Time Machine keeps backing up more than I have

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Level 1

8 points

Time Machine keeps backing up more than I have

Before I started running Time Machine on a brand new WD 2T My Passport, it said I had 601GB to back up. After 5 DAYS (!!) it finally reached the 601 GB but just kept going. (BTW I needed to restart he computer several times to nudge the backup along!) The progress bar has been stuck on 100% for 24 hours but it is still "Backing up". I have not made any changes (that I'm aware of) to machine since I started the backup.

What is going on? I don't want to wipe the WD disk and start again because my transfer rate is coming out at about a 3.5 GB/hr (over USB3 from a 2014 iMac). It would take another 5 days or so.

What should I do?

Thank you.

iMac Line (2012 and Later)

Posted on Aug 31, 2021 8:30 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Jack-19

Level 8

46,008 points

Aug 31, 2021 8:57 PM in response to robertdew

Welcome to the Apple Support Communities.

Something is amiss with your backup. Let's start with an EtreCheck report. EtreCheck is a useful App to diagnose and identify issues, both hardware and software. It is trusted by many users. Please follow the steps outlined below:

Navigate to: https://etrecheck.com and get the free version of EtreCheckPro.
Download it. It is a free and trusted app. It is often recommended here on Apple Support Communities.
Open EtreCheck, and before running the report, be sure to check “Allow full Drive Access” at the bottom of the EtreCheckPro window.
Run the report, and put it in a post, as seen here: https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-250000211. We will then examine the report for issues in your Mac.

Also, please use DriveDx and upload your drive reports: How to use DriveDx - Apple Community.

Cheers,

Jack

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Answer 2

robertdew Author

Level 1

8 points

Sep 2, 2021 6:06 PM in response to robertdew

Time machine running so slowly! Stalling.

OK so I finally sorted this out. I found that I had a directory with 597,000 files! MAC & PC File systems are crippled by this. The culprit was FitBit Connect for Mac. It was generating files and it seems empty directories in the Applications/Fitbit Connect folder. Many per hour - for YEARS. .

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Fitbit-com-Dashboard/Fitbit-Connect-for-Mac-has-created-millions-of-small-files-in-quot-Library/td-p/3254268

By backup ran super smoothly after deleting all the Fitbit Connect stuff. My 400GB Time Machine backup finished in about 3 hours. Around 35 MB/s. And I freed up about a 100GB of disk space.

Hope this is useful info guys.

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Answer 3

robertdew Author

Level 1

8 points

Sep 2, 2021 6:08 PM in response to Jack-19

Thanks Jack but I wasn't comfortable using that download. Burt I sorted it anyway. See my follow-up post. Rob.

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Time Machine keeps backing up more than I have

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