Time Machine stopped working in Jan and never completes

I don't have any other backup disk showing. I removed the one I had because it stopped working in January. I didn't want to lose it since it's the only backup I have. So I replaced the drive with this one with the same result. Days and days and it still says "Preparing backup".

Thanks for responding BTW. I'm starting to question the software now. There is no reason I can see for this. The disk is fine. It's all set up fine. Two different disks won't work. I don't get it.

Nothing is running like that. Disk is fine. They both check fine. It's writing the "inprogress" file but nothing else. Not seeing any errors in the logs. It just spins. I think the software might be corrupted but I don't know how to repair that.

LOL. You are calling my software "junk". But honestly the only dysfunctional software I'm dealing with is Time Machine at the moment. I removed that app you mentioned. It was already deleted, but left something behind for some reason. I installed it in 2020 and deleted it. It hasn't been running. Nothing in my loaded software should interfere with backups that I can tell. Even if this "junk" software was running, it doesn't explain why Time Machine ran in Jan 2024 if the "junk" was installed in 2020.

The drive tests fine. The only critique is that it's old. Not a valid excuse for Time Machine bogging down. Not helping solve the problem. The radical idea of replacing the drive is fine, but I have no backup here. If I image the drive it might bring the problem with it.

Makes no sense the login items, one for the camera and one for the speaker would stop a backup. In fact it makes no sense any of the apps suddenly decided to break Time Machine after being there since before Jan.

I did clean up the apps. Trend Micro was installed in 2020 and deleted. It left something behind. I removed it. It didn't matter. None of the apps seem to matter except the Time Machine itself.

Can't boot in safe mode for some reason. It hangs right before starting. Maybe the Time Machine is causing that too. I have no idea.

Safe mode never completed. Another broken application alongside Time Machine. I let it run for about 8 hrs. Yet the drive testing tested just fine.

I reloaded the OS. No effect on the problem.

I never found any reason for Time Machine to not work.

You guys are as clueless as I am.

And this reporting tool didn't give a single clue why Time Machine is not working. In fact it said Time Machine is not configured which is actually untrue and there is no reason to believe it is unconfigured. It's not helping this reporting app just talks trash and has no serious facts behind it's conclusions. It's only gripe is my hard drive is old and thinks my hardware is obsolete. No doubt an excuse for software failures.

I appreciate your help though.

I've taken all your advice and I will be installing a new drive next week. I did all the cleanup and it didn't matter.

I did get the backup software Acronis to work. It took 5hr 20mins to complete the first backup. The incrementals are taking less than an hour. The backup is only 329GB. Certainly nothing Time Machine should not be able to handle. Maybe Time Machine should get some error messages into their software when it doesn't work. Help customers out for a change instead of cover up issues.

So I have a backup now at least.

I will let you know if I find anything after I replace the drive.

I'm not going to let this system become a boat anchor like my iMac when Apple decided to stop supporting it 6 years after I bought it.

As I said, I'm not running "junk". That is a very unscientific assessment of the situation. Thanks for your input however. I am taking your advice and replacing the drive, in spite of the fact it tests fine. Maybe the software system will fail faster than ever before.

It is working now. I had to replace the hard drive. I used Acronis True Image to make a backup. Then I made a bootable USB. I replaced the internal hard drive with a Samsung 1TB SSD. Then I booted into the Acronis USB drive and formatted the disk. Then I recovered from the Acronis backup drive.

Now the Time Machine is functioning normally. Even though the original hard drive tested fine, it wasn't fine, at least it wasn't fine to the Time Machine.