Super Duper help on unresponsive Macbook

Hello, I've already posted before and nobody has responded. Let me ask one of the questions I could really use answered and hopefully people can help. So I am having a major HD issue and disk utility (booting from the install disk, can't even get past grey screen with apple logo and spinning wheel) says I have a verify or repair failure: Invalid Node structure. I have tried PRAM/NVRAM reset, Verbose, and safe mode, to no avail. I just would like to know if this Super Duper HD copying program will allow me to make a copy of my HD and save the info, then I'll just whip the disk and start new. I am having a hard time understanding how it can work unless your computer is working itself, which mine is not. How can I download the program if I can't even use my computer? How can I load it up on my computer if it does't even work? All I want to do is get a copy of my HD's contents or even specific files onto my backup drive, but I can't figure it out. I've already tried Restore on Disk Utility from the install disk, but has varying levels of not working. Sometimes my Macintosh HD is greyed out and won't even let me add it to the boxes on the right to make a copy, other times it does, but then won't let me add the destination drive (my backup drive). This whole thing is just killing me. I just got a backup drive for a christmas present and was going to backup everything, but then my Macbook went on the fritz. All I want to do is make a backup of my HD anyway I can. After that, I don't care, but I need my stuff. Any help would be appreciated in advance, thank you.
Here is the link to the original question that has 0 replies if you need more background.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4667043

I have read these posts and have a comment. If your computer is running slower than it used to and you are running the same apps as you used to and your hard drive is NOT over 90% full then the problem is NOT being caused by having too little RAM. The RAM does not shrink. If all things are the same but it is now running slower then there is some other reason than lack of RAM. RAM is expensive enough that it is a real shame to buy more if it has nothing to do with the underlying performance problem.
Clean caches with Onyx. Do all the other maintenance with Onyx. Run PreferentialTreatment. Reset PRAM. Boot from your external hard drive that you have cloned a copy of your main drive onto. You do have a clone of the main drive don't you?
A cloned copy of your hard drive is invaluable for trouble shooting and the day may very likely come that you will be extremely grateful that you spent the dollars for one. It is so easy to clone your hard drive and then to clone the external back to the internal if need be. Everything will be just how you left it. Far simpler and more effective than making a copy of your User folder and then reinstalling the OS from the DVD. The later can take many hours and much work to get things the way you had them. Cloning is virtually effortless.

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Help with unresponsive MacBook Pro

I got up this morning to turn on my MacBook Pro, and it was unresponsive, stuck at the gray screen with the spinning circle. There's also a loading bar beneath the circle that disappears after a few seconds. I already had a similar encounter about a year ago with the same computer, and took it into the Apple store where they eventually had to replace the hard drive.
It's a 15" MacBook Pro that I got about 3 years ago, currently running OS 10.6. I don't have the OS disc with me but I do have a time machine backup on an external drive, but I'm having trouble figuring out how to boot from that. I also have access to my girlfriend's MacBook Pro, which I'm posting from. It's newer and came with 10.7 installed, which it is currently running. I read online about being able to create a 10.7 boot disk by re-downloading the installer from the purchases section of the app store. I was going to try this, but since this MBP came with 10.7 already installed and was never purchased, I can;t find any way to access the 10.7 installer since they have removed 10.7 from the app store entirely it appears. I would just go ahead and download 10.8 for the $20 on here and create a disk from that if I knew there was a good chance it could fix my problems.
I'm no expert, but following what others have posted about similar problems, I booted using CMD + Shift + V, and the last few lines contain things such as:
     Keys out of order (4,7898)
     Rebuilding catalog B-tree
     The volume Macintosh HD could not be repaired
This is where I get lost and don't know what, if anything, can be done from here. I was just hoping there was maybe something else I could try before taking it into the Apple store, as the nearest one is about 100 miles away. Any help is greatly appreciated.

kasscampbell wrote:
I'm no expert, but following what others have posted about similar problems, I booted using CMD + Shift + V, and the last few lines contain things such as:
     Keys out of order (4,7898)
     Rebuilding catalog B-tree
     The volume Macintosh HD could not be repaired
You have directory damage. If you continue to use your computer you will have further damage which only the repair shop can repair.
You will need to get hold of your system discs that came with your computer and do the following -
Disconnect all peripherals from your computer.
Boot from your install disc & run Repair Disk from the utility menu. To use the Install Mac OS X disc, insert the disc, and restart your computer while holding down the C key as it starts up.
Select your language.
Once on the desktop, select Utility in the menu bar.
Select Disk Utility.
Select the disk or volume in the list of disks and volumes, and then click First Aid.
Click Repair Disk.
Restart your computer when done.
Repair permissions after you reach the desktop-http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2963 and restart your computer.
If repairing the disk does not work, you will need a stronger utility. Here are a few -
DiskWarrior   Highly recommended for *directory damage* repairs.
TechTool Pro   Multi-functional utility.
Drive Genius Multi-functional utility.

Would Super Duper!/Time Machine function w/ Littlle disk - MacBook 2.0

RE: Would Super Duper!/Time Machine function w/ Littlle disk - MacBook 2.0
Thanks to all who read on...
The situation at hand is this...
I have 2 Lacie Little Disk Drives 120 & 250 GB, that I once used to make FW clones from iBook G4 to backup my information , applications etc.
1.0_How would I translate such operations with a substituted Macbook 2.0 Aluminum?
1.1_It seems the Macbook doesnt have any FW ports, nor is their any reliable source stating a T-100-to-Firewire adapter would work with OS 10.5.6...?
THAT being said, the USB ports do recognize the built in Lacie Hi-Speed 2.0 extractable USB Connector. (See Topic: Little disk on a hub with Macbook?)
I have given Super duper a try to make a Leopard (10.5.6) over this Hi-speed USB 2.0 and it seems to have made the backup, although I haven't as of yet actually used this clone -yet.
2.0_How can I take advantage of Leopards Time Machine instead of Super Duper!?
2.1_Whilst still possibly incorporating the usb/firewire Lacie Little disks? (As once sod on THIS very site)

I'll agree with the previous two posts. With TimeMachine, you always have your most current and previous versions of data backed up. With SuperDuper (or CarbonCopyCloner), your data is only as current as the last time you ran a backup. The major benefit of SuperDuper (or CCC) is that you can create a bootable backup. If you need to restore your system from a TimeMachine backup, you'll need to start your system from your install DVD which will allow you to restore your system from your TimeMachine backup. I think the biggest benefit to having an external clone is in case your internal drive fails. Since you can't boot from a TimeMachine backup, if you have a hard drive failure, you're out of luck until you get that drive replaced. If you have an external clone, you can simply boot up from that which will allow you to continue working until you can get your internal drive replaced. As has been mentioned, both have their benefits and using both to compliment each other is your best option. Since TimeMachine is part of OS X and both SuperDuper and CarbonCopyCloner are free for full clones (actually, CCC is completely free for all functionality now), there's really no reason not to use both.

.trash and super duper

This will be confusing but I will appreciate any advice. The apple genius was not sure he knew the answer so maybe someone here knows what I should do.
I'm not sure it matters how this happened but it started with a failing hard drive and superduper. It's a long story but I ended up with 152 gb of files (all user files, all photos) duplicated on my external drive. I didn't realize this for awhile but when I did, I put all all the duplicates in the trash. Even though .trash files are hidden, they take up space on my external drive plus on my back up drive. I am afraid to empty the trash because I don't understand where the files really are or where the trash is since the only place I see a trash can is in the dock, not on my external drives. I use super duper to clone my mac hd as well as my external drive. I discovered what had happened when I checked the activity monitor and saw that my drives had suddenly lost all that space. Since I can't easily undo emptying the trash and can't experiment with one file, I am really afraid that I can create havoc with the system. Super Duper told me it's a bad idea to keep a lot of files in the trash. I sense that I just don't know enough about this to decide what to do. any help much appreciated.
Thanks.

you can see the hidden trash files. They began with a .Trash
slotless is an external flash drive.
/Volumes/Spotless/.Trash
The user Mac has a hidden trash folder in the home folder.
/Users/mac/.Trash
Macintosh-HD -> Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal
#Show hidden files. All file icons come out dimmed.
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE
killall Finder
#Back to normal. Icon are bright. Hidden files are hidden.
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles FALSE
killall Finder

Super duper or other clone app?

I want to add a clone app so that I can have an extra layer of backup peace of mind.
I've heard of Super Duper but want to know if there are others I should consider. I want ease of use, reliability, etc.
Suggestions?

Possibly (semantics).....but (sorry) I must still disagree (using startup manager will still boot into the recovery partition because TM is not bootable):
it will boot the MBP to the 4 option menu
that is the recovery partition, therefore you are booting into the recovery partition. TM will be just one of the options listed in the Utilities screen..
Hopefully this will help:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201314
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204417
and this (scroll down to "restore complete contents....":
http://www.imore.com/how-set-and-restore-time-machine-backup
If you can find anything that confirms that Time Machine is bootable (on its own - without using recovery), I'll gladly add that to my "having learned something new today" list, but if it actually was, then the need for CCC or SuperDuper would dwindle rather quickly, wouldn't it.

Backing Up - Super Duper vs DU Restore

This question may seem pathetic - any answer would be appreciated.
Is there any difference in the end result of using DU Restore as a backup method as opposed to Super Duper? They both create bootable backups,right?
Thanks in advance, thanks in arrears and all the best for 2007.
Karina

They don't call it SuperDupercalifragilisticexpialidocious for nothing!
-Bmer
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Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro • 120GB HD • 2GB RAM Mac OS X (10.4.8) 60G Photo iPod • AppleCare

Super Duper Schedule Problem

I have super duper scheduled to do a full erase and backup every day at 2:00AM. For some strange reason, it does not backup on the schedule, and only backs up when i manually open the program and press backup.
PLEASE HELP-- if i lose my information, it will be catastrophic, any suggestions are welcome!!1
Thank you SO much!

Check out
http://www.shirt-pocket.com/forums/
I've found in the past that's a very good place to get support for SuperDuper.

Time Machine and Super Duper

I purchased Super Duper and did a full backup on my Mac Pro (I have 3 hard drives, the main one and 2 backup drives that are mounted on the desktop). Everything worked fine, I did the Super-Duper start-up/complete backup to one of the extra hard drives. The problem is when I run Time Machine it backs up everything including the extra copy of my computer that Super-Duper just created. This just filled up the extra hard drive that I use for Time Machine.
My question...
1) Is there a way to have the Super-Duper back-up copy of my computer but then not have it re-backed up by Time Machine? Do I need to remove the hard drive (the hard drive with the Super-Duper copy) from the desktop, and how do I do this... they are internal hard drives and not external hard drives.
2) What is the best way to undo what I have done and get the space back on my extra hard drive that I am using for time machine?
Thanks for the help
Chris

As Neville says, you can exclude the SD drive from future Time Machine backups via TM Preferences > Options.
And you can delete the prior backups of that drive, too. See #12 in the Frequently Asked Questions *User Tip,* also at the top of this forum.

How can I protect iPhoto library on EHD when backing up with Super Duper?

I moved my iphoto library awhile ago to an external firewire drive. I've kept my old iphoto library in my trash in case that drive died, but there are many photos that only exist in the iphoto library on the firewire drive.
I finally got another EHD (this one is a USB drive). My idea is to keep iphoto library on the EHD along with a bootable copy of my MacBook Pro's internal hard drive. However, I'm worried that when I create the bootable backup using Super Duper my iphoto library will be lost.
So I thought I could copy all the stuff from the firewire drive (where my only current iphoto library is located) to the USB drive and then move the library back to the firewire drive. Then I would have my working iphoto library and bootable copy on the firewire drive, and a backup of my iphoto library and backup bootable copy on the USB drive.
1. Does this make sense?
2. When I tried to copy everything (using Super Duper) from the firewire drive to the USB drive, my iphoto library didn't copy. I thought I had to do this because otherwise I might lose my iphoto library when I create the bootable copy on the firewire drive. (??)
3. Does it make sense to partition the firewire drive? If so, I will still need to move iphoto to the USB drive before I do that, correct?
BTW, my MacBook Pro is all full up. I can't move the iphoto library back to my internal hard drive while I move all this around.
THanks and let me know if I need to clarify...

prettyred
Never, ever, store anything in the trash. Would you store things in your trash at home? It’s far too easy to accidentally erase it.
I don’t know that you need to have an empty firewire drive for Super Duper, but pop over to their site - they have a forum too: http://www.shirt-pocket.com/forums/ and they’ll answer that question for you.
Do you need two bootable back ups? I wold think one bootable back up, plus a back up of your data on the second disk would be enough.
Yes, if you are going to partition a disk it will erase the data on it, so you’ll need to back up any data on it.
Regards
TD

Mail, password, super duper

Last week I lost my phone. My passwords were all pw-protected, but yesterday I observed some odd changes on my computer, so I changed my password. I had a typo in what was written down, so I had to use the OS X install disc this morning, and reset it.
When I opened Mail, it said my index was bad. I did a Safe Boot, and that appeared to fix the problem, but now I see that past emails are missing from my various mailboxes.
I use Super Duper, so theoretically I have a good version of everything from a couple of days ago, but when I launcehd, it did not show the dates of recent backups. I think that I only need to restore Mail, but at the moment I am apprehensive about doing anything.
Can anyone offer suggestions?
Thanks,
Nicky

Hi Nicky,
have you done the usual checks? Do you know applejack ? (applejack.sourceforge.net) this is a nice command-line routine which makes all standard checks in single-user modus. You can start your comp in single-user by pressing cmd+S when booting. After this your're prompted and solicited to do the fsck (file system check) and after a successful fsck to remount your disk in write modus.
If you have installed applejack, you can make this and more check routine (i.e. Permission repair, cache clearing, fix preferences). You have only to give this command line:
applejack AUTO restart
and applejack will check/repair the FS, fix permissions, clear caches, fix preferences, remove swap files.
If this is done and you have yet the problem, you must first save/backup your data for more action.
I hope this helps
Massimo

Super Duper w/Intel & G5/Time Machine

I have an Intel MacBook, a G5 iMac and an external fire wire. I would like to format the fire wire in APM? or GUID?, partition it into four blocks and then use Super Duper to clone each into its partition, finally run Time Machine into the third and fourth partition. Question is will Time Machine and Super Duper each work properly on an Intel and Power PC Mac when saved onto a disk that is either APM or GUID?
Thanks
Ivan

You can format the external drive as APM with the 4 partions. An Intel mac will boot from a SuperDuper clone on APM. The G5 will boot from APM, and Time Machine can also use APM.
The confusion about an Intel mac and an APM partition is that you can not install an OS (or run updates I believe) to the partition, but SuperDuper doesn't care and will clone your GUID drive to the APM partition. I found out that this worked by accident when I first upgraded to Leopard. I cloned my drive to a new external drive and it worked fine. Later I tried to reuse the drive to install a second copy of Leopard and it refused with the non-GUID error.
You might as well try it first by using SuperDuper to create the bootable clone on the APM partition and then booting from it. That will prove that the rest of your plan should work.
I don't think you have any option to be able to use both APM and GUID on the same drive and the G5 can't boot at all from GUID.
SuperDuper 2.5 came out a couple of days ago. I've already used it to advantage:) It's nice having such a great program back online...

Super Duper Mess

I bought a copy of Super Duper (the back up utility) and after I ran it(backed up to a La Cie HD) my iMac G5 (10.4) started giving me fits- everything was slow and locking up like crazy. I unhooked the external hard drive, trashed Super Duper and everything made nice again. What in the world is going on??

The original poster may want to consider checking the makers of his drives for driver updates.
Any SuperDuper questions should be addressed on their forums.
Just to clarify, a clone is a exact duplicate of a drive usually done on a timetable set by the user using software. It offers hardware and software corruption protection.
A mirror is a exact duplicate of a drive as well, but it done using either Disk Utility or other RAID software/hardware and any data is written to both drives instantly, offering only hardware protection. A mirror is good for vital one time data captures, like if ET called. It doesn't make a good method to backup a boot drive as you loose the benefit of time.
I don't particuarly like SuperDuper, the first version with it's registration traps and "phoning home" (taking my admin password?) didn't install a whole lot of confidence in me. I didn't like the interface either.
I switched to Deja Vu instead and found the System Preference Pane approach more to my liking. It runs so seemlessly in the background even over a network, auto-cloning and auto backups.
If your hard on the dollars, donationware Carbon Copy Cloner is a excellent "one trick pony" choice and their forums are most helpful.
Mods: I receive no compensation for any product or site mention.

Super Duper error message on Mavericks

I have a 2011 macbook pro on 10.9.4 I am trying to back up my system with Super Duper but keep getting this error message at the end Error | SDCopy: Error copying /private/var/log/powermanagement/2014.07.19.asl to /Volumes/Untitled 1/private/var/log/powermanagement/2014.07.19.asl of type 8 due to error 5: Input/output error
Anybody know how to fix this.

I suggest you exclude the log folder from your backups.

Slow Cloning with Super Duper

I'm trying to clone my hard drive to an external firewire hard disk (G-Drive Q 500GB) using Super Duper and the download seems to go along nicely until about 80% of the files are evaluated and copied. Then, the process just stops after about 1.5 hrs. with the elapsed time counter clicking away. Does this indicate some problem with my hard drive or am I doing something wrong in setting up the cloning procedure?
I need to get this clone before I convert to OS 10.5.
Thanks

It could be a problem with a certain file that may be corrupted or extremely large on your drive, especially if the clone fails in the same place, multiple times.
With SuperDuper! running you can do a Command +L to view the log. It may have some information that might help you find where the process is going wrong.
For General SuperDuper! assistance:
http://www.shirt-pocket.com/forums/index.php

Please help...Macbook won't start up!

All,
I need help with my Macbook because it won't turn on. A few nights ago it was shut down, but before completely turning off it stuck on a grey/white screen. The keys were unresponsive and only gave the "bell" sound when pressed. I turned it off by keeping the power button depressed.
Upon trying to switch it on last night, it loads up withthe apple symbol and the pinwheel but then goes to a grey screen reading "You need to restart your machine. Press and hold the power button or press the reset button". I tried resetting the PRAM and NVRAM which did nothing.
I don't know much about Mac's but I am able to start it in safe mode, but what comes up doesn't mean a lot to me. it then stops and stalls whilst still with the black screen and white writing...?
Will I have to start with the disk utility etc?
Please, all advice will be very helpful!
Thanks

Hi
The "You need to restart your computer" message indicates a kernel panic, which often points to a hardware fault (often a RAM fault).
Can you reboot the computer from the original installation disk? (Start the computer, insert the disk, force-reboot it again, hold down the C key. If that doesn't work, reboot and hold down the Option key, and then choose the DVD as a startup source. If it loads to the installation screen, try running DIsk Utility from the Utilities menu - run Repair Disk and Repair Permissions. Let us know if you see any errors (from the Repair Disk routine).
Have you upgraded the RAM at all? If so, try removing the new RAM and leaving (or replacing with) the old RAM.
Is your Macbook still under warranty?
Do you have backups of your files?
Matt

Super Duper help on unresponsive Macbook

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