How to Fix It When Time Machine Is Stuck Preparing a Backup
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To stop Time Machine's current backup preparation process, click the X next to the progress bar. You'll see that Time Machine is stopping the preparation process. When the preparation process has stopped, ensure that Back Up Automatically is unchecked. Next, you'll need to delete the canceled backup process's .inprogress file. Open your Time Machine backup volume and select Backups.backupd. Find the file that ends with .inprogress. Right-click the file and delete it, and then empty the Trash.
In the Time Machine dialog box, select Options.
Select the plus (+) sign. Navigate to the files or folders you want to exclude and select Exclude. Repeat to exclude more files or folders. Select Save. With large files excluded, try running Time Machine again and see if it still gets stuck on the preparation stage.
How to Fix It When Time Machine Is Stuck Preparing a Backup
Stop the corrupted process and follow these tips
By Tom Nelson Tom Nelson Writer Tom Nelson is an engineer, programmer, network manager, and computer network and systems designer who has written for Other World Computing,and others. Tom is also president of Coyote Moon, Inc., a Macintosh and Windows consulting firm. lifewire's editorial guidelines Updated on March 26, 2022 Reviewed by Jessica Kormos Reviewed by Jessica Kormos Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College Jessica Kormos is a writer and editor with 15 years' experience writing articles, copy, and UX content for Tecca.com, Rosenfeld Media, and many others. lifewire's editorial guidelines Tweet Share Email Tweet Share EmailIn This Article
Expand Jump to a Section Why is This Happening? Cancel the Current Backup Attempt How to Fix it How Does Time Machine Work Frequently Asked Questions Time Machine has many tricks to ensure error-free backups and backups that take as little time as possible to complete. But in some cases, these two goals can force Time Machine to take a long time preparing for a backup. If you see a very long preparation phase or Time Machine seems to be stuck in the preparation process, this guide should help you fix the problem.Is Time Machine Stuck in the Preparation Process
Typically, unless you've made significant changes or added several new files to your drive, the "preparing backup" process is speedy. It's so quick that most Time Machine users never notice it, except for the first Time Machine backup, where the preparation phase takes a long time. If the preparation process is taking a while, here's how to tell if it's stuck: With Time Machine seemingly stuck in the preparation process, go to the Apple menu and select System Preferences. Select Time Machine. You'll see a Preparing Backup Progress Bar that indicates how far along Time Machine's preparation process is. If the progress bar is moving forward even slowly and incrementally, Time Machine is working. Be patient and don't interrupt the process. If the progress bar doesn't show any movement for more than 30 minutes, Time Machine may be stuck. If you've added significant files since the last backup, or if this is your first backup in a while, give the process a few hours or even let it sit overnight.Cancel the Current Backup Attempt
If the Time Machine backup-preparation process is stuck, you'll need to cancel the current backup attempt before moving on to troubleshooting solutions.To stop Time Machine's current backup preparation process, click the X next to the progress bar. You'll see that Time Machine is stopping the preparation process. When the preparation process has stopped, ensure that Back Up Automatically is unchecked. Next, you'll need to delete the canceled backup process's .inprogress file. Open your Time Machine backup volume and select Backups.backupd. Find the file that ends with .inprogress. Right-click the file and delete it, and then empty the Trash.
How to Fix Time Machine When It' s Stuck
After you've canceled the failed backup attempt, try some troubleshooting steps to see if you can get Time Machine to back up your system properly. Two common issues include large files holding up the process and Spotlight Search indexing the backup volume.Bypass Large Files
Large photo or video files may be hanging up Time Machine. Try excluding them from the backup and see if this solves the problem.In the Time Machine dialog box, select Options.
Select the plus (+) sign. Navigate to the files or folders you want to exclude and select Exclude. Repeat to exclude more files or folders. Select Save. With large files excluded, try running Time Machine again and see if it still gets stuck on the preparation stage.