Backing up not working before Upgrading OS

[Raven]

I'm trying to back everything up to a new Seagate 3Tb External Hard Drive before I upgrade from 10.6.8 to 10.9 or 10.10? (not sure yet which way to go).

Backing up is giving me aggravations:
I set up my 2nd EHD with 3 partitions.
Tried using Time Machine at first to back up. It failed.
So, I thought I would erase drive and change size of partitions. Failed.
Tried to eject icons from desktop - "cannot eject because program is in use".
I Force Ejected. That worked.
Rebooted.
Used Disk Utility to repair EHD2.
Said everything was OK.
Started backing up with TM again last evening.  Taking a looong time!
This morning -  "Back up not performed. Error occurred. Use Disk Utility to repair back up disk". Aaargh!!!

Tried to Repair Disk again... "could not mount disk".
Tried to Erase Disk... "Volume Erase failed. Could not unmount disk"
Tried to Eject all - "wasn't ejected because one or more programs are using it"

ReBooted in SAFE MODE from advice received from a previous post.
Now am trying to use Time Machine again. Taking another loooong time! Will see if this back up works... in a few hours!







24" iMac. OSX 10.6.8.
with EHD #1 using Carbon Copy Cloner.

[jchuzi]

As I recall, you're using USB 2. If that's true, data transfer will be quite slow. Also, do you have any anti-virus software installed? A long time ago, I had Intego VirusBarrier and I found that it interfered with Time Machine. When I disabled it, TM worked normally. I have since ditched IVB.

Another possibility is that Seagate is suffering from quality control issues (they have in the past). Take a gander at What is the Best Hard Drive?

Which brand of enclosure are you using for the EHD? That's a possible source of trouble as well. You could also plug it into a different USB port and see if that helps.

[Raven]

jchuzi,
I don't have any anti virus software.
The Seagate Backup Plus USB 3.0 drive came in its own enclosure.

If I unplug the USB while TM is working and try another port, will it pick up where it left off or start all over?

Gawd, it's taking a loooong time. Did I say that already? ;-)

[jchuzi]

QUOTE(Raven @ May 12 2015, 12:35 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

jchuzi,


If I unplug the USB while TM is working and try another port, will it pick up where it left off or start all over?

Gawd, it's taking a loooong time. Did I say that already? ;-)

Don't unplug it while it's working; you could damage data or, possibly, the drive. Instead, stop the backup and unmount the drive before switching ports.

And yes, you said that already.   Patience is a virtue, or so I'm told.

[Xairbusdriver]

First, USB 2 is slow, that's one reason why it's cheaper than FireWire. Two, the first TM back up is always the slowest; it's making a backup of everything you told it to... did you add anything to the "exclude" list in TM Prefs? USB is not "Hot swappable" like FireWire.

Segate drives are not the most reliable. Especially not at<BackBlaze>. I think a search here will confirm that. Most of us recommend Hitachi (now HSGT) with 3 or more year warranties. We also recommend installing the HD in your own enclosure. While Seagate probably did install their own brand, other non-drive makers usually don't tell you what's in the box.

[Raven]

I now understand the SLOW part.  
I left TM running, but, after several hours of backing up the second time, I get this message... again...
"the backup was not performed because an error occurred while copying files."

I'm tired of error messages! So much for me trying to upgrade to 10.10. :-(

Now the TM window is grayed out, and I can't even turn it ON/OFF or Select Disk.
Is this NEW Seagate drive toast or am I doing something wrong?

[Xairbusdriver]

QUOTE

Is this NEW Seagate drive toast

It could be, these things usually either die of old age or un-boxing! You might try a different cable and/or a different port on the computer. I suspect you might get more info looking at the crash logs in Console (it's in your Utilities folder). Don't bother with TM until you determine the status of that drive.

Do you have any other testing/maintenance software?

Although it should not be the cause, you might want to check your Energy Prefs and make sure the computer nor drives are set to sleep.

[Raven]

Xairbusdriver,
Just read the link to Backblaze. Interesting, but too complicated for me to understand... shucking? drive farming? etc. I just want to back up and upgrade my OS!!

How can I tell if my Seagate drive is toast? I purchased it at a Best Buy store 500 miles away. Now do I have to mail it back and order another drive?
*#$!%*/#+%!!!

[Xairbusdriver]

QUOTE

Just read the link to Backblaze. Interesting, but too complicated for me to understand

Not complicated at all; Seagate has some terrible problems, at least in 2014, we can only hope they've corrected them by now.

QUOTE

do I have to mail it back and order another drive?

It would be better to have some facts and to call Seagate with them. I don't know whether Worst Buy will do anything unless you are face-to-face, and that's a long way to drive to find out. You should be able to call them, also. Either way, they'll want to know what, when, where, and why. They should also pay form shipping it back, even if they just plan on replacing it with a duplicate.

[jchuzi]

QUOTE(Raven @ May 12 2015, 04:53 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

How can I tell if my Seagate drive is toast?

One way, albeit not terribly reliable, is to check SMART status. Launch Disk Utility, select the drive in the DU window, and look at the bottom of the DU window. Of course, it's possible that the chipset in the enclosure doesn't support SMART. SMART is also known to give positive results when the drive is terminally ill. Still, it's an indication. If the drive fails SMART, it is definitely toast.

[Xairbusdriver]

I've seen some Terminal commands that can (sometimes?) access SMART status. Never seen it via DU, assuming both the drive and the enclosure support it, on the connection method used, regardless of the Moon's cycle.

There are, of course, a few software utilities that can do a much better job than DU. Worst But might even have one they can use on a reformatted Seagate drive. I'm sure both Seagate and Worst Buy would both run a detailed and thorough diagnostic program before agreeing that the drive is "toast".

Unfortunately, I haven't seen any answers to the trouble-shooting that can easily be done at home; alternate cables, ports for two. Cables are always a weak link; just try swinging on one!

[jchuzi]

QUOTE(Xairbusdriver @ May 12 2015, 08:14 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I've seen some Terminal commands that can (sometimes?) access SMART status. Never seen it via DU, assuming both the drive and the enclosure support it, on the connection method used, regardless of the Moon's cycle.

As I said in my previous post, SMART status appears at the bottom of the DU window when you select a drive. DU doesn't have a button for starting SMART, per se, it just does it (as a courtesy?). Unfortunately, SMART isn't as smart as it should be.

As an aside, I have only bought Hitachi (now HGST) drives and none of them has ever given a hint of trouble. (I'm probably tempting fate by writing this.)

[Paddy]

BTW - SMART may not work with the external drive - in my experience, it often doesn't.

I'd shut the drive down, turn off Time Machine, and then reconnect the drive and turn it back on (you may have to reboot in there too, like you did before). Run Disk Utility - verify disk. See if it reports any errors or problems. Then reformat it with Disk Utility. Assuming that's successful, then try some really basic things: copy a few documents to the drive. Does that work? Can you open them and manipulate them?

If it seems to be behaving normally, then try a TimeMachine backup of a very limited sort - exclude most things, and just pick a folder/item that isn't too big (a few GB max) to see if it manages even that. If it doesn't, well, there is either a problem with the drive or a problem with a file. You could also try cloning software to see if that works, but again, don't clone the entire drive (CCC will let you pick and choose).

Actually, now that I've re-read your other thread about the upgrade, I realize that you may in fact have a problematic FILE; there may be nothing at all wrong with the Seagate drive.

You said:

QUOTE

1. I have 2 External Hard Drives - one with Carbon Copy Cloner (380 gb used out of 500 gb).
The other for Time Machine which stopped working a while back.

If TM stopped working on your old drive and it wasn't because of lack of space, then I'm willing to bet that there is an issue somewhere with a corrupted file. See Pondini's #C3 for info.

See: http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html for a really extensive guide to troubleshooting Time Machine.

Also, which drive is this? STDT3000100? It doesn't get stellar reviews - lots of early failures. 3.8/5 from Amazon, 3 eggs at NewEgg.

[jchuzi]

QUOTE(Paddy @ May 12 2015, 08:33 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

BTW - SMART may not work with the external drive - in my experience, it often doesn't.

It works for my two external HGST drives in an OWC Mercury enclosure. TechTool Pro and Checkmate also see them for running SMART.

[Raven]

UNBELIEVABLE!
Now my iMac is frozen with a gray screen!!
Working off my MacBook Pro.

As suggested herein, I used a different USB Port to connect to my Seagate EHD.
(Model Backup Plus. STDT3000100)

Went into Console/Crash logs. Unfortunately I have no idea what it all means.
SMART status in DU says "not supported". Yet, says the same for my other EHD that is using Carbon Copy Cloner.
Which is what Paddy indicated.

Then I Restarted and screen came up with rows of B/W Text. Never seen that before!
Message was to "Hold Power button down to shut off…"
Which I did and my desktop came up, but my cursor arrow was frozen.
Used power button to shut off and reboot.
It chimed and all I got was a gray screen.
Used power button again with same result - a Big Gray Screen.

I've wasted a whole friggen day and I've got work to do. Thank God for you folks, cause I have no idea what to do now. :-(
HELP!