My time machine back up is taking 98 days through a thunderbolt connection is there something wrong

sijam11 wrote:
When selecting my home folder on the iMac and using "Get Info" to see how much space has been used it shows around the 256g mark, but the space used up on my external hard drive is right up to 327g.
Is this normal after the first back up?
Hi sijam11,
That appears about right...
It is recommended that the Time Machine Drive be at least Twice the size of the Drive it is Backing Up...
You may find these Links of Interest...
TM 101 > http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1427
How Time Machine Works its Magic
Frequently Asked Questions
Cheers,

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Why is my time machine back-up is taking days?

I have recently had a problem with y time machine. Below is the story in short:
- Never had a problem with time machine backup
- Left for a few weeks as I was moving home
- Plugged in time machine. Error message saying 265Gb to back up but only 253gb worth of space
- Apple took me through variuos proceudre but in the end resulted in me wiping all backup's and re-formatting hard drive
- The time-machine has been running for days.
- I only have a 250gb harddrive. Its backed up 270gb.
- As i am writing this message it seems to be stuck on 26.3mb of 46mb and has been for the past hour
- What is going on???? Someone help!!! I need to upgrade my hard drive. I really cant be bothered to sit on the phone to an advisor for another hour!!!

Start Section D with in the 1st linked article.
Time Machine Troubleshooting
Time Machine Troubleshooting Problems

Last Time Machine back-up is 45 days old and only of User Account files (not entire HD) and I must now reinstall Lion without being able to perform a new back-up. Will any new User Account files, since my last back-up, be lost when Lion reinstalls (via i

My last Time Machine back-up is 45 days old and only of User Account files (not entire HD) and I must now reinstall Lion (via internet) without performing a new back-up. Will any new User Account files, since my last back-up, be lost when Lion reinstalls ?

Reinstalling OS X doesn't affect user data, provided nothing goes wrong. But it would be very unwise to assume that nothing will go wrong, especially if you're having (unspecified) system issues. You should try to back up all data before you reinstall or do anything else. There are ways to do that, even if you're unable to boot.
If your backups include only user files, you won't be able to access them in Setup Assistant.

There is always a blue screen appears after the Apple logo during the booting process. And then everything is back to normal. What is this thing? Is there something wrong with my screen or something?

There is always a blue screen appears after the Apple logo during the booting process. And then everything is back to normal. What is this thing? Is there something wrong with my screen or something?

Nah - that's just the normal boot process.
Clinton

Most times i am not within range of a wi-fi connection if there something i can add to my ipod touch to access the internet from afar?

Hello Most times I am not within range of a wi-fi connection is there something i can add to my ipod touch to connect to the internet ?

You can purchase a MiFi or similar device. It acts like a wifi hotspot and connects to the internet via a cellular connection. You need a data plane too.
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Time Machine backing up a drive which is no longer connected

I have recently removed (and replaced) one of my external drives. I have Time Machine running on third drive. When I look at my recent backups, Time Machine is still creating a folder (and contents) for the drive that no longer exists. The only difference being, it is putting " 1" after the drive name. What is going on?

*Bump*
I'm going to be switching my Timemachine drive shortly, and I'm considering not transfering my backs, just to get around this bug. Obviously that's not ideal, so if anyone can shed light on this it would be great.

Time machine back up of shared hard drive that is connected to AE

I have 1TB MyBook external drive that I want to use as storage connected to my Airport Extreme. Naturally, this allows anyone connected to the wifi to access the files on there. I also have a second drive connected to the Airport Extreme. That one is for my Time Machine Backups.
My question is this:
Am I able to use that second 2TB hard drive to back up both my iMac and also the shared storage drive that is attached to the Airport Extreme and not directly to my iMac?? That would make me a very happy man if it could do that!
I appreciate any help!
Thanks

span98 wrote:
Am I able to use that second 2TB hard drive to back up both my iMac and also the shared storage drive that is attached to the Airport Extreme and not directly to my iMac??
basically yes. you should get a powered USB hub.
however, using TM to back up to a drive connected to a AEBS is not supported ! it may work, even for a while, but eventually corruption of the backups may occur.
here's what Apple says about such a setup: _*Disks that can be used with Time Machine*_.
JGG

HT1338 Time Machine Back-Up Slow

Time Machine Back-Up takes 4+ days to do initial back-up. I am hard wired connected to my time capsule have erased the disk and reinitiated a brand new back-up. I am trying to back up about 960 G and it takes anywhere between 4-7 days. That would be OK but after 1-2 days the iMac loses connectivity to the Time Capsule and I have to start over again. I have tried everything including a complete reinstall of the Montain Lion Operatin System but nothing seems to help. This problem first happened after the Mountian Lion upgrade before that Time Machine worked flawlessly.

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.

New MacBook Pro Can I set up from a time machine Back Up from my Macbook?

I have a 3 month old Macbook (white) that I have been happy with so I've decided to upgrade to a Macbook Pro. Is there any disadvantage up transfering the data from a Time Machine Back Up since the systems are physically different?

Is there any disadvantage up transfering the data from a Time Machine Back Up since the systems are physically different?
Use the Migration Assistant to migrate from the backup instead of restoring the whole system; it will appear when the MacBook Pro is started up for the first time.
(45788)

Discrepancies / limitations on how Time Machine backs up?

I have a Macbook Pro and a Macbook with Snowleopard 10.6.8 installed on both. I back up both laptops on a single Western Digital External Hardrive configured for two partitions so that each laptop has their own Time Machine back up volume. This external drive is connected directly to my Macbook Pro via Firewire 800 where the first partition is reserved for its time machine back up. Therefore, my regular Macbook connects to the second partition over the local area network since I turned on file sharing for this drive.
When I click and view the Macbook Pro's partition, it shows a folder called Backups.backupdb which obviously has the time machine backup contents for this laptop.
When I click on and view the second partition for my regular Macbook which connects to it via the local area network, it shows some kind of dmg file called "John's Macbook.sparsebundle". When I click on the file, it mounts and shows the folder Backup.backupdb which has this laptop's time machine backup contents.
1. Why is the Macbook pro partition showing a folder where the Macbook partition shows some kind of dmg file?
I also noticed that I can't see the time machine backup for the Macbook if I try restoring from a fresh install of Snowleopard (going through the initial setup of using the OS where it asks if you want to restore from a time machine backup). It only shows the Macbook Pro as an availble restore option.
The only way I can see the time machine back up as a restore option for the Macbook, I have to boot from the snowleopard DVD, click on Utilities from the top menu, and click on Restore System from backup.
I'm confused on why the back ups are a little different and why I can't see the Macbook TM backup if restoring from a fresh install of Snowleopard.
I appreciate it if anyone can shed any light on my set up.

Sorry, I do not know how to restore from a networked Time Machine backup. I'm sure there is a way, I've just never had to do it.
Just wondering if you boot into Snow Leopard, then with hard drive attached to the Mac, double click on the .sparsebundle. That should mount the Time Machine backup as a file system. Then maybe try running pointing Time Machine at the now mounted image and enter Time Machine.
I guess you could also keep the disk on the other Mac, and network mount the disk, then again double click on the .sparsebundle and point Time Machine that the now mounted Time Machine backup, then enter the Time Machine utility and restore the files you want.
Again, this is just speculation as I have not done a restore.
Anytime I'm changing my boot disk, I generally use SuperDuper (or Carbon Copy Cloner) to copy the original drive to the new drive. That way I do not need to do a restore from Time Machine.

Time Machine Backs Up but doesn't retrieve

I use to have Time Machine back up to an external disk that was connected to a shared computer on my network. It worked great. It kept a disk image on the external disk which it mounted each time Time Machine would back up or when I entered Time Machine. Recently I have connected that external disk directly to my computer by USB. Time Machine is still backing up to this drive, it still knows that my oldest back up is from November 2007 and keeps track of it's latest backups. BUT, when I open Time Machine it no longer mounts that disk image and there is no backup history.
What have I done wrong? Do I need to delete my disk image and start over?

james a Leff wrote:
Thanks (though I've found that genius bar guys, if you hit the right one, are better than applecare guys; the latter follow scripts and flowcharts, but the former are freer to think on their feet, not assume you're a newbie, etc etc).
In most cases, that may be true. But the folks at the Apple Stores rarely know much about Time Machine, since they don't actually use it. It's worth a try (and cheaper if you don't have AppleCare), but we get many reports here of wrong advice from the Genius Bar about Time Machine.
I guess one option is to wipe the disk, wipe my time machine and finder plists, and start again.
I'd lose all previous backups, but I'm pretty sure (knock formica) I haven't suffered any data loss recently.
That's always an option. Do you have another drive? I always recommend secondary backups, on separate hardware, anyway, but especially if you're thinking of doing that. Once you hit Erase, you have no backups.
Just to be sure we're on the same plane......I'm talking about going to the TM icon in menu bar with option held down, and choosing "browse other time machine disks". I get no choices. But with the wording of "other", should I see my main TM disk there?
Yes. It should list all TM backups that OSX can find, for any Mac, including yours. The only exception is, if they've been marked as corrupted. See #E2 in Troubleshooting.

Time machine backs up and nothing is there. no files

When doing a time machine back up, the system goes through the process which takes upwards to half an hour and uses up the appropriate space on the external hard drive. However, when opening the external hard drive to review the back up, there is nothing there, no files, folders etc.

jhspector wrote:
When it is finished and I open the backup on the external harddrive, there is nothing there.
Your TM drive should not be empty but this is NOT how you should normally access TM. Please read [TM 101|http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=306681].
You can also watch this [video|http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n055CqFnjyo] to see how it should work.
You didn't answer my question. What happens when you double-click on the Time machine icon in your Applications folder after you've done a backup and with your TM drive attached? This should bring up TM interface as in the video link above. Does it?

Time Machine Back Up - I only get about 3 weeks.

Time Machine Back Up - I only get about 3 weeks.
Is there a setting to tell it to go farther back or is it a space issue on my external hard drive?
If so what external hard drives / sizes are recommended? I'd like to go back a few months or longer.

Do you use virtualization software, such as VMware, Parallels, or VirtualBox?
The virtualization software creates a large virtual-disk container that is constantly changing, so it has to be backed up every time Time Machine runs. That will quickly fill up any backup destination.
You should exclude the virtual-disk file(s) from your Time Machine backups. To do that, click the Options button in the Time Machine preference pane. Back up the files on the virtual disk from within the guest system, using a native backup application.
A compromise solution is to create a "snapshot" of the virtual machine in the virtualization software (not a Time Machine snapshot.) That will give you a single large file that never changes and only has to be backed up once. All the subsequent changes will be stored in a new file that's initially much smaller, but will grow over time. You should still exclude that file from TM backup. If you ever need to restore the VM from Time Machine, you'll have a working setup, which will make it easy for you to restore the rest of the data from within the guest system.
Another common cause of large TM snapshots is native OS X disk images. If you store a lot of data on one or more writable disk images, they should be in "sparsebundle" format, which will be backed up much more efficiently than any other format. Also be aware that disk image files are not backed up at all while the image is mounted. Make sure you unmount the image often so it can be backed up. If you ever restore, you will, of course, lose all changes made since the last backup. Consider eliminating large read/write disk images from your workflow, if possible.

Time machine back up taking 1 day so removed external HD, now taking TWO days?

Hi,
I started my time machine back up last night and the estimated time it said it would take was 1 day. I woke up this morning and there was still another 15 hours left. I am only backing up 533GB - is this normal?
I thought maybe my external drive was effecting the backup so I removed it and when I did the time machine started again, now backing up 324 GB but says it's going to take TWO days?! This makes no sense.
Could someone tell me - is it normal for TM to take a day to back up 533GB (certainly can't be normal for 324GB to take TWO)?
And what are the general tips for helping time machine move faster? I'm running OSX 10.8.5.
Thanks

Welcome to Apple Support Communities. We're users here and don't speak for "Apple Inc."
How is your (external, I'm assuming) Time Machine storage connected? USB 2, USB 3, FireWire, Thunderbolt, or Ethernet network? If network, then is the storage drive connected with Ethernet or a USB device connected to the network router? 100Mbit or Gigabit Ethernet? Does your MacBook Pro have a wired or wireless connection to the network?
If it's over a network, to a Time Capsule or another NAS (Network Area Storage) device then yes, it could take a day or longer. If your Time Machine drive is Thunderbolt-attached, then that seems a bit long, but there are a number of variables, including the size(s) of the files and types of files(s), and whether they're compressed or encrypted.
My mid-2007 MacBook (1.5Mbit/sec theoretical maximum SATA speed, 3GB usable RAM, 500GB 7200rpm hard drive) took almost two and a half days to back up 350GB to a network-attached Lenovo/iomega server I use for Time Machine via a wireless connection. I don't recommend wireless, by the way, because when verification fails (quite often in my experience), then TM erases all the old backups and demands to begin anew. It required about 18 hours to back up the MacBook when directly connected by RJ-45 Cat 5e cable over Gigabit Ethernet on both devices.
My mid-2011 iMac backs up 350GB via FireWire 800 to a 1TB Time Machine drive in an estimated 11 hours. (I don't know precisely, I went to bed and it was done in the morning.
Time Machine (and most every OS X update and App installation program, for that matter) seems to be quite incapable of predicting ACCURATELY exactly how long the process will take.
I also use CarbonCopyCloner to create a bootable system backup occasionally, so I'm not stuck for a day and a half of restoring from TM just to get back up and running.
Ancient computing proverb: "You can never be too rich or have too many backups."
Message was edited by: kostby

Time machine initial backup is taking over 3 days

I have an external network drive which I am trying to back up my MacBook Pro OS X 10.6.8 to using Time Machine. Why after 2 days is the backup only 40% done? I know it can take time to set it up but... really?
I had to start over since it is a laptop computer and I do need to take it with me... but I really can't afford more than 24 hours of keeping it on the network.
What's the deal? Thanks!

https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-4055

My time machine back up is taking 98 days through a thunderbolt connection is there something wrong

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