Sierra and Time Machine

I had this exact problem. I went thru and turned off all of Sophos actions. Started Time Machine backup and within 20 seconds was backing up 150GB of data. Backup ran to completion without issues. Sophos was definitely the problem.

It's not just Sophos; I've been having all these problems with backing up to a Time Capsule since I upgraded to 10.12.1 earlier this week ( I thought that by waiting for the first fix release, I'd be mostly ok...!). It was stuck on 'preparing..' and wouldn't move.

I'm running McAfee AV and eventually got Time Machine to work by turning off automatic backups, turning off all McAfee scanning, then running a manual backup which worked. Then I turned on automatic backups and it's been backing up all night without problems.

It's looking like Time Machine in Sierra has a problem with AV in general.

I just updated to the Sierra OS and the time machine won't work via wifi to my NAS drives but it has backed up a time machine to my other external drive time machine. As others posted, it appears to be struck in "preparing backup" mode.

I don't have Sonos or any antivirus installed.

Seems like after weeks of this being reported, there is obviously still a bug in the OS system regarding time machine back ups.

All Macs have a problem with AV, it's unnecessary as well as detrimental. There is no use for it other than to harm their performance.

GB2011 wrote:

I just updated to the Sierra OS and the time machine won't work via wifi to my NAS drives ...

... there is obviously still a bug in the OS system regarding time machine back ups.

If you are waiting for Apple to fix something that isn't broken, you'll be waiting a long time.

To learn how to use Time Machine please read Use Time Machine to back up or restore your Mac - Apple Support.

The salient points regarding Time Machine are as follows, summarized from Apple's Time Machine support documentation:

• Let your Mac work the way it's supposed to work – that is, without using any non-Apple "anti-virus" or "cleaning" garbage,
• Let Time Machine work the way it's supposed to work – automatically, without any intervention on your part.

  If Time Machine needs attention from you, it will tell you.

• Use a backup device supported by Apple's Time Machine specifications:
  • An external USB, Thunderbolt, or FireWire drive connected to your Mac
  • An AirPort Time Capsule's built-in drive (any model)
  • An external USB drive connected to an AirPort Time Capsule (any model) or AirPort Extreme (802.11ac model only)
  • A networked volume served by OS X Server using Apple File Protocol (AFP).
  • Non-Apple NAS devices do not work because they do not use AFP, a proprietary communications protocol.
• Sierra incorporates new energy-saving features, some of which affect Time Machine:
  • TM will be relegated to a lower priority if your Mac is preoccupied with higher priority tasks.
  • TM will no longer prevent your Mac from entering system sleep on certain Macs, according to Energy Saver settings.

John (love the screen name, BTW), I know that you are technically right, but it doesn't feel that way. If T.M. was a product they had just rolled out instead of one we had all been using comfortably for years then failure to get it work would because of the above would be on our shoulders. But when Apple does an upgrade that causes formerly functional bit sof Apple software to cease working, it certainly feels like something they broke.

Also, I find it odd that so much of the advice here includes removing AV software. How do you suggest protecting your computer? I have had malware on my Mac, for which AV software was the fix...

use "Malwarebytes Anti-Malware" (https://www.malwarebytes.com/) instead, it's free.

I use it once a day. (not constantly active as Sophos does)

I used Sophos for a while a few years ago, but don't find it necessary.

There are NO viruses on the Mac, - Malware yes, Viruses NO), -

In the past Sophos found Malware on my Mac, but Malwarebytes does the job just as well.

By the way...

John Galt has more than 30 years of experience on the Mac.

Why many of you don't take him serious is beyond me.

And no, I didn't swallow a blue pill...

Jur Kuipers, The Netherlands.

Actually that's very helpful, thanks.

Can't figure out why you think I was disrespecting John Galt, I thought it was great that he put so much information out there. I wasn't being sarcastic to him in any way: I said he was right, and then just noted how I felt about having to scramble on this . . .

Malwarebytes is benign in its actions, as well as very effective. AV software (such as Sophos) is neither.

...And no TM-problems here...😉

Jur Kuipers, The Netherlands

Or here.

@Davehp, - , didn't want to criticize you personally, -regarding John Galt.

Sorry for the misunderstanding.

Ok I eventually fixed this issue with help form Apple support.

What I done was ensure my NAS drives were connected when clicking on them in Finder, Then re-opened Mac in safe mode, it took about a full hour to back up approximately 120GB of data via wifi connection. Then I simply shut down the machined and opened it with normal user account and done a further time machine back up.

All seems to be working now.

Thanks Entropee! This fix totally worked for me. I had the said "1st TM-backup on a freshly installed Sierra" issue on an MB Air, with no antivirus installed.

Preparing the backup still took time (about 10-15 minutes for a 43GB backup), but the current transfer speed (on a USB 3.0 500GB hard disk) is back to (almost) normal, currently a prospective 3 hours. I guess that the first backup on a new OS will always take longer than a follow up, in any case no more 1KB per 10 minutes as earlier this evening...

Thanks again for sharing this! Very helpful.

After having completed a backup using the fix suggested by Entropee, I can confirm that Time Machine returned to normal behavior. So this really seems to work for me (not having an antivirus installed but still confronted with the issue). I am wondering though, why my Sierra does not automatically exclude the TM drive from the spotlight search (I read somewhere that it should this).