Time machine not backing up it is stuck on preparing

i have not done any migration, restores. i have not had to use time machine. to retrieve anything.

I bought my mid 2012 MBPro in 2012, the harddrive was replaced in 2018, i migrated from TC then using the option in red creating a second user and administrator and home folder. not knowing it would create a second home folder.

i have had no problems until i just did an OS update to Catalina a week ago, it was stuck in preparing mode for like 20 hours. then i had to leave for work so i stopped the back up. i also couldn't access anything in time capsule i could just see everything all the way back to 3/25/2018

the day before the OS update to Catalina, i deleted 1 of those administrators because i did not want them on my new 2021 MBPro and thought i was gonna end up with a 3rd Administrator. Not knowing the option in green would have prevented that.

i only deleted 1 of those 2 Administrators after asking around in apple forums, i was told as long as both were administrators i could get rid 1 of them and not lose any permissions. I was also told that same thing here in apple communities after the fact.

that is wrong you cant delete an administrator, you can only restore using a back up and choosing the green option, then the other users will be deleted and you will have a new administrator with all access and permission.

i just posted 2 new question, can you read that post and tell me if that makes any sense???

i have not taken my new 2021 MBPro out of the box yet. i am waiting until i know for sure what way i need to migrate to not lose anything and end up with only 1 user.

thank you for your time. i look forward to your response on my new post with 2 questions.

Bob,

im really confused because the scenario you lay out is the opposite of what happened.

prior to and in 2011 i owned an HP Desk Top, lets call it ADAM.

in 2012 i bought a MacBook Pro, lets call that LARRY

in 2018 Apple Genius Bar put a new Hard Drive in the 2012 MBPro and set up a new user to test it. lets call that JIM

in 2012 i bought my MBPro I set it up as user LARRY, I then migrated over ADAM. Next time i started my MBPro i had 2 users. LARRY and ADAM i never logged into ADAM after the first day that i migrated him over. I only logged into LARRY, every thing i did on my MBPro was logged into LARRY, all my backups were under user LARRY.

In 2018 I had a new hard drive put in It was Named JIM. When i got home from Apple Genius Bar I logged into JIM, that was the only time i ever logged into JIM, just once. I did a restore from back up. It asked do i want create a new user or rename the old user. I was unaware renaming JIM would create a new user LARRY. I thought i was changing JIMS name to LARRY.

The next time i logged in I Had 3 users JIM, LARRY and ADAM. I never logged into JIM after that 1st time in 2018 or LARRY since 2012.

I only and Always logged into LARRY, everything i did was under user LARRY all my backups were under user LARRY.

i did not want those users on my new MBPro so i asked around and was told as long as it is an administrator i could delete other Administrators without losing permissions.

So i deleted ADAM, then i Deleted his home folder. a couple days went by without any problems so in Finder i went into TimeMachine in the left side bar i clicked on larry went into users and i saw LARRY & JIMS home folders, still in TimeMachine i went to the day before i deleted ADAM i went into users and i saw JIM, LARRY's & ADAM's's home folders.

Now im thinking okay that works, it is okay to delete JIM, i deleted JIM and then his home folder. I restarted my MBPro and at the log in screen was only LARRY. Finally i had only 1 user. I then went into in Finder i entered TimeMachine again, to a time before i deleted JIM, sure enough i saw JIM and Larry's Home folders went to before i deleted ADAM & all 3 home folders were in users folder

My MBPro backed up at least 2 more times without any issues.

Then i was getting ready to get the 2021 MBPro M1 Max going, Apple recommends updating your OS before doing this.

i had 1 update available for Catalina, after that Update was when all my issues started. my MBPro 2012 was stuck in preparing for like 20 hours. I had to got to work so i stopped the back up, posted here and you said let it prepare and let it finish, i did that and it was successful, my last back up was tonight at 7:15 so i does seem like it is backing up normal finally.

Bob can you better explain what happened. i do not think what you explained was accurate description of what i did.

below the image is still showing my last update 3/25/2018. why would it show that if i lost access.

i just went into TimeMachine to take a picture to show you it is all there all the way back to 2018, and what it looks like when i select today back up and if pick one from a long time ago, now i was able to access everything in there in finder, so went into email, i still cant access emails i went into safari i could go back to 2018. im not sure what is up. My 7:11pm back up is not there but the one from last night was and everything before this is crazy.

i forgot to mention in my reply.

can i let or put my MBPro in sleep mode, will it continue its preparing or does the MBPro need to be awake/ open?

it is getting warm from being open and plugged into charger, they have been much hotter while streaming in airplay to my apple tv while charging, this isn't a major concern just curious.

thanks bob,

i let the 2012 MBPro continue backing up overnight and all day today, it did finally finish, it seems to be backing up close to normal now, although it is much slower for some reason 7 hours for 3.63GB. Not going to worry about that.

i am also now able to get back into TimeMachine although i can only access that one backup only. However I can see all the other backups all the way to my oldest back up on march of 2018, i can choose any of them, but when i try to select them they just dont move forward. i think this is a permissions problem. ill explain that under the other question.

thanks again.

i forgot to mention i only went into time machine after the OS update which was after the deletion of 1 of 2 administrators and only to retrieve an email i deleted 3 weeks ago. i had no access as mentioned in above in my last reply. i didnt restore or reload any back ups.

the OS update certainly screwed up my auto backups and i think the deletion of the 1 of the 2 Administrators created a permissions issue, only with my email, maybe because of encryption i can only guess. after deleting the administrator my back ups were still working. it wasn't until the update.

thank you,

im not to worried about anything that is missing, it is a few emails.

1) i am more concerned with the Migration. if i do 2012 MBPro to 2021 MBPro im afraid if i have some minor issues like the quirky stuff the past couple weeks since i deleted the Admin/ User, those same issues will be transferred to the 2021 MBPro

OR

2) that my most recent backups will have put those user issues in my TimeCapsule, which then the will be transferred to the 2021 MBPro if i Migrate from a backup.

if using the above 1 or 2 would i be moving my to the new MBPro??

i am going to choose the option in green replace acct with new user which deletes the old home folder. does this make me loose the access i have on my current MBPro, or will the new account have Admin privileges that i have now??

3) Now I am also thinking a fresh start. Set up the 2021 like it is my first and i do have any TimeCapsule or PC to migrate from.

then i could move all my documents using HandOff, Download all the apps i want, i store all my photos as documents very little is in iPhoto.

Im not sure how i would move my a) email, or b) MicroSoft Office 2019 with out losing my license, c) move KeyChain/ passwords, d) move what little that is in iPhoto, e) move my safari history, book marks, favorites cant think of anything else of hand that i need.

Also not mentioned i still have 2 brand new 5th Gen TimeCapsules in the box new never used never opened. Once my 2021 MBPro is set up i am going to use a New Time capsule to start backing up to. The HDD drive in my current one has been running steady for 6 years could be near its end of life. once i am set up with new TimeCapsule and My 2021 is Backed up to the new TimeCapsule i want factory rest my current TimeCapsule to factory reset and then back up the 2021 MBPro to it and keep in my safe which is at a different location for emergency restore if my new one got stolen, damaged in a fire or flood.

That was the reason i bought 3 TimeCapsule so i could use one for Emergency backup. I do not use cloud services and i do not like the idea.

Could you give me your Opinion, if you were in my shoes would you 1) Migrate MAC to MAC, 2) Migrate back up from TC

or 3) start fresh manually transferring data.

if i did the 3rd option i would probably have to do that on the phone with an Apple Tech walking me through it, ive had excellent like do things i did not understand on the phone with Apple tech for my MBPro and iPhones.

thanks again for all your responses.

take care, god bless and have a wonderful day.

thanks i will do that i just didnt want my mac to fry up or brick.

It did eventually go to backing after 7 hours up it is now in final stages, when i arrive home from work it should be complete, ill try I fill you in later in afternoon.