I was having problems with Time Machine, just like many people in here. Slow transfers, error in the middle of the process.
Here's how I fixed it:
1. In System Preferences>Time Machine, turn off backups (the On/Off switch).
2. In Disk Utility, select the external hard drive, then go to the Erase section (not First Aid or Partition).
3. Choose Volume Format: Mac OS X Extended (Journaled)
3.5. You can name it whatever (I left it at Untitled, then just changed it later).
4.Click Erase.
5. Let the disk remount itself. Should show up as a simple external drive (Firewire for me, I don't know what yours is).
6. If asked, make this the Time Machine backup disk. If you are not asked (I wasn't), go to Time Machine preferences and manually set it as the disk.
7. Either wait for Time Machine to back up itself, or right-click (CTRL+click) Time Machine in the Dock, then click Back Up Now.
This worked for me and my Western Digital My Book 750GB drive! It didn't entirely solve the slow transfer problem, but it helped for sure. Took about 2 hours to transfer about 80GB.
I hope this helps!
Here's how I fixed it:
1. In System Preferences>Time Machine, turn off backups (the On/Off switch).
2. In Disk Utility, select the external hard drive, then go to the Erase section (not First Aid or Partition).
3. Choose Volume Format: Mac OS X Extended (Journaled)
3.5. You can name it whatever (I left it at Untitled, then just changed it later).
4.Click Erase.
5. Let the disk remount itself. Should show up as a simple external drive (Firewire for me, I don't know what yours is).
6. If asked, make this the Time Machine backup disk. If you are not asked (I wasn't), go to Time Machine preferences and manually set it as the disk.
7. Either wait for Time Machine to back up itself, or right-click (CTRL+click) Time Machine in the Dock, then click Back Up Now.
This worked for me and my Western Digital My Book 750GB drive! It didn't entirely solve the slow transfer problem, but it helped for sure. Took about 2 hours to transfer about 80GB.
I hope this helps!