Time Machine backups to WD My Book Live terribly slow

I finally got there, as this chart shows.

My wife accidentally disconnected the drive by bumping it (something I don't recommend as they can get bricked by this!), and this eventually solved the problem. After reconnection the MacBook searched around for hours trying to find the backup, but then suddenly backed up the last 12GB at a screaming 40Mb/s, making just under 63 hours in all for 104GB. The whole backup would have been completed in less than a tenth of that time if this speed had been maintained throughout.

Backups now work perfectly and speedilly on both machines by both ethernet and wireless.

It was just the initial backup of the second machine that was the problem, and probably my timidity with a new drive to end the backup and start again.

Finally, now I had a chance tonight to use the Time Machine backup. I had a php database file which had an error in it, and I wanted to revert to the previous version on the backup.

Unfortunately, this was not a success. The backup took ages to open, even though the drive did not appear to be busy and my iMac was only using 10% or so of CPU. When I finally got Time Machine open, it literally took hours to open the particular folder where the file was that I wanted to recover. After two hours I gave up, becuase I knew I could manually edit the database file quicker than it was going to take to recover the previous version. This would not always be the case of course, but I think I have limited use for a backup program that takes two hours to open the backup. I had done a trial open and close (without actually retrieving a file) a few days ago on my MacBook pro, and this worked instantly.

So, Rick, back to your comment about the drive being flukey. I've definitely found the drive that way so far.

• both fast and extremely slow to make the initial backup,
• okay and okay to do update backups, and
• both extremely slow and fast to recover files

with the iMac and MacBook Pro respectively.

Of course, if I'm missing something obvious here, please set me straight! I've got the latest WD firmware and Mac systems.

Message was edited by: Ruadh2

Ruadh2 wrote:

Finally, now I had a chance tonight to use the Time Machine backup. ......The backup took ages to open, ...., it literally took hours to open the particular folder where the file was that I wanted to recover. After two hours I gave up, ..

... I've got the latest WD firmware and Mac systems.

Looking at the system log, it appears that the firmware did not upgrade.

Jun 13 01:38:17 xxxx-iMac.local authexec[2569]: executing /bin/cp
Jun 13 01:38:19 xxxx-iMac.local mds[37]: Unable to talk to lsboxd
Jun 13 01:38:25 xxxx-iMac.local mdworker[2559]: Unable to talk to lsboxd
Jun 13 01:38:39 xxxx-iMac.local WDQuickView[1471]: Updating service information
Jun 13 01:38:40 xxxx-iMac.local WDQuickView[1471]: No Error with getting xmlDoc for URL http://10.0.0.2/api/1.0/rest/firmware_update?...(null )

with the last two lines repeated at one minute intervals over and over ...

Jun 17 07:03:25 xxxx-iMac.local WDQuickView[831]: Updating service information

Jun 17 07:03:30 xxxx-iMac.local WDQuickView[831]: No Error with getting xmlDoc for URL http://10.0.0.2/api/1.0/rest/firmware_update?...(null)

...forever? WD Quickview properties has the "Firmware Revision" as blank, which I interpreted to mean that none was required (ie. up to date). Previously it showed a firmware number 02.32.06-006. In the meantime, it's making the backups fine. Is there a problem here that could explain the slow recovery from backup? Or is this just some routine check?

After a few more weeks experience, the slow recovery issue does not seem so serious. I've managed to recover other files since as quickly as I'd like. This first problem may have just been that the drive was busy with another backup at the same time. The repeated lines quoted above were indeed just a routine check and nothing to do with the slow recovery. My firmware was also updated correctly, and the blank in properties just means an update is not required.

Now, I have just gone to the next stage of TimeMachine problems - the Error:

Time Machine completed a verification of your backups. To improve reliability, Time Machine must create a new backup for you.

This is apparently a common problem with wirelessly networked drives, even TimeCapsule, where the sparsebundle is corrupted by some interruption to the wireless. I used the repair here (there is no fix as far as I can find), and my old sparsebundle is now backing up ok again, at least until the next time this error appears!

Same issues as Everyone Else Using a MBP 17" with 16 Gigs of Ram, 2.2 GHz Intel Core i7 Processor, and OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.4, a 500 Gig Internal Hard Drive, and a 3TB WD MyBookLive. I've been backing up since Wednesday at 1:30PM (It's Now Saturday at 4:30PM) AND so far only 146Gigs have been backed up, and it's been saying "About 6 Days" for the past several days. I've phoned Western Digital about 5 Times and I keep getting all of these answers, but NO ONE THERE can tell me the speed at which this drive operates, and it's not listed on the box. Seems STRANGE Not To List the SPEED of a Hard Drive on the Box... I'm so Fed UP! I'm thinking about Taking it back to Office Depot and Getting a Time Capsule Instead.

David

I had problems when first using My Book Live with OSX 10.7.4. My problems were solved when I changed its ip address on my router to a fixed ip address. Since then, it has worked perfectly.

I had all these problems, we all seem to be rats in the maze pressing random buttons! These are the buttons I pressed that got my MyBook Live up from a few MB per minute to maybe 1 GB per minute.

I have no idea which are relevant and don't have the time or patience to do a proper scientific test switching them off again one by one!

I was already using up to date firmware and OSX.

1. I created a proper user and made the TimeMachine share private for that user. Then, in Time Machine, I logged in as that user.

2. I went into the settings on the NAS and turned off all the remote access including the mobile access.

3. I turned off media streaming and the iTunes Server function.

4. My network mode is still DHCP, I am not sure how going to a static IP is going to help. It does not change this mid backup.

Once the initial backup is done I'll turn the media streaming back on and see what happens.

Tim, are your backups running consistently at a decent speed now?

Hi qqallan,

Yes, very pleased with it now. 500GB total (across two machines - an iMac and MacBook simultaneously) backed up in about 9 hours - so not far off the 1GB per minute I estimated at one point. I am using a 300Mbit wifi network to connect the machines to the NAS. So by my estimate 500GB in 9 hours equates to about 136MBit/s which seems plausible.

Now the incremental backups are happening almost invisibly.

I am going to turn the media server features back on so see if it is still fine. My guess is that they are the main culprit in slowing it down. The Playstation is wasting the NAS's time as much as mine!

Tim.

If anyone has any advice

I have a My Book Live and TM trickles data through at a whopping 1KB where as my normal Mybook via USB rattles through at 15 - 30 MB/s

The MB Live is almost unuseable for TM now and I cant speed it up - it did the initial back up okay bit now its hopeless - Ive no idea if this is related to Mavericks or not.

MBP 2011 is connected to a GB Switch as is the MB Live - I can transfer data between the two devices at over 60 MB/s ..... just not TM data

Thanks

Hi Tim,

Thanks for the helpful information. I'm a newB but experiencing very slow transfer speeds also and unable to complete my initial TM Back-up of about 270GB. I have my MacPro connected directly to my MyBookLive via an enthernet cord and still experiencing slow speeds. Can you please walk me through how to perform the steps you described to improve the speeds? I'd greatly appreciate the help.

Thanks

Hi,

First thing to say is: are you sure connecting by cable is the fastest way to transfer? My MacBook and iMac both have 300Mbs wifi vs. 100Mbs ethernet cable! It depends on your router of course - how fast is that via wifi? Is it g or n standard? If it's n standard then I am guessing you will be better with wifi. Use the GB ethernet port on the WD MyBook to connect to your router and then let the MacBook connect via wifi.

Then login to the WD MyBook via Safari (or any other browser) by entering http://mybooklive into the address bar.

I can't remember if there is a default owner password, I don't think so but check the documentation. I set one up for myself.

You will get a set of options from Settings, Users, Shares etc. Start with Settings - System:

Under Updates I have mine set to Automatic - lots of people are saying up to date firmware is important.

Under Alerts - I gave it an email but it has never contacted me!

Under Energy Saver - I have it turning off the harddisk when it is idle.

Under Mac Backups I have checked Time Machine! Note the share name so that you can select it in Time Machine later.

Staying with settings go to the Network tab - have a look. The defaults (incl DCHP) should be fine. I think unchecking FTP is a good idea for security sake.

Go to the Remote Access tab - this is a bit that I think may matter.

Uncheck Remote Access. Later you can set up connections to your iPad or whatever - it will be fine after the initial backup. I can watch movies on my iPad anywhere, streamed from the MyBook, its a great feature, but turn it off for the moment.

Moving to the Media tab: Uncheck Media Streaming and Uncheck iTunes Server. This is my prime suspect for slowing things down - but who knows?

Then go down the menu to Users. Several people have said that setting up a proper user rather than using Guest matters. I don't know why (not enough deep down Linux experience) but I did set up a proper user with password. I like the security aspect as much as anything. So:

Set up a user and take careful note of the username and password. If you match the user with your MacBook it will be slightly more convenient. Now you have a user go back to Shares and select the TimeMachine share. Look in the details panel and give your new user write access (click the radio button under the pencil icon). I also made the share private - so Guest will no longer work. Check Media Serving is Off - it should be.

That should be all done for setting up the MyBook.

Now go to your Mac and open the the settings for Time Machine. Click on Select Disk and look for the MyBook in the selection of disks in the lower panel. I would strongly advise encrypting the backup - it is just behind your router firewall and later you may want to open up remote access. It will take longer to create but I think it is worth it - I did a full initial encrypted 173GB backup last night in 11 hours.

That's it: turn on the Time Machine and let it get on with it.

Once the first backup is done, you can turn on the media streaming and remote access and copy movies and music to the Public share via Finder for your enjoyment elsewhere.

Hope this helps.

Thanks so much for the detailed explanation. I'm going to read through it and give it a try. I'll respond with any questions or observations.

Thanks again.

Hi everyone

I have been reading each discussion with great interest over the last few months as I have been trying to solve the very issues tabled having purchased 2 WD Live HDDs. I have even tried to make them work properly even on a PC without success. So what to do; I purchased a Synology NAS case, ripped the 2 HDDs out of their casing, popped them into the Synology, fired it up and success. Now I have a 2t mirrored NAS with space for Time Machine, music etc. working on my network perfectly. My recommendation, don't buy the WD Live product.

Cheers!

Thanks so much for this, the backup runs a lot faster now!