"Log Jam"
 

The log that opens when I click on "Show Log" from my menu bar is not the same as the log that opens when I request it from the Scheduled Copies window. In fact, I discovered that my SD! has two separate Log folders:

~/Library/Application Support/SuperDuper!/SavedSettings/.Default Settings.sdsp/Logs

and

~/Library/Application Support/SuperDuper!/Scheduled Copies/Smart Update Nick's HD Clone from Nick's HD.sdsp/Logs

The first Log folder is what opens when I access the log from the menu bar; the second, when I access the log from the Scheduled Copies window. The first has only a few logs, none of which are current; the second has about twice as many, through to the current one.

Why the difference? And why can't I get to my current log via the menu bar? And why is the log that opens from the menu bar located in an invisible package?

The logs are stored with the settings they reference. So, a schedule has its own settings (the sdsp) and inside that package are the logs for it.

The main window when nothing is open has its own logs (.DefaultSettings.sdsp).

Any other saved settings—scheduled or not—would have *their* own logs.

The Window menu opens the logs for the main window. If the scheduled settings are loaded in that window, you'd get that schedule's logs... otherwise, you can access any number of schedules' logs in Scheduled Copies by selecting the entry and using the button.

OK...got it!

Huh?

Sorry, Dave...I don't quite follow. I'm tripping over the references to "Window menu," "main window," and "that window."

The main window is the window that basically contains the loaded settings—it has the source/destination pop-ups, etc. You can open settings using File > Load Settings, save them with File > Save... each contains its own log, accessed with Window > Show Log.

If you don't explicitly load settings, you get the defaults.

I just opened SD!, and went to File > Load Settings... . It opened a Saved Setting dialog window, which is empty.

It opened a File Open panel, no?

Yes. But there are no files in the window and (of course) the "Open" button is unavailable (grayed out).

That would be because you have no saved settings in that folder.

I feel like Lou Costello (seems like we're going around in a circle: I don't quite get it. :( )

Sorry. I don't know how I can explain any better at this point, Nick.

I have read this thread and I have exactly the same confusion as Nick.
My basic problem is that I only ever see one log file, even if I select the Scheduled Copies window. In words of one syllable how do I look at my history of backups ?
Also, it is very difficult to see the wood for the trees when looking at a log file - is it possible to have a much simpler display that basically says worked or failed.

Well, SD! will always stay open (and turn the entry red) if there was an error. The details in the actual log are intended to be detailed, because the summary is in the Scheduled Copies window.

If you want to see other logs, Cmd+click the title of a given log and choose the "Logs" folder there.

Ahh, I see my problem. I've only ever had one entry in the Scheduled Copies window because it always fails. I need to work out first why it's always failing.

Well, no: you only have one entry in the window because you have only have one schedule.

Well that worries me, why have I only got one log file then.
There is something very unintuitive about all this. I have been using SD for 3 years and in all that time I have never mastered scheduled copies. They always seem to fail even when I can run the same source and destination manually. This is true on 3 different machines I manage. I have given up trying to schedule and always run manually. Am seriously considering going elsewhere to find a product I can get to work.