Smart Update & Disk Warrior?

[nkhester]

Attempting to "smart update" a backup of 10.6.1 to ED containing 10.6.0 seemed to take an exorbitant amount of time. I also noted in the cited progress statistics that nearly every file read was being replaced!

Could the fact that I had earlier run Disk Warrior on both volumes have caused this near-wholesale replacement of files?

Anyway... after about 10 minutes of slow progress, I stopped the operation. SD was restarted, and I chose erase and backup anew. This worked as expected... and the back up with 10.6.1 boots with no problem.

Was my experience with Smart Update inherent in the new SD, or was it a result of having run Disk Warrior?

[dnanian]

It's possible that Disk Warrior changed some file/folder attributes that caused the files to miscompare: we're aware of about 4GB of 'recopying' that's done, but not "every file"...

[nkhester]

Originally Posted by dnanian

It's possible that Disk Warrior changed some file/folder attributes that caused the files to miscompare: we're aware of about 4GB of 'recopying' that's done, but not "every file"...

Well... to be fair, I actually said "nearly every file"! And that may have been a bit of hyperbole. What I noticed is that approximately 80% were being rewritten. However, I stopped the process long before 4GB... so, I don't know if that would have been the extent of it.

Anyway... as long as you're aware that some anomaly exists, I'll wait patiently for any update!

[dnanian]

OK, please let the copy complete and see how much of the data is really copied...

[nkhester]

Originally Posted by dnanian

OK, please let the copy complete and see how much of the data is really copied...

If that would provide useful information, I'll start a smart update when I go to bed tonight. What data would you like in the morning?

[dnanian]

The whole log, send with the "Send to shirt pocket" button. Use "Error during copy" as the issue type.

[Cow]

I ran Diskwarrior on my MacBook Pro running Mac OS 10.6.8 - I didn't find any issues, but I replaced the directory anyway.

Right afterwards I attempted to Smart Update a previously made DMG sparse bundle clone of the MacBook Pro and SuperDuper got stuck while attempting to perform the Smart Update.

I've been able to Smart Update the DMG clone without issue until I ran Diskwarrior on the laptop. Come to think of it, I've never run Diskwarrior right before performing a SuperDuper Smart Update before either.

When I tried to stop the process, my Finder crashed and wouldn't restart. Also SuperDuper wouldn't stop and when I quit it it said it would leave the clone in an unknown state. I was finally forced to hold down the power button to shut down the computer.

Lesson learned. I will never run Diskwarrior on my computer right before attempting to Smart Update a SuperDuper clone of it.

I found this thread and figured I would chime in so others become aware of this potential issue. I'm now going to create a new clone since I figure there's a good chance my current clone is damaged.

[dnanian]

This problem sounds more like a drive lockup/failure than some sort of issue of running DW and then SD - it's more coincidence than anything else.

[Cow]

Originally Posted by dnanian

This problem sounds more like a drive lockup/failure than some sort of issue of running DW and then SD - it's more coincidence than anything else.

I would normally agree with that but my system is rock solid and so is SuperDuper cloning. This was only the second time in almost a year that I've been forced to shut down my laptop (the other incident was unrelated).

This has never happened before performing a smart update and I've been using SuperDuper for many, many years.

This was the first time I've ever run Diskwarrior before performing a smart update. It was the only factor that was different before this highly unusual event.

I rebuilt the clone from scratch and no issues. Could it be it was just stuck temporarily and I just should have waited it out?

Also, I'm seeing others mention issues where files are changed with Diskwarrior so it takes longer for them as well afterwards. So it seems running Diskwarrior does seem to affect clones.

I'm using Diskwarrior version 4.4 by the way. Perhaps something has changed with this version of DW.

[dnanian]

Disk Warrior may change files, which would - of course - cause those files to be copied. But there's a big difference between having your system lock up as described and copying files.

If your system is locking up there's a low level problem. Patience won't 'fix' it (unless you're waiting for an I/O timeout, again, due to hardware problems).

But, again, this is more correlation than anything else. SuperDuper! is simply copying files...if the hardware or software environment those files are being copied in is unstable, or 'locks up', it will look like SuperDuper! "caused" it (because, after all, we're running), but these high level operations (eg "Copy file a from drive I to drive II") are really performed by the OS, and the lockups are happening at a very low level...

[Cow]

hardware or software environment those files are being copied in is unstable

That's the thing. The hardware/software environment is stable. Zero crashes copying files or doing anything else for that matter. Zero crashes doing many multiple smart updates going on almost a year straight. The ONE time I run DW 4.4 on the laptop right before smart updating the same dmg clone and this stall happens.

Originally Posted by dnanian

this is more correlation than anything else. SuperDuper! is simply copying files...if the hardware or software environment those files are being copied in is unstable, or 'locks up', it will look like SuperDuper! "caused" it (because, after all, we're running), but these high level operations (eg "Copy file a from drive I to drive II") are really performed by the OS, and the lockups are happening at a very low level...

Then why didn't it stall again while rebuilding the clone if there's an issue with the drive? I do understand that correlation doesn't equal causation. But, this will be the first and last time I ever run Diskwarrior on my computer right before smart updating a clone, that's for sure.

If my computer was already having issues beforehand or afterwards, I wouldn't be looking at this. But there's literally been no other issues with anything (including SuperDuper) until I ran Diskwarrior right before that attempt at a Smart Update.

That said, maybe it was some bizarre, temporary glitch in my high-end FireWire 800 G-Drive Mini that has never happened before (and is fine afterwards as well). I just find it strange that others have had issues with Smart Update and Diskwarrior as well.

Welp, thanks for the replies though.