Time to do first Backup in Time Mchine

Hey my Leopard installation has been flawless on several machines; sorry to hear about those with trouble. But if you have a large file collection, be prepared for a LONG initial run on Time Machine. I've got about 1.4 million files, using about 800 Gb of disc space. I'm backing up to a 1.8Tb eSATA drive that is striped RAID 1, and so far it's taken 10 hours to do about 90Gb. So I'm looking at several days of backup here. Maybe this is more than Time Machine was designed for; I'll let you know.

SL is Snow Leopard .. the good OS before the empire.. Lion.. !!
Firmware on the Time Capsule.. is now 7.6.1 maybe 7.6.2 but it is not as good as the older firmware. 7.5.2 but going backwards is a chore.
You can setup wireless that is unhackable.. use WPA2 personal security and a 24 character key.. no spaces pure alphanumeric mix of purely random characters. At this point until quantum computers come along, it is very solid and you can feel safe. BUT wireless is far slower than ethernet.. and there is something seriously wrong for ethernet to go that slow.
See if the genius at your local store can figure it out.

Similar Messages

I am running my first backup on Time Machine using a Seagate external hard drive with a thunderbolt adapter and cable. I have a MacBook Pro 2011. It is backing up 11GB, and is telling me it will take approx two days. Is this normal?

I am running my first backup on Time Machine using a Seagate external hard drive with a thunderbolt adapter and cable. I have a MacBook Pro 2011. It is backing up 11GB, and is telling me it will take approx two days. Is this normal?

Download the supplemental fix to 10.7.5
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1599

Time Machine "backup failed" Backing up to Time Capsule (first backup)

I just received my iMac (24", 3.04 ghz, 4 gig ram) a few days ago...my firs Mac, after over 20 years with pc's. All working fairly well, as I try to learn the new format. Attempted my first backup last night using Time Machine, backing to Time Capsule. As I went to bed, it stated it was "preparing". This morning it stated "backup failed". "Time Capsule error". The networking aspects of Time Capsule are working without a problem. Unfortunately, the error message is vague and I'm definitely illiterate when it comes to much of the properties of a Mac. Any suggestions as to how I should proceed in investigating the problem? Thanks!!

Well, I greatly appreciate the earlier advice. I have learned much in my reading. Of course, now with my "tinkering", I determined that the Time Capsule was not formatted to OS extended (journaled) as was my Macintosh harddrive. (Don't really understand why it would not come that way). I attempted to format using disk utility, now it doesn't show up in that application and under FINDER (shared devices), it is detailed as "sharepoint". I read elsewhere that it was recommended to use airport utility to reformat to OS Extended (journaled). Anyway, of course, now I've gone full circle and am comfused as to the proper way to have it formatted properly and recognized by disk utility. As such, currently I cannot use it for backup.
Frequently, I'm my worsed enemy! Thanks again for the advice.

Time Capsule: First backup over ethernet is very slow

My understanding is that a direct ethernet connection between my Imac and Time Capsule would make the initial backup process faster, but I did not notice any improvement whatsoever and the first backup is proceeding veeeeeeery slow. I was wondering if there was something I was missing when I connected by cable.
Thank you for your help!

Felix,
The first backup I did was wirelessly and it was slow.
So, I erased the TC Hard Disk and hooked it up via ethernet.
It went much faster.
I was doing about 1.1 GB every 5 minutes using ethernet.
Joseph Kriz

Time Machine backup slow (not first backup) - Why?

Hi, I recently purchased a new 3TB backup drive to backup my iMac system (10.9.4).
I set up a Time Machine backup of my system + external HD, and began scheduled backups about a week ago. As expected the first backup took several hours (overnight) since it was backing up nearly 1TB of data. Subsequent backups were fast and everything seemed fine.
Then, last night I ran a backup and Time Machine began to copy ALL the data again. The backup took 6-7 hours. Why would it do this if it uses a cumulative system where most of the data is already on the backup drive? Did this occur because I manually started the backup (by selecting"Back Up Now" in Time Machine on the toolbar). Or is something wrong?
Thanks
Tom

Open Time Machine Preferences>click "Select Disk">click on the appropriate TM disk under the bottom window titled "Available Disks." Force a backup and see if it works. If this doesn't fix it reboot your iMac and/or Time Capsule and try forcing a backup again once the iMac and/or TC have fully booted up.

Time Capsule first backup

Looking for help.
Got a new 2TB TC. Tried to backup my son's imac (1 yr old but updated to Snow Leopard OS) - was operating TC wirelessly. Froze up - I think I had setting wrong and bad idea to try a wireless backup on first. After trying a few things I disconnected it all, did a factory reset on the TC, and tried to back up my new MacPro hard wired - reset TM to right settings for no wireless operation and simple ethernet connection and all went fine.
Then went back to my son's imac.
I have connected TC by ethernet; switched airport off; switched firewall off; set TM up as not requiring wireless operation; set imac to never go to sleep or go off; deleted original bundle for the imac from TM to try and "start again" as I believe interupting the first backup as i have done can cause problems.
Back up starts ok; in Time Machine I can see TC; cannot see any "oldest" or "latest" backup so it looks like I have successfully deleted any history. Backup reaches 1.32GB and then it stops. Nothing happening. If I try and do anything on the imac the timer circle comes up and nothing works. I have then switched imac off and back on, deleted the relevant bundle on the TC again through Finder Go, switched TC off, started whole process again and again it stops at 1.32GB (of 38.6GB).
Any ideas?
TC is showing steady green light.
thanks

welcome to Apple discussions, BryD !
you could try this:
go system preferences > time machine and turn TM off. click on +change disk+ and select none.
next, delete this file HD/Library/Preferences/com.apple.TimeMachine.plist.
restart the machine, go system preferences > time machine and turn TM back on. click on +change disk+, re-select the backup volume und click +use for backups+. start a backup.
you may also want to download and install Time Machine Buddy. go to dashboard and browse through the logs for the recent backup attempts.
lastly, check the Time Machine FAQ and Time Machine - Troubleshooting user tips.
any help ?

Time machine will online back to to a drive called "data" Time capsule back up drive is stuck in "Waiting to complete first backup". What to do?

So I can't get my time machine to do its first backup to the time capsule drive. It has been 4 days now and still says waiting to complete first back up. It did back up to a drive called "data" but it doesn't let me go back in time like it should.
What to do?

Hi blainerab,
I apologize, I'm a bit unclear on the exact issue and configuration you are describing. If you are having issues with Time Machine and/or setting up Time Machine to work with your Time Capsule, you may find the following articles helpful:
Backing up with AirPort Time Capsule for the first time
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1175
AirPort Time Capsule: Initial backup is interrupted
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1176
OS X Lion: Time Machine problems
http://support.apple.com/kb/ph4353
Time Machine: Troubleshooting backup issues
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3275
Regards,
- Brenden

Time Machine - Repeated errors while making first backup

I have been trying to use Time Machine on my MacBook Pro for the first time with no success. I’ve tried probably about 10 times and each time it tells me “the backup was not performed because an error occurred while copying files to the backup disk”
I’ve downloaded Time Machine Buddy, and this is the report for the two most recent backups that failed:
First failed backup:
Starting standard backup
Backing up to: /Volumes/Time Machine/Backups.backupdb
Error parsing SystemMigration.log to determine source volume of system migration.
No pre-backup thinning needed: 46.70 GB requested (including padding), 279.58 GB available
Stopping backup.
Error: (-41) SrcErr:NO Copying /Users/Gina/Documents/Teaching/English 110.01/Lesson Plans/AU06-WI07 Lesson Plans/Day 1 Lesson Plan.pages/Contents/PkgInfo to /Volumes/Time Machine/Backups.backupdb/Gina Gemmel’s MacBook Pro/2010-11-29-222031.inProgress/751E22E6-9980-486F-83ED-1A6FE3585559/Macintosh HD/Users/Gina/Documents/Teaching/English 110.01/Lesson Plans/AU06-WI07 Lesson Plans/Day 1 Lesson Plan.pages/Contents
Copied 1114 files (5.2 GB) from volume Macintosh HD.
Copy stage failed with error:11
Backup failed with error: 11
Second failed backup
Starting standard backup
Backing up to: /Volumes/Time Machine/Backups.backupdb
Error parsing SystemMigration.log to determine source volume of system migration.
No pre-backup thinning needed: 46.70 GB requested (including padding), 274.35 GB available
Stopping backup.
Error: (-41) SrcErr:NO Copying /Users/Gina/Documents/Teaching/English 110.01/Lesson Plans/AU06-WI07 Lesson Plans/Day 1 Lesson Plan.pages/Contents/PkgInfo to /Volumes/Time Machine/Backups.backupdb/Gina Gemmel’s MacBook Pro/2010-11-29-222031.inProgress/5E5FBA96-AF24-4D99-ADE4-650DFA08CEA2/Macintosh HD/Users/Gina/Documents/Teaching/English 110.01/Lesson Plans/AU06-WI07 Lesson Plans/Day 1 Lesson Plan.pages/Contents
Copied 496 files (836.6 MB) from volume Macintosh HD.
Copy stage failed with error:11
Backup failed with error: 11
The messages look the same. In between these two backups, I followed the steps in C3 in the Troubleshooting guide.
Prior to following the steps in C3, I tried:
-restarting my computer
-doing a reset of Time Machine by deleted the preferences list from the library
-repairing the drive using disk utility (it said there were no problems)
-verifying my internal drive (again, no problems)
-erasing the disk and starting over (this is my first backup, so I don’t have any prior information that would have gotten deleted)
-verifying that I’m using the correct formats – I’m definitely using the GUID format and Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format for my drive
-excluding folders that contained files that seemed to be associated with the errors. At first, they all seemed to be files in my husband’s backup folders, some of which were empty system folders from Windows. I thought this might be the issue, so I just excluded his backup folders to see if I could get it to work. The most recent failure seems to have involved a Pages file, though, so that theory was out the window.
-using a different USB port
I’m using a Seagate 320GB internal SATA drive that I’ve put in an enclosure to make it external, so it connects via USB. I’ve read here that external SATA drives won’t work with Time Machine, but I don’t think this applies to my situation since it’s an internal drive that’s connecting via USB with the enclosure. I have a MacBook Pro with the latest version of OSX.
I’m thinking maybe I need to get a new hard drive, but wanted to check here before spending any more money.
Message was edited by: Sibilance7

Yes, I meant to say folders had been transferred back and forth. I deleted that DS_Store file, and while doing so, I noticed that it was listed as a Unix Executable file, while most of the others were just listed as documents, and that it changed to document when it re-created itself after I deleted it. So I found all the ones that were listed as unix executable files and deleted them, letting them re-create themselves as documents. Then I tried to backup again, but no dice:
Starting standard backup
Backing up to: /Volumes/Time Machine Backup/Backups.backupdb
Error parsing SystemMigration.log to determine source volume of system migration.
No pre-backup thinning needed: 58.99 GB requested (including padding), 283.32 GB available
Stopping backup.
Error: (-41) SrcErr:NO Copying /Users/Gina/Documents/Dropbox/Teaching/Literature/English 200/Student Writing/Haroun Drafts/Second Section/done/.DS_Store to /Volumes/Time Machine Backup/Backups.backupdb/Gina Gemmel’s MacBook Pro/2010-12-12-185125.inProgress/C1BCA9C0-5727-46D1-980E-B4918B5977CC/Macintosh HD/Users/Gina/Documents/Dropbox/Teaching/Literature/English 200/Student Writing/Haroun Drafts/Second Section/done
Copied 1015 files (700.8 MB) from volume Macintosh HD.
Copy stage failed with error:11
Backup failed with error: 11
I excluded that folder and tried again, but got an error on another DS_Store file:
Starting standard backup
Backing up to: /Volumes/Time Machine Backup/Backups.backupdb
Error parsing SystemMigration.log to determine source volume of system migration.
No pre-backup thinning needed: 59.00 GB requested (including padding), 282.61 GB available
Stopping backup.
Error: (-41) SrcErr:NO Copying /Users/Gina/Documents/Misc/Ben's Backup/iTunes/iTunes Music/Music/Aireline/.DS_Store to /Volumes/Time Machine Backup/Backups.backupdb/Gina Gemmel’s MacBook Pro/2010-12-12-185125.inProgress/DE6590AB-A82A-4BE0-A38E-E6D7BDFE39FA/Macintosh HD/Users/Gina/Documents/Misc/Ben's Backup/iTunes/iTunes Music/Music/Aireline
Copied 3099 files (1.6 GB) from volume Macintosh HD.
Copy stage failed with error:11
Backup failed with error: 11
So excluded both of those folders, and then I got this:
Starting standard backup
Backing up to: /Volumes/Time Machine Backup/Backups.backupdb
2010-12-21 21:39:37.870 FindSystemFiles[37237:907] Looking for system packages
2010-12-21 21:39:42.927 FindSystemFiles[37237:907] Using system path cache.
Error parsing SystemMigration.log to determine source volume of system migration.
No pre-backup thinning needed: 58.99 GB requested (including padding), 280.04 GB available
Stopping backup.
Error: (-41) SrcErr:NO Copying /Users/Gina/Documents/Misc/Computer Stuff/Installation Stuff/2fingerscroll/ALPS Glidepad Driver.pkg/Contents/Archive.bom to /Volumes/Time Machine Backup/Backups.backupdb/Gina Gemmel’s MacBook Pro/2010-12-12-185125.inProgress/C638FC3D-E2D8-4840-84E3-63D553E123D8/Macintosh HD/Users/Gina/Documents/Misc/Computer Stuff/Installation Stuff/2fingerscroll/ALPS Glidepad Driver.pkg/Contents
Copied 1383 files (4.6 GB) from volume Macintosh HD.
Copy stage failed with error:11
Backup failed with error: 11
Excluded the folder that was in and got this:
Starting standard backup
Backing up to: /Volumes/Time Machine Backup/Backups.backupdb
2010-12-21 22:14:43.210 FindSystemFiles[37464:907] Looking for system packages
2010-12-21 22:14:48.647 FindSystemFiles[37464:907] Using system path cache.
Error parsing SystemMigration.log to determine source volume of system migration.
No pre-backup thinning needed: 59.01 GB requested (including padding), 270.81 GB available
Stopping backup.
Error: (-41) SrcErr:NO Copying /Users/Gina/Documents/Miscellaneous/Benjamine/ATS/ATS 2006-2007/Fall 2006/Christian History I/Aya_sofya.jpg to /Volumes/Time Machine Backup/Backups.backupdb/Gina Gemmel’s MacBook Pro/2010-12-12-185125.inProgress/BAB3CD73-3F0C-457E-816C-863AE4CC546E/Macintosh HD/Users/Gina/Documents/Miscellaneous/Benjamine/ATS/ATS 2006-2007/Fall 2006/Christian History I
Copied 1570 files (1.2 GB) from volume Macintosh HD.
Copy stage failed with error:11
Backup failed with error: 11
So, it just keeps having errors and doesn't seem to respond to much of anything. I did the same processes I outlined above with this drive - repaired it, verified internal disk, reset Time Machine, etc. Nothing seems to work, so I'm guessing at this point I need to make a visit to the Genius Bar.

Estimated backup time for first backup?

i was curious about how long Time Machine will take to backup 107 gigs on the first backup... since its a MacBook i cant leave it on all night or it'll die and if i plug it in it'll reduce battery life

it can take a long time (several hours) so plug it into AC and set the power settings to power adapter and sleep to never. this will not affect your battery and in any even you'll have to live with it.

First timer. Just installed Time Capsule. The first backup looks like it will take two days at the pressent speed. Can I close MacBook Pro and have first back up continue, and can I unplug and plug in at work without affecting the backup?

I'm a first timer on this (or any) help site. I just installed Time Capsule. The first backup looks like it will take two days at the present speed. Can I close MacBook Pro and have first back up continue, and can I unplug tomorrow and plug in at work without affecting the backup?

Hi Oneinspirit,
Time Machine backups can be paused by choosing "Stop Backing Up" from the Time Machine icon on the right hand side of your menu bar ( ). Once you're ready to resume the backup, you can choose "Back Up Now" from the same icon.
Start a backup: Click the Time Machine icon in the menu bar, then choose Back Up Now.
Pause a backup: Click the Time Machine icon in the menu bar, then choose Stop Backing Up.
OS X Yosemite: Start, pause, and resume a Time Machine backup
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH18851
All my best,
Allen

Time Machine says it will take months for the first backup.

Time Machine said it would take over a month for the first backup on my new Mac. I figured it would get its act together overnight, but when I got up this morning, it said 160 days.
Here are my specs:
Mac mini 2.3 GHz Intel Core i5 (Macmini5,1)
2 GB RAM, 500 GB internal HD
Mac OS X 10.7.2 (current on updates)
1 TB Seagate
Connected through FireWire 800
614.32 GB available
Disk Utility verifies there are no problems
I used the same drive for Time Machine on the Power Mac with no problems. And it's communicating fine with the Mac mini -- I transferred all of my music, photos, applications, and other documents very quickly. Spotlight has finished indexing -- there is no dot in the magnifying glass in the upper right corner of the screen. Activity Monitor looks normal. Right now, the CPU is between about 70 and 95% idle, inactive memory is about 225 MB, and page outs are at 148 KB.
I started Time Machine again an hour or so ago, and it said "About 3 days" right at first, but the number is going up quickly. It isn't completely stuck -- the number of items is slowly going down and the MB backed up is slowly going up (not as quickly as the number of days is going up).
Right now, it says, "Backing up 760,527 items" and "81.4 MB of 222.37 GB – About 104 days."

Benjamin McDaniel wrote:
Disk Utility verifies there are no problems
Did you run Repair Disk on your backups, and Verify Disk on your internal HD, and both said " . . . appears to be OK"?
If so, Spotlight may be indexing your backups (Lion re-indexes everything, and that may not show the dot in the Spotlight icon).
A clue may be lurking in your logs. Use the widget in #A1 of Time Machine - Troubleshooting to display the backup messages from your logs. See if there are repeated "indexing" messages. If so, the index may be damaged. See the pink box in #D2 of the same link.

How much time for Time Machine's first backup?

Hello,
I recently bought a 2TB external hard disk. I partitioned into one disk of 500GB (for storage), and one disk of 1.5TB (for a backup with Time Machine).
It's connected with the Firewire 800 port of my Macbook Pro mid-2010.
I know the first backup is slow, but after 30 hours, it has only backed up 67GB, over the 270GB it has to backup.
I find this very very slow, even for a first backup! Is it normal?
Does it slow the backup if I use my computer in the mean time?
Does it slow the backup to have partitioned my external hard disk?
I already took some folders off the backup, deactivated Spotlight on the external disk, all I found on the web! But it's not going faster...!
Thank you a lot for your experiences / advices.

If you're doing a full backup (rather than an incremental backup), you'll have to copy 730 GB of files. If you only have 2 hours, that's 375 Gb/ hour or 106 Mb/ s, which is going to be more than a low-end NAS is going to be able to handle. If you have a 5 hour window, you'd be talking about 41 Mb/s, which is right about the disk I/O a low-end NAS.
At a minimum, you have to have enough disk bandwidth to handle the backup in your time window. In calculating your available bandwidth, make sure you account for the bandwidth other operations are using (i.e. if you are backing up to the same set of disks your database is running on).
Justin
Distributed Database Consulting, Inc.
http://www.ddbcinc.com/askDDBC

HT201250 I set up Time Machine yesterday (using a WD 2T drive) and got the message that the first backup was complete. I can open every file I try except Quicken and TurboTax. What am I doing wrong?

I set up Time Machine yesterday (using a WD 2T drive) and got the message that the first backup was complete. I can open every file I try except Quicken and Turbotax. What am I doing wrong?

burgessiii22 wrote:
Thanks for the answer Linc, but how do I check to make sure the back-up process is working if I don't think I need to restore?
Create a test file with Text Edit (or any other program) and save it to your desktop.
Run Time Machine from the menu bar.
When the Time Machine icon in the menu bar stops spinning, drag your test file to the trash.
Open Time Machine and go back 1 page. You should see your test file on the desktop.

First Backup on Time Machine - CPU temperature and fan speed

I attached my external WD drive and started Time Machine. Works just fine however I watched the cpu and temp and fan speed as reported by iStat.
During the hour long "first backup" I reached an incredible 160 degrees cpu temp and 6000 rpm fan speed. Cpu was 70 percent or so. When this temp was reached it looked like some limiter took over to reduce cpu consumption and temp. CPU dropped to 30 percent and the temp came down. Fan rpms reduced as temp did.
I don't know if iStat reports the feeds on a MacBook Air properly or not but if so......interesting.

160F is not very high - 160C would be a different matter.
Under sustained 100% load, my Macbook CPU is at about 190F, with the fan at about 6200 rpm, in a room at about 68F.

HT3275 Using time machine first time and the estimated time says 25 days. Wow! Am I able to use my Mac when Machine is doing its first backup?

Using time machine first time and the estimated backup time says 25 days. Wow!
Am I able to use my MacBook Pro when Machine is doing its first backup?
I can't be without my computer that long. I would have withdrawal symptoms (very painful).

Something WAS radically wrong, but I don't know what it was. However, using Apple's disk utility, I decided to totally erase the Seagate, which was "pre-formatted" for Mac and PC.
I first saved the Seagate software to my hard drive just in case I needed it later (which I don't),
By the way, the first time I tried Time Machine it stalled after about 3 GB. The second time I got the message saying 25 days backup time. I stopped that backup after receiving your response.
After reformatting (extended - journaled) I made my third attempt. Success!!! It took about 8 hours, but went through without a hitch..
I bought the SeagateI because a momentary power failure messed up my 1 TB LaCie external, which was divided into 2 partitions. The power glitch completely fouled one partiton and it will not reformat no matter what I try. I did not do a full reformat because I did not want to lose the backup on the good partition. Now that I have a good backup I plan to do a full 1 TB reformat (without partitions) on the LaCie.
Thank you for your response, which really did help me.

TC First Backup Queston

From what I understand is that the very first time TC runs it needs to backup the whole machine. I have my TC mounted over a network and it starts to back up and fails after backing up between 5 and 15 gigs.
What I am thinking of doing is connecting it via USB having it run the first backup and then moving it back across the network.
Will this work?
Will it know that it has already backed up my computer once before?
or will it think that it has to do it again cross network?
Cheers

What I am thinking of doing is connecting it via USB having it run the first backup and then moving it back across the network. Will this work?
No, but it will if you use an Ethernet cable.
Will it know that it has already backed up my computer once before?
Yes.
(57643)

Time to do first Backup in Time Mchine

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