Can SuperDuper just restore System folder from Clone?

Hi, howwow.

I'd recommend you use Archive and Install. See my "General advice on performing an Archive and Install" FAQ for important tips and perform the steps therein in the specified order.

If you use the "Preserve Users and Network Settings" option, then all of your personal data (Mail, iTunes, etc.) will be saved intact.

SuperDuper is intended primarily for duplicating and restoring entire disks. I would not regard starting up from the clone and copying the System folder from the clone to your Mac's startup disk, then running Repair Permissions on your Mac's startup disk, a good idea. Depending on what other changes you've made, you could wind up with a completely unusable system.

Archive and Install, as noted above, is the safe approach here.

As I don't recall if I've followed your "meltdown" series, you may want to check your hardware before performing the Archive and Install. See my "Apple Hardware Test" FAQ for comprehensive advice on using the Apple Hardware Test in troubleshooting, including running the test in Loop Mode.

As you can probably see now, backing up at a greater frequency — weekly or daily, with daily being best — is a better approach to backup.

If the "meltdown" is the result of a Software Update gone awry, before installing software updates in the future, you may wish to consider the advice in my "Installing Software Updates" FAQ. Taking the steps therein before installing an update often helps avert problems and gives you a fallback position in case trouble arises.

Good luck!

😉 Dr. Smoke
Author: Troubleshooting Mac® OS X

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1. You wrote:

"I am still deciding on both 'cause I know if I use Archieve and Install, I need to reinstall all 3rd party stuffs and re-configure them and their settings all over again, like Norton Anti-virus and Wacom for example, right??"

Yes, with Startup Items. How and when this occurs is addressed in my FAQ with links to relevant documentation.

2. The way you phrased your question, it sounded like you were looking to just bring back the System folder from the backup so as to not risk losing data created since the backup was made. Obviously, if you don't care about potentially losing documents, Mail, etc. created since the last backup, restoring from a good backup is faster. If you have enough free disk space on your external drive or a spare partition thereon, you could attempt to backup the current startup disk, then restore the last clone, then selectively move over files from the later backup that were not on the good-but-older backup.
Good luck!

😉 Dr. Smoke
Author: Troubleshooting Mac® OS X

Well, I had to get some sleep, so I suppose I missed your time limit. If you've finished your restoration and all is well now, it's a moot point.

Looking quickly over the other posts you cited, I think you went about the Word / Excel font message problem wrong way:

• I did not see anywhere in those posts where you noted that you tried verifying the Microsoft fonts with Font Book's validation function. It seems you believed Excel or Word when those apps indicating problems with the fonts and discarded the font, instead of first validating the fonts in question with Font Book.

• As a general check, I would have suggested you run the Procedure specified in my "Resolving Disk, Permission, and Cache Corruption" FAQ. Rule out some common troublemakers.

• I might have also checked for similar reports on the Word or Excel groups on can find on the Microsoft Mac Support - Newsgroups page. These are Google Groups with active participation from MS Office users, including a variety of expert users.

I'm still running Office v.X, not Office 2004, so I don't have the same version and hence cannot test for this myself. I'm waiting for the Universal version of Office before I consider an Office upgrade.

Good luck!

😉 Dr. Smoke
Author: Troubleshooting Mac® OS X

The whole reason for having SuperDuper! is that you can restore your system and be up and running in minutes. I strongly recommend using it, as long as you remember to back upo regularly. If you have already restored, go to the scheduling part of SD! and schedule regular backups, so if this happens again, you'll be fully up to date.

Your Excel file that caused all the trouble should be trashed without opening it.

Hope all went well for you,
Miriam

MGW wrote:

"The whole reason for having SuperDuper! is that you can restore your system and be up and running in minutes."

One has to be careful about how one uses the term "system."

When howwow first posted their question, they wrote:

"is there a way I can just use it [SuperDuper] to restore my main Systems??"

Since they used "Systems" (sic, upper case) that could imply the Macintosh HD > System folder, i.e. the /System directory. Given that they also expressed concerns about losing data that was not on their backup, this would support the implication that they were looking to restore only the /System directory.

SuperDuper, like most backup tools that permit one to duplicate or "clone" a volume, are designed to backup or restore the entire volume. Volume also has a precise meaning here: a partition on a drive. If a hard drive, e.g. Macintosh HD, has not been partitioned, it still contains a single partition or a single volume.

Other tools, like Retrospect and its ability to create Backup Sets in addition to Duplicates, permit more precise restoration of a volume to a previous state.

It would be more precise to say that "one can use SuperDuper to backup or restore one's startup disk, e.g. Macintosh HD."

Precise descriptions and terminology are important.

Good luck!

😉 Dr. Smoke
Author: Troubleshooting Mac® OS X

I sit corrected Dr. Smoke, however, SuperDuper! can also allow drag and drop of any portion of what is cloned to it, so in fact, HowHow could do either a full restore or a selective one.

Miriam

Other tools, like Retrospect and its ability to create Backup Sets in addition to Duplicates, permit more precise restoration of a volume to a previous state.

According to this recent test Retrospect is anything but precise.

As noted above, if your system is damaged/corrupted the best thing to do is restore from your recent bootable clone. If for some recent you cannot bear to lose data on the corrupted volume do an Archive & Install as Dr. Smoke suggests.

Matthew Whiting

I'd regard some test posted on a blog rather cautiously. For example, the methodology does not specify how the files in question were examined for the results. Doesn't match my experiences.

Good luck!

😉 Dr. Smoke
Author: Troubleshooting Mac® OS X

I gave you my thoughts on how you went about handling this problem earlier, in my post here and how I would have handled it differently. I suggest you take a look at the MS Groups I cited in that post.

Beyond that, I would never open a file from a PC without first scanning it with an anti-virus solution. I'd also recommend you disable automatic Macro execution in all of your Office apps. Office macros can be used to create cross-platform malware.

I don't think anyone here can say without examining the particular Excel file that started the problem for you, but even then they'd also have to be using the same version of Office as you are, and I'm using an earlier version.

Good luck!

😉 Dr. Smoke
Author: Troubleshooting Mac® OS X