sleep option after a scheduled backup not working

[rdlsmith]

I set a scheduled sparse image backup to run today and as an option I selected the put computer to sleep after a successful copy.

Looking at the log, it seems the copy worked. I'm able to mount the sparse image and just a quick look suggests that at least the top level folders were created.

Here's the last part of the log file:
...
| 02:23:00 PM | Info | Evaluated 265738 items occupying 26.06 GB (49703 directories, 190481 files, 25554 symlinks)
| 02:23:00 PM | Info | Copied 315334 items totaling 25.98 GB (49687 directories, 190408 files, 75239 symlinks)
| 02:23:00 PM | Info | Cloned 25.98 GB of data in 1939 seconds at an effective transfer rate of 13.72 MB/s
| 02:23:00 PM | Info | PHASE: 3. After Successful Copy
| 02:23:00 PM | Info | ...ACTION: Making Backup bootable
| 02:23:00 PM | Info | ......COMMAND => Blessing OS X System Folder
| 02:23:01 PM | Info | Successfully blessed Mac OS X folder on Backup
| 02:23:01 PM | Info | ......COMMAND => Blessing OS 9 System Folder
| 02:23:01 PM | Info | Did not bless Mac OS 9 System Folder on Backup because it does not exist.
| 02:23:01 PM | Info | ......COMMAND => Restoring Spotlight search indexing state on Backup
| 02:23:01 PM | Info | ...ACTION: Unmounting Backup
| 02:23:01 PM | Info | ......COMMAND => Unmounting '/Volumes/LaCie Backup/SmartUpdate/Backup.sparseimage'
| 02:23:03 PM | Info | "disk2" unmounted.
| 02:23:03 PM | Info | "disk2" ejected.
| 02:23:03 PM | Info | Copy complete.


Is the this a good transfer rate?
"Cloned 25.98 GB of data in 1939 seconds at an effective transfer rate of 13.72 MB/s"

Also, what is the "bless" this and that all about?

[dnanian]

Your transfer rate looks just fine. The sleep command, though, wasn't in the scheduled item. My guess is you changed it in the main window. The main window, though, isn't the scheduled copy -- the scheduled copy is in the Scheduled Copies window. Once you've scheduled, they're no longer connected.

So, if you want to change an option for a scheduled copy, delete the one you have and reschedule it.

Hope that helps!

[rdlsmith]

It didn't ask for a password. Yet, when I logged out and back in as a Guest account, I couldn't access the files under my real user's Document directory.

That's as it should be.

It also put the computer into sleep mode this time.

Shouldn't it have asked for a password? Did it store the password somehow?

If the HD should crash, and I have to reinstall from the DVDs (which I shouldn't have to do as I have a bootable partition on an external HD) how would I access those files under the Documents directory?

Let me make sure my question is clear, say the internal HD fails, I reinstall OS X from the DVDs that shipped with my computer. I create a new user account with the same name as I was using before, mount the external firewire drive. How do I access my files in order to do a restore?

Yikes, I don't like either answer. One is, if I create with the same name I can access my files. That would mean any hacker could borrow the drive and do the same so I'm sure that won't work.

The other answer is, it's not really the same account so there's no way to get to the files. What good is that? Suppose the external boot partition didn't work for whatever reason?

I want a way to tie the backup to a password. Maybe the entire sparse image. Is there a way to do that?

[dnanian]

You mean authorize? It wouldn't authorize again, since it was already unlocked.

Your files aren't secure either on the source or the backup; you can just turn "ownership" off and get access to anything on the external drive. And, of course, when you start up from the backup, you get access to your files when you log into your account.

You can create an encrypted sparse image with Disk Utility, though. Note, though, that you cannot boot from the backup if it's in an image until restored.

Is your Home folder FileVaulted?

[rdlsmith]

Argh. I thought I understood all of this.

I'm not using FV. Wanted to avoid doing so if at all possible.

"you can just turn "ownership" off and get access to anything on the external drive"

How does one do that?

I was under the impression that they were secure. If you don't know the password, you can't get to them etc. At least that's what I took from our previous exchange on the subject. How could I be so off track on this???

[dnanian]

You turn ownership off by selecting the external drive, doing a "Get Info", and checking the "Ignore ownership" checkbox.

If you have a Firmware password, which is what you were talking about before, your internal files are relatively safe. Your backed up files are not, since that drive is accessible. If you want to secure those, you need either a drive with hardware security or you need to store things in a sparse image with a password (created with Disk Utility, then point SD! at the image you created), recognizing that you cannot boot from that image until it's restored.