Time Capsule stuck in preparing mode...

Hello
I have had a 3rd gen TC for over a year or so now and I stopped doing automatic backups 6 months ago. Yesterday I tried to backup my iMac and it seems to be stuck in the preparing mode. Here is the log:
Starting standard backup
Attempting to mount network destination URL: afp://Perry%[email protected]/Data
Mounted network destination at mountpoint: /Volumes/Data using URL: afp://Perry%[email protected]/Data
Error loading /Library/Plug-ins/DiskImages/VirtualPCDiskImagePlugin.bundle/Contents/MacOS/Vir tualPCDiskImagePlugin: dlopen(/Library/Plug-ins/DiskImages/VirtualPCDiskImagePlugin.bundle/Contents/Ma cOS/VirtualPCDiskImagePlugin, 262): no suitable image found. Did find:
Cannot find function pointer MacDiskImagePluginFactory for factory 7F1FD83E-6684-11D8-968F-000A957703C0 in CFBundle/CFPlugIn 0x7fa9230362d0 </Library/Plug-ins/DiskImages/VirtualPCDiskImagePlugin.bundle> (bundle, not loaded)
2012-02-04 23:06:47.755 diskimages-helper[2287:2603] Error loading /Library/Plug-ins/DiskImages/VirtualPCDiskImagePlugin.bundle/Contents/MacOS/Vir tualPCDiskImagePlugin: dlopen(/Library/Plug-ins/DiskImages/VirtualPCDiskImagePlugin.bundle/Contents/Ma cOS/VirtualPCDiskImagePlugin, 262): no suitable image found. Did find:
          /Library/Plug-ins/DiskImages/VirtualPCDiskImagePlugin.bundle/Contents/MacO S/VirtualPCDiskImagePlugin: mach-o, but wrong architecture
2012-02-04 23:06:47.756 diskimages-helper[2287:2603] Cannot find function pointer MacDiskImagePluginFactory for factory 7F1FD83E-6684-11D8-968F-000A957703C0 in CFBundle/CFPlugIn 0x10191ec70 </Library/Plug-ins/DiskImages/VirtualPCDiskImagePlugin.bundle> (bundle, not loaded)
2012-02-04 23:06:48.330 diskimages-helper[2287:2603] Error loading /Library/Plug-ins/DiskImages/VirtualPCDiskImagePlugin.bundle/Contents/MacOS/Vir tualPCDiskImagePlugin: dlopen(/Library/Plug-ins/DiskImages/VirtualPCDiskImagePlugin.bundle/Contents/Ma cOS/VirtualPCDiskImagePlugin, 262): no suitable image found. Did find:
          /Library/Plug-ins/DiskImages/VirtualPCDiskImagePlugin.bundle/Contents/MacO S/VirtualPCDiskImagePlugin: mach-o, but wrong architecture
2012-02-04 23:06:48.330 diskimages-helper[2287:2603] Cannot find function pointer MacDiskImagePluginFactory for factory 7F1FD83E-6684-11D8-968F-000A957703C0 in CFBundle/CFPlugIn 0x10191ec70 </Library/Plug-ins/DiskImages/VirtualPCDiskImagePlugin.bundle> (bundle, not loaded)
Error loading /Library/Plug-ins/DiskImages/VirtualPCDiskImagePlugin.bundle/Contents/MacOS/Vir tualPCDiskImagePlugin: dlopen(/Library/Plug-ins/DiskImages/VirtualPCDiskImagePlugin.bundle/Contents/Ma cOS/VirtualPCDiskImagePlugin, 262): no suitable image found. Did find:
Cannot find function pointer MacDiskImagePluginFactory for factory 7F1FD83E-6684-11D8-968F-000A957703C0 in CFBundle/CFPlugIn 0x7fa9230362d0 </Library/Plug-ins/DiskImages/VirtualPCDiskImagePlugin.bundle> (bundle, not loaded)
2012-02-04 23:06:50.290 diskimages-helper[2294:2703] Error loading /Library/Plug-ins/DiskImages/VirtualPCDiskImagePlugin.bundle/Contents/MacOS/Vir tualPCDiskImagePlugin: dlopen(/Library/Plug-ins/DiskImages/VirtualPCDiskImagePlugin.bundle/Contents/Ma cOS/VirtualPCDiskImagePlugin, 262): no suitable image found. Did find:
          /Library/Plug-ins/DiskImages/VirtualPCDiskImagePlugin.bundle/Contents/MacO S/VirtualPCDiskImagePlugin: mach-o, but wrong architecture
2012-02-04 23:06:50.290 diskimages-helper[2294:2703] Cannot find function pointer MacDiskImagePluginFactory for factory 7F1FD83E-6684-11D8-968F-000A957703C0 in CFBundle/CFPlugIn 0x7fe6a3528cd0 </Librar
If someone could please help me that would be great.

Step 1:
kextstat -kl | awk '!/com\.apple/ {print $6 $7}'
at.obdev.nke.LittleSnitch(2.4.4)
com.Cycling74.driver.Soundflower(1.5.2)
com.splashtop.driver.SRXDisplayCard(1)
com.splashtop.driver.SRXFrameBufferConnector(1)
com.parallels.kext.prl_usb_connect(7.0
com.parallels.kext.prl_hypervisor(7.0
com.parallels.kext.prl_hid_hook(7.0
com.parallels.kext.prl_netbridge(7.0
com.parallels.kext.prl_vnic(7.0
Step 2:
sudo launchctl list | sed 1d | awk '!/0x|com\.apple/ {print $3}'
com.parallels.vm.prl_naptd
com.openssh.sshd
org.x.privileged_startx
org.postfix.master
org.ntp.ntpd
org.cups.cupsd
org.cups.cups-lpd
com.vix.cron
com.parallels.desktop.launchdaemon
com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper
com.google.keystone.daemon
com.google.GoogleML
at.obdev.littlesnitchd
Step 3:
launchctl list | sed 1d | awk '!/0x|com\.apple/ {print $3}'
org.x.startx
org.openbsd.ssh-agent
com.parallels.vm.prl_pcproxy
com.parallels.DesktopControlAgent
com.parallels.desktop.client.launch
com.google.keystone.root.agent
at.obdev.LittleSnitchUIAgent
at.obdev.LittleSnitchNetworkMonitor
ws.agile.1PasswordAgent
com.akamai.client.plist
com.adobe.ARM.925793fb327152fd34795896fa1fb9ffa268b2a852256fe56609efa3
com.adobe.ARM.202f4087f2bbde52e3ac2df389f53a4f123223c9cc56a8fd83a6f7ae
com.adobe.AAM.Scheduler-1.0
Step 4:
ls -1A /e*/mach* {,/}L*/{Ad,Compon,Ex,Fram,In,Keyb,La,Mail/Bu,P*P,Priv,Qu,Scripti,Servi,Spo,Sta}* L*/Fonts 2> /dev/null
/Landlord Information/Landlord References.doc
/Library/Components:
/Library/Extensions:
VirtualPCNetworking1040.kext
/Library/Frameworks:
AEProfiling.framework
AERegistration.framework
Adobe AIR.framework
ApplicationEnhancer.framework
AudioMixEngine.framework
EWSMac.framework
HPDeviceModel.framework
HPPml.framework
HPServicesInterface.framework
HPSmartPrint.framework
MacFUSE.framework
NyxAudioAnalysis.framework
PluginManager.framework
SRFrameBufferConnection.framework
VNTI.framework
XSKey.framework
Xalan.dll.framework
Xerces.dll.framework
iLifeFaceRecognition.framework
iLifeKit.framework
iLifePageLayout.framework
iLifeSQLAccess.framework
iLifeSlideshow.framework
iMoviePluginAPI.framework
/Library/Input Methods:
/Library/InputManagers:
Ecamm
Menu Extra Enabler
/Library/Internet Plug-Ins:
AdobePDFViewer.plugin
Disabled Plug-Ins
Download_FF.bundle
Flash Player.plugin
Flip4Mac WMV Plugin.plugin
Flip4Mac WMV Plugin.webplugin
GoogleGadget.webplugin
JavaAppletPlugin.plugin
OfficeLiveBrowserPlugin.plugin
Quartz Composer.webplugin
QuickTime Plugin.plugin
SharePointBrowserPlugin.plugin
SharePointWebKitPlugin.webplugin
Silverlight.plugin
ebrary Reader
ebrary Reader.plugin
flashplayer.xpt
googletalkbrowserplugin.plugin
iPhotoPhotocast.plugin
npgtpo3dautoplugin.plugin
nsIQTScriptablePlugin.xpt
/Library/Keyboard Layouts:
/Library/LaunchAgents:
at.obdev.LittleSnitchNetworkMonitor.plist
at.obdev.LittleSnitchUIAgent.plist
com.google.keystone.agent.plist
com.parallels.DesktopControlAgent.plist
com.parallels.desktop.launch.plist
com.parallels.vm.prl_pcproxy.plist
/Library/LaunchDaemons:
at.obdev.littlesnitchd.plist
com.apple.aelwriter.plist
com.apple.remotepairtool.plist
com.google.GoogleML.plist
com.google.keystone.daemon.plist
com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist
com.parallels.desktop.launchdaemon.plist
/Library/PreferencePanes:
Flash Player.prefPane
/Library/PrivilegedHelperTools:
com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper
/Library/QuickLook:
GBQLGenerator.qlgenerator
QuickLookEyeTV.qlgenerator
iWork.qlgenerator
/Library/QuickTime:
AppleIntermediateCodec.component
AppleMPEG2Codec.component
EyeTV MPEG Support.component
Flip4Mac WMV Advanced.component
Flip4Mac WMV Export.component
Flip4Mac WMV Import.component
Google Camera Adapter 0.component
Google Camera Adapter 1.component
ZyGoVideo.component
/Library/ScriptingAdditions:
/Library/Services:
/Library/Spotlight:
GBSpotlightImporter.mdimporter
LogicPro.mdimporter
Microsoft Entourage.mdimporter
Microsoft Office.mdimporter
iWork.mdimporter
/Library/StartupItems:
HP IO
HP Trap Monitor
NUDC
/etc/mach_init.d:
/etc/mach_init_per_login_session.d:
/etc/mach_init_per_user.d:
Library/Address Book Plug-Ins:
AdiumAddressBookAction_AIM.scpt
AdiumAddressBookAction_ICQ.scpt
AdiumAddressBookAction_Jabber.scpt
AdiumAddressBookAction_MSN.scpt
AdiumAddressBookAction_SMS.scpt
AdiumAddressBookAction_Yahoo.scpt
SkypeABDialer.bundle
SkypeABSMS.bundle
Library/Fonts:
Brush Script
encodings.dir
fonts.dir
fonts.list
fonts.scale
Library/Frameworks:
EWSMac.framework
Library/Internet Plug-Ins:
EvernoteSafariClipperPlugin.webplugin
Move-Media-Player.plugin
Picasa.plugin
RealPlayer Plugin.plugin
Library/Keyboard Layouts:
Library/LaunchAgents:
com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist
com.adobe.ARM.202f4087f2bbde52e3ac2df389f53a4f123223c9cc56a8fd83a6f7ae.plist
com.adobe.ARM.925793fb327152fd34795896fa1fb9ffa268b2a852256fe56609efa3.plist
com.akamai.client.plist
com.apple.AddressBook.ScheduledSync.PHXCardDAVSource.689FCB10-8D33-4A1D-BD39-895 C844BCE85.plist
com.apple.FolderActions.enabled.plist
com.apple.FolderActions.folders.plist
ws.agile.1PasswordAgent.plist
Library/PreferencePanes:
AkamaiNetSession.prefPane
Printopia.prefPane
Library/Services:
ENService.app
Library/Spotlight:
EndNote.mdimporter
Step 5:
osascript -e 'tell application "System Events" to get the name of every login item'
Day One Agent, Citations, iTunesHelper, iTunesHelper, Alarm Clock, LalaMover, GrowlMenu, Cinch, EvernoteHelper, Evernote, Cinch, BetterSnapTool, PocketCloud Companion App, The Hit List, Splashtop Streamer, Alfred, RealPlayer Downloader Agent, Rowmote Helper, Dropbox, InstUtilLaunch

Similar Messages

Time Capsule stuck at Preparing for Backup, and internet TC latency issue

I have an iMac that backs up to my 1TB Time Capsule. I have had it since March. Suddenly it stopped backing up. It get's stuck at "preparing for backup" and never actually completes a backup.
I am also experiencing a HUGE latency issue with my internet connection. I am constantly having to use the 'refresh' page button in Safari.
help....

TB,
*_Time Machine May Report "Preparing..." For a Long Time_*
Consider these factors regarding an extended period of "Preparing...". Consider each topic separately and do not attempt to act on all of them at once.
*Recent Crash or Other Major System Event* (Deep Traversal)
The reasons for this process are described in an article by George Schreyer. “During the preparation step it checks the FSEvents log for consistency. If it determines that something isn't quite right it has to rescan the whole disk. This can take quite awhile. A full rescan is always triggered by a crash, an unplanned shut down event or by booting from some other bootable disk between backups…. After a crash, Time Machine must scan the whole disk to determine what it has to do because it cannot trust the information that it left behind. Connected via an Ethernet connection, this phase would typically take 20 minutes on an older PowerBook. Being connected wirelessly stretches this phase out to over 3 hours.” [http://www.girr.org/mac_stuff/backups.html]
According to the following KB article it can sometimes take a very long time if Time Machine begins this “deep traversal” and has to compare data inventories. This may apply to your situation, particularly if many Gigs of data are involved. (http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1516)
*Anti-Virus Software*
Running anti-virus software can interfere with the backup process. Either disable it altogether, or try the suggestion outlined here, “If you use third-party anti-virus scanning software and have issues, make sure your Time Machine back up folder (Backups.backupdb on the Time Machine disk) is excluded from virus scanning.” (http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1516)
*Software Updates* #
Installing new software, upgrading existing software, or updating Mac OS X system software can create major changes in the structure of your Macs directories. Time Machine will backup every file that has changed since the installation.
If you take a look at the Console logs Time Machine may be reporting that your backups need "deep traversal". That's fine. Time Machine knows what is wrong and how to fix it. If you have a great deal of data, it may take quite awhile.
After an OS update (like 10.5.5) Time Machine realizes the system no longer matches what it looked like during the previous backup. So it has determined that it's earlier catalogue of what-should-be-where is 'untrustable'. So it is going to go item-by-item comparing the before and after of your system. If you have just performed an OS Update then Time Machine knows what it's doing - let it do it!
*Spotlight Keeps Indexing Backup Drive* #
It may be that Time Machine can’t proceed or complete a backup due to a Spotlight indexing error. During this period, take a look at the Spotlight icon in the upper right corner of your screen. Is there a tiny dot pulsating in the center of the spyglass? Click on the icon. Is there a progress bar displayed? Generally Spotlight indexing is a good thing. But at time it may hang and never progress, preventing backups from taking place.
Go to System Prefs --> Spotlight --> Privacy Tab.
Drag your Time Machine disk into the window. It should now be among the items to exclude from indexing.
Now quit System Prefs.
Reopen System Prefs and remove ("-") the Time Machine disk from the window.
This should clear out Spotlights cache. Naturally, Spotlight should begin indexing again (maybe even for a few hours depending on how much data there is), but it should eventually stop.
*Reboot Time Capsule* #
Stop the backup from the Time Machine menu.
When the Time Machine icon stops spinning, unplug the TC from the wall outlet.
Wait 10-15 seconds.
Re-plug it in again.
After it has restarted (30-60 seconds), attempt another backup.
Time Machine will report “Preparing…” again, but it shouldn’t be lasting more than a couple of hours.
Let us know if any of the suggestions above helped in your case.
Cheers!

Time Capsule stuck in preparing stage. TM widget says following information...

Time Capsule has been going for well over 24 hours now, in the preparing stage. I have downloaded the TM buddy widget (as other thread suggest) and the notes for this ongoing backup is as follows...
Starting standard backup
Mounted network destination using URL: afp://Ben%[email protected]/Ben%20Griffiths's%20Tim e%20Capsul
Backup destination mounted at path: /Volumes/Ben Griffiths's Time Capsul
Disk image /Volumes/Ben Griffiths's Time Capsul/Ben Griffiths’s MacBook_00254bbd6c40.sparsebundle mounted at: /Volumes/Backup of Ben Griffiths’s MacBook
Backing up to: /Volumes/Backup of Ben Griffiths’s MacBook/Backups.backupdb
Event store UUIDs don't match for volume: Macintosh HD
Waiting for index to be ready (905 > 0)
Waiting for index to be ready (905 > 0)
Node requires deep traversal:/ reason:kFSEDBEventFlagMustScanSubDirs|kFSEDBEventFlagReasonEventDBUntrustable|
I want to leave it going, but I have a Genuis Bar appointment tomorrow that I would prefer to go to, to try and get it sorted out. This seems to be a re-occurring problem and I was wondering if you can establish whether there is an underlying problem with the time capsule.
Any quick help would be much appreciated!
Thanks

Ben_MacBook_User wrote:
Event store UUIDs don't match for volume: Macintosh HD
That means the previous backup failed, or was cancelled, and Time Machine isn't sure whether everything got backed-up properly. Because of that, it has to do a "deep traversal:"
Node requires deep traversal:/ reason:kFSEDBEventFlagMustScanSubDirs|kFSEDBEventFlagReasonEventDBUntrustable|
That compares everything on your system to the backups, to figure out what's changed and needs to be backed-up. It's lengthy, but not that lengthy.
Most likely, there's a problem with the file system on your internal HD. Verify it, per #A5 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting. If that doesn't find any problems, Repair your backups, per the same link.

Stuck in "Preparation" mode

TC 500 MB, seems to be backing up my 2 other computers on network (mac mini, iMac G5) without problems (first back-up ethernet, then subsequent ones through airport). Same true for MacBook pro, but now MacBook pro gets stuck in "Preparation" mode and never backs-up. It will stay there for 24 hours, never advancing to actual back-up. I tried multiple times, tried with ethernet and that doesn't make a difference. rebooted, repaired permissions etc (usual nonsense), to no avail. Also, When I did have it in Preparation, I could initially for several minutes, hear lots of hard drive writing activity in the Time Capsule, but then it stopped and nothing happens. The only way I could get it to back-up with Time Machine was to delete the original back-up from the TC and start over. Backing up now,
Anyone else stuck in Preparation limbo? Any other solutions?
thanks
roger

I am having the same problem, my MacBook Air is stuck in "Preparation" state for hours/days. I even updated to the recent Time Capsule software, but no change.

When I switch my time capsule to 5.0ghz mode the range of my wireless network drops significantly. Near the Time Capsule my Macbook Pro works fine, in my bedroom I have almost no signal. In mixed mode it works fine. Any ideas on how to get 5.0 working?

When I switch my time capsule to 5.0ghz mode the range of my wireless network drops significantly. Near the Time Capsule my Macbook Pro works fine, in my bedroom I have almost no signal. In mixed mode it works fine both placed. Any ideas on how to get 5.0 working? I thought 5.0Ghz was supposed to have a wider range. Do I need to change a setting on the Macbook Pro?
Thanks, W

I'm not sure if you understand that 5 GHz has some upsides, but also some very significant downsides.
The upside is that the 5 GHz signal will allow faster speeds.
The downside is that you must always give up something in order to gain something else.Unfortunately, the marketing hype about 5 GHz does not go into very many details about this.
In the case of 5 GHz, the 5 GHz signals are much weaker than 2.4 GHz signals, so they do not travel as far or penetrate any obstructions like walls or ceilings nearly as well as 2.4 GHz signals. In many cases, in order to get good 5 Ghz performance, you literally have to have almost a line-of-sight relationship between your computer and the wireless router.
If you have a new dual band router, which broadcasts both a 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz signal simutaneously, your Mac will connect to the best signal quality automatically depending on its location in relation to the router. In the same room, without any obstructions, it will connec to 5 GHz. But, take the laptop down the hall a few rooms and around the corner and the Mac will connect to the 2.4 GHz signal because at that location, the 2.4 GHz signal is not only stronger, it is also faster.

My time capsule has been "preparing" for days--what to do???

My time capsule has been "preparing" for days--what to do???

See # D1 in Pondini's excellent Time Machine - Troubleshooting guide.
http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/Troubleshooting.html

Time Machine stuck in Preparing Data Mode

In the past two days my time Machine has not made a successful back up. It seems to be stuck in "preparing data" and will stay like this all day. Even when I click the time machine preferences and stop it, it never changes. Does anyone have any solutions to this or has experienced it.Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!!

Judith,
The following might contain an explanation for what you are experiencing.
*_Time Machine May Report "Preparing..." For a Long Time_*
First, it’s good to determine WHY Time Machine is "Preparing..." for an extended period of time. Examining the Console logs during this event can reveal what is actually going on behind the scenes. It may be “Preparing…” for a genuinely good reason. How long is 'too long' to wait for Time Machine to finish "Preparing..."? Some times, "Preparing..." is required to perform the normal housekeeping that Time Machine does periodically. Other times, it really is "stuck" and never proceeds after more than 24 hours.
*”Deep Traversal” (Recent Crash / Forced Restart / System Update / Extended Period Between Backups)*
According to the following KB article it can sometimes take quite a long time if Time Machine begins a “deep traversal” and has to compare data inventories. This may apply to your situation, particularly if many Gigs of data are involved. [http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1516]
You see, Time Machine *+does not+* ordinarily perform file-by-file comparisons to determine what has changed and thus determine what needs to be backed up. Rather, Time Machine relies on FSEvents notifications. This is a log that the system uses to keep track of changes to directories. Rather than scan tens of thousands of files for changes each time, Time Machine simply looks at this log and narrows its’ scan to only the directories that have experienced changes since the last backup. Otherwise, Time Machine would have to be running constantly just to catch every change on its own and thus eat up precious CPU.
Every event that FSEvents records has its’ own ID which includes a time stamp. At the end of every backup, Time Machine stores the last event ID that it processes. When the next backup is initiated, Time Machine looks at this stored ID and determines that it only needs to backup events that have occurred after the time stamp on this last event ID.
If, due to a system crash, power failure, forced restart, or some other major system event, Time Machine cannot find this last event ID in the system logs then it will consider the FSEvents log “untrustable” and it will go into what’s called “deep traversal”. The Console logs may report +“Event store UUIDs don't match”.+ In this event, Time Machine will by-pass the system log entirely and perform its’ own file-by-file comparison to determine what has changed since its’ last backup. Obviously, if tens or hundreds of Gigs are involved, then this process can take quite some time and should be allowed to proceed.
Additionally, it appears that if Time Machine has to go back too far to find the last event ID, then it will give up and simply go into “deep traversal” and do the file-by-file scan on its’ own. This can occur if Time Machine has not been able to perform its’ hourly backups for some time, as is the case for users who only backup once a week or so. This is also the case with major Mac OS system updates that change thousands of files at one time. There are simply too many events logged by the system for Time Machine to bother looking for the last known event ID.
*Consolidation / “Thinning”*
At the beginning, when Time Machine is first used, incremental backups are relatively quick events. But as time goes on, and backup files grow, Time Machine requires time to perform house-keeping on the backed up data. This maintenance is referred to in the Console logs as "thinning". The larger the backup files become, the more time Time Machine requires.
To prevent the backup drive from filling up too fast, Time Machine will periodically consolidate, or 'thin', backups to free up space for new data. After a certain period of time, each hourly backup becomes "expired". This occurs about 24-48 hours after the hourly backup took place. At that point Time Machine begins consolidating, or "thinning", all the hourly backups of a given day into one daily backup. Then, after about a month all daily backups for a given week “expire” and are consolidated into a single weekly backup.
Obviously, since the Time Machine process (backupd) does not run continuously, it has to do this "thinning" during routine backups. That is where "Preparing Backup..." and "Finishing Backup..." come in. It is during these initial and closing phases of a backup that "thinning" occurs. As a result, while not every backup will be accompanied by extended periods of "Preparing..." and "Finishing...", periodically Time Machine will require extra time to perform these space-saving consolidations.
*Anti-Virus Software*
Running anti-virus software can interfere with the backup process. Either disable it altogether, or try the suggestion outlined here, “If you use third-party anti-virus scanning software and have issues, make sure your Time Machine back up folder (Backups.backupdb on the Time Machine disk) is excluded from virus scanning.” (http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1516)
*Software Updates* #
Installing new software, upgrading existing software, or updating Mac OS X system software can create major changes in the structure of your Macs directories. Time Machine will backup every file that has changed since the installation.
After an OS update (like 10.5.5) Time Machine realizes the system no longer matches what it looked like during the previous backup. So it has determined that it's earlier catalogue of what-should-be-where is “untrustable”. So it is going to go item-by-item comparing the before and after of your system.
*Spotlight Keeps Indexing Backup Drive* #
It may be that Time Machine can’t proceed or complete a backup due to Spotlight indexing. During this period, take a look at the Spotlight icon in the upper right corner of your screen. Is there a tiny dot pulsating in the center of the spyglass? Click on the icon. Is there a progress bar displayed? Generally, Spotlight indexing is a good thing. If it has only been a couple of hours then, stop the backup, turn Time Machine OFF, and let the indexing continue.
However, at times Spotlight may hang and never progress after many hours, preventing further backups from taking place.
Go to System Preferences --> Time Machine.
Using the slider on the left, turn OFF Time Machine backups for now.
Next, click “Show All” in the toolbar.
Select the Spotlight Preferences.
Click the Privacy Tab.
First, drag your Macs’ internal hard disk from the desktop to the Privacy list.
Wait 10 seconds, then highlight the Macs’ hard disk in the list and click the tiny “-” button at the bottom to remove it from the list.
Spotlight will initiate a reindex of the hard disk. If you click on the Spotlight menu icon you may see the message:
+“Spotlight helps you quickly find things on your computer. Spotlight will be available as soon as the contents of your computer have been indexed.”+
...and a progress bar will indicate the time remaining.
Once completed, drag your Time Machine backup disk into the Privacy list of the Spotlight Preferences.
Wait 10 seconds, then highlight the Time Machine backup disk in the list and click the tiny “-” button at the bottom to remove it from the list.
Spotlight will now initiate a reindex of the hard disk.
Once completed, if you have any other hard disks attached to your Mac that are also being backed using Time Machine, then force a reindex as well using the procedure outlined above.
Then turn Time Machine back ON and initiate a backup.
*Run Away System Process*
It’s possible that Time Machine is stuck “Preparing…” because another process is monopolizing your Macs’ CPU. Launch Activity Monitor and sort the items by “CPU”. Is there a process that is at or near 100% that might be preventing the backupd process from moving forward?
One poster stated, “I took it to my local Genius Bar and they found a Syslogd daemon running, taking up 100% of my CPU….This resulted in the "Preparing..." mode running forever.” [http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1755600&tstart=15]
You may be able use Activity Monitor to “kill” the offending process. Or you may be able to resolve it simply by rebooting your Mac. Then try backing up again.
*Verify/Repair Mac Hard Disk & Permissions*
It may be that your Macs’ internal hard disk has so many file/directory issues that Time Machine simply has trouble making sense of it. Some users have had success using Disk Utility on their Macs’ hard drive.
Launch Disk Utility and click “Repair Disk Permissions”.
Once complete, attempt a backup.
If Time Machine appears to hang at “Preparing…” again, then do the following:
Insert your Macs’ original install DVD and reboot holding down the “C” key.
At the Welcome screen go up to the “Utilities” menu and select Disk Utility.
Select your Macs’ hard disk on the left and click “Verify Disk” on the right.
If problems are found click “Repair Disk”.
Reboot to your normal desktop and try backing up again.
*For Time Capsule Users* #
If, though, none of the options above have helped and it has been 12 hours or more of “Preparing…”, then the Time Capsule may need to be restarted.
Stop the backup from the Time Machine menu. (Give if a few minutes while it says “Stopping backup…”)
When the Time Machine icon stops spinning, unplug the TC from the wall outlet.
Wait 10-15 seconds.
Re-plug it in again.
After it has restarted (30-60 seconds), attempt another backup.
Time Machine will report “Preparing…” again, but it shouldn’t be lasting more than a couple of hours.
Let us know if any of the above was helpful in resolving your issue.
Cheers!

'Preparing' Time Capsule stalls in this mode

I've had a number of problems with my Time Capsule. I'll admit I'm no genius when it comes to this stuff. So I was wondering if anyone has had a similar problem.
I've finished my initial back up and now whenever my time capsule initiates a regular back up a box appears saying 'PREPARING' and seldom does it make it to actual back up mode, and when it does, it will back up the additional information and state it has completed all for instance 250MB but then appear to still be trying to back up. The process really slows down my computer and when I try to turn off the back up sometimes that will take another 10mins to occur.
Thank you

I was just checking to see if they may have updated time machine w/ the time capsule firmware to fix this problem. It doesn't appear that they have. I've downgraded to Backup. With Backup I don't have the option to restore a single file, I can only revert to a previous backup but it's better than nothing. With Time Machine I had nothing because "preparing" took all CPU resources forever. It's too bad they don't care enough to fix it, it could actually be a good application. It appears that no one from Apple ever reads any of this stuff, I sent them all the info from the console and everything. I've enjoyed a lot of apple stuff, Time Machine/Time capsule is not one of them.

Time Capsule stuck in Backing up ___"preparing...''___

TC has been trying to backup for two days now..
it has been backing up flawlessly since March..==although the "Preparing..." always seemed to take longer than really necessary for 50-100MB of data to back up
Starting two days ago the Backing up progress bar which says "Preparing..."
spins for hours and doesn't ever change to the real data transfer numbers...
iF i close the laptop it goes to sleep and stops.. openning starts it up again---more hours of "Preparing..."
restarting the computer doesn'T help either...
internet works.
aux hrd drive connected through the TC works fine...

I had the same problem. It never backed up for 4days. And sometimes it gave the error the back up volume couldnt be mounted. I restarted the laptop, restarted the timecapsule. erased the timecapsule using airport utility. Than go into the prefs of timecapsul and gave it a new name (it was Eray's Time Capsule changed it to Eray Time Capsule) and change the back up volume from TM prefs. and click the back up now. It works now.

Time Machine stuck in "preparing" endlessly.

I have been able to successfully back up my MacBook Pro twice in the past two months using Time Machine, but both times I had to monkey with it, and I'm not even sure what exactly I did to make it work.
Today I've tried several times to back up my machine, but it seems to get stuck "preparing" for hours.
I don't keep Time Machine plugged into my laptop because I need that USB for my printer. Rather, I periodically plug my Sea Gate FreeAgent external drive in and attempt to manually back up. But it never just works without a lot of clicking around.
What am I doing wrong??? How can I get it to work??
Thanks so much!

xtine,
Your situation is explained in the first section of the info below:
*_Time Machine May Report "Preparing..." For a Long Time_*
Consider these factors regarding an extended period of "Preparing...". Consider each topic separately and do not attempt to act on all of them at once.
*Recent Crash or Other Major System Event* (Deep Traversal)
The reasons for this process are described in an article by George Schreyer. “During the preparation step it checks the FSEvents log for consistency. If it determines that something isn't quite right it has to rescan the whole disk. This can take quite awhile. A full rescan is always triggered by a crash, an unplanned shut down event or by booting from some other bootable disk between backups…. After a crash, Time Machine must scan the whole disk to determine what it has to do because it cannot trust the information that it left behind. Connected via an Ethernet connection, this phase would typically take 20 minutes on an older PowerBook. Being connected wirelessly stretches this phase out to over 3 hours.” [http://www.girr.org/mac_stuff/backups.html]
According to the following KB article it can sometimes take a very long time if Time Machine begins this “deep traversal” and has to compare data inventories. This may apply to your situation, particularly if many Gigs of data are involved. (http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1516) Additionally, if Time Machine has not been able to perform its’ hourly backups for 24 hours or more, then it will perform a “deep traversal” once backups are renewed. This is the case for users who only backup once a week or so.
*Anti-Virus Software*
Running anti-virus software can interfere with the backup process. Either disable it altogether, or try the suggestion outlined here, “If you use third-party anti-virus scanning software and have issues, make sure your Time Machine back up folder (Backups.backupdb on the Time Machine disk) is excluded from virus scanning.” (http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1516)
*Software Updates* #
Installing new software, upgrading existing software, or updating Mac OS X system software can create major changes in the structure of your Macs directories. Time Machine will backup every file that has changed since the installation.
If you take a look at the Console logs Time Machine may be reporting that your backups need "deep traversal". That's fine. Time Machine knows what is wrong and how to fix it. If you have a great deal of data, it may take quite awhile.
After an OS update (like 10.5.5) Time Machine realizes the system no longer matches what it looked like during the previous backup. So it has determined that it's earlier catalogue of what-should-be-where is 'untrustable'. So it is going to go item-by-item comparing the before and after of your system. If you have just performed an OS Update then Time Machine knows what it's doing - let it do it!
*Spotlight Keeps Indexing Backup Drive* #
It may be that Time Machine can’t proceed or complete a backup due to a Spotlight indexing error. During this period, take a look at the Spotlight icon in the upper right corner of your screen. Is there a tiny dot pulsating in the center of the spyglass? Click on the icon. Is there a progress bar displayed? Generally, Spotlight indexing is a good thing. If it has only been a couple of hours then let the process contiune.
However, at times it may hang and never progress after many hours, preventing further backups from taking place.
Go to System Prefs --> Spotlight --> Privacy Tab.
Drag your Time Machine disk into the window. It should now be among the items to exclude from indexing.
Now quit System Prefs.
Reboot your Mac.
Reopen System Prefs and remove ("-") the Time Machine disk from the window.
Now initiate a backup.
This should clear out Spotlights cache. Naturally, Spotlight should begin indexing again (maybe even for a few hours depending on how much data there is), but it should eventually stop.
*Reboot Time Capsule* #
If, though, none of the options above have helped and it has been 12 hours or more of “Preparing…”, then the Time Capsule may need to be restarted.
Stop the backup from the Time Machine menu. (Give if a few minutes while it says “Stopping backup…”)
When the Time Machine icon stops spinning, unplug the TC from the wall outlet.
Wait 10-15 seconds.
Re-plug it in again.
After it has restarted (30-60 seconds), attempt another backup.
Time Machine will report “Preparing…” again, but it shouldn’t be lasting more than a couple of hours.
Let us know if any of the suggestions above helped in your case.
Cheers!

Time machine stuck on 'preparing back-up'

Hello everyone,
I have currently obtained a Macbook Pro 2.4 GHz. On my old Macbook (Snow Leopard) I've always been able to run Timemachine on a seperate harddrive (G-Force 2T). Never had any problems. Used to back up once a week and timemachine never prepared a back-up any longer than maybe a couple of hours. And the HD on my old Macbook was packed!
Ever since I've been using Lion my timemachine gets stuck on 'preparing back-up'. I've read other posts on this subject which indicate rebooting/restoring the disk helps. I did this and it worked fine for a couple of days. After that it got stuck and still is... it keeps preparing for whole days. My Macbooks HD only has 2 GB of stuff on it... so I don't think it wouyld take all that long even if in a 'deep tarversal' mode.
Since I would rather not keep erasing and restoring my hard diskI wonder if there's anything else I can do?

Hello linc Davis,
Underneath the text you said to post. The last error 256 keeps repeating with each time a different file. I just posted the first one in a looooooong line of fetching properties and error 265's. The first one at ten this morning and the last one just now... list keeps growing.
Does this mean anything to you?
05-03-12 09:39:05,083 com.apple.backupd: Starting standard backup
05-03-12 09:39:06,188 com.apple.backupd: Error -35 while resolving alias to backup target
05-03-12 09:39:16,271 com.apple.backupd: Backup failed with error: 19
05-03-12 09:40:43,602 com.apple.backupd: Starting standard backup
05-03-12 09:40:43,669 com.apple.backupd: Error -35 while resolving alias to backup target
05-03-12 09:40:53,963 com.apple.backupd: Backup failed with error: 19
05-03-12 10:12:17,115 com.apple.backupd: Starting standard backup
05-03-12 10:12:17,713 com.apple.backupd: Backing up to: /Volumes/JOEP TM2T/Backups.backupdb
05-03-12 10:12:18,817 com.apple.backupd: Event store UUIDs don't match for volume: Macintosh HD
05-03-12 10:12:18,872 com.apple.backupd: Deep event scan at path:/ reason:must scan subdirs|new event db|
05-03-12 10:16:49,403 com.apple.backupd: Finished scan
05-03-12 10:47:25,471 com.apple.backupd: Error (256): fetching properties: Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=256 "The file “AppleDictionary.css” couldn’t be opened." UserInfo=0x7fc92ee42260 {NSURL=file://localhost/Volumes/JOEP%20TM2T/Backups.backupdb/Joep%E2%80%99s%20M acBook%20Pro/2012-02-06-110231/Macintosh%20HD/Library/Dictionaries/Apple%20Dicti onary.dictionary/Contents/Resources/ar.lproj/AppleDictionary.css, NSFilePath=/Volumes/JOEP TM2T/Backups.backupdb/Joep’s MacBook Pro/2012-02-06-110231/Macintosh HD/Library/Dictionaries/Apple Dictionary.dictionary/Contents/Resources/ar.lproj/AppleDictionary.css, NSUnderlyingError=0x7fc92ee42150 "The operation couldn’t be completed. Input/output error"}

Time Machine stuck on "preparing backup" and "Indexing Backup" after forced restart and install from Lion

Hello!
I have been using Time Machine on the Time Capsule for over a month now and no problems. However when I was installing Lion it had to restart. I did not see that Time Machine was going at the time when I pushed restart until it was too late.
Now Time Machine seems to be stuck on "Preparing Backup" and "Indexing Backups". It has been nearly 20-30 minutes for Indexing and I wonder if I corrupted something or something else. If there a way I can solve this problem? Thanks!

I had this same problem, this is going to sound ridiculous but this is what I finally did. I wiped my backup, crazy right?
It's there for when your hard drive crashes, so it's not like you are going to miss much if you wipe it. Tell it to stop backing up, go to disk utility, click your external and then erase it. Go back to time machine settings and reselect it as your backup drive. It will do an initial back up again and you are good to go.
Hope this helps.

Time Machine Stuck in Preparing: Can You backup a 1TB Raid

Hello,
I have been trying to use time machine on my server to back-up my 1TB Mirrored Raid to an external 1TB firewire drive. Time Machine is stuck in preparing for days and does not back up.
Does time machine work with RAIDs?
I have recently reformatted the backup drive with the GUID partition. I also ran disk utility on the RAID set and everything passed.
I've read on Apple's site not to stop the preparing mode, so I have left it, but it has been 2 days which seems like an extraordinary amount of time.
Any thoughts? Or is this normal?
Thanks!

just let it work. it sometimes can take a very long time if TM goes into deep traversal and scans all the files for changes.
see this link
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1516

Time Capsule stuck at Connecting..."

Hey guys, I recently reinstalled OSX from a bootable drive I made. The reinstall went fine, but when I went to the Migration Assistant application to restore my user profile from my Time Capsule, it gets stuck at "connecting..." and nothing happens. Now, I have 700+ GBs of data I am trying to restore, could that be the reason for the delay? What makes me worried is that once I saw that wasn't changing over the course of an hour, I rebooted in Recovery mode and tried to restore from Time Machine. I got upto the part where I have to pick my drive. Once I selected Time Capsule a message appears saying "only complete backups will show here", and nothing shows.
I'm running Mountain Lion and have my Time Machine connected via ethernet.
Any help with this would be greatly great appreaciated.

OK. Pulling the (power) cable from the Time Capsule and plugging it back in, seems to have solved the problem.

MacBook Air and problems with Time Capsule in 5GHz Radio Mode

We have our Time Capsule configured to 802.11n only (5 GHz). We've done this to work more efficiently in a particularly noisy wireless area. The problem is that the MacBook Air can't maintain a connection to it and when it loses the connection, the wireless interface seems to disappear from the Mac altogether - the wireless status indicator just shows an empty cone. The only solution is a restart. Sometimes it loses the connection after a couple of hours, sometimes within minutes, though it always goes eventually. All other machines on the network are fine, and switching the Time Capsule to 802.11n only (2.4 GHz) solves the problem, though there's a lot of noise at that frequency and our network performance as a whole suffers.
I know there's similar threads around dealing with the MBA and wireless issues (I've tried all the solutions vaguely related, e.g. deleting and recreating the wireless interface), though none that deal with this specific problem, which I'm convinced is caused by the radio mode of the Time Capsule.
All software / firmware is the latest:
MacBook Air 10.5.2 Wireless Card Firmware Veriosn Broadcom BCM43xx 1.0 (4.170.46.5)
Time Capsule Version 7.3.1
I was hoping the recent firmware updates would sort this... any one else running a Time Capsule in 5GHz mode with a MacBook Air?

I'm running my TC in 5ghz mode with my MBA. My original problem was the lack of signal strength coming from my AEBS caused the MBA to have a slow connection. There are a number of pipes in the wall that separates the two rooms where my MBA lives and the AEBS is.
So, I hard wired the TC to the AEBS and placed the TC in the room where my MBA lives most of the time. Now that the signal strength is really good I'm not having any issues.

Time Capsule stuck in preparing mode...

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