[X-Newbies] Can't backup due to HD rot?

[Steven Rogers]

On Apr 9, 2007, at 2:23 AM, Aldo Johnson wrote:

> Like the title says, I can't backup. I use SuperDuper! to backup my  
> Mac Mini's 80GB HD to an external HD via USB, and it's been super.  
> But now, whenever I use it to backup my HD, it would just spin like  
> a car's wheel in mud. The program still runs, it just doesn't do  
> any copying anymore; the colored bars doesn't get longer. I once  
> left it for 8 hours, but no, still hasn't finished copying.
>
> At first I thought it was my HD.
>
> I tried CCC, and it stopped with a dialog box saying "There was an  
> error during copying Library from source to target: ditto:/Volumes/ 
> Backup... Device not" The dialog box was too small for the whole  
> message(!?)

bummer - could be "device not configured" or "device not found" -  
that's the key to the problem. I don't know OS X errors and that  
SuperDuper program well enough to guess. It could be hanging on a  
particular file that is locked, or corrupt.

The first thing to do would be to run DiskWarrior, or run Disk  
Utility to make sure the disk is healthy. Boot from the OS X disk to  
run it on the system volume. It's a bit tricky to get into it -  
google for instructions if you haven't done it before.

> So I thought, maybe it's my external HD. Maybe it just doesn't spin  
> well anymore. Maybe, I don't know, I mishandled it a bit roughly,  
> and it spins well for the first 20 minutes or so, but then would  
> just idle and not do any write.
>
> Is that possible?

Sometimes when disks are going out, they will fail more when hot than  
when starting from cold.

> Is it the HD or the power source? The ext HD is a "home-built" one,  
> that is, I purchased a HD and a casing and put the HD in the  
> casing. Perhaps it's the locally built power brick that is losing  
> its oomph?


Very unlikely. If the power supply goes low, it would cause a lot of  
problems, but it wouldn't be that the disk just acts "tired".

> If that is so, was it due to frequent handling? Because I always  
> moved the ext HD around, from its storage space to the computer desk?

Not likely if the disk was turned off when moving. It's pretty immune  
to shock when turned off.

> Or is it due to rough handling? I always try to be gentle, but  
> perhaps I put it down a bit to too hard one day.
>
> And if that is so, would that affect my MacMini HD too? I've been  
> using my MacMini as a luggable, carrying it to work to use as my  
> computer, then bringing it back home.


The computer is more sensitive to being moved around than the disk  
itself.

SR