Advice For New iMac HDD Organistion

[Moro]

Hi,

I've owned a 13" MBA for just over a year now and this coming week my new 21.5" iMac will be arriving to replace my Windows 7 PC, so I'm not a total OS X newbie.

The iMac has a 1Tb HDD and I'm after advice as to whether I should partition the drive as I've always done with my Windows PCs so that I have Data, Photos & Music on seperate volumes?

This has always seemed logical to me to ease data backup & imaging of the Windows partition.

I'll be using both Time Machine & CCC on the iMac, so should I leave things as standard & use these tools to run indivdual backups of each data type and OS image?

Should I maybe move the Home folder to a seperate volume/partition as an easier option?

You may well tell me to let go of the old Windows ways now that I'm moving into the light!

I'd love to hear how you experienced Mac users organise your data & backup routines.

Thanks in advance,
Bill

 

[Dysfunction]

No. Time Machine renders this irrelevant. Actually, I do not recommend that on Windows machines either. Unless they are physically different drives, it makes no difference. The Unix directory structure (which is what you have) has been around a very long time, and really is quite simple. Much easier from a DR perspective as well... that said, yea.. if you do move it, it'll simply overly complicate things.. and make any future recovery more complicated.

 

[MacInWin]

+1 for what Dysfunction said. No need to partition the drive, just leave it as it comes and put folders in your Home folder to separate your data. Partitioning just adds complexity. TM and CCC will back up everything for you.

 

[Moro]

Thanks Mike & Jake for your valued comments, I'll leave well alone.

Another thought, as I have the MBA should I use the setup assistant to transfer all the settings & apps to the new iMac thereby negating the need to set everything up again?

Many thanks,
Bill

 

[bobtomay]

On first boot up of the new iMac, connect either your current TM or CCC backup drive to it. When it asks if you want to restore from another computer/backup, select yes and let it do the work from there. Once it is done, it will boot up with everything exactly like your MBA.

 

[Moro]

Thanks bobtomay, that sounds great, roll on Tuesday!

 

[RadDave]

On first boot up of the new iMac, connect either your current TM or CCC backup drive to it. When it asks if you want to restore from another computer/backup, select yes and let it do the work from there. Once it is done, it will boot up with everything exactly like your MBA.

Hi Bobtomay - my two Macs are almost 2 years old, so no need yet for replacement, but others may be considering the same setup for their 'new' computers - I'm doing both TM & CCC, and appears either will work just fine, however, is there any advantage of using one over the other when migrating to the same OS X?

Also, if a new Mac came w/ the next OS X (say we call it 'Rainier' after the mountain - ), how does TM and CCC (which will have Yosemite), handle this transition? Sorry for the questions but I'll likely face the same decision but others a lot sooner. Thanks, as always. Dave

 

[Dysfunction]

CCC has the advantage of being bootable, but that's really about it as far as I can tell.

It's not an issue. It (TM) copies the user data (/Users/<username>) and, if selected the /Applications folder. If the app won't run, it'll be greyed out and have a line through it..

Won't be Ranier, as that's not in California

 

[bobtomay]

I use SD! rather than CCC and it depends on exactly what/where I'm doing it (because I'm lazy).

On my wife's Macs, have always restored from her TM backup whether a new drive or computer.

On mine, I've always used the SD! clone to restore to a new machine and with a new drive, I boot to the clone and clone it back to the internal.

I've not noticed any differences between the restored machines as far as whether all the user data and preferences have been imported.

As for the last question, neither the clone nor the TM backup handle anything. They have no role to play in the restoration process except to sit there and allow the Migration Assistant of the new OS to import the data it needs. It's up to the Migration Assistant to know what to import as it relates to system files between 2 different OSs.

(Two advantages with the clone and a new drive - one, you don't have to install OS X on the drive and then restore - it's all done at one shot; two, I've found the boot time on an SD! clone is faster than a clean OS X installation by an average of 10% - don't know if this one would be true for a CCC clone or not - and iDefrag can cut that boot time by another 10%.)

 

[RadDave]

CCC has the advantage of being bootable, but that's really about it as far as I can tell.

It's not an issue. It (TM) copies the user data (/Users/<username>) and, if selected the /Applications folder. If the app won't run, it'll be greyed out and have a line through it..

Won't be Ranier, as that's not in California

OK - I'll guesstimate another surfing beach in CA - say Malibu - Dave

@ Bobtomay - thanks for the explanation! Dave

 

[chscag]

How about "Capistrano"? We can have a nice new desktop view with the Swallows returning.....

 

[Bill Gates Jr.]

Hey guys, had my logic board replaced on my 27" mid 2011 (bought in mid 2012) iMAC and they installed OS X 8.8.5. No problem, I installed OS X 10.10.2.
However, Time Machine did not bring back my iPhotos among other things. I do have a CCC backup disk but am unsure how to run it. Do I partition my HD and copy to my new partition first to see if CCC worked? Or do I just copy over everything and let CCC do it's thing? Time Machine is running and making backups but not sure how good they would be...verified my iPhotos are on the CCC disk.

 

[MacInWin]

The CCC drive is just a copy of what was on the internal, so all you need to do is use Finder to find the files, then copy them to where you wan them. I don't use iPhoto, so I don't know if something has to be done in iPhoto to then allow it to see the files, but maybe some iphoto expert will come along and give you that information. The only time you need to use CCC to put files back is if you replace the internal drive and want to clone the entire backup to that new drive. Otherwise, Finder will do all you need.

 

[harryb2448]

Charlie you is showing your age. I mentioned that Swallows Over on a football forum and no one knew what the heck I was talking about. So uncultured youth!!!

 

[chscag]

Yeah Harry, youngsters nowadays for the most part are very uninformed about things like that. But on the other end... you see 10 year old kids walking around with iPhones, iPads, and even notebook computers. And chances are they're showing their grandparents how to use them.

 

[Bill Gates Jr.]

Macwin - Thanks for the CCC info, I'll do it that way.
Guys, I'll be 71 in 19 days and even I never heard of the Swallows. We talking Soccer or American football?

 

[johnodd4]

I Do This.

I backup using time machine i then backup all my files including my photography works and even my o.s backups to another external drive that is only connected on a limited basis.

 

[johnodd4]

Honestly people need to be more cultured. Interesting though i do think soccer but there are 2 variants in this while researching one came up a UK soccer team and a UK music group and a african soccer team called the swallows as well. interesting quite interesting.

 

[RadDave]

Macwin - Thanks for the CCC info, I'll do it that way.
Guys, I'll be 71 in 19 days and even I never heard of the Swallows. We talking Soccer or American football?

Swallows of Capistrano (i.e. Mission of San Juan Capistrano) - story HERE - a bunch of YouTube videos on the history and also renditions of the famous song - listen to the one by the Ink Spots.
.