Time Machine is an important backup utility offered by Apple. Using it, Mac users can take a timely backup of their important files on a PC or a preferred location like an external drive. But sometimes it fails to function and shows error messages like Time Machine not backing up data or getting stuck at preparing backup.

To see the size of a specific file or folder, click it once and then press Command-I. To see storage information about your Mac, click the Apple menu in the top-left of your screen. Choose About This Mac and click the Storage tab. For Time Machine backups, it's good to use a drive that has at least twice the storage capacity of your Mac. Time machine backup fails in High Sierra After installing 10.13 Beta (17A264c) all time machine backups fail with the following message: Time Machine couldn’t complete the backup to “Backup”. But your second drive was on the list of things excluded from your backup. Click on the drive and click minus. And now it’s included in the backup. Now Time Machine will back up everything. Your Macs internal drives and the second external drive. If you ONLY want the files of your external drive backed up by Time Machine. Intermittently, Time Machine won't be able to complete a backup and gives this error: 'Time Machine could not create a local snapshot to back up from.' There is no mention of a lack of free space like other posts (more free space on this system than used space). Sometimes Time Machine is working flawlessly, other times it has this issue. First turn time machine off (System Preferences Time Machine Off) Navigate to /Volumes/VOLUMENAME/Backups.backupdb/COMPUTERNAME/, where you will see a list of folders dated by when the backup was created. If you see a folder with.inProgress in the name, move it to the trash. Turn time machine back on and complete a backup.

This complicates things. So, if you too are facing this problem in this article, we will talk about ways to resolve it.

Before we move ahead with a detailed explanation, here are some quick troubleshooting fixes.

Quick Ways to Fix Time Machine Backup Failed

1. Mac software should be updated.
2. Whenever you face Time Machine restore or backup failed error try restarting Mac.
3. If you use Airport Time Capsule update firmware.
4. Mac should be connected to the same network as the backup drive.
5. The connected drive should be switched on.
6. When taking backup in third party external drive, make sure the firmware is up to date.
7. The external drive should have enough space to store the backup.
8. Before backing up data using Time Machine, you should clean all junk and redundant data. For this, you can try using TuneUpMyMac. It is the best Mac optimization and cleaning utility that cleans all unwanted data in no time.

Now, let’s learn how to fix Time Machine Backup Fails Repeatedly.

How to Fix a Time Machine Backup Failed?

Unfortunately, several Mac users, after updating their Mac, face Time Machine backup failed error. If you are one of those unlucky users, here are some troubleshooting tips to fix the problem.

1. Check External hard drive’s file system.

If your external drive doesn’t have enough storage space or is formatted wrongly, you might face Time Backup error. Therefore, you need to make sure the external drive you are using has a native macOS format. The FAT or NTFS file system doesn’t work with Time Machine.

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Besides, if the external hard drive is in APFS macOS format then also it won’t work with Time Machine backup.

To check the format of the drive you are using, follow the steps explained below:

1. Attach the external drive to your Mac.

2. Now, launch Finder.

3. Here, look for drive> select it > right-click Get Info.

4. This will show drives format under General information.

If the external drive you are using is having one of the incompatible formats, you’ll need to reformat it to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) with a GUID Partition Table (GPT).

To do so, you can use Disk Utility. Follow the steps to format the external drive:

1. Attach the external drive to Mac.

2. Open Finder > Go > Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility

3. Open Disk Utility and choose the attached drive (external) from the left pane.

4. Click Erase present at the top of the Disk Utility window. As shown in the screenshot below:

5. In the new pop-up window that opens rename the drive if you want and alters and drive format to the supported one (Mac OS Extended (Journaled) > Erase.

This will change the format of your external drive and will make it compatible with Time Machine. Now you can take backup using Time Machine.

2. Check free disk space on external drive

If you still face any problem check for the available space on external drive. There should be enough room to back up the Time Machine. If that’s not the case get rid of unwanted files stored on it and free up space for Time Machine backup. Alternatively, you can use a new external hard drive or one with enough available space.

Additional Tip

If you want to backup optimized and clean data using Time Machine, we suggest cleaning junk files, duplicates, unwanted cache, cookies, and other unrequired data from Mac. For this, you can check out the dedicated app known as TuneUpMyMac. This amazing Mac optimizer and cleaning tool helps perform various tasks. Using it, you can optimize your Mac in a single click, delete privacy exposing traces from the browser, junk files, duplicates, large files, old downloads, and more.

It also helps boost speed, and shred deleted data entirely so that it cannot be recovered.

How to fix Time Machine backup fails frequently?

When you backup temporary files, Time Machine backup fails repeatedly. Therefore, to fix this issue, you need to clean up these files.

To do this, follow the steps below:

1. Turn off the Time Machine. To do so click Apple logo > System Preferences > and look for the Time Machine tab.

2. Here, uncheck the Back Up Automatically option.

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Next, clean Time Machine’s working files. To do so, follow the steps below:

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1. Open Finder > select external hard disk.

2. Now look for folder names Backups.backupdb

3. Please open it and delete the file with .inProgress suffix. For this right-click and select Move to Trash/Bin.

4. Empty the Trash and reboot Mac.

Now, enable Time Machine and try taking backing up data. You should not face any problem.

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Check for junk files, and other unwanted data as it might be causing problems.

Sometimes junk files, system cache, temp files, prevent an application from running correctly. In such cases knowing the exact reason for the problem is impossible. Therefore, to deal with such issues, I would recommend using TuneUpMyMac.

This excellent Mac optimizer and cleaner know where to look for junk files, app leftovers, temp files, and other unwanted data that creates problems. It quickly scans Mac for all the unwanted data and helps clean them smoothly. To use TuneUpMyMac and clean junk files, system cache, and duplicates, follow the steps below:

1. Download TuneUpMyMac.

2. Install and click Start System Scan to run the app.

3. Let the scan finish. TuneUpMyMac will not list down all junk and unwanted data.

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4. Click Clean Now to delete detected junk files and other unwanted data that is creating the problem.

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Now try to use Time Machine and take a backup so you should not face any problem.

So, this is all as you learned about the different reasons that can lead to Time Machine backup failure error messages. The most important thing that you need to do whenever you face the problem is to check the format of the external drive. If it is incompatible, nothing will work. Therefore, make sure you use supported formats. In addition to this, if you keep your Mac optimized, you can not only solve the Time Machine problem but other problems too. For this, you can try using TuneUpMyMac, a must-have utility that performs various tasks in a single click.

Hope you find the information useful. Do share your thoughts in the comments section.