Why is my Time Machine backup is super slow?

Question

Level 1

0 points

Why is my Time Machine backup is super slow?

Hello, my Time Machine backup is super slow. It says it's going to take 8 hours to back up 170 GB. I have dealt with slow times before, but this is insane and I'm kind of tired of it.

I just tried the "safe-mode" method to where you boot up in safe-mode and then boot up in normal and everything is suposed to be fixed. That worked for about 5 seconds.

If anyone can help me, that would be greatly appreciated!

Also, I'm using a WD my passport (got it late 2012) and the backup is over USB 2.0

Update: It's about 7 GB into the backup and now it says its going to take 3-4 hours. I'm still curious if there is any way I can make it faster as I have heard of people backing up 200-300 GB in under an hour...

MacBook Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9.2)

Posted on Mar 9, 2014 12:29 PM

Reply

Answer 1

pdahlke940 Author

Level 1

0 points

Mar 9, 2014 1:39 PM in response to pdahlke940

Ok... Now it's 29 GB into the backup and it's saying it's going to take 6 hours...

I timed it. It takes about 3 1/2 minutes for it to backup 1 GB. Any help/advice is appreciated!

Reply

Answer 2

Mar 9, 2014 1:29 PM in response to pdahlke940

How is Time Machine backup drive connected to your Mac?

How much free space is available on the Time Machine drive?

Do you have other data on the Time Machine drive in addition to the backups?

Allan

Reply

Answer 3

pdahlke940 Author

Level 1

0 points

Mar 9, 2014 1:45 PM in response to Allan Eckert

The special USB 2.0/3.0 cord that came with the WD. (I have a 2010 MBP, so it's 2.0)

It currently says 356 GB free

I have the 1 TB external drive partitioned 500GB that I use for Time Machine and 500GB that I use for exra storage. Last night I had to delete the only backup on it becuase it didn't want to backup at all...

Also, it seems to be speeding up a tiny bit, but it still says "About 5 hours remaining" and there's about 135GB left to backup.

Reply