Time machine backups very, very slow

It's not my time you're wasting, it's yours. The backup implementation you have been using has never worked. It has only appeared to work.

Quoting from Apple's documentation Use Time Machine to back up or restore your Mac - Apple Support (boldface added):

Time Machine is the built-in backup feature of OS X. To use it, you need one of these external storage solutions, sold separately:

• External hard drive connected to a USB, FireWire, or Thunderbolt port on your Mac
• Time Capsule or OS X Server on your network
• External hard drive connected to the USB port of an AirPort Extreme base station on your network

That is all.

If you want to use a third party NAS device for backups, you certainly can. You just can't use it with Time Machine and expect it to be reliable, because it won't be. As R C-R wrote, that's "not something very desirable for a backup!"

Thank you. I appreciate your time and explanation. Best,

Steve,

I've had the odd issue over about ten-plus years of using Macs (generally using computers for 25 years - I work in IT) and type in my occasional search entries and sometimes get directed to these forums. They're inevitably filled with a normal person trying to do a normal thing that QNAP, Synology, D-Link or others have tested and sold (in this case) and things other people have successfully done thousands of times, to have some die-hard Apple fan or support member show up and tell you it's not supported by Apple so they don't even help you or give you a direction.

If you come here, you'll get help with Apple products on Apple routers on Apple Time Machines and you'll have a fun 'ol time spending $1200-$2000 to network your 1800 sq. ft. house to backup your Mac, and then when your house burns down - you're still screwed because Time Machine doesn't sync into the cloud (Amazon Glacier or the like) or syncs to another home, whatever.

Honestly, if you have a 3rd party device and have issues - go to the vendor and get some help - if that fails, get an intelligent IT guy to come over, upgrade all the firmware and set it all up, and be done with it. If you want to know how to use iMovie to add a filter or something, this is the place - anything seriously technical - you end up with a Mac "genius" who is very bound to a support spectrum. I'm not attacking it, but it has clear limitations.

I will say though, I wish the admins, support staff and forum members would be a little more transparent about the fact they simply will not support 3rd party stuff... rather than turn around and blame every instance with a brush and insinuate it's all substandard garbage to Apple's "amazing" products... right. I've have/had a QNAP and a Synology NAS and I've used BOTH to backup and restore Time Machine backups - plus I can rsync across a secure VPN, run a VM array for personal improvement (I work in IT) and a dozen-plus other things... so to talk about how the implementation is obsolete without any education on the subject themselves is fairly disappointing.

"It's not my time you're wasting, it's yours. The backup implementation you have been using has never worked. It has only appeared to work."

John, what a rude, arrogant reply... appeared to work? The reality distortion factor is high with you my friend.

McFly80 wrote:

... so to talk about how the implementation is obsolete without any education on the subject themselves ...

You assume much, "my friend". The knowledgeable participants of this Discussion possess a breadth and depth of knowledge and experience often exceeding that of Apple's own technical support specialists.

plus I can rsync across a secure VPN, run a VM array for personal improvement (I work in IT)

Time Machine does not use rsync. Commercial software products that do are available, and are appropriate for a non-Apple NAS. However, they are not an integral part of OS X as is Apple's Time Machine — proprietary software, designed to be used on proprietary hardware, using a proprietary file transfer protocol — that no manufacturer other than Apple implements, despite their repeated insistence to the contrary.

Time Machine is unsuitable for backing up "to the cloud" for the same reason it is unsuitable for use with a non-Apple NAS device. It is not designed for that purpose. In that regard, it is no different than iMovie or any other proprietary Apple software.

It's up to each user to develop a backup strategy that suits his or her own needs. Time Machine is only one option among many. If a user elects to use TM though, it's incumbent upon that user to comply with its specifications and instructions. If you decide to disregard those instructions, you don't have a backup strategy. You have the illusion of one.

You are welcome to contact AppleCare and speak to a support specialist, whose education on the subject you are also likely to find inadequate since you "work in IT" whereas they work for Apple. For $29 they will provide the same answers that have been provided by myself and others since Time Machine's inception nearly a decade ago — unless your question concerns cross-platform integration, in which case the price is $695. It's your time, and your money, to waste.

John,

I didn't say that Time Machine uses rsync. I can rsync the changes to the .sparebundle file over a connection. It's not magic... for you to tell me that my backup methodology is an "illusion" is entirely mleading and untrue because things do exist outside the magic ecosystem that Apple creates for people who are non-technical. You're saying I can't recover my NAS? Do you have anything to prove this assertion?

Sorry, but Time Machine isn't magic... it's programming. Programming that can be reverse-engineered through investigation and understood.

Like I've said before, if it's not Apple designed then nobody here wants to even touch it and they will make excuses and "educate" people about $695 charges to scare users. I told the OP that he would be better off finding someone private to help him or to use other sites and your post once again affirms this. Apple offers no option for off-site unless it's on an American Apple server using documents in a cloud drive, encrypted using a key they own. I chose a different, no-monthly-cost option that works well for me.

It's fine you don't want to get involved on someone's 3rd-party NAS, but telling them their backups are an illusion of safety isn't reasonable. Just say that... you don't need to say everything else is substandard or non-compliant, just state what it really is - Apple supports Apple stuff and if it's not an Apple product - go somewhere else.

That's the exact situation you will get in an Apple store or anywhere else and for Apple afficionados or employees to indicate otherwise is disingenuous.

You're saying I can't recover my NAS? Do you have anything to prove this assertion?

There are countless reports on this site of Time Machine failures to restore from a non-Apple NAS. Often, the users did not become aware of the fact data recovery was impossible until it became necessary. Also, the user would be shocked to find out that their automatic backups they thought were occurring in fact were not, having stopped weeks or months ago.

In addition to your time and your money, it's your data to lose also.

John,

That same issue has occurred with Apple devices also and I've personally seen and had to support users with Apple-approved devices trying to recover data. Not ever verifying your backups or doing any type of backup auditing is a separate discussion that I will entirely endorse and support .

i had the same issue. i found this post Time Machine extremely slow after upgrade to El Cap

and it solved my problem. it was menumeters.