time machine slow.

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time machine slow.

I have a MBA, its all up to date- anyway: I restored the computer to a week prior state to sync restore my phone to a prior OS. Then I restored the MBA to the latest backup (about 10 minutes before I went backwards), it all went fine.

Now when I try to re sync time machine it takes a very long time. after about 20 minutes it had written abou 8K of the 25 gigs it says need to be sent to the time machine.

I use a 500 gig external disk.

I canceled the update, and will wait a few days, or a response to re-try. I think maybe the time machine, and my machine to reindex the changes since the restore. any ideas/information will be appreciated.

Regards,

Liam

MacBook Air (11-INCH, MID 2011), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Feb 11, 2013 8:17 AM

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Answer 1

wcrowder Author

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Feb 11, 2013 8:37 AM in response to wcrowder

A few more details. Usually when I plug my hard drive in it needs about a 60mb, and maybe 2 minutes to capture the days changes. It did the "prep" stage of the backup for maybe...5 minutes, a little long, nothing troubling.

1) why is the change so large, being 25 gigs

2) why is it writing so slowly?

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Answer 2

dwb

Level 7

32,920 points

Feb 11, 2013 10:23 AM in response to wcrowder

You restored the computer which changed the state of a whole slew of files. TimeMachine saw massive changes between the last backup and the current state of the files on your hard drive. Therefore it wants to back up everything that changed as a result of the restore. No way around it, let TimeMachine have at it.

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Answer 3

Feb 11, 2013 10:31 AM in response to dwb

I am having the same problem:

Current Time Machine Backup after Mac Mini Server Update

Backing up 1,567,780 Items

683.6 MB of 894.43 GB - About 136 Days

It is a problem!

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Answer 4

wcrowder Author

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Feb 11, 2013 11:33 AM in response to dwb

But...

I did an update at 7PM. Went quickly. Then I turned off computer, restored to a week ago. Did my thing, then restored to the 7PM, most current update. Since it is really just being updated from 7pm, to 730 is it not a small change? Usually my daily update takes 2-5 minutes. In effect, this is only a small change, really.

Or am I mistaken?

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Answer 5

dwb

Level 7

32,920 points

Feb 11, 2013 11:45 AM in response to wcrowder

I think you are mistaken. The state of the computer changed between the last backup and the new one - even though the effect of the changed state is to restore it to the same state. TimeMachine doesn't do a bit by bit comparison, it looks at file changes and while the creation data of the files didn't change, the modify date did when you did the restoration and that is enough to make TM think a change occurred.

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Answer 6

wcrowder Author

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Feb 11, 2013 11:51 AM in response to dwb

So on a 25 GB backup...taking 20 minutes to move 8KB it will take...9.375x10^6 hours. I think thats more than my applecare period. Since thats 400,000 days, im confident that this is not normal.

dwb, do you mind unsubscribing from this discussiona, and not posting here anylonger?

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Answer 7

dwb

Level 7

32,920 points

Feb 11, 2013 12:26 PM in response to wcrowder

Look back thru your description of the problem - did you ever mention the time element until you dissed me? Right, you didn't. I dealt with what you told me - that you didn't understand why your TM backup was so large.

But you betcha - I'll stop posting any more replies to this thread. Just keep in mind that we're all volunteers here at ASC and we can easily volunteer to ignore boorish trolls. And do.

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Answer 8

wcrowder Author

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Feb 11, 2013 12:31 PM in response to dwb

paragraph 2, of the original post gives the size of backup, and time needed to backup 8k of data. I wasnt dissing you, just did not think you were adding to the thread. not personal. but as you said you read it twice, and still did not grasp the entire issue described. not personal, at all, whatsoever.

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Answer 9

Csound1

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Feb 11, 2013 3:48 PM in response to wcrowder

wcrowder wrote:

So on a 25 GB backup...taking 20 minutes to move 8KB it will take...9.375x10^6 hours. I think thats more than my applecare period. Since thats 400,000 days, im confident that this is not normal.

You are making invalid or unsupported assumptions, The rate of data transfer is not a constant.

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Answer 10

Csound1

Level 9

59,973 points

Feb 11, 2013 3:49 PM in response to Carolina Parrothead

Carolina Parrothead wrote:

I am having the same problem:

Current Time Machine Backup after Mac Mini Server Update

Backing up 1,567,780 Items

683.6 MB of 894.43 GB - About 136 Days

It is a problem!

No, it is an estimate, you currently do not know how long it will take.

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Answer 11

wcrowder Author

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Feb 11, 2013 3:50 PM in response to Csound1

True. I worked 8 hours and just looked as i got home. im up to 240k. It shoudl be in the thousands of K by now.

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Answer 12

wcrowder Author

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Feb 11, 2013 3:51 PM in response to wcrowder

Ok so the days/weeks/hours/seconds may be off. We arent shooting rockets into space. can anyone offer help?

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Answer 13

Pondini

Level 8

38,863 points

Feb 11, 2013 3:51 PM in response to wcrowder

wcrowder wrote:

I have a MBA, its all up to date- anyway: I restored the computer to a week prior state to sync restore my phone to a prior OS. Then I restored the MBA to the latest backup (about 10 minutes before I went backwards), it all went fine.

Are you saying you did two separate restores?

Were both "full system restores," starting from your Recovery HD? If not, please clarify.

The fact that TM is trying to back up 25 GBs sounds like something may have gone wrong, or you didn't do full system restores. How much data is on your Mac's internal HD?

Under the best of circumstances, the first backup after a full restore will take quite a while. Is this the first backup attempt since the restores? Or have any competed, failed, or been cancelled?

A clue may be lurking in your logs. Use the widget in #A1 of Time Machine - Troubleshooting to display the backup messages from your logs. Locate the backup in question, then copy and post all the messages here.

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