Time Machine Stuck at 'Preparing Backup'

Question

Level 1

26 points

Time Machine Stuck at 'Preparing Backup'

Hi, i am using a Seagate 1TB External Hard Disk Slim to backup my Late 2013" MacBook Pro with Time Machine.
I have already backed-up my files before but i am not able to backup my files anymore as it stuck at 'Preparing Backup'. This occur only after i used Time Machine to restore my files as there were some issues with my Mac at that point of time.
Current version : 10.11.6

What can i do when 'Preparing Backup' is stuck?
I have tried to find solutions online but it is not working for me.
Any help would be appreciated, thankyou.

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X El Capitan (10.11), null

Posted on Sep 17, 2016 11:03 AM

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Answer 1

CarlAVII

Community Specialist

Sep 18, 2016 6:01 PM in response to Kiraweiloon

Hi Kiraweiloon,

Thanks for using the Apple Support Communities! We're sorry to hear that you are having these issues backing up your MacBook Pro. If you continue to have issues with Time Machine, particularly if it stays stuck on "Preparing Backup...", you may find the information and troubleshooting steps outlined in the following articles helpful:

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

OS X Yosemite: If Time Machine remains in the “preparing” stage

Regards

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Answer 2

wsrphoto

Level 1

63 points

Sep 23, 2016 5:48 AM in response to CarlAVII

Have you received any working solutions? I have the same problem after installing Sierra, and still have the backups stuck in "Preparing backup..." mode for an hour or so, even after trying all the solutions, including those links in replies here, I've found. None have worked so far. The other option is let it run forever until it's obvious it's broken or works. This happened with Yosemite but fixed with later releases. I hope Apple has some worthwhile answers.

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Answer 3

Sep 28, 2016 12:30 PM in response to wsrphoto

Exact same issue here

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Answer 4

Nov 3, 2016 2:51 PM in response to Kiraweiloon

Has a solution been found yet?

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