Copying Time Machine sparse bundle on NAS

Question

Do to corruption problems with Time Machine on my Drobo NAS, I have decided to have two shares housing the TM backups so that they back up in a rotation. I have already completed the initial backup to TM_A, but it takes over a day. To save time, I want to duplicate TM_A to TM_B. I want to use the Drobo to handle the copy it's self and avoid the slow down of using the wifi network to send data from the Drobo to my Mac and then back to the same Drobo.

However when I SSH into the Drobo as Admin and look inside the shares, the sparsebundle is a directory, yet not a directory I can enter. Using either CP or Midnight Commander, copying only copies the directory, but not the full sparsebundle. How do I copy the entire sparsebundle, files included, and not just the directory?

Setup:

• NAS: Drobo 5N
• Computer: MBP running 10.13.5
• Backup disk 1: TM_A, 500 GB allocated
• Backup disk 2: TM_B, 500 GB allocated
• Connection type: Wi-fi

Answer 1

After 2 days of fiddling around, including adjusting the .profile files for easier access to Nano, Midnight Commander, and other programs that are installed with the Drobo but to run you have to navigate to their bin drives, I am now copying the sparsebundle in full.

Even though I am SSHed in as Admin, you cannot see inside the bundle unless you are also Root. Once Root, you can see inside the bundle, and the copy will include everything. I am using MC for the copy and moving at 3.35 MB/s. During this time Time Machine is turned off to prevent changes in the middle of the copy.

I would suggest doing the copy inside of Screen, which virtualizes terminal inside of itself, allowing you to run commands as normal, but then if you lose your SSH connection, on reconnecting you can resume your screen without loss of progress or data.