Time Machine Backup Stability on the MyBook Live Duo?

[sbeattie2]

Has anybody used the Time Machine backup with the MyBook Live Duo - specifically someone who may also have a MyBook Live (non-Duo)?  I would like to know whether the MBL Duo works smoothly with Time Machine or whether it has the same types of problems that have been reported with the MBL (non-Duo).  The problems I am specifically interested in are the following:

1)  Time Machine Full Backup stalling or not completing in a timely manner (both wired and wireless).

2)  Time Machine Hourly Backup periodically requesting to start a new backup after validation.

I believe that I read in another thread (related to MBL non-Duo) that the MBL Duo firmware has addressed some of these issues - and would basically like to know if somebody can attest to the Time Machine functionality with MBL Duo?  I'm not seeing any posts for the Duo mentioning Time Machine backups.

~Scott

[Chaos311]

Scott,

I am using a Duo with Time Machine and so far it has worked well... for the most part. The only problem I have had is if I pull my Mac Book off the wired network (onto the wireless) and Time Machine starts, sometimes it takes a very long time to backup very few changes.

On the issue with the Time Machine having to be rebuilt, I had that problem with the My Book Live a couple times. From what I understand it has to do with Apple's new Time Machine protocol. Even their Time Capsule has that same problem from time to time.

Hope this helps.

[sbeattie2]

Thanks - I have a Time Capsule also - and it has not encountered any Time Machine issues to date (in the two years that I have had it).  On my MBL - I never actually received the "New Backup Must be Created" error - rather the issues that I have with the MBL (non-duo) and Time Machine were full backups "stalling" after about 10 minutes and having to be forced quit - (whether wired gigabit connection) or 802.11n 5GHz (~300 megabit).  Hourly backups often would take too long to mount the MBL and would be skipped by time machine - and just general overall slowness - such that I was finding it hard to trust the reliability of the backups.  Could you post back to this thread any oddities that you encounter.  Thanks.

~Scott 

[Chaos311]

Will do. . . oh, not related to Time Machine... the Duo is not using Twonky as the media server anymore. It has something that just says DLNA. It works differently than Twonky and I can't figure out if I like it or not.

Perhaps it just takes some getting used to. The same functionality is there, but it is quirky (like displaying files twice).

[sbeattie2]

Thanks - Twonky would not work with my Sony Bravia TVs.  I'm wondering if the MBL Duo with it's "other" media server would now work correctly with the Sony Bravias?

~Scott

[Chaos311]

I know a guy with a Bravia and a Duo. He said that Pics and Music work, but Video does not.

[sbeattie2]

To Chaos311 - Just curious - now that several weeks have passed - how is the Duo continuing to work with Time Machine backup - both full backups and hourly?  Any issues yet?

~Scott

[Chaos311]

I am sorry it has taken me so long. Been out of the loop for a bit, really busy. . So far to good. I have read on here that some people are having problems with having to rebuild Time Machine, but I have not experienced that yet. . . . So, so far so good

[philharve]

Hi  Chaos311

In the Time Machine Preferences panel, are you seeing dates for 'Oldest Backup' and 'Latest Backup'? I do not see either date no matter how many backup attempts I make.

I am attempting to perform a TM backup of 420GB of data from my MacBook Pro to the NAS and after 5 days I am seeing 495GB backed up on my MBLD 6TB (RAID 1) and it is still going ... an endless backup? This cannot be correct!

When I converted from 1x6TB to 2x3TB it took under 9 hours to perform the rebuild. 

Have you experienced or heard of any problems similar to mine and is their a fix?

[Chaos311]

Hey Phil,

I have a couple questions on your setup.

- What version of OSX are you using?

- What the drive empty when you converted from Raid0 to Raid 1?

- Have you been able to complete a TM backup?

I am going to take a closer look at my TM backups when I get home, but I believe they show the times/dates correctly.

On your longer backup, I have had an issue where TM estimates the wrong data size. It can be significant too, like estimate 180gb then back up over 200gb. Perhaps you are having a similar problem. 

I don't know this for sure, but I believe that OSX has some directories with a lot of small files. I have had TM go very slowly for more than 24 hours, even on a small TM (like 60gb). Then all the sudden speed back up again. 

I know that if you copy lots of small files across the network it will decrease your performance significantly, because of the overhead traffic for each tiny file.... So, I have assumed this is what is happening.

I have heard that there is an update coming soon, but there is no way to know if it will fix your problems till it arrives.