Time Machine or drag and drop?

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Level 1

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Time Machine or drag and drop?

I heard that sometimes certain things aren't retrievable from a Time Machine backup.. aka someone lost a file or two using Time Machine. Do people prefer dragging and dropping to backup their entire laptop (despite it being a cumbersome process)? Also, I want to back up my laptop (twice, of course) so I can actually go ahead and delete *everything* off of it and have it fun a lot faster. Is it possible to delete everything once you've backed up entirely on Time Machine?

MacBook, Mac OS X (10.6)

Posted on Nov 19, 2013 10:17 AM

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Answer 1

redlotusgirl Author

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Nov 19, 2013 10:18 AM in response to redlotusgirl

oops, **run a lot faster. not fun

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Answer 2

Niel

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Nov 19, 2013 10:20 AM in response to redlotusgirl

1. It isn't possible to back up Mac OS X by dragging and dropping. Use a product such as the Disk Utility, Carbon Copy Cloner, or SuperDuper to create a bootable clone instead.

2. Only if Time Machine has been set to back up the drive containing the clone. This can be done in the Time Machine pane of System Preferences.

(92997)

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Answer 3

redlotusgirl Author

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Nov 19, 2013 6:48 PM in response to Niel

i'm running CCC as I type this. You're saying I should now use Time Machine to back up the drive containing the clone? And once I do this, I can erase everything from my laptop? I want to start anew and upgrade the operating system so I can mainly run Adobe Creative Cloud on this laptop...

Also, how do I erase an entire hard drive to start anew?

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Answer 4

redlotusgirl Author

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Nov 19, 2013 6:50 PM in response to Niel

Also, it shows that there's still space on my external hard drive after the clone is created. However, would you recommend using one external hard drive per laptop exclusively for backing up that laptop? And perhaps using a different external hard drive altogether for everyday work use?

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Answer 5

Niel

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Nov 19, 2013 6:52 PM in response to redlotusgirl

1. Yes.

2. Yes. Ensure that it's all on at least two drives so that you don't lose the data in the event of a drive failure.

3. Insert a Mac OS X 10.6 install DVD, restart with the C key held down, and use the Disk Utility in the Utilities menu to erase it.

(93038)

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Answer 6

redlotusgirl Author

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Nov 19, 2013 7:03 PM in response to Niel

Why do I need to use Time Machine to backup the Carbon Copy Clone?

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Answer 7

Niel

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726,755 points

Nov 19, 2013 7:08 PM in response to redlotusgirl

Because after the data is erased from the internal drive, it would otherwise be on only one drive, and would therefore be lost or require very expensive recovery(hundreds or thousands of dollars) if that single drive fails.

(93039)

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Answer 8

redlotusgirl Author

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Nov 19, 2013 10:04 PM in response to Niel

Can you please explain the backing up of the clone on to Time Machine? Would I need to use a completely different external hard drive for this? When I open Time Machine from System Preferences, I don't quite understand how/where I click to backup the clone as opposed to the hard drive.

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Answer 9

Niel

Level 10

726,755 points

Nov 19, 2013 10:10 PM in response to redlotusgirl

1. See #3.

2. No.

3. Check that the drive containing it isn't set to be excluded from the backup.

(93044)

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