10.6 - Superduper filled up my HDD!

[ManhattanPrjct]

So, I was making my first cloned HDD backup since upgrading to 10.6. I plugged in my external HDD and asked Superduper to do a smart update, but after coming back 4 hours later, I have found that the backup failed, and my 500GB is full!

Now, I have inspected my hard drive and found that the operating system is intact and all of my current files are here... but how did my HDD fill up, and where are these excess files? I am sure that Superduper somehow failed to copy the files to my external HDD and somehow placed them on my Macbook's HDD... but how do I find them?

 

[old-wiz]

did you update superduper with the version for Snow Leopard? How big is the boot disk?

 

[ManhattanPrjct]

did you update superduper with the version for Snow Leopard? How big is the boot disk?

According to SuperDuper, I have the latest version available (87)

My boot volume is 500GB. It should be about halfway full. I went to Finder and did an Apple-I to see the size of the typical folders:

Applications 5.24
Library 6.44
System 4.48
Users 246.57

Clearly they add up to what should be on my hard drive. So where's the rest of the stuff that SuperDuper clearly created? Maybe a disk image?

Strangely, spotlight no longer picks up any Applications. Maybe related, maybe not. But my Macbook is running a lot slower with the HDD full.

 

[dirt farmer]

Did you ask Dave?

I would ask Dave

 

[Sigi]

Superduper backup

So, I was making my first cloned HDD backup since upgrading to 10.6. I plugged in my external HDD and asked Superduper to do a smart update, but after coming back 4 hours later, I have found that the backup failed, and my 500GB is full!

Now, I have inspected my hard drive and found that the operating system is intact and all of my current files are here... but how did my HDD fill up, and where are these excess files? I am sure that Superduper somehow failed to copy the files to my external HDD and somehow placed them on my Macbook's HDD... but how do I find them?

Hello,

the manual says:

1. For the first bootable backup do a normal full back-up (NOT a smart update - there is nothing to update, it is your first backup)

2. For future updates use Smart Update

Siegfried

 

[old-wiz]

Hello,

the manual says:

1. For the first bootable backup do a normal full back-up (NOT a smart update - there is nothing to update, it is your first backup)

2. For future updates use Smart Update

Siegfried

The only real reason to use Smart Update is to make it faster;it has no effect on how big the destination is.

No SuperDuper backup should be larger than the disk it is backing up unless something has gone wrong in superduper. It's not like Time Machine, which will eventually fill up any disk it's backing up to.

 

[linhrom]

So, I was making my first cloned HDD backup since upgrading to 10.6. I plugged in my external HDD and asked Superduper to do a smart update, but after coming back 4 hours later, I have found that the backup failed, and my 500GB is full!

Now, I have inspected my hard drive and found that the operating system is intact and all of my current files are here... but how did my HDD fill up, and where are these excess files? I am sure that Superduper somehow failed to copy the files to my external HDD and somehow placed them on my Macbook's HDD... but how do I find them?

Incase you havent found the solution. I had the same problem and after looking for hours, i found the place where SuperDuper writes the data to. (at least i was sure it was superduper doing that cause i didnt have anything else running)

Anyway, go to finder/go/go to folder

type: volumes, you should find the datas, just delete it and empty trash, it should add up to your free space before.

Cheers

 

[ManhattanPrjct]

Incase you havent found the solution. I had the same problem and after looking for hours, i found the place where SuperDuper writes the data to. (at least i was sure it was superduper doing that cause i didnt have anything else running)

Anyway, go to finder/go/go to folder

type: volumes, you should find the datas, just delete it and empty trash, it should add up to your free space before.

Cheers

Thanks! Do you know why this happened? I'd like to keep using SuperDuper, but not if this keeps happening. I'll probably try to erase/delete the external and then do a completely new backup.

 

[linhrom]

Thanks! Do you know why this happened? I'd like to keep using SuperDuper, but not if this keeps happening. I'll probably try to erase/delete the external and then do a completely new backup.

SuperDuper is fine, the problem was that your external hard drive might have disconnected (there are several reasons for that) during the back up process, thus SuperDuper can't find the drive that its backing up to so Its just keep writing on Temp folder on your hard drive instead of transfering it to the external drive.

In my case, i bought a new HD and during the process of formatting it, I changed the name of the current existing backing up drive. So the drive that regconised in SuperDuper no longer there (or so the it thinks). Hence the problem. Other than that, i've been using SuperDuper for 2 years without any problems

 

[saltydogg79]

hard drive maxed out as well

Hello there. Im getting into this conversation a bit late. But superduper has just done the same thing to me. I followed your advice to go into finder volumes but can seem to find the issue. Is there a certain file name?? thanks for your time.

 

[oed]

same problem

I've got the same issue -- tried backing up to an external hard drive with SuperDuper, the backup failed, and now my hard drive is full. I tried the solution suggested through finder/go/go to folder but that didn't work for me. Any other suggestions would be much appreciated.

 

[Sigi]

I've got the same issue -- tried backing up to an external hard drive with SuperDuper, the backup failed, and now my hard drive is full. I tried the solution suggested through finder/go/go to folder but that didn't work for me. Any other suggestions would be much appreciated.

Hello,

I do not have an immediate solution for you but I recommend that you go to the forum for Superduper - http://www.shirt-pocket.com/forums/

Dave - the brain behind Superduper - is very quick in replying.

Siegfried

 

[Hal Itosis]

Usually when a backup utility (not just SuperDuper) fills up our HD, the reason is because something goofed up with how the backup volume was mounted.

Using the Go menu in Finder, choose "Go to Folder..." (⇧⌘G) and type /Volumes in the text field, and hit return. You should be looking at a window showing the contents of the /Volumes folder. Now, set the view options (⌘J) to List view, and checkmark the box to include the Kind column.

When viewed from Finder, the /Volumes folder should appear to contain only aliases. Anything in there which shows 'folder' under the Kind column is almost certainly an error (e.g., a backup that went wrong), and such 'folder' items should be deleted.

[note: do not remove any aliases from the /Volumes folder (unless you're 110% positive it's okay to do so).]