SuperDuper wont backup!

[KHL6565]

I am using an Imac from around 2015 with the OSX El Capitan 10.11.6

As I was running out of disk space on my old 2 TB external hard drive which I was backing up via Time machine, I went and bought a new Seagate 5TB HD. Erased it via TM and then tried to do a first back up. Got an error message "Time machine couldnt complete the backup to ..."

Tried this several times and still the same issue.

So, installed SuperDuper instead and tried. Now getting the following error from the log files of SuperDuper:

| 10:05:52 PM | Info | Unable to tally extended attribute size for source /System/Library/Frameworks/DiscRecording.framework/Versions/A/Resources/el.lproj/OSErrors.strings due to error 5, Input/output error
| 10:05:52 PM | Info | Error copying compressed /System/Library/Frameworks/DiscRecording.framework/Versions/A/Resources/el.lproj/OSErrors.strings to /Volumes/5TB 2023/System/Library/Frameworks/DiscRecording.framework/Versions/A/Resources/el.lproj/OSErrors.strings of type 8
| 10:05:52 PM | Error | ***ERROR OCCURRED: SDCopy: Error copying compressed /System/Library/Frameworks/DiscRecording.framework/Versions/A/Resources/el.lproj/OSErrors.strings to /Volumes/5TB 2023/System/Library/Frameworks/DiscRecording.framework/Versions/A/Resources/el.lproj/OSErrors.strings of type 8

| 10:05:52 PM | Error | ***ERROR OCCURRED: : Input/output error

 

[KHL6565]

any thoughts?

 

[MacsBug]

It looks like the 5TB drive that you have may have issues. Have you tried to use a different drive?

 

[KHL6565]

Hi,

yes did try it on another drive before, also got errors. I assumed it was the old drive I was trying to back up to and got a new one;

BTW, I cannot upgrade my OS anymore, when I go to the app store/ update software, it says no more updates. Could that be a problem?

 

[MacsBug]

The older imacs from around 2015 can only upgrade as far as macOS 12 (Monterey) .

Since you tried several external drives and get the same error. My best guess is that the internal Hard Drive most likely has gone bad.

You might want to download a copy of DriveDX (https://binaryfruit.com/drivedx) and run that. If the drive is going bad, this will tell you.

Just a note... If you have a Fusion Drive on the iMac, DriveDX will show both the SSD and the spinning drive seperate.

 

[KHL6565]

The older imacs from around 2015 can only upgrade as far as macOS 12 (Monterey) .

Since you tried several external drives and get the same error. My best guess is that the internal Hard Drive most likely has gone bad.

You might want to download a copy of DriveDX (https://binaryfruit.com/drivedx) and run that. If the drive is going bad, this will tell you.

Just a note... If you have a Fusion Drive on the iMac, DriveDX will show both the SSD and the spinning drive seperate.

You're right this is a fusion drive I think.

In DriveDX, the 2 TB "Apple HDD..." no errors are found.

However, in the SSD, this is the problem summary section:



=== PROBLEMS SUMMARY ===
Failed Indicators (life-span / pre-fail) : 1 (1 / 0)
Failing Indicators (life-span / pre-fail) : 1 (0 / 1)
Warnings (life-span / pre-fail) : 0 (0 / 0)
Recently failed Self-tests (Short / Full) : 0 (0 / 0)
I/O Error Count : 121 (120 / 1)


=== IMPORTANT HEALTH INDICATORS ===
ID NAME RAW VALUE STATUS
5 Retired Block Count 220 67.0% Failing
173 Wear Leveling Count 0xE9C0FF00F21 0% Failed
175 Host Writes MiB 155,790,108 (163.4 TB) 99.0% OK
192 Unsafe Shutdown Count 102 99.0% OK
197 Current Pending Block Count 0 100% OK
199 UDMA CRC Error Count 2 99.5% OK


=== TEMPERATURE INFORMATION (CELSIUS) ===
Current Temperature : 40
Power Cycle Min Temperature : 40
Power Cycle Max Temperature : 41
Lifetime Min Temperature : 40
Lifetime Max Temperature : 41
Recommended Min Temperature : 5
Recommended Max Temperature : 65
Temperature Min Limit : 5
Temperature Max Limit : 70


=== DRIVE HEALTH INDICATORS ===
ID | NAME | TYPE | UPDATE | RAW VALUE | VALUE | THRESHOLD | WORST | LAST MODIFIED | STATUS
1 Raw Read Error Rate Life-span online 0x2A77 199 0 199 - 99.5% OK
5 Retired Block Count Pre-fail online 220 67 0 67 - 67.0% Failing
9 Power On Hours Life-span online 58,744 88 0 88 8/4/23 1:38 AM 88.0% OK
12 Power Cycle Count Life-span online 250 99 0 99 - 99.0% OK
169 Total Bad Block Count Pre-fail online 0x1A302A001E0 131 10 131 - 63.7% OK
173 Wear Leveling Count Life-span online 0xE9C0FF00F21 64 100 64 8/4/23 1:08 AM 0% Failed
174 Host Reads MiB Life-span online 127,761,612 (134.0 TB) 99 0 99 8/4/23 2:08 AM 99.0% OK
175 Host Writes MiB Life-span online 155,790,108 (163.4 TB) 99 0 99 8/4/23 2:08 AM 99.0% OK
192 Unsafe Shutdown Count Life-span online 102 99 0 99 - 99.0% OK
194 Temperature (Celsius) Life-span online 40 60 30 21 8/4/23 2:08 AM 42.9% OK
197 Current Pending Block Count Life-span online 0 100 0 100 - 100% OK
199 UDMA CRC Error Count Life-span online 2 199 0 199 - 99.5% OK



=== DRIVE ERROR LOG ===
# | TIME OCCURRED | ERRORS | PRIOR COMMAND
5 58732 hours UNKNOWN ERROR READ FPDMA QUEUED
4 58732 hours UNKNOWN ERROR READ FPDMA QUEUED
3 58732 hours UNKNOWN ERROR READ FPDMA QUEUED
2 58732 hours UNC READ LOG EXT
1 58732 hours UNKNOWN ERROR READ FPDMA QUEUED


=== DRIVE SELF-TEST LOG ===
self-test log is empty

 

[KHL6565]

Running First aid on Apple disk utility for Fusion drive and Mackintosh HD, however, it reports no errors at all

 

[TonyAguila]

I am using an Imac from around 2015 with the OSX El Capitan 10.11.6

As I was running out of disk space on my old 2 TB external hard drive which I was backing up via Time machine, I went and bought a new Seagate 5TB HD. Erased it via TM and then tried to do a first back up. Got an error message "Time machine couldnt complete the backup to ..."

Tried this several times and still the same issue.

So, installed SuperDuper instead and tried. Now getting the following error from the log files of SuperDuper:

| 10:05:52 PM | Info | Unable to tally extended attribute size for source /System/Library/Frameworks/DiscRecording.framework/Versions/A/Resources/el.lproj/OSErrors.strings due to error 5, Input/output error
| 10:05:52 PM | Info | Error copying compressed /System/Library/Frameworks/DiscRecording.framework/Versions/A/Resources/el.lproj/OSErrors.strings to /Volumes/5TB 2023/System/Library/Frameworks/DiscRecording.framework/Versions/A/Resources/el.lproj/OSErrors.strings of type 8
| 10:05:52 PM | Error | ***ERROR OCCURRED: SDCopy: Error copying compressed /System/Library/Frameworks/DiscRecording.framework/Versions/A/Resources/el.lproj/OSErrors.strings to /Volumes/5TB 2023/System/Library/Frameworks/DiscRecording.framework/Versions/A/Resources/el.lproj/OSErrors.strings of type 8

| 10:05:52 PM | Error | ***ERROR OCCURRED: : Input/output error

If I guessed right, you have the 21.5" iMac late 2015. If it’s a 27" and right around the same year, it will not make much difference. Your iMac should be able to run macOS Monterey. The latest version, I believe, is 12.6.8. Is Time Machine still functional the way you have it right now? The good news with Time Machine is that, as long as the capacity is larger than the current content of the drive(s) being backed up, it should still work. Time Machine will automatically delete the oldest backups to make room fo the current.

So I think the best thing to do right now is to update your system to Monterey, that is, unless you have vital older apps that will not run in a system newer than El Capitan. That was the reason why, when I had the 2018 Mac mini, I had to maintain an external drive with Mojave on it so I could still run a couple of very old applications. But there’s no reason why you cannot do the same yourself.

My suggestion is for you to perform a current Time Machine backup to your old 2-TB drive (assuming it still runs), then update your system to Monterey. The simplest method is by downloading the installer through the App Store. Open it from the  menu and in the search box, type macOS monterey and press return. It should bring you to the Monterey page. Click on the GET button and it should start downloading the installer to your Applications folder.

If everything is working fine to this point, then when the download is done, it will launch the macOS installer. It will prompt you to continue with the installation. DON’T proceed. Quit and open the Applications folder to locate the file (“Install macOS Monterey.app”, hopefully) and copy it to another location other than Applications. Then when you are ready, and your latest Time Machine backup is done, go ahead and reboot. After login, the macOS installer should start again. If it does not start automatically, just launch it directly from the Applications folder. Go through the process until completion. If successful, you should now have a system running Monterey, with a Time Machine backup with El Capitan.

If, for some reason, the App Store method does not work, you can go to this Apple Support site to download macOS. The process will still trigger the App Store download as you did before, but somehow, it seems to work better, in my past experience.

How to download and install macOS - Apple Support

Download and install current or previous versions of the Mac operating system on compatible Mac computers.

support.apple.com

Select the Monterey link to start.

 

[MacsBug]

With what you are saying, it looks like the flash part of your Fusion Drive has gone bad.

You have 2 options here...

1. Buy an USB External SSD and use it to boot. (This is what I would recommend). The max speed for the SSD that will work with your Mac is going to be 560MB/Sec. so you don't need any of the faster SSD's.

2. Seperate the fusion Drive and use just the Rotational drive. (This will be slower than using a fusion drive, plus with an 8 year old drive this may not last too long)


Either way, you will need to reinstall the OS, and then migrate your data over from your old 2TB Time Machine Backup.

As stated by Tony, your iMac can handle a newer OS. So this may be a good time to upgrade the version of macOS that you are using.