When SuperDuper 2.9.1 is running, my computer is painfully slow, extensive beach balling, etc., printer even times out. My system is essentially useless.

Dave Nanian says it's not his fault. But everything else works fine, so I'm at a loss re troubleshooting.

My backups take about 15 minutes, so while 'tis not a world crisis, it is condition that is new with Sierra.


Edit - Originally a reply to Re: any issues with Safari 10?, this post was detached to form a separate thread.

I can't speak about the slowness issue because I stop using the computer during a cloning backup. I had had a problem with SuperDuper that Dave Nanian couldn't solve (unrelated to your issue) and switched to Carbon Copy Cloner . You might want to give it a try. There's a 30 day trial period.

The first backup after upgrading to Sierra should take longer than usual because there are a lot of files that have changed. Does the 15 minutes apply equally to subsequent incremental backups?

FWIW: I was curious (hoping) that some other third party app was the cause of my problem. So I quit all open apps and then again ran SuperDuper! But alas, no joy.

Then, it dawned on me. Since both SD! and Sierra are on my MBP, and it is essentially identical to my iMac, will my grief likewise be present in that scenerio?

And the answer is that my MBP suffers none of the ills.

My next step is reinstall SD! and if that fails, take Jon's advice and give CCC a go. If that (also) causes the problem, then it seems issue is with Sierra,

My Super Duper backups have never been less than 12 to 15 minutes, so I've always assumed that was natural….and my backups have never been large - always under 300 GB.

My experience, Ryck, is akin to yours. The only thing I’m fussing about is that during the copying process, my system is brought to a near standstill.

Prior to Sierra, my system would slow a tad, but was usable. Now, that ain’t so, and I just wonder what changed.

Alas, this only happens on my iMac, my MBP works as before. And since my systems are essentially identical, I’m at a loss how to begin troubleshooting.

I wonder if there's anything to be learned from watching Activity Monitor while one of your backups is running, Harv?

I too thought that Artie, but I don't even know what to look for. I do know that disabling all running apps did not alter the condition.

Since my problem does not seem to be with running/launched apps, can it be with a background or system function?

That's what I'd expect it to be, Harv, so I'd sort for %CPU to see which precess(es) float(s) to the top.

The most likely suspect would. be Time Machine, but IIRC(?) you do not use it.

Joe, you are correct. I do not use TimeMachine.

I did a 2 minute test and the lead was SD! Percentages ranged from 4.0% to 74%. Of course, they changed nearly every second, but I suspect the average was somewhere in the 45% to 50% range.

On those occasions when SD! dropped below 9% then Activity Monitor became the heavy hitter.

It would seem that despite what Dave Nanian thinks, SD! is at fault. But before I rush to judgment, what is your take?

Just to be certain, did you see the same behavior on both Macs or only the slow one, Harv?

The dreadful slowness is just on my iMac.

The MBP is a tad slower, but nothing out of the ordinary.

My bad, Harv; I meant does Activity Monitor tell you the same story on both Macs?

Not exactly. On my MBP the SD! Numbers are much lower, ranging from 7% to 57%, and with an average somewhere around 35% to 40%.

On a fishing expedition, here, Harv...

Are both Macs connected to the backup drive via the exact same type of port?

Each machines has its own separate backup device. The iMac has spinning rust and the MBP has SSD.

But both machines also have multiple internal volumes and even when the internal volumes are the backups destination, the situation does not alter.

Curious and curiouser...

The one thing I can tell you for sure is that when I upgraded my deuced Mac(hina) from spinning rust to an SSD my CCC clones to an internal volume destination sped up...remarkably!

More: And I got a similar speed upgrade when I switched from FireWire 800 to USB 3 for my external clones, and another one when I upgraded my external drive from spinning rust to an SSD, so there are a number of factors that may affect the relative performance of your two Macs.

Which contributes nothing at all towards why Sierra might affect SD!'s performance.

Having been a SD! fan boy for many years, I was reluctant to give CCC a trial. But in light my recent issues and that my wife is suffering assorted ills when cloning to her SSD, I put ego & pride aside (not easily done by moi) and am now testing CCC.

Much to my welcome surprise, initial CCC tests indicate that the slowness problems I had with SD! seem to be at an end. And of course, having a recovery disk on each volume is a plus. Now, 'tis merely the test of time and learning new scheduling protocols, etc.

Thanks to all who hung in there with me, and (gently) counseling me re CCC.

As long as you have Activity Monitor open it might be interesting to see what the Memory Pressure is when the slowdowns occur. CPU cycles are informative, but they are not the total answer.

FWIW although I had used Super Duper for a long time, I switched back to CCC some months ago because it handled the Recovery Drive as well. If my experience is any indication, you are going to really like CCC.

Just to add a push to your decision, I used TechTool Pro for cloning for many years, and before that DataBackup X (really liked the latter, but they didn't keep up). I recently switched to CCC and really like it. Clean, comparably fast. Worth a try.