Time Machine taking forever

Question

Level 3

675 points

Time Machine taking forever

I have been using my AirPort Time Capsule for a while now. I recently added a second drive as a Time Machine backup drive. Backups were alternating between the two successfully. Recently the Time Capsule started having a few issues. The backup would “hang.” I usually could clear the problem by Verifying the Backup. (question aside: why can I only Verify the Time Capsule and not the other repository?) BUT this afternoon I happened to see that the backup had started and over 1 million (yes million!) changes were found! I stopped the procedure and verified the backup. Result was good - no issues. So I started the back up again. At first it went speedily along, then it got slower and slower as the amount of data grew to over 1G. It is about 4 hours later; 20+Gs of data, and it is only 84% done. Says it will be done in an hour.

I am baffled as to what is going on. Is the one drive finally failing? I have had it for a while. What happens to my backups if I were to delete the AirPort Time Capsule and just go with the new drive?

Mac Studio, 14.5

Posted on Jul 6, 2024 5:39 PM

Reply

Answer 1

leroydouglas

Level 10

204,242 points

Jul 6, 2024 6:25 PM in response to WilliamL

WilliamL wrote:

I have been using my AirPort Time Capsule for a while now. I recently added a second drive as a Time Machine backup drive. Backups were alternating between the two successfully. Recently the Time Capsule started having a few issues. The backup would “hang.” I usually could clear the problem by Verifying the Backup. (question aside: why can I only Verify the Time Capsule and not the other repository?) BUT this afternoon I happened to see that the backup had started and over 1 million (yes million!) changes were found! I stopped the procedure and verified the backup. Result was good - no issues. So I started the back up again. At first it went speedily along, then it got slower and slower as the amount of data grew to over 1G. It is about 4 hours later; 20+Gs of data, and it is only 84% done. Says it will be done in an hour.

I am baffled as to what is going on. Is the one drive finally failing? I have had it for a while. What happens to my backups if I were to delete the AirPort Time Capsule and just go with the new drive?

Sounds like the drive is working in a state of failure. All drives fail in time; not if but when...

The "AirPort Time Capsule" is long in tooth as they say.

Back up your Mac Back up your Mac with Time Machine - Apple Support

Reply