stalls while copying files

[jason]

I've been using SD with my macbook for a while now without any problems, but just today it's started to get stuck while copying files? I've tried it several times and it always seems to get stuck in one of two places.

I'm guessing perhaps it's finding a file it doesn't like? If so, how can I find which file?

Appreciate any help.

[dnanian]

Drop me a note to support and I'll provide a command that'll help...

[jason]

Thanks for the quick reply, I've sent an email to support. I actually sent another earlier today... are they getting through?

[dnanian]

I'm certainly getting a ton of mail, so stand by and I'm sure it'll get in.

[mitchcg]

Originally Posted by dnanian

Drop me a note to support and I'll provide a command that'll help...

I have exactly the same problem. I've been using SD for over a year to do daily backups of my system, but now it stalls during the copy. Then, when I "quit" SD I'm unable to unmount the drive. Even the unix "umount" command fails. I have to do a hard reset of my computer to get the disk to unmount.

[dnanian]

Mitch, your problem seems like a hardware issue to me; likely a drive lockup, bus issue, etc.

joemac: because it's technical enough that I want to walk the user through.

[mitchcg]

Originally Posted by dnanian

Mitch, your problem seems like a hardware issue to me; likely a drive lockup, bus issue, etc.

joemac: because it's technical enough that I want to walk the user through.

Dnanian,

This happens with any drive I attach to the computer. The drive I tried most recently is brand new. I've tried both Firewire ports as well. So yes, it could be hardware, but I don't think it's the drive or the Firewire adapter. Any other hints?

[dnanian]

You'd really have to look at what's actually accessing the drive. Yes, we're copying files to it, but we're using very high level calls and can't really be 'locking up' the drive.

If the drive's "locking up" like that, it's either hardware (might be computer-side FireWire trouble) or some very low level software (e.g. drivers, AntiVirus).

[joemac]

Originally Posted by dnanian

Drop me a note to support and I'll provide a command that'll help...

why not just provide the info here?

it looks like several folks are or will be in need on this issue.

joemac

[Michael Hyatt]

I am having the exact problem. SuperDuper backs about half the drive, then stalls on 58,118 of 1,202,913 files evaluated. This has been happening for about two weeks now.

I am running a MacBook Pro 2.5 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 4GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM. I am using Mac OS 10.5.4. I am backing up to a 1 TB MyBook External Drive. I have 370 GB of free disk space available.

I am also backing up to this same external drive via Time Machine. It is working flawlessly.

What do I need to do to remedy this?

[dnanian]

Drop me a note and we'll see what it's copying, Michael. (I think you already did, though -- I see three identical support reqeusts that came in after this.)

[Michael Hyatt]

Dave solved my problem. I have a ginormous Entourage file (11 GB). Entourage updates the file every time I get a new message. SuperDuper keeps trying to copy it—over and over. So, I closed Entourage, ran SD, and it worked flawlessly.

Note to Microsoft: Please come up with a different database storage system.

[dnanian]

Thanks, Michael -- and yes, to all Entourage users: you should definitely quite Entourage (and VMWare, and Parallels, and similar programs with large open files, or files that are being downloaded/modified) before making a SuperDuper! copy.

[sross]

similar problem on a MacBook running 10.4.10. Progress stops showing number of files evaluated, as well as no further change in progress bar, yet backup seems to go to completion. Number of files shown as evaluated seems to increase if I keep rerunning backup. Have sent this issue today also via the log in the program.

[julia]

I am having the same problem. I just got a new external hard drive to back up my computer but it stalls after the initial 43.07 GB. I read that the stalling could happen if you use Entourage. Is this the case?

I did not have this problem before.