I am trying to back up my iMac for the first time, how long should it take? Not sure if I am doing it correctly.
iMac 27" 5K, macOS 10.13
Depends on how much data you are backing up and where that
data is being backed up to. Also what is the method you are
using to "backup"? There is literally hundreds of ways to do a
"backup".
An external SSD in a fast enclosure (USB3.1 Gen 2) will make your backups substantially quicker — once you get past the first big gulp. Remember, 2.5 - 3x the size of your System drive for the backup capacity.
There are too many factors to say, such as how much data in on your iMac, what sort of drive you are backing up to, how you are backing up, etc. Are you using Time Machine? If so, you can open System Preferences > Time Machine and it should show you a progress bar.
Thank you for the information but I discovered that the hard drive I was using is corrupt. Going out to buy a new hard drive.
How long is a long time to back up?
