Time Machine freezes after clicking "back up now"

Whenever I click "back up now" to start a Time Machine backup, the top of finder "rainbow wheels" and freezes for good. The only way to get out of it is to restart the computer (relaunching finder does not fix it).
OK, so why not let time machine just back up on its own? It doesn't do that, either - when the time for the "next backup" arrives, time machine simply pushes the time back by one hour (if it was scheduled for 1:00 PM and the time arrives, Time Machine just re-schedules it for 2:00 PM). It does this forever - it won't back up!
The hard drive is a brand new 1 TB that is completely error free. I am running OS X Mavericks 10.9.3.
Is this a known problem? Any suggestions on getting around this?
Thanks!

Wow, thanks for the help everyone!
Just in case anyone else has this issue, I solved it by re-installing Mavericks (not re-imaging/erasing) over my existing installation. I'm guessing it was a bug with finder that was causing it. Time Machine is now backing up without a problem.

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Time machine freezing after fresh re-install because of recovered corrupt files

Hi,
I have a Mid 2009 15" MBP running 10.8.2. Recently, my HDD crashed. And my time machine backup on an external HDD failed to mount (perhaps the backup was also corrupt?). I made an image using Disk Drill just in case and got a new HDD from Apple Support. They put in a new HDD and "recovered" my data. Now, the comp was behaving very very funny, freezing suddenly a few minutes after boot, requiring a hard shud-down and frequent kernel panics. So, I copied some of the important data in my Users folder and did a fresh install of ML on the new HDD. I also got a new external HDD and formatted it propoerly and copied back the files onto the fresh install of ML. At this point, I realised that there were certainly some files there that were corrupt(?) because, the copying back caused hanging a couple of times. Anyway, now the comp works just fine, but as soon as I begin a time machine backup, it completely freezes (just like before requiring a hard shut down), after less than a GB backing up. Please help me.

Hate to tell you this but the 2009 model MBPs were built, assembled, with a very cheaply made HDD to Logic board cable and your original drive may be fine and the cable is the thing that is failing.
I suspect this because once a drive fails it is near impossible to get any useful data off it. So if Apple was able to copy your files from the old drive to the new one that drive is probably still OK. And that you are now still having problems with the brand new drive.
No the problems you are having can not be caused by just having corrupted files store on the drive. The only files that are accessed by the operating system, while booting and running the computer, are those operating system files and whatever programs you are running. even if a program access those corrupted files it would not cause problems with the OS but may crash the program that is opening them.
As for TM not working that again is a sign that the cable is bad because TM can't copy the files to its backup over that bad cable.

Time machine freezes after restore using migration assistant

after an erase/install done in an Apple Store, I restored my Mac Book from the Time Machine using the migration agent.
To do this I created a temporary admin account and performed the Restore of all users and contents in the backup.
Now logged in as my old user ID the time machine backup starts and identifies that the entire MacBook content needs to be backed up.
TM Backup runs through the prepairing stage and reaches the "Baccking up 'xxx' MB from 'yyy' GB" message.
Then it gets stuck after 120 MB has been backed up. I did run the backup for 2 entire nights in the 2nd night it got stuck after 0 kB had been backed up.
What to I need to do to get TM running again?

If you have more than one user account, these instructions must be carried out as an administrator.
Launch the Console application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Console in the icon grid.
Make sure the title of the Console window is All Messages. If it isn't, select All Messages from the SYSTEM LOG QUERIES menu on the left. If you don't see that menu, select
View ▹ Show Log List
from the menu bar.
Enter the word "Starting" (without the quotes) in the String Matching text field. You should now see log messages with the words "Starting * backup," where * represents any of the words "automatic," "manual," or "standard." Note the timestamp of the last such message. Clear the text field and scroll back in the log to that time. Select the messages timestamped from then until the end of the backup, or the end of the log if that's not clear. Copy them (command-C) to the Clipboard. Paste (command-V) into a reply to this message.
If all you see are messages that contain the word "Starting," you didn't clear the search box.
If there are runs of repeated messages, post only one example of each. Don't post many repetitions of the same message.
When posting a log extract, be selective. Don't post more than is requested.
Please do not indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into this discussion.
Some personal information, such as the names of your files, may be included — anonymize before posting.

Time Machine crashes after clicking Select Drive

I got my MBA 13, 256SSD, i7 last week.
Trying to configure Time Machine to work with my NAS.
The NAS is a Synology DS211j on DSM 3.2 Beta, which supports TM on Mac OS X Lion.
However, before I can even select the NAS, every time I start Time Machine and go to 'Open Time Machine Preferences' - ' Select Disk' , this causes System Preferences to crash. (System Preferences quit unexpectedly.)
It seems to be unrelated to the NAS, as the Time Machine application just stops whenever I try to go into 'Select Disk'. I suspect that for some reason my Time Machine app is broken...
Anyone knows how to fix this?

I got my MBA 13, 256SSD, i7 last week.
Trying to configure Time Machine to work with my NAS.
The NAS is a Synology DS211j on DSM 3.2 Beta, which supports TM on Mac OS X Lion.
However, before I can even select the NAS, every time I start Time Machine and go to 'Open Time Machine Preferences' - ' Select Disk' , this causes System Preferences to crash. (System Preferences quit unexpectedly.)
It seems to be unrelated to the NAS, as the Time Machine application just stops whenever I try to go into 'Select Disk'. I suspect that for some reason my Time Machine app is broken...
Anyone knows how to fix this?

Time Machine freezes during back up to Passport Ext drive

Time Machine freezes during first back up to My Passport Ext drive. It is a 1TB, and seems to keep stopping at 6 to 10GB stage so never actually backs up. I have excluded files to limit first backup to about 40GB.

you sure this is a Mac Pro and not a MacBook Pro first. Most every report of issues with bus powered like Passport are best solved using a drive case with its own power instead.

Time machine freezes during back-up.

Time machine freezes during back-up. Have to unplug HD before I can regain controll over Time Machine In System Preferences. Tried loading folders the old fachion way—sometimes freezes during that also.
At first I thought I had a bad exteral HD, but I am on my fourth and still the same problem. My first Time Machine HD (THAT WORKED) now has the same problem.
I have been working with someone with apple support for weeks. We just replaced the interal HD, and still have the same problem. My iMac is only five months old
Any ideas ? ? ? .

you sure this is a Mac Pro and not a MacBook Pro first. Most every report of issues with bus powered like Passport are best solved using a drive case with its own power instead.

I have bought a Seagate Backup Plus 1TB drive, first time I have selected Mac Windows option which excludes Time Machine to work on it, but now I want to go back and select Only Mac option to activate my Time Machine application. I request you to help me

I have bought a Seagate Backup Plus 1TB drive, first time during plug-in, I have selected Mac Windows option which excludes Time Machine to work on it, but now I want to go back and select Only Mac option to activate my Time Machine application.
I request you to help me with the procedure of the same?

IMPORTANT - This will reformat your Seagate drive and hence wipe it. If there is anything on your Seagate drive you want to keep, save it somewhere else FIRST.
Plug the drive in.
In Finder select Applications > Utilities > Disc Utilities.
Select the external drive, select Partition option, give it a name (I call mine Mac Backup), select Mac OS Extended (Journaled) as the Format and under the drop down menu "Partition Layout" select the number of partitions you want (so if you want the drive to just be for Time Machine, select 1 Partition, if you want part of the drive to be for Time Machine and the rest for something else, select 2 partitions and so on). Click apply and the Disc Utility will partition and reformat your drive ready to use.
When this is complete, open Time Machine in System Preferences. Use Select Disc to select the drive (or if you have multiple partitions, the partition of the drive) you want and you are good to go.
This may be a long way round, but it gives you the option to partition your disc which you may want.

Time Machine - Shows 0 items backed up after finishing full backup

I just completed a full backup onto my Time Machine. (After completely erasing it.) If I enter the Time Machine, it shows '0' items in the backup...ie, no list of files.
If I use the finder and click on 'Time Machine Backups'...I am able to see that in fact 300GB of data was backed up.
I'm confused! I've used time machine before and was expecting to see a complete inventory of all the files after I enter Time Machine...

The default is where you are when you +Enter Time Machine.+
If you're on your Desktop (or a Finder window of your Desktop), that's what you'll see in the +Star Wars+ display.
If you start on a Finder window of, say, your home folder, or your Document folder, or your Computer name, that's what you'll see in the +Star Wars+ display.

I cannot get time machine (with airport) to back up my mac. It worked previously but not now. It is working on my macbook. the message i get is "Time Machine couldn't back up to '(airport network name)'"

I cannot get time machine (with airport) to back up my mac. It worked previously but not now. It is working on my macbook. the message i get is "Time Machine couldn't back up to '(airport network name)'" Any help is appreciated.

OS is important.. What OS is on Mac and what is on the working macbook?
Was the Airport setup from the Macbook? That might be why it works from there..
Does the AE show up in Mac airport utility?
Can you mount the disk in finder and copy files to it/from it??
Did you try a TM reset after mounting in Finder.. so you know it is available?
What about a network reboot.. does it work post a restart for a few minutes/hours/days???

I was transferring data from my old iMac to my new iMac via Time Machine. After about 4 hours, the electrical power fluctuated and turned off my wi-fi. Now most of my necessary programs are useless. How do I erase and start over?

I was transferring data from my old iMac to my new iMac via Time Machine. After about 4 hours, the electrical power fluctuated and turned off my wi-fi. Now most of my necessary programs are useless. How do I erase that mess and start over?

Hello there, LynnS.
The following Knowledge Base article and it's referenced link should get you started with the Erase and Install of Mavericks:
OS X Mavericks: Erase and reinstall OS X
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH14243
Once you've gone through those 2 articles, this article should help you with restoring from your Time Machine Backup:
OS X Mavericks: Recover your entire system
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH14185
Thanks for reaching out to Apple Support Communities.
Cheers,
Pedro.

My backup hard drive does not have enough space for time machine to perform a back up even after erasing entire contents of bu hard drive

My backup hard drive does not have enough space for time machine to perform a back up even after erasing entire contents of bu hard drive. The hard drive has been in service for almost two years performing this function with no sign of failure. How do I adjust time machine perameters?

The only way to limit the size of the backup is to exclude data from the backup, which you can do in Time Machine preferences.
If you use multiple browsers, have you tried clearing your browser caches? However, that's just a stop gap if it works. You either need to limit what you backup or get another drive.

I recently took my imac in for a recall on the hard drive, they replaced my hard drive, i used time machine to restore all my files. Now when I turn time machine on it says back up failed not enough space, it is not overwriting old back ups.

I recently took my imac in for a recall on the hard drive, they replaced my hard drive, i used time machine to restore all my files. Now when I turn time machine on it says back up failed not enough space, it is not overwriting old back ups. Why? Please help

http://pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html

After installing lion, time machine does not always back up. The back up disk is occasionally not recognized.

after installing lion, time machine does not always back up. The back up disk is occasionally not recognized. Help!

This is easy one.. for most.. just restart the TC.. ie pull out the power.. count to 10.. plug in the power.
If the simple doesn't work you can see more info here.
C12 http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html

Time Machine won't recognize back up after I move external drive to Airport

I have a new 640GB exteranl drive that I bought to back up my Mac using TIme Machine. I plugged in the drive via USB (USB powered drive), then set up Time Machine and did the first back up successfully. I then plugged my exteranl drive into Airport Extreme so I could back up wireless in the future. Airport recognies the drive, and I can see the back up folders on the drive. However, Time Machine doesn't recognize those back up folders as my Mac.
I went into Time Machine SEttings, and repointed it to the same disk, and it tries to back up everything again, wirelessly. Any ideas how to get Time Machine to recognize the back up files made while I was "hard wired" to the Mac?

Adam1076 wrote:
I have a new 640GB exteranl drive that I bought to back up my Mac using TIme Machine. I plugged in the drive via USB (USB powered drive), then set up Time Machine and did the first back up successfully. I then plugged my exteranl drive into Airport Extreme so I could back up wireless in the future. Airport recognies the drive, and I can see the back up folders on the drive. However, Time Machine doesn't recognize those back up folders as my Mac.
I went into Time Machine SEttings, and repointed it to the same disk, and it tries to back up everything again, wirelessly. Any ideas how to get Time Machine to recognize the back up files made while I was "hard wired" to the Mac?
that's not possible. remote backups are stored differently. directly attached backups are stored directly in a folder on the drive. remote ones are stored inside a sparse bundle. you'll have to start a new backup sequence if you want to do remote backups.

Time Machine "freezes" and I am NOT running anti-virus software

I am incredibly frustrasted and disappointed as a first-time Apple user (brand new iMac (Intel-based) with an external LaCie 500 GB external hard disk). The problem is Time Machine. It backs up on schedule, but when I enter Time Machine, I cannot navigate at all. The background screen (outer space) moves, the cursor moves, but I cannot click on anything. I have to "force quit". So I guess I have things backed up, but can't do anything with them.
I am NOT running antivirus software. I had Intego loaded on the computer, but removed it completely after reading on Apple blogs that this could interfere with Time Machine. I have reformatted the external hard disk. Still, Time Machine freezes. Apple has put out a couple of patches, I understand, but that was months ago and all of my software is up to date.
I have called Apple support TWICE and they act as if I am from the moon -- how dare I question that the Time Machine does not work properly?
Does anyone out there know how to fix this? I am ready to return this computer to the Apple store, which cheerfully sold me on the idea of an external hard disk as a back-up.

Hello Zurichmike (lovely country):
Welcome to Apple discussions.
There are several things you could try. Easy ones first:
Erase and reformat your external HD.
Run repair disk from your software install DVD (on your internal HD).
Go to Macintosh HD>library>preferences. Trash the TM preference file (com.apple.timemachine.plist) and restart. The TM preferences will need to be changed as they are now default values.
Barry

Time Machine freezes after clicking "back up now"

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