Newbie Mac User Backup Question.

erikfig

erikfig


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Hey all!

This is my first mac so I'm still learning. Bought it two days ago :)

I just setup my external 320Gb Toshiba HDD to use with time machine and I also want to use Superduper to clone an image of my mac in cade the internal HDD crash.

Can I use the same HDD for time machine and also use it for superduper to backup a clone an image of my mac?

Also can I drop random files to the drive as needed like from another mac?
 
chscag

chscag

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You could use the same external hard drive for both if you partition it. However, that drive is too small to share usage. I recommend you buy another drive and use it for either SuperDuper or Time Machine but not both. And yes, it's an excellent idea to use both methods of backing up. I do that and so do many other members of our forums.
 
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chas_m

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If you have SD save the clone as a DISK IMAGE, then yes you can use it on the same drive (and drop other files on it, assuming there is sufficient capacity for all that). However this defeats the main purpose of having a clone in addition to the TM backup: a disk image isn't bootable.

To make a bootable clone, you're going to need to use a separate drive I think.
 
Deckyon

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Can you? Yes. Should you? No.

All personal opinion, but I deal with backups, reimages and clones on a regular basis.

If you want the EASIEST 0 to 100% restore from a main drive failure, I do the following.
1. Fresh OS install with all applications installed and configured as well as data in place.
2. Clone the drive as it stands to a storage drive and set it aside.
3. Set up a Time Machine drive at least twice as large as your internal hard drive.
4. Let Time Machine run as needed. When the TM drive fills up, it replaces the oldest data with the newest data.
5. When a crash occurs (if, really), restore your Clone image ffrom the drive you set aside.
6. Restore 2nd latest Time Machine data.
7. If everything is working normally, then restore the last TM backup.
8. This brings you to within 1 hour of when the drive went down.

That is my current plan - I have tested it once already. It worked flawlessly. I have my clone drive sitting on my desk labeled. When I was running Windows, I used Ghost for the main image, kept my personal data on a separate NAS drive.

Time Machine is wonderful - I love it. You can even go into it and restore individual files/directories. Save me major time with my iTunes library when 132 albums went missing when moving from local HD to NAS.
 
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erikfig

erikfig


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Deckyon said:
Can you? Yes. Should you? No.

All personal opinion, but I deal with backups, reimages and clones on a regular basis.

If you want the EASIEST 0 to 100% restore from a main drive failure, I do the following.
1. Fresh OS install with all applications installed and configured as well as data in place.
2. Clone the drive as it stands to a storage drive and set it aside.
3. Set up a Time Machine drive at least twice as large as your internal hard drive.
4. Let Time Machine run as needed. When the TM drive fills up, it replaces the oldest data with the newest data.
5. When a crash occurs (if, really), restore your Clone image ffrom the drive you set aside.
6. Restore 2nd latest Time Machine data.
7. If everything is working normally, then restore the last TM backup.
8. This brings you to within 1 hour of when the drive went down.

That is my current plan - I have tested it once already. It worked flawlessly. I have my clone drive sitting on my desk labeled. When I was running Windows, I used Ghost for the main image, kept my personal data on a separate NAS drive.

Time Machine is wonderful - I love it. You can even go into it and restore individual files/directories. Save me major time with my iTunes library when 132 albums went missing when moving from local HD to NAS.
Click to expand...

Thank you all!

Deckyon, I work as a desktop support tech and I take backup very seriously. Your disaster recovery plan is great so I will stick to it :) Thanks!
 

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