Time Machine stuck in "Calculating Changes"

I am backing up time machine to a 1 tb Seagate GoFlex Desk. It is formatted to MacOS extended journaled. It works about 80% of the time, but a couple of times a day I check and it is stuck in "calculating changes". The only solution i have found is unplugging it which gives me the message "You need to eject". I just reinstalled the os hoping that would take care of it, but no dice. I did try logging out to see if that reset it, and it got stuck at my blank desktop background. But when I unplugged the harddrive, it finished logging out. Anyone have any solutions to these very annoying problems?

Hi jtupnsmoke - I have the exact same problems and am also using the Seagate 1TB Flex Drive- have had unplug the drive and have had the improperly ejecting the drive message, etc. I'm stuck in calculating changes once again. It is the only problem I've had that I wasn't able to fix with help from all of the great people on these boards. I'm about ready to plug in my old OWC Neptune external drive and see if it makes a difference.

Similar Messages

  • Time Capsule / Time Machine stuck on 'calculating changes'

    Time Machine has not backed up to my Time Capsule for the last several weeks on my MacBook Pro. It is constantly stuck on 'calculating changes' for hours. I have tried other suggestions I have found in the forum like verify and repair disc on both my internal HDD and on the time capsule drive. No errors were found on either drive. I normally backup via wifi and I have also tried plugging directly into the time capsule with an ethernet cord. It doesn't make any difference either with wifi or ethernet.
    The time capsule drive is full, but I just assumed that Time Machine would erase the oldest backups and continue. I don't know if this is an issue with the problem I am having. I downloaded the time machine widget as suggested in other posts on this topic, the log is posted below. There are errors about the disc being full and an error writing to the backup log. I don't know why it can't right to the log or what could be wrong. After looking at the logs, it appears that what is shown below just continues to repeat about every two hours (time machine seems to give up after about 2 hours and starts over again with the same result).
    I am thinking of erasing the time capsule disc and trying to start over, but would like to figure why this has happened before I erase the disc. I am also worried about erasing my only backups, even if they are three weeks old. Entering time machines still seems to give me all of my older backups like nothing is wrong, but I haven't restored from one so they may not work if I tried.
    Any help would or insight into this would be greatly appreciated.
    Starting standard backup
    Attempting to mount network destination using URL: afp://Kason%[email protected]/Data
    Mounted network destination using URL: afp://Kason%[email protected]/Data
    QUICKCHECK ONLY; FILESYSTEM CLEAN
    Disk image /Volumes/Data/MacBook Pro.sparsebundle mounted at: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups
    Backing up to: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb
    Error writing to backup log. NSFileHandleOperationException:* -[NSConcreteFileHandle writeData:]: No space left on device
    Exception writing exclusions cache. NSFileHandleOperationException:* -[NSConcreteFileHandle writeData:]: No space left on device
    Unable to create exclusions cache data.
    Failed to write exclusions cache. Continuing anyway.
    Error writing to backup log. NSFileHandleOperationException:* -[NSConcreteFileHandle writeData:]: No space left on device
    Waiting for index to be ready (101)
    Waiting for index to be ready (101)
    Waiting for index to be ready (101)
    Waiting for index to be ready (101)
    Waiting for index to be ready (101)
    Waiting for index to be ready (101)
    Waiting for index to be ready (101)
    Waiting for index to be ready (101)
    Waiting for index to be ready (101)
    Waiting for index to be ready (101)
    Waiting for index to be ready (101)
    Waiting for index to be ready (101)
    Waiting for index to be ready (101)
    Waiting for index to be ready (101)
    Waiting for index to be ready (101)
    Waiting for index to be ready (101)
    Waiting for index to be ready (101)
    Waiting for index to be ready (101)
    Waiting for index to be ready (101)
    Waiting for index to be ready (101)
    Waiting for index to be ready (101)
    Waiting for index to be ready (101)
    Waiting for index to be ready (101)
    Waiting for index to be ready (101)
    Waiting for index to be ready (101)
    Waiting for index to be ready (101)
    Waiting for index to be ready (101)
    Waiting for index to be ready (101)
    Error writing to backup log. NSFileHandleOperationException:* -[NSConcreteFileHandl

    jaxx323 wrote:
    The time capsule drive is full, but I just assumed that Time Machine would erase the oldest backups and continue.
    Ordinarily it will. Do you have other data on the drive? If so, it appears that other data has completely filled the drive, so much so that Time Machine can't even start the hidden log it keeps there.
    Error writing to backup log. NSFileHandleOperationException:* -[NSConcreteFileHandle writeData:]: No space left on device
    Usually when that happens, the backup crashes.
    First, cancel the backup. If it won't cancel after a few moments, see #D6 in [Time Machine - Troubleshooting|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/Troubleshooting.html].
    Then connect via an Ethernet cable if at all possible. Time Machine needs to do some intensive work, and it will be slow even via Ethernet, but 2-3 times slower via WIFI.
    If there's other stuff on the drive, you could copy some of it elsewhere temporary and delete it. You only need to free up 50 MB or so.
    But your best bet is to delete your oldest backup(s), then "compact" the sparse bundle they're in, to make some space. See #12 of [Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/FAQ.html].
    Since it's been several weeks, you may want to delete roughly one old backup for each of those weeks, then "compact" the sparse bundle. If you only delete one, then Time Machine will have to delete more, but it will delete one, dismount the sparse bundle, compact it, then remount it to see if there's enough room. That gets repeated over and over until there's enough space.
    Once this is sorted out, if there is other stuff on your TC's internal HD, see #Q3 in [Using Time Machine with a Time Capsule|http://web.me.com/pondini/TimeMachine/TimeCapsule.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).

  • Time machine stuck on 'calculating changes'

    I have been using Time Machine backups to a 2TB Time Capsule for over a year, and one of my 4 computers has recently stopped backing up. The other 3 are still backing up fine, and I ran disk utility on the Time Capsule which stated that it was working fine as well. Backing up my MacBook Pro is now stuck in an endless (over 24 hrs) 'calculating changes'. I have tried directly connecting it via ethernet to the Time Capsule, but still have the same problem. I'd prefer not to start from scratch as the base backup is around 250GB. Any advice?

    Well, I repaired the disk -- but still having the same problem. Seems to be getting stuck at the same place in the log:
    Starting standard backup
    Attempting to mount network destination using URL: afp://Mark%[email protected]/Data
    Mounted network destination using URL: afp://Mark%[email protected]/Data
    Error loading /Library/Plug-ins/DiskImages/NUMPlugin.bundle/Contents/MacOS/NUMPlugin: dlopen(/Library/Plug-ins/DiskImages/NUMPlugin.bundle/Contents/MacOS/NUMPlugin, 262): no suitable image found. Did find:\n /Library/Plug-ins/DiskImages/NUMPlugin.bundle/Contents/MacOS/NUMPlugin: mach-o, but wrong architecture
    Cannot find function pointer VRPreviewCFPlugInFactory for factory 20D1C6B2-6A02-11D7-B5A6-000393D45566 in CFBundle/CFPlugIn 0x10050db60 </Library/Plug-ins/DiskImages/NUMPlugin.bundle> (bundle, not loaded)
    Error loading /Library/Plug-ins/DiskImages/NUMPlugin.bundle/Contents/MacOS/NUMPlugin: dlopen(/Library/Plug-ins/DiskImages/NUMPlugin.bundle/Contents/MacOS/NUMPlugin, 262): no suitable image found. Did find:\n /Library/Plug-ins/DiskImages/NUMPlugin.bundle/Contents/MacOS/NUMPlugin: mach-o, but wrong architecture
    Cannot find function pointer VRPreviewCFPlugInFactory for factory 20D1C6B2-6A02-11D7-B5A6-000393D45566 in CFBundle/CFPlugIn 0x10050db60 </Library/Plug-ins/DiskImages/NUMPlugin.bundle> (bundle, not loaded)
    2010-09-12 18:23:53.015 diskimages-helper[256:2103] Error loading /Library/Plug-ins/DiskImages/NUMPlugin.bundle/Contents/MacOS/NUMPlugin: dlopen(/Library/Plug-ins/DiskImages/NUMPlugin.bundle/Contents/MacOS/NUMPlugin, 262): no suitable image found. Did find:
    /Library/Plug-ins/DiskImages/NUMPlugin.bundle/Contents/MacOS/NUMPlugin: mach-o, but wrong architecture
    2010-09-12 18:23:53.018 diskimages-helper[256:2103] Cannot find function pointer VRPreviewCFPlugInFactory for factory 20D1C6B2-6A02-11D7-B5A6-000393D45566 in CFBundle/CFPlugIn 0x1003193a0 </Library/Plug-ins/DiskImages/NUMPlugin.bundle> (bundle, not loaded)
    2010-09-12 18:23:53.189 diskimages-helper[256:2103] Error loading /Library/Plug-ins/DiskImages/NUMPlugin.bundle/Contents/MacOS/NUMPlugin: dlopen(/Library/Plug-ins/DiskImages/NUMPlugin.bundle/Contents/MacOS/NUMPlugin, 262): no suitable image found. Did find:
    /Library/Plug-ins/DiskImages/NUMPlugin.bundle/Contents/MacOS/NUMPlugin: mach-o, but wrong architecture
    2010-09-12 18:23:53.190 diskimages-helper[256:2103] Cannot find function pointer VRPreviewCFPlugInFactory for factory 20D1C6B2-6A02-11D7-B5A6-000393D45566 in CFBundle/CFPlugIn 0x1003193a0 </Library/Plug-ins/DiskImages/NUMPlugin.bundle> (bundle, not loaded)
    QUICKCHECK ONLY; FILESYSTEM CLEAN
    2010-09-12 18:23:55.265 diskimages-helper[263:2103] Error loading /Library/Plug-ins/DiskImages/NUMPlugin.bundle/Contents/MacOS/NUMPlugin: dlopen(/Library/Plug-ins/DiskImages/NUMPlugin.bundle/Contents/MacOS/NUMPlugin, 262): no suitable image found. Did find:
    /Library/Plug-ins/DiskImages/NUMPlugin.bundle/Contents/MacOS/NUMPlugin: mach-o, but wrong architecture
    2010-09-12 18:23:55.267 diskimages-helper[263:2103] Cannot find function pointer VRPreviewCFPlugInFactory for factory 20D1C6B2-6A02-11D7-B5A6-000393D45566 in CFBundle/CFPlugIn 0x10051bae0 </Library/Plug-ins/DiskImages/NUMPlugin.bundle> (bundle, not loaded)
    2010-09-12 18:23:55.402 diskimages-helper[263:2103] Error loading /Library/Plug-ins/DiskImages/NUMPlugin.bundle/Contents/MacOS/NUMPlugin: dlopen(/Library/Plug-ins/DiskImages/NUMPlugin.bundle/Contents/MacOS/NUMPl

  • Time machine stuck on 'caculating changes'

    I upgraded to snow leopard with no problems except that I can't get a time machine backup completed. The message is stuck on 'calculating changes'. I have done a reset of time machine etc. but no luck so far. Any advice? Message in my time machine widget is:
    Backing up to: /Volumes/Ivisonbackup/Backups.backupdb
    Event store UUIDs don't match for volume:....
    Waiting for index to be ready (101)
    etc.
    Thanks

    Hi, and welcome to the forums.
    What's the "etc." ?
    If it's more of the "Waiting for index . . ." messages, that's likely a problem with your TM volume, or communicating with it.
    Start by repairing your backups, per #A5 in [Time Machine - Troubleshooting|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/Troubleshooting.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of the +Time Machine+ forum).
    If that doesn't help, post back with details, including all the messages, your setup (especially the destination for the backups), what you've done, and the results.
    Message was edited by: Pondini

  • Time machine hung on calculating changes (stuck at 99%)

    Im experiencing a few problems with time machine which is currently set to back up wirelessly to a time capsule. This has been working great for about a year now never any problems with any backup in the past but over the last day i can not get a backup to complete.
    N.B; i have been staying away for the past two weeks as i am at university so i'm aware the first backup will be large with a two week gap. Though this is not usually a problem. The other change is i have recently changed the net work set up, before Time capsule was connected to another router (BT Voyager 205) in bridge mode, now i have a new router (BT home hub 2.0) and have re-configured time capsule to simply join the wireless network for back up and storage purposes.
    Heres what i have tried:
    Powering down the time capsule and my laptop several times
    unselecting the disk in the time machine options, selecting none and then re-selecting the disk
    a full reset of time machine (followed the steps found here; http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2057525)
    Heres the console log messages:
    05/03/2010 12:09:02 com.apple.backupd[281] Starting standard backup
    05/03/2010 12:09:02 com.apple.backupd[281] Attempting to mount network destination using URL: afp://James%20Clough@James%20Clough's%20Time%20Capsule.afpovertcp.tcp.local/Data
    05/03/2010 12:09:02 com.apple.backupd[281] Mounted network destination using URL: afp://James%20Clough@James%20Clough's%20Time%20Capsule.afpovertcp.tcp.local/Data
    05/03/2010 12:10:41 com.apple.backupd[281] Disk image /Volumes/Data-1/James MacBook_0023df8f4ff4.sparsebundle mounted at: /Volumes/Backup of James MacBook
    05/03/2010 12:10:47 com.apple.backupd[281] Backing up to: /Volumes/Backup of James MacBook/Backups.backupdb
    05/03/2010 12:10:53 mds[36] (Normal) DiskStore: Rebuilding index for /Volumes/Backup of James MacBook/Backups.backupdb
    05/03/2010 12:13:35 com.apple.backupd[281] Event store UUIDs don't match for volume: Macintosh HD
    05/03/2010 12:16:33 com.apple.backupd[281] Node requires deep traversal:/ reason:must scan subdirs|new event db|
    05/03/2010 12:16:36 mds[36] (Normal) DiskStore: Creating index for /Volumes/Backup of James MacBook/Backups.backupdb
    05/03/2010 12:20:16 com.apple.backupd[281] Node requires deep traversal:/Users/James/Pictures/iPhoto Library reason:contains changes|must scan subdirs|found in deep scan|missed reservation|
    also noticed for the first time that when clicking into spotlight search at the right of the screen i see:
    "Indexing backup of James' Macbook"
    with an estimating time bar below which keeps spinning giving no time, just says estimating??
    thankyou to anyone who can help shed some light on this problem.

    vengenceJC wrote:
    also noticed for the first time that when clicking into spotlight search at the right of the screen i see:
    "Indexing backup of James' Macbook"
    with an estimating time bar below which keeps spinning giving no time, just says estimating??
    The combination of symptoms sounds like your backups may be corrupted. Cancel the backup and Repair them per #A5 in the Troubleshooting Tip.
    You might want to exclude the drive from Spotlight indexing temporarily, until the backup is done, via +System Preferences > Spotlight > Privacy.+
    And since Time Machine has to do a "deep traversal," connect to the Time Capsule via Ethernet if at all possible -- both the "deep traversal" and actual backup will be faster that way.

  • Why does time machine stall on "calculating changes"?

    I have just purchased a Lacie d2 quadra 2Tb, and have connected Time Machine.
    It has successfully backed up my desktop. However, on about the third incremental backup it stall on calculating changes. I have read that this could be when a deep traversal scan is occuring, so I let it continue for 12 hours before rebooting!
    I have repartitioned and zeroed out the disk, and verified permissions etc, but to no avail.
    I have 2 other external drives, and a Time Capsule that work flawlessly with TM.
    Any other suggestions to remedy this would be most welcome.

    Thanks for your reply Dave. Well, I am on that path with Lacie. The two other drives are theirs also, but who knows. They recommended th zeroing out etc.
    I am also in discussion with Apple, who are tackling it from the Time Machine end, and something that might require a tweak with my system. 

  • Time machine is getting stuck whilst 'calculating changes'

    Updated my external HDD to use for TIme Machine. 3 weeks later and TM is trying to back up but getting stuck on 'calculating changes. I can't access or eject the drive whist that's happening so have to just pull the USB and restart.
    After that it's fine, but I'm worried that not ejecting properly might damage the drive or the content. Any ideas?

    Check this post for advice:
    Time Machine - Troubleshooting

  • Stuck on "calculating changes"

    Hi there,
    I have time machine set up on an external USB drive and I'm stuck on "calculating changes" when I try to make a backup. It was normal until a couple of days ago, when the drive suddenly disconnected from the Imac in the middle of a backup (I think it was due to an oscilation on the power supply or something like that, not physically disconnected). Ever since then, I'm not able to make new back ups.
    I already ran a disk test (on disk utility) and it is normal. I also tried to remove and add the disk on the time machine preferences, but still nothing.
    I got a log from Time Machine Buddy:
    *Starting standard backup*
    *Backing up to: /Volumes/Backup e Dados/Backups.backupdb*
    *Event store UUIDs don't match for volume: Macintosh HD*
    *Waiting for index to be ready (100)*
    *Waiting for index to be ready (100)*
    *Waiting for index to be ready (100)*
    *Waiting for index to be ready (101)*
    *Waiting for index to be ready (100)*
    *Waiting for index to be ready (101)*
    Any ideas on how to fix this?
    Thanks,

    Edu C wrote:
    Hi there,
    Hi, and welcome to the forums.
    I already ran a disk test (on disk utility) and it is normal
    Do you mean you ran +*Repair Disk+* (not permissions) on the TM drive? If not, try that.
    *Event store UUIDs don't match for volume: Macintosh HD*
    That's normal after a disconnection; it just means Time Machine isn't sure it got everything the last time.
    *Waiting for index to be ready (100)*
    *Waiting for index to be ready (100)*
    *Waiting for index to be ready (100)*
    *Waiting for index to be ready (101)*
    *Waiting for index to be ready (100)*
    *Waiting for index to be ready (101)*
    These mean Time Machine is indexing your backups (because of the abnormal disconnection). It should complete that and proceed with the backup, which will probably take a lot longer than usual.
    If Disk Utility didn't find a problem with the file system, the drive itself may be damaged. How old is it?
    If you haven't yet, try cancelling the backup, ejecting, disconnecting and powering it off for several minutes. Then Restart your Mac and try again. Make sure all connections are snug and secure; try different ports, cables, and combinations of the two (a plug that works fine in one port may not make good contact in another).

  • Stuck on calculating changes - Waiting for index to be ready

    I've got a Time Machine which had my disk properly backed up (~500 Gigs). Then, I used Entourage Time Machine to save my email database to a set of local XML files (tens of thousands of new files). Since then, it's stuck on Calculating Changes; I tried stopping it, removing the .plist file, stopping/restarting the service, etc. I restarted it again and now it's once again on Calculating Changes for 12 hours now. Time Machine Buddy says "Waiting for index to be ready". Could it possibly really be doing what it needs to do or is it stuck somehow and is there anything else I can do??
    thanks in advance,
    Mike

    Michael Levin wrote:
    Then verify your internal HD and repair your backups, per #A5 in Troubleshooting.
    did that - repaired the disk, no problems found.
    Uh, you need to check your internal, too, if you didn't. It's probably ok, but it's best to be sure. Then Restart your Mac.
    Waiting for index to be ready (100)
    Waiting for index to be ready (100)
    Waiting for index to be ready (100)
    A few of those may not be a problem, especially after a failed backup. The backups have to be indexed for TM to work right.
    why isn't the index ready - could it have anything to do with Spotlight (which is also going like mad, but at least now gives a time estimate) - is that the index it's talking about??
    Perhaps. Both Spotlight and Time Machine use the mds process to index.
    |
    Ok, so I disabled Spotlight, deleted all the .Spotlight files on all volumes, and restarted Time Machine having excluded the Entourage database and 56 Gigs worth of .xml files of individual messages.
    56 GB? Holy moley!
    Event store UUIDs don't match for volume: Main Internal Drive (Leopard)
    Forcing deep traversal on source: "Main Internal Drive (Leopard)" (mount: '/' fsUUID: 22E61BEA-43E3-3C1C-985D-4589FACE5629 eventDBUUID: D2A7E78E-C39A-46A3-B273-CCEE5048369C), {1, 1, 1, 0}
    Node requires deep traversal:/ reason:must scan subdirs|require scan|
    Normal after a failed backup; Time Machine's not sure what was where when the "lights went out," so has to compare everything on your system to the backups to figure out what needs to be backed-up.
    No pre-backup thinning needed: 24.38 GB requested (including padding), 983.14 GB available
    The deep traversal completed. It found about 20 GB to back up (plus 20% for workspace -- the "padding" in the message).
    Error: Flushing index to disk returned an error: 0
    That's another problem writing the index to the TM drive.
    Try a +*Repair Disk+* on it again, and make sure all connections are snug and secure, and try the backup again.
    If this continues, it's beginning to look like a problem with the disk or connections. Try different ports, cables, and combinations of the two -- cables do deteriorate, and a plug that works fine in one port may not make good contact in another one.

  • Time Machine is stuck at calculating changes

    It will try all day to back up but never gets past calculating changes. I am not sure where to even start. Can you help me?

    kcboy713 wrote:
    Could it be a problem if it says I have 25g of 1000g available and my full back up is 106g?
    Is this Drive used exclusively for TM or do you have other stuff on it... ?
    Also some more Details about the Drive and your Mac would be helpful...

  • OS 10.7.5 time machine stuck on prepping

    I am running 10.7.5 and my time machine has bee stuck on prepping for weeks.
    I have seen other fixes in the support posts, but they aren't for Lion. Does anybody know if the fix is the same or is there something new?
    Thanks

    It's not for your system but the exerpt regarding third-party anti-virus scanning software remains applicable: Mac OS X 10.5: Time Machine may display "Preparing" for a longer time
    It shoudn't take long for you to rule that out, so following that step read Apple Support Communities contributor Pondini's FAQ regarding that question: Stuck in "Preparing" or "Calculating changes"
    The end of that page leads you right back where you came, so if that's how you arrived here then I'll try to rouse Mr. Pondini for you.

  • 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!

  • Time machine setup - how to change 'wireless network name' and settings?

    I have moved laptop to Mountain Lion.
    This is the first time to backup to Timecapsule.
    I went to Settings then Select Disk and selected existing Time Machine.
    It took more than 30 minutes and seemed stuck on 'Preparing ....".
    I cancelled and tried to 'Setup Time Capsule not  listed"...
    The system recognised the Time Capsule but I see that the network settings is my old 'wireless network' name.
    How do I change this to the correct network name and ensure that the settings are correct? 
    I think if this is corrected, the backup will work.
    Thanks in advance.

    On the Home screen of the product control panel, touch the right arrow ( ) to view more options.
    Touch Setup ( ).
    Touch Network .
    Touch Wi-Fi Protected Setup .
    Touch PIN .
    Touch Start . The product displays a PIN.
    NOTE:The product begins a timer for approximately two minutes to allow you time to enter the PIN on the networking device.
    Enter the PIN on the WPS-enabled router or other networking device.
    I work for HP, IPGHT specialist in Officejet and Photosmart printers.
    --Say "Thanks" by clicking the Kudos Star in the post that helped you.
    --Please mark the post that solves your problem as "Accepted Solution" .....

  • 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 -- Solved

    Info for future Internet searchers:
    Thanks to the great info provided by Pondini (http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html) I was able to solve a problem with Time Machine on a sick Macbook Pro.  I may need to reload the Mac from recovery disks, but beforehand I always like to have a good backup.
    First problem: Time Machine to AFP-based NAS fails.  It mounts the drive, looks at the .sparsebundle file and then complains that it's already in use.  This is not on an AirPort so the steps in Pondini's guide don't apply: http://pondini.org/TM/C12.html.  Rebooting the NAS didn't help.  I put this issue on hold for now since my goal was to get a backup by whatever means rather than trying to get the more convenient network-based backups working.
    Second problem: Time Machine to a new USB drive fails.  It would get stuck in "preparing to back up" with this system log message repeated for over 12 hours without change:
    com.apple.backupd: Waiting for index to be ready (101)
    Section D2 (http://pondini.org/TM/D2.html) had a very applicable section, "Repeated Indexing Messages."  Unfortunately, removing the /Volumes/<volume name>/.Spotlight-V100 directory didn't help.  However, deleting /.Spotlight-V100 from the SOURCE drive, rebooting, and letting Spotlight rebuild its index did clear up the error. Backups seem to be running to local media now.

    See Pondini's TM FAQs for starters.

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