Carbon Copy Cloner

Just a heads up for anyone using Carbon Copy Cloner.... CCC is no longer donation ware per se. Beginning with the latest update it now becomes trial ware for 60 days and requires a license in order to keep using it. Bombich (developer) has various levels of "pay to use" and the suggested fee is $20.00.

It's well worth the cost of the license. I encourage anyone who is using it to pay the $20 for the license. (I bought one.) By the way, that also gets rid of the banners. The license is a rather long code of numbers and letters that must be registered.

Agreed about using or paying for CCC. I personally have no real use for Time Machine in its current implementation, which is really a shame considering that it's integrated with OS X so well. I guess one's mileage may vary, but the only files I keep on my internal HD are my apps, Lightroom/Aperture database and library files and temporary downloads. Everything else goes to an external HD, and is also backed up redundantly to another external, so there's really no need for me to use TM.

If my drive crashes, I just install clean from a bootable Lion thumbdrive that I created from Lion Disk Maker. I love that CCC backs up only what YOU want, when you want rather than the entire OS.

Doug

I do the opposite of what you do Doug. I let TM back up my data and use Carbon Copy Cloner to create a bootable clone of\ my OS.

I have been using it off and on for a long time. I got away from it for a while but came back recently with the advent of the Lion Recovery partition. Will definitely be ponying up for a license. It saved my butt recently when my MBP drive died.

Slydude said:

I do the opposite of what you do Doug. I let TM back up my data and use Carbon Copy Cloner to create a bootable clone of\ my OS.

I have been using it off and on for a long time. I got away from it for a while but came back recently with the advent of the Lion Recovery partition. Will definitely be ponying up for a license. It saved my butt recently when my MBP drive died.

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Isn't that a bit redundant? As far as I know, there is no way of telling TM to selectively back up directories or files. I think you can specify certain things to NOT back up, but that's about it, no? It's inherent function is to back up the entire OS to an external drive, and with Lion's recovery partition you're usually able to boot from it, then perhaps use something like Disk Warrior to repair the disk (if one wants) then use the TM backup.

Inform me please of why one would want to use your method? That's a serious/sincere question, no sarcasm intended (I know... SOoooo not me!);D

Doug

Doug b said:

Inform me please of why one would want to use your method? That's a serious/sincere question, no sarcasm intended (I know... SOoooo not me!);D

Doug

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Blame the badge . . .

Can TM be disabled in Lion to use CCC exclusively...? I thought TM would backup to the HD if it didn't point to an external..

@Doug b You're right about TM basically allowing you to only exclude things. I started using this method before the Lion recovery disc came about.

1. Clone entire drive. In an emergency I can boot from this drive and keep working until I have time to repair the original drive/purchase a replacement. i don't have to wait for a high speed connection to reinstall Lion or wait for disk utilities to fix errors. Twice in the last few years I've booted from a clone and worked for a few days while I waited for replacement hard drives, Most recently last week.

2. If I can physically get to my TM backup I still have access to current data without worrying about when I last backed up. The only reason I exclude System files is that they are on the clone and would take up space in the TM backup. FWIW data is not stored in my home folder.

One other advantage is that I can use the same clone to boot either of my two Macs. The software on the two machines is almost identical. I can get either machine up to speed in the time it takes to boot.

I hope that clarifies things a bit.

@codda TM backs up to a notebook hard drive if it cannot find your normal TM backup. I think leaving TM off in System preferences stops this process. It can also be turned on/off using a few Terminal commands Disable Time Machine Local Backups in Mac OS X Lion

Appreciate the link...Thank You.

codda said:

Can TM be disabled in Lion to use CCC exclusively...? I thought TM would backup to the HD if it didn't point to an external..

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Yes. TM has an on/off switch. If set to "off," it does nothing at all.

Personally I *love* TM and use it all the time, backing up to one external. I also use CCC to make a bootable clone to another external. TM is the "day-to-day" solution and CCC is used once a week or so.