07-17-2011, 06:41 AM

Two important messages for those with Dual Hard Drive setup (SSD & IHD)


I have a 10 month old 27 inch iMac with 256GB SSD and 1TB IHD. For some reason, the boot up files on the SSD became corrupted and the Mac couldn't boot.

I might have rebooted from the Installation Disk or from my SuperDuper! Backup but couldn't despite getting the services of Apples's senior technical advisor (UK).

Why? Because my keyboard is wireless and the system tried to reboot off the damaged SSD before being able to recognise the keyboard. Apple sent me a free wired keyboard and the problem was resolved.
Message: Don't throw away your old wired keyboard - it doesn't have to be an Apple one.

I then asked the Apple's advisor - what exactly does TM back up AND if I had to restore from it, would it recognise what went on to the SSD and what went onto the IHD?

It took him 3 days to discover the answer.

This is what he said:

"Regarding the TM backups of both your internal drives. I found that the SSD drive is automatically backed up as that is where your system files are. Now the SATA drive is not automatically backed up and has to be deselected from the excluded list which is the options button in TM Preferences under System Preferences.

When you need to restore the whole system , the SSD will be the one that is restored first and then the SATA drive can be restored using the Time Machine interface while booted into the Mac OS".

Message: If you operate a dual hard drive setup, think carefully what you keep on the SSD and what you transfer to the IHD.

Ian

07-17-2011, 06:32 PM

You can boot with the wireless keyboard. Pop in the install disc, go to System Preferences, select the disc and hit restart. And regarding Time Machine, much prefer SuperDuper to keep backup hard drive up to date and bootable.

07-18-2011, 04:10 AM

The problem, harryb2448, was that I got the Mac to take the Installation Disc but it wouldn't recognise it because the Mac was effectively dead and unbootable. We tried, believe me.

And, I agree that SuperDuper! is a fine app. I have partitioned my EHD to take a clone of the SSD as a bootable drive and, separately, a clone of my Int HD.

But that's not much use if you can't select it as your bootable disk because the keyboard isn't recognised.

Ian