine preforms its backup task so as to not make excessive backups?
Info:
iMac (21.5-inch Mid 2011), Mac OS X (10.7.4)
Intel Mac :: Time Machine Backup Stuck During Preparation (OS X 10.5.8)
Jun 28, 2012I am trying to create a backup of my hard drive with Time Machine, but every time I do it gets stalled. Sometimes it gets stalled during the backup, other times it just gets stuck during preparation. The reason I need this backup is because I want to update to Snow Leopard (so I can buy Mountain Lion when it is available) and I want to be sure I won't lose any data on my computer. I am using [URL] (2 TB). I have tried using Disk Utility to make a backup but that froze too.
Info:
iMac, Mac OS X (10.5.8)
OS X :: Time Machine Not Working / Backup Is Too Large For The Backup Volume
May 23, 2009Well TM is acting up. I get an error that reads: "This backup is too large for the backup volume."
Both the internal boot disk and the external baclup drive are 1TB. The internal one has a two partitions, the OSX one that is 900GBs and a 32GB NTFS one for Boot Camp. The external drive is a single OSX Extended part. that is 932GBs.
Both the Time Machine disk, and the Boot Camp disk are excluded from the backup along with a "Crap" folder for temporary large files.
Time Machine says it needs 938GBs to backup only the OSX disk, which has 806GBs in use with the rest free. WTFFF?
This happened after moving a large folder (128GB in total) from the root of the OSX disk over to my Home Folder.
I have reformated the Time Machine drive and have no backups at all of my data and it refuses to backup!!
Why would it need 938GBs of space to backup if the disk has "only" 806 GBs in use??? Is there anyway to reset Time Machine completely???
Some quick screenshots:
OS X :: Time Machine Eating Disk Space / Eat GB's Of Hard Disk Space While Preparing Backup
Dec 11, 2009whenever I run Time Machine on my PowerBook G4 (1.5 Ghz / 1Gb RAM / OSX 10.5.8) it will eat up GB's of hard disk space while 'preparing the backup'. After that it finishes the backup, but I don't get the space back. I'm talking about the internal HD, not the external target disk of course. Does Time Machine use the space to generate some temporary files? Any ideas how I can get my disk space back
OS X :: Time Capsule Constantly Preparing Backup?
Feb 9, 2009my TC is always 'preparing backup' and never backs up, its only started doing this in the last few weeks.im also using my TC to store my movies on and i have 34gb space left out of the 500gb.
View 2 Replies View RelatedOS X V10.5 Leopard :: Time Machine May Display 'Preparing' For A Longer Time
Jun 21, 2012None of the issues discussed in the apple support page on this issue seem to apply to me (except one below regarding not completing the 'prepare for backup'). It still takes way too much time (a night is not enough) to prepare for time machine backup, even though there was a backup recently, and it is not a one-time event but a recurring problem, and there are no big changes to my files or disks.And of course because most days it does not complete the backup before I have to leave to work, the condition on 'not interrupting the backup' cannot be respected. This looks like plain poor design.The only thing that helps is to connect my laptop directly to the Time Machine by Ethernet but it is very inconvenient.
Info:
MacBook Air, Mac OS X (10.7.4)
OS X :: Time Machine Not Working - How To Do Backup
Aug 4, 2009i have got an Apple minimac 80gb 10.5.7 with leopard and i bought a small drive of i think it is 116gb and time machine seemed to work ok,but i kept getting msg saying full,i did an erase on small drive and in finder i can see a drive called untitled,but if i click on time machine there are no backup dates?
View 6 Replies View RelatedOS X :: Time Machine Backups Missing / Unable To Find Backups
Sep 30, 2008My Time Machine has been making the usual regular backups for a few months onto my Time Capsule. I just found that all the backups prior to about a week ago have vanished. It's not a disaster (I think) as I assume that the current backups reflect what's on my iMac (I haven't had to delete files from it yet).
Where did they go? Why did they go?
A possible connection: My TC is 500GB; my iMac 1TB. I recently put extra files for temporary use onto the iMac hard drive - Time Machine said (in effect) 'that's too much, try removing certain folders from the backup'. I excluded said folder and things seemed okay, but it would be at around the time I did that that my old backups have gone.
OS X :: Time Machine Just Keeps Saying - Preparing Back Up
Mar 9, 2009I'm trying to do a back up in Time Machine. It's been going for like an hour and it still says "Preparing Backup."
I haven't changed my files around much and it really should only have a couple of kb worth of new data to back up.
My last successful backup was yesterday. It's done this a few times since then. I tried to stop the back up and restart it to no avail.
I also went into my backups folder and deleted the "in progress" backup then tried to backup again and it's still not working.
OS X :: Unable To Find Backups / Time Machine Backups Gone
Nov 4, 2009Just wondering if anyone has had a similar problem with the Time Machine. I bought a 500gb Time Capsule last July and it has been running perfectly until a few days agp. I noticed that all my backups were no where to be seen (when entering Time Machine on my MBP) and that it was doing a full backup.. The backup took the guts of 36 hours.
I've come home today to find that all backups are gone again and it is doing another full backup!!!Any ideas what is wrong here?
MacBook Pro :: Time Machine Isn't Working On First Backup
Mar 9, 2012My new hard disk has used up some of it's capacity on unsuccesful back up attempts.Â
Info:
MacBook Pro
OS X Mavericks :: Time Machine Backup Not Working
Sep 6, 2014I'm in the midst of moving from a 2011 imac to a 2014 - I have/had 3 TM backups  1) before the 2011 crashed and was repaired - 2) from the interim 2014 imac that I restored and updated for the new computer and 3) a "carbon copy clone" of my current drive because the apple tech made me wipe the drive and start over and it failed. Â
My computer will be here next week and I wanted to prepare.  However since the restore of the repaired 2011 NO TIME MACHINE will back up on ALL 3 drives the same error happened.  It would start fine and say it needed 17-22 hours to "create new" or "inherit" and would start fine and then freeze somewhere around 15-20GB?????   I left it more than 6-7 hours and the freeze remained. Â
Need a TM expert...... this HAS to be a Mavericks OSX issue and I do not want to wipe another drive. Â
Info:
iMac (27-inch, Late 2013), iOS 7.1.2
OS X :: Time Machine Preparing For An Extended Period?
Jan 28, 2009I use Firewire 800, and my external has 80GB free on it. Both it and my iMac's drives are 320GB. What's with the extended period of preparation, going on 15 minutes now, maybe longer. Backup still didn't begin, this never used to happen me before. I only backed up 2 days ago?
Also, why when I click the Time Machine menubar item to open Time Machine prefs does the DVD (iLife '09) in my optical drive make a noise as if it's being accessed? It spins up a little too. Seems very odd, and it's not a coincidence, it happens exactly when I try to open Time Machine prefs from its menubar item. I could do it 5 times in succession and the optical drive would make the same accessing noise each time, on cue
OS X V10.7 Lion :: Time Machine Error (Hung On Preparing)
May 14, 2012Running the latest Lion software 10.7.4 ..Time machine is looping " preparing backup' ...using Time Capsule 500 gb storage...2 MBP back up to this system..one Snow Leopard and the one Lion. Â
Time machine is showing 30 MB available... problem appears to be that the old backups are not being deleted no storage is available and it fails to create any additional new backups.. Problem occured in March and I needed to erase the entire backup disk and start over to clear the issue.. It went successfully..now the same prob 3 months later.Â
My backup is about 181 gb the other is about 100 gb.. why this may be occurring? Obviously the root cause issue was not resolved by deleting the entire disk..Â
Info:
Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.3)
OS X :: Time Machine Not Working Fine / Unable To Complete Backup
Feb 13, 2009So I finally got around to getting a 1tb drive to hook up to my airport extreme to do TM backups. I have ~420gb to backup on my mbp's hard drive. To avoid an absurdly long backup, I did the initial backup via usb (took the better part of the day).
Just now I was excited because it finished - I hooked the drive up to the extreme, mounted the drive so that it would show up as an option in the TM pref pane for a backup disk, and thought I was good to go. However, when I tried to get TM to do a backup so I could see it work (by selecting Back Up Now from the menubar), it took a ridiculously long time "preparing" and I saw that it was trying to create a whole new TM backup on the drive based on my computer's network name. It even had the audacity to think that the previous backup file was ~2gb, which freaked me out because I thought it had deleted it. But sure enough when I canceled the new backup and hooked it up to my mbp again, the backup was the correct size.
OS X :: ITunes Screen Saver Not Working - Restore From Time Machine Backup
Oct 8, 2010I did a restore from a Time Machine backup. Now my iTunes Artwork screen saver isn't working. I'd try to do a reinstall from the Time Machine again to see if it still is a problematic, but I was an idiot and deleted it and backing up fresh. I've repaired permissions. I've gotten album artwork. My music folder reads like this. User/Music/iTunes. Inside are two folders. One "Album Artwork" the other "iTunes Media." Inside the "Album Artwork" folder is "Cache" and "Download."
View 2 Replies View RelatedApplications :: Unable To Create Backup / Time Machine Stops Working
Sep 10, 2009I have a mid-2008 (June) MBP 15". Just upgraded to SL last night. I am having a serious issue with time machine. I've been using it with the same external HD since I bought my mac last year. No issues up until I installed SL last night. This morning (my first backup since upgrading), time machine started backing up (~ 9Gb) but just stops at around 300Mb. The clock keeps spinning, but there is no change in the amount backed up.
I'm reading that other folks are having this issue as well. Has anyone figured something out?I've run disk repair (nothing found), restarted my mac & external HD (several times each), and cancelled and restarted the time machine backup (several times). Each time it freezes at a different amount (i.e. 34Mb, 284.2Mb, etc...).
Applications :: Time Machine Taking Long Time To Backup - Changing Backup Time?
Dec 11, 2009I have looked into this a lot already. It is to much that Time Machine backs up every single hour! It would be nice to set it to something like 3 or 5 hours. I have tried a 3rd party app to do this, but... If my computer was off or asleep when it was supposed to back up, it would get an error. It would not just do the backup when i turned it on or when it came out of sleep like stock Time Machine does. I have also seen a way to change the time incraments in the Terminal.(I am very good with it, not a noob) I have tried this and it screws up time machine completely. Maybe it does not work with the newest OS X. By the way... I have a 2010 MacBook Pro, got it 2 months ago.
Does anyone know a solid 3rd party app, that will work seamlessly. Or has anyone changed the time in Terminal and are currently using something different than 1 hour. There is a lot of examples online, but I would like the codeing that you literally used.
OS X V10.6 Snow Leopard :: Safely Remove All Backups From Time Machine/Time Capsule?
Jun 17, 2012I plan to 'clean up' my Time Machine/Time capsule completely, whereby I want to make it impossible for third parties to recover all or part of these old backups.After I have accompished this I want to start from scratch backing up my Mac.
Info:
iMac 27" i7, Mac OS X (10.6.6)
