TM preparing backups takes forever

I realize I've posted this before but its really starting to annoy me now. I purchased a new WD external hard drive in hopes that would resolve the problem of "preparing backups". It still takes upward of 20-30 minutes before it actually starts the back ups. I have opened up TM and deleted the "files in progress" in hopes that it would work. It didn't. Now should I try an SMC reset? and if i do should I have my ext hd attached while I do this. I would appreciate any ideas as to what to do. Thanks much.

20 or 30 minutes preparing a backup is unusual. How much data is being backed up and is this just for the first backup or for every backup? A SMC reset isn't going to do any good although it won't do any harm either and it doesn't matter if the external hard drive is attached or not.

I tried using a WD cloud backup drive at work with the Macs. It would work flawlessly with the Windows computers but not well with the Macs. They would have trouble finding the drive then take forever to backup. I finally gave up and installed a Time Capsule just for them. Solved the problem. They find it and back up fast in the background as it should be.

I can't remember where I read it but there can be problems just as you are describing. Something about the type of protocols used are different and conflicting. Anyway here is a link that might give you some information.

Using a WD network drive with Apple Time Machine Backups

BTW: I realize you might not be networking the drive but the issues are the same.

Lisa

firesidedog said:

I realize I've posted this before but its really starting to annoy me now. I purchased a new WD external hard drive in hopes that would resolve the problem of "preparing backups". It still takes upward of 20-30 minutes before it actually starts the back ups. I have opened up TM and deleted the "files in progress" in hopes that it would work. It didn't. Now should I try an SMC reset? and if i do should I have my ext hd attached while I do this. I would appreciate any ideas as to what to do. Thanks much.

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First fill us in with your system specs, amount of data your backing up, the model drive your backing up to and if you are running through a network or usb hub. Also details of the network or USB hub.


I have 2x WD MyBook drives for Mac (black and preformated, but I formatted again anyway). They are USB 3.0 and plugged directly into my USB 3.0 ports.
Now only one is used for my backup, other is more storage.
Initial backup of my system which is only about 1.2 TB of data, takes a very long time. A few hours or so, however daily and incremental backups are quick and seldom ever noticeable. Also you can start the backup at anytime by Right Clicking on the task bar icon and choosing Back Up Now.