Should time machine take this long?

[CanadianDonkey]

So, I plug my computer in this morning, and hook it up to my 500gb ext hdd. It says it's backing up about 60gb of data. Cool.

So I come back, nearly 8 hours later, and it says it's only done about 600mb.

Is this right? Why would this be taking so long?

 

[MacsAttack]

So, I plug my computer in this morning, and hook it up to my 500gb ext hdd. It says it's backing up about 60gb of data. Cool.

So I come back, nearly 8 hours later, and it says it's only done about 600mb.

Is this right? Why would this be taking so long?

Is Spotlight set to not index your backup drive? That would slow things down some. Still. It sounds a bit slow...

I've got Time Machine backing up to internal drives, so it is quite speedy. I assume you are using a USB drive. My experience has been that for bulk copies their performance is inferior to using firewire.

600mb in 8 hours still sounds way too slow though.

 

[CanadianDonkey]

Yeah. It's been another hour, and it actually hasn't gone up at all. Something is really wrong.

 

[Eraserhead]

I assume this is your first backup. Cancel, delete the time machine backup on the external and try again.

However the first one does take ages 8 hours sounds reasonable, but it should be advancing, though it is slow.

 

[nick9191]

What Interface is it (FW400/800/USB)?
What Leopard Version (10.5.0 10.5.1 10.5.2)?
Did you format it before use?
Is it plugged into a hub?
Is the drive making any bad noises?
Is the drive showing any warning lights
What brand is the drive?
Any other problems that have happened recently which could be a contributing factor?

 

[CanadianDonkey]

What Interface is it (FW400/800/USB)?
What Leopard Version (10.5.0 10.5.1 10.5.2)?
Did you format it before use?
Is it plugged into a hub?
Is the drive making any bad noises?
Is the drive showing any warning lights
What brand is the drive?
Any other problems that have happened recently which could be a contributing factor?

1. USB
2. 10.5.2
3. Yes
4. No, direct to computer
5. No, just the standard disc spinning sounds that it always made.
6. I don't think so, there's just the blue light on the front that shows it's active.
7. WD
8. No recent problems that I can remember.