TM backup: can I use two drives to back up data on two other drives?

somanna wrote:

. . .

You have written about the [relative] slowness of bluetooth. Can I use my PC's wired keyboard for this?

It's not so much that the keyboard is slow, it just may not be recognized quickly enough in the startup sequence, so your Mac doesn't know the key was pressed/held.

That's not true of all of them, so experiment with when you click the Option key (or Cmd+R after running from the internal HD).

You are using the Mac's Bluetooth, not a 3rd-party wireless adapter, right?

The PC keyboard will probably work. But be sure it's connected directly -- not via a hub or daisy-chaining.

Learnt fro About this Mac that the system was still running from the Mac backup.

If you don't press Option (or Cmd+R), or the key(s) you press aren't recognized, the Mac will start normally -- from the drive shown in System Prefs > Startup Disk.

After that, while writing in this thread and made use of cut/copy features, the spinning beachball came up and the system became irresponsive...had to resort to the power shutdown button to end the session and restated the Mac.

That's not a good sign. Were you copying huge files? Your Mac will run somewhat slower from a USB clone, since disk access is slower, but it shouldn't be extreme.

You have 3 USB drives, correct? Is each connected to a separate USB port? If not, try that.

If so, and you still have troubles, try ejecting and disconnecting the other USB drives (and anything else connected to USB). Another USB device may be having trouble, and that's slowing the whole USB bus down.

somanna wrote:

. . .

No,I was not copying huge files. Yes I have 3 USB EHD's and each is connected directly to the Mac. However, at the time spinning beach ball came on, the only USB drive connected to the Mac was the Seagate backup.

Hmmm. Hard to tell if it was a problem with the drive, or something else in OSX that just happened at the same time.

I really felt awful while shutting down the system forcibly when the spinning beachball came on. What is the correct approach one has to make when faced with an endlessly spinning beachball?

There's not much else you can do. 😟 But give it a couple of minutes to stop.

Sometimes, Option+Cmd+Escape will, eventually, bring up the Force-Quit menu, and something will be shown as "not responding" in red, and you might be able to force-quit it.

Dr. Smoke has a good section on it: http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/sbbod.html

somanna wrote:

Hello Pondini. Just returned from Church and saw your reply. I went to Dr. Smoke [what, may I ask, is the significance of this name? Is it a nickname or alias?

Yes, an alias or nickname. I don't know the sigificance.

He used to post here a lot, but now has that website and publishes e-books about OSX; there are links on that website to many other topics, and to a place to purchase the book. The Lion edition is about 470 pages, very complete.

Sounds funny...but his article is not!] notes on this matter. In one of his solutions to the spinning beach ball caused by the computer being wakened from a standby mode has been to go to energy saver and uncheck the 'put the hard disk to sleep whenever possible' feature.

As I recall, that's more of a diagnostic procedure than a general rule. It might help in some cases, but isn't something you'd want to do normally, if you're not having the SBBOD frequently when accessing a hard drive. It applies mostly to your internal HD -- some external HDs may not respond to that setting and sleep after a period of inactivity anyway.

Restart automatically if the computer freezes.

What is the implication of this option? In case a spinning beach ball of death appears on the screen [will it if the system freezes?] would checking of this box be a way out? Would the system restart automatically [taking care to see that drives are shut down appropriately before closing down]?

Yes, it will automatically restart if OSX can determine it's really hung (I don't know just what triggers it). And no, once OSX has "frozen," it cannot close out any open drives. It's too late for that. 😟

You may not want that setting to be on -- if you have a problem with a peripheral, you may want to disconnect it before starting up again, otherwise it will freeze again.

I don't recall ever seeing it happen . . .

Another item which I need help to undersand is this:

Do I need to work on this matter?

Are you having the SBBOD frequently when reading or writing to external HDs, and you can't stop it with the Put the hard disk(s) to sleep ... setting? If so, you might want to try that. If not, no.

It's good to have an idea of what options are available, but don't get too involved in these sorts of things unless you're having a problem. That's a troubleshooting article, after all, so if you're not having trouble, don't worry about it. As he notes earlier, most everyone will see the SBBOD now and then; there's nothing to fix unless it's frequent and/or always under the same circumstances.

somanna wrote:

Good morning Pondini. You 'work' on Sundays too?

Hi. Actually, I'm watching the Formula One race, then will watch the IRL race (St. Petersburg, Florida) -- love having a DVR!

In the meanwhile, I would like you to look into this link and let me know whether I can also use WINE to download and freely use all the various features which e-Sword has to offer?

The author seems to think so, but it looks like a very complex, rather advanced procedure. Several of the posts indicate folks having troubles, although at least some seem to have solved them with help from the author.

Also, I'd be concerned that the most recent post is from last October, and at the bottom of the page, it says "Comments are closed." If you need help, how will you get it?

Are you sure there isn't another app that runs natively on a Mac? It might not have all the features you want, but it would be much easier for you to install and maintain.

If you do try this, be certain to have a good backup (or two) of your OSX drive first; if something goes wrong, and you can't fix it, you might have to restore your whole OSX drive from your backups.

somanna wrote:

. . .

If you are feeling uneasy over this 'complex' way of being able to use the abundances of features one has in e-Sword,

I don't mean to discourage you -- it's not whether I feel uneasy, it's whether you do. 😉 The procedures in that link look pretty complex to me, but if you think you can handle it, don't let me stop you. If I were you, I'd want to know who/where to ask if I have questions or run into trouble.

somanna wrote:

. . .

However, before closing this thread, may I ask a favor from you? It is this: in case I be tempted to 'experiment', since comments are closed for this procedure, could you spare me your time, expertise and patience to 'walk with me' through the process in the like manner you have been dealing with me in this thread?😀

Sorry, but I really can't -- I don't use any of the packages talked about in that link (haven't even heard of some of them), and have no idea what several of the UNIX commands do, much less any implications.

That's why I mentioned that "comments are closed," and wondered how you'd get any help if you needed it. There might be some other sources, in some of the links there, or in other places, but it's wayyyy out of my areas of expertise. 😟

You're quite welcome, and good luck!