boots and clones information?

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Level 1

58 points

boots and clones information?

I had used Time Machine (TM) until the external drive quit. Actually, I never 'used' TM. It was set up and there, but I never opened it to find anything. Have saved a few items since on flash drives and DVDs. Now I have the Seagate recall to consider. I use a backup battery UPS, so I prevent sudden losses. I have wondered why I should use TM at all. I have no real need to see previous files with what I do. Also, I currently have about 100 GB to save.

I had asked a different question and someone suggested using clones. Not clear what was being said, and would like to learn about that. Is there a site like the Time Machine site that has lots of answers, and explanations about clones, boots, formats, reformats, zero outs, ?

Thanks

iMac G5 , 2.1GHz; intel core iMac i5, 2.8 Ghz, Mac OS X (10.6.8), ISP is Earthlink

Posted on Nov 26, 2012 8:21 PM

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Answer 1

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Kappy

Level 10

361,731 points

Nov 26, 2012 8:27 PM in response to Tom Cray

To make a clone simply get a backup drive to use that is as large as the drive you will back up. Partition and format the backup drive using Disk Utility:

Drive Preparation

1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.

2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.

3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.

4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.

5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Security button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.

6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.

To clone from your internal drive to the backup drive:

Clone using Restore Option of Disk Utility

1. Open Disk Utility in the Utilities folder.

2. Select the Destination volume from the left side list.

3. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.

4. Select the Destination volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination

entry field.

5. Select the Source volume from the left side list and drag it to the Source entry field.

6. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.

Destination means the external backup drive. Source means the internal startup drive.

Now, if you wish to incrementally backup to the clone then you need a backup utility:

Suggested Backup Software

1. Carbon Copy Cloner

2. Data Backup

3. Deja Vu

4. SuperDuper!

5. Synk Pro

6. Tri-Backup

Others may be found at VersionTracker or MacUpdate.

Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on backup and restore. Also read How to Back Up and Restore Your Files.

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