Time Machine stalls/hangs during backup

[mastercraft813]

Hello. I am experiencing Time Machine issues on my Early 2011 13-inch MBP running 10.10.1. I have two external hard drives that I use for Time Machine backups. I am experiencing the same issue with both of the external hard drives which leads me to believe that the computer is causing the issue.

Time Machine backups begin normally, make a small amount of progress, and then progress stops. The computer shows that the backup is still occurring but no progress is being made. It will stay like that until I manually stop the backup.

I've done disk repair on both external hard drives and the internal one. I erased one of my external hard drives and partitioned it and the problem continued. I restarted my computer and reset the PRAM (not sure if relevant) multiple times. I've included a screenshot of what the Time Machine preferences window looks like while the backup is stalled.

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

 

[Apple_Robert]

Go to the Time Machine disk >"Backups.backupdb" folder, and remove the file that ends with ".inProgress." Remove both backup drives > reboot > reattach drives > start a back up. Hopefully, that will solve your problem.

 

[mastercraft813]

Go to the Time Machine disk >"Backups.backupdb" folder, and remove the file that ends with ".inProgress." Remove both backup drives > reboot > reattach drives > start a back up. Hopefully, that will solve your problem.

Thanks for the response, BasicGreatGuy, but unfortunately that did not solve my problem. I attempted your suggestion three times. The first time, I deleted the ".inProgress" files on both external hard drives, removed the drives, restarted computer, plugged in one drive, and tried to backup. The second time, I did the same thing as the first time, but I also went into Time Machine preferences and removed both of the hard drives from the time machine disk list. The third time, I did the same as the second time, but I also erased and repartitioned the external hard drive.

Interestingly, on all three attempts the Time Machine backup stalled at "Backing up: 2.75 GB of 50.59 GB". Not sure if the 2.75 GB is at all significant.

 

[mastercraft813]

Resolution

I ended up doing a fresh install of 10.10.1. It wasn't the solution I was hoping for but it got the job done.

 

[WTFologist]

Same problem. Symlinks?

Thanks for the response, BasicGreatGuy, but unfortunately that did not solve my problem. I attempted your suggestion three times. The first time, I deleted the ".inProgress" files on both external hard drives, removed the drives, restarted computer, plugged in one drive, and tried to backup.
Interestingly, on all three attempts the Time Machine backup stalled at "Backing up: 2.75 GB of 50.59 GB". Not sure if the 2.75 GB is at all significant.

I'm getting the same problem. It always stops at the same disk size. It's a brand new SSD, so I'm not expecting to have to do any disk repair. I'm wondering whether symlinks to other volumes are the culprit.

 

[vehicross]

Time Machine BU Freeze

Same Problem –
Time machine back up hangs and then freezes everything. A Re boot is required. I had to shutdown my MacMini Mid 2011 with the Power Button. (OS 10.10.3. All disks verified). The disk being backed up is a 120GB SSD, about 70% full.

I am using an Apple 2 TB AirPort/Time Machine. The last flat format design.

In the beginning, I found the Time Machine posting that the back up must be verified and when I looked, all of my backups for two years were not listed! Nice. The space on the 2 TB disk was still in use. (Only about .3 TB).

I tried a few things and I bought a new 2 TB Apple Time Machine (Tall) and started over. The firmware was automatically updated. The set up went without a problem.

I found the initial backup would hang every 5 minutes or about every 6 GB. I forced quit the computer with the power button hold. Upon restart, I restarted the back up and the process continued to the next hang/crash. Each cycle, the amount to back up got smaller. As the listed amount to back up ended and the time estimate disappeared, the process continued and the amount to still back up started growing and the amount backed up also grew in sync. The last cycle volume actually increased 6x+ until the process finished. Finally, the processed finished and the hourly back ups went on without a hang.

Now that I had a good back up, I quick erased the Old Time Machine and held the reset button on the device. I stated over with Old Flat Time Machine. I disconnected the New Time Machine. I am using Ethernet cable for connection, not WiFi, for all of this work.
The back up went on until the last 6 GB and stalled/crashed. I repeated the restart and continue. The Time Remaining disappeared and the growth of the Amount Backed Up continued until finished. The back up finished and all seems normal.

I conclude that the Time Machine Back Up process is flakey. The process is subject to some interrupts even though I turned off the WiFi and did not touch even the mouse when running the Back Up. Kudos for TM keeping track of where it left off, but really!