I'm back... having a problem with iBackup!

I started iBackup today and left the settings I used last time as today's default and let 'er rip.

Well, it's frozen now. It's in the middle of backing up iTunes data and it's stuck. Been stuck for a couple hours. The external HD has even gone to sleep.

When I say it's stuck, I mean that I can click on cancel and it acknowledges the click but does nothing. If I choose Quit from the iBackup menu, it does that annoyed chime sound when you make a bad selection. I can ctrl-click on the icon on the dock, and the "force quit" is not there, just the regular quit option, which also gives me that annoyed chime sound. You know, that kind of "Dunh!" sound...?

So how can I force quit this program that's locked up? Will I screw up the drive by trying to eject it right now? Should I try that?

Then what? Is there a fancy command-line option for quitting the process?

Thanks for all your help.

And yes, I almost wrote "right-click" instead of Ctrl-click up there... (If you remember, I am a Windows convert). I am still amazed that even though this program is locked up, my machine still runs and I can come here and post.

 

OK. So I found a Force Quit option under the little apple menu at the top of the computer screen.

Someday I will learn how to use this thing.

Now I can't figure out why my backup is stalled.

Do I need to delete the old backup on the HD or can I just write on top of it or should I leave it and create another one with a different name?

 

What kind of backup are you doing? Certain folders or just an image? Either way, I would delete the contents of the previous backup and start fresh. Another option is to switch software. I highly recommend SuperDuper!.

 

Thanks for the suggestion, cash. I'll check it out. I was doing certain datatypes (i.e. address, calendar, settings, keychains, itunes, my documents/pics/misc) but automated with ibackup.

 

I used to use iBackup, but found the lockups and slow speed to be annoying. Also didnt like how it would put data in a sub-folder all the time, even if I said not to. I now use deja vu (simple and works well). I tried superduper, it looked great, but didnt do what I wanted, which is to just create an identical copy so that I can access the data easily from any windows/mac pc.
a

 

As a sidenote, Force Quit is easily accessed through the keyboard combination Command+Alt+Esc. (where Command is the Apple key)

 

I have another question about backing up.

This 40G backup took over 15 hours. That's unacceptable for me and I don't really need a comparative backup.

What I'd really like is an automated drive cloning software that can automatically restore my drive should it ever fail or need to be replaced.

Just straight copy the files.

Can Deja Vu do this? Does it have easily accessible and flexible automation options?

 

I use the current version of SuperDuper. Takes about 2 hours to do an initial image of about 60gb over a USB harddrive. Updates run in about 20 minutes (but you need to pay to be able to unlock the update feature).

SuperDuper creates and exact BOOTABLE image of your hard drive if you like. I just keep an external USB 120gb drive around and backup weekly with SuperDuper (daily with FTP) and if my drive ever goes bad I can just swap drives on my MacBook.

So far SuperDuper has been fast and reliable (I can actually boot from the image it creates).

 

I like SuperDuper! a lot, well worth the $25 or what ever it cost. Do be sure to check that your image boots from time to time though. I have a had a time where it would not boot. Everything was there I just could not boot from it. Not the end of the world, but it is better to know before you are in the bind.

 

Thank you, I thought if verifying that the image was actually bootable ONCE, but I had not done it since. I wondered why they might have a list of after backup actions that included an option for rebooting using the backup disk. I guess I know now :-(