Time Machine backup very slow in Lion

As a matter of interest are you backing up to a time capsule or through an AirPort Extreme?

We are backing up directly to the TC which is also the internet router and wireless access point.

By the way: no trouble backing up before upgrading to Lion.

I saw the post below in another forum and i think the poster is absolutely correct....

If you turn this sharing option off everything works.....Well, it does for me...

Apple Airport WiFi problems

Submitted by HD BOy on July 10, 2011 - 8:30 P.M.

This problem is very real, but it is *NOT* an OS X Lion (10.6.8) issue. I think it is an Airport software issue. I just had the very same problem appear under Snow Leopard 10.6.7 on two separate LAN WiFi networks, one in Albuquerque and another in Sacramento. I've been able to replicate the problem on the two different networks:

Albuquerque (new Airport Extreme with Qwest/Motorola DSL modem)
1. Upgraded Airport Utility to v7.5.2.
2. Added a new Airport Express to extend (5GHz) Airport Extreme signal for network 1 (Albuquerque).
3. WiFi network worked for a few minutes and then ground to a halt. WiFi dead on Macs, Windows 7 and Vista PCs, iPhone 4s and iPads.Network down for a couple of days, trying to fix it. We finally had to disconnect the Airport Express. Choosing "extend a network" is the problem...

Sacramento (2nd generation Time Capsule with old, Comcast Scientific Atlanta or new RCA DOCIS 2.0 modems)
1. Upgraded Airport Utility to v7.5.2.
2. Added a new Airport Express to extend (5 GHz) Time Capsule signal for network 2 (Sacramento).
3. WiFi network worked for a few minutes and then ground to a halt. WiFi dead on Macs, iPhone 4s and iPads. After a few minutes, even Ethernet access died — the router kills the DSL or cable modems since they get caught in a communications loop. This network also went down for a couple of days. We finally had to disconnect the Airport Express. Choosing "extend a network" is the problem...
4. To test this theory, I reconfigured a second Time Capsule on this network from Wireless "Off" to extend the network.
5. Same problem — network fails and the main DHCP router can't communicate with the cable modem. Even Ethernet died.

When this occurs, the network slows to a crawl. Web pages stop loading or take minutes to load. You can't communicate with the "extended" routers at all — they get stuck while Airport attempts to read or save the Airport configuration file. Disconnecting them is the only option. Even resetting these devices doesn't work properly.

Three different people configured these networks and we all had the same problems. Apple, you have a problem.

We do not extend the network, so this must be a different problem.

If everything is slow, not just backups, that might be worth a look.

If it's only backups that are slow, though, it's apparently the Spotlight index.

We do not have any other network problems. TC is connected to a GS116 Netgear switch, everything seems ok, happily streaming music to five Expresses and getting files from network drives, printing and what have you.

Snow Leopard backups from other machines ok and fast (well as fast as the local drives will go). I'm considering to delete the sparsebundle for the computer having most problems. Thinking about the files I might delete.

I think it would be possible to rename the sparsebundle file and then start a new series. If I need an older backup I could just rename the files again?

Inkjetmac wrote:

. . .

Snow Leopard backups from other machines ok and fast (well as fast as the local drives will go). I'm considering to delete the sparsebundle for the computer having most problems.

That's the easiest fix, unfortunately. 😟

I think it would be possible to rename the sparsebundle file and then start a new series.

No, you can't fool Time Machine that easily. 😉 It knows which backups are for which Mac.

I mean renaming the file for the one machine to something completely different, not swapping files with another computer.

Just renaming it will cause a new file to be created for the troublesome one while preserving the original (with a different name). If I would need to look into the older file I could rename the files again.

I think the computer will just open the original file as if it hadn't done a backup in some time.

TM knows which sparse bundle is which, regardless of the name, via a hardware address. If you change the name of your Mac, then run a backup, TM will find the right sparse bundle, back up to it, and change the name to the new one.

Your options are, delete the sparse bundle in question, or get inside it and delete the Spotlight index, as I alluded to earlier. If you really want to tackle that, post back for instructions.

Okay, I think I want to try that.

Ok. No guarantees.

First, download the Tinker Tool app, per #A3 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting. Follow the instructions there to show invisible files.

Then via the Finder, locate the sparse bundle, and double-click it to mount the disk image inside it. It will appear on your desktop or Finder sidebar, and is usually named "Time Machine Backups."

Double-click it to open it. Inside it you'll find a .Spotlight-V100 folder. Delete it (you'll have to enter your Admin password), and empty the trash. Do not touch anything else.

Eject the disk image, and run a backup. The first one will take quite a while, as it must be indexed, but thereafter, backups should run normally.

ok. Did everything, empty trash got error (files in use) but just continued. Connected Mac to ethernet, hit backup now. got this result:

7/27/11 10:30:15 PM: QUICKCHECK ONLY; FILESYSTEM CLEAN

7/27/11 10:30:17 PM: Disk image /Volumes/Untitled-1/MBP 15.sparsebundle mounted at: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups

7/27/11 10:30:17 PM: Backing up to: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb

7/27/11 10:30:48 PM: 296.2 MB required (including padding), 1.05 TB available

7/27/11 10:30:48 PM: Waiting for index to be ready (100)

7/27/11 10:31:48 PM: Waiting for index to be ready (100)

7/27/11 10:32:48 PM: Waiting for index to be ready (100)

7/27/11 10:33:53 PM: Waiting for index to be ready (100)

7/27/11 10:36:08 PM: Copied 2687 files (246.3 MB) from volume Macintosh HD.

7/27/11 10:36:10 PM: 171.5 MB required (including padding), 1.05 TB available

7/27/11 10:36:21 PM: Copied 719 files (6 KB) from volume Macintosh HD.

7/27/11 10:36:46 PM: Starting post-backup thinning

7/27/11 10:37:29 PM: Deleted /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/MBP 15/2011-06-27-175653 (196.3 MB)

7/27/11 10:38:30 PM: Deleted /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/MBP 15/2011-07-24-195621 (216.6 MB)

7/27/11 10:38:50 PM: Deleted /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/MBP 15/2011-07-24-071632 (200.2 MB)

7/27/11 10:38:50 PM: Post-back up thinning complete: 3 expired backups removed

7/27/11 10:38:51 PM: Backup completed successfully.

7/27/11 10:38:51 PM: Waiting for Spotlight to finish indexing /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdbg

Looks ok to me... thanks! Will try more backups via wire and wireless.

Yup. Not bad, considering re-indexing and deleting 3 backups.

The next one will "tell the tale."

Fix Time Machine Sparsebundle Network Backup Errors

http://www.garth.org/archives/2010,07,16,124,fixing-time-machine-sparsebundle-ne twork-backup-errors.html

Here is my most current log:

I am backing up to a time maching / time capsule:

Attempting to mount network destination URL: afp://Deni%20Donovan@mikes.local/Data

Mounted network destination at mountpoint: /Volumes/Data using URL: afp://Deni%20Donovan@mikes.local/Data

QUICKCHECK ONLY; FILESYSTEM CLEAN

Disk image /Volumes/Data/Deni Donovan’s MacBook Pro.sparsebundle mounted at: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups

My back ups are still crawling, and now when its running you can't use the computer to get to the web, the only thing I can do is delete mail.

This is very very frustrating - had no issues at all before loading Lion.