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why is it taking so long for time machine to back up my Mac mini

I am backing up my Mac mini for the first time on my external hard drive. It says it will take another 15 hours to finish. It is backing up almost 500 GB of data. Why does it take so long? Is it because of the speed of the transfer rate of the specific external drive I bought?

Mac mini, macOS 10.15

Posted on Oct 28, 2021 4:41 PM

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Question marked as Apple recommended

What year model Mac Mini and what backup drive did you get to use for Time Machine?


When you first setup Time Machine, did you follow the instructions at > https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201250


The time is not always reported accurately and yes, it will take a long time to complete the first 500GB backup.

Posted on Oct 28, 2021 5:12 PM

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why is it taking so long for time machine to back up my Mac mini

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