MacOS Sierra - time machine stuck preparing backup on Network devices

I have the same problem. My Sophos is updated to 9.5.3, but Time Machine backups over the network get stuck at "Preparing.." indefinitely. I am running Sierra, also. The problem started since that upgrade.

I'm unable to disable or make any changes to Sophos as it is locked down by my company.

Has anyone been able to see if the next Sophos build resolves the problem?

Or, are there any alternatives (other than USB drives) in my situation where Sophos can't be disabled?

I too continue having problems with Sophos 9.5.3 backing up to a Synology NAS.

TM never gets past Preparing Backup (waited 1 hour).

If I turn off real time protection, TM does start. Still seems to be very slow in comparison to the previous OS.

Going to try to move the old backups to see if that helps.

After clearing out my old TM backups, Sophos 9.5.3 seems to be working right. Preparing backup only took a few minutes to start a 122GB backup. /happy

How does one "clear out" old TM backups?

I just moved all my previous TM backups to another folder and let it start again. Later on I'll see if I can still access the old backups if needed.

I was doing this for a while - the only thing I could do was delete the old backup and then make a new one. Kind of defeated the whole process of "incremental backups". So each backup was an overnight affair, and also I was basically running the risk of crapping out without a backup during that time.

I saw the material about Sophos in the earlier threads. Deleted the app.

Guess what - Time Machine back to acting as normal.

Ditch Sophos. Not worth the hassle.

Thanks. Disabling Sophus made my backup work.

TakomaFan wrote:

I scheduled mine for after my Synology goes to sleep. Never had to do this before. Hopefully 9.5.4 will fix the access scanner (allowing backups to proceed) and the the scanner (allowing 2 to 3 hour backups to finish in under 24 hours once more).

You would be better off getting rid of Sophos, there are no viruses that run on OS X, so there is little for antivirus software to do, except cause harm to the Mac they are running on.

TakomaFan wrote:

I scheduled mine for after my Synology goes to sleep.

You appear to be unaware that Time Machine will not be reliable with non-Apple NAS devices such as those made by Synology.

"You would be better off getting rid of Sophos, there are no viruses that run on OS X, so there is little for antivirus software to do, except cause harm to the Mac they are running on."

That is not true. There are no technical reasons why the Mac OS cannot get viruses. A better statement is "Apple’s desktop operating system isn’t usually susceptible to such attacks".

Mac's have built-in malware protection provided by XProtect that works automatically in the background, updates automatically and requires no user configuration. Running without an antivirus software is a risk just like all Internet access is a risk. Yes cybercriminals are going after Windows PC's that are easier to attack, but you can bet they are watching and researching ways to attack a growing Mac base.

Perfectly put Coachbb94. It is rare that Macs get infected, but it has happened.

On another note I am annoyed at Sophos. They did say the issue would be resolved with the last release, but it alas it did not. Speaking to them, they not sure when the issue will be resolved which to me is not very good. This is a fundamental issue, yet there response has seem some what lacklustre. Are people using any other virus software and seeing the same issue, or is just Sophos. I would like to update my parents iMac, but can't until either find antivirus software that works or Sophos is fixed, because you know parents and computers.... If anyone out there is using antivirus thats working with TM, would appreciate a recommendation.

I run Avira free antivirus on my MacBook Pro. When I updgraded to Sierra I had exactly the same issue people are reporting here with Sophos. I reformatted my Time Machine disc (I actually first copied my TM backups to another external just in case, but it turned out not to be necessary), let TM start from scratch, and I haven't had a problem since I did that back in the middle of October. All regular timed backups have run with no issue at all.

I take it back, even after setting up new TM backup, it's still slow and on the 3rd night of backup up 122GB it got stuck again on Preparing Backup.

Any suggestions on another good (and free) mac anti-virus software?

As there is NO such thing as a Mac virus there is NO such thing as safe anti virus software on a Mac. Thats No as in NONE. Windows habits are the curse of Macs, try and get rid of them.

"As there is NO such thing as a Mac virus there is NO such thing as safe anti virus software on a Mac. Thats No as in NONE. Windows habits are the curse of Macs, try and get rid of them."

That is not true. There are no technical reasons why the Mac OS cannot get viruses. A better statement is "Apple’s desktop operating system isn’t usually susceptible to such attacks".

Mac's have built-in malware protection provided by XProtect that works automatically in the background, updates automatically and requires no user configuration. Running without an antivirus software is a risk just like all Internet access is a risk. Yes cybercriminals are going after Windows PC's that are easier to attack, but you can bet they are watching and researching ways to attack a growing Mac base.

Take a look at this article https://www.securemac.com/malware/viruses-on-mac-what-you-need-to-know