Time Machine preparing for over 19 hours ??

Is this exceptionally long? There has not been a backup of the laptop (to the Time Capsule) for about 3 months. I have installed the monitoring widget for time machine and this shows that it is doing the full scan - but come on surely nearly a day preparing is too much. I have the laptop connected directly to the time capsule via ethernet.
Piers

pierslofi wrote:
Is this exceptionally long?
Yes. It's clearly stuck.
There has not been a backup of the laptop (to the Time Capsule) for about 3 months.
After that long, TM will almost certainly do a full backup. So if your TC isn't considerably more than twice the size of the data it's backing-up, your best bet will be to erase it and let TM start fresh.
Also, try all the things in item #D2 of the Time Machine - Troubleshooting *User Tip* at the top of this forum.

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MY POSSIBLE FIX for Time Machine preparing for ages every hour

Like many others, i have had problems with Time Machines backups - ever since upgrading to 10.5.2. Every hour it would say 'preparing' for ages, and then, when it did finally backup, the data transfer was incredibly slow. Not to mention the amount of cpu usage it was using during the preparing status!
I have no idea if this is a FIX, or if i was just lucky, but Time Machine now works as it should, i.e. it backs-up seamlessly.
Anyway, this is what i did: booted from my Tiger disc (yes, even though i have Leopard) and went into its 'disc utility', from there i selected 'repair permissions'. Once the Tiger disc had completed repairing the permissions, i quit out of it and restarted my MacBook normally, i.e. not from the Tiger disc. When it had finished restarting, i went to disc utility and selected 'repair permissions'.
Ever since, TM has been just perfect. Coincidence? - i honestly do not know.
By the way, i don't know if repairing the permissions from within Leopard did anything or not, but this is the sequence i used. Plus also, it might be good to note that i had repaired permissions many a time, but with no success in fixing TM, but once doing it from the Tiger disc it fixed TM.
I hope it helps someone, because i know just how annoying it was when TM was not working correctly!

I upgraded from Tiger to Leopard, which is why i believe i have had trouble.
What is 'A&I or E&I'?

Time Capsule "preparing" for over 7 hours with no progress? anyone help?

I can see it and access it, yet it just keeps preparing! tried everything, ethernet, wireless, resetting. Had enough of this useless piece of junk, just problem after problem, shame on you Apple.

The Time Capsule does not prepare for anything.. it has nought to do with ethernet or wireless.
It is Time Machine that is preparing.. ie software on your computer.
But the TC and Lion do have marriage issues.. they need the occasional reboot to get back together.
Read Pondini troubleshooting to find the actual cause of the problem.
http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
Install the widget so you know what is going on..
And run verify on the disk..
See A1 and A5.
It is important you follow it as the means used to backup is rather complex.

Time Machine-"preparing for EVER/backup"

i read an earlier post, saying that after mac crashes, its likely TM wants to do an initial backup again, and something in Console..
I hadnt crashed, only change was hadnt backed up in 2 weeks while traveling...so after coming home, my Time Capsule and Time Machine went to back up, and 4 hours of "preparing back up", it never backed up..And i guess my question is, why is the response from TM to want to do its initial backup as opposed to just backing up to whatever is new or had changed. Does this mean, after a day or two of not connecting with TimeCapsule or whatever External Drive I choose, that this will happen? As for now, how long would you say is a normal time, for the "preparing" to...prepare, and start to backup? And if its doing its initial, isnt it wanting to do everything, so there will be duplicates?
thank you for any help!!!

JGcalifornia wrote:
i read an earlier post, saying that after mac crashes, its likely TM wants to do an initial backup again, and something in Console..
If that's what it said, it was wrong. After a crash, TM can't be sure where everything was when "the lights went out", so it will likely do a "deep traversal", examining every file and folder on your system to see what needs to be backed-up. It will send explanatory messages to your logs. This process takes quite a while, of course, and much more with a Time Capsule, but TM won't do a full backup just because of a crash.
I hadnt crashed, only change was hadnt backed up in 2 weeks while traveling...so after coming home, my Time Capsule and Time Machine went to back up, and 4 hours of "preparing back up", it never backed up..And i guess my question is, why is the response from TM to want to do its initial backup as opposed to just backing up to whatever is new or had changed. Does this mean, after a day or two of not connecting with TimeCapsule or whatever External Drive I choose, that this will happen? As for now, how long would you say is a normal time, for the "preparing" to...prepare, and start to backup? And if its doing its initial, isnt it wanting to do everything, so there will be duplicates?
You have about three questions there.
First, TM will do a full, complete backup after certain hardware repairs, a full restore, or going several days without a backup. Just how many days is unclear, but it seems to be a combination of days and the volume of changes: 10 days seems safe, 2 weeks may not be.
And yes, this is another full backup of everything on your system. So it will take a very long time and a lot of disk space. Depending on how much space is available, you may want to erase the disk and let TM start over.
You say TM "never backed up" after the lengthy "preparing" phase. Did the backup fail, or did you cancel it?
If it failed, we need to look at the messages in your logs. Download the +Time Machine Buddy+ widget from: http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/status/timemachinebuddy.html. It shows the messages from your logs for one TM backup run at a time, in a small window. Navigate to the failed backup, then copy and post the messages here (be sure to get them all, as sometimes they overflow the small window).

Leopard applications all hang while Time Machine prepares for backup

I'm sure others have posted about this but I can't find a usable solution. I have the most recent version of Leopard, a 1TB external FireWire drive dedicated to Time Machine storage and about 400GB of backups on it. Every day at some point, Time Machine starts a backup, pauses while preparing, and the entire Mac grinds to a halt. New processes won't launch, open applications hang, Finder becomes unresponsive, menus and dock freeze in whatever position they were in at the point of launch, and I can't cancel the backup process.
The only solution is to turn off the backup drive while its running and wait for the Mac to wake up again (which it does in under a minute). I have no virus protection running. I have erased the drive and started fresh at least once to no avail.
Since I am effectively breaking a live connection every time I turn the drive off without unmounting it first (an obvious no-no), the data has great potential to be getting more and more screwed up. What can I do?

Message logs:
October 12, 2009, 1:43:25 AM
Volume at path /Volumes/Racer BU does not appear to be the correct backup volume for this computer. (Cookies do not match)
Backup failed with error: 18
October 12, 2009, 11:32:32 AM
Starting standard backup
Backing up to: /Volumes/Racer BU/Backups.backupdb
Event store UUIDs don't match for volume: Racer X
Node requires deep traversal:/ reason:kFSEDBEventFlagMustScanSubDirs|kFSEDBEventFlagReasonEventDBUntrustable|
No pre-backup thinning needed: 984.2 MB requested (including padding), 443.72 GB available
Copied 21948 files (368.1 MB) from volume Racer X.
No pre-backup thinning needed: 548.2 MB requested (including padding), 443.35 GB available
Copied 961 files (965 KB) from volume Racer X.
Starting post-backup thinning
Deleted backup /Volumes/Racer BU/Backups.backupdb/Eric’s Mac Pro/2009-10-10-215828: 443.35 GB now available
Deleted backup /Volumes/Racer BU/Backups.backupdb/Eric’s Mac Pro/2009-10-10-205855: 443.36 GB now available
Deleted backup /Volumes/Racer BU/Backups.backupdb/Eric’s Mac Pro/2009-10-10-195856: 443.40 GB now available
Deleted backup /Volumes/Racer BU/Backups.backupdb/Eric’s Mac Pro/2009-10-10-185908: 443.46 GB now available
Deleted backup /Volumes/Racer BU/Backups.backupdb/Eric’s Mac Pro/2009-10-10-175907: 443.51 GB now available
Post-back up thinning complete: 5 expired backups removed
Backup completed successfully.
October 12, 2009, 12:18:32 PM
Starting standard backup
Backing up to: /Volumes/Racer BU/Backups.backupdb
No pre-backup thinning needed: 954.4 MB requested (including padding), 443.51 GB available
Unable to rebuild path cache for source item. Partial source path:
Copied 16717 files (339.6 MB) from volume Racer X.
No pre-backup thinning needed: 569.5 MB requested (including padding), 443.17 GB available
Copied 634 files (18.7 MB) from volume Racer X.
Starting post-backup thinning
Deleted backup /Volumes/Racer BU/Backups.backupdb/Eric’s Mac Pro/2009-10-10-225832: 443.24 GB now available
Deleted backup /Volumes/Racer BU/Backups.backupdb/Eric’s Mac Pro/2009-10-10-165828: 443.25 GB now available
Deleted backup /Volumes/Racer BU/Backups.backupdb/Eric’s Mac Pro/2009-10-10-155855: 443.30 GB now available
Deleted backup /Volumes/Racer BU/Backups.backupdb/Eric’s Mac Pro/2009-10-10-145857: 443.36 GB now available
Deleted backup /Volumes/Racer BU/Backups.backupdb/Eric’s Mac Pro/2009-10-10-135852: 443.38 GB now available
Post-back up thinning complete: 5 expired backups removed
Backup completed successfully.
October 12, 2009, 4:46:51 PM
Starting standard backup
Volume at path /Volumes/Racer BU does not appear to be the correct backup volume for this computer. (Cookies do not match)
Backup failed with error: 18
etc...
The long periods between backups are when it is "preparing for backup" and nothing is happening. Sometimes this is while I'm not using it and the machine is asleep.

No sound while time machine prepares for backup

something strange happen to my OS. yesterday i updated to 10.5.2, and now, while time-machine started to prepare it's backup, i tried to listen to a mp3 song.
no sound came. in the system preferences, suddenly i don't have any sound input or output devices.
i have a powerbook g4, 1.87 ghz, 1.5 RAM.
what is going on here???.

something strange happen to my OS. yesterday i updated to 10.5.2, and now, while time-machine started to prepare it's backup, i tried to listen to a mp3 song.
no sound came. in the system preferences, suddenly i don't have any sound input or output devices.
i have a powerbook g4, 1.87 ghz, 1.5 RAM.
what is going on here???.

Time Machine Preparing for ages

I know this has come up a lot, but there seem to be so many possibilities, I thought I'd post some data from Time Machine Buddy.
Basically it had all been working great, but seems to have gone AWOL recently. Its still saying preparing just now in my latest attempt. (To be fair, hasn't been that long), but I'd been getting some error messages about not being able to mount etc.
And that appears in the TMB report so far :
Starting standard backup
Mounted network destination using URL: afp://Iain%[email protected]/Time%20Capsule
Backup destination mounted at path: /Volumes/Time Capsule
Failed to mount disk image /Volumes/Time Capsule/Iain MacDonald’s MacBook Pro_002332b100e6.sparsebundle (DIHLDiskImageAttach returned: 60)
Waiting 60 seconds and trying again.
Failed to eject volume /Volumes/Time Capsule (FSVolumeRefNum: -101; status: -47; dissenting pid: 0)
Backup destination alias resolved to path: /Volumes/Time Capsule
Any clues as to what my next steps should be would be much appreciated.
Many thanks.
Message was edited by: Iain MacDonald1

I upgraded from Tiger to Leopard, which is why i believe i have had trouble.
What is 'A&I or E&I'?

Time capule preparing to backup for over 24 hours

My time capsule has not backed up since the last successful backup at 1:25 est, Wednesday. When I open the time machine preferences, it says that its preparing to backup (which it has been doing for over 24 hours). Any ideas please?

Hi there!
I had some problems with the instalation of the Time Capsule (TC).
Not it's with the green light and it's working fine (I think). I'm not totally sure because the backup process took more than one day! And when I open the Time Machine I only have the present time (Today) available... I can't navigate trough the time.
Maybe it's normal taking that time to backup.
About not backing up since your last time, in the 'Open Time Machine Preferences' you can set the TC to backup periodically.
Espero que tenha ajudado...
Hope that I helped something... I'm having also some problems to understand TC still!
Pedro Lopes

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.

I have a mid2009 MacBook Pro for which I have been using a USB WD HD for Time Machine. I'd like to get a wireless HD and start a new Time Machine backup for this Mac and retire the 5 year old WD drive. Can I start over?

I have a mid2009 MacBook Pro running Mavericks for which I have been using a USB WD HD for Time Machine. I'd like to get a wireless HD and start a new Time Machine backup for this Mac and retire the 5 year old WD drive. Can I start over?

no archive/ backup is perfect, HD clones can be set to make incremental additions, same as time machine however, though they are more time involved in doing so.
See the + and - of all data backup/ archives below and "spread it around".... or the "dont put your eggs all in one basket" philosophy.
Peace
Data Storage Platforms; their Drawbacks & Advantages
#1. Time Machine / Time Capsule
Drawbacks:
1. Time Machine is not bootable, if your internal drive fails, you cannot access files or boot from TM directly from the dead computer.
2. Time machine is controlled by complex software, and while you can delve into the TM backup database for specific file(s) extraction, this is not ideal or desirable.
3. Time machine can and does have the potential for many error codes in which data corruption can occur and your important backup files may not be saved correctly, at all, or even damaged. This extra link of failure in placing software between your data and its recovery is a point of risk and failure. A HD clone is not subject to these errors.
4. Time machine mirrors your internal HD, in which cases of data corruption, this corruption can immediately spread to the backup as the two are linked. TM is perpetually connected (or often) to your computer, and corruption spread to corruption, without isolation, which TM lacks (usually), migrating errors or corruption is either automatic or extremely easy to unwittingly do.
5. Time Machine does not keep endless copies of changed or deleted data, and you are often not notified when it deletes them; likewise you may accidently delete files off your computer and this accident is mirrored on TM.
6. Restoring from TM is quite time intensive.
7. TM is a backup and not a data archive, and therefore by definition a low-level security of vital/important data.
8. TM working premise is a “black box” backup of OS, APPS, settings, and vital data that nearly 100% of users never verify until an emergency hits or their computers internal SSD or HD that is corrupt or dead and this is an extremely bad working premise on vital data.
9. Given that data created and stored is growing exponentially, the fact that TM operates as a “store-it-all” backup nexus makes TM inherently incapable to easily backup massive amounts of data, nor is doing so a good idea.
10. TM working premise is a backup of a users system and active working data, and NOT massive amounts of static data, yet most users never take this into consideration, making TM a high-risk locus of data “bloat”.
11. In the case of Time Capsule, wifi data storage is a less than ideal premise given possible wireless data corruption.
12. TM like all HD-based data is subject to ferromagnetic and mechanical failure.
13. *Level-1 security of your vital data.
Advantages:
1. TM is very easy to use either in automatic mode or in 1-click backups.
2. TM is a perfect novice level simplex backup single-layer security save against internal HD failure or corruption.
3. TM can easily provide a seamless no-gap policy of active data that is often not easily capable in HD clones or HD archives (only if the user is lazy is making data saves).
#2. HD archives
Drawbacks:
1. Like all HD-based data is subject to ferromagnetic and mechanical failure.
2. Unless the user ritually copies working active data to HD external archives, then there is a time-gap of potential missing data; as such users must be proactive in archiving data that is being worked on or recently saved or created.
Advantages:
1. Fills the gap left in a week or 2-week-old HD clone, as an example.
2. Simplex no-software data storage that is isolated and autonomous from the computer (in most cases).
3. HD archives are the best idealized storage source for storing huge and multi-terabytes of data.
4. Best-idealized 1st platform redundancy for data protection.
5. *Perfect primary tier and level-2 security of your vital data.
#3. HD clones (see below for full advantages / drawbacks)
Drawbacks:
1. HD clones can be incrementally updated to hourly or daily, however this is time consuming and HD clones are, often, a week or more old, in which case data between today and the most fresh HD clone can and would be lost (however this gap is filled by use of HD archives listed above or by a TM backup).
2. Like all HD-based data is subject to ferromagnetic and mechanical failure.
Advantages:
1. HD clones are the best, quickest way to get back to 100% full operation in mere seconds.
2. Once a HD clone is created, the creation software (Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper) is no longer needed whatsoever, and unlike TM, which requires complex software for its operational transference of data, a HD clone is its own bootable entity.
3. HD clones are unconnected and isolated from recent corruption.
4. HD clones allow a “portable copy” of your computer that you can likewise connect to another same Mac and have all your APPS and data at hand, which is extremely useful.
5. Rather than, as many users do, thinking of a HD clone as a “complimentary backup” to the use of TM, a HD clone is superior to TM both in ease of returning to 100% quickly, and its autonomous nature; while each has its place, TM can and does fill the gap in, say, a 2 week old clone. As an analogy, the HD clone itself is the brick wall of protection, whereas TM can be thought of as the mortar, which will fill any cracks in data on a week, 2-week, or 1-month old HD clone.
6. Best-idealized 2nd platform redundancy for data protection, and 1st level for system restore of your computers internal HD. (Time machine being 2nd level for system restore of the computer’s internal HD).
7. *Level-2 security of your vital data.
HD cloning software options:
1. SuperDuper HD cloning software APP (free)
2. Carbon Copy Cloner APP (will copy the recovery partition as well)
3. Disk utility HD bootable clone.
#4. Online archives
Drawbacks:
1. Subject to server failure or due to non-payment of your hosting account, it can be suspended.
2. Subject, due to lack of security on your part, to being attacked and hacked/erased.
Advantages:
1. In case of house fire, etc. your data is safe.
2. In travels, and propagating files to friends and likewise, a mere link by email is all that is needed and no large media needs to be sent across the net.
3. Online archives are the perfect and best-idealized 3rd platform redundancy for data protection.
4. Supremely useful in data isolation from backups and local archives in being online and offsite for long-distance security in isolation.
5. *Level-1.5 security of your vital data.
#5. DVD professional archival media
Drawbacks:
1. DVD single-layer disks are limited to 4.7Gigabytes of data.
2. DVD media are, given rough handling, prone to scratches and light-degradation if not stored correctly.
Advantages:
1. Archival DVD professional blank media is rated for in excess of 100+ years.
2. DVD is not subject to mechanical breakdown.
3. DVD archival media is not subject to ferromagnetic degradation.
4. DVD archival media correctly sleeved and stored is currently a supreme storage method of archiving vital data.
5. DVD media is once written and therefore free of data corruption if the write is correct.
6. DVD media is the perfect ideal for “freezing” and isolating old copies of data for reference in case newer generations of data become corrupted and an older copy is needed to revert to.
7. Best-idealized 4th platform redundancy for data protection.
8. *Level-3 (highest) security of your vital data.
[*Level-4 data security under development as once-written metallic plates and synthetic sapphire and likewise ultra-long-term data storage]
#6. Cloud based storage
Drawbacks:
1. Cloud storage can only be quasi-possessed.
2. No genuine true security and privacy of data.
3. Should never be considered for vital data storage or especially long-term.
4. *Level-0 security of your vital data.
Advantages:
1. Quick, easy and cheap storage location for simplex files for transfer to keep on hand and yet off the computer.
2. Easy source for small-file data sharing.

I have an old ipod that i have not used in a very long time, ive had it on a charger now for over an hour and i still cnnot get my ipod to turn on, how can i fix my problem, i just downloaded the new version of itunes aswell, so i know its not my itunes.

i have an old ipod touch that i have not used in a very long time, and im having trouble gettign it to turn on. ive had it on a charger for over an hour now and still nothing hs changed. i just updated my itunes to the current version they haev so i know its not an itunes problem its rather a problem with the old ipod touch itself. im leaving for deployment soon and im trying to get this fixed without having to send it in. If anyone has any ideas on how to get this thing turned on it would be greatly appreciated.

Well, two thoughts.
The battery has completely discharged and will take overnight to recharge, so don't expect much in an hour.
The battery has deep discharged and is now dead. It will never recharge and should be replaced.
If your iPod Touch, iPhone, or iPad is Broken
Apple does not fix iDevices. Instead they exchange yours for a refurbished or new replacement depending upon the age of your device and refurbished inventories. On rare occasions when there are no longer refurbished units for your older model, they may replace it with the next newer model.
You may take your device to an Apple retailer for help or you may call Customer Service and arrange to send your device to Apple:
Apple Store Customer Service at 1-800-676-2775 or visit online Help for more information.
To contact product and tech support: Contacting Apple for support and service - this includes international calling numbers.
iPod Service Support and Costs
iPhone Service Support and Costs
iPad Service Support and Costs
There are third-party firms that do repairs on iDevices, and there are places where you can order parts to DIY if you feel up to the task. Start with Google to search for these.
The flat fee for a battery exchange is, I believe, $99.00 USD.

Hi I'm trying to download the iOS 7 but it keeps on saying estimating the remaining time and it has been doing this for over a hour

i am trying to download ios 7 but it keeps on say estimating time and it has been doing this for over a hour what do i do?

Click here. This version can't sync any device running iOS 7.
(90145)

I have been on hold for over 3 hours now. 3rd time calling billing department this week

I was told that I was being transfered to the billing department over 180 minutes ago. I have been on hold for over 3 hours and was on the phone with tech for 2 additional hours. This is extremely unprofessional. I was to get a refund for the past 2 months since the issue with PS and DW crashing and the ticket is still open. now i have lost productivity for 2 days due to tech additional day on hold. How is this even possible.

I am on terminal hold in the chat room. Tomorrow, I have to try calling them on the phone. This is what I have sent them so far.
"I see that some of the people in the "community" may have been waiting to chat for several hours! I am trying to purchase adobe cloud on line and I keep getting a message
"Your billing address doesn't seem to match the credit card you entered. Check to make sure you entered this information correctly, and if you still can't place your order, please call us at +1 800-585-0774. If you're not in North America, you can look up a local number here."
I have double-checked my billing address several times and I get the same message. How many times am I being charged for this?"

I've have just purchased FCP-X, but it is taking a very long time to install. It has been at it for over an hour. Does that seem right? Tahnks.

I've have just purchased FCP-X, but it is taking a very long time to install. It has been at it for over an hour. Does that seem right? Thanks.

It's about a 2.5G file. How fast is your connection? There should be a progress bar in the App Store next to the app. You should also see a progress bar on your computer, depending on the OS.

TS2771 My daughters iPod touch does not turn on even after hooked up to charger for over 24 hours. Tried to hold the power button and home button at same time for 10 seconds and still did not turn on.

My daughters iPod touch does not turn on even after hooked up to charger for over 24 hours. Tried to hold the power button and home button at same time for 10 seconds and still did not turn on.

Try:
- iOS: Not responding or does not turn on
- Also try DFU mode after try recovery mode
How to put iPod touch / iPhone into DFU mode « Karthik's scribblings
- If not successful and you can't fully turn the iOS device fully off, let the battery fully drain. After charging for an least an hour try the above again.
- Try on another computer
- If still not successful that usually indicates a hardware problem and an appointment at the Genius Bar of an Apple store is in order.
Apple Retail Store - Genius Bar

Time Machine preparing for over 19 hours ??

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