EXTREMELY slow encryption on Time Machine

Question

Level 1

37 points

EXTREMELY slow encryption on Time Machine

I just purchased a 2020 27 inch iMac. I have owned Macs for many many years, so I know my way around.

I am attempting to use Time Machine to backup my SSD on my mac and an external drive (LaCie) The target drive is a 5 TB LaCie, connected to my iMac with a USB cable. The initial backup took most of yesterday, up to the point where encryption began. After 12 hours, it is reporting 1% encrypted. Something must be wrong, otherwise encrypted Time Machine is utterly useless if encryption takes 50 days (whoa!). Any suggestions? Thank you!

iMac 27″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Sep 20, 2020 12:03 AM

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Answer 1

ryane77

Community Specialist

Sep 24, 2020 2:32 PM in response to JTK

Hi JTK,

Thanks for posting! We definitely understand the concern about the speed of encryption of your Time Machine backup.

Has it made any progress since you posted here? How far along is it now?

Encrypting a backup can definitely be a lengthy process, and the time needed could vary depending on a few factors, including the size of the drive and its contents. With that in mind, this could be normal, but it would depend on its progress since you posted. For reference, this has some great information about how to Keep your Time Machine backup disk for Mac secure.

Keep us updated on how it's going.

Cheers.

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Answer 2

JTK Author

Level 1

37 points

Sep 27, 2020 6:27 PM in response to ryane77

Hi ryane77,

Thanks for checking in with me. After about a week, my Time Machine data (approximately 1.25 TB) is 59% encrypted, so I guess it's just a matter of patience. Initially I was concerned that some was amiss, but apparently not.

thanks again

John

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