Time Machine backup very slow in Lion

Cool. 🙂

Run a backup and see what happens. If it's not fixed, post the messages, either from the TM Buddy widget or Console.

Quick question since it was awhile since I looked at the Time Capsule hard disk. I only backup one Macbook Pro Unibody to it (first macbook is not backed up and essentially retired).

The top folder is "/Data"

Then are two files: "Mac-OS-X -KUGS-C01" and "MacBook-01.sparsebundle".

What is the purpose of the first file ""Mac-OS-X -KUGS-C01" which has NULL for SIZE?

Thx

p.s. running backup.

EarthBased wrote:

. . .

What is the purpose of the first file ""Mac-OS-X -KUGS-C01" which has NULL for SIZE?

Sorry, I've never seen that. Doesn't sound like anything Time Machine would create. What does it show for kind?

I think the Lion related issue is still a problem. A lot of the sparse bundle problems are totally different and have been problems since Leopard.

My MBP has been sucking horribly at backups. I enabled filevault2 upon installing Lion and backups have been running slower. My time machine drive is connected to my AEBS and has been working flawlessly for a long time before the upgrade.

It seems that the volume is slow to unmount. When checking the com.apple.backupd sender I see this after backups have completed:

Waiting for Spotlight to finish indexing /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb

I also notice heavy network traffic. Presumably due to the indexing after a backup has completed. The indexing takes so long that it usually still running or has just completed by the time the next backup runs. I see things like this:

7/31/11 12:56:46.356 AM com.apple.backupd: Network destination already mounted at: /Volumes/Time Machine

This is clearly an issue as I never had this problem before and a lot of people are complaining. I can't remember if I used to have spotlight configured to not indext the Time Machine volume or if it even matters. I guess you need indexing enabled to be able to search within finder of TM but it's never taken so long to run before.

Just as example, have a look at the latest entries in my log:

7/31/11 12:56:45.248 AM com.apple.backupd: Starting standard backup

7/31/11 12:56:46.356 AM com.apple.backupd: Network destination already mounted at: /Volumes/Time Machine

7/31/11 12:56:51.121 AM com.apple.backupd: Disk image already attached: /Volumes/Time Machine/Larrs.sparsebundle, DIHLDiskImageAttach returned: 35

7/31/11 12:56:52.554 AM com.apple.backupd: Disk image already attached: /Volumes/Time Machine/Larrs.sparsebundle, DIHLDiskImageAttach returned: 35

7/31/11 12:56:53.801 AM com.apple.backupd: Disk image /Volumes/Time Machine/Larrs.sparsebundle mounted at: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups

7/31/11 12:56:54.219 AM com.apple.backupd: Backing up to: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb

7/31/11 12:57:49.946 AM com.apple.backupd: 390.0 MB required (including padding), 131.88 GB available

7/31/11 12:57:49.947 AM com.apple.backupd: Waiting for index to be ready (100)

7/31/11 12:58:50.414 AM com.apple.backupd: Waiting for index to be ready (100)

7/31/11 12:59:50.974 AM com.apple.backupd: Waiting for index to be ready (100)

7/31/11 1:00:51.725 AM com.apple.backupd: Waiting for index to be ready (100)

7/31/11 1:04:02.889 AM com.apple.backupd: Copied 2383 files (14.5 MB) from volume Macintosh HD.

7/31/11 1:04:05.970 AM com.apple.backupd: 241.1 MB required (including padding), 131.88 GB available

7/31/11 1:05:08.566 AM com.apple.backupd: Copied 1990 files (165 KB) from volume Macintosh HD.

7/31/11 1:05:31.612 AM com.apple.backupd: Starting post-backup thinning

7/31/11 1:05:31.612 AM com.apple.backupd: No post-back up thinning needed: no expired backups exist

7/31/11 1:05:32.693 AM com.apple.backupd: Backup completed successfully.

7/31/11 1:06:32.564 AM com.apple.backupd: Waiting for Spotlight to finish indexing /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb

7/31/11 1:16:32.715 AM com.apple.backupd: Waiting for Spotlight to finish indexing /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb

Same problem here on a Macbook Air (late 2009). I noticed that my processors were running flat out, with mds and mdhelper being the culprits, and of course that is Spotlight indexing.

I went to my Spotlight prefs (Privacy tab) and excluded my Time Machine drive from Spotlight indexing. If you exclude your Time Machine drive, you will then receive a message that Spotlight will continue to index your backups, but other files will be excluded.

As soon as I clicked OK to that, my Time Machine backup instantly resumed to its normal speed.

SteveGut78 wrote:

This is clearly an issue as I never had this problem before and a lot of people are complaining.

Just as example, have a look at the latest entries in my log:

7/31/11 1:16:32.715 AM com.apple.backupd: Waiting for Spotlight to finish indexing /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb

Are you manually ejecting the TM Volume before Spotlight finishes indexing? Or is TM ejecting?

Tony

Sterno wrote:

Same problem here on a Macbook Air (late 2009). I noticed that my processors were running flat out, with mds and mdhelper being the culprits, and of course that is Spotlight indexing.

I went to my Spotlight prefs (Privacy tab) and excluded my Time Machine drive from Spotlight indexing. If you exclude your Time Machine drive, you will then receive a message that Spotlight will continue to index your backups, but other files will be excluded.

As soon as I clicked OK to that, my Time Machine backup instantly resumed to its normal speed.

But if you exlude old backups from Spotlight indexing, you won't be able to search for them, so why not just re-format your TM Volume.

Or, just wait for Spotlight to index the drive (yes, it takes a very long time, but once it's done, it's done)

Tony

Tony T1 wrote:

. . .

But if you exlude old backups from Spotlight indexing, you won't be able to search for them

You can't exclude your backups; the message means, if you have other data besides backups on the volume (not a good idea), that data will be excluded from Spotlight.

Or, just wait for Spotlight to index the drive (yes, it takes a very long time, but once it's done, it's done)

Yes, in most cases. But in some, the Spotlight index is apparently damaged.

That's why folks with these symptoms need to start with Repairing their backups, as that will usually fix it.

In the cases where that doesn't fix it, either erasing the backups so Time Machine starts over, or deleting the index, seem to work.

SteveGut78 wrote:

. . .

My time machine drive is connected to my AEBS and has been working flawlessly for a long time before the upgrade.

I hope you know that's generally unreliable and not supported byApple. See: Using Time Machine with an Airport Extreme Air Disk.

This is clearly an issue as I never had this problem before and a lot of people are complaining.

Yes, a lot of people are complaining (as always). For most, repairing their backups solves it. For many others, one of the things in the green box of #D2 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting turns out to be the problem.

I can't remember if I used to have spotlight configured to not indext the Time Machine volume or if it even matters. I guess you need indexing enabled to be able to search within finder of TM but it's never taken so long to run before.

You've never really been able to exclude them; Time Machine will index the backups whether the drive is on the exclusion list or not. The only change in Lion is, it sends a message telling you that.

There are a few cases where nothing else has worked; apparently the index is damaged beyond repair. In those cases, either erasing the backups so Time Machine starts fresh, or deleting the index, seems to work.

Not sure what I did but my backups seem back to normal. In TM preferences I selected my disk and there was a 100 second countdown and then it backed quickly up and ejected as before Lion. I am pretty clueless! I did not try the other suggestions on here. 😕

Pondini wrote:

I hope you know that's generally unreliable and not supported byApple. See: Using Time Machine with an Airport Extreme Air Disk.

Really? I have only had one time where my backups needed repair since Leopard was released. Of course it's not supported by Apple, they want us to buy a TimeCapsule 🙂

Yes, a lot of people are complaining (as always). For most, repairing their backups solves it. For many others, one of the things in the green box of #D2 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting turns out to be the problem.

The only thing that could possibly be wrong is that my backups need a repair. However there are no indications that there are any problems. No errors in the logs etc. I see that it is possible to have problems and not have any errors thrown so I will run through the repair procedure later.

You've never really been able to exclude them; Time Machine will index the backups whether the drive is on the exclusion list or not. The only change in Lion is, it sends a message telling you that. There are a few cases where nothing else has worked; apparently the index is damaged beyond repair. In those cases, either erasing the backups so Time Machine starts fresh, or deleting the index, seems to work.

Yeah, I remember now, In Snow Leopard I had TM excluded in spotlight even though it probably did not do anything.

I'll go through the repair process later and report my results. Thanks

SteveGut78 wrote:

. . .

Really? I have only had one time where my backups needed repair since Leopard was released. Of course it's not supported by Apple, they want us to buy a TimeCapsule

Your mind is probably made up, but the facts are, it is simply not reliable enough in most situations. There are many, many threads here where folks say it won't work at all, or that it's worked for some number of days, weeks, or months, but suddenly the backups are corrupted, often beyond repair, with some frequency. If you have a good, consistent WIFI signal, and no power problems, your odds are better.

If that was really Apple's position, they wouldn't support backing-up to a shared drive on another Mac or to a Mac Server, would they?

The only thing that could possibly be wrong is that my backups need a repair. However there are no indications that there are any problems. No errors in the logs etc. I see that it is possible to have problems and not have any errors thrown

Yes, exactly. Time Machine does more checking since about 10.6.4, but it can't catch everything. Even if there's some damage, you may still be able to restore individual items, perhaps whole backups, and do new backups.

I'll go through the repair process later and report my results.

Good. If that doesn't help, your options probably are to either erase the drive/partition and let Time Machine start over, or delete the index.

OK I just had time after a hectic day to to inquire on a backup. Looks like mds is running into some problems that is slowing down the TM backups. Advice appreciated.

BACKUPD:

7/31/11 9:36:30.920 PM com.apple.backupd: Starting standard backup

7/31/11 9:36:31.007 PM com.apple.backupd: Attempting to mount network destination URL: afp://@Time-Capsule-KS.local/Data

7/31/11 9:36:39.467 PM com.apple.backupd: Mounted network destination at mountpoint: /Volumes/Data using URL: afp://@Time-Capsule-KS.local/Data

7/31/11 9:36:45.959 PM com.apple.backupd: QUICKCHECK ONLY; FILESYSTEM CLEAN

7/31/11 9:36:53.208 PM com.apple.backupd: Disk image /Volumes/Data/Mac-OS-X -KUGS-C01.sparsebundle mounted at: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups

7/31/11 9:36:53.236 PM com.apple.backupd: Backing up to: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb

7/31/11 9:37:03.564 PM mds: (Normal) DiskStore: Rebuilding index for /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb

7/31/11 9:39:31.109 PM com.apple.backupd: 348.4 MB required (including padding), 340.98 GB available

7/31/11 9:39:31.110 PM com.apple.backupd: Waiting for index to be ready (100)

7/31/11 9:40:31.349 PM com.apple.backupd: Waiting for index to be ready (100)

7/31/11 9:41:31.596 PM com.apple.backupd: Waiting for index to be ready (100)

7/31/11 9:42:31.812 PM com.apple.backupd: Waiting for index to be ready (100)

7/31/11 9:43:32.068 PM com.apple.backupd: Waiting for index to be ready (100)

7/31/11 9:44:32.342 PM com.apple.backupd: Waiting for index to be ready (100)

7/31/11 9:45:32.581 PM com.apple.backupd: Waiting for index to be ready (100)

7/31/11 9:46:32.644 PM com.apple.backupd: Waiting for index to be ready (100)

7/31/11 9:47:32.867 PM com.apple.backupd: Waiting for index to be ready (100)

7/31/11 9:48:33.425 PM com.apple.backupd: Waiting for index to be ready (100)

7/31/11 9:49:33.648 PM com.apple.backupd: Waiting for index to be ready (100)

7/31/11 9:50:33.898 PM com.apple.backupd: Waiting for index to be ready (100)

7/31/11 9:51:34.158 PM com.apple.backupd: Waiting for index to be ready (100)

7/31/11 9:52:34.394 PM com.apple.backupd: Waiting for index to be ready (100)

7/31/11 9:53:34.609 PM com.apple.backupd: Waiting for index to be ready (100)

7/31/11 9:54:34.881 PM com.apple.backupd: Waiting for index to be ready (100)

7/31/11 9:55:35.117 PM com.apple.backupd: Waiting for index to be ready (100)

7/31/11 9:56:35.327 PM com.apple.backupd: Waiting for index to be ready (100)

7/31/11 9:57:35.551 PM com.apple.backupd: Waiting for index to be ready (100)

7/31/11 9:58:35.791 PM com.apple.backupd: Waiting for index to be ready (100)

7/31/11 9:59:36.420 PM com.apple.backupd: Waiting for index to be ready (100)

MDS:

7/31/11 8:36:42.873 PM mds: ERROR: _MDSChannelInitForAFP: AFPSendSpotLightRPC failed -1

7/31/11 8:36:58.588 PM mds: (Normal) DiskStore: Reindexing /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/.Spotlight-V100/Store-V2/04C9FB0D-0DBE-48CD-B8EA-7A94CC78EE99 because no basetime was found.

7/31/11 8:37:04.145 PM mds: (Normal) DiskStore: Rebuilding index for /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb

7/31/11 8:39:36.890 PM mds: (Error) Volume: Could not find requested backup type:2 for volume

7/31/11 9:13:01.051 PM mds: ERROR: _MDSChannelInitForAFP: AFPSendSpotLightRPC failed -1

7/31/11 9:13:18.515 PM mds: (Normal) DiskStore: Reindexing /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/.Spotlight-V100/Store-V2/04C9FB0D-0DBE-48CD-B8EA-7A94CC78EE99 because no basetime was found.

7/31/11 9:13:24.823 PM mds: (Normal) DiskStore: Rebuilding index for /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb

7/31/11 9:14:17.992 PM mds: (Error) Volume: Could not find requested backup type:2 for volume

7/31/11 9:36:39.533 PM mds: ERROR: _MDSChannelInitForAFP: AFPSendSpotLightRPC failed -1

7/31/11 9:36:59.469 PM mds: (Normal) DiskStore: Reindexing /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/.Spotlight-V100/Store-V2/04C9FB0D-0DBE-48CD-B8EA-7A94CC78EE99 because no basetime was found.

7/31/11 9:37:00.899 PM mds: (Error) Backup: Couldn't stat source path '/Users/

/Desktop/InstallESD.dmg' -- importing from backup path instead

7/31/11 9:37:03.564 PM mds: (Normal) DiskStore: Rebuilding index for /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb

Looks like the spotlight index in your backups is damaged. 😟

Two options that we know of:

Erase the TC's disk (or delete the backups) and let Time Machine start over; or,

Delete the index:

First, either use the Terminal command to show invisible items, or download the Tinker Tool app, per #A3 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting. Follow the instructions there to show invisible files.

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.

I am having the same problem. Since upgrading to Lion not only is disc space disappearing (15 GB within two days), but Time Machine backups take forever or never finish. Sometimes Time Machine is indexing the backup for hours or it just never gets past a few MB to the full backup.

I am using a Lacie hard drive that is connected by USB to my MacBook 2007.

The console says nothing about anything Time Machine did!

Reading this thread (and thanks to Pondinis posts and his website) I started Disc Ultility to check and repair the the backup drive. If this won't help I am thinking about erasing the external drive and let Time Machine start a new.