Schedules copies have intermittent problem

[ctucker10]

I have an issue with my scheduled copies. It sounds a lot like this post from Shirt Pocket Watch on Jan 12:

v3.7.3 was released to correct two rare problems: both of which had to do with launching scheduled copies.

The first was a weird race condition that caused occasional crashes right at launch, but only with scheduled/scripted copies launched without loading settings. It was strange, we couldn't reproduce it internally, but it happened to a few users and we think we've run it down.

I think my setup is experiencing the "weird race condition" described above.

The instability began on Jan 23 when I updated from SuperDuper! Version 3.7 (126-0b1cb57) to SuperDuper! Version 3.7.5 (131-4cb66b9). At that time I was still using an M1 Mac-mini running macOS Ventura 13.1. Since then I've moved to an M2 Pro Mac mini running macOS Ventura 13.2 and the problem persists.

I've tried a couple of things to try to get to the bottom of it. So far I haven't found a solution.

- recreated scheduled copies
- uninstalled/reinstalled SuperDuper and all of its component pieces

Each time I test the setup, with an artificial scheduled copy time it works but, when I set the real scheduled time, which occurs in the middle of the night, I find that the copy was not successful when I check the following morning...occasionally.

I've watched the issue occur a couple of times:

- SD launches
- the destination/target disk mounts
- the copy operation crashes/does not successfully start
- SD quits
- the destination/target disk does NOT unmount (as it should)

I'd like to fallback to a previous version to see if this issue follows the version but, if anyone has a different suggestion I'm all ears.

[dnanian]

If a copy is crashing, do you get a log? Please send me that via the support email.

[ctucker10]

I'll send the log the next time it happens.

[Estuary]

I've had a similar problem for awhile (I'd say 6 months or more): Every so often (now perhaps once every two weeks, on average), a scheduled copy won't run. There won't be an error message, so there's no log recording this, but if I open SD, I'll sometimes see that the "last copy" wasn't yesterday (I have it run every day around 3:30 AM). An additional problem is that once it doesn't run, it doesn't resume running the next day, and with no error message, it might be a week or more before I see it hasn't been backing up. I've taken to looking every day, but it shouldn't have to be this way. I cure the problem by selecting "Copy Now"; once it copies in this manual way, it will resume running on schedule (until the next time it stops copying). I had hoped the latest update would solve the problem, but unfortunately it hasn't.

[dnanian]

Remember that we'll notify when we *do* back up, and you can make those sticky. So, you can readily see if something failed.

We always run if we're allowed to. If we're not running, your Mac is likely not waking as it should...