Post by: Raven on November 11, 2015, 11:04:33 PM
I tried shutting everything down, Rebooted, and plugged the USB cable directly into my 24" iMac instead of the USB Hub. No difference.
I contacted Super Duper and they told me to Repair Disk using Disk Utility...
My EHD has 3 partitions. I tried Repair Disk on the whole EHD several times and these messages came up...
"... repair of partition map. Could not repair partition map because a new EFI system partition couldn't be created"
And - "Could not find target disk for this operation."
I tried to repair individual partitions. #1 and #2 are OK.
When I tried DU on #3 partition:
"Can't repair this disk. Back up your files, reformat... restore your backed up files"
So, I tried to erase the partition to do that. ( I have another EHD with Time Machine).
The next message is "Volume Erase failed. MediaKit reports not enough space on device for requested operation."
I believe this partition is 1.5 TB. What to do now?
24" iMac 2009. OSX 10.10.3
Post by: jchuzi on November 12, 2015, 03:36:14 AM
Post by: Xairbusdriver on November 12, 2015, 08:42:48 AM
SuperDuper, like most good apps, creates logs showing what it does, step by step. Sometimes those logs contain info that it may not display to you. There are a couple of ways to look at the SD log. The easiest is to open the app, press command-L (or use the Window menu to select the "Show Log" option). Any useful info is probably near the end of the log. A few lines from the end of the log posted here may be of help.
A second option would be to use Disk Warrior of, possibly, TechToolPro to attempt reformatting that partition. Since DU seems to see it, there's a good chance those apps may be of help.
A third alternative is to reformat the entire drive, not just that one partition. I've never completely trusted partitions despite using then now on two different (FireWire, not USB) drives.
Any other suggestions probably include additional purchases/expenses.
Post by: jchuzi on November 12, 2015, 08:57:09 AM
QUOTE(Xairbusdriver @ Nov 12 2015, 09:42 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Any other suggestions probably include additional purchases/expenses.
I just had an issue with a SD clone. After upgrading from Yosemite to El Capitan and cloning the EC installation, the clone refused to boot (no problems with Yosemite). I contacted Dave Nanian at Shirt Pocket (the developer of SD) who was very responsive. He made a number of suggestions, none of which worked. Finally, on a whim, I ran Disk Utility's Repair Disk (which I virtually never use, preferring Disk Warrior) and the clone booted normally. Disk Warrior had not fixed the issue. Dave was at a loss to explain why this happened, but everything seems fine now. All the files had been cloned and were readable; booting didn't happen, however. So, the clone was successful in that sense but at least I solved the problem.
Post by: Raven on November 12, 2015, 11:16:48 AM
The EHD is powered through a power cord and adaptor to the wall receptacle.
The USB connects to a USB Hub. For this testing I've plugged the USB cord into the iMac directly.
Here is the log info from Super Duper...
02:44:16 PM | Info | ...ACTION: Preparing 3. CLONE iMAC DRIVE
| 02:44:16 PM | Info | ......COMMAND => Enabling permissions on 3. CLONE iMAC DRIVE
| 02:44:16 PM | Info | /dev/disk0s2 on / (hfs, local, journaled)
| 02:44:16 PM | Info | devfs on /dev (devfs, local, nobrowse)
| 02:44:16 PM | Info | map -hosts on /net (autofs, nosuid, automounted, nobrowse)
| 02:44:16 PM | Info | map auto_home on /home (autofs, automounted, nobrowse)
| 02:44:16 PM | Info | /dev/disk1s2 on /Volumes/1.TIME MACHINE (hfs, local, nodev, nosuid, journaled)
| 02:44:16 PM | Info | /dev/disk1s3 on /Volumes/2.CLONE of 10.6.8 (hfs, local, nodev, nosuid, journaled)
| 02:44:16 PM | Info | /dev/disk1s4 on /Volumes/3. CLONE iMAC DRIVE (hfs, local, nodev, nosuid, journaled)
| 02:44:16 PM | Info | /dev/disk2s3 on /Volumes/10.6.8 CLONE wFH!!! (hfs, local, nodev, nosuid, journaled)
| 02:44:16 PM | Error | GetMasterBlock: Error 5 from read; amount=-1, wanted=4096
When I try to clone again now to my 3rd partition on the EHD, that partition is greyed out. Can't do it as it stands. If the partition has failed, why would that mean the whole drive has failed?
To reformat this drive and start all over again takes almost a week!
(My partitions are set up as: 1. Time Machine,
2. Clone of my OSX10.6.8 EHD#2 which has Freehand files on it that cannot be opened in 10.10
3. Clone of my working files using Super Duper.)
jchuzi,
I went through a long process here at TS last spring when upgrading to 10.10 and buying another backup drive. The first Seagate drive failed, but they replaced it from the USA to Canada very quickly with no hassle, and asked me for customer feedback thereafter. I was impressed with that. Hopefully I can fix this problem without getting a new drive and starting that partitioning/cloning procedure all over.
Post by: jchuzi on November 12, 2015, 11:32:35 AM
I tried many tactics but my wife nailed it (she's inordinately proud of this because she's not computer-savvy). She suggested that I unplug the hub and see if that made a difference. Yes! The problem never recurred.
This started after upgrading to 10.11, as far as I can remember. And, the latest beta of 10.11.2 supposedly addresses USB issues. My guess is still that the hard drive is failing, but this is worth trying.
Post by: Xairbusdriver on November 12, 2015, 01:44:43 PM
QUOTE
I've plugged the USB cord into the iMac directly.
It sounds like you have eliminated the hub as the problem, however, we'd still like to know if the hub has its own power supply.QUOTE
02:44:16 PM | Error | GetMasterBlock: Error 5 from read; amount=-1, wanted=4096
4096 is the standard size of a "block" of space on many hard drives. SD is 'seeing' it as "1". That is probably the value written/stored in a special area on every disk which shows what 'blocks' are available and their size. SD 'knows' 1 byte is useless and stops the process.The problem with partitions is that they are all on one physical disk. When one partition becomes corrupted (which seems to be the case here) the whole disk may become useless. This kind of corruption can usually be fixed by reformatting the partition or the drive. The problem is that this may not correct the real cause of the corruption.
Once again, we are left to search for your hardware specifications, since they are not in your profile info (see the details in both Jon's and others info in the narrow column that is shown with every post. I did go back to your original post in this thread and see that you have a machine built back in 2009. Without checking Apple's specs, I think that you probably have only USB 2.0. If correct, that could explain your concerns about the length of reformatting. USB is simply not built for speed. While it has increased in advertised speed, it still uses the computers cpu for control thus forcing many other operations to slow down.
Since Disk Utility cannot repair/reformat the drive, I'm not sure Disk Warrior or TechTool Pro could, either, assuming you have either app. If you have either app, it's certainly worth a try. Perhaps some else can offer another option than reformatting the entire drive, which may not be a permanent fix, anyway. It's nice that Seagate replaced the drive promptly, however, I'd be glad to swap replacement speed for reliability...
Post by: Paddy on November 12, 2015, 07:13:21 PM
QUOTE(Xairbusdriver @ Nov 12 2015, 03:44 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Since Disk Utility cannot repair/reformat the drive, I'm not sure Disk Warrior or TechTool Pro could, either, assuming you have either app. If you have either app, it's certainly worth a try. Perhaps some else can offer another option than reformatting the entire drive, which may not be a permanent fix, anyway. It's nice that Seagate replaced the drive promptly, however, I'd be glad to swap replacement speed for reliability...
Um...pretty much every time I've used Disk Warrior successfully, it's after(because) Disk Utility couldn't do the job. So definitely worth a shot if you own DW - or TTP.
Post by: Raven on November 19, 2015, 12:24:31 AM
I've tried all kinds of combinations of connecting the EHD to Hub, directly to iMac, remove Hub, etc. Once the EHD is connected it will not reboot. If I plug it in once iMac is on, the EHD icon shows up, but when I try to clone my files, it says it can't find the 3rd partition where they go. When I try to reformat the EHD using Disk Utility, it says can't repair disk. When I use DU to erase that partition, erase fails.
So I downloaded Tech Tool Pro 8 as mentioned herein. Trying all the tests, although I have no idea what I should be doing. I did the Memory Test. That's OK. It's taking 22 hours to "surface scan" my EHD!! May take a day or two before I report back. Is there anything in particular I should be testing to see why Super Duper is not cloning to my EHD?
Aside, I've tried to post my Mac specs on the side bar, but can't find the place in my profile to do that.
Post by: jchuzi on November 19, 2015, 03:44:19 AM
To have your profile appear in the sidebar, click My Controls and then select Edit Profile Information under Personal Profile.
Post by: Xairbusdriver on November 19, 2015, 08:48:21 AM
Post by: Paddy on November 19, 2015, 09:03:14 AM
When DU can't erase a drive, it's definitely not a happy drive. I've NEVER had one that was misbehaving in the way you describe magically come back to life. Usually it's a downhill slide from here.
Post by: jchuzi on November 19, 2015, 09:07:30 AM
QUOTE(Xairbusdriver @ Nov 19 2015, 09:48 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
That link doesn't work, Jim. When I tried, it said "Safari can't open the page"Post by: Raven on November 19, 2015, 10:56:51 AM
I will send it back for replacement again. Last time they did that quickly. Would YOU use a free replacement drive?How does any company stay in business with that type of failure rate?
Paddy, Yes your memory is impeccable!
I will go through the process again to find another EHD. I get so many friendly suggestions here, it's a crap shoot to figure out which drive to order online. And then it takes a whole week to back up all my files. Xairbusdriver, your link also doesn't work for me, either.
I did have my Mac specs entered in my Control Panel but they don't show up on my sidebar.
Post by: jchuzi on November 19, 2015, 01:17:11 PM
QUOTE(Raven @ Nov 19 2015, 11:56 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Last time they did that quickly. Would YOU use a free replacement drive?
How does any company stay in business with that type of failure rate?
How does any company stay in business with that type of failure rate?
Do you want to continue to rely on shoddy goods that you might need in case of a catastrophe with your internal drive? I thought not.. Cut your losses and go with either Hitachi (now HGST) or Western Digital.
QUOTE(Raven @ Nov 19 2015, 11:56 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
I did have my Mac specs entered in my Control Panel but they don't show up on my sidebar.
Did you remember to click Amend My Profile?
Post by: Paddy on November 19, 2015, 02:51:42 PM
That way you get a 5 year warranty on the drive.
Or: http://www.amazon.ca/Toshiba-3-5-Inch-SATA...rds=hard+drives - shorter warranty, but seem to be quite reliable. I've got a couple of Toshiba drives now.
Post by: Raven on November 19, 2015, 04:55:35 PM
jchuzi: "Did you remember to click Amend My Profile?"
Yes. And it said Changed Settings. Still nothing shows up here.
Post by: Raven on November 19, 2015, 06:01:51 PM
Thanks for your suggestions, again!
I think I need more than 2 TB in size for this EHD. After much review when I first started this process, I am now using 3 partitions...
#1 Time Machine is using 1.4 of the 1.5 TB space.
#2 Clone of my other EHD#1 which has OSX10.6.8 on it with all my Freehand files that I can't open in 10.10. Size would be .4 TB max.
#3 Clone of my main hard drive. Using 0.7 TB of the 1 TB space.
If that makes sense, I found this 4 TB drive:
http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/the-best-...top-hard-drive/
Think this would do me? Highly rated. The price seems good at $130 US.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00QDRYJYM/ref=ps...8_t2_B00E3RH61W
Post by: kimmer on November 19, 2015, 06:25:18 PM
QUOTE(Raven @ Nov 19 2015, 02:55 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Getting off topic, but...
jchuzi: "Did you remember to click Amend My Profile?"
Yes. And it said Changed Settings. Still nothing shows up here.
jchuzi: "Did you remember to click Amend My Profile?"
Yes. And it said Changed Settings. Still nothing shows up here.
This is a problem for a lot of folks. The only remedy so far is to copy all your Mac specs and use it as your signature. That's what I did.
Post by: Jack W on November 20, 2015, 07:54:26 AM
QUOTE(kimmer @ Nov 19 2015, 07:25 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
This is a problem for a lot of folks. The only remedy so far is to copy all your Mac specs and use it as your signature. That's what I did.
Ditto for me.Post by: sandbox on November 20, 2015, 04:11:24 PM
If your considering using a new drive/enclosure over 2 TB make sure the drive has a Asmedia1051 chipset.
I agree with Paddy's HD suggestions, I run a Black WD 4 TB in a Rosewill RX-358, works well, though I typically had to cover the bright LED light.
The cost s low, the fan is quiet. http://www.amazon.com/Rosewill-RX-358-U3C-...uct_top?ie=UTF8
Post by: Paddy on November 20, 2015, 10:25:04 PM
In your situation, you should have 3 - one being the 10.6.8 drive, which you could stick on a 500GB drive from the sounds of it. But that shouldn't be the only copy of that, either if it's really important.
Post by: Raven on November 21, 2015, 02:46:56 PM
Think this would do me? Highly rated. The price seems good at $130 US.http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00QDRYJYM/ref=ps...8_t2_B00E3RH61WIt's available in Canada, too.
Post by: Xairbusdriver on November 21, 2015, 03:29:21 PM
OTOH, if that internal drive is less than 2 years old, you could probably get by simply with an external USB 3 drive. I suspect Apple will continue having USB 3 ports for some time, so, even if you get a new Mac, you can still use that drive with it.
When most of us here talk about external drives, we're really talking about "enclosures". The drive can be the external ones you already have, assuming they are fairly new and you ditch the second failed 3TB Seagate. Since I'm talking about external drives, the only decision is what kind of interface (USB 2, USB 3, Thunderbolt, or FireWire) to buy. You already have recommendations for the actual drive.
While you do have FireWire, and it would be much faster than USB 2, those enclosures are:
- 1. More expensive
2. Apple no longer has FireWire ports in new iMacs.
Looks like a USB 3 enclosure is your current, least expensive option. Just be aware that it won't be any faster than your current drives until you buy a new Mac. A USB 3 device running on a USB 2 machine will slow down to USB 2 speeds.
Thunderbolt would be even faster, but you don't have that port now, so you'd have to buy a new Mac to use it!
I hope you've been saving your
Edited for, hopefully, better clarity and understanding
Post by: Paddy on November 21, 2015, 06:57:22 PM
1. Internal drives are SATA - the drive you have IN your iMac is an SATA drive and is likely 6 years old, which is, as Jim notes, long in the tooth. It's not impossible to replace these drives, but it's not exactly like doing it in a Mac Pro of the cheese grater variety - not the new ones, which don't have hard disk drives at all. I've done it, several times. iFixit has good instructions.
https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iMac+Intel+24-...eplacement/9028 This internal drive has absolutely nothing to do with your EXTERNAL drives, which will be SATA to USB 2.0 or SATA to USB 3.0. USB is not (in Macs) an internal connection type. (Some PCs do have internal USB ports)
2. Many of us advise buying drives and enclosures separately, because in some cases you have no idea what/whose drive you're getting in a pre-assembled drive. Of course, in the case of WD, you're getting a WD drive. And in the case of the MyBook for Mac, you also get a 5 year warranty: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?...N82E16822236902 (cheaper than Amazon.ca btw) The regular MyBook, which is formatted NTFS for PCs, is $20 less, but only has a 3 year warranty, so in this case, I'd go with the Mac formatted drive as it's worth it for the extended warranty. And with this drive, you'll be paying less than you'd pay for a 4GB drive, let alone a 4GB drive AND an enclosure. (HGST is $209.99, WD Black 4GB is $269)
And back to my previous bit of advice about what you keep on what drive - it's really not much help if you have both TM and a clone on the same drive and that drive dies. Say goodbye to BOTH your backups. Keep 'em on separate drives.
Post by: Raven on November 24, 2015, 11:40:24 AM
It will take a few weeks to receive it and back everything up again in the sequence as Paddy mentioned.
And I still have some font conflicts I need to sort out.
Frustrating experiences!
I'm seriously considering getting a newer and faster iMac. It never ends, huh!?
(Remember when you could buy a fridge or stove and it worked for 25-30 years? My first Nikon FM camera that I had in university worked extremely well for 30 years. Even in harsh winter conditions where I live. My new digital Nikon has been repaired 3 times!
And now we have to deal constantly with a never ending upgrade of technology... another topic for another day!
)Much thanks again to the good people at TS for your wonderful help and advice. Whew!