Adding Drive Numbers - During SD Back-up ?

[BarryC]

Hi All,

I've been using SD to create a weekly back-up to my external Iomega HDD for about a year and everything's been working fine ( Using the latest version of SuperDuper ) and tested that the SD Back-up Boots from the external Iomega drive OK etc etc.

For the last three weeks everytime SD runs it's scheduled Back-up I've noticed that SD now Smart Updates to the Iomega HDD but adds a number to the target disk during copy ?
ie The Back-up three weeks ago was SD Backup Internal HDD to Iomega HDD1
The Back-up two weeks ago was shown as SD Backup Internal HDD to Iomega HDD2
The Back-up one week ago was shown as SD Backup Internal HDD to Iomega HDD3

Every scheduled back-up now seems to add a number to the external Drive

This numbering now also appears in the SD log file ?

Can anyone throw any light on this ? Please

Thanks - BarryC

[dnanian]

Are you clicking 'Schedule...' over and over, so that the schedule adds a number, or does the drive name in the pop-up have a number?

[BarryC]

Hi Dave, thanks for the quick response - when I start SD app the Menu says
Copy ( Mac HD ) to ( Iomega HDD3 )

Sorry I'm still quite new to mac ( even after a year or so ! )

BarryC

[dnanian]

Well... that would imply that you've been having a ton of drive failures. Have you been disconnecting drives without ejecting them?

[BarryC]

Dave

The Iomega 500GB External drive is permanently connected by FW to my Mac Mini - it seems to be working fine ? Time Machine also backs-up to this drive ?


BarryC

[dnanian]

Well, FW isn't exactly permanent, Barry. It can be unplugged... unless you epoxied things. ;)

What happens if you restart your Mac?

[BarryC]

Dave

Didn't use epoxy :D

I used SuperGlue ( It's more readily available in the UK :) ) instead - seriously though the drive number is only added after each scheduled SD runs. It's due to run tonight at 19.30 UK Time - I bet It will then show:-

Copy ( Mac HD ) to (Iomega HDD4)

BarryC

[dnanian]

What happens if you restart your Mac now, Barry, and then run SD? Does the number drop?

[BarryC]

Dave

Re-booted Mac Mini and opened the SD app - still shows Iomega HDD3 ?

In the scheduled tasks only tonight's schedule is shown ie there is only one scheduled task not multiple schedules

Any Ideas ?

Thanks

BarryC

[dnanian]

If you use Finder's "Go To Folder" command to open

/Volumes

Do you see any folders in there with the drive name, or the drive name with numbers after them (not links/aliases, but actual folders)?

[BarryC]

Dave,

In addition to the Macintosh HDD there are three Iomega folders:- HDD, HDD1 and HDD2 ( these folders have a Red No entry the right hand corner ? ) when I click it says you cannot open as you do not have permissions

The physical Iomega (TM) HDD is shown as Iomega HDD3

Does this help ?

Thanks

BarryC

[dnanian]

Right. That means that your drive has been ejecting/unmounting due to communication or surface failures during the copy.

I'd remove the folders there (the three you mention). Then, empty your trash and restart your Mac.

[BarryC]

Many Thanks Dave ! :)

Deleted the folders and re-booted the Mac Mini - the scheduled copy in SD is now shown as Iomega HDD - with no additional numbers !

Brilliant ! :)

Just a thought - any idea what would cause these communication problems
( would TM trying to start during a back-up cause this ? ) although I don't think this is the case - the Mac is basically idle when SD runs ( ie no web browsing or other apps running )


BarryC

[dnanian]

Other than a flaky drive or cable/port problems? No...

[TMay]

Barry

I have a new Mac Mini (four months old) which for a variety of reasons I won't be able to get to an Apple service center for a couple months (which is OK, as I have warranty 'til December.)

Anyway, from day one I have had troubles -- big troubles -- with the Firewire intermittently dropping. This is occurring with a new OWC two drive external which is also (unfortunately) brand new, which makes troubleshooting a problem. Except I have an older OWC twin drive external as well, which has been flawless with my desktop Mac Pro. And the Mini drops it too. Thus I blame the Mini, not the external cases and drives.

Bottom line, on Apple's support forums, this is not an unknown issue. Some have attributed it to various system upgrades (mostly 6.1 and 6.2) but I don't think that's my problem. Others focus on the Mac Mini (and others on some newer MacBooks which apparently can have issues as well.)

Only difference from your situation is that only once when this happened during a SD backup did I get the folder situation Dave describes (which, fortunately, I was familiar with.) Other times (and there have been a number) SD just stalls.

So, have you had any other indications (non-SD) of Firewire flakiness? If not, then probably your problem is totally different from mine. But if you have, that could be it. I take it you have been using the SAME Mini and IOmega for the last year or so. Did you by chance do an OS upgrade at about the same time the trouble started?

[dnanian]

You can also try using USB for the drive(s), of course.

[BarryC]

Hi TMay,

Thanks for your input - The Iomega Minimax 500GB drive and Mac Mini have been working flawlessly for about 8-9 months, I purchased the Mac Mini over a year ago and added the external HDD later.

I did upgrade to SL ( from Leopard ) and this problem did not appear after that, having said that though it may have occurred after the 10.6.2 update ( I have now updated to 10.6.3 ) I'm not sure if this was the cause ?

Interestingly I also had a Lacie External DVD RW connected by FW until approx. 2 months ago and this also worked OK after the updates.

I've now deleted the folders Dave suggested and the last scheduled SuperDuper Back-Up ran without adding any additional numbers - so I intend to watch this in the future.

I've also used Disk Utility to Verify the Iomega Disk and it reported no problems so I'm hoping that it may just be an intermittent FW connection problem - if this occurs again I'll try to change the cable.

I will also check the Mac Mini / SL forums as per your post !

Thanks & Regards

BarryC

[TMay]

Barry

More than welcome, and if I can find the links I saved to the Apple discussions, I'll put them here. Sounds like you don't have the severe FW problem I do, but perhaps you do have the one the Apple guys are talking about from the 6.2 upgrade.