backup to external disk with disk utility

You can use the Restore function of Disk Utility to backup, however, CarbonCopyCloner or Superduper is a better choice.

Look at Mac Backup - Mac Backup Software, Hardware, and Guides for Your Mac
http://macs.about.com/od/usingyourmac/tp/backuphub.htm
Mac OS X data backup FAQ http://www.macmaps.com/backup.html

You can use CarbonCopy Cloner @ http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html , or SuperDuper @ http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html , or IBackup @ http://www.grapefruit.ch/iBackup/index.html , or Silverkeeper @ http://www.lacie.com/silverkeeper/ or the Restore function of Disk Utility included in OS X.

 Cheers, Tom 😉

can't use carbon copy cause it gets hfs+ error even before it starts copying. Must be a bug in the program. It used to work at one time.

Are you using an older vintage version of CCC, or a more
recent version, to attempt to make Panther clones? Other
than changes to Carbon Copy Cloner which may affect how
it handles older obsolete OS X systems, I've seen no change
indicating a failure of the utility to do the fine job it always has.

• CCC Version 2.3 for Jaguar 10.2 & Panther 10.3:
http://www.bombich.com/software/files/cccloner-2.3.dmg

Backup and restore strategies usually go off smoothly if the
hardware and software are compatible with the OS, and if
the processes are correctly implemented to success.

• Backup Strategy for Mac OS X Using Disk Utility, Carbon Copy Cloner, etc.
http://www.midwesternmac.com/tutorial/2009-03-31/backup-strategy-mac-os-x-using- disk-utility-carbon-copy-cloner-etc

{Do you repair permissions & do the prerequisite maintenance
on the system prior to attempting to clone the system, and to
what kind of drive (format, partition map) are you cloning to?}

I have a nicely functional complete computer drive clone on
an externally enclosed FireWire hard drive; & the vintage era
Carbon Copy Cloner still works well with Panther 10.3.9. I like
to have a clone of the original old system that can boot my iMac.
Not that I need it. Other than a change in Preview (after 10.3.9)
which makes it harder to use Preview to edit images, Tiger's fine.

Good luck & happy computing! 🙂

{ edited }

You cannot make a bootable USB drive because USB is too slow. You must have a firewire connection to make a bootable drive which means that if it is an external hard drive, it must have a firewire interface.
The solution is to make a disk image (.dmg) when using an external usb hard drive. Diskutil will let you make disk images and allow you to restore from a disk image if something goes bad....

I've got 3 partitions on a 500gb external drive plus the one internal hard drive on my iBook. I always make sure I keep a backup of both Leopard and Panther OSX. So if I have Panther on the internal HD then I have only one copy of Panther and two leopard copies on the externa HD. The mac doesn't seem to care what order the partitions are in since it treats each partition as a separate drive.

Yes, the destination has to be hfs+ but you can get disktuil to format the partition which will only format that partition and will not affect any other partition on the drive. Be careful to select the proper partition!

The recommended procedure is to format as journalled hfs+ (diskutil can do this) because diskutil will sometimes make an unbootable backup if you only erase the partition instead of formatting the paritition. That was the mistake I made and found the problem listed in carbon copy cloner's files. The problem is that for some reason, firewire external drives are not always bootable because of the issue OSX has with those types of drives. The only solution was to format the partition as hfs+ and try restoring from your boot drive to the newly formatted hfs+ partition. Worked for me.

As far as I know, Panther OS can't format a drive/partition as a windows drive. Leopard OSX will though and has no issues with formatting flashdrives or any other drives or partitions as microsoft windows DOS format. It can also write/read from windows formatted drives but Panther OSX can't as far as I know.

Oops. I guess I'm wrong. This from the diskutil help files...

You can use Disk Utility to format an *entire disk* in Windows (MS-DOS) format, but *you cannot format a single disk partition in Windows format.*

WARNING: To prepare a disk in Windows format, you must erase the entire disk. Be sure to copy all the information on that disk before you erase it.

I installed my original copy of CCC. I have a new version in a dmg file but when I copy that newer version to applications it won't run. WHY?

I have version 2.3 but can't upgrade to version 3.0.1 for some reason because it won't boot.

I tried twice to make a bootable backup with Panther's diskutil and both times the backup was not bootable.
Then I loaded Leopard and used its disktutil to restore Panther's boot disk to an external firewire drive. It worked!
For some weird reason, Panther's diskutil isn't up to the job of restoring to an external firewire drive and making that drive bootable. I formatted the drive and ran diskutil but ended up with a no entry logo on the screen.
Carbon Copy Cloner does work but last time I ran it, there were errors before it even started backing up the Panther boot disk.