Internal hard drive cloning is ridiculously slow

[seeweed]

I'm cloning my internal hard drive right now. The old internal drive is still inside my Macbook, while the new internal drive is externally connected by a powered SATA USB adapter for the moment.

I'm using Super Duper (unregistered). The problem is that it's taking an absolutely ridiculous amount of time. Right now, it's copying at a speed of 0.86 mb/s (I have about 160 GB to copy). It's been 17 hours (I went to sleep and checked this morning) and only 52 GB have been copied. So I'm in for 17+ more hours.

I feel like this can't possibly be normal, seeing as the tutorials and videos mention it being done in 3-8 hours.

Should I cancel the clone and look for another way? Perhaps buy the registered version or find another software?

Is it something to do with the USB? Note: I have a late-2009 Macbook, and the powered SATA USB adapter is 2.0.

I don't want to overuse my laptop while it's cloning, but I'm a student and I need to be doing schoolwork, so I'm a bit stuck.

 

[simsaladimbamba]

For me cloning my internal HDD/SSD to an external HDD using USB 2.0 hovers around 20 to 30 MB/s, but I use CarbonCopyCloner for that (3.4.7 is still free and available for download from Bombich).

 

[seeweed]

For me cloning my internal HDD/SSD to an external HDD using USB 2.0 hovers around 20 to 30 MB/s, but I use CarbonCopyCloner for that (3.4.7 is still free and available for download from Bombich).

I cancelled the clone, downloaded CCC, and restarted the process. I think it's a bit faster now, but it does seem to be a USB issue. This is the alert that came up before I began the clone:

For better performance, we recommend that you attach this device directly to one of the USB ports on your Mac; avoid attaching USB disks to a keyboard, display, or USB hub. If it is already connected directly to a USB port on your Mac, try using a different USB cable, or use a Firewire cable if the device has a Firewire interface. [Why? Mac OS X has negotiated an extremely low connection speed to this device (e.g. 1.5 MB/s maximum bandwidth)]

So I guess I have no choice but to wait it out.

So my next question is: can I browse the internet, or open PDFs and print, during the cloning? I don't want to overburden the process or lead to a crash.

 

[Consultant]

1. USB doesn't do full potential speed in real life.
2. Transfer speed depends on file size. Many small files = very slow transfer unless you use SSD.

I'm cloning my internal hard drive right now. The old internal drive is still inside my Macbook, while the new internal drive is externally connected by a powered SATA USB adapter for the moment.

I'm using Super Duper (unregistered). The problem is that it's taking an absolutely ridiculous amount of time. Right now, it's copying at a speed of 0.86 mb/s (I have about 160 GB to copy). It's been 17 hours (I went to sleep and checked this morning) and only 52 GB have been copied. So I'm in for 17+ more hours.

I feel like this can't possibly be normal, seeing as the tutorials and videos mention it being done in 3-8 hours.

Should I cancel the clone and look for another way? Perhaps buy the registered version or find another software?

Is it something to do with the USB? Note: I have a late-2009 Macbook, and the powered SATA USB adapter is 2.0.

I don't want to overuse my laptop while it's cloning, but I'm a student and I need to be doing schoolwork, so I'm a bit stuck.

 

[chown33]

Files copying at ~1MB/sec sounds like USB 1, not USB 2:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Serial_Bus#USB_1_.28Full_Speed.29

In particular, it sounds like the real-world thruput rate for 12Mbit/sec signaling.


Use System Info.app (called System Profiler.app on OS 10.6 and earlier) and post what it says is the "Up to" speed of the SATA/USB adapter. The device will be listed under "USB" in the "Hardware" category. Copy and paste what it says (select the text in the lower pane, cmd-C) into a post.

If there's a USB hub anywhere in the chain, maybe it's USB 1.0, and thus the cause of the slowdown. System Info/System Profiler would show this.

Long cables, marginal cables, or older cables not certified for USB 2.0 hi-speed use can degrade the signal, leading to lower negotiated speeds. System Info/System Profiler might NOT show this. It might show "Up to 480 Mb/sec" yet the actual negotiated speed would be less. I haven't had to deal with faulty USB cables in so long, I don't recall what it shows.

 

[Knoodles]

Seeweed,
It's definitely a USB issue. The alert message says it all. Try a different port and disconnect all other USB devices.

 

[seeweed]

Use System Info.app (called System Profiler.app on OS 10.6 and earlier) and post what it says is the "Up to" speed of the SATA/USB adapter. The device will be listed under "USB" in the "Hardware" category. Copy and paste what it says (select the text in the lower pane, cmd-C) into a post.

Here's what I copy-pasted from System Profiler (not sure if this is what you meant):

USB High-Speed Bus:

Host Controller Location: Built-in USB
Host Controller Driver: AppleUSBEHCI
PCI Device ID: 0x0aa6
PCI Revision ID: 0x00b1
PCI Vendor ID: 0x10de
Bus Number: 0x24

USB to ATA/ATAPI bridge:

Capacity: 500.11 GB (500,107,862,016 bytes)
Removable Media: Yes
Detachable Drive: Yes
BSD Name: disk1
Product ID: 0x2338
Vendor ID: 0x152d (JMicron Technology Corp.)
Version: 1.00
Serial Number: 000001D91881
Speed: Up to 480 Mb/sec
Manufacturer: JMicron
Location ID: 0x24100000 / 3
Current Available (mA): 500
Current Required (mA): 2
Partition Map Type: GPT (GUID Partition Table)
S.M.A.R.T. status: Not Supported
Volumes:
Capacity: 209.7 MB (209,715,200 bytes)
Writable: Yes
BSD Name: disk1s1
New Macintosh HD:
Capacity: 499.76 GB (499,763,884,032 bytes)
Available: 431.2 GB (431,202,467,840 bytes)
Writable: Yes
File System: Journaled HFS+
BSD Name: disk1s2
Mount Point: /Volumes/New Macintosh HD

Built-in iSight:

Product ID: 0x8507
Vendor ID: 0x05ac (Apple Inc.)
Version: 4.19
Serial Number: 8J95Q1AEE6UN3A00
Speed: Up to 480 Mb/sec
Manufacturer: Apple Inc.
Location ID: 0x24400000 / 2
Current Available (mA): 500
Current Required (mA): 500

I switched to the other USB port, but it's still copying at the same low speed. I don't have anything else connected to the USB. I can't go out and buy another USB adapter or an enclosure, so I guess I'll just have to sit this one through.

Seeweed,
It's definitely a USB issue. The alert message says it all. Try a different port and disconnect all other USB devices.

 

[chown33]

That data from System Profiler looks pretty reasonable.

There are no hubs; it's plugged directly into the computer's builtin USB port.

This looked odd:

Speed:	Up to 480 Mb/sec
Manufacturer:	JMicron
Location ID:	0x24100000 / 3
Current Available (mA):	500
Current Required (mA):	[COLOR="Red"]2[/COLOR]

The 2 seems low, unless the USB-SATA adapter has its own power-supply. If the adapter does have a separate power supply, then 2 mA seems reasonable.


From the posted data, I see no obvious reason why it would be so slow. There could be a cable problem, a connector problem, a driver problem, an OS problem, or any of various other causes.

You'd have to try different hardware components to try to narrow down the problem. E.g. a different USB cable, a different adapter, a USB-to-SATA external drive case (as distinct from an adapter), a different drive (e.g. a USB flash drive), and so on. If they're all equally slow, then I'd suspect it might be a hardware problem with the computer's USB ports, or maybe a software problem.

You could try a Safe Boot and see if it's still slow then. That might indicate either a driver problem, or a driver conflict.

Might be worth taking into an Apple Store and demonstrating the problem to a genius. They might run a hardware diagnostic right there. Or that might be more trouble than waiting the 18 hours or whatever.