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Hello. I cannot backup my Macbook Air on Time Machine. It sticks on 'preparing backup' The last backup was a couple of months ago and I had no problems with it at the time. I have recently backed up another mac onto the external drive I'm using with no problems.
It's an old machine, 13" 2015 OS 10.14.6
MacBook Air 13″, macOS 10.14
Timlondonparis wrote:
Hello. I cannot backup my Macbook Air on Time Machine. It sticks on 'preparing backup'
Read If Time Machine remains in the "preparing" stage on Mac - Apple Support
The last backup was a couple of months ago
Even if it were a couple weeks ago, TM will remain in the "Preparing" stage for a long time. Hours, perhaps even a day. Give it at least that long before following ku4hx's recommendations.
Timlondonparis wrote:
Hello. I cannot backup my Macbook Air on Time Machine. It sticks on 'preparing backup'
Read If Time Machine remains in the "preparing" stage on Mac - Apple Support
The last backup was a couple of months ago
Even if it were a couple weeks ago, TM will remain in the "Preparing" stage for a long time. Hours, perhaps even a day. Give it at least that long before following ku4hx's recommendations.
Assuming your Mac is operating properly; erase the drive and start over.
Each Mac should have its own, dedicated, backup drive to help avert problems such as this. If you have more than one Mac backed up to the same drive, if the drive fails you lose all backups. You may have that very situation here.
Best Practice is to attach the backup drive and have the Mac backup automatically. A months old backup is not much good as a backup as it's not up to date. History is fine, but when your main drive has a problem, history is not likely your first need. And being an "old" machine, I'd recommend extra caution with backing up. Hope for the best, but plan for the worst.
Time Machine has stopped backing up my Macbook Air.
