I’m testing out DropDMG to use to create Disc Images of mounted Firestore FS-100 DTE devices in our digital video workflow. I have a couple of questions.
First, I want to test single and multiple (simultaneous) image creations from these devices. In other words, one DTE at a time or two at a time (we shoot multiple cameras). I’m curious what one should expect as far as the amount of time to create an image in either scenario.
For my first complete test, I created two images at the same time from two mounted DTE’s, fsA and fsB (with an equal 69GB on each disk), choosing volume B (internal RAID 0 with 2x500GB Drives) for fsB, and volume A (internal RAID 0 with 4x750GB Drives) for fsA… on a MacPro Dual 3Ghz machine with 8GB RAM.
The following facts are most relevant:
- The firestore uses a FAT32 volume (this is not optional).
- The disc has read/write access by default.
- I chose the following preferences:
a. Format = .dmg Read-only
b. Options = Use cusom icon, and Auto-open
c. Save = Ask Later, and Promt for names (append date) - I started fsA, then imediately started fsB
The results:
fsB took 41 min. to complete the Copy stage and then an additional 24 min. to Save. Total = 65 min.
fsA took 74 min. to complete the Copy stage and then an additional 14 min. to Save. Total = 88 min.
My next test will be a duplicate test, only I plan to swap the targets between them and test one at a time vs. simultaneously.
My questions are:
- What is happening between the Copy stage vs. the Saving stage? I ask because DropDMG mounted the volume temporarily before starting the Saving stage.
- Are there any settings I should change that would speed up the process?