i am running 10.2.8 also, and i have my g3 set so that the hd and screen never go into sleep mode
what are you transferring from...i was having similar issues transferring direct from my d8 to the ap2496. seems my d8 heads were out of alignment. paul at progigital fixed it and now transfers are clean. i would suspect that if transfering from a portable, it would be important to get a check up on the unit every so often to get everyting back to factory..