How to fix time machine not backing up mac?. Time Machine Not Backing Up Mac? Try These 11 Fixes.
Time Machine offers an incredibly convenient way to protect your data on your Mac. But while Apple’s local backup solution is very easy to set up and use, it’s not ideal.
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Connection problems, disk errors, and many other reasons can prevent Time Machine from backing up your data properly.
The steps below should help resolve any issues where Time Machine won’t back up your Mac. Specifically, these steps address the following set of issues:
Time Machine hangs during the “Prepare Backup” phase. IT is taking too long to complete. Time Machine throws errors while backing up – for example, “The operation could not be completed.” Time Machine cannot find an external drive or NAS drive.
1. Wait For a While
Have you just installed Time Machine on your Mac? If the internal memory contains hundreds of gigabytes of data, it may take several hours to create the first backup. Therefore, it is recommended that you check this later, when Time Machine has been running in the background for an extended period (preferably overnight).
If Time Machine is still preparing a backup or hasn’t made it past a certain point, use the other fixes below.
2. Delete Backup and Retry
Stopping Time Machine and restarting it can also help fix a stuck backup.
1. Open the Apple menu and choose System Preferences.
2. Select Time Machine.
3. Click the X next to the progress bar to cancel the current Time Machine backup.
4. Click the Time Machine icon on the Macos menu bar and select the Back Up Now option to create a new backup.
Advice. If the Time Machine icon is not visible, select the Show Time Machine In Menu Bar check box under System Preferences> Time Machine to display it.
If your Time Machine external drive uses the Mac OS Extended File System (HFS +), you can also try deleting the file containing your last backup attempt before retrying.
To do this, open Finder and select a Time Machine backup location in the sidebar. Then select Backups.backupdb and select your backups folder (it has the same name as your Mac). Then move the .inProgress file to the trash.
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3. Exclude Large Files
Time Machine backs up your data incrementally, so subsequent backups are always faster. But recently added large files since the last backup (like downloaded videos) can cause unnecessary delays. Eliminating nonessential items should speed up the process.
1. Go to System Preferences> Time Machine and cancel the current backup.
2. Click the Options button.
3. Use the Plus button to select the files and folders you want to exclude (for example, the Videos folder on a Mac).
4. Select “Save”.
5. Create a new Time Machine backup.
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4. Restart Mac and Retry
If Time Machine can’t find your backup drive, is causing errors, or keeps freezing, try restarting your Mac. This removes obsolete system data and effectively fixes strange errors and inconsistencies in macOS.
1. Go to System Preferences> Time Machine and cancel your current Time Machine backup.
2. Open the Apple menu and choose Restart.
3. Uncheck the box next to Reopen windows on re-login and select Restart.
When the reboot is complete, select Time Machine> Back Up Now from the menu bar to re-create the backup. If you continue to experience problems, booting your Mac in and out of Safe Mode can help.
5. Delete Local Snapshots and Retry
Corrupted local snapshots can cause conflicts and prevent Time Machine from copying data to your backup drive. Delete them and see if it matters.
1. Open the launchpad and choose Other> Terminal.
2. Run the following command and press Enter to open the list of local snapshots:
tmutil listlocalsnapshots /
Each snapshot contains the date and backup ID, for example 2021-09-05-000029.
3. Use the following command to delete each local snapshot:
sudo tmutil deletelocalsnapshots [backup date and id]
After you’re done deleting everything, plug in your backup drive and restart Time Machine.
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6. Update macOS and Retry
The built-in utility has been around for a long time but is still prone to problems. Updating your Mac system software should help you resolve any known issues where Time Machine won’t back up.
1. Go to System Preferences> Software Update.
2. Wait while your Mac finishes scanning for new updates.
3. Select “Update Now” to update your Mac.
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7. Repair Backup Disk
If Time Machine crashes, freezes, or can’t find your external backup drive, try restoring it. The Disk Utility applet in macOS should help you with this.
1. Open the launchpad and choose Other> Disk Utility.
2. Select the Time Machine backup drive in the sidebar of Disk Utility.
3. Select “First Aid” to repair the disc.
4. Select “Run”.
8. Verify Backup
If Time Machine is unable to back up to a network drive, checking previous backups should help resolve file corruption issues.
To do this, hold down the Option key and select the Time Machine icon from the menu bar. Then select “Check backups”.
9. Connect Disk Correctly
If you’re using an external backup drive and Time Machine can’t recognize it, make sure you’ve connected it to your Mac correctly. You can switch USB ports and avoid connecting the drive to any USB hubs.
If you’re using a network drive or another Mac as your Time Machine destination, make sure your Mac is connected to the same network as the other devices. A soft reset of your network router or DHCP lease renewal on Mac should help you quickly resolve unexpected network issues.
10. Check File System
The first time you set up an external drive using Time Machine, your Mac will automatically configure it with a compatible file system. But if you connected it to another computer in the meantime, you may have accidentally changed it.
If Time Machine can’t find the drive, you can quickly check its file system using Finder.
1. Control-click the backup drive on the desktop or in the Finder sidebar.
2. Select Get Info.
3. Check the file system next to “Format”. If it doesn’t show up as HFS + (Mac OS Extended) or APFS (Apple File System), then you must format the drive (more on that in the next section).
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11. Format Disk and Retry
If Time Machine is still having problems with a specific backup drive, you will need to reformat and configure it from scratch. However, this will permanently delete all old Time Machine snapshots on your Mac.
1. Open the launchpad and choose Other> Disk Utility.
2. Select the Time Machine backup drive.
3. Select Erase Disk and format the entire disk in APFS format. If you’re using macOS 10.15 Catalina or earlier, use the Mac OS Extended format instead.
4. Go to System Preferences> Time Machine and select the Select Drive option. Then select the drive you just formatted and click Finish.
5. Make a new Time Machine backup.
Issues With Time Machine Backups Fixed
Most of the problems with Time Machine backups are relatively easy to fix. Unless you’re dealing with a severe case of file corruption, doing some quick fixes (restarting your Mac, stopping and starting backups, restoring / checking a disk, etc.) should help you get Time Machine to back up. your Mac is correct again.
How to fix time machine not backing up mac?
How to fix time machine not backing up mac?
Time Machine Not Backing Up Mac? Try These 11 Fixes
Time Machine Not Backing Up Mac? Try These 11 Fixes