suddenly stuck on preparing backup, no other variables

WD External and Portable SSD External SSD for macOS
1

I use one My Passport on two Mac Airs. A week ago I used it on both, no issues. Today Air #1, no problem. Air #2 is stuck on ‘preparing backup.’ I deleted the ‘in progress’ file but that didn’t help.

Air #2 uses Mojave, but that shouldn’t make a difference as I have used MP with it every week for…three years?

Thanks.

2

Hello,

Please refer to the following KBA article: Why Initial macOS Time Machine Backup Fail?

3

Thank you for your response, but I don’t see how the link is applicable.

  1. This is not an initial backup.
  2. My laptop isn’t going to sleep. In fact, I am able to complete backups usually even when the laptop goes into sleep mode.
    Something happened from one week to the next, after lots of successful backups. I’m trying to figure out what could have changed.
    Thanks again.
4

Try this,

Stop Spotlight from indexing the Time Machine Operations

  • Click on the Apple icon and select System Preferences.
  • Go to the Spotlight option and open the Spotlight Preferences window.
  • Go to the Privacy tab and open the list of apps and processes that are not indexed by Spotlight.
  • Click on the + icon. Then select Time Machine as exclusion and save changes.

Also, I advise you to Repair the Time Machine using Disk Utility.

5

I’ll try those steps. Thank you!

6

I followed your directions but in step #4, Time Machine was greyed out and not selectable.