Create bootable DVD back up

I'm upgrading to 10.5 and I can't seem to figure out how to create a bootable DVD back up of my entire hard disc. I have lots of software on my computer and I don't have any of the software CD's. I need to create a complete image of my current hard drive onto a DVD before I start the 10.5 upgrade.

How is it done?

The best way to make a bootable backup is by using cloning software and an external USB or Firewire drive.

Take a look at "Superduper"

http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html

(shareware)

or "Carbon Copy Cloner"

http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html (donation ware)

Both programs are excellent, and will make an exact copy of your entire hard drive to an external USB or firewire drive. The external will be made bootable.

There may be OS X backup programs that are capable of cloning your HD to a DVD set and render it bootable. Personally, I do not trust backups to DVD or CD media especially when the backup is spanned across several or more media.

Regards.

I tried to make Superduper copy to a DVD but it would not work. It just kept giving me an error. I don't have an external hard drive. Can it go onto a USB memory key? or something else?

mini1 said:

I tried to make Superduper copy to a DVD but it would not work. It just kept giving me an error. I don't have an external hard drive. Can it go onto a USB memory key? or something else?

Click to expand...

It depends on how much data you have in use. A USB flash drive or a DVD might not have enough capacity.

If you right-click Macintosh HD, it should tell you how much space is currently in use:



If it's greater than a DVD (4.7GB, single layer or 8.5GB dual layer) and greater than the average flash drive (even the largest flash drive is usually no bigger than 32GB), you're going to need to invest in an external hard disk.

I just tried it while I was waiting and it stopped loading onto the drive and seemingly frooze the USB key. I hit stop and came back here. I just looked and it says that I have used 52GB of space. My USB key is only 4GB. No wonder it won't work!

Now I have another question.
Could I use a portion of my built-in back up drive on my Dell Desktop? I installed two 150GB drives on the computer. One is the master and one is for back up only. I have only used about 10GB of the back-up drive. It is inside of the computer and the computer is running on Windows XP.

Is this possible?

mini1 said:

I just tried it while I was waiting and it stopped loading onto the drive and seemingly frooze the USB key. I hit stop and came back here. I just looked and it says that I have used 52GB of space. My USB key is only 4GB. No wonder it won't work!

Now I have another question.
Could I use a portion of my built-in back up drive on my Dell Desktop? I installed two 150GB drives on the computer. One is the master and one is for back up only. I have only used about 10GB of the back-up drive. It is inside of the computer and the computer is running on Windows XP.

Is this possible?

Click to expand...

Possible? Yes. Semi-difficult to do? Also, yes. You'll need to enable sharing on your secondary disk on the Dell. You'll probably also have to tweak your XP firewall settings to allow it to be seen on the network (assuming you have one). Then you'll need to connect to it and then you can run a backup to it - and even then, you can't boot from it as you could from an external hard disk.

It would be a heck of a lot easier just to pick up an external drive of equal or greater size (a 100GB+ external should be less than $100). You'll want to run regular backups and the network option might prove to be cumbersome - not only that, but if the internal disk on your Dell is in constant usage, it will be more prone to failure than a seldom used, dedicated backup drive.

Which external drive should I get? Would a friend's Time Capsule 500GB drive work?

mini1 said:

Which external drive should I get? Would a friend's Time Capsule 500GB drive work?

Click to expand...

Sure, but they'll probably have to create a separate partition/share for you to run your backup to. The Time Capsule is meant to be used with Time Machine, which requires its own dedicated space to run backups to - and again, backups made to a Time Capsule are not bootable.

As far as a recommendation goes, most of the external hard drives are pretty reliable. I'd recommend something that has a Firewire (IEEE 1394) interface for faster transfers.

Here's some good examples (under $100):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822186035
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822216002

If your friend has his Time Capsule partitioned to allow for a "free" area large enough to fit your backup, then yes it can be used. In order for Superduper or Carbon Copy Cloner to create a bootable backup the drive must be formatted to HFS+.

It would be better to use a separate drive if at all possible especially if your friend's Time Capsule is dedicated. External USB hard drives are inexpensive and handy for back up use. As I stated before, (and this is just my opinion) using DVD or CD media for backing up is not reliable.

Regards.

Am I going overboard when I just want to run the 10.5 upgrade (not erase and re-install). Do I really need to back it up?

you can do an archive and install instead

That will let you revert back if you get into any difficulties

Or you could create a virtual disk image in Disk Utility and superduper to that

How much spare space do you have on that disk?

louishen said:

you can do an archive and install instead

That will let you revert back if you get into any difficulties

Or you could create a virtual disk image in Disk Utility and superduper to that

How much spare space do you have on that disk?

Click to expand...

I don't want to and cannot install from new. I've got $1000's worth of software on this computer and almost none of the software CD's (long story).

I have a 160GB HD. Just over 51GB is in use. How do I use SuperDuper to make complete copy onto that free space? I think that would work for me.

Go to Disk utility (in applications > Utilities)

Use the create image at the top and create a 60 gig image, no encryption and read write access.

It will take a little while but you will a virtual disk image on your desktop.

Super Duper will copy to that disk image

Now you will have to do an archive and install, you may now have just about enough space to do this.

Once done, retrieve the disk image DMG file from the archive and copy it to the desktop (edit: Leopard users - can this easily be done) then delete the rest of the archive after you are sure the DMG file is in a safe place and use migration assistant to restore your programs from the disk image you made

Do not do n erase and install, that will wipe that disk image

Can I boot from that image if everything messes up?

Can I make that image, then just upgrade over my existing Tiger (not archive/install)?

Do an archive and install. That will not change your data in any way, but will still ensure that you get a clean install (upgrades are known to be problematic in Leopard).

And yes, you need to make a backup before you do ANY major change to your computer like an OS upgrade. $100 is a small price to pay to ensure that your data is safe. There are only two types of computer users in this world - those who have lost data and those that will...

If you are getting that nervous, do what cwa says then, get an external back-up disk, super duper a bootable backup and do an archive and install.

You will always need a back-up drive anyway, believe me

Just to clarify: An "Archive and Install" *DOES NOT* touch your documents, data or applications AT ALL. It simply takes the old OS and moves it into an archive folder. Then, it does a clean install of the OS without modifying any other folder. Only the OS is touched.

This way, if something goes wrong or you need to revert to the previous OS, you can. If everything is OK after the Archive & Install, you can safely delete the archive folder.

It's absolutely the safest way to do an upgrade.

louishen said:

Go to Disk utility (in applications > Utilities)

Use the create image at the top and create a 60 gig image, no encryption and read write access.

It will take a little while but you will a virtual disk image on your desktop.

Super Duper will copy to that disk image

Now you will have to do an archive and install, you may now have just about enough space to do this.

Once done, retrieve the disk image DMG file from the archive and copy it to the desktop (edit: Leopard users - can this easily be done) then delete the rest of the archive after you are sure the DMG file is in a safe place and use migration assistant to restore your programs from the disk image you made

Do not do n erase and install, that will wipe that disk image

Click to expand...

Will this plan work with Leopard? You seem unsure.

anyone?

mini1 said:

anyone?

Click to expand...

You are making this way more complicated than it should be.

Trust me on this; you need a backup drive - and not for just this upgrade, but there will come a time when your internal hard drive fails and you'll want to have your data backed up safely.

As a network administrator, responsible for hundreds of laptops, I see this day in and day out. Hard drives are the number one point of failure in notebooks because of the stresses that they have to endure.

Once you've done that, just do an Archive & Install and you'll be fine - and you'll sleep better at night with Leopard's automated backups routed to your new external drive.