Don't let the update "eat your Mac"! (Or Why Cloned Backups are Better)

Don't install any update, upgrade, new software until you KNOW if it will work well on your Mac. Your system may have pre-existing corruption and an update will exacerbate it. Apps may not be compatible. Drivers may not be compatible.

You have Time Machine and Time Machine is good, but it's not the same as a bootable clone. Each have their own strengths and purposes.

The clone is a file for file copy of your entire hard drive. With a clone, if your hard drive fails you can just boot from it and keep on right on working, until you have the time to repair or replace the main drive.

There are many cloning apps to choose from, you can do it through Mac OS X in Disk Utility as described in Disk Utility Help, However Disk Utility won't update the clone.

There are other cloning utilities you can use, but both SuperDuper or CarbonCopy Cloner seem to be the most reliable and simplest to use, as reported by users here. You can also use them for incremental backups. CCC is free for backup, while SD is shareware for the backup feature. Also be sure to run Disk Utility/Disk repair before cloning and that there are no issues you know of.

Then, the next time you install, you will startup from your clone, by selecting it in System Preferences > Startup Disk. (At the same time in System Preferences choose Time Machine and turn it off, remembering to turn it back on when you return to your main disk.)

Now, install your test software and try it out. (Remember to Repair permissions after all installs.)
After that, you can be very sure if it works, or if there are issues. If it runs well, boot back to your main disk and install the software.



-mj


This is the 1st version of this tip. It was submitted on November 28, 2010 by macjack.