My mac back up stuck in “preparing backup”

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My mac back up stuck in “preparing backup”

trying to backup my Mac (Catalina 10.15.4) (12-inch, early 2016) with Seagate drive/USB. Will not leave “preparing backup.” (Has now been over 20mins)

Having read responses on here to same problem, just previous to latest attempt above, When this first happened today, I

turned off Seagate disk
exited time machine
restarted mac
ran Seagate through First Aid on Disk Utility
started process again

thanks for your help

P.S. I know I’m overdue for a software update. Catch-22. Although I’ve been trying to update since August, this is first time my Seagate drive has even shown up on my screen. So near and yet so far.

MacBook, macOS 10.15

Posted on Jan 9, 2021 9:16 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Encryptor5000

Level 5

7,678 points

Jan 19, 2021 2:32 PM in response to SuzannaETC

Hi SuzannaETC,

If you've already backed up before to the external drive, just wait for Time Machine to finish the preparation stage. Depending on how long ago the previous backup was, this could take hours if Time Machine decides to do a deep transversal of your system. (The longer ago the previous backup, the longer the preparation stage is.)

If you haven't backed up to the external drive before, try erasing it in Disk Utility, then set it up again in Time Machine preferences.

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My mac back up stuck in “preparing backup”

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