Question about my USB backup and my Mac

[Charles Pratt]

I just backed up my B2 for the first time on a properly formatted USB flash drive. It took 40 hours! It seems that there is data on the stick, about 500 GB out of 1TB, but when I tried to check the USB stick on my Mac, the folder wouldn’t open.

How do I know if all my music is actually on there?

I should note that I am just an amateur when it comes to tech. Thanks 

Charles

[JFBUK]

Hi Charles,

when you look at the usb drive in Finder on your Mac what do you see ?

John

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Charles,

If the music data volume on the B2 is around about 500GB, then the 'Export' backup should have completed in about 18 hours (the Export rate is around 28GB/hour).  If you post the tracks count of your B2 (# Flac, # MP3, # WAV, # AAC) and disk space used I can do a more accurate assessment.

If the 'Export' is good, you should be able to use 'Finder' to look into a folder called 'b2Export', then drill down into 'music', then you should see all of your artists listed and drilling down into each artist will show your albums.  You don't need any additional software to read the USB contents, I use Macs, PCs and Linux machines and they all read the B2 backup directly.

I think that you might have used a 'fake' USB stick.   There are two symptoms showing here.

1.  You cannot read the USB stick because the folder would not open.

2.  The 'Export' took a very long time to 'complete' (I put 'complete' in quotes because it is not complete at all)

Amazon and eBay are awash with these fake devices and they have caused havoc here.  Some users have come close to losing their entire collections, so it is very important to use only good quality fully priced sticks from the likes of Argos or Curry's or other reputable retailer.

Below is a link to a post entitled 'Advice re fake SD cards' that was logged about 1.5 years ago.  It contains advice on this topic.  There is a free software USB stick test program, but it only works on Windows, and I realise that you are using a Mac.

https://groups.google.com/g/brennanb2/c/1BakkcoHSQQ/m/sXqO8ZJkBgAJ

Regards,

Peter.

[Peter Lowham]

Hi All,

I received this update from Charles, so I have reposted that here.

Thanks, Peter

I was warned by Paul from Brennan about “fake” USB sticks out there. In fact, he cited a forum comment from you on that topic. But I figured that the one I had was legit because the B2 let me format it properly, and it seemed to take the exported music, track by track for quite a long time. My B2 says I have 437 GBs of data, so the long backup time didn’t bother me.

I’ll check the USB on Finder. Right now, when I click on the icon on my desktop, it shows a blue folder, labeled B2export, but when I click it, nothing happens.

I am in the U.S., so don’t know the stores you mention, but I’ll go to a reputable store and buy what I hope is a legitimate USB. The one I used came from Amazon.

I’ll keep you posted. Thanks again for the thoughtful advice.

Charles

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Charles,

When I'm in the USA, I purchase these items from Best Buy as this is a reputable retailer.

Regarding 437GBs of data, that should back up in about 15.5 hours.  The Brennan is pretty consistent in terms of these timings if your USB device is good, so I am still very suspicious about your stick.  As I said previously, one of symptoms of a bad stick is that the backup runs very slowly.

Regards,

Peter.

[Ray Dion]

Charles, 

I also use Best Buy (Hawaii). You can go to Walmart or most brick and mortar and buy a name brand. I have had no issues with them. I also did an amazing deal at Amazon. Samething as you, it appeared two work the first time but I tried to add tags and stuff to the music and it became obvious the only place for it was the trash. Lesson learned.

Now 2TB USB disks... Much harder to find. Saw a couple mixed in with the 5TB at Costco. Grabbed them. 2TB is the largest you can go in FAT32 format. I like these because with a rename of the root directory I can keep rotating backups. Still only one disk but I don't want to remove a backup until I know I have a new one that is good.

Ray

[JFBUK]

Charles replied to me by email

From the icon on my desktop, I see a blue folder names b2export, but clicking on it nets me nothing. I'm starting to agree with other forum folks that I have a phony USB stick. My music data should have backed up in about 16 hours, not 40.

I bought an external hard drive (1TB from Best Buy) and have started backing up on that. Hope it works!

Appreciate your reply.

Charles

[Peter Lowham]

Hi All,

I received this email from Charles which contains excellent news!

Hello, Peter

Just wanted to let you know that the backup with my external hard drive worked properly. A great relief. Also, it backed up in almost exactly the time you predicted.

 Thanks again for your sage advice. I’m still working on getting my iTunes (Apple Music) on a stick so that I can transfer it to the B2. I have quite a bit of downloaded/purchased music there, too.

Cheers,

Charles

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Charles,

Great news!  The B2 'Export' and 'Import' processes are rock solid when the data is correctly structured and the USB device is good.

If you arrange your iTunes music into the same structure as your Export data, then it will Import straight into the B2.

Regards,

Peter.