Time machine is very slow....

After upgrading to ML, time machine seems very slow. I usually make back up once a week. First back up took nearly a day, but completed successfully.

Similar Messages

Suddenly, time machine is very slow. Used to take up a minute and now more than half an hour. Does anybody know how this can happen? Indexing the back-up disk is off, but Timde Machine keeps on indexing!

Suddenly, time machine is very slow. Used to take up a minute and now more than half an hour. Does anybody know how this can happen? Indexing the back-up disk is off, but Timde Machine keeps on indexing!

same issue here...

Time Machine remains very slow despite October 5th update - Mac OS X 10.7.5 (11G63)

I just updated my BMP with OS X Lion update (10.7.5). The update says that it fixes the Time Machine speed (very very slow). Well, despite this patch I still have 18.6 MB backuped in 5 minutes, among 4.16 GB... Still have to wait for.
Who is facing the same issue ?
Regards,
F

Finally, the backup accelerated and came back to a more usual speed.

Time Machine Running VERY SLOW

I am using a 2 TB G-Drive for Time Machine.
I've been getting "disk full" messages for some time and the drive is is currently showing 47 GB free.
Today (at least that's the first I noticed it,) Time Machine is running VERY SLOW.
Looking at the drive the light with flash bright about once every 3 or 4 seconds.
Looking at the Time Machine status, it has been trying to backup 30 GB for several hours and has only backed up less than 10 GB.
My question is could this be caused by the drive being full or could it be the drive is about to go out.
In either case, if I get a new (larger) drive, will I be able to retrieve older files from this drive if necessary?
Thanks in advance.
Chuck

I finally re-booted at about 4:20 PM which seemed to clear up the issue, so this may be moot.
Here is the log:
12/19/12 2:40:32.786 PM WindowServer[78]: MPAccessSurfaceForDisplayDevice: Set up page flip mode on display 0x04273580 device: 0x100d29320 isBackBuffered: 1 numComp: 3 numDisp: 3
12/19/12 2:40:32.800 PM WindowServer[78]: MPAccessSurfaceForDisplayDevice: Set up page flip mode on display 0x1b563241 device: 0x100d29d30 isBackBuffered: 1 numComp: 3 numDisp: 3
12/19/12 2:40:41.887 PM lsboxd[626]: @AE relay 4755524c:4755524c
12/19/12 2:43:24.256 PM Bento[93709]: Warning: Already had a model for IP9_RKAlbum with uuid: recoveredPhotosAlbum in cache.
12/19/12 2:45:15.805 PM mDNSResponder[46]: Double NAT (external NAT gateway address 192.168.1.88 is also a private RFC 1918 address)
12/19/12 2:54:14.856 PM com.apple.backupd[92721]: Copied 9.45 GB of 27.59 GB, 2762 of 2762 items
12/19/12 3:00:15.823 PM mDNSResponder[46]: Double NAT (external NAT gateway address 192.168.1.88 is also a private RFC 1918 address)
12/19/12 3:07:23.000 PM kernel[0]: (default pager): [KERNEL]: ps_select_segment - send HI_WAT_ALERT
12/19/12 3:07:23.657 PM com.apple.SecurityServer[15]: Killing auth hosts
12/19/12 3:07:23.657 PM com.apple.SecurityServer[15]: Session 100639 destroyed
12/19/12 3:07:23.000 PM kernel[0]: macx_swapon SUCCESS
12/19/12 3:07:23.718 PM com.apple.SecurityServer[15]: Session 100649 created
12/19/12 3:07:25.704 PM Notes[93810]: [IMAP] Expected untagged initial response from mail.brennaman-photo.com
12/19/12 3:07:25.795 PM Notes[93810]: [IMAP] Expected untagged initial response from pop.att.yahoo.com
12/19/12 3:07:25.843 PM Notes[93810]: [IMAP] Expected untagged initial response from pop.att.yahoo.com
12/19/12 3:07:41.000 PM kernel[0]: Sandbox: sandboxd(93819) deny mach-lookup com.apple.coresymbolicationd
12/19/12 3:07:47.266 PM sandboxd[93819]: ([93817]) mdworker(93817) deny file-write-owner /Users/Chuck/Library/Containers/com.apple.Notes/Data/Library/Notes/NotesV1.stor edata-wal (import fstype:hfs fsflag:480D000 flags:240000005F diag:0 uti:com.apple.notes.externalrecord plugin:/Library/Spotlight/Notes.mdimporter - find suspect file using: sudo mdutil -t 2479915)
12/19/12 3:07:47.670 PM sandboxd[93819]: ([93817]) mdworker(93817) deny file-write-owner /Users/Chuck/Library/Containers/com.apple.Notes/Data/Library/Notes/NotesV1.stor edata-shm (import fstype:hfs fsflag:480D000 flags:240000005F diag:0 uti:com.apple.notes.externalrecord plugin:/Library/Spotlight/Notes.mdimporter - find suspect file using: sudo mdutil -t 2479915)
12/19/12 3:08:26.326 PM Notes[93810]: [<_LibSasl2SASLClient: 0x7f92d2e022c0> mechanism: PLAIN security layer: no] Failed a step of SASL authentication
SASL(-1): generic failure:
12/19/12 3:08:51.955 PM com.apple.ShareKitHelper[40510]: --warning: [ShareKit-XPC] Received XPC_ERROR_CONNECTION_INVALID
12/19/12 3:08:51.956 PM com.apple.ShareKitHelper[40510]: --warning: [ShareKit-XPC] connectionWithClientInterrupted
12/19/12 3:08:51.956 PM com.apple.ShareKitHelper[40510]: --warning: [ShareKit] Cancel UI for running services with Client PID: 93810
12/19/12 3:10:00.000 PM kernel[0]: Sandbox: sandboxd(93833) deny mach-lookup com.apple.coresymbolicationd
12/19/12 3:10:00.768 PM sandboxd[93833]: ([93832]) mdworker(93832) deny file-write-owner /Users/Chuck/Library/Containers/com.apple.Notes/Data/Library/Notes/NotesV1.stor edata-wal (import fstype:hfs fsflag:480D000 flags:240000005F diag:0 uti:com.apple.notes.externalrecord plugin:/Library/Spotlight/Notes.mdimporter - find suspect file using: sudo mdutil -t 2480117)
12/19/12 3:10:01.376 PM sandboxd[93833]: ([93832]) mdworker(93832) deny file-write-owner /Users/Chuck/Library/Containers/com.apple.Notes/Data/Library/Notes/NotesV1.stor edata-shm (import fstype:hfs fsflag:480D000 flags:240000005F diag:0 uti:com.apple.notes.externalrecord plugin:/Library/Spotlight/Notes.mdimporter - find suspect file using: sudo mdutil -t 2480117)
12/19/12 3:10:20.970 PM mdworker[93701]: CFPropertyListCreateFromXMLData(): Old-style plist parser: missing semicolon in dictionary on line 1. Parsing will be abandoned. Break on _CFPropertyListMissingSemicolon to debug.
12/19/12 3:11:23.000 PM kernel[0]: CODE SIGNING: cs_invalid_page(0x1000): p=93847[GoogleSoftwareUp] clearing CS_VALID
12/19/12 3:15:15.841 PM mDNSResponder[46]: Double NAT (external NAT gateway address 192.168.1.88 is also a private RFC 1918 address)
12/19/12 3:30:15.858 PM mDNSResponder[46]: Double NAT (external NAT gateway address 192.168.1.88 is also a private RFC 1918 address)
12/19/12 3:43:48.462 PM WindowServer[78]: CGXDeferSurfaces : Invalid source window 6476
12/19/12 3:43:48.462 PM WindowServer[78]: CGXDeferSurfaces : Invalid source window 6475
12/19/12 3:43:48.462 PM WindowServer[78]: CGXDeferSurfaces : Invalid source window 6474
12/19/12 3:43:48.462 PM WindowServer[78]: CGXDeferSurfaces : Invalid source window 6473
12/19/12 3:45:15.876 PM mDNSResponder[46]: Double NAT (external NAT gateway address 192.168.1.88 is also a private RFC 1918 address)
12/19/12 3:48:34.247 PM WindowServer[78]: CGXDeferSurfaces : Invalid source window 6506
12/19/12 3:48:48.000 PM kernel[0]: firefox (map: 0xffffff8035a0d4d8) triggered DYLD shared region unnest for map: 0xffffff8035a0d4d8, region 0x7fff90a00000->0x7fff90c00000. While not abnormal for debuggers, this increases system memory footprint until the target exits.
12/19/12 3:48:55.833 PM lsboxd[626]: @AE relay 4755524c:4755524c
12/19/12 3:53:18.000 PM kernel[0]: firefox (map: 0xffffff8035a0d4d8) triggered DYLD shared region unnest for map: 0xffffff8035a0d4d8, region 0x7fff90a00000->0x7fff90c00000. While not abnormal for debuggers, this increases system memory footprint until the target exits.
12/19/12 3:53:26.182 PM System Preferences[94039]: Cannot setMachineString without first being authenticated
12/19/12 3:53:26.237 PM System Preferences[94039]: *** WARNING: -[NSImage compositeToPoint:operation:] is deprecated in MacOSX 10.8 and later. Please use -[NSImage drawAtPoint:fromRect:operation:fraction:] instead.
12/19/12 3:53:26.238 PM System Preferences[94039]: *** WARNING: -[NSImage compositeToPoint:fromRect:operation:] is deprecated in MacOSX 10.8 and later. Please use -[NSImage drawAtPoint:fromRect:operation:fraction:] instead.
12/19/12 3:53:26.256 PM System Preferences[94039]: *** WARNING: -[NSImage compositeToPoint:operation:fraction:] is deprecated in MacOSX 10.8 and later. Please use -[NSImage drawAtPoint:fromRect:operation:fraction:] instead.
12/19/12 3:53:26.257 PM System Preferences[94039]: *** WARNING: -[NSImage compositeToPoint:fromRect:operation:fraction:] is deprecated in MacOSX 10.8 and later. Please use -[NSImage drawAtPoint:fromRect:operation:fraction:] instead.
12/19/12 3:53:39.518 PM System Preferences[94039]: Could not connect the action warnCullingPressed: to target of class TMOptionsSheetController
12/19/12 3:53:39.519 PM System Preferences[94039]: Could not connect the action backUpOnBatteryPowerPressed: to target of class TMOptionsSheetController
12/19/12 3:54:17.868 PM com.apple.backupd[92721]: Copied 11.33 GB of 27.59 GB, 2762 of 2762 items
12/19/12 3:55:33.000 PM kernel[0]: VirtualBoxVM (map: 0xffffff8032d07960) triggered DYLD shared region unnest for map: 0xffffff8032d07960, region 0x7fff90a00000->0x7fff90c00000. While not abnormal for debuggers, this increases system memory footprint until the target exits.
12/19/12 3:56:10.000 PM kernel[0]: aio_queue_async_request(): too many in flight for proc: 16.
12/19/12 3:56:15.000 PM kernel[0]: aio_queue_async_request(): too many in flight for proc: 16.
12/19/12 3:56:23.831 PM VirtualBoxVM[94051]: -_continuousScroll is deprecated for NSScrollWheel. Please use -hasPreciseScrollingDeltas.
12/19/12 3:56:23.832 PM VirtualBoxVM[94051]: -deviceDeltaX is deprecated for NSScrollWheel. Please use -scrollingDeltaX.
12/19/12 3:56:23.832 PM VirtualBoxVM[94051]: -deviceDeltaY is deprecated for NSScrollWheel. Please use -scrollingDeltaY.
12/19/12 3:57:50.000 PM kernel[0]: aio_queue_async_request(): too many in flight for proc: 16.
12/19/12 4:00:15.894 PM mDNSResponder[46]: Double NAT (external NAT gateway address 192.168.1.88 is also a private RFC 1918 address)
12/19/12 4:01:04.000 PM kernel[0]: Sandbox: sandboxd(94070) deny mach-lookup com.apple.coresymbolicationd
12/19/12 4:01:09.123 PM sandboxd[94070]: ([94063]) mdworker(94063) deny file-read-xattr /Users/Chuck/Library/Caches/Firefox/Profiles/ac442cpf.default/safebrowsing-to_d elete (pre-plugin fstype:hfs fsflag:480D000 flags:250000004C diag:0 uti:public.folder plugin:internalPlainTextImporter - find suspect file using: sudo mdutil -t 2481004)
12/19/12 4:10:06.000 PM kernel[0]: CODE SIGNING: cs_invalid_page(0x1000): p=94128[GoogleSoftwareUp] clearing CS_VALID
12/19/12 4:10:39.938 PM com.apple.usbmuxd[67841]: _handle_timer heartbeat detected detach for device 0x78-10.0.0.15:0!
12/19/12 4:15:15.911 PM mDNSResponder[46]: Double NAT (external NAT gateway address 192.168.1.88 is also a private RFC 1918 address)
12/19/12 4:18:52.000 PM kernel[0]: firefox (map: 0xffffff8032d060e8) triggered DYLD shared region unnest for map: 0xffffff8032d060e8, region 0x7fff90a00000->0x7fff90c00000. While not abnormal for debuggers, this increases system memory footprint until the target exits.
12/19/12 4:18:54.297 PM WindowServer[78]: CGXDeferSurfaces : Invalid source window 6463
12/19/12 4:18:54.297 PM WindowServer[78]: CGXDeferSurfaces : Invalid source window 6306
12/19/12 4:18:54.297 PM WindowServer[78]: CGXDeferSurfaces : Invalid source window 6191
12/19/12 4:19:01.256 PM com.apple.backupd[92721]: Copied 2762 files (12.21 GB) from volume Macintosh HD.
12/19/12 4:19:12.920 PM com.apple.launchd.peruser.501[265]: (com.apple.PackageKit.InstallStatus) Throttling respawn: Will start in 7 seconds
12/19/12 4:19:14.886 PM WindowServer[78]: dict count after removing entry for window 0x33 is 0
12/19/12 4:19:14.968 PM WindowServer[78]: CGXGetConnectionProperty: Invalid connection 36611
12/19/12 4:19:14.968 PM WindowServer[78]: CGXGetConnectionProperty: Invalid connection 36611
12/19/12 4:19:14.969 PM WindowServer[78]: CGXGetConnectionProperty: Invalid connection 36611
12/19/12 4:19:14.969 PM WindowServer[78]: CGXGetConnectionProperty: Invalid connection 36611
12/19/12 4:19:14.969 PM WindowServer[78]: CGXGetConnectionProperty: Invalid connection 36611
12/19/12 4:19:14.974 PM com.apple.launchd.peruser.501[265]: ([0x0-0x5987982].com.apple.MassStorageCamera[75489]) Exited: Killed: 9
12/19/12 4:19:14.990 PM mds[45]: (Error) Server: ==== XPC handleXPCMessage XPC_ERROR_CONNECTION_INVALID
12/19/12 4:19:15.082 PM coreservicesd[79]: SendFlattenedData, got error #268435459 (ipc/send) invalid destination port from ::mach_msg(), sending notification kLSNotifyApplicationDeath to notificationID=159
12/19/12 4:19:15.085 PM coreservicesd[79]: SendFlattenedData, got error #268435459 (ipc/send) invalid destination port from ::mach_msg(), sending notification kLSNotifyApplicationDeath to notificationID=174
12/19/12 4:19:15.086 PM coreservicesd[79]: SendFlattenedData, got error #268435459 (ipc/send) invalid destination port from ::mach_msg(), sending notification kLSNotifyApplicationDeath to notificationID=174
12/19/12 4:19:15.087 PM WindowServer[78]: CGXGetConnectionProperty: Invalid connection 36611
12/19/12 4:19:15.087 PM WindowServer[78]: CGXGetConnectionProperty: Invalid connection 36611
12/19/12 4:19:15.088 PM WindowServer[78]: CGXGetConnectionProperty: Invalid connection 36611
12/19/12 4:19:15.088 PM WindowServer[78]: CGXGetConnectionProperty: Invalid connection 36611
12/19/12 4:19:15.088 PM WindowServer[78]: CGXGetConnectionProperty: Invalid connection 36611
12/19/12 4:19:15.089 PM coreservicesd[79]: SendFlattenedData, got error #268435460 (ipc/send) timed out from ::mach_msg(), sending notification kLSNotifyApplicationDeath to notificationID=113
12/19/12 4:19:15.089 PM coreservicesd[79]: SendFlattenedData, got error #268435460 (ipc/send) timed out from ::mach_msg(), sending notification kLSNotifyApplicationDeath to notificationID=44890
12/19/12 4:19:15.122 PM coreservicesd[79]: SendFlattenedData, got error #268435460 (ipc/send) timed out from ::mach_msg(), sending notification kLSNotifyApplicationDeath to notificationID=61322
12/19/12 4:19:15.123 PM com.apple.launchd[1]: (com.apple.ShareKitHelper[40510]) Exited: Killed: 9
12/19/12 4:19:15.343 PM coreservicesd[79]: SendFlattenedData, got error #268435459 (ipc/send) invalid destination port from ::mach_msg(), sending notification kLSNotifyApplicationDeath to notificationID=140
12/19/12 4:19:15.344 PM WindowServer[78]: CGXGetConnectionProperty: Invalid connection 36611
12/19/12 4:19:15.344 PM WindowServer[78]: CGXGetConnectionProperty: Invalid connection 36611
12/19/12 4:19:15.344 PM WindowServer[78]: CGXGetConnectionProperty: Invalid connection 36611
12/19/12 4:19:15.344 PM WindowServer[78]: CGXGetConnectionProperty: Invalid connection 36611
12/19/12 4:19:15.344 PM WindowServer[78]: CGXGetConnectionProperty: Invalid connection 36611
12/19/12 4:19:15.591 PM loginwindow[49]: sendQuitEventToApp (Image Capture Extension): AESendMessage returned error -1712
12/19/12 4:19:15.592 PM com.apple.launchd.peruser.501[265]: ([0x0-0x27027].com.apple.AppleSpell[630]) Exited: Terminated: 15
12/19/12 4:19:15.593 PM com.apple.launchd.peruser.501[265]: ([0x0-0xc5d55c9].com.apple.iTunesHelper[67878]) Exited with code: 1
12/19/12 4:19:15.593 PM com.apple.launchd.peruser.501[265]: (com.apple.mdworker.shared.03000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000[94152]) Exited: Killed: 9
12/19/12 4:19:15.702 PM com.apple.launchd.peruser.501[265]: ([0x0-0x1a01a].com.apple.ImageCaptureExtension2[365]) Exited: Terminated: 15
12/19/12 4:19:15.807 PM com.apple.launchd.peruser.501[265]: (com.apple.storeagent[48126]) Exited: Killed: 9
12/19/12 4:19:17.162 PM loginwindow[49]: DEAD_PROCESS: 49 console
12/19/12 4:19:17.499 PM com.apple.backupd[92721]: Stopping backup to allow backup destination disk to be unmounted or ejected.
12/19/12 4:20:21.000 PM bootlog[0]: BOOT_TIME 1355955621 0

Time Machine backup very slow in Lion

After installing Lion Time Machine backup (not initial one which is long by default) takes about 40 minutes vs. about 5 minutes in Snow Leopard. Very annoying because it slows down my entire system for such a long time. Any help, please?

Here is a log copied from Time Machine Buddy:
Starting standard backup
Backing up to: /Volumes/Time Machine/Backups.backupdb
2.20 GB required (including padding), 126.68 GB available
Copied 394 files (0 bytes) from volume Pete 02.
Copied 173985 files (861.6 MB) from volume Pete 01.
1.13 GB required (including padding), 125.79 GB available
Copied 13 files (0 bytes) from volume Pete 02.
Copied 158965 files (90 KB) from volume Pete 01.
Starting post-backup thinning
No post-back up thinning needed: no expired backups exist
Backup completed successfully.
No additional messages, perfect backup, no need for thinning and it took 45 minutes, almost 10 times slower then in Snow Leopard (same TM preferences, exclusions etc).

Time Machine is very slow after I restored my Mac from a backup

My computer went in for repair because of a damaged logic board. Upon it's return the hard drive was blank so I restored all my data from a Time Machine back up. Everything seems to work fine except for Time Machine.
It is unbelievably slow. It takes an hour to back up 50 megabytes.
I have checked Activity Monitor and the process 'backupd' rapidly fluctuates between 20-100% CPU usage.
The behavior of Time Machine seems odd as well. Backing up small amounts of data minutes apart. e.g. It will back up 100mb, then a few minutes later back up another 100mb or so. I realize things run in the back ground but this goes on for hours and hours even if the computer is not being used. I have left the computer on overnight to find it still backing up the next morning.
Also, occassionally it will tell me that it is preparing 30,000+ files (which takes a good 10-15 mins whereas it used to take a few seconds) and only back up 10mb. This never happened before. Again I know, 30,000 small files *could* equate to 10mb but the bahvior just seems off to me.
I have been backing up my MBP plus 2 other computers to a Western Digital My Book II 4TB drive successfully (and quickly) for about 3 or 4 months. The other computers still back up quickly to the drive.
I have found solutions saying to quit Finder while backing up and add your back up drive to Spotlight's Privacy list etc. Nothing has worked for me and I would like to find a real solution.
Thanks in advance.

Ok, thanks.
The preferences file might be damaged; try a "full reset" of Time Machine, per #A4 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting.It's a long shot, but quick and easy.
Download and install the "combo" update, per Installing the ''combo'' update and/or Reinstalling OSX.
If that doesn't help, consider reinstalling OSX (that won't disturb anything else).

Time Machine Running Very Slow After Repairing Permission under "get info"

Hi,
I have a timemachine backup external hard drive which had permissions problem (perhaps this is because I crossed over from 10.5 to 10.6 at some point?) When I enter timemachine some files had that red minus sign beside it and told me "you don't have permission to access its content", and this problem was not with all files but with some of files and folders scattered all over my backed up 500GB data.
This created a problem and i wasn't gonna go in and open "get info" for each folder and go under sharing & permissions to manually fix it to read & write (and I believe some files didn't even allow me to do this)
Now here is the real concern. What I did without thinking is I right clicked on the external hard drive in the finder and opened the "get info" window and went down to the sharing and permissions. At first I fixed all privileges to "read & write" by unlocking the lock, but this still didn't fix all restrictions on accessing files and folders.
So instead I clicked on the icon which appears to be a "gear" and selected the "apply to enclosed items" and ran this operation on my whole 2TB hard drive. This of course took over 12 hours as far as I can remember. And I think in some forum it said this can create a problem? (Granting permissions to some system related files which can cause critical problems perhaps)
I also think this action I took has caused the time machine external hard drive to run slow in almost every way. My question I guess is, is there a way to revert my action of clicking on the gear and running the "apply to enclosed items"? Or perhaps another fix?
I have no idea on how to go onwards from here and worried that if I continue using this all-permissions-altered 2TB hard drive that it will create a huge problem in the future.
Any advise from senior members and/or members who encountered such situations would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
Norio

Do not attempt to change the permissions on your backups.
And the problem you are having, on Lion, is far different from these old Leopard threads.
Please browse and/or search for similar threads in the Lion forum: https://discussions.apple.com/community/mac_os/mac_os_x_v10.7_lion?view=discussi ons#/

Time Machine Endless/Very Slow Backup

Hi All,
I've recently encountered a situation in which Time Machine never seems to think it's finished backing up. In the screenshot below you'll see that it's backing up the exact same amount of data from my HD and an external drive called "Movies" (first time 234.6mb & then started again and updated 41.5mb). The thing is, absolutely nothing was changed in the "Movies" drive, it hasn't been touched or synced with anything since the last backup. I'm thinking that's some kind of clue, but not sure what kind of clue it is. I have done many of the things listed here (including "full reset of time machine" and :
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2057525?threadID=2057525
As well as run Clean My Mac, Repaired Permissions, verified & repaired "Movies" (it was OK), and run Yasu.
Last backup ran for :31min and nothing much had changed. This just started happening recently as outside of major activity TM used to back up in just a few minutes. The good news is the backup was completed successfully, but would love to know what anybody thinks might be the culprit. Oh also backing up to external HD with 1.3TB avail (MB Pro with 750gb HD).

Following the advice of the great Pondini and others, I found a series of steps that worked to correct this situation on ALL my machines!
Here is a link to Pondini's excellent troubleshooting site, which is where I found most of these steps. You might consider just going there and ignoring my steps below, because he is definitely the expert in this field.
http://Pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
The below is kind of a "nuclear option." Not sure which step does what, but know that after doing all of them my incremental backups are now running at :10 - :20 SECONDS where they were taking 40 minutes to an hour before (be forewarned, it takes a while to do all this).
Turn TM off!
Use Disk Utility "repair disk" function on ALL disks (TM, Mac HD, any others that get backed up). Open Disk Utility, select disk, then select "repair disk."
Instead of #2, you might consider using Disk Warrior to rebuild your directories. It costs about $100, but it's an extremely valuable tool and can save your sauce in many ways. Honestly I would advise buying DW and doing that instead of the Disk Utility option, which, while free, does not seem to be as robust a solution.
An alternative to repairing the TM drive is to just start over with a clean, correctly formatted drive (see below). You should still repair/rebuild your MacHD and any other drives that get backed up, though.
Trash this file: com.apple.TimeMachine.plist (found in MacHD > Library > Preferences).
Repair Permissions on MacHD
In System Preferences > Spotlight > Privacy add MacHD (your main/boot drive) to Privacy pane, close system preferences, then reopen and remove it (add and remove using -/+ at the bottom of the window). This will force Spotlight to re-index MacHD (wait until it's finished to do anything else).
Make sure your TM HD is formatted properly: should be using the GUID partition table (even if it's not partitioned) and be formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled). These settings will appear at the bottom of the Disk Utility window when you select the HD itself (not by its volume name). If you are not formatted this way, it's recommended that you reformat. Unfortunately, this means your existing backups will be no more (unless you have another drive you can use and preserve the old one until you're safely backed up again).
Reset PRAM. Restart your mac and hold down these keys simultaneously: option command p r. Hold them down until you hear the second "restart" chime.
Enter TM preferences and re-select TM disk (when you trash plist TM will "forget" the drive, but all the info is still on the drive) but don't let TM run yet.
In TM options make sure any disks you prefer to exclude/include are either entered or not (TM HD should always & automatically be excluded)
In System Preferences > Spotlight > Privacy make sure TM disk is excluded from Spotlight (using +/- as above).
Finally, enter Time Machine and go through your backups to see if there are any backups that shouldn't be there: should be one backup every hour for the past day, one backup every day for the past month and weekly backups before that. If you find more than one backup on a day 3 weeks ago, for example, delete all but the most recent one for that date (on the window of the backup you want to delete you should see the "gear" icon with a dropdown arrow - click on it and select "delete backup."). You have to delete them one at a time so depending on how many you find & how big your backups are this step can take a very long time but it's critical to making sure TM doesn't get hung up on the "finishing" phase. If TM looks back in time and finds more backups than it wants it's supposed to just delete them but it doesn't always work that way and that's one of the issues that can make the finishing stage of the backup take forever.
Restart your Mac.
Restart TM & hope for the best.

Time Machine backup very slow on WD My Book For Mac external HD

I have been using a Western Digital 1 TB external HD (My Book For Mac) to backup my data today for the first time, using their SmartWare software. Everything went smoothly, I backed up 91 GB of data in 2-3 hours.
At the same time, I have also Time Machine activated, which started backing up my files a while ago, but it is crawling at 8 MB per minute. A quick calculation tells me it will take 180 hours to back up 90 GB (?).
I have 2 questions:
1. Are SmartWare and TimeMachine supposed to be run exclusive of each other?
2. If I just ran TimeMachine, why is it so slow? I use a USB 2.0 connection that worked fine for the My Book's own software.
Thanks for your help!

You should first repartition and format the drive. Most likely it is setup for use on Windows. Try this:
Extended Hard Drive Preparation
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder. If you need to reformat your startup volume, then you must boot from your OS X Installer Disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger or Leopard.)
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID (for Intel Macs) or APM (for PPC Macs) then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.
Do not use the WD software. If it's you wish to create a bootable backup of your drive as well as keep a TM backup, then you should create two partitions on the drive. One for your non-TM backup and one for TM. For the bootable backup use third-party software such as SuperDuper!, Carbon Copy Cloner, or SilverKeeper - Download at VersionTracker or MacUpdate.
Note that many WD drive systems cannot be used for bootable backups. You can find information related to this at the WD web site.

After 10.8.1 update, time machine is VERY slow

I have read in these rooms, as well as in tons of other forums, many time machine problems folks had after upgrading to ML. I did not have those problems. I use a regular external disk connected via USB. It's worked great for over a year. Since the upgrade to ML, my time machine did about half a dozen backups. They all worked at the "normal" speed that they always had. Today, I got the 10.8.1 patch, and when I started the time machine backup, it took forever. It looked like I suddenly inherited the problems everyone else had been having before. After 2 hours I had backed up about 200 MEG of the 27 GIG backup. I tried some forum-suggested tmdiagnose, and shutting Sophos, but nothing changed the situation.
Has anyone found anything that really fixes this? Or are we just stuck until Apple believes enough of us really got broken?
Thanks.

Re: OS X 10.8.2
Here are some rough comparative measurements of Time Machine/AFP throughput. Source machine is a modern iMac running OS X 10.8.2, connected through a Gigibit network to a modern Mac mini running 10.8.2 either as a stand-alone client or with Server 2.1.1. In Activity Monitor, I visually monitored the Network, getting a rough number for the average throughput. The Server software is installed on the mini's internal drive; the 10.8.2 client is installed on an external FW800 drive. The destination of the Time Machine backup is a freshly-erased 900 GB partition on another daisy-chained FW800 external drive. To switch targets, I merely restarted the mini using the correct startup volume, all other things being equal.
APF Target: OS X 10.8.2 (File Sharing Preference Panel):
1) Finder copy to a shared folder on the target's Startup Volume: 50 MB/sec
2) Finder copy to a folder on an external HD (connected to the target via FW800): 35 MB/sec
3) Time Machine: Create initial sparse bundle: 5 minutes.
4) Time Machine copy rate: < 5 MB/sec.
APF Target: OS X Server 10.8.2 (Server 2.1.1: Time Machine & File Sharing services enabled):
1) Finder copy to a shared folder on the target's Startup Volume: 100 MB/sec
2) Finder copy to a folder on an external HD (connected via FW800): 35 MB/sec
3) Time Machine: Create sparse bundle: 30 seconds
4) Time Machine copy rate: 35 MB/sec.
Notes:
1) Time Machine throughput to a 10.8.2 client is 5x slower than on Server 2.2.1.
2) Creating the sparse bundle takes 10x longer on 10.8.2 client than on 10.8.2 Server.
3) Time Machine throughput to a 10.8.2 client is 7x slower than a Finder copy to the same external volume on the same machine.
4) On 10.8.2 Server, AFP throughput to the Startup Volume is almost 3x faster than to an external FW 800 drive.
5) So worst-case Time Machine throughput to an external drive on a 10.8.2 client is 20x slower than the best-case Finder transfer to a startup-volume share on 10.8.2 Server.
Does anyone else see these throughput discrepencies?

I replaced my MacBook Pro hard drive and now Time Machine is very slow.

I replaced my 160G Hard Drive with a 750G. I have a 3 TB external hard drive for Time Machine. I back up using firewire 800.
I am running the latest OS. When I start the first backup using Time Machine it goes fine for about the first 30G. Then slows way down. Now I am only seeing updates of 10M ever few minutes. What is wrong?

Nothing is wrong. I had the same issue after swapping HD but using the same TM backup. Give it a few hours to do the first backup. Subsequent backups will be alot faster.... trust me.

Time Machine - Restore very slow - impossible to use

Hi,
As far as I can tell my Time Machine backups are OK. When I click the back-in-time arrow with a very small file selected it takes several minutes before I can use it again. The TM gives the impression of having frozen. Similarly if I use the Finder to look at the backup files on the external disk the machine spends very long periods of time 'fetching'. I have no reason to suspect my hard disk - it is the same with another disk. I've read all of the postings on this Forum. I am thinking about re-installing my OS from Install DVD (10.5) and updating to 10.5.5!
I see on the Console things like QL ERROR 'Creating thumbnail' time out and wonder if this is relevant.
Any suggestions before I do something silly?
Bobby

I have now re-installed my system from the instal disk, then the latest combo update. Have checked all the disks to make sure they are OK and healthy. All to no avail - Time Machine simply will not run as intended on this machine. (It works just dandy on my Intel MacBook).
As far as I know Time Machine should work with a PowerPC - perhaps not?
I'm at my wits end. It occurs to me that this is a system problem rather than a Time Machine problem.
Any ideas are much appreciated.
Bob

Time machine back up slow

Time machine backup very slow since Maverick install.
Anyone else having an issue with backups?

Hey aarthur2060,
Thanks for the question. I understand you are experiencing issues with Time Machine. The following resources may help to resolve your issue:
OS X Mountain Lion: If Time Machine is slow
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH11172
Time Machine: Troubleshooting backup issues
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3275
Thanks,
Matt M.

Time machine takes very long time

Time machine takes very long time to write the back up.
For writing 2,33 GB (from 26,33GB) it takes abou14 hours and I don't know, why it is so very slow. I work with USB 3.0 2 TB external hard disk drive.

Try Here > http://pondini.org/TM/D2.html
From Here > http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html

HT1175 I have OSX Lion 10.7.5 and the backup in time machine is extremely slow

I have OSX 10.7.5 installed on my MacBook Pro and the backup to time machine is extemely slow. Time Machine indicates 4 days or more. Why?

Did you happen to update early in the piece.. there is a supplement.
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1599
Test regime for software patches is now left to end users it seems.

Time machine is very slow....

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