Why is my Time Machine backup so slow?

Thanks!

I am waiting to buy a new mac (and a new Quicken) before taking the Lion plunge. I hope it works when the time comes.

What did you mean by Thunderbird?

S

I just reformatted the backup drive for the umpteenth time. The first backup took about 105 min to backup 140 Gigs. The second (first incremental) backup took 25 minutes to backup just two megabytes. Not good.

Here's what Time Machine Buddy shows as the log for the two backups. There are several errors (SystemFlippers, CoreEndianFlipData). Does this mean anything to anybody? Anybody have any suggestions?

Many thanks,

Steve

-----------------------------------------------------

First backup:

Starting standard backup

Backing up to: /Volumes/Time_Machine/Backups.backupdb

Backup content size: 140.3 GB excluded items size: 6.2 GB for volume Macintosh HD

No pre-backup thinning needed: 160.97 GB requested (including padding), 219.58 GB available

Waiting for index to be ready (101)

SystemFlippers: didn't consume all data for vers ID 1 (pBase = 0x100719050, p = 0x10071905d, pEnd = 0x10071905e)

SystemFlippers: didn't consume all data for vers ID 1 (pBase = 0x10370fb1c, p = 0x10370fb30, pEnd = 0x10370fb31)

CoreEndianFlipData: error -4940 returned for rsrc type FREF (id 130, length 7, native = no)

CoreEndianFlipData: error -4940 returned for rsrc type FREF (id 129, length 7, native = no)

CoreEndianFlipData: error -4940 returned for rsrc type FREF (id 129, length 7, native = no)

CoreEndianFlipData: error -4940 returned for rsrc type FREF (id 129, length 7, native = no)

CoreEndianFlipData: error -4940 returned for rsrc type FREF (id 129, length 7, native = no)

Copied 70.4 GB of 134.1 GB, 311896 of 1078533 items

Copied 433852 files (125.2 GB) from volume Macintosh HD.

No pre-backup thinning needed: 1.82 GB requested (including padding), 89.92 GB available

Copied 76564 files (1.7 MB) from volume Macintosh HD.

Starting post-backup thinning

No post-back up thinning needed: no expired backups exist

Backup completed successfully.

Second (first incremental) backup:

Starting standard backup

Backing up to: /Volumes/Time_Machine/Backups.backupdb

No pre-backup thinning needed: 1.72 GB requested (including padding), 89.78 GB available

Copied 160536 files (1.4 MB) from volume Macintosh HD.

No pre-backup thinning needed: 1.72 GB requested (including padding), 89.61 GB available

Copied 76563 files (537 KB) from volume Macintosh HD.

Starting post-backup thinning

No post-back up thinning needed: no expired backups exist

Backup completed successfully.

Steve Cohen4 wrote:

. . .

There are several errors (SystemFlippers, CoreEndianFlipData).

Those have to do with a file or files imported or left over from another type of processor (probably a PPC Mac), or possibly a different OS. "Endianness" (what a word!) has to do with the order in which bytes are stored, and probably indicates an error in converting from the old machine/OS.

They don't seem to cause a problem with the backup, and since there's no file id, there's not much you can do about it.

Copied 160536 files (1.4 MB) from volume Macintosh HD.

. . .

Copied 76563 files (537 KB) from volume Macintosh HD.

What version of OSX are you running?

We see that on a few occasions -- very slow backups and a ridiculous file count (file counts are always high, but not insane). Many seem to be on 10.6.8.

You might try installing the "combo" update, per Installing the ''combo'' update and/or Reinstalling OSX.

If that doesn't help, installing a fresh version of OSX might (that won't disturb anything else), per the same article. Afterwards, if you're now on 10.6.8, you might try installing the 10.6.7 "combo" instead of the 10.6.8 version. That seems to have solved it for a few folks. Just be careful not to let Software Update install 10.6.8, or the problem may return.

I do have some old PowerPC and even Classic software still on there. I could find it and delete it with System Profiler and/or App Delete or something, but it sounds like this wouldn't make a difference.

I'm on 10.6.8. Would the 10.6.8 combo installer work? Or would it tell me that I already have that version? Otherwise, I guess I'm reinstalling, but it fills me with dread!

Thanks for weighing in on this old thread, Pondini. You are my hero.

Steve

Steve Cohen4 wrote:

I do have some old PowerPC and even Classic software still on there. I could find it and delete it with System Profiler and/or App Delete or something, but it sounds like this wouldn't make a difference.

Doubtful, especially since the initial backup worked fine, and as long as nothing changes, TM won't touch it/them again.

I'm on 10.6.8. Would the 10.6.8 combo installer work?

Yes. That's a fairly common way to try to fix problems.

Things do occasionally go wrong in downloading the "delta," and the "combo" will also replace anything that's been lost or damaged in any of the "point" updates, since it contains everything that's been changed since 10.6.0. It's a biggie, of course, so don't be in a hurry.

Otherwise, I guess I'm reinstalling, but it fills me with dread!

Naw, not a problem. Takes maybe 40 minutes or so. I'd try the 10.6.8 combo first, though. If no help, reinstall OSX, then apply the 10.6.7 combo.

There's a good chance one of those steps will cure it -- no guarantee, though. 😟

Okay, I will start with a full backup via SuperDuper. Then go with the 10.6.8 combo updater. I have updated incrementally up till now, so this might very well fix something. Do I need to boot from another machine, or will the OS update itself? (That is, do I boot normally & then run the combo updater?)

Then, after the 10.6.8 combo, I run the 10.6.8 Supplemental updater?

Many thanks again,

Steve

Steve Cohen4 wrote:

. . .

Do I need to boot from another machine,

Nope.

Then, after the 10.6.8 combo, I run the 10.6.8 Supplemental updater?

Yes, although you might put that off until you see if the combo fixes it. The Supplemental seems to be mostly to assist migrating to Lion.

Okay, I'm on it.

I will report back ...

Steve

Cool. 😎

Good luck!

Good luck Steve.

I mentioned Thunderbird as in my case it created thousands of small files, and the utility I use to backup my only Windows PC still standing takes a long time revising them for incremental backups. But it shouldn't really be a problem, in fact, I have the same files in my iMac at work and as I said TM flies again. It's Lion, remember.

Well, here is the sad news, y'all. I installed the 10.6.8 combo updater. Reset TM by trashing preference file and erasing the TM backup partition. No improvement. I added the 10.6.8 supplement. Checked the disk with Disk Utility, ran Cocktail, repaired permissions and finally, replaced the directory with Disk Warrior. I also checked files with Disk Warrior (five plists are corrupted, but I don't recognize the applications). And again, I started a new backup with TM and trashed its preference file.

And after all that (and with various Superduper backups in between), I am worse off.

TM always backs up in two steps. And almost exactly the same number of files each time ragardless of what I've been doing. Before the changes it was roughly 160,000 files in the first step and 76,000 in the second and a backup took about 25 min. After the 10.6.8 combo, I get 187,000 the first time, 103,000 the second time and a backup takes about 45 min. Disk Warrior and all the other stuff had no effect on the file count.

Here's the latest log:

Starting standard backup

Backing up to: /Volumes/Time_Machine/Backups.backupdb

No pre-backup thinning needed: 1.94 GB requested (including padding), 88.61 GB available

Copied 187362 files (148.3 MB) from volume Macintosh HD.

No pre-backup thinning needed: 1.75 GB requested (including padding), 88.26 GB available

Copied 103175 files (2.2 MB) from volume Macintosh HD.

Starting post-backup thinning

No post-back up thinning needed: no expired backups exist

Backup completed successfully.

Note that I'm backing up a disk with only about 150 GB used out of 500. Backing up to a 250 GB partition on a bigger drive. Nothing else on the partition except the TM backup.

It's that high file count that's got me stumped. TM seems to be very confused about how many files have changed.

Suggestions, anybody?

Thanks!

Steve

Steve Cohen4 wrote:

. . .

TM always backs up in two steps.

That part isn't unusual. If TM detects changes during the backup, it will make a second "pass" (which is usually small and quick).

Copied 187362 files (148.3 MB) from volume Macintosh HD.

. . .

Copied 103175 files (2.2 MB) from volume Macintosh HD.

Drat. 😟

Next is a fresh install of Snow Leopard, and install the 10.6.7 combo, per Installing the ''combo'' update and/or Reinstalling OSX.

That's worked for several folks.

Okay, got it. It may be a couple of days before I can get into it again, but I will report back the results.

My sense is that things got worse after I went from 10.6.7 to 10.6.8 so maybe that's the issue. But when I go to Lion, won't I want 10.6.8 + the supplement?

Many thanks again --

Steve

Steve Cohen4 wrote:

. . .

My sense is that things got worse after I went from 10.6.7 to 10.6.8 so maybe that's the issue. But when I go to Lion, won't I want 10.6.8 + the supplement?

Probably, but if you do an upgrade install, you won't have it for long. 😉

This is fixed with Lion and won't be fixed for Snow Leopard. (At least according to the results of the radar bug report I filed with Apple.) Note that even when you do update to Lion it will still take a very long time to delete the old backups that have this problem as they have many extra linked files. So once all of the old messed-up backups rotate out it will be fast again.

There's no safe way to avoid having this happen again under Snow Leopard. I tried re-installs, re-formatting backups, changing backup sets, changing drives, etc. Nothing worked permanently. Updating to Lion did fix it and I have not had the problem since.