As you probably know from a previous post, we’re working on Universal versions of all of Shirt Pocket’s applications, including SuperDuper. (We’re in late-stage testing with SuperDuper, and it should be out reasonably soon.)
One thing we’ve been able to confirm: disk I/O on the Intel Macs is much faster than it is on the Power PC ones—seemingly about twice as fast.
In fact, SuperDuper builds about twice as fast on the MacBook as it does on a dual-2.5Ghz G5 desktop, and that’s primarily I/O related.
Sweet!
06 Mar 2006 at 11:38 am | #
Does this affect mainly build speeds, or will it reduce backup time as well?
06 Mar 2006 at 11:53 am | #
I’ve seen full backups go almost twice as fast, so it affects pretty much everything.
06 Mar 2006 at 06:04 pm | #
I’ve tended to find that any Universal Binary app seems to run much faster than a PPC app in Rosetta. You especially notice this around app load time. But other things, such as window display etc just happen much more crisply. I can hardly wait for the UB version of SuperDuper!
06 Mar 2006 at 08:27 pm | #
That’s definitely true, but this is comparing native speeds on a real PowerPC Mac, running native software, vs. native performance on an Intel mac. Lots of I/O improvements there, no question.
Shouldn’t be too much longer, Kerry…
07 Mar 2006 at 04:49 am | #
Great to hear that the Universal Binary version of Super Duper will be ready soon - I had come to rely on Super Duper for weekly back up for the Macs in the house. My wife’s iBook is still backed up, but my new Intel iMac is without backup for a month. I had become so dependent on Super Duper, that it seems strange that it is not “there” for the iMac.
Keep up the great work guys.
07 Mar 2006 at 05:18 pm | #
My Macbook Pro is a few days old and SD was recommended to me as the ultimate mac backup tool. I was surprised that the current version of SD doesnt appear to run at all in Rosetta. It just crashes on start up. So I am eagerly awaiting the Universal binary which I will be one of the first to buy when it comes out.
07 Mar 2006 at 05:25 pm | #
First, eh? C’mon people, that sounds like a challenge!
08 Mar 2006 at 01:15 pm | #
Dave, Like others, I most eagerly await the new Intel release. Still, I would rather wait and have it right, than having it now and then suffering from inadequate testing.
“The bitterness of poor quality lasts much longer than the sweetness of meeting the schedule.”
BTW, Nice to see you quoted again in the current MacWorld.
08 Mar 2006 at 01:31 pm | #
Our feelings exactly. It’s not a matter of a schedule, it’s a matter of getting it right. Not long now…
08 Mar 2006 at 03:49 pm | #
"Univeral Binary”? Is that similar to the “fat binaries” used to bridge the technology transfer from the 68xxx processors to the PowerPC?
08 Mar 2006 at 03:50 pm | #
Yep, same thing, but with additional Marketing Goodness.