Booting to clone on an external drive?

Hi, C.

1. To startup from your duplicate (clone) you'd startup using the Startup Manager and select the duplicate as the startup disk.

2. Backup everything at least weekly, though daily is best: your backup utility may have an "incremental backup" function which makes the process quick after the first full backup. If you use FileVault, back up your encrypted Home folder daily it possible.

3. For advice on the backup and recovery solution I employ, see my "Backup and Recovery" FAQ.

Good luck!

😉 Dr. Smoke
Author: Troubleshooting Mac® OS X

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Note: The information provided in the link(s) above is freely available. However, because I own The X Lab™, a commercial Web site to which some of these links point, the Apple Discussions Terms of Use require I include the following disclosure statement with this post:

I may receive some form of compensation, financial or otherwise, from my recommendation or link.

First of all, I recommend SuperDuper! over all other cloning software. In fact, I was not even aware that Silverkeeper did clones, it certainly didn't when I used it but maybe they've added it since.

Anyway, to open off the clone go to your system preferences and click on start up disk. A window will pop up that lists all available start up disks (make sure the Firewire drive is plugged in and that firmware is up to date). If it doesn't show up then you haven't cloned it, if it does then click on it and click restart. To go back to your regular hard drive repeat the procedure only selecting your hard drive this time instead of the clone.

Another way, especially if you are having problems, is to hold down the option key when starting up. After the bong it will give you a list of all start up drives, just click on one then click on the arrow. And be patient, it takes a while for all hard drives to come up, the beach ball will spin for a bit and when it stops and you have a cursor it's got all your hard drives. As long as the beach ball is spinning it isn't done.

If Silverkeeper did not clone the drive check this out:

http://www.shirt-pocket.com/

Making a back up copy is not the same as cloning and having a start up disk.

Everyone says to back up once a week, I usually do it every 2-3 weeks and always before an upgrade. Most back up programs can be set to do it automatically at a specific time every week.

Were you able to start up from you clone?

I prefer Deja Vu for cloning as it's a System Preference pane, it will auto-clone and auto-backup even when logged out or over a network.


http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/systemdiskutilities/dejavu.html


I also have some tips and advice about cloning on my site as well other info that might help, including how to recover quickly.

http://homepage.mac.com/hogfish/Personal11.html

Carbon,

I just did a quick web search and can't find anything that says Silverkeeper makes a clone of your hard drive, it seems to only be a back up utility.

Very important because cloning your disk so you can restart from the clone is entirely different and not all back up software does that.

The only ones I know of that do are Carbon Copy Cloner, which used to be free, don't know if it still is; SuperDuper! which is my favorite; and Deja vu which I haven't used but was given a good mention.

I was going to say SuperDuper! was cheaper than Deja Vu until I looked at the web sites and SuperDuper! has gone up and is now $2 more expensive.

I just checked and CCC is still free so if price is an issue you might want to try that one. I know a lot of people use it and swear by it. At the time I wanted a cloner CCC had not yet updated to Tiger so I went for SuperDuper! and love the program and the support for it is the best I've ever seen.

I definitely recommend getting a cloner instead of just a back up. When I've run into problems but had deadlines to meet I would just start up off the clone and work for a couple days then fix the problem when i had time. I also switched my two internal drives, putting the system on the second one because of many problems and a cloner was excellent for that as well. I simply cloned both drives, then wiped them both clean. Then i cloned the clone of disk 2 to disk 1, installed the new system on disk 2 and used migration assistant to reinstall all my programs and files from my clone of number one.

Not a single problem and everything has been great ever since.

Hi all

Silverkeeper does indeed make bootable clones, and I have found it to be perfectly reliable. I use it on my wife's G4. On my Powerbooks I use SuperDuper!, which is indeed excellent, and I recommend it.

Matthew Whiting

Hi Kevin,

FYI, SilverKeeper 1.1.4 does make bootable clones. It doesn't have may other tricks but does work well for making clones.

Clint

Kevin wrote:

"I just did a quick web search and can't find anything that says Silverkeeper makes a clone of your hard drive"

SilverKeeper can create a bootable Duplicate — often referred to as a "clone" — of your startup disk.

Comparing SilverKeeper to Retrospect, here are some of the things that SilverKeeper cannot do that Retrospect can:

- No backup to tape media.
- No Archival or Transfer backups.
- No Encrypted backups.
- No Compressed Backups.
- No Backup Sets: Duplicates only.
- No backup to /restore from server volumes, including Windows NTFS volumes.
- No backup to / restore from FTP server on the Internet.
- Scripting is crude, almost nonexistent.

Comparing SuperDuper to Retrospect, here are some of the things that SuperDuper cannot do that Retrospect can:

- No backup to optical media, e.g. CD or DVD, tape media, or DVD-RAM.
- No Archival or Transfer backups.
- No Encrypted backups.
- No Compressed Backups.
- No Backup Sets: Duplicates only.
- No backup to /restore from server volumes, including Windows NTFS volumes.
- No backup to / restore from FTP server on the Internet.
- Scripting is crude.

SilverKeeper and SuperDuper offer less than Retrospect. They are very basic backup and recovery utilities. I've used all of the Retrospect functions except backup to an NTFS-formatted volume, though that can be handy in mixed Mac / Windows environments.

Retrospect's ability to create various types of backups — Duplicates, Backup Sets, etc. — to any media is exceptionally powerful. See my "Backup and Recovery" FAQ for the definitions of Duplicates and Backup Sets.

If you're only interested in creating bootable backups (clones) of your startup disk on another hard drive, such as a FireWire drive, that can be accomplished with any of Retrospect, SilverKeeper, or SuperDuper. For some users, creating a Duplicate or "clone" may be enough, and it beats no backup at all. However, once you get beyond this most basic form of backup, Retrospect outshines them all: it is the "Swiss Army Knife" of backup and recovery solutions and remains the state-of-the-art in Mac backup and recovery solutions.

I've looked at them all, and continuously reevaluate backup and recovery solutions, but each time I come back to the following: I still only trust my priceless data to Retrospect. But to each their own. 😉

Good luck!

😉 Dr. Smoke
Author: Troubleshooting Mac® OS X

---
Note: The information provided in the link(s) above is freely available. However, because I own The X Lab™, a commercial Web site to which some of these links point, the Apple Discussions Terms of Use require I include the following disclosure statement with this post:

I may receive some form of compensation, financial or otherwise, from my recommendation or link.

Dr. Smoke:

Always a pleasure to hear from you and get the benefit of your knowledge. Your postings here and your X Lab web site have been invaluable to me.

How does Carbon Copy Cloner compare to Retrospect?

However, Retrospect is the very first back up program I used many, many years ago, before OSX was even a gleam in Steve's eye. It was so difficult and complicated to use that it put me off doing back ups for years.

SuperDuper! is incredibly simple and easy to use, which is what I want. I don't need most of what Retrospect does and for the ones I do need; the few times I want to compress files for archiving Tiger's built in compression works great, and when I need to burn a DVD for storage I have Toast.

Huge programs that have far more features than I'll ever use are a pet peeve of mine. I'd rather have 3-4 simple apps to do the job. And as far as crude scripting, I'm not even sure what that means and wouldn't recognize it if I saw it.

But I'll keep Retrospect in mind if my needs ever change and I need to become a power backupper.

Kevin wrote:

"Always a pleasure to hear from you and get the benefit of your knowledge. Your postings here and your X Lab web site have been invaluable to me."

Thanks. If you like those bits, you should buy my book. 😉

You wrote:

"How does Carbon Copy Cloner compare to Retrospect?"

About the same as the others, perhaps a bit less. Been awhile since I looked at it, but not one I'd use.

You wrote:

"It was so difficult and complicated to use that it put me off doing back ups for years."

I find it quite easy to use. Like the others, one can do the basics with a couple of clicks. It's documentation is also far better than that of the other solutions noted.

You wrote:

"Huge programs that have far more features than I'll ever use are a pet peeve of mine. I'd rather have 3-4 simple apps to do the job."

The disadvantage of this approach is that they're not integrated. Likewise, one could get into a situation where you have to "figure out what you did" to get back the files.

Until one has explored Retrospect, one does not know what they're missing. Backup Sets, for example, are very powerful and unique to Retrospect.

Good luck!

😉 Dr. Smoke
Author: Troubleshooting Mac® OS X

Thanks. If you like
those bits, you should buy my book. 😉

I've been meaning to for over a year but lack of money keeps getting in the way, and I'm afraid that situation has gotten worse not better.

Until one has explored Retrospect, one does not know
what they're missing. Backup Sets, for example, are
very powerful and unique to Retrospect.

I don't even know what those are or why I would need them. Right now I just duplicate each hard drive, simple and easy and if I need an old file I can just drag and drop it back to the original hard drive.

My needs are pretty simple but if I ever need to back up a whole art dept I might look into it.

And I'm really quite fond of SuperDuper! the guy who built the program has the very best support I've ever gotten on anything and I really like that. Besides, it's already paid for and Retrospect is - let me see - Yikes! $93.99! Too rich for me. Um, single client $29.99, what's the difference? Still too expensive when I've already got an app that was paid for a year ago.

Hi again everybody,
Well, I tried creating a bootable clone with
Silverkeeper, and everything went very well until I
tried to boot to the LaCie drive after the clone was
finished, and almost nothing happened. I got the
Apple, then the gear, then I got a pale blue screen
like the background of the default Tiger wallpaper,
then I got nothing.

Sorry to hear that. I just used "Silverkeeper" for my first time ever cloning from my eMac 104.4 to my external 80G Acomdata HD.

No problem. I did not reformat the HD and I there were 8 files left on drive that did not erase.

I had one small glitch that the HD icon would not dismount so I had to shut down emac. Upon restarting I was able to dismount the HD icon

After selecting ext. HD System as my "Startup disk" I booted from ext. HD with no problem, except it had me go through the whole process of giving user name, phone, tme zone etc...as tho I jsut install a new OS.

Minor detail tho. I ccan boot from my Acomdata, all my accounts and info appear to be there.

I think Silverkeeper is best value, unless you want soem fancy stuff.

Repair permissions before and after any applications, updates or installs.

Ran