Time Machine hangs while backing up, 10.7.5, both MBP & iMac, same hang 3 different TMBackUpDrives

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Time Machine hangs while backing up, 10.7.5, both MBP & iMac, same hang 3 different TMBackUpDrives

I'm experiencing a problem on two machines, a 15-inch, Late 2008 MBP and similar date 24" iMac. Time machine is hanging shortly after it begins to back up. Both machines are hanging shortly into the write on a network drive, or 2 different usb2 externals. Is anyone else experiencing new problems? The backups have been working great for months but now (I'm wondering about any recent updates?) I can't complete a back up. the Seagate guy on a Facebook thread was asking me about updates? I'm not on 10.8 yet but now I'm reluctant to go ahead unless I can first ensure I've got clean and recent backups. Any ideas?

Posted on Sep 25, 2012 8:25 AM

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Answer 1

ocgd Author

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4 points

Sep 25, 2012 1:27 PM in response to ocgd

This is after about 8 hours. Something is wrong on both computers and started around the same time. I'm trying writing to 3 different drives now trying to rule out drive issues; I've erased and reformatted the drives too.

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Answer 2

John Galt

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140,930 points

Sep 25, 2012 1:35 PM in response to ocgd

See this thread: time machine slow in 10.7.5

It appears to be related to Spotlight indexing. There is a screenshot on that thread estimating three years for Spotlight to finish. The TM backup may never complete.

We may have to wait for Apple to fix this. The problem seems isolated to 10.7.5 and does not appear in either 10.7.4 or Mountain Lion. If your previous Time Machine backup is fairly recent you might consider restoring from a backup of 10.7.4. That is what I did.

There is a workaround posted regarding disabling Spotlight indexing if you want to try it.

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Answer 3

ocgd Author

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4 points

Sep 25, 2012 2:22 PM in response to John Galt

Thank you. Some human validation that I'm not insane goes a long way. This is after all day back up: gross (I guess that's illegible, thanks Ill check that out ... so roll the dice on Mountain Lion?

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Answer 4

John Galt

Level 10

140,930 points

Sep 25, 2012 2:42 PM in response to ocgd

Your screenshot is fine - clicking on it expands to life-size. Looks like mine, except that I did not have nearly that much to back up.

After a thorough investigation of this version of Lion, culminating in twelve hours to complete an incremental backup of two or three GB, I proclaimed Time Machine and its co-conspirator Spotlight well and truly borked.

I don't do anything without a backup, so that is what I advise others to do.

Having said that, ML was painless, no problems at all.

The worst case in your situation would be a need to revert to a previously completed TM backup. "Enter Time Machine" to determine when that was.

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Answer 5

ocgd Author

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4 points

Sep 25, 2012 10:12 PM in response to John Galt

Who are you super helpful vitual friend? I feel so much better; heard, understood, less of a grommet for presently being off apple care. Who was that masked man? Yes, I see what you're saying ... I've got nothing to lose by going 10.8. Any issues and I could revert to the 10.7.4 ... TM does still appear to work normally allowing me to flip through the past saves. So, you'd say the bleeding edge time for the brave of heart is over? The 10.8 water is fine for weak swimmers? Surfs up. Thank you. Why don't I give you my $65 single incident fee, I feel at least that much better having found a human on planet earth who cares enough about my issue to reply without promise of reward. Welcome to forums I guess, where have I been hiding.

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Answer 6

John Galt

Level 10

140,930 points

Sep 26, 2012 8:12 AM in response to ocgd

Glad to help 🙂

OS X 10.8 is pretty solid now. Put $20 toward Mountain Lion and you still have $45 left for sticky bumps.

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Answer 7

Hagen58

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0 points

Sep 27, 2012 12:51 PM in response to ocgd

Same problem since latest update a few days ago to 10.8 on mpb early 2008.

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Answer 8

ocgd Author

Level 1

4 points

Sep 27, 2012 5:01 PM in response to Hagen58

What are we thinking here then? I don't think it's the various drives (be they network, usb2, firewire etc.) as I've got this same back up hanging issue on both my machines and on 3 different drives. Is this an old machine 'left by the roadside to die' thing? Like a precurser to when the machines can't run the next OS? I'm not sure what to do if 10.8 doesn't fix it? Pay the $65 per incident for support. What is the likelihood it would be fixed in an update? You have to have thousands of users experiencing the error I expect, is it 10.7.5 or older machine related? Hmm.

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Answer 9

ocgd Author

Level 1

4 points

Sep 28, 2012 4:26 PM in response to ocgd

I'm happy to report that I've been able to complete a TM BackUp and within more accustomed time frames. I did goto 10.8 and things seemed to go well. I don't know that unclicking all the apps etc under the Search Results tab within Spotlight in System Preferences didn't help and also I added the TM Volume to the list under the Privacy Tab? If I re-engage those apps and then have a hang time again then maybe that was the problem? But between 10.8 and something in Spotlight ... it cooked through the BackUp and cleaned up all the shrapnel on the BackUp Volume. Thanks for helping me not go insane. You are more helpful than any other source on this one.

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Answer 10

John Galt

Level 10

140,930 points

Sep 28, 2012 6:13 PM in response to ocgd

Great! I appreciate the follow up.

… also I added the TM Volume to the list under the Privacy Tab? If I re-engage those apps and then have a hang time again then maybe that was the problem?

You bring up an excellent point. I thought about doing that, but I do not believe Spotlight normally indexes anything in the Backups.backupdb folder, at least not in a manner apparent to the user. If it did that would be a mess, and could certainly cause all sorts of problems with Time Machine.

With the exception of that folder, Spotlight normally indexes the volume designated for backups, which is OK with me. To exclude it by adding it to the Privacy tab is a good idea though, especially if you do not use the backup volume to store anything other than TM backups.

Thanks for your kind words, and enjoy Mountain Lion.

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