Capsule

I was hopeful that the Time Capsule firmware update released a couple of days ago -- 7.3.2, for the record -- would bring an end to my wireless backup woes, but alas not; at least, not directly. It still pegged out in minutes when used as a Time Machine target, the transfer rate starting out slow and grinding quickly down to nothing, taking the client machine with it. Boom.

This was particularly baffling -- and vexing -- because the TC worked fine when used simply as a network volume, taking huge file copies in its stride. What the fuck else, one might reasonably ask, does a backup system need?

I was tempted to drag it down to the Genius Bar simply to remonstrate with someone, but it looks like they don't offer support on lowly peripherals, and in retrospect this is just as well. Instead, I had another rummage through the support forum, and came up with this:

Doh!

I have always detested anti-virus software. Apart from the fact that it brings computers to their knees, I've never been able to shake the suspicion that Norton et al have huge black ops teams on their payroll writing malware 24/7 just to ensure a thriving market for their wretched wares. The whole business has the unmistakable appearance of, in the most literal sense, a protection racket.

And yet, as a result of pressure from the Pharmacology network admin, who insists that any computer to be attached to the UCL system must be larded to the gills with approved AV kit, Achilles has been blithely running Sophos from the get-go. This despite being basically a home machine that seldom visits college, nowadays connected indirectly when it does; and despite other UCL subnets (notably CoMPLEX, for which, as it happens, I am one of the net admins, of which more later) making no such demands; and -- last but not least -- despite being a fucking Mac.

What can I say? I took my eye off the ball a bit there.

(I really do have to call into question the Pharmacology network arrangements, btw. The paranoia stems in large part from all the department machines being directly exposed to the big bad internet, which who the fuck does in this era of firewalls and NAT and DHCP? And there is a constant drought of IP addresses as a result. And yet somehow the network switching winds up blocking simple SMB share browsing between machines in the same room. It's a mess. This is what comes of years of solid Windows usage.)

Anyway, the good news is that disabling Sophos seems to have knocked my Time Capsule issues on the head. Huzzah! Given the choice between a stable automated backup system and the false security peddled by the AV merchants, I know which I'll go for, every time.
Posted by matt at July 3, 2008 10:20 PM