diff --git a/SAS/TMSS/backend/services/copy_service/copy_service.py b/SAS/TMSS/backend/services/copy_service/copy_service.py
index 9609ee80241390ded10c2b8e73c3db2f43fc4655..223da1fccaff86f5f7074454685d14606b836590 100755
--- a/SAS/TMSS/backend/services/copy_service/copy_service.py
+++ b/SAS/TMSS/backend/services/copy_service/copy_service.py
@@ -39,14 +39,16 @@ class TMSSCopyServiceEventMessageHandler(TMSSEventMessageHandler):
 
     def start_handling(self):
         self.tmss_client.open()
+        super().start_handling()
 
     def stop_handling(self):
+        super().stop_handling()
         self.tmss_client.close()
 
     def before_receive_message(self):
-        # use 1-sec event loop to poll queued subtasks (rate limited at 30sec)
+        # use 1-sec event loop to poll queued subtasks (rate limited at 60sec)
         super().before_receive_message()
-        if datetime.utcnow() - self._last_df_check_timestamp > timedelta(seconds=30):
+        if datetime.utcnow() - self._last_df_check_timestamp > timedelta(seconds=60):
             self._last_df_check_timestamp = datetime.utcnow()
             self.check_and_run_queued_copy_subtask_if_enough_disk_space()
 
@@ -84,9 +86,9 @@ class TMSSCopyServiceEventMessageHandler(TMSSEventMessageHandler):
             # determine destination host and root_dir
             destination = subtask['specifications_doc']['destination']
             dst_host = destination[:destination.find(':')] if ':' in destination else ''
-            dst_root_dir = '/'+destination.lstrip(dst_host + ':').split('/')[1]
-            # strip unneeded localhost to prevent unneeded ssh calls
-            dst_host = dst_host.lstrip('localhost:').lstrip('127.0.0.1:')
+            dst_root_dir = '/'+destination.replace(dst_host + ':', '').split('/')[1]
+            # remove unneeded localhost to prevent unneeded ssh calls
+            dst_host = dst_host.replace('localhost:','').replace('127.0.0.1:','')
 
             df_cmd = ['df', dst_root_dir]
             if dst_host:
@@ -157,11 +159,11 @@ class TMSSCopyServiceEventMessageHandler(TMSSEventMessageHandler):
 
                 # split in host & parent_dir_path
                 dst_host = output_dp_path[:output_dp_path.find(':')] if ':' in output_dp_path else ''
-                dst_parent_dir_path = output_dp_path.lstrip(dst_host + ':').rstrip(input_dataproduct['filename'])
+                dst_parent_dir_path = output_dp_path.replace(dst_host + ':','').replace(input_dataproduct['filename'],'')
 
-                # strip unneeded localhost to prevent under-the-hood ssh wrapping in rsync, and to prevent unneed ssh calls
-                dst_host = dst_host.lstrip('localhost:').lstrip('127.0.0.1:')
-                dst_parent_dir_path = dst_parent_dir_path.lstrip('localhost:').lstrip('127.0.0.1:')
+                # replace unneeded localhost to prevent under-the-hood ssh wrapping in rsync, and to prevent unneed ssh calls
+                dst_host = dst_host.replace('localhost:','').replace('127.0.0.1:', '')
+                dst_parent_dir_path = dst_parent_dir_path.replace('localhost:','').replace('127.0.0.1:','')
 
                 if dst_parent_dir_path not in _created_dir_cache:
                     # create dst_parent_dir_path directories if needed, prepend them to the cmd