Laodah
Level 1 (4 points)
Mac OS X

Q: Time Machine won't back up after full reset

I'm backing up 10.8.5 to a WM 500gb Passport external hard drive. Today it started "backing up" forever, always saying "Backing up Zero GB of 25.50 GB". I tried throwing out the "backup in progress" file, without success. Then I tried throwing out the Time Machine plist file, restarting, throwing it out again, restarting, then connecting the Passport and going through the initial set-up routine. Still no action.

 

It did start a back-up after I threw out the "in progress" file, then jammed forever at 26MB without finishing. In that case my Chrome browser suddenly became very slow to load any URLs, and finally crashed. The whole problem became an issue this morning when the same backing-up-nothing-forever and slow-system thing happened, and I tried to restart the machine. I ended up having to do a live disconnect on the Passport, because the system was taking forever to restart.

 

Any ideas? Thanks.

OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Aug 25, 2016 10:33 PM

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Laodah

Q: Time Machine won't back up after full reset

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Eric Root,

    Eric Root Eric Root Aug 26, 2016 6:56 AM in response to Laodah
    Level 9 (69,536 points)
    iTunes
    Aug 26, 2016 6:56 AM in response to Laodah

    Start with A5 in the 1st linked article.

     

    Time Machine Troubleshooting

     

    Time Machine Troubleshooting Problems


     

    Troubleshooting backup issues

  • by Laodah,

    Laodah Laodah Aug 30, 2016 10:18 PM in response to Eric Root
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Aug 30, 2016 10:18 PM in response to Eric Root

    Thanks. I did verify and repair the disk. Utility said everything was fine, both times.

     

    This is an external hard drive (WD Passport 1T, not 500GB as I reported above) connected via USB, not an Net-based app.

     

    I'm not using Time Capsule.

     

    I'm getting no failure messages, just failure to ever back up anything. Either the menu bar icon spins but constantly reads "Zero backed up", or it backs up to 27.4 MB or thereabouts and then jams permanently, icon spinning interminably, but TM not backing anything more up on the Passport. Sometimes the process slows down my whole system to a dead stop.

     

    I've already deleted the inProgress package and the TM plist preference file. No change.

     

    Next step?

  • by Laodah,

    Laodah Laodah Aug 30, 2016 10:27 PM in response to Laodah
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Aug 30, 2016 10:27 PM in response to Laodah

    Update: just tried it again. Slowed entire system down, as before, jammed at 27.4MB, and when I tried to open folders, said "The application "Finder" can't be opened."

  • by Eric Root,

    Eric Root Eric Root Aug 31, 2016 8:26 AM in response to Laodah
    Level 9 (69,536 points)
    iTunes
    Aug 31, 2016 8:26 AM in response to Laodah

    You are welcome.  In the first linked article (above), try A4. This has worked for me a couple of times. Do you have another external drive you can attempt a backup on?

  • by Laodah,

    Laodah Laodah Sep 6, 2016 3:30 PM in response to Eric Root
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 6, 2016 3:30 PM in response to Eric Root

    I solved the mystery. Attempting back-up after my 11th or 12th full reset of Time Machine, I happened to notice that my Sophos Anti-Virus programme had started a scan. And it seemed to me I'd seen this during other failed backups as well.

     

    So I turned it off and started the backup again. Bingo! Success.

     

    I have no idea why Sophos has suddenly started scanning the Passport disk during Time Machine backups, after two uneventful years, but it slows back-up to zero. (And then the Finder to zero, and finally freezes the whole system.)

     

    I'll start analysing Sophos to figure out how to set it to stop doing this. For now I can just turn it off during back-up.

     

    Anyway, others who are running Sophos and find that Time Machine will no longer back up to a Passport should check to see if their anti-virus software boots up a scan during the procedure. If so, that's probably the issue.

     

    Thanks for the help!

  • by John Galt,

    John Galt John Galt Sep 6, 2016 4:11 PM in response to Laodah
    Level 8 (48,341 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 6, 2016 4:11 PM in response to Laodah

    I'll start analysing Sophos to figure out how to set it to stop doing this. For now I can just turn it off during back-up.

     

    Why?

     

    Uninstall it. "Sophos" is providing no benefit, while exposing your Mac to an increased risk of threats of various descriptions, and wasting your time.

     

    Use its uninstaller. It will be found in your Mac's Utilities folder unless you moved or deleted it.

  • by Laodah,

    Laodah Laodah Sep 6, 2016 4:14 PM in response to John Galt
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 6, 2016 4:14 PM in response to John Galt

    You don't like Sophos? It has in fact rooted out some malware for me, and warns me of dubious sites online.

  • by John Galt,

    John Galt John Galt Sep 6, 2016 4:24 PM in response to Laodah
    Level 8 (48,341 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 6, 2016 4:24 PM in response to Laodah

    No. Logically all my Macs must be exposed to the same mythological threats as yours. Probably more in fact, since I have many of them, most connected to the Internet 24/7, in three US states, for about a decade now. Despite the lack of any non-Apple "anti-virus" stuff, none have suffered any ill effect.

     

    Installing non-Apple "anti-virus" garbage would increase their exposure to threats of various descriptions. I can't afford that risk, so I don't use such things. It's your Mac though, so do what you want.

     

    Please read Effective defenses against malware and other threats.