Should it take 5 hours for TM to verify backup?
I haven't backed up in a month and finally doing it now. It has taken this long to get to 84% and now it seems stuck there. Should I wait? I have Mavericks
mac pro
Apple Event: May 7th at 7 am PT
I haven't backed up in a month and finally doing it now. It has taken this long to get to 84% and now it seems stuck there. Should I wait? I have Mavericks
mac pro
Yes you should wait, otherwise it may have to start over!
How large is your backup? Time Machine creates many copies & 'pointers' to copies of data.
When a backup runs it doesn't just copy data, it also has to check if there is old data to delete (it keeps hourly copies for a day, daily copies for a week, weekly copies for a month then monthly copies until the disk is full).
It may also need to scan the source disks depending on if the history of changes is out of date.
If it completes, then backs up OK reboot & confirm that it doesn't happen again. If it does then you need to consider replacing the disk or looking at repairs etc.
The problem is that there are problems with a program I need to delete but need to backup before I mess with that. So the Mac shut down 3 times today due to kernel panic once just after I posted this q. When it came back up, it said it backed up at noon today which was 6 hours before I posted this question. So i'm not sure what the status is- did it back up or not? Do I need to start over?
You have a few options as I see it…
If you post more info about the crashes & the app in question we may be able to suggest ways to disable it, just be aware that the app may not the only reason for a kernel panic - you want to get good backups incase this is a hardware issue that needs to be sent away.
I can go into detail if you need to pick one of those options, but it would help to know what other disks you have & if you have one large enough for a full clone that can also be erased during the process. Please do not consider deleting old backups to make a new on - it is a risk.
Thanks Drew. I'm now trying a new backup first- easiest option. And hoping it doesn't crash.
Options 3 and 4 make me nervous- I have never done this before.
I have taken the laptop twice to Genius Bar and they ran some tests and it seems to be fine. I'm not sure if there are other tests they would run to check the hardware. I've posted the kernel panics before- it's always the same two pieces of software. One I can remove and have been told to back up before I do it.
The other I can't find anywhere on the HD and have no idea how to remove it. It's part of Blackberry from a few years ago when I had a BB- and I"ve posted to the BB site asking for help in finding this file and removing it and have had no response. I don't know what else to do. My concern is if BB is causing a problem I will never be able to remove it as I can't find it. I've tried the BB uninstall and it doesn't help.
It backed up in about half an hour this time. How can I tell that it really worked? Is there a way to verify?
My guess (from a quick look at one of you panics in the other topics you made) is that you installed Blackberry desktop…
Download that. Click the uninstaller. I doubt it is causing these panics, but let us know if they stop. Also reboot.
The only true way to verify Time Machine backed up is to restore all of the data onto a freshly installed OS. You really don't want to risk that on your main disk!
You can also browse the Time Machine disk (from the menu) & see if the files look correct, but that is just a test, see if any new files look recent (or make a new file & run a backup & check it updates).
I think you should have taken Linc's advice in January…
Linc Davis - Computer shuts down
Erase the system & restore only your user files, you are having too many issues with this Mac, either the hardware is broken/ failing or the OS has too much bad software installed. Clean installing the OS will rule out one of those 2 potential faults. A hardware fault would need to be resolved by Apple.
P.S.
The other backup types I mentioned are very simple to do. It is a really good idea to have several backups. Time Machine is 'all your eggs in one basket'.
Should it take 5 hours for TM to verify backup?