Yves M
Level 1 (18 points)
Mac OS X

Q: Time Machine stops backing up halfway

Is there a way to find out which file causes Time Machine to stop backing up half way in its process ?

 

I'm trying to perform a first backup (of my new MacOS internal drive installation) onto a fresly formatted external drive, and Time Machine constantly gets stuck on 201.88 GB out of a total of 382.67 GB.

 

I tried two other external disks already and TM still stops at 201.88 GB.

It doesn't freeze (I can quit it normally), it only stops backing up.

 

Checked my internal disk's integrity (Disk Utility and Disk Warrior 5) and all seems perfect.

 

Can Console or any other application be of any help in tracing the culprit ?

Unless this is a Time Machine bug.

 

Thanks !

iMac, OS X El Capitan (10.11.6), Core i7, SSD, 24 GB Ram.

Posted on Sep 11, 2016 10:57 AM

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Yves M

Q: Time Machine stops backing up halfway

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  • by jdo_apple,

    jdo_apple jdo_apple Sep 12, 2016 11:14 AM in response to Yves M
    Community Specialists
    Sep 12, 2016 11:14 AM in response to Yves M

    Hello Yves M,


    Thanks for that info and choosing the Apple Support Communities. I know how important backing up your Mac with Time Machine is to you! If I understand correctly, you are unable to finish the first Time Machine backup of this Mac as it stalls or stops at a certain point. Based on that, I would follow the steps in this article to narrow down and resolve your issue and get your Mac properly backed up!


    If you can't back up or restore your Mac using Time Machine

     

    If a Time Machine backup takes longer than you expect - Apple Support


    Cheers!

  • by Yves M,

    Yves M Yves M Sep 13, 2016 2:37 AM in response to jdo_apple
    Level 1 (18 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 13, 2016 2:37 AM in response to jdo_apple

    Thanks for your reply, but my question was :

     

    Is there a way to find out which file causes Time Machine to stop backing up half way in the process ?

     

    In the mean time, I found out that Time Machine seemed to stop backing up upon hitting the Library and the owner specific folders (folders bearing default icons : Pictures, Music, Videos, etc) in my Home folder.

     

    My custom added folders are all backed up in the Home folder. The Library folder is there, but it has a red minus sign button on it, and all of the media folders (all those with the default icons) have yet to appear in my backed up Home folder.

     

    No way for me to dig into the Library folder, as the Minus sign forbids me to even have a look into it.

     

    Yet a mystery to me !