Scheduled SmartUpdate with Time Machine

[arthurlewis]

I'm running SuperDuper 2.5 on Leopard Server 10.5.6. I just started using SuperDuper to create a bootable backup on the same drive that houses my Time Machine backups. However, there seems to be some disparity as to what SuperDuper does when run manually, and when it's scheduled.

Before I run manually, I see this text:

Pressing "Copy Now" will use "Backup - all files" to copy OS to Backups using Smart Update. The Time Machine backups on Backups will be preserved. all files on OS will be copied to Backups, except the temporary ad system-specific files that Apple recommends excluding.

Smart Update will copy and erase what's needed to make Backups identical to your selections from OS. The result will mimic "Erase Backups, then copy files from OS", but will typically take a fraction of the time.

When I run the backup, it does what's expected. It mirrors the OS drive to the Backups drive, while maintaining the existing Time Machine backups.

But if I click "Schedule...", having already set Smart Update the way I want it, I get a different message, which doesn't mention Time Machine backups:

Every Friday at 6:00 PM, "Backup - all files" will be used to copy OS to Backups. Smart Update has been selected as the "During copy" option. Smart Update will copy and erase what's needed to make Backups identical to your selections from OS. The result will mimic "Erase, then copy", but will typically take a fraction of the time.

When the scheduled backup runs, it mirrors the OS drive to the Backups drive, and then, right before it renders the drive bootable, it clobbers all the Time Machine backups, leaving Backups an exact mirror of OS.

Is there some way to get the scheduled backup to behave the same way as the manual one?

[dnanian]

We edit out some of the text in the Scheduled backup because we have less room: it behaves the same way as it was when you clicked "Schedule..."

[arthurlewis]

Hmm. I thought I'd done three backups - one unscheduled which didn't delete, and two scheduled which did. Looking back at logs, I think I may only have done the latter two. Both were scheduled Smart Update, both said Time Machine backups would be preserved, and in both cases, when I clicked Schedule..., the Time Machine backups were deleted.

I noticed that the log says "Copying copy files with delete," but maybe that's normal.

| 07:00:28 PM | Info | PHASE: 2. Copy Files
| 07:00:28 PM | Info | ...ACTION: Copying files from OS to Backups using Smart Update
| 07:00:28 PM | Info | ......COMMAND => Cloning OS to Backups
| 07:00:29 PM | Info | Copying copy files with delete using script: /Users/administrator/Library/Application Support/SuperDuper!/Copy Scripts/Standard Scripts/Backup - all files.dset

Also, these are Time Machine server backups from other client machines, so they're .sparsebundle files. Does SuperDuper also make sure those don't get deleted?

[dnanian]

The Time Machine backup should certainly not be deleted if they're Smart Updates. I'd need to see the log - it will say, specifically, that it's "Preserving Backup.backupdb" in there. Erase, then copy will delete it, of course.

[arthurlewis]

Thanks, Dave. I won't be back at that office until Wednesday, so I won't have access to the complete logs until then. I'm almost certain they didn't say "Preserving" anything, but I will check and post when I see them again. Should I post the full log here, or send it to you some other way?

[dnanian]

Just sent it into support with the "Send to shirt pocket" button. Use "Error during copy" as the issue type.