Multiple Clone Attempts Failed

[rob123]

I currently am running MAC OS X Tiger, with an external Iomega FW/USB2.0 drive serving as my backup destination. In preparation for installing Leopard, I tried to clone my current HD to the Iomega. This failed on 5 separate occassions, each for different reasons. The most recent log came back with a "device not configured" error. It seems that each subsequent attempt fails earlier in the process. The first time it had backed up 10GB. this last time, less than 1GB.

The big problem now is my Iomega drive will not stay mounted for any kind of backup on any program. This includes a basic "home folder" backup from Apple's Backup program. The Iomega drive unmounts in the middle of the backup. I need to unplug the drive and replug it in order for the OS to detect it. I never had this problem until I yesterday when the first clone attempt failed.

Anybody with any ideas on what I'm missing here, and how I can troubleshoot this?

Thanks

[dnanian]

It certainly sounds like the Iomega drive is failing, or FireWire is having trouble. Have you tried simplifying your devices to just the drive, switching cables, power cycling the drive or using USB instead of FireWire (or vice versa)?

[rob123]

Originally Posted by dnanian

It certainly sounds like the Iomega drive is failing, or FireWire is having trouble. Have you tried simplifying your devices to just the drive, switching cables, power cycling the drive or using USB instead of FireWire (or vice versa)?

Thanks for the quick response. It's actually connected through the USB port. This Iomega drive is not detected through Firewire on the new Imacs for some reason. Apple is aware of the issue, and I'm hoping for a fix in the near future. They tell me a firewire hub will work, but I haven't tried that. Until then, USB 2.0 is all I've got.

It's discouraging to think the drive might be failing. It's less than 1 year old, though I have been far from impressed by its performance. I haven't tried different cables, mainly because I only have 1 cable in the house that's compatable. My thought is that something happened during that initial clone attempt that threw this thing out of whack. As far as power cycling goes, I have done that a few times. The drive becomes recognized after powering it up, but as soon as I begin a new backup it unmounts during the process. On my most recent attempt, it happened about 45 minutes into the backup. The drive just disappears from my desktop, and is not recognized in disk utility.

[dnanian]

There's nothing about backing up with SD! that could throw a drive out of whack that normal usage wouldn't do too. We're literally just copying files -- we're just copying a log of them, quickly.

But if it's just vanishing, it's failing. It might be due to errors on the drive surface: you can try to erase and zero the volume you're backing up to... but if it's also not showing up in Disk Utility, I think the thing isn't reliable enough to consider using for backup.

[rob123]

I think I've come to the same conclusion. I just don't have the confidence in this drive to perform important backups. I'll give it another shot with a new drive this weekend.

Thanks for your help.

[dnanian]

You bet, Rob -- good luck.