Please help!! Can not back up

[dakota]

Starting about two weks go, I noticed that Retrospect was still running after about twelve hours.  This weekend it quit with an error -116 error (unknown) - scanning incomplete.

I have two backup drives, one known as Backup Drive, which has Retrospect automated to duplicate once a week.  This is what I have described above.  I have a second drive, a Maxtor Bootable Drive which has a script on my dock- I have not really backed up to it in months, but when I tried today, I got a message that the script was not defined,

Since all of this, I wiped the Backup Drive, unhappily, since it had everything backed up till about a month ago.  I formatted, and tried again, and now I find Retrospect is giving me the same error message, telling me that scanning is incomplete, and when I checked the volmes on Retrospect, I now have two backup drives listed ( only one appears on the desktop).  One says it is offline, and occasionally I get an error -53.

At this point, I do not know what to do, I don't know where the problem is.  I ran disk repair and permissions repair, and found no problems.  I ran Techtool and found no problems.

Help!!!

[Jack W]

dakota,

I can't help you with Retrospect because I don't use it.

What I would recommend is that you download and pay for SuperDuper! (Shareware $27.95)

http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/13803

It is fantastic software that I use all the time, several times a day on most days.
It does "Smart Updates" that only take a few seconds.
This keeps the backup partition up to date.
Many, many features.

Everybody that I know of who uses it swears by it.

My two favorite shareware programs are GraphicConverter and SuperDuper!
Both authors are very fast responding to queries and problems.
I couldn't get along without either of them.

Sorry I can't help with your current problem.

- Jack

[dakota]

SuperDuper hung at 266,000 files.

[kbeartx]

AFAIK, the free download version has a limited feature set [fewer capabilities] than you get after you've paid for it.

I believe that JackW was referring to the full-featured, paid-for version.

 

[sandbox]

if i was in the same position I would try http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html carbon copy for it's simplicity, and it's free. I have had the same issues with Retrospect in the past and moved to another backup client.

[jwboyd]

Here's how I would go about meeting your challenge:

1. Install your version of MacOS on a clean external drive.

2. Start up from that external drive and install TechTool Pro on it.

3. Still running from the external, run the entire suite of TTP utilities (especially Maintenance and Optimization) on your internal drive. Before you can optimize, you will need to disable journaling. TTP can do that from the Tools menu.

4. Start up from the internal and install the full version of SuperDuper on it.

 5. Use SD to do a full backup on a different external drive.

BETCHA THAT'LL WORK!

(P.S. I used Retrospect for years, but SuperDuper wins hands-down!)

[sandbox]

JB can you Optimize from the same drive? i can't

[jwboyd]

sandbox

No, I cannot optimize my startup drive.

What I think I said in my Item 3 above is that I would be running from the external and optimizing the internal. Sorry for the confusion.

JB

[Paddy]

dakota, re: SuperDuper hanging:

http://www.shirt-pocket.com/forums/showthr...highlight=hangs

There are a number of other possibilities if you search on "hang" on the Shirt Pocket forums. Also, Dave Nanian is exceptionally good about responding to problems, so do send him an email, including your logs.

Don't happen to have any anti-virus software running do you? Apparently that can cause problems with SD.

Any other issues/panics/problems that might indicate problems with your primary drive or software? I'd run DiskWarrior just to make sure.

[sew]

Give silverkeeper a try. Works good for me when SuperDuper would not (even the the paid one).
http://www.lacie.com/silverkeeper/

[pendragon]

Dakota,

The problem you describe is often caused by Spotlight trying to index before SuperDuper has completed its routine. Whether this also applies to other backup programs, I dunno.

Since the backup is a 100% clone, it does not need indexing (anyway). To disable indexing:
1. Open System Preferences
2. Select Spotlight
3. Choose Privacy tab
4. Click on the Add Button (+) and navigate to the target volume or drag the icon of the target volume to the window.

Perhaps the following snapshot will help-

[attachment=532:screenshot_new.jpg]

[dakota]

I do own the full version of SuperDuper - just have rarely used it.  I managed to copy half my drive before I got a message that SuperDuper could not continue, my drive was full.  Ludicrous!  I wiped the drive again, zeroed all data, and still show a drive with over 58 MB on it?  Can anyone tell me why?  I have not tried to copy again so far.

[Paddy]

58MB or 58GB? 58MB is nothing - probably formatting info. 58GB would be a tad fishy.

How big is this drive, anyway?

[dakota]

58MB.  This particular drive is about 120. Says the capacity is about 117.

[Jack W]

Dakota,

IAW paddy.

58MB is nothing. Zilch NADA.

It sounds like you need to delete lots of stuff. How big is the partition you are trying to back up to?
Should be as big, or in your case bigger, than the drive you are copying from.

That sure could be the source of your problem.

The capacity of the drive is in GB. What system and what version of OS X?

SD has yet to fail me.

- Jack