TM backup: can I use two drives to back up data on two other drives?

somanna wrote:

Hello Pondini, I am writing this post regarding the next 'settings' at the top of scheduling the task 'page'.

I seem to understand what is being stated but do not know the implications of checking or unchecking the box which states skip silently the task when source or destination is unavailable. I am not sending the screenshot of this since you don't need it.

That's what you want CCC to do if it can't mount either of the drives at the scheduled time. I'd guess you want to get a notice if there's a problem (especially if it's running while you're not around -- mine runs early every morning, before I log on, so I don't see the progress window, etc.)

It's covered in the Help for that page:

Silently skip this task if the source or destination is unavailable

CCC makes a diligent effort to mount any local or network-attached volumes involved in your backup task. If a local disk is attached, but unmounted, for example, CCC will mount that volume before the task begins. If your source or destination is a disk image on a network volume, for example, CCC will mount both the network volume and the disk image before beginning the task. If the source or destination is not available, though, and CCC cannot mount it, CCC will display a dialog indicating that the volume is missing and will wait for you to attach that volume. You can click "Skip" or "Defer" to skip the task or run it at a later time, or attach the implicated volume to run the task immediately.

If this dialog is undesirable, you can use this option to suppress it. Do note, however, that unless you have email notifications enabled, you will receive no further indication that your task is not running.

The next info is related to before and after...run a shell script...???? I would like to know if it is something important for me to know and select?

That allows you to have CCC run a script either before the cloning starts, or after the cloning is done. If you don't, just leave it alone. There's an example in the Help for that page.

And finally, the notifications: what is its importance...p;ease let me know the most important benefit have having such a mail feedback.

CCC will send notices to your Mac automatically, unless you've suppressed them above).

If you also want to be notified via e-mail, CCC can send one, either when it finishes, or only if there's a problem. Also covered in the Help for that page.

somanna wrote:

. . .

Regarding the wake/power bit, is it a convenient feature to have?

As with so many options, it may be convenient for some, not for others.

It all depends on when you schedule the backup, and when your Mac is normally awake.

You can also schedule your Mac to wake at a specified time, via System Preferences > Energy Saver > Schedule. But that's limited to a single setting; if you have CCC doing 2 or 3 tasks when you're not around, each one can start or wake your Mac, if you want.

A script is a sort of program, or set of instructions to OSX, to perform one or more steps. They can range from very simple to extremely complex, depending on what you want done. Apple's Automator app (in your Applications folder, for examples, allows you to do many things with standard Apple apps, such as Mail, the Finder, etc. Apple's AppleScript editor allows you to execute UNIX commands.

There's an example in the Help for that CCC page, in the Running shell scripts before and after the backup task section. The details wont mean much unless you already know how to write a script, however.

There are a lot of options with CCC; most folks use very few of them. I'd strongly suggest just using the basics for a while, and perhaps reading some parts of the Help, and experimenting, until you get more familiar with it. Then, if you want, you can "branch out" and investigate and experiment with some of the other features.

Message was edited by: Pondini

Cool.

Good night 😎

somanna wrote:

Had a good night's sleep. Awoke to see that CCC was not sleeping, it had done a successful clone of my IHD.

Yay!

Now, I have this query: I seek to download all available [free] versions of bibles, commentaries, dictionaries to the remaining partition of the 'e' drive. Is this okay with Mac?

Sure -- put it wherever you want.

Most browsers have a preferences setting for where you want them to go; most default to the Downloads folder in your home folder, but you can change that easily. Firefox has a setting that will ask each time.

I have learned that it is not safe to fill up a drive [? also partition] to more than 80% of its capacity.

That depends on the drive; "safe" is relative, and depends on your specific hardware and how you use your Mac. 80% is usually fine on all but the smallest OSX drives; 90% or 10-15 GB is usually fine on big ones. Your Mac may begin to slow down after that, but you shouldn't have any real problems until it has just a few GBs free, again depending on what you're doing. Usually, you'll see it first when adding or changing lots of large files.

Data-only drives are different; they can usually get near full without a problem -- Time Machine drives routinely get within a few hundred MBs of being full. Access may be a bit slower, but since you're usually not making a lot of changes there, it doesn't matter much.

For the drive where you're editing video footage, though, 80% is probably a good rule -- just for performance. Keep an eye on it and see.

Another query related to the sentence bove is this: CCC states that it will 'prune previously archived files until 15 GB of free space is available on the destination'. Would not filling up a volume with such a 'nearly full' amount of data result in the failure of the drive?

No. The only real consideration with a CCC bootable clone is, when/if you start up from it, and have OSX running, it needs free space just like your internal HD. Data-only drives don't.

Even if you fill a drive up, it won't damage the drive physically. If an OSX drive gets to near-zero free space, some files may be horribly fragmented, and performance will suffer as OSX tries to put pieces of files in every little nook and cranny -- any file access will be slow, and it will take a long time to save a file or changes. Eventually, some may get corrupted, and your Mac may crash and not be able to restart until you remove some files, but it won't damage the HD. It may also damage the directory structure on the drive, requiring repair or even reformatting.

That's far less dire, of course, with a data-only drive, since OSX isn't trying to run on it. Saving and opening will get very slow, of course, and eventually fail.

Message was edited by: Pondini

somanna wrote:

. . .

When I download all the bible files into my EHD, will any space of my Mac's IHD be consumed for me to do my Bible reading

There might be some temporary files and/or caches related to the downloading and/or the app you use to read them, but for all practical purposes, no.

and other related activities [preparing topic notes etc]?

There might be some temporary files and/or caches related to the app you use, but again, very minor.

And of course the actual notes will take a small amount of space, wherever you store them.