Backing up HD with Carbon Copy Cloner

[Thumpernator]

My machine is a 21.5 Mid 2011 machine running Maverick 10-9-5. The HD is partitioned for iMac and Bootcamp.

I do plan to upgrade to Yosemite after the next update or so. I'm in no hurry. Anyway, just to be ready in case bad things happen when I do, I wanted to have a bootable backup of Mavericks beforehand.

I already have a My Passport drive hooked up and am using it for Time Machine. I bought another My Passport drive and used CCC to clone my iMac drive. After I did this, I got to thinking that maybe I should have partitioned the new drive and backed up the iMac in one part and Bootcamp in the other.

Or, can I just do another clone and this time select Bootcamp with the new drive as it's destination. Will that clone/backup mess up the first one?

Hope that makes sense. Need some advice.

Thanks in advance to you gurus who help us not so computer savoy guys out.

 

[pm-r]

Best to check the CCC support FAQ site, i.e.:
Can CCC back up my BootCamp (Windows) partition? | Carbon Copy Cloner | Bombich Software

You'll find all the details and suggestions there.

 

[Thumpernator]

Thanks. I didn't think to click on the HELP link,,,,, figured that was for something other than a FAQ.

So, looks like if I go with CCC, I'll also need Winclone for the Bootcamp stuff.

Is there one program that will do both?

Dave

 

[Slydude]

I don't think there is a program that will do that. I could be wrong though.

The current version of WinClone should get the job done.It's usually pretty good though I have had it bork up once in a while.

 

[chscag]

Is there one program that will do both?

No, you will need two separate programs: CCC or SuperDuper for OS X and WinClone for the Boot Camp partition. Another option to consider for preserving Windows and one which I used for Windows 7 - is to use the Windows built in backup and imaging program. It does require an external hard drive formatted to NTFS in order to use it. It also requires you to have either a bootable Windows DVD or USB flash drive.

 

[Thumpernator]

Which is the popular choice between CCC and SuperDuper for a non IT type of guy? CCC (trial) was/is really easy to use.....so far.

 

[pm-r]

Personally I have found CCC to be my favourite, and even willingly paid a donation twice for the "free" version years ago, and still use it, but the updated version.

Mike Bombich the CCC developer was an Apple engineer and also follows Apple's recommendations for cloning more strictly than most of the other apps. And it also has more options if needed. Well worth the price IMHO.

For more comparison info see:
Drive-cloning utilities: The best Mac apps for making a bootable backup | Macworld

etc. etc.

 

[Thumpernator]

Thanks. Had previously read that article and many others. Went ahead and purchased a license for CCC.

 

[harryb2448]

I prefer SD with a USB thumb drive containing the operating system installer. Be aware CCC released a new edition, version 4, for Yosemite which costs $20 over and above the original price. The SD Yosemite update was f.o.c.

 

[Thumpernator]

I prefer SD with a USB thumb drive containing the operating system installer. Be aware CCC released a new edition, version 4, for Yosemite which costs $20 over and above the original price. The SD Yosemite update was f.o.c.

The version I got includes Yosemite (ver 4.0.2) and was the normal price.