HT204412: If a Time Machine backup takes longer than you expect

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Frank Demmler

Q: After using TimeMachine for quite awhile, I received a message to the effect that a new complete backup needed to be done. I followed that instructions but the backup is taking forever. Right now Time Machine says, "Backing up 62.2 MB of 479.28 GB." It's

After using TimeMachine for quite awhile, I received a message to the effect that a new complete backup needed to be done. I followed that instructions but the backup is taking forever. Right now Time Machine says, "Backing up 62.2 MB of 479.28 GB." It's directly connected to a LaCie 3TB hard drive. I'm at the point of giving up, erase the hard drive and start from scratch.

OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.1)

Posted on Oct 27, 2015 5:00 PM

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Q: After using TimeMachine for quite awhile, I received a message to the effect that a new complete backup needed to be done. I follo ... more

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  • by Bob Timmons,

    Bob Timmons Bob Timmons Oct 27, 2015 5:40 PM in response to Frank Demmler
    Level 10 (105,243 points)
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    Oct 27, 2015 5:40 PM in response to Frank Demmler

    Good idea to stop the backup and go ahead and erase the hard drive that will be used for backups.

     

    Restart your Mac before you start the backup again, and try to minimize other activities. Normal browsing, email, etc is fine.

     

    On average, you can expect about 30 GB per hour to copy over, but things will likely appear to start much slower. "Preparing" may go on for some time, and the initial time estimates for the completion will not be accurate. Just hang in there.

     

    After a a few hours, things should be moving along at a nice clip with an estimated time of completion at about 14-15 hours.

     

    Good luck! Let us know how things are going after a few hours or so, if you can.