Time Machine Waiting to Complete First Backup

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Level 3

813 points

Time Machine Waiting to Complete First Backup

New Seagate 5Tb external drive. It took me a few tries to initialize/format, and it now seems to be working fine except for Time Machine. I get an error message from the operating system that warns me to “eject the drive before disconnecting.” I am not touching the drive while it is backing up. Time Machine gets stuck on the task “Waiting to Complete First Backup.” I have manually started the backup a couple of times and each time progress seems to be made, but the backup never finishes because of the error message. I have left the backup run unattended overnight. All attempts end the same way.

I searched the archives to see what I might be able to do now. I wasn't able to find anything that made sense to me. If I'm missing something, please point me in the right direction.

Thank you.

macOS Sierra 10.12.6

MacBook Air (13-inch, Early 2014), iOS 10

Posted on Aug 5, 2017 8:59 AM

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Answer 1

John Galt

Level 10

155,036 points

Aug 5, 2017 10:55 AM in response to OldGnome

An SMC Reset is justified for the symptoms you describe: Reset the System Management Controller (SMC) on your Mac - Apple Support.

If the drive is connected to the Mac through a USB hub, either make sure it is a powered hub, or temporarily bypass it to advance troubleshooting.

It took me a few tries to initialize/format,

Once should be sufficient. Confirm that you prepared the drive with Disk Utility in accordance with Time Machine's instructions: Formatting a backup disk for use with Time Machine.

If the SMC Reset does not resolve the problem, and assuming you did not install any non-Apple software that may have been included with that drive, then either the drive or the connection it uses is defective.

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Answer 2

OldGnome Author

Level 3

813 points

Aug 5, 2017 10:56 AM in response to Esquared

I just realized I have been taking stupid pills since the drive arrived yesterday. I have two surge suppression power strips in my office. One is connected to the wall switch and one is not. I have been getting backups started and then leaving the room, turning out the lights as I go.

Guess which power strip I had plugged the drive into....

😮

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