You are not alone on the issue like Time Machine Stuck on Preparing Backup on Mac with the issue in MacOS Catalina, Mojave, High Sierra, Sierra, EI Capitan and Other Mac Versions. Don’t worry; the Solution is so simple, Just the process and Remove the in-progress file from Drive. Now Fresh restart backup using TM. Time Machine is far better and efficient way back up your Mac compared to other third-party tools. You can take regular backup and set the Time Machine to take backup automatically, and for sure it will complete without any errors. In some rare cases, Time Machine stuck on “Preparing Backup” for a long amount of time.
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- Apr 09, 2014 Update: Some of the things that can cause a Time Machine back-up to stop functioning include the following: The Time Machine drive was disconnected while it was performing a back-up. Any time you disconnect a drive, be sure to check the status of Time Machine first. The external drive was unplugged from the computer without being ejected properly.
- OS X 10.6.3/4 was the original system on your computer. Still, it’s hard to know where the 10.6.8 came from, unless Time Machine has been disabled or disconnected for the last 8 years or so. What is the date of your latest Time Machine backup? If it’s recent you can erase the SSD and restore from Time Machine.
It might be possible that you haven’t taken backup for few months and now time machine stuck on preparing the backup. Another reason is you are taking backup of the large drive so it is stuck or much more reasons we can guess. Instead, we should try to fix the time machine stuck in preparing the backup. Let’s do this.
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To fix time machine when stuck on preparing backup in macOS 10.14, you need to confirm that Spotlight isn’t carrying out an indexing of the Time Machine backup volume at that point in time. To disable Spotlight from indexing the Time Machine backup, Click the Dock icon on the Mac’s home screen or select 'System Preference' from the Apple menu. Difference Between Time Machine Backup and Cloning Hard Drive If you’re wondering whether to use Time Machine or Mac Disk Utility to clone a Mac’s Drive, let us clear the confusion for you. Time Machine is a built-in application to back up and make an up-to-date copy of the data you save on the Mac. Mar 19, 2016 Fix Slow Time Machine Backups on a Mac. Open Terminal – Type: sudo sysctl debug.lowprithrottleenabled=0. Note: Backup speed will pickup in a minute or two but be forewarned that this will take a toll on CPU and your Macs performance therefore will.
Solution of this issues is the same for the All Mac devices: iMac, Mac Mini, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air.
Troubleshooting Guide on Time Machine Stuck On Preparing Backup: Force Start Backup
Fix 1: Stop the Currently Failing Backup
First off we will cancel the currently stuck backup on Preparing Backup. It is quite easy. Time Machine preparation time will take longer than expected then give some time to complete this process. Give 30 Minutes more time. After that you can stop backup process forcefully. Follow the below steps to complete the process in between. If you failed from stop backup process then Delete inProgress process using the solution 2.
- 1: From the top Mac Menu click on “Apple Logo” and open “System Preferences”.
- 2: From there click on “Time Machine”.
- 3: Now, cancel the backup in progress by clicking on (x).
- 4: If you no longer find “Preparing Backup…” then go ahead.
Fix 2: Delete the “In Progress” File From The Time Machine Folder
After canceling the backup, it’s time to remove that corrupt in progress file from the system.
- 1: From the “Finder”, Find the “Time Machine” Drive and open “Backups.backupd” folder.
- 2: Next, open the folder which is named with your current Mac.
- 3: Now search for the file contains .inProgress extension.
- 4: Delete that in Progress file.
Fix 3: Restart Mac with The Time Machine Drive connected
Now, simply restart the Mac but don’t remove Time Machine Drive from the Mac.
- 1: From top mac Menu click on the “Apple Logo” and tap on “Restart”. Don’t disconnect time machine drive.
- 2: Give some time to “Spotlight” to run completely.
This action will cause macOS to re-index the file attached to time machine drive.
This can be one of the reasons why you are time machine stuck on preparing the backup. Or if the time machine drive is indexed by the spotlight then also we will need a good restart.
Fix 4: Take Backup as usual to remove Time Machine Stuck On Preparing Backup
Now after trying above to fixes, you must take backup normally. Don’t forget to connect the Time Machine Drive to your Mac.
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- #1: Go to the “Apple Logo” from top Mac Menu.
- #2: Open “Time Machine” followed by “System Preferences”.
- #3: Tap “Back Up” Now.
Again you will see “Preparing backup” on the screen, but don’t worry it will be gone after some time. It depends on the speed of your mac, the hard drive and the size of the data.
Also Useful: Alternate Ways to take a Backup on Mac.
Hope you got the fix and Troubleshooting tips on what my Mac Taking too much time in Time Machine Backup. Terminate the Backup process and Restart the Backup on the Backup drive.
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Jul 10, 2020 • Filed to: Solve Mac Problems • Proven solutions
Apple claims that its Mac OS is fully equipped to assist its users for day-to-day PC activities, and they seem to have proven the same over the years. Since Mac users save a lot of important data on it, it is necessary to keep all such information secure. Mac Disk Utility does exactly that with the help of its “Restore” option. This function basically teaches you how to Clone a Mac’s Drive with Disk Utility.
In this article, learn how to copy all the data and clone a Mac’s Drive (internal/external) easily. Read and know more about Mac Disk Utility, its “Restore” function, how to clone a Mac’s Drive with Disk Utility and a simple way to recover your Mac’s Drive.
Part 1: Why You Need to Clone a Mac’s Drive?
“What is the need to clone a Mac’s Drive?” This thought must have crossed your mind atlas once while using Mac. To be precise, cloning of hard drives protects your important data which is under possible risk of physical destructions, loss, etc.
No matter how new or of what quality your hard drive is, you cannot say for sure that it will last forever and never crash or suffer from a system failure. Old hard drive or one suffering from mechanical, firmware or electrical error can permanently destroy your data, such as photos, documents, videos, music, and other files. Also, if important personal documents and business files are misplaced in the process, retrieving them is next to impossible.
Therefore, to prevent these and many more situations that may arise due to data loss, we recommend that you always know how to Clone a Mac’s Drive using Disk Utility. Mac Disk Utility and its “Restore” functions can keep your data, important information and files secure by literally copying it from your Mac Drive.
Difference Between Time Machine Backup and Cloning Hard Drive
If you’re wondering whether to use Time Machine or Mac Disk Utility to clone a Mac’s Drive, let us clear the confusion for you. Time Machine is a built-in application to back up and make an up-to-date copy of the data you save on the Mac. Its unique feature is that it makes real-time backups to recover files easily whenever needed. When set-up for the first time, Time Machine performs a full backup of the Mac and its contents. Time Machine keeps, hourly, daily and monthly backups all categorized separately.
If Time Machine can do so much, then why consider using Mac Disk Utility?
To start the discussion, Mac Disk Utility is free and also comes built-in with every Mac OS version. It has various new features that makes it more suitable than the Time Machine. Say for example, its “Restore” option does something what is called block copy and make the entire cloning process swifter. It is also capable of making an almost cut to cut exact copy of the contents of the Drive. No important files, documents or data is left behind using Mac Disk Utility. It works in blocks and does not involve file to file transfer.
Some changes have been introduced in the Mac Disk Utility toolkit which makes more accurate cloning and copying data from the Drive.
Part 2: How to Clone Mac’s Drive using Disk Utility?
Curious to know how to clone a Mac’s Drive with Disk Utility? Follow these simple steps and you’re good to go:
- Open Mac Disk Utility on your Mac from Utilities or Applications.
- Click “Erase” from the top of the Disk Utility interface.
- Now chose a media on left panel to make it your backup drive.
- At the drop down list which has “Format” options, choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Then hit “Erase” again and wait for the drive to remount on Mac.
- Then at Mac Disk Utility interface, click “Restore”.
- Now comes the tricky bit. Select the target drive, drag it and drop it at the “Source” field.
- Now drag and drop the destination Disk/Drive and leave it at the “Destination” field.
- Hit “Restore” once and for all. The contents of the drive will be copied and saved on the destination drive.
Part 3: How to Recover Mac’s Drive Data?
What does one do if some data is lost during cloning the mac’s Drive? Don’t worry. The loss isn’t permanent and the destroyed data can be recovered with the help of Recoverit for Mac. It is a recovery tool for MacBook, iMac, Hard Drives, Flash Drives, Memory Cards, phones, cameras and camcorders. It can instantly retrieve the lost contents from the Mac Drive and provide reliable data recovery solutions. It can recover documents, images, videos, audio files, emails and archives files.
The steps given below will help you use Recoverit for Mac to recover Mac’s Drive:
- Download, install and launch Recoverit hard drive recovery software. Now choose the target drive where the data gets lost, and click 'Start' to recover lost data.
- And then the data recovery tool will set in motion an all-around scan to search the lost files.
- Finally, you can preview the whole scanned results, select the ones which need to be restored, click “Recover” as shown below and save the recovered data in another drive/disk to keep it secure for future.
Conclusion
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Bottom-line, we have attempted to answer a commonly asked question on online forums, i.e., how to clone a Mac’s Drive with Disk Utility. We hope you will find this red useful and now be able to clone your Mac’s drive and keeps its contents safe.
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Also, the Recoverit drive data recovery toolkit is a safe, effective and trustworthy medium to retrieve your lost documents and file. So go ahead and follow the instructions in this guide to clone a Mac’s drive or recover hard drive data deleted accidentally during its process.
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