SuperDuper, SuperSlow! ??

[supermonkey]

I just downloaded SuperDuper today to backup my 120GB MBP hard drive to my new Maxtor One Touch 4 USB 2.0 external drive. I did some test last night transferring single files to the external drive, and I get about transfer rate of 18.18 MB/sec.

Here is how I am backing up with SuperDuper.

1. I followed the "How to backup to an Image" FAQ on the forum. I created a encrypted, sparse image the size of my MBP hard drive, 120GB.

2. I then chose the full backup feature on SuperDuper.

Its not even 50% done, and its been going for 2:29:51.

Any ideas what may be causing this slow down?

[dnanian]

Are you sure that your Maxtor is formatted as something other than FAT32?

[supermonkey]

Originally Posted by dnanian

Are you sure that your Maxtor is formatted as something other than FAT32?

Yep. The Mac partition is formatted as Mac Extended (Journaled).

[supermonkey]

UPDATE:

FInaly finished the backp.

Here is the log

603,332 files evaulated. 593,396 files copied. Effective copy speed 5.07MB/s.

Elapsed Time: 4:12:27


The resulting image is now 72.8 GB

At 15,147 seconds, thats about 4.8MB/s on average.

Shouldnt it be at least 2-3 times faster ?

[dnanian]

No, actually, that seems about right. I'd expect about 6MB/s directly to a USB drive, less to an image.

[supermonkey]

Originally Posted by dnanian

No, actually, that seems about right. I'd expect about 6MB/s directly to a USB drive, less to an image.

Really? When I copy files over manually I get about 18MB/sec. Why is it slower for SuperDuper?

[dnanian]

We're copying a lot of tiny files and their associated metadata, folder info, etc. Lots of bidirectional stuff.

[supermonkey]

Originally Posted by dnanian

We're copying a lot of tiny files and their associated metadata, folder info, etc. Lots of bidirectional stuff.

Interesting. If I buy the full version and use the Smart Backup, how long does it typically take to evaluate what has changed on a drive?

[dnanian]

It's really pretty fast -- probably 7-12 minutes on most normal volumes. The last copy I made of my 1.9M file startup volume took about 24 minutes, including copying a few GB of files.

[t3rockhall]

My 80 (67.4 capacity, 38 used, 30 remaining) gig smart backup usually takes about 7 - 8 minutes. A full erase and replace takes a bit over an hour. Firewire here. (Why does an 80g drive have only 67 capacity, anyway??)

[dnanian]

It shouldn't -- 80GB is likely 80000 x 1000 bytes in "diskspeak", as opposed to 80000x1024 in "bytespeak".

[supermonkey]

Originally Posted by t3rockhall

My 80 (67.4 capacity, 38 used, 30 remaining) gig smart backup usually takes about 7 - 8 minutes. A full erase and replace takes a bit over an hour. Firewire here. (Why does an 80g drive have only 67 capacity, anyway??)

Is the 80GB your external drive size or the backup image size?

[supermonkey]

Thanks dnanian for the help today. I have another quick question. Since I am using a encrypted image to store my backup, will I be able to boot from this image if my MBP gets corrupt?

[dnanian]

No, image files aren't real disks, and as such can't be booted from until restored to a supported boot device.

[supermonkey]

Originally Posted by dnanian

No, image files aren't real disks, and as such can't be booted from until restored to a supported boot device.

I see. Is there anyway to protect the files without using a encrypted image, and also make it bootable?