Making a backup of OS X (Mavericks)

No manufacturer ships their OS on disks anymore. With Windows the new owner is encouraged to create "Rescue Disks" immediately following purchase to ensure a hard copy of the operating system is available.

My question is: Does "Time Machine" include the OS as an integral part of its backup - or is there some other method of ensuring a copy of the original OS is available should a catastrophe occur?

I've attempted to find a definitive answer to this question on the web, but have not been terribly successful (perhaps I'm not asking the right questions).

Any help would be deeply appreciated.

Norm.

Norm,

Time Machine will backup your OS as well, but be aware that a Time Machine backup is not bootable.
This means that you need to install the OS first before you can restore from a TM backup.
The fastest way to get back up and running is by creating a bootable clone of your hard disk.
There are 2 products that are used by a lot of folks on here and they are:
Carbon Copy Cloner ... Mac Backup Software - Carbon Copy Cloner
SuperDuper! ... SuperDuper!

Both are equally good.
Hope this helps.

Cheers ... McBie

To add to McBie mentioned (the backup is the fastest way).

Two other ways to deal with the OS question are:

- reboot the computer into the "Recovery Partition".
- create a bootable USB stick or bootable external HD of Mavericks

* Nick

Thanks McBie!

Time Machine's ability to copy the OS and then not make it bootable seems odd, to say the least. Begs the question "why bother to copy the OS if you can't access it?" Looks like I'll be buying a copy of CCC or SuperDuper very soon.

thanks again,

Thank-you Nick.

Creating a bootable USB memory stick sounds like a worthwhile option - can you point me in the direction of some "how-to" advice?

BTW is there a secret to using the "search function" on this forum - my feeble attempts have so far resulted in equally feeble responses?

Norm.

Norm in Toronto said:

Time Machine's ability to copy the OS and then not make it bootable seems odd, to say the least. Begs the question "why bother to copy the OS if you can't access it?" Looks like I'll be buying a copy of CCC or SuperDuper very soon.

Click to expand...

TM is really just meant for really easy consumer oriented file recovery and nothing else (this isn't a criticism, just a point about its limits). If you want bit for bit full bootable backups, CCC or SD are good options.

Apple keeps a copy of OS X waiting for you. In the cloud.

OS X: About OS X Recovery

OS X Internet Recovery

The OS X Recovery partition is only helpful if you have a network connection and time (the download takes a while). A CCC or SD backup is nice because it's quicker and restores things to a pre-prepared install.

Norm in Toronto said:

Creating a bootable USB memory stick sounds like a worthwhile option - can you point me in the direction of some "how-to" advice?

Click to expand...

Norm,

Here's a couple links on how to make a bootable USB stick of Mavericks. It's a bit more complex than it was for Lion and Mountain Lion…but just take things slow & keep track of the details…and you should be good to go.

Links:

http://www.macworld.com/article/2056561/how-to-make-a-bootable-mavericks-install-drive.html
How to create a bootable OS X Mavericks USB install drive - CNET

There are quite a few write-ups on the internet on how to do this. If these write-ups (linked) seem confusing…do an internet search…and try a different write-up.

- Nick

Thanks lads, I really appreciate the input.

Between postings here, I've managed to locate a couple of web based tutorials on creating a bootable USB drive - GEEEEZE, what an ordeal! For someone who is definitely NOT fully conversant with Apple OS terminology, practices and operation, it's a very daunting process to contemplate undertaking.

(Thanks Nick - the previous line was posted before I saw you response above)

SubZero - Nice to know Apple keeps OS X in the cloud just in case. Would assume having a working computer to retrieve it is an essential condition though.

CCC or SD appear to be the answer to my paranoia.

Thank you Gentlemen for your assistance.

Norm.

Norm in Toronto said:

Between postings here, I've managed to locate a couple of web based tutorials on creating a bootable USB drive - GEEEEZE, what an ordeal! For someone who is definitely NOT fully conversant with Apple OS terminology, practices and operation, it's a very daunting process to contemplate undertaking.

Click to expand...

Yes it is quite a process…and as I mentioned…the process is a bit more complex then it was for previous downloadable OS versions (Lion and Mountain Lion).

You can still rely on the internet recovery found in the recovery partition…but as Vansmith mentioned…you need an internet connection to do this.

Having a bootable USB stick of Mavericks can come in handy if you ever need to install a brand new "virgin" storage device. Since it will not have a Recovery Partition (being brand new).

And of course…you could still rely on a CCC or SD (Super Duper) backup.

Give the bootable USB creation a try. I'm sure you'll feel like a real "techy" if you are successful. Just follow the procedure step by step…and everything should go fine.

- Nick

pigoo3 said:

Give the bootable USB creation a try. I'm sure you'll feel like a real "techy" if you are successful. Just follow the procedure step by step…and everything should go fine.

- Nick

Click to expand...

You know, Nick, I will "give it a try". Learning a new system at 70 years of age is a challenge - to say the least. If I'm successful, I won't so much consider myself a "techy" but more an individual with extremely good luck!

Thanks,

Norm
BTW - if I actually get it to work, I'll post the results here.

Norm in Toronto said:

SubZero - Nice to know Apple keeps OS X in the cloud just in case. Would assume having a working computer to retrieve it is an essential condition though.

Click to expand...

If you clicked the link you would see it can be used to install OS X on a new storage device.

If your Mac isn't working (ie. someone dropped a safe on it) then getting the OS installed is not your #1 issue.

S.SubZero said:

If your Mac isn't working (ie. someone dropped a safe on it) then getting the OS installed is not your #1 issue.

Click to expand...

LOL, love the line. You're right though, under those conditions, my #1 issue would be chasing the offending party with a baseball bat.

No intention to be facetious SubZero, and I hope I didn't appear as such. My major concern in having a backup of the OS was the potential situation where the existing OS is somehow corrupted and needs to be replaced. Downloading it to another device and then transferring it to the crippled Mac is a viable option, but possibly more complex than booting from a disc or memory stick.

I deeply appreciate your input.

Norm.

The internet recovery is perfectly capable of "potential situation where the existing OS is somehow corrupted and needs to be replaced."

Note that OS X is very solid, and any situation of "somehow corrupted" won't be a random OS event. It will either be something you do intentionally (randomly deleting stuff from a root terminal) or a hardware problem, which falls under the "dropped safe" I mentioned earlier.

S.SubZero is totally correct about the internet recovery. However, I think making a bootable USB stick is a slightly better approach because the USB stick can be used to reinstall OSX even when you don't have access to the Internet. I carried one on my recent travels just in case I needed to recover for any reason. Based on the very slow WiFi in most of the hotels I visited, downloading the OS would have taken hours, while reinstalling from the USB stick would have been much faster. On the other hand, if you don't plan to travel with your Mac, and if you have a quick Internet connection, then the internet recovery process is perfectly fine.

Guys (SubZero & MacInWin) please forgive my ignorance - but if the OS is corrupted (regardless of cause) is it still capable of linking to the net in order to take advantage of Internet Recovery?

I'm still mired in Windows technology and am a long way from fully understanding and appreciating the capabilities of my new Mac. :Blushing:

These, I'm sure, are fundamental questions to you folks, but to me it's a whole new world out there!

Norm.

OSX, when installed, creates a small partition on the boot drive that is normally hidden, called the Recovery Partition. If the cause of failure of your boot system is software, you can boot from the Recovery Partition and then reinstall or recover from backups to your boot partition. If you have a USB install stick, you can use that to reinstall OSX, or if you do not, you can recover over the Internet.

Now if the failure is a hardware failure of the drive itself, you lose everything, including the Recovery partition, so in that case "regardless of cause" is unrecoverable.

Does that help?

Yes it does!

One of my concerns is the SSD storage on this machine. It's blindingly fast compared to a conventional hard drive, however I've read that SSD's have a limited number of times any portion of the chip can be read/writen to (this may not be a problem anymore as the technology advances - but I've not read anything to that effect).

It's a bit like living under the sword of Damocles - just waiting for the **** thing to fail. With 512 gig of storage, my fear may be moot. I'm probably being foolish, but I'd like to be prepared should such a event occur.

Thanks MacInWin,

Norm.

S.SubZero said:

The internet recovery is perfectly capable of "potential situation where the existing OS is somehow corrupted and needs to be replaced."

Click to expand...

Unless of course it gets corrupted.

The reason most people are unaware of Internet Recovery is because so few people have ever had to use it.

As pointed out above, hard drives (and even SSDs) can fail completely. Neither one is expected to fail during the useful life of the computer (which is generally about five years or so depending on use with Macs), and SSDs failures appear to be much more rare than HD failures so far, but even assuming your drive completely failed, here's what would happen:

1. You'd either take the computer in to replace the drive or replace it yourself
2. Invoke Internet Recovery
3. Wait a while and you'd have a bootable system on your new HD/SSD.
4. Recover your applications and "stuff" from your backup using Time Machine and Migration Assistant or some other method.

And you're back in business. Yes, it's slower than having a bang-up-to-date bootable backup handy, but not that much slower.