Time Machine takes hours for small backups

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Level 1

9 points

Time Machine takes hours for small backups

Hi guys,

Since one or two weeks or so - maybe since the last ML-update which said it will fix the problem that the time-machine-backup takes a long time for the backup process - my Time Machine takes several hours for backups that are maybe 1 or 2 GB big. I have a 1-TB-Seagate external FW800 drive which should complete such backups in a few minutes, but as I said, it takes more like 2 or 3 hours. I use the Time Machine Editor so I just make a backup every 8 hours, that helped a bit because the time machine doesn't try to backup while another backup is still pending but it didn't solve the slowness-problem. I already shut spotlight off and on again, but that didn't help - I have another problem with Spotlight; it doesn't stop indexing, but I'll mention that in another question - so now that I read through several Google pages and didn't find anything of help I'll ask here, maybe here's someone who can help me.

Feel free to suggest solutions that actually come up in Google searches I already did, maybe I was just too stupid 😉

Greetings

Jannis

iMac, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2), iMac 2007

Posted on Oct 15, 2012 4:36 PM

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Answer 1

BDAqua

Level 10

240,185 points

Oct 15, 2012 5:18 PM in response to Nikkiflausch

Hi Jannis,

Open Console in Utilities & see if there are any clues or repeating messages when this happens.

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Answer 2

Nikkiflausch Author

Level 1

9 points

Oct 15, 2012 11:15 PM in response to BDAqua

Nope, doesn't find anything.

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Answer 3

BDAqua

Level 10

240,185 points

Oct 15, 2012 11:23 PM in response to Nikkiflausch

See if the Disk is issuing any S.M.A.R.T errors in Disk Utility...

http://support.apple.com/kb/PH7029

Open Activity Monitor in Applications>Utilities, select All Processes & sort on CPU%, any indications there?

How much RAM & free space do you have also, click on the Memory & Disk Usage Tabs.

In the Memory tab, are there a lot of Pageouts?

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Answer 4

Nikkiflausch Author

Level 1

9 points

Oct 16, 2012 3:24 PM in response to BDAqua

No S.M.A.R.T.-issues, nothing that seems to be of relevance when I sort by CPU (only programs I know in the first 20 entries) 6,24 GB of page outs (0 byte/s). If that's important, I have 13,06 GB of page ins too, and 4,36 GB used swaps. 3 GB RAM, 30 GB of 250 GB free space.

Launched in Safe Mode today and plugged off every peripherie. Disk Repair and Permissions Repair didn't find anything that seems to be important (only two things, something with I think var/root/Library and that ATC was found, but not expected which was repaired).

The backup worked as follows (1,44 GB to backup): The preperation took 15 minutes, the first 10 MB took 5 minutes, the rest was backuped half as fast as it could (which is fast enough for me). Until 1,44 GB it thought there were 1,63 GB to backup but changed that to 1,44 GB after 5 minutes. All that is still better than while not in Safe Mode, how do I find out what was the problem now? Or could it just be I run 11 problems at the same time (Safari (Facebook), Mail, RSS, Twitter, iTunes, EyeTV, Adium, Skype, Activity Monitor, Calendar, Growl)?

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Answer 5

BDAqua

Level 10

240,185 points

Oct 16, 2012 5:25 PM in response to Nikkiflausch

Looks like the problem is Pageouts, due to to many Apps & too little RAM, Mid 2007 iMacs can hold 6 GB & makes a world of difference.

At the Apple Icon at top left>About this Mac, then click on More Info, then click on Hardware> and report this upto but not including the Serial#...

Hardware Overview:

Model Name: iMac

Model Identifier: iMac7,1

Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo

Processor Speed: 2.4 GHz

Number Of Processors: 1

Total Number Of Cores: 2

L2 Cache: 4 MB

Memory: 6 GB

Bus Speed: 800 MHz

Boot ROM Version: IM71.007A.B03

SMC Version (system): 1.21f4

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/apple/memory/iMac/Intel_Core_2_Duo

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Answer 6

Nikkiflausch Author

Level 1

9 points

Oct 16, 2012 6:33 PM in response to BDAqua

So since I already have 2 GB extra RAM the 95$ single 4-GB-RAM-chip would be the best for me, right? I wanted to start saving some money for the next generation iMacs coming next year (hopefully), but 95$ aren't that much money if it really is that much better performance.

Modellname:	iMac
Modell-Identifizierung:	iMac7,1
Prozessortyp:	Intel Core 2 Duo
Prozessorgeschwindigkeit:	2 GHz
Anzahl der Prozessoren:	1
Gesamtanzahl der Kerne:	2
L2-Cache:	4 MB
Speicher:	3 GB
Busgeschwindigkeit:	800 MHz
Boot-ROM-Version:	IM71.007A.B03
SMC-Version (System):	1.20f4

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Answer 7

BDAqua

Level 10

240,185 points

Oct 16, 2012 7:05 PM in response to Nikkiflausch

Yes, a 2 GB you have & add a 4GB stick will make a world of difference... I saw a big jump in performance from 4 GB to 6 GB, as the OS & a few apps were always taking most of the 4 GB.

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Answer 8

Nikkiflausch Author

Level 1

9 points

Oct 16, 2012 7:24 PM in response to BDAqua

I hope you're right, I'm poor hard-working student and will have to work 13 hours of more hard work deep into the night for this 😝

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Answer 9

BDAqua

Level 10

240,185 points

Oct 16, 2012 9:58 PM in response to Nikkiflausch

I'm a bit poorer than that, but I think you'll be pleased. 🙂

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Answer 10

Nikkiflausch Author

Level 1

9 points

Oct 20, 2012 1:57 PM in response to BDAqua

I just realized they ship from america what costs 20$ for me because I live in germany. I found a RAM in amazon which looked good for me, could you check if it will fit? http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B0031GNYCQ It also is a bit cheaper and I don't have to pay anything for the shipment.

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