Time Machine Backup stalls

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NickR55 Author

Level 1

48 points

Time Machine Backup stalls

I have tried through AirPort with an external USB drive

I then eliminated AirPort and connected the Drive directly to may MacMini

I then tried 2 different Disks, WD My Passport, G-drive and Seagate.

I eliminated many suspect programs, and excluded several drives and directories from the back up.

No matter what I do, it fails at 17.3 gb (give or take a few tenths) EVERY TIME!

I have had a ticket open with Apple Support for over 2 weeks with NO RESOLUTION.

I ran the logs and sent them to Apple Support, still no response from Engineering.

ANY SUGGESTIONS?

What file types or known offender programs can I try to eliminate to get past this block?

I want to back-up before Catalina arrives, PLEASE HELP?

Thank you!

Posted on Oct 7, 2019 8:00 AM

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Answer 1

BDAqua

Level 10

250,379 points

Oct 8, 2019 1:42 PM in response to NickR55

I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for a response.

Can you possibly install the OS to a new external drive to test?

I forget, did we try this?

To find out if it's system wide or user specific, try this...

Open System Preferences>Users & Groups, unlock the lock, click on the little plus icon, make a new admin account, log out & into the new account.

Does it work in the new account?

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Answer 2

BDAqua

Level 10

250,379 points

Oct 9, 2019 12:56 PM in response to NickR55

I think the Safest would be another External drive & use Carbon Copy Cloner...

http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html

Drag & Drop might not be reliable. CCC should report errors better than TM, if it can't do it.

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Answer 3

BDAqua

Level 10

250,379 points

Oct 7, 2019 6:45 PM in response to NickR55

Long shot, Open Console in Utilities & see if there are any clues or repeating messages when this happens.

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Answer 4

BDAqua

Level 10

250,379 points

Oct 7, 2019 11:24 AM in response to NickR55

What format are those drives?

And are they Bus powered USB Drives?

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Answer 5

BDAqua

Level 10

250,379 points

Oct 7, 2019 3:46 PM in response to NickR55

I can only report my experience with 2 different 2 TB WD My Passports, both would fail at various stages of the TM backup, putting them on an AC powered USB hub would get them further in the backup, like 100 GB out of 350 GB, neither ever finished a backup & both failed completely within a month.

With so many different drives it's not likely the same there, but...

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Answer 6

BDAqua

Level 10

250,379 points

Oct 7, 2019 12:16 PM in response to NickR55

But do the drives use AC power cord or just USB cord for power?

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Answer 7

NickR55 Author

Level 1

48 points

Oct 7, 2019 12:27 PM in response to NickR55

It stops at exactly the same point in the back up at 17.5 (give or take a few tenths) every single time. It is most likely running into a file type that it doesn’t like, something I have no permission to copy or back up.

Since I also have a problem copying my user drive to the back up drive directly by dropping it on my external drive.

There is a permissions problem or a file type that back up doesn’t like to use and I can’t get anyone to give me any kind of a hint as to what that might be.

It’s frustrating,

I’ve had a ticket open going on three weeks now.

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Answer 8

NickR55 Author

Level 1

48 points

Oct 7, 2019 4:55 PM in response to BDAqua

So I took it to the next level, I went ahead and bit the bullet, upgraded to Catalina, it’s doing the same thing!

I have excluded all settings Files, I excluded the folder that was created with Files it had no idea where to put them, (wait to you get to that!) I excluded of course the back up drive itself, I even excluded my iCloud. It still stops backing up.

I am beside myself!

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Answer 9

NickR55 Author

Level 1

48 points

Oct 8, 2019 3:04 AM in response to BDAqua

Yes it’s very interesting, but engineering hasn’t replied with any solutions. There are things they’re saying “files can’t be opened” and I “don’t have permission” all kinds of very interesting results, but no response on how I fix it!

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Answer 10

NickR55 Author

Level 1

48 points

Oct 9, 2019 6:45 AM in response to BDAqua

OK, logged in with a new test admin account, it is still trying to back up almost a terabyte of data, same size as when I log in with my original account, even with the new login.

Is it still backing up all the same data as if I had logged in with my user account?

So logging in my new test admin account, it still came to a screeching halt at about 9.86 GB of 824.5. I am baffled! I don’t know what else to do. Apple is recommending that I copy my important folders off to an external drive and completely erase my computer and start from scratch.

I’m hesitant cuz I may lose something in the process.

Saving that as a last resort, but I’m almost there!

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Answer 11

NickR55 Author

Level 1

48 points

Oct 9, 2019 6:54 AM in response to BDAqua

So what is the safest way to back up everything by just drag and drop onto an external drive, so I don’t lose anything of my personal history, documents, photos, etc?

if I take my home folder and just drag it and drop it will that capture everything? What time my desktop, what’s in my documents etc.?

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Answer 12

NickR55 Author

Level 1

48 points

Oct 7, 2019 11:31 AM in response to BDAqua

If it wasn’t correct it wouldn’t start a back up. It’s Mac OS X standard (journaled) with GUID partition table, And as I said there are USB external drives

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