More iDisk Issues: Consuming hard disk space when synchronizing; Failed scheduled backups

We continue coverage of significant issues with iDisk performance -- including slow transfers and glacial window refresh speeds and other aspects of the .Mac component.

Consuming hard disk space when synchronizing Several users report an issue where massive amounts of hard drive space are consumed while iDisk is attempting to perform mirror synchronizing operations.

Rudy Fabre writes:

"I stopped using iDisk because iDisk syncing caused my entire operating system to slow down to a crawl. I sync'ed iDisk between a PowerMac G5 at work and iMac G5 at home, both computers had the same problem. At first, I couldn't figure out why my OS's were slowing down, I thought there was a problem with a system update; I had updated to 10.4.3. Turns out, the iDisk was appropriating around 85 gigs of hard drive space during the syncing process, and it was taking hours to sync. I have stopped using the iDisk, unfortunately it has proven too unstable to depend on for work purposes. Address book, Bookmarks and iCalender syncing has worked flawlessly. I have been a .Mac subscriber for two years."

More on slow performance Meanwhile, Scott Ettin has another report of poor performance:

"I just wanted to add to the general chorus of slow iDisk performance. Since Tiger is at 10.4.3 and Apple praises the cross-platform networking capabilities, why on earth are they using an antiquated protocol such as WebDAV? My lord! What can't the copy/transfer protocol just use FTP for a faster push? When users login to their systems, iDisk can behind the scenes use our account information to fire up FTP when we need to push or pull data.

"Having a T3 connection at work does not guarantee a speedy transfer. [...] Back to USB thumb drives for me."

Failed scheduled backups Other users report that when using Backup 3.0, scheduled backups routinely fail on the first attempt, requiring second or third attempts for proper transfer.

If you are experiencing a similar issue, please let us know.

Previous coverage:

• iDisk Issues: Slow transfer/refresh speeds; Will not disappear from Desktop; more

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