Time Machine stuck in "Preparing backup..." on macOS 10.12.1

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Level 1

12 points

Time Machine stuck in "Preparing backup..." on macOS 10.12.1

My Time Machine backup to my WD MyCloud EX2 stopped working after the Sierra update came out. Prior to that, it was working great ever since I bought the device on El Capitan. How can I get my Time Machine working again?

I've set up Time Machine to connect to the MyCloud EX2 over AFP as described by the Apple support docs. But the backup proceeds incredibly slowly so it never finishes. This screenshot is after ~10 minutes:

From Activity Monitor, backupd seems to be running but not doing much.

MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2014), OS X El Capitan (10.11.3), Time Machine

Posted on Oct 24, 2016 10:48 PM

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Answer 1

Mar 11, 2017 10:07 AM in response to ZachRattner

I had this problem, and it was super-frustrating! The solution turned out to be to go to the "Spotlight" Preferences panel and to add the destination backup volume to the list of exclusions in the Privacy tab. Don't try to build a search index on the destination backup disk! While I'm trying to write a backup to it! Simple as that.

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Answer 2

CarlAVII

Community Specialist

Oct 25, 2016 12:20 PM in response to ZachRattner

Hi ZachRattner,

Thank you for using Apple Support Communities. It's my understanding that since upgrading to Sierra, your Time Machine backups are very slow and don't complete. I have my most valuable data on my Mac. I know it's very important to have a recent backup. I'm happy to help.

In some cases the drive can cause issues with backing up. Use the steps below to check your drive:

Use Disk Utility to verify your startup disk, external backup drives, and other drives you are trying to back up.

From the Apple menu, choose System Preferences.

From the View menu, choose Time Machine.

Set Time Machine to Off to disable Time Machine backups.

Connect your backup drive to your Mac.

Open Disk Utility located in /Applications/Utilities.

In Disk Utility, locate and select the drive you want to check in the sidebar.

Click Verify Disk, or click Repair Disk.

You can turn Time Machine back on after your drives are verified or repaired successfully.

If Disk Utility indicates that you need to repair your startup disk, start your Mac from OS X Recovery or safe mode. If Disk Utility finds issues it can't repair with one of your disks, see "Using Disk Utility to verify or repair disks" for more information on the next steps to try.

If a Time Machine backup takes longer than expected

If the issue persists or you get an error message, follow the steps in the link below:
If you can't back up or restore your Mac using Time Machine

Have a wonderful day!

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Answer 3

tfljon

Level 1

8 points

Jun 28, 2017 9:11 AM in response to Tom at Gravity

hi could you give any insight as to the the location of destination backup volume folder? i looked for it yesterday to add to the list but could not find it

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Answer 4

CT

Level 7

24,239 points

Jun 28, 2017 9:38 AM in response to tfljon

Probably there is some other issue, but it is perhaps worth noting that the first backup after a system update can take a really long time - an hour or more. Sometimes you just have to wait it out.

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