Time Capsule Backup stuck

[joeg679]

I was having an issue that I noticed today where the TC was stuck at a certain point while backing up. I tried a few things and then decided to delete all the contents off my 2TB TC and then do a backup. I started a backup and it started to go, but now it's been stuck on 1.6 GB of 272GB, for about an hour. Any ideas on how to fix this? Thanks for your help.

 

[chscag]

Have you tried using Disk Utility to check the drive in your TC?

 

[joeg679]

Have you tried using Disk Utility to check the drive in your TC?

Yeah, but the utility said that it couldn't find it. I need to hook the TC directly to the macbook via USB, I think. It now says that it's at 34.8 GB, was at 1.6 about 9 hours ago. Maybe it's working, but just going very slowly...

 

[Slydude]

I don't think Disk Utility can "see" the Time Capsule's drive to check it. I know it doesn't see mine. Here's Apple's suggestion for verifying the Time Capsule drive.

There is a possible problem with Time Machine backups that can be checked with Disk Utility. When Time Machine stores backups on network devices such as Time Capsules the backups are stored in a sparsebundle file (think expondable disk image file). Sometimes this file becomes corrupt and that can slow progress tremendously. Here's where Disk Utility can help. Try the following:

1. Find the Time Machine soparsebundle on the Time Capsule drive (it usually has the name of the computer).
2. Double-click the sparsebundle file to mount it. It appears as a drive.
3. Now launch Disk Utility. It should show in the list at the left of the Disk Utility window.
4. You should be able to verify and repair things just as you would a real drive.

 

[IWT]

I tried a few things and then decided to delete all the contents off my 2TB TC and then do a backup.

Following on from slydude's extremely useful post and Link, I'm wondering how the OP actually deleted the contents? There is a very clear method of doing this via Airport Utility and if done otherwise, I suspect that the TC may not function properly.

Just a thought.

Ian

 

[Slydude]

Good thought Ian. That had not occurred to me.

 

[joeg679]

Following on from slydude's extremely useful post and Link, I'm wondering how the OP actually deleted the contents? There is a very clear method of doing this via Airport Utility and if done otherwise, I suspect that the TC may not function properly.

Just a thought.

Ian

Thanks for your help guys. Yes, I did it through the utility and it seems to have worked. It backed up 270GB of stuff over 2 days and now it's working properly.

 

[pigoo3]

Just some thoughts regarding things. Remember this "system" is primarily made up of three components:

- The storage device in the computer being backed up.
- The storage device (hard drive) in the Time Capsule.
- The home network (WiFi).

If any of these (or a combination) are working sub-par…this will slow things down.

- Nick

 

[joeg679]

I thought my Time Capsule issue was fixed

I was having problems with the TC backing up VERY slowly, so I erased it. I did a complete backup, which completed 275GB in about 24 hours, which seems normal. Now it's slow again so I called apple. We put the computer into safe mode and it backed up 10 gb in 10 min. I took it out of safe mode and it's backing up again. It's at 521 kb of 438mb, for about 15 minutes. Apple doesn't know what the issue is, so they told me to call back when I have time to have them troubleshoot. Any ideas what is going on?

 

[pigoo3]

Merged threads…same topic.

- Nick

 

[pigoo3]

I was having problems with the TC backing up VERY slowly, so I erased it. I did a complete backup, which completed 275GB in about 24 hours, which seems normal. Now it's slow again so I called apple. We put the computer into safe mode and it backed up 10 gb in 10 min. I took it out of safe mode and it's backing up again. It's at 521 kb of 438mb, for about 15 minutes. Apple doesn't know what the issue is, so they told me to call back when I have time to have them troubleshoot. Any ideas what is going on?

Was going to suggest something yesterday when I replied to this thread…but held back since it seemed like you felt the problem was solved.

It's very very possible that the hard drive in your Time Capsule is beginning to fail. There's a better quality hard drive inside an Apple Time Capsule…but even better quality hard drives eventually fail (just like hard drives in computers eventually fail). Slow read/write speeds can be an indication of this.

You didn't mention how old this Time Capsule is. But the older it is (and the more hours it has on it)…the more possible the TC's HD is failing. Even if it were a newer TC…even newer HD's can fail prematurely.

If this is the older "flat" style Time Capsule. The 2 terabyte version of these were first released in 2009 thru 2011. So this TC could be as much as 7 years old. The newer "tower style" TC was released in 2013.

- Nick

 

[joeg679]

Was going to suggest something yesterday when I replied to this thread…but held back since it seemed like you felt the problem was solved.

It's very very possible that the hard drive in your Time Capsule is beginning to fail. There's a better quality hard drive inside an Apple Time Capsule…but even better quality hard drives eventually fail (just like hard drives in computers eventually fail). Slow read/write speeds can be an indication of this.

You didn't mention how old this Time Capsule is. But the older it is (and the more hours it has on it)…the more possible the TC's HD is failing. Even if it were a newer TC…even newer HD's can fail prematurely.

If this is the older "flat" style Time Capsule. The 2 terabyte version of these were first released in 2009 thru 2011. So this TC could be as much as 7 years old. The newer "tower style" TC was released in 2013.

- Nick

Thanks for the reply. It's the newest one - about a year or so old. The apple rep said he ruled out the TC because it backed up in safe mode and did so quickly.

 

[pigoo3]

Thanks for the reply. It's the newest one - about a year or so old. The apple rep said he ruled out the TC because it backed up in safe mode and did so quickly.

Ok…great to know.

As mentioned in post #8 above. There are three components in the "backup system":

- The TC.
- The computer.
- The home network.

If we assume that the TC is "new enough" to not be the TC's HD or the TC's WiFi hardware. The next places to look for the slowness issue would be the computer itself (WiFi or storage)…or the home network. If the computer is the 2014 retina MacBook Pro in your Mac-Forums profile…and we assume that the computer is new enough not to be a problem. Then the last place to look would be the home network (WiFi router & cable modem)…if you have both of these.

You can do a quick test of your network speed by going to Speedtest.net…running the test…and see if the result is close to what you're paying for from your ISP. If the network speed is significantly lower than you're supposed to get…could be:

- your ISP not providing enough bandwidth
- your cable modem or WiFi router is faulty
- or maybe it's the network hardware on the computer or TC (even if both are pretty new).

Lots of "fun" things to look into!

- Nick

 

[joeg679]

I just tested my speed and it was 78/44. Th computer is pretty new and I have 227gb left on the internal ssd. It has to be some program on the computer, but I haven't installed anything recently and the TC was working fine a week ago. I'll have to call apple again and I'll report back. Thank you for your help!

 

[pm-r]

…
… …

You didn't mention how old this Time Capsule is. But the older it is (and the more hours it has on it)…the more possible the TC's HD is failing. Even if it were a newer TC…even newer HD's can fail prematurely.

If this is the older "flat" style Time Capsule. The 2 terabyte version of these were first released in 2009 thru 2011. So this TC could be as much as 7 years old. The newer "tower style" TC was released in 2013.

- Nick

I've replaced three of these for three clients over the last two+ months fail. Completely dead, and they never had anything piled on top to cause any overheating.

At least they lasted longer than the 18 months that so many suffered from. I think they had to close down the on-line Time Capsule registry graveyard several years ago. Maybe some questionable design…???





- Patrick
======

 

[joeg679]

I've replaced three of these for three clients over the last two+ months fail. Completely dead, and they never had anything piled on top to cause any overheating.

At least they lasted longer than the 18 months that so many suffered from. I think they had to close down the on-line Time Capsule registry graveyard several years ago. Maybe some questionable design…???





- Patrick
======

WOW, that's crazy. When the TC works, I love it because it's really saved me a few times, but when it doesn't work, it's very frustrating.

 

[pm-r]

Just thought I'd check and see if the old Time Capsule death registry still existed, and yup, but Closed:

Time Capsule registry
http://timecapsuledead.org

 

[pigoo3]

Checked out the "Dead Time Capsule" link…and wanted to mention that the list is comprised of almost entirely of 500gig and 1.0 terabyte TC's in the 2009-2010 timeframe. There are 2500 TC's in the "dead list" (before the registry was closed)…which may sound like a lot. It would be great to know how many TC's Apple sold to get a more exact failure rate.

I have a 2.0 Terabyte TC that I've had for at least the last 4 years (maybe more)…I would have to check its exact model. It's a dual-band model…I purchased it used…and it's probably been running almost non-stop (24-7-365) for most of the past 4 years. Fingers crossed it does not all of a sudden crap-out after mentioning this!

- Nick

 

[pm-r]

Two of the hints to increase the old style TCs longevity that all those clients of mine used was:
- not to place anything on top of them
- keep them elevated with two pencils or similar to allow more air flow.

At least they got a good number of years use out of them rather than just the months that some seemed to get.





- Patrick
======

 

[pw_168]

Hi, I have a time capsule but lately it is stuck on "preparing backup" for over 24 hours but nothing happened. I read somewhere that I need to delete the InProgress file but for the life of me I cannot find this file through finder. Appreciate any input.