vst2001
Level 1 (7 points)
Mac OS X

Q: Time Machine backup not working

Hi,

I upgraded to MacOs Sierra and from that moment on the backup is not working.

I configured the disk to backup to and the backup is starting but resides in the mode 'preparing backup'.

The CPU usage of the Backupd process is around 92% and keeps that level until I stop the backup process. This situation has been stable for more the 48-hours and no backup has been made.

 

Anyone seen this?

Marcel

Mac mini, iOS 10, Mac OS Sierra

Posted on Sep 23, 2016 5:42 AM

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vst2001

Q: Time Machine backup not working

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  • Helpful answers

  • by avalonmoon13,

    avalonmoon13 avalonmoon13 Sep 23, 2016 5:54 AM in response to vst2001
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 23, 2016 5:54 AM in response to vst2001

    Exactly the same, although not looked into the CPU usage. Tried resetting PRAM without effect and switched USB ports to my external drive without success. I thought thats why we have Beta versions Apple?!!

  • by bikedoctor,

    bikedoctor bikedoctor Sep 24, 2016 10:57 AM in response to vst2001
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 24, 2016 10:57 AM in response to vst2001

    I have the same exact issue and am on a iMac 27 late 2009 machine with 8mg ram.??? HELP please

  • by trevoz,

    trevoz trevoz Sep 24, 2016 11:33 PM in response to bikedoctor
    Level 2 (210 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 24, 2016 11:33 PM in response to bikedoctor

    I had a similar issue - I think it was because there was insufficient disk space to backup the entire Sierra install to the backup drive. I reformatted the backup drive and a couple of hours later it finished the Sierra backup successfully. YMMV :-)

  • by vst2001,

    vst2001 vst2001 Sep 27, 2016 1:47 AM in response to trevoz
    Level 1 (7 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 27, 2016 1:47 AM in response to trevoz

    I erased my TM so it had 2 TB of free space. It looked as if this solved the issue but today it is back to the same stage. TM still has plenty of room but the backupd process is back to the stage 'Preparing Backup' and the CPU usage is around 90%

  • by William Kucharski,

    William Kucharski William Kucharski Sep 27, 2016 1:56 AM in response to vst2001
    Level 6 (15,138 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 27, 2016 1:56 AM in response to vst2001

    The first backup after a new OS install always takes a rather long time; even Apple's most powerful machines will usually take several hours.

  • by trevoz,

    trevoz trevoz Sep 27, 2016 2:06 AM in response to vst2001
    Level 2 (210 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 27, 2016 2:06 AM in response to vst2001

    Did the first backup on the newly erased TM drive complete?

  • by bikedoctor,

    bikedoctor bikedoctor Sep 27, 2016 2:19 AM in response to vst2001
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 27, 2016 2:19 AM in response to vst2001

    I have the same exact issue and am on a iMac 27 late 2009 machine with 8mg with a 4T backup drive. Really weird. Called support and as I was talking to the advisor the backup restarted. Froze again shortly thereafter and 24 hrs later is still frozen. Help'!!!

  • by vst2001,

    vst2001 vst2001 Sep 27, 2016 3:00 AM in response to William Kucharski
    Level 1 (7 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 27, 2016 3:00 AM in response to William Kucharski

    That is clear but in this case it is not executing the backup. It is stuck in the process 'preparing backup'. And that for more then 24 hours..

  • by trevoz,

    trevoz trevoz Sep 27, 2016 4:40 AM in response to vst2001
    Level 2 (210 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 27, 2016 4:40 AM in response to vst2001

    @vst2001: (1) Did the first backup complete? (2) The TM drive is excluded from Spotlight, right?

  • by bikedoctor,

    bikedoctor bikedoctor Sep 27, 2016 4:52 AM in response to trevoz
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 27, 2016 4:52 AM in response to trevoz

    NO. It did not complete. Got to about 50gb of 650gb then froze saying 12 hrs to completion. It's been there for more then 24hrs now.

  • by 1KAL,

    1KAL 1KAL Sep 27, 2016 6:28 AM in response to vst2001
    Level 1 (12 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 27, 2016 6:28 AM in response to vst2001

    I have the same problem.  Thought I'd managed a backup yesterday....but today it's saying last successful backup April 2013! Arggg! 

  • by William Kucharski,

    William Kucharski William Kucharski Sep 27, 2016 1:49 PM in response to vst2001
    Level 6 (15,138 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 27, 2016 1:49 PM in response to vst2001

    That's what I'm trying to tell you; being "stuck preparing" is how the majority of the hours it takes for even a new Mac Pro to backup are spent as it more or less needs to compare every file that's changed with what is stored in the current backup image.

     

    You can speed this up by creating a whole new backup, but you may not want to do that.

  • by vst2001,

    vst2001 vst2001 Sep 27, 2016 11:48 PM in response to William Kucharski
    Level 1 (7 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 27, 2016 11:48 PM in response to William Kucharski

    I would disagree on this. I have multiple apple devices that are making a backup to the same TM. All of them work fine except for the one installed with MacOs Sierra. It started the preparation of the backup 2 days ago and is still in the 'preparing backup' mode were other devices already finished their backup. And please do not indicate that the other backups can conflict. There were not running overnight.