Time machine back-up abysmally slow

I have reformatted my back-up disk and started a new Time Machine full back-up. The job has been running for FOUR DAYS and is presently 15.28GB of 298.8GB. It is still saying "Calculating time remaining." On the same machine, Time Machine was never a sprinter but certainly wasn't a snail.
It also slows my entire iMac down, especially since I foolishly upgraded to Mavericks (now everything's slow).
Very annoyed. Apple should come out and admit that the Time Machine/Mavericks process is a failure as it is not commercially acceptable to use such a slow system for back-ups. I'm switching to a separate system, but will let this one run so I can see how long it will actually take.
Tried restart, safe mode, then restart normally - no effect on speed.
Any tips - apart from binning the system?
Dave

Find the Console app - it is in your Utilities folder and looks like this
You can find it by selecting Utilities from the Finder's Go menu.
Open Console.
If the log list column on the left is not already displayed, show the log list by selecting Show Log List from Console's View menu.
Locate system.log in the list and select it. Many date and time-stamped entries will appear, hundreds of them, and you must find the entries relevant to your Mac's problem.
To do that type the words backupd in the Filter field at the upper right of the Console window. That will cause all log entries to be hidden, except for the entries containing those words.
Copy and paste those log entries in a reply. If hundreds of the same repetitive messages appear, please edit them before posting.
Most of the entries will be cryptic but will contain information you might consider personal such as your Mac's name. If you do not want that information to appear, delete or obscure it when posting your reply. Leave enough information so that the entries can be deciphered.
... No virus software but CleanMyMac is installed -
Get rid of it.
Good luck with that because its uninstallation instructions are ineffective, contrary to MacPaw's recently posted update. They didn't work prior to that update either. Lacking any explanation from the developer, one is left to unproductive speculation that won't help you fix what's wrong. Whether CMM is the sole cause of your difficulties or merely a contributing factor is unknown, but its presence can only complicate matters.
Like most ill-conceived "cleaning" programs, "CleanMyMac" is trash capable of corrupting a Mac to the point that erasing it completely is the only practicable means of recovery.
Follow the applicable recovery procedure below:
If you have a backup that you created prior to using CleanMyMac, now is the time to use it. For Time Machine, boot OS X Recovery, and at the Mac OS X Utilities screen, choose Restore from Time Machine Backup. Choose a date preceding the installation of CleanMyMac.
If you do not have a backup that predates the use of CleanMyMac, create one now. To do that read Mac Basics: Time Machine backs up your Mac.
The recovery procedure will require that you erase the Mac using OS X Recovery, and then create a new user whose contents will be empty. You will then be able to use Setup Assistant to migrate your essential documents including photos, music, work products and other essential files.
When doing so, select only your previous User account and do not select "Applications", "Computer and Network Settings" or "Other files and folders". De-select those choices.
Subsequent to using Setup Assistant, you will need to reinstall the essential software you may require, once again remembering to install software only from their original sources, and omitting all non-essential software
"Essential software" is defined to specifically exclude all so-called "cleaning", "optimizing", and "anti-virus" utilities - anything that does not directly relate to the ability to use your Mac for the work or entertainment needs you presumably bought it to accomplish.
To erase and install Mavericks read: OS X Mavericks: Erase and reinstall OS X
To migrate your essential documents read: OS X: How to migrate data from another Mac using Mavericks and follow the procedure under Time Machine or other disk migration.
Other problems may exist but those concerns will be rendered moot by erasing your system, which must be accomplished.

Similar Messages

  • Time machine back up very slow

    Hi folks:  I'm running my mac book pro (new this year) with 10.7.5 and found tonight that my time machine back up (for 20gb) is taking FOREVER.  Any suggestions?
    thanks.

    Install the 10.7.5 update, which address the very S-L-O-W TIme Machine backups that 10.7.5 introduced. If it doesn't download via Software Update, you can download it from here.
    You'll still be at 10.7.5 after the update. The only thing that changes is the build number, which should be 11G63 after the update.

  • 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.

  • Time Machine Back up is too slow

    I just bought a WD 1 TB hard drive for my Macbook Pro. I put files on but for some reason the Time Machine's first back up is taking forever for only 54 gbs. Is this normal? It took me just a few minutes to put in the 25 gb of itunes data on it but the Time Machine back up is so slow. Plus the encryption is very slow too.

    Hi there Balhabib,
    I would recommend taking a look at the troubleshooting steps found in the article below.
    Time Machine: Troubleshooting backup issues
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3275
    -Griff W.

  • Can I use my time capsule for time machine back ups and as an external storage device?

    I have a time capsule and have set it up so that my time machine back ups are saved on it, but I would also like to use it as an external hard drive. Is this possible?
    I know nothing about computers so please tell me in very basic terms. thankyou!

    By external hard disk we usually mean one plugged into the computer by USB or Firewire or Thunderbolt.
    None of those works on the TC.. it is plugged in by ethernet or use wireless connection.. that means it is a network drive.. not an external drive. The difference might not mean much to you.. but it is totally different to the computer. In the former case the computer has full control of the disk. In the case of the network drive, the disk is controlled by the TC firmware and the files are stored and accessed by network. This has large implications.
    So here is my standard response.
    Store files on the TC.
    This is asked several times a day.. obviously people are struggling with their latest SSD being too small.
    The TC is not suitable for network file server.. but many people having no choice press it into service as such.
    Major issues.
    1. No backup.. no way Time Machine can backup a network drive. No place to backup to.. So all your files will be at risk. And you will need to buy a third party like CCC to do backup.
    2. The TC cannot be partitioned and mixing TM backups and data is not great. It was and is and ever shall be a backup device for Time Machine.
    3. The drive is slow to spin up and quick to spin down.. there is no control. In fact the TC is so lacking in controls for even the router side.. that you cannot do more than the most basic of setups.
    The following are controls on the hard disk side.
    Reformat it. You can name the share. You can do a full archive of the whole disk. This will go at a speed of aprox. 30-50GB/Hr so calculate how long an archive of a full 2TB will take.
    4. iPhoto in particular can easily corrupt its entire library with wireless networking causing a disconnection to one photo. Even if you do this;;; do not move your photo library... you have been warned!!
              Even apple btw say don’t do it.
    http://support.apple.com/kb/TS5168 Although mostly about FAT32           it adds network drives.
    5. iTunes can constantly lose connection to the library. The disk is slow to respond.. itunes on the computer will constantly spit out errors. Even in the midst of streaming the TC can spin down the disk due to caching.
    6. Do not use any live files on the TC no matter what else you do.. if you edit files in whatever program the file must be on the local hard disk.
    7. The only suitable location for most libraries is a computer. You can plug in an external hard disk.
    Read pondini for some work arounds.
    Q3 here. http://pondini.org/TM/Time_Capsule.html

  • Just got Prosoft drive genius 3 software, and it's telling me that the external hard drive that i am using for my time machine back up drive needs to be defragmented.  is it wise to do this or should i not??

    just got Prosoft drive genius 3 software, and it's telling me that the external hard drive that i am using for my time machine back up drive needs to be defragmented.  is it wise to do this or should i not??

    Let's hope a couple things: that you have bootable clones of your drives also; that the backup drive for TimeMachine has over 3x capacity of the data you plan and are storing. I would also switch TM backup drives so you have a 2nd.
    Fragmented free space affecting performance happens when the drive is too full which may mean there isn't enough free space for a full backup set.
    1.5TB for backing up 500GB, while WD Green 3TB is $140 and WD Black 1.5TB is, about the same price.
    I'd be worried about the integrity and directory, and whether you can afford to lose that drive. Defragging is also a very slow operation. the ideal: to just clone a drive, or start over with another drive and wait. cloning TM volumes has not been done or has it? SuperDuper hoped to but I don't think they or Bombich's CCC made it there.
    Trouble with highly fragged is when free space gets to 20% normally, 1/3 or so though for TM volumes, and finding where and a chunk of space for the file being written. Does TM use large spare image files of like 2GB?
    Best would be to ask in the TimeMachine section Snow Leopard
    https://discussions.apple.com/community/mac_os/mac_os_x_v10.6_snow_leopard?view= discussions#/?tagSet=1009
    where there are some good FAQ and tutorials, and people that know the ins-and-outs and shortcomings.

  • How do I factory reset my Macbook Pro and then restore using my time machine back up?

    Hey guys,
    My Macbook Pro has slowed down & had more and more random crashed recently and a friend suggested doing a factory reset. My Macbook is about 3 1/2 years old now so it's about time I did something and this always used to work for me on PC's.
    I've kept a completely up to date time machine back-up since day 1 (I'll do another immediately before the reset.) and would rather use that to restore all my files. Will I have to reinstall all my apps with this? (Thats fine if I do, it would just be nice to know first) How do I do the factory reset & how to I restore from time machine afterwards.
    Many Thanks
    MegaBeaker

    First obtain an external hard drive to back up to. Go to your system preferences and look under Time Machine. Select your external hard drive as your backup drive then start a full backup.  Then follow these steps provided by Apple:
    In the menu bar, choose Apple menu > Restart. Once your Mac restarts (and the gray screen appears), hold down the Command and R keys.
    Select Disk Utility, then click Continue.
    Select your startup disk on the left, then click the Erase tab.
    Choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled) from the Format menu, enter a name, then click Erase.Important:   Erasing the disk removes all the information from the disk. Be sure to back up the information you want to keep to an external device.
    After the disk is erased, choose Disk Utility > Quit Disk Utility.
    Select Reinstall OS X, click Continue, then follow the onscreen instructions.

  • Defrag Time Machine Back Up Drive??

    getwellroad 
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 6, 2011 9:50 AM 
    i previously posted this question, but I mistakenly clicked my own comment as the correct answer. i think this makes the thread appear to be finished; so, because i'm still not completely sure what to do, i have attempted to copy and paste the discussion here:Sorry.
    Just got Prosoft drive genius 3 software, and it's telling me that the external hard drive that i am using for my time machine back up drive needs to be defragmented.  is it wise to do this or should i not??
    Grant Bennet-AlderWest of Boston, USALevel 7 (27,805 points)
    If your backups take a few seconds longer, so what. I say leave it alone.Beige G3, G4/867, G4/dual 1.25 MDD, MacPro'09 w cheap SSD, Mac OS 8.6 or Earlier, and 9.2, 10.5 and Server - LW IIg, LW 4/600, ATalk ImageWriter L
    The hatterLevel 8 (42,475 points)
    Let's hope a couple things: that you have bootable clones of your drives also; that the backup drive for TimeMachine has over 3x capacity of the data you plan and are storing. I would also switch TM backup drives so you have a 2nd. Fragmented free space affecting performance happens when the drive is too full which may mean there isn't enough free space for a full backup set. 1.5TB for backing up 500GB, while WD Green 3TB is $140 and WD Black 1.5TB is, about the same price. I'd be worried about the integrity and directory, and whether you can afford to lose that drive. Defragging is also a very slow operation. the ideal: to just clone a drive, or start over with another drive and wait. cloning TM volumes has not been done or has it? SuperDuper hoped to but I don't think they or Bombich's CCC made it there. Trouble with highly fragged is when free space gets to 20% normally, 1/3 or so though for TM volumes, and finding where and a chunk of space for the file being written. Does TM use large spare image files of like 2GB? Best would be to ask in the TimeMachine section Snow Leopardhttps://discussions.apple.com/community/mac_os/mac_os_x_v10.6_snow_leopard?view= discussions#/?tagSet=1009where there are some good FAQ and tutorials, and people that know the ins-and-outs and shortcomings.
    getwellroad
    my boot drive is my internal hardrive which is a 250 GB drive.  The drive i am using for TM is 500GB, but you are saying that is really too small.  TM, as i understand it, creates a copy of everything, and then subsequent backups record any changes that were made since the last backup.    and what do you mean "bootable clones"  and do you mean for my internal hard drive AND each of the 3 external hard drives that i have?  i'm using one of the three for backup using TM, and i am storing movie files on the other 2.  i work at a church, and we use many short films that we purchase online.  i then import that file into iMovie to give my volunteers a consistent second and a half of black before the clip and 4 seconds of black at the end of the clip. This provides smoother transitions, i've found, than trying to use most of the clips in their original form.  i then have been filing these away in folders on the other 2 hard drives.   Regarding the TM drive. Drive Genius is telling me that "the used space on the volume 02 [that's the name of the drive] is 25% fragmented (59.14% of total space).
    btw, Time Machine keeps:hourly backups for the past 24 hoursdaily backups for the past monthweekly backups for all previous monthsand the oldest backups are deleted when your disk becomes full.
    Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.8), LaCie d2 Quadra 500GB external driv 

    1st)  A fragmented drive is not evil.  It will not hurt anything.  At worse it might slow down reading a file.  However, as has been pointed out by others in this thread, who cares as this is a backup device, not a device you are going to be reading a lot.
    2nd)  The time you spend defragmenting the drive will far exceed the time you will save when writing new data to the drive.
    3rd)  Defragmentation will just increase your energy consumption, as all the reading/writing needed to move the files around in order to defragment it, will cause the drive to consume more energy than if it was just sitting idle waiting for the next hourly Time Machine backup.
    4th)  Defragmentation (if done frequently) may shorten the life of your drive.  Not mentioned in "3rd" above is that the extra energy used translates into heat, plus you are moving the read/write heads back and forth all of which affect the drives mechanical and electrical components.
    NOTE:  There are situations where having a defragmented drive is useful, but mostly it has to do with needing to stream media at a high rate of speed, and fragmented files can affect that.  However, a backup drive being used for incremental Time Machine backups is not in that category, and most home Mac usage does not need a defragmented file system either.

  • Working from Logic files on old Time Machine back up

    Hi there.
    Apologies if this is a bit a newbie question, I'm not new to apple, but new to using Time Machine in these circumstances.
    This is my issue. I have a 2.0ghz Dual core 500GB hd iMac in my semi pro music studio. I back up to a 1TB hd using Time Machine. The iMac was beginning to get very slow I guessed because it was 470 gb full, so I made sure the back up was completed, then I did a complete fresh install of Snow Leopard (up from Leopard).
    All good so far.
    Now, everything back up and running, reinstalled Logic Studio, all plug ins etc etc, but I wanted to keep the computer fairly clear of files etc, so I was hoping to be able to work from the timemachine files. Now I guess I shouldn't use the same external hd with time machine now because it will start backing up the new almost empty Snow Leopard version. But here's the issue. I open a Logic Session from the back up and it all works, plays, I can make edits to the midi, audio, but as soon as I want to save I get a series of spool and permissions error messages. It seems to work if I save the file to my desktop and work from there though. But then I don't have this saved on an HD...
    Does any one have any suggestions here?
    Would it work if I bought a new hd, plugged them both into a USB hub, imported tracks I want to use from the old hd and time back up using time machine to a new hd?
    To add another spin to the issue, I am also using a 15" i7 Quad MacBookPro. I want to use this in place of the iMac however I already have a USB input shortage (3 on my iMac version) and use a 2nd monitor. My macbook has the thunderbolt port... Does anyone know of any hubs using Thuderbolt?

    Lloyd Elis wrote:
    How do i delete & reformat my time machine external back up drive & start reusing it again as a time machine back up facility??
    Welcome to Leopard Forums:
    If you repartition your drive it's quick and works fine.
    Using disk utility, create two partitions on the drive and then repartition into a single partition.
    When creating two partitions, be sure to overrun the existing data. You should get a warning about losing all data, which is what you want.
    Leave everything else alone.
    Message was edited by: nerowolfe

  • External hard drive for time machine back-ups

    Can anyone please suggest the best external hard drive to use for time machine back-ups on my iMac?
    I also use a 1TB external hard drive for my iTunes library, but I've noticed that it can be slower to access the music than if I used the iMac hard drive......any suggestions? My iTunes library is currently sitting at around 200GB.
    Thanks.
    Brian

    i'd recommend a firewire 800 drive. many folks here speak highly of drives supplied by [OWC|http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire> and [LaCie|http://www.lacie.com/us/products/product.htm?pid=11156].
    JGG

  • Time Machine Backing up too much data (fixed, I think)

    About a month ago, I upgraded my Mac Pro from Leopard to Snow Leopard, and in so doing hooked up new external drive for TM backups.
    First backup was large, bit slow, and expected.
    All backups after that were fairly slow, which I took initially to be partially related to doing recent OS upgrade.
    Within last week or so, I started to notice that my backups seemed to be much larger than expected. I went down about 350 GB on the backup drive in a matter 2 to 3 weeks, while adding at most 10 GB of data in that time.
    Well today, I discovered the issue via the (freel) app Time Tracker, which showed 10+ GB of data for each backup was coming from TechTool Protection (in Application Support). I went into TM and did a 'delete all' for this backup, and it restored a good 350 GB back to my TM drive.
    As I typed this, I initiated a TM backup, that is now 10 MB, which seems normal and expected.
    I still feel like a relative novice when it comes to the fine details of using TM, but glad I found this solution.
    Definitely have to give shout out to Pondini for pointing me to Time Tracker and for the umpteen other tips I've received from reading the Pondini.org site.
    As I marked this as a question, I would say there are 2 items for me that are still outstanding:
    1 - the backup of 10 MB is slow - still showing under 100 KB. As I'm used to this from last few weeks, not a big deal, but I'm up for any pointers from anyone who thinks this can be fixed or ought to be fixed.
    2 - I'm still curious about exclusions, especially within a 10.6 OS environment. I've excluded items that make sense, either cause I have them backed up elsewhere (i.e. iTunes Library) or because I didn't see the need (i.e. Apple Loops in Library/Audio folder). The ones that perhaps make less sense to exclude, but I'm currently not backing up are:
    - Applications folder (did initial TM backup and then excluded)
    - DropBox folder
    - Library/Caches
    - Library/Mail Downloads
    - Public folder and Users/Shared folder
    If you feel these ought to be included, let me know. And if you feel there is anything else to exclude, I'm up for hearing that.
    Thanks.

    incidently it seems that time machine backs up everything the first time and only uses the exclusion list on subsequent times

  • Time machine backup is very slow after migration to Mountain Lion

    After I migrated to mountain lion, Time machine backup is very slow. Time machine preference says there is no previous back up although I had Time machine on before migration. It did not help verymuch to connect an ethernet cable between my timecapsule and my Macbook Pro
    Here are the screenshots I see:
    Should I erase the previous backup made on Lion before backing up on Mountain lion? in this case how do I transfer the Lion backup file on another disk just in case something goes wrong before I have a good backup under Mountain Lion? just like any other file?

    After further reading on the forum, the problem was solved: I used the possibility to back up on a second disk (in the preferences Time Machine choose a disk and save on both disks) to make a back up on another usb disk, and then erased the old .sparsebundle file on my Time Capsule. I have then re defined time capsule as the back up disk and then the backup was muuuuuch faster (one night instead of less than 1 giga after 3 days.....)

  • Setting Up a New Mac From Two Different Time Machine Back-ups?

    Greetings Apple People,
    I am planning on getting a new iMac. Right now my wife I are still using our separate MacBooks from college. Both of them have Time Machine back-ups. We would like to setup our new iMac to have two different users. Is it possible to setup each of the users on the new iMac from our respective Time Machine back-ups?
    I know you can do this seamlessly with one Time Machine back-up, but can you do it from two different back-ups, essentially merging the two, while keeping the separate user profiles?
    Thanks!

    Follow the steps in Pondini's Setup New Mac guide using one computer as the source on first boot. Then, hook up the second computer and use the Migration Assistant to transfer the second user account and nothing else. Don't use the TM backup because it's much slower doing it that way than directly from each machine.
    27" i7 iMac (Mid 2011) refurb, OS X Yo (10.10), Mavs, ML & SL, G4 450 MP w/10.5 & 9.2.2

  • Trouble transferring iPhoto library from a time machine back up.

    Hi!
    I recently upgraded to the new OS and decided to do a clean install as my mac book pro is running a little slow. I did a time machine back up to save my files. When i went to put my iphoto library back it would not work as i needed the newest version of iphoto (i think i had the same one from when i got the laptop in 2009!). So i updated to the newest version and was able to retrieve the photos. The problem is i now have multiple copies of photos some with good and some with poor quality. I also have multiples of many photos and thousands of 'faces' grabbed by iphoto. Now with almost 40,000 photos its almost impossible to sort through. Any ideas how i can get my old, organized library back?
    Thanks so much!
    Erin

    You need to restore the library from the TM backup by opening TM
    and doing it from within TM:
    OT

  • Attempting to do an initial Time Machine back

    Attempting to do an initial Time Machine back up on my wifes IMac.  Approximately 190GB of data.  The external HD is 500Gb cpacity. The first 70Gb goes pretty well, by the time it gets in to the 90Gb range it is only going at about 2Gb per hour and continues to go even slower.   I never get an error message it seems to just to get continually slower.  Its been running for 36 hrs and still at about 102Gb.  Help

    You may want to try on a different hard drive if possible. I was having similar issues with a LaCie drive where backups would take upwards of 24 hours each (for 4 GB of data!). I opened the casing and put the internal drive into a new casing and backups then took about 10 minutes. All of the advice I found about slow Time Machine backups never helped me. It wasn't even a problem with the drive itself. Something about the hardware was not working properly.
    I still only use LaCie drives and recommend them highly, but that one casing had some problems that were impossible to see until I cracked it open and used something else.

Maybe you are looking for