TimeMachine Prepares for Back Up, then Stops

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TimeMachine Prepares for Back Up, then Stops

I have not been able to back up my MacBook Pro (10.13.16) since February 2019. Every time I plug in the external hard drive and select "Back Up Now," Time Machine reads that it is "Preparing for Backup" then after maybe 10 minutes or so, it stops. It provides data on when the last backup happened, but it will not back up my hard drive. It's not like it gets stuck preparing for back up. It appears to go through that motion only to not back up my computer. Can anyone help me figure out why this is happening and how I can fix it? Thank you!

MacBook Pro 13", macOS 10.13

Posted on May 16, 2019 7:05 PM

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Answer 1

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leroydouglas

Community+ 2024

Level 10

183,972 points

May 17, 2019 9:34 AM in response to E_Buckeye99

Sounds like the external drive is failing.

You can run Disk Utility>First Aid on the driver looking for obvious errors.

Disk Utility> run the First Aid on your External Drive— If errors are found and repaired, run again until no errors reported.

You better bet may be to reformat the drive and try again.

3-2-1 Backup Strategy: three copies of your data, two different methods, and one offsite.

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Answer 2

May 17, 2019 9:52 AM in response to E_Buckeye99

System Preferences > Time Machine ...

what is the status shown and/or the date of most recent backup?

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TimeMachine Prepares for Back Up, then Stops

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