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Very, Very Slow iPad Backups

I

iTellApple

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 23, 2010
9
0
Georgia
All day I've been trying to backup my iPad. Last night I connected it and this morning, it had only moved about the size of your fingernail. So, I have tried multiple times today and still, it hasn't passed the striped bar yet!
I don't understand! I don't have Wired, Zinio, or any other mag app! Please help.
Note: I'm trying to update to 4.2, so I can't just pass the backup.
 
backup very slow

Although, I have not experienced this issue myself, a couple of things you can try.

1) Reboot your pc/mac to ensure there are no issues before connecting your IPad.
2) Reinstall ITunes, You will need the latest rev of ITunes in order to upgrade to 4.2.1 anyways. If you have the latest version, download and run the repair option.
3) Try using a different USB connector for the IPad/IPhone/IPod if you have one.
4) In iTunes, click on iTunes>Preferences>Devices (PC users visit Edit>Preferences)*and delete the old backups for your iPad. This will force iTunes to make a new backup for your iPad. (If you don't want to delete them, remove them from the folder to another location instead)

Hope this helps.
 
sloooow

My back-up hung several times. I'm now on the third attempt.
Its been 1.5 hours and its roughly at the 50% mark.

I have Zinio and Keynote (with several docs).


iTellApple said:
All day I've been trying to backup my iPad. Last night I connected it and this morning, it had only moved about the size of your fingernail. So, I have tried multiple times today and still, it hasn't passed the striped bar yet!
I don't understand! I don't have Wired, Zinio, or any other mag app! Please help.
Note: I'm trying to update to 4.2, so I can't just pass the backup.
Click to expand...
 
liquid stereo said:
My back-up hung several times. I'm now on the third attempt.
Its been 1.5 hours and its roughly at the 50% mark.

I have Zinio and Keynote (with several docs).
Click to expand...

Zinio backups can take hours. You can avoid that by turning zinio backups off. They are only recommended before the zinio app itself is upgraded. Setting to turn off zinio backups is on the in-app zinio home screen.

Cheers,
 
backup is slow

I have read that Zenio causes issues with backing up the IPad and users have had to uninstall it in order to be able to perform a backup. Once the app is removed the backups should go back to normal.

Good Luck
 
delete crash reports? you probably have a TON of them right now.
also, every time iTunes ask you if you want the iPad to "send info to apple" just click no, but uncheck the "do not ask me again" box.
 
Yes, there is a way to bypass the backup & upgrade

I was having the same problem as you; it's well documented that a number of people on Apple's discussion forums are having serious problems backing up their iPads, but 4.2.1 speeds it all up.

A suggestion was made to download a piece of software called BACKOFF which you must run with iTunes closed, and there are Mac and PC versions. You can choose to turn backup on or off with the program. This worked beautifully for me, and I was able to complete a backup after I had upgraded to 4.2.1.

Here's a link to the free BACKOFF program: http://www.digidna.net/products/backoff
 
It didn't usually take too long for my iPad to be backed-up, but yesterday's night, it took me like 4 hours to complete the backing-up and syncing. And the reason is still unknown. After that, back up becomes normal again, i.e. 1-2 minutes, or sometime less. So I think the first back-up always takes longer than the subsequent ones. So if you deleted previous back-ups (Using the iTunes/Preference/Device to delete back-up), you gonna have to re-do the "first-time", which I believe to takes quite a long time.

Beside Zenio, another app that causes slow back-up (I think) is Lexi-Comp, the drugs app.
Comic app is known to cause backup issue as well. :apple:
 
VLC can also make for somewhat slow, and very large, backups because any files you have loaded into VLC are also backed up. This dramatically slowed backups on my iPhone, though not to the extent described in this thread.
 
Have you got any iTunes plugins installed? Stuff like iToner has been known to cause issues in the past.
 
Wired is the worst, it takes me 5-6 hours to backup after I download a new issue. Everytime a new issue is released, I contemplate not buying it because I don't want my iPad to be out of commission that long. It's ridiculous
 
Wired Magazine takes HOURS to backup

ngenerator said:
Wired is the worst, it takes me 5-6 hours to backup after I download a new issue. Everytime a new issue is released, I contemplate not buying it because I don't want my iPad to be out of commission that long. It's ridiculous
Click to expand...

I have the same problem and Wired appears to be the culprit. Every new issue requires 5-8 hours to download. Unbelievable that they have not fixed this yet!
 
do what i do, click the x in the status bar of itunes, its not imperative that the ipad is backed up anyway. apart from game saves, i can resync most of it with no problem were it to fail.
 
andyroochoo said:
do what i do, click the x in the status bar of itunes, its not imperative that the ipad is backed up anyway. apart from game saves, i can resync most of it with no problem were it to fail.
Click to expand...

It's just annoying to HAVE to do this every single time you try and sync. There should be an option in iTunes, bloated as it already is. I would be much happier with how big of a resource hog that iTunes is if they'd only give us an option to not backup our iDevices.
/rant
 
ngenerator said:
It's just annoying to HAVE to do this every single time you try and sync. There should be an option in iTunes, bloated as it already is. I would be much happier with how big of a resource hog that iTunes is if they'd only give us an option to not backup our iDevices.
/rant
Click to expand...

Bloated?! You might want to recheck your installation. Checking my own Task Manager, iTunes only uses approx 151,000K of memory during backup, very little CPU, and the program folder containing the executable is only 120MB.

How much smaller do you really think it should be, particularly in an age of multi-GB programs and OS's?
 
Sorry, I should have specified. iTunes on Windows is a subpar experience. My bad :)

I don't have the specifics, resource-wise, as to what exactly it uses on my computer, but I think it's about time for a re-write of iTunes.
 
ngenerator said:
Sorry, I should have specified. iTunes on Windows is a subpar experience. My bad :)

I don't have the specifics, resource-wise, as to what exactly it uses on my computer, but I think it's about time for a re-write of iTunes.
Click to expand...

It's actually the Windows 7 64bit experience that I described. Maybe it's the 32bit that has issues.

What specifically would you want to see taken away from iTunes? I'm just curious.
 
Swampthing said:
It's actually the Windows 7 64bit experience that I described. Maybe it's the 32bit that has issues.

What specifically would you want to see taken away from iTunes? I'm just curious.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm on 32bit. I wouldn't mind losing the frequent crashes and unreliable library files, just to name two things, but I'm not holding my breath
 
I had the same problem several weeks ago. It seemed to have happened when I download a game. It was Where's Waldo, a big file. When I did a backup after installing it, it barely moved in a couple of hours. It finally did and ever since that it is fine, only a couple of minutes. I personally think that when it backs up and you have just place something large in it, it takes awhile.
 
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