Time machine not working

[Littleboo]

I just bought a new iMac. I have the backups going to my external, but the latest backup still says over a week ago and I have a new folder for my new computer and it says In progress with a date of Nov. 26. I select back up now, and it looks like it's backing up, but it's not.

 

[Cave Man]

By chance does your external hard drive go to sleep? That's a problem with many drives, especially those from Seagate and Western Digital. If it goes to sleep, then the Mac won't be able to find it. Try turning the drive off, then back on, then have Time Machine try to back up. If that happens, you've likely isolated the problem (sleeping drive).

 

[Littleboo]

Yes, I am sure it goes to sleep. So, maybe the first time it tried to do the back up it went to sleep and never was awake long enough to do a full backup? When you say turn off the drive, are you referring to the Time Machine?

 

[Cave Man]

No, unmount the external drive, then turn it off, turn it back on, then remount it. As soon as the drive icon appears, do a manual Time Machine backup.

 

[Littleboo]

That didn't work. I still have a "In Progress" Any other ideas?