Backup Stuck?

I am running OS X 10.4.11 on a 2.0GHz machine, with 2 MB RAM, and am trying to create a clone of my Macbook's 120GB hard drive using Super Duper and a 120GB external Maxtor One Touch Mini Drive. My Macbook is only using about 39GB of its hard drive, so I assumed the 120GB external drive would be okay. Is this a valid assumption?

I formatted the external drive, and created 3 partitions, all using the Apple Journaling Enabled GUID format. One was 15GB, one was 5 GB, and the other had the balance (about 91GB actual available space). Things started out well, and the transfer rate was nearly 12MB/s using USB 2.0.

Now, after 65 minutes, I am down to 5.35MB/s. Of even greater concern, it does not look like anything has transferred in the last 10-15 minutes, athough the blue light on the external drive is flashing. Should I just leave it alone and see what happens? Does the process get stuck occassionally, or should it be continously be transferring? Any experience with this external drive and Super Duper?

If the light if flashing it is going. USB2 on macs is an awful failure as it is so slow and speed of 2MBPS are not uncommon. Full system backups can take up to three hours.

Two suggestions - have you registered SuperDuper? If so use the smart back up option after this set up. Only available to registered users and is XXX times faster.

Get a Firewire case and use Firewire 800/400.