MacOS Sierra - time machine stuck preparing backup on Network devices

Since this appears to be a Sophos problem, did you notify Sophos about the solution you, me and others have used to get around the problem? Since it sounds like you opened a support ticket with the it would be a good idea.

I was having the same problem with my MacBook Pro after upgrading to Sierra. Restarting did nothing. I run Avira Free Antivirus and disabling it didn't help, either*. I tried switching to an alternate, freshly formatted disc to give Time Machine a fresh start (kept the old one just in case), and now it seems to be backing up normally.

(*For the record, no, I'm not permanently deleting it. It just intercepted malware the other day. Plus, all my clients are on PC, so I don't want to possibly pass anything along to one of them.)

I tried the SMC Reset. I tried trashing the "In Progress" file on my external HD and restarting. I removed Sophos. Nothing's worked so far.

So, let me understand, some people have had success by copying the current backed up content of their ext HD to another location and then deleting it from the HD? Or are you reformatting the HD? I don't think I have the space available to move the existing backups anywhere. I guess I could delete them and start fresh, but that kind of defeats the purpose of having historic back-ups.

Sophos was the issue for me too. Can't believe I didn't think of that sooner.

Hi Guys

Sophos released this today on there website

https://community.sophos.com/kb/en-us/125239

Looks like it should fixed in the next update which will be out in the next few days. Spoke to one of there support guys and he confirmed the issue will "resolved" in 9.5.3 update.

Thanks for posting this, but i'm confused about the version because I have Sophos free version 1.2.0 for Mac, not 9.5.3.

That is really naive and harmful advice and has really not been true for at least 3 or 4 years. There are even ransomware viruses for the Mac and have been for some time. Mac OS has been really good with security, but it also got a lot of help from security by obscurity and the fact that it had a much smaller installed base than Windows. This is changing and with it the Mac will be more in the crosshairs. You should listen to the Steve Gibson Leo Laporte Security Now podcast.

You can spend your time as you please.

Mine's the same, hopefully it will be upgraded to a version that fixes this issue regardless of version number.

Hi Ncdancer

Yeah I can see how its confusing, but it covers Sophos home as well, the update should be out around the Oct 25th. For your info the antivirus engine sophos home uses is same as all there other mac products which is version 9.5.2. All little confusing I know, but to cut a long story short, all in theory should be good by the end of the month.

I was wrong, I have 9.5.2, and it will be replaced by 9.5.3 🙂

Sidney17 wrote:

Mine's the same, hopefully it will be upgraded to a version that fixes this issue regardless of version number.

thatmrkeithy wrote:

Hi Ncdancer

Yeah I can see how its confusing, but it covers Sophos home as well, the update should be out around the Oct 25th. For your info the antivirus engine sophos home uses is same as all there other mac products which is version 9.5.2. All little confusing I know, but to cut a long story short, all in theory should be good by the end of the month.

Thanks, I figured it out, I do have 9.5.2 😝

how did you figure it out?

I went to the applications and got info on the actual app and not the little pull down I posted earlier.

Thanks.