Seems something has gone terribly wrong!

Question

Level 1

22 points

Seems something has gone terribly wrong!

Tonight while doing my normal 'backup update' with SuperDuper, the iMac's updater started and froze. Next thing I notices was that SuperDuper was trying to backup 455,000 new files and also froze because (?) it ran out of space on the backup drive! Very strange in that the total space used on iMac HD was just under 200GB and the backup drive's formated capacity is 230GB. First of all, I find it hard to believe that there are nearly 1/2 million files on the iMac, since I've only had it in service a couple of weeks and own very few application. No idea where those files came from or even if they are real.

Anyone have any suggestions as to how I can run down this problem? This is my first Mac and I'm not familiar with the diagnotic and reporting tools I have available.

iMac G5 (Intel) Mac OS X (10.4.5)

Posted on Apr 26, 2006 10:39 PM

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Answer 1

Apr 27, 2006 12:25 PM in response to transco

The large amount of files is very believable. Unix uses a LOT of files. Most of these are very small and invisible and nothing to worry about.

Sorry I can't help with your main problem, tho.

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Answer 2

myhighway

Level 5

7,270 points

Apr 27, 2006 4:51 PM in response to transco

"Sorry I can't help with your main problem, tho."

Same here, but after initially seeing Software Update fly up in front of me at awkward times, making for unwanted stress, for the last few years I'm only checking for Software Updates manually. That's become the first System Preference setting that I change on a Mac.

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Answer 3

transco Author

Level 1

22 points

Apr 27, 2006 7:46 PM in response to myhighway

After talking to SuperDuper it appears that the file that was being backed up was the same was that was being updated. Some sort of loop resulted and the rest is history. I erased the backup drive and repeated the backup, and all went well with space left over. OK on the large file count. I'm all for flushing as much to HD as possible, rather than leaving it in RAM until the program is closed, as apparently Windows does. I've learned my lesson. From now on, no more scheduled updates.

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Answer 4

Masna

Level 4

2,651 points

Apr 27, 2006 8:51 PM in response to transco

By the way... There's no such computer as an "iMac G5 (Intel)." It's either the iMac with the G5 processor, or the new iMac with the Core Duo Intel processor... Which do you have?

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Answer 5

transco Author

Level 1

22 points

Apr 28, 2006 7:58 AM in response to Masna

I stand corrected. For some reason, I thought 'G5' refered to the fifth generation design, independent of the processor being used. Oops...

 20" Intel iMac (2.0GB RAM, 256MB VRAM, 500GB HD) Mac OS X (10.4.6)

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Answer 6

Slimpy

Level 1

10 points

Apr 28, 2006 1:18 PM in response to Masna

Does it really matter ?

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