Fred 52
Level 1 (10 points)

Q: Any fix to slow time capsule backup?

I just purchased a  new iMac and a Time Capsule 2TB Wi-Fi hard drive for Time Machine back-up.  The Time Machine back-up is extremely slow, just a few MB per  hour which will require weeks to back-up my MacBook Pro 240GB of data and my new iMac 179 GB of data.   I've read about previous problems, but nothing current in this forum.  I'm really diappointed in the performance, which makes the time capsule totally useless at this point.

 

I've gone through resetting the time capsule, tried using ethernet connections to both Macs with no significant change from using Wi-Fi connections.  Back-up has been running for two days continuously with only 20 GB backed up of the 240GB and only 15 GB backed up of the 179 GB on the iMac.

 

Anyone know of a fix?

 

Thanks,

 

Fred

MacBook Pro (13-inch Mid 2010), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.5)

Posted on Nov 22, 2013 11:43 AM

by LaPastenague,Solvedanswer
LaPastenague LaPastenague
Level 9 (52,984 points)
Wireless
A:

Power off one of the computers..

 

I would do a full isolation setup.. ie plug the TC into the computer by ethernet.. turn off the wireless in the computer.. no other connection.. no internet.

 

Factory reset the TC.

 

The Factory Reset Gen1-4.

 

Unplug your TC. Hold in reset. and power the TC back on.. without releasing reset for about 10sec. When the status light flashes rapidly; release it.

Be Gentle! Feel the switch click on. It has a positive feel..  add no more pressure after that.

TC will reboot after a couple of minutes with default factory settings and will wipe out previous configurations.

No files are deleted on the hard disk.. No reset of the TC deletes files.. to do that you use erase from the airport utility.

 

Do a minimal setup.. In v6 utility it kind of depends on wireless to do this.. don't.

Do it manually.

 

Open the airport utility and tell it the exact address where to find the TC.

 

1. Ensure that the TC did reset and the computer got the correct IP.

Make sure ipv6 is set to local link.. this is now important.

ethernetsetup1.png

 

2. In the worst airport utility Apple ever came up with.. in the top menu.. File, Configure Other.

 

ethernetsetup2.png

 

3. Put in the IP of the TC. Since Utility is now too dumb to find it on its own.

 

ethernetsetup3.png

 

4. Do the setup.. use all short names, no spaces and pure alphanumeric for everything. TC name and wireless name/s ( I prefer to name 5ghz different to 2.4ghz.. ) Disk share name. (data by default).

 

ethernetsetup4.png

 

Then update and see how it goes.

 

Try using a simple file transfer in Mavericks.. to ensure it is not just a TM bug. Copy one very big file from your computer directly to the TC.. and check the speed.

 

Good luck!!

Posted on Nov 22, 2013 12:36 PM

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Fred 52

Q: Any fix to slow time capsule backup?

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

  • by LaPastenague,

    LaPastenague LaPastenague Nov 22, 2013 11:59 AM in response to Fred 52
    Level 9 (52,984 points)
    Wireless
    Nov 22, 2013 11:59 AM in response to Fred 52

    What OS are you running? From your profile it is still Mountain Lion ... and you should not have this problem.

     

    On the other hand if you .. "upgraded" to Mavericks then welcome to the Bug Club.

     

    The rest is to do with Mavericks. If you are still really and truly on ML please post back that info and the Firmware level on the TC.

     

    Mavericks has multiple issues with the TC. Slow backup being one of them.

     

    Reset TM see A4 here.

     

    http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html

     

    Manually mount the TC hard disk.. using Finder.. Go, Connect to Server.

     

    AFP://TCname or TCIPaddress (where obviously you use the real name or real IP).

     

    Setup TM again. Use ethernet with wireless shut off.

     

    See how you go.. do not expect super fast but it should do 30-50GB/hr..

     

    If not I recommend for the moment you use either an external USB drive and forget the TC until Apple get this patched.. or use CCC or a different backup software.

  • by Fred 52,

    Fred 52 Fred 52 Nov 22, 2013 12:09 PM in response to LaPastenague
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Nov 22, 2013 12:09 PM in response to LaPastenague

    LaPastenague, thanks for the quick response.

    I have both OSs. I have Maverics on the new iMac and Mountain Lion on the MacBook Pro.  Both are backing-up really slow.  I did an update to the TC software to 7.6.4 trying to fix the problem on the first day with no change in performance.  I will try the other steps you provided to see if they help.

  • by LaPastenague,Solvedanswer

    LaPastenague LaPastenague Nov 22, 2013 12:36 PM in response to Fred 52
    Level 9 (52,984 points)
    Wireless
    Nov 22, 2013 12:36 PM in response to Fred 52

    Power off one of the computers..

     

    I would do a full isolation setup.. ie plug the TC into the computer by ethernet.. turn off the wireless in the computer.. no other connection.. no internet.

     

    Factory reset the TC.

     

    The Factory Reset Gen1-4.

     

    Unplug your TC. Hold in reset. and power the TC back on.. without releasing reset for about 10sec. When the status light flashes rapidly; release it.

    Be Gentle! Feel the switch click on. It has a positive feel..  add no more pressure after that.

    TC will reboot after a couple of minutes with default factory settings and will wipe out previous configurations.

    No files are deleted on the hard disk.. No reset of the TC deletes files.. to do that you use erase from the airport utility.

     

    Do a minimal setup.. In v6 utility it kind of depends on wireless to do this.. don't.

    Do it manually.

     

    Open the airport utility and tell it the exact address where to find the TC.

     

    1. Ensure that the TC did reset and the computer got the correct IP.

    Make sure ipv6 is set to local link.. this is now important.

    ethernetsetup1.png

     

    2. In the worst airport utility Apple ever came up with.. in the top menu.. File, Configure Other.

     

    ethernetsetup2.png

     

    3. Put in the IP of the TC. Since Utility is now too dumb to find it on its own.

     

    ethernetsetup3.png

     

    4. Do the setup.. use all short names, no spaces and pure alphanumeric for everything. TC name and wireless name/s ( I prefer to name 5ghz different to 2.4ghz.. ) Disk share name. (data by default).

     

    ethernetsetup4.png

     

    Then update and see how it goes.

     

    Try using a simple file transfer in Mavericks.. to ensure it is not just a TM bug. Copy one very big file from your computer directly to the TC.. and check the speed.

     

    Good luck!!

  • by Fred 52,

    Fred 52 Fred 52 Nov 22, 2013 1:48 PM in response to LaPastenague
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Nov 22, 2013 1:48 PM in response to LaPastenague

    LaPastenague,

    What a great explanation.  It took me several attempts (probably because of my infamilarity with the specific Apple tools) but I was able to get the TC reset, wi-fi turned off on TC and get it manaully mounted to my iMac.  The manual copy of data to the mounted TC only provided about 3 GB / hr transfer rate on a 1.01 GB folder of 4,000 plus files.  The manually mounted TC over ethernet connection states it will back-up 131.5 GB in 4 hrs, which is much better than the previous days and days.  I will at least get an initial back-up on the iMac.  Since I need internet connection for the iMac to be useful to me, I'm not sure if TC will work for me after the initial back-up, but I will try to reconfigure the TC again for "normal" time maching back-up after the initial back-up is completed.

     

    I really appreciate all the info you provided.  Most people don't take that much time to help a stranger.

     

    Next time I'll just stick with an external USB drive for each machine.  I could have purchasd a pair of 2 TB external drives for the price of the one Apple 2 TB TC that does not work well.

     

    Fred

  • by LaPastenague,Helpful

    LaPastenague LaPastenague Nov 22, 2013 3:20 PM in response to Fred 52
    Level 9 (52,984 points)
    Wireless
    Nov 22, 2013 3:20 PM in response to Fred 52

    Glad to help.

     

    The manual copy of data to the mounted TC only provided about 3 GB / hr transfer rate on a 1.01 GB folder of 4,000 plus files.

     

    To test, you need one big file.. not thousands of small files.. because writing small files means a pause to write the table address info on the hard disk which is much slower..  it is important to do any test without that .. so one big file.. TM will go slow around the middle of the backup as the system files include huge number of very small configuration files.

     

    Since I need internet connection for the iMac to be useful to me, I'm not sure if TC will work for me after the initial back-up, but I will try to reconfigure the TC again for "normal" time maching back-up after the initial back-up is completed.

     

    Once you are out of the major initial backup and doing incremental even if they are slow you will not have as much trouble with it... I would hope.

  • by Fred 52,

    Fred 52 Fred 52 Nov 23, 2013 5:57 AM in response to LaPastenague
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Nov 23, 2013 5:57 AM in response to LaPastenague

    Thanks for the update.  The iMac back-up completed in just under 4 hrs, which was very acceptable.  Now I'll try to reset the TC to work over wi-fi again and see if it will keep up with changes or if I need to keep it connected by ethernet until Apple gets a fix implemented.

     

    Thanks much for the help.  At least the TC is now partially usable on one device instead of a total waste.