Bootable Backup Question

I use an firewire Maxtor external for my backups. I use Retrospect express for a backup program. Will this drive work as a bootable backup drive?
How do I startup from the Maxtor if necessary and workable as a startup drive.

I stopped using CCC cause the developer was too slow at upgrading it for the newer Tiger versions. He may have caught up now, but I have used SuperDuper since then. Clones easily. They have a trial (free) and full version for incremental backups.
I don't know if retrospect makes clones.
Cheers!
DALE
Message was edited by: Dale Weisshaar

Similar Messages

Question re: Bootable backup disc / preparing for Leopard Install

Hello,
I've an iMac G5 :
Model: The one right before an isight camera was added CPU Type: PowerPC G5 (3.1), CPU Speed: 2 GHz, L2 Cache: 512 KB, Memory: 1.5 GB
I'm trying to figure out if I can make a bootable backup of my Tiger OS before installing Leopard. I have heard that Superduper requires a firewire drive to make a bootable backup, but I have a 500GB USB external drive. Is there a way for me to use my USB external drive to make the bootable backup?
I have already backed up copies of my Home folders on this iomega 500gb usb ext. drive. Maybe, this is all I need to worry about and I should just go ahead and install Leopard?
Any helpful advice greatly appreciated. Thank you for considering my post.
Michael
Message was edited by: Kailua

Can Disc Warrior help me make the backup for my USB external drive?
No. DiskWarrior isn't a backup tool.
or should I use the apple disc utility?
Yes.
(34562)

Do I need to partition my external hard drive for a bootable backup

Hi - First, I apologize for asking a question that's already been discussed so much. I did try to read everything I could, but I remain confused. Here is my precise situation:
I have an iMac, and I purchased a year's worth of Carbonite's online backup and breathed a sigh of relief. Then I read some people have problems with Carbonite, and the best advice was to buy an external hard drive, which I did. It just arrived, I plugged it in, and Time Machine backed up my computer on it...so I breathed another sigh of relief.
Then I read that my wonderful new 2T external hard drive isn't good enough, that I should partition it so as to have one backup, and one "bootable backup." Is this really necessary? And what is the difference between a backup, and a bootable backup? If it is necessary, how do I do it? Is it a problem that I've already used it to create a backup on Time Machine?
I use my computer for things like email, Facebook, pictures, eBay, stuff like that. I have no unusual needs. My computer is an iMac OS X 10.6.8.
Thank you in advance for any help you can offer!

I prefer a clone/bootable backup ovver Time Machine myself.
For TM you need a running OS, then time to restore, with a clone you can boot from that & keep working while doing the other when time is better. And you can test a clone before you need it.
Get carbon copy cloner to make an exact copy of your old HD to the New one...
http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html
Or SuperDuper...
http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/
You would need to Partition your drive though.
How to format your disks...
http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/partitioning_tiger.html
(To Install OSX on an IntelMac the Drive it needs the GUID Partitioning scheme mentioned at the bottom.)
Thanks to Pondini, Formatting, Partitioning, Verifying, and Repairing Disks...
http://Pondini.org/OSX/DU.html

Does Time Machine make bootable backups?

I used a beautiful backup program called Backup Simplicity in Tiger that made a bootable Exact duplicate of my HD into my external drive. That's really I want to do.
This morning I tried Time Machine for the first time. It only put a backup folder on my external drive. That's not what I want to do.
So here's my question, if I totally erase my external drive will Time Machine make a bootable duplicate of my HD on my external drive also?
Also, is there a way to schedule Time Machine for backups manually?

No, TimeMachine doesn't create a bootable backup, nor can it be controlled manually. The purpose of TimeMachine is to work behind the scenes backing up changed files. Later, when you realize something is amiss, you can 'go back in time' and fix the problem. Admittedly, I'm a little shaky on the details of just how flexible the retrieval system is since I've not yet played with that feature yet. But as I understand it, if you installed a new program and your computer suddenly started going nuts, you'll be able to use TimeMachine to restore your computer to the point before you installed that program. Or, if you realize you improperly edited a file, you'll be able to retrieve the file prior to that editing session.
Apple's team realized three things: 1) most of us don't take the time to perform backups even though we know we should be doing it. 2) most of us don't really understand how to develop a good backup strategy. 3) computers today are so powerful that most of the time the CPU isn't working hard at all and those extra cycles might as well be put to use doing something useful. Hence, TimeMachine's design.
As you noticed, TimeMachine makes a folder and does its incremental backups inside. Since I have an external drive that is much larger than my boot/data drive, I'll continue to clone my boot drive to this external once a week, just as I've been doing. If disaster strikes and I need to use the computer right now, I can do so and at worst my data will be one week out of date. (I should then be able to use TimeMachine to retrieve the missing data but the important thing is that I'm up and running again as soon as I've rebooted.) Later (or if I have the time right away) I'll use TimeMachine to restore/replace my boot drive.

What is a bootable backup and do i need one? what are partitions good for?

hello,
please excuse my ignorance...
i just got a new lacie external firewire hard drive and it has some software which i was wandering if i have any use for... - SilverKeeper and LaCie Backup Software. i'm not sure if they can give me anything that time machine doesn't do better... SilverKeeper gives the option of cloning a bootable backup. i'm not exactly sure what's the advantage of this and in what case i may need it.
when i got my last computer i was able to transfer everything from the old computer, including applications, to the new one without having to find all the serial numbers and reinstall them. i thought that time machine will be able to do the same thing if i lose all the data on my computer. is that not so? is that what a bootable clone is for? or what is it for?...
my other question is what are the advantages of making partitions in my new drive (i understand i have to if i want a bootable backup, but is there any reason to partition otherwise?
thanks!
dannah

SilverKeeper gives the option of cloning a bootable backup. i'm not exactly sure what's the advantage of this and in what case i may need it.
A bootable backup is an exact copy of your hard drive's contents on another drive, that can be used for booting up the machine. The advantage of a bootable backup is that, in the event something bad happens to your internal drive, you can very quickly get up and running with the backup drive, and can copy that back to a replaced/fixed internal drive very quickly. Time Machine backups are not bootable.
The disadvantage of a clone of any kind, bootable or not, is that there's only one version of any particular file stored. So if a file gets damaged and then backed up, you're pretty well screwed with the clone, while Time Machine stores many versions of the file, so you just "roll back" to the last working copy.
when i got my last computer i was able to transfer everything from the old computer, including applications, to the new one without having to find all the serial numbers and reinstall them.
Bad idea... while this will work for most apps, different machines have different architectures, so some apps may not be installed correctly for the new machine, plus you may not have properly copied some components. You should have reinstalled them.
i thought that time machine will be able to do the same thing if i lose all the data on my computer. is that not so?
If you have Time Machine back up the entire hard drive, without excluding anything, then Time Machine should be able to restore your drive to exactly the way it was at any particular moment in time at which it made a backup, including apps, system files, preferences, etc.
my other question is what are the advantages of making partitions in my new drive (i understand i have to if i want a bootable backup, but is there any reason to partition otherwise?
You do not have to partition to make a bootable backup. However, you'll be using the entire drive... trying to store additional files on the same drive as a bootable clone is confusing at best. Using a partition allows you to create multiple "virtual" drives... say, one for a bootable backup, one for a Time Machine backup, one for movie files, etc. Of course, this is only advisable if the drive is much larger than the one you're backing up, and note that if you store original files on a partition (like a bunch of movie files), you need a backup of those somewhere else.
Time Machine will want it's own full drive or partition to play with, which should be larger than the drive being backed up, and will eventually fill it. A bootable clone probably also should go onto its own partition, but you wouldn't need to make this partition larger than the drive being cloned. Other than that, don't worry about partitioning unless you have a specific need.

Bootable Backup- created and works BUT....

I've got a full bootable backup on my external lacie firewire drive. My PB G4 15" can boot from it, happily.
(tiger, not leopard)
My question is what other macs could boot off the drive? e.g. MacMini, Macbook, Macbook pro (intel)? or is the bootable backup only good for my specific machine?

I can't speak for the Intel-based Macs because I don't have any of those (though my folks and sister have MacBooks, go figure... they have "more powerful" machines than me... I have lots of PowerPC-based apps that I'm still using as well as OS 9 ones in Classic) but I'm sure they are no different with Intel-based Macs.
I know for a fact that you can boot from any machine that supports Tiger and matches the specs of what's on your LaCie external drive.
So, your PowerBook G4 15-inch that's been backed up onto the LaCie, will function as that PowerBook when you boot up on any G4-based Mac mini, PowerMac, iMac, etc.
Though even G3 machines will work. I mean, G3 machine's drives will work as bootup drives in G4. (I never tried vice versa). I have a drive that is the original drive from a PowerMac G3, and I put it inside an older PowerMac G4 model--older than the Dual FW800 model that I have--and it booted up fine.
I'm sure you know how to choose your boot volume at startup? Hold down the OPTION key at startup and it will let you select your startup drive.
The perfect example is this. In April, I sent my 12-inch PowerBook into the Genius Bar to have the LCD screen replaced under warranty. I created a backup of my 12-incher's drive. I was able to connect that to my PowerMac G4 and startup as if I was using my 12-inch PowerBook all along.
You can even do that via FireWire in Target Disk Mode. I can, essentially, if I wanted to, use my PowerMac G4 on my 12-inch PowerBook.
The only caveat there is that of the processor. Let's say you are able to run Aperture on your PowerBook 15-inch. If you plug that LaCie external drive into a 433 MHz PowerMac G4, you won't be able to run Aperture since it doesn't qualify for the minimum system requirements.
But you can do everything else that does qualify (like iMovie, iPhoto, maybe not GarageBand or Pages, if you have those).
Hope that helps.

Help--Bootable Backup?

Just have a question about bootable backups as I've been hearing a lot about them lately. First off, what exactly is a bootable backup? I'm not 100% clear on what it is. Secondly, I have an external USB 2.0 HD. Is it possible to make a bootable backup with a USB drive or does it have to be firewire? If I can make a bootable backup with my USB 2 HD, how do I go about doing it? Do I have to create a partition? How do I do that? Thanks for helping out a (semi)clueless mac fan. By the way, loving the upgrade to Leopard. Everything is running great for me. Thanks for any help!!

Superjudge2,
Ian has already answered your question, and thoroughly. However, bootable backups are somewhat less of a "big deal" now that you are running Leopard.
With Leopard and Time Machine, you can restore everything from your Time Machine backup at any time by booting to the Leopard install disk. Instead of installing a fresh copy of Leopard, the installer will use any of the Time Machine "snapshots" of your system.
Bootable backups still have their uses, though. For example, if your hard drive fails entirely, and simply will not work, you could still boot your Mac to that external containing a bootable OS. This would allow you to continue to use your computer until you could procure and install a working hard drive.
Scott

Bootable backup- how with no Firewire??

Hey gang-
Considering a new MacBook, but one big question. How does one do a bootable backup without Firewire? Will my SuperDuper app work with an external USB drive and will I be able to boot my Mac from it?
And while on the subject, how will Migration Assistant work without Firewire?
Thanks!
Dave

How does one do a bootable backup without Firewire?
It can be done with USB, but the host computer must be in good shape.
how will Migration Assistant work without Firewire?
You 'can' use Ethernet, but it's not as reliable as Firewire.
Ethernet works great, IF you have two FUNCTIONAL machines. The great thing about Firewire Target Disk mode was that if the HD/OS was corrupted, or the computer was for some reason unbootable you could still get data off of it quickly, without tools or special equipment. Firewire Target disk mode has saved my rear several times on every machine I have owned.

Can I boot a Mavericks desktop computer with a bootable backup made with OS X 10.4.6?

I used to create bootable backups with SuperDuper and still have one created in 2010 from a white Intel mac (2006-era) running OS X 10.4.6. Would it be possible to boot a brand new 27" desktop running Mavericks 10.9.4 using the old bootable backup? I've never had to boot any of my computers from the bootable backups and I'd have to go searching thru my notes to find out how to do it, but I have no idea if attempting to do so could cause any harm to the new computer. If it could, I won't make the attempt.
The reason I'm considering it: I lost three computers to a lightning strike a couple weeks ago. The white Intel mac was the one I used to create GarageBand projects. I discovered that the new version of GarageBand (10.0.2) lacks many of the instruments I frequently used in my projects. Thus, I figured, if I could easily boot using the bootable backup, I could continue my GarageBand work using the version of GarageBand on the bootable backup. Good idea or totally unworkable?
Secondary follow-up question: any way to install the old version of GarageBand on the new computer using either the bootable backup or the old install disks? Although I'd like to get access to the old version, I won't do it if there's a large risk of creating problems with the new computer.
Any advice?

Bedruthan wrote:
Would it be possible to boot a brand new 27" desktop running Mavericks 10.9.4 using the old bootable backup?
No. Newer machines cannot boot with OSs that precede the one it shipped with.
Secondary follow-up question: any way to install the old version of GarageBand on the new computer using either the bootable backup or the old install disks?
Again, no. Newer machines cannot run PPC apps since they're based on Intel chips and not Motorola ones.
iMac refurb (27-inch Mid 2011), OS X Mavericks (10.9.4), SL & ML, G4 450 MP w/Leopard, 9.2.2

What is on a bootable backup disc?

While I'm pretty sure what a bootable disc is...( I think) It allows one to startup their computer in cases where for whatever reason their computer is not responding. I've read in the discussion pages that I should have a bootable backup for when I update software . So my question is what is on a bootable backup disc? and for that matter what is generally on any backup disc and what kind of disc is used? Sorry to seem so dense but I'm not very techno-savvy as you can obviously tell by my questions.
Thanks in advance for your help

Hi jopaglke,
Your first and most safely reliable boot disc is your Mac's original install DVD. It has Disk Utility on it, and Terminal, and the Hardware Test!
Personally I also keep a duplicate of my Mac's original install DVD, just in case.
- With Disk Utility, create an image of it while it's inserted. Choose "CD/DVD Master" kind of image, the one that ends with .cdr (not .dmg), and burn it on a blank DVD.
This works for those whose original DVD is small enough in size.
Another safe and handy solution:
- partition your external hard drive
(you DO have an external for backup purposes, right?),
and assign 10 GB to one of the partitions where you'll install (Custom-Install)a light version of your original OS.
You can perform the Software Update updates, and install your favorite utilities on it
(TechTool Pro, DiskWarrior etc)
so this bootable partition will be always ready for an option-boot (alt-boot) in case of a problem.
For those who own an original DVD that exceeds usual blank DVD sizes, the partition solution is the other simple and genuine one still possible.
Then there are bootable discs solutions by third-party softwares that you can buy (some of them are really good utilities).
Axel

I'm wondering about bootable backup strategies

I'm wondering what people use and recommend for backup strategies, and especially the utility of "bootable" backups.
I have an early-2011 15" MBPro, running fully updated Yosemite. My computer is apparently one of the "victims" of the recently publicized graphics system problems that has resulted in Apple's recent out-of-warranty repair offer for machines in this category. Over the past 10 months my machine has been in for repair 4 times, resulting in the replacement of my display, main logic board (x 3!!) and hard drive. These 4 repairs were the result of incidents that started with the screen graphics going crazy and ending, eventually, in an un-bootable state. Two of the 4 times I was returned a working machine with a clean new-install of OS 10. (all "free" I might add, thanks to still being on Apple Care when the whole process started!) Hopefully, my last repair will "do the trick" as it was AFTER Apple's announced repair offer for these machines. My Apple Store "genius" opined that this time my main logic board was probably an "improved" item, since the first two replacements didn't solve the problem.
So twice in the recent past I have had to completely restore my machine from my Time Machine (to Time Capsule) back-up. Both successful, thankfully! But this experience has focused my attention very sharply on my backup strategy, and made me wonder how "exposed" one still might be with "just" a Time Machine backup.
Talking informally with several more knowledgeable and experienced "Mac" people that I know, I discovered that many people don't rely on Time Machine, at least not solely. I was persuaded that the really most secure situation is to have a second back-up, preferably a bootable "disc image," stored on a separate device (and maybe preferably off site).
So, I've been looking into the options, services, etc.. There are MANY! I love the ease, automaticity and utility of having a Time Machine back-up. But I'm wondering, for those (probably few) out there that do something MORE than that: what back-up strategies do you use? Is is POSSIBLE to have a "bootable" backup on an online/cloud device (maybe not)? What systems work well and are complementary/supplementary to Time Machine?
I know, from my own experience, that HAVING a backup is fairly easy. But I've also learned that RESTORING a backup (mine's around 400 GB) is NOT "easy", at least very time consuming, and probably fraught with potential problems which won't appear until it's too late to do something else! So I'm particularly looking at the restoration features of backup software and services. Frankly, those are often largely ignored in the promotions, which mainly focus on how easy it is to DO the backup but never talk much about doing the restore!!
Any and all opinions are welcomed. I am definitely considering some redundancy in my backups after "dodging the bullet" twice in the last 3 months!

... how "exposed" one still might be with "just" a Time Machine backup.
Just one backup isn't enough. Two or more are preferable. Time Machine can back up to as many external devices as you wish. Purchase two or more inexpensive USB hard disk drives and store one of them offsite at all times. Time Machine will back up to each one "in rotation" when they're available. If the backup device it's expecting isn't available, it looks for the next one, etc.
If you want to augment Time Machine with another backup strategy, consider "clone" software such as Carbon Copy Cloner. It will create bootable copies of your existing installation if you consider that a valuable option.
"Bootable" is fine but not really necessary. Consider the possibility in which it's impossible to boot your Mac for whatever reason, or if should happen to be lost, stolen, or irreparably damaged. Consider the circumstances applicable to the way you use your Macs that might cause that event. If your disaster recovery plan addresses that contingency, it's a good plan. Recovering 400 GB is going to be time consuming no matter what method you use. An external HDD with a Thunderbolt interface would be fastest, followed by USB3, followed by USB2, followed by a directly connected (Ethernet cable) Time Capsule, followed by a wireless Time Capsule — for which a TM restoration might take an unacceptable amount of time (days).
Obviously I don't know the circumstances of the repairs you required, but I question the necessity to replace the hard disk. It's possible the same one could have been re-used, saving you the inconvenience of having to perform a restoration.

Bootable backups - disk utility and which external drives

hi all
(maybe) a simple question
i have been using time machine for my back ups but i am now planning to have a second backup program. i'm looking at using a bootable clone in this regard.
i started looking at super duper and ccc however a few stumbling blokes have just popped up (well at least warning signs that may be of no issue at all - hence this question)
* can ALL external drives be used for bootable backup purposes?
I have a couple of western digital ones - my book essential and my passport.
On the western digital website, it does not have my model numbers listed - does it matter?
Is it a case of any usb connected external drive can be used for intel macs? - i am getting conflicting views on various postings i have seen re this question
second part/question is:
i also understand disk utility can be used for cloning (no updates, just full clones) and as a bootable back up.
if, just for the purposes for having a back up bootable drive, can i set up a clone without too much regard for recloning it (say every 2 months) and if i need to use it, then boot the mac back up with it and then do a full restore using my up to date time machine backups? am i missing something with that method? is that too simple?
feedback much appreciated on these 2 areas
cheers
peter t

Crows2012 wrote:
1) there is no way to make a BOOTABLE clone using disk utility or time machine whatsoever, right? DU will only allow me to make clones and Recovery HD essentially allows me to restore the system (ie software) AFTER booting up?
Correct with respect to TM; all you get is a copy of the Recovery HD.
Disk Utility will make a bootable clone, but there are downsides. First, it can only do a whole copy; unlike a specialized cloning app, it won't copy just what's new or changed, so takes a long time. Second, as I understand it, it won't copy to a smaller volume, even if there's plenty of free space on the internal. For example, if you have a 1 TB internal with only 400 GB on it, DU won't copy it to a 500 GB drive. I may be wrong, but I've seen that posted here by folks who seem to know.
does file b here mean aliases of file b in each backup?
It acts sorta like that, but no.
There's one copy of the actual file, but two hard links to it, one in each folder. The file actually "belongs" to both folders at the same time! The good part of that is, if you delete either backup folder, the other one remains intact. The downside is, how the heck do you count the size of each folder accurately?
that was a great read to understand TM workings and attain some level of piece of mind re my question of incremental v differential backups
It is a bit hard to get your head around! I've been revising and editing that for several years trying to make it clear.
And remember, this only applies to TM as far as I know, at least for consumer-level backup apps.
While it may be possible to boot your computer to an external hard drive, Western Digital does not provide technical support for booting your computer using an external hard drive. If you intend to make a copy of your boot drive, or install your operating system, please use a second internal drive (EIDE or Serial ATA), rather than an external drive.
Yup. WD doesn't exactly have a good reputation for support.
i guess i'll trial CCC or SD and see what happens with the drives that i have re BOOTABILITY
I use CCC myself -- it's a great product with great support.
I downloaded SD a couple of times, but never got around to experimenting with it. Lots of folks swear by it, and say it also has excellent support. To a large degree, it just seems to be a matter of which approach and GUI you prefer, but CCC does allow "archiving" of changed and deleted stuff (differently from TM), and can copy Recovery HDs. I don't think SD does either, but it may have other advantages.
4) and, i think one final question, and a simple/naive one at that.....if my internal hard drive physically collapses then what are the benefits of that bootable clone v not having one?
You can start up from the clone and run normally (but likely a bit more slowly), although you probably won't be as up-to-date as you would after restoring to a new or repaired internal, or an external, from TM. The reason is, running a clone backup, even an incremental one, takes much longer and far more CPU than one of TM's quick incrementals, which it will do hourly if you let it. Few folks using a clone for an OSX drive do it more than once per day, many only once a week.
The downside is, if you run from the clone, you no longer have a backup -- the clone has the only copy of your stuff. That's one reason many folks who use only a cloning app have two (or more) externals with them.
Apart from (obviously) being able to start up immediately to do whatever i wanted to do at the time, after i replace the hard drive (if that was to be the case) are there further expenses or much inconvenience suffered due to not having a bootable drive in getting things all sorted internally on the mac? what is the process in that regard, generally speaking
Just clone the external to the new internal, and you're back in business.
thanks heaps for your time to answer these and previous questions and to build up my understanding of these topics
You're quite welcome.

Should Bootable Backup HD's Have Free Buffer Space?

Question: when creating the bootable backups, can each partition size be equal to the HD size it is going to backup or should there be some amount of free buffer space? If so, what percentage larger would you recommend the backup HD be than the one containing the OS?
Thanks
brae

Brae wrote:
when creating the bootable backups, can each partition size be equal to the HD size it is going to backup or should there be some amount of free buffer space?
The backup partition doesn't have to be any larger than the partition it's backing up.
You posted your question in the Airport/Time Capsule section. Is there a reason you considered that an appropriate place for it?

Partition format for bootable backup

I am running Tiger on my G4 and MBP, and also running SL on the MBP off an external HD (don't ask).
I want to make a third bootable backup copy of my HDs for my G4 and MBP on one HD that I will partition for both of the computers and the 2 systems on the MBP using SuperDuper to do the backup.
If I choose GUID format, all the partitions will be GUID. I know I can only choose one format for all the partitions.
Can the G4 be booted from a GUID formatted HD?
Or should I do the backup in Apple HFS+ Journaled (do I remember the term correctly?) in which can will it be bootable on the MBP?
Help please - I need to do this asap before I leave town so I can put the new backup in our safe deposit box.
Thanks,
Mrs H

BDAqua wrote:
Hi there, That is done on the Erase tab, before you can even Partition it.
As Niel said...
HFS+ = Format
APM = Partition scheme
BDA - stick with me here, I'm confused. Let me explain:
I finally remembered that the Help for "Partition" is found in DU help. And I know I've done this before but I can't figure out format and scheme now.
Here's some of what it says in Help - and I don't see how it links to what's been suggested here.
Sorry to be so stupid - I just want to get this done once and right and I don't want to have to re-do it once it's done. And I'm running out of time before I leave the country. (btw - I know you don't like LaCies but I've had good luck with them - the HD I just got for storing in our safe deposit box is a tiny 1TB Rikiki Go - fits in the palm of my hand, very cool1)
From Help, I begin quoting step 5 here - *my question/comments
-Select the disk in the list that you want to partition, and click Partition.
*so far so good - but is this after I choose erase? - I recall to get to partition I have to choose erase.
-Choose the number of partitions from the Volume Scheme pop-up menu....
*no problem
-Click each partition and type a name for it, _choose a format_, and type a size...
*does this mean each partition can have a different format? I recall when I tried to format the last HD I partitioned, once I chose GUID it made every partition (volume?) be that and I couldn't have different partitions be different formats.
Here is where I should choose format HFS + ??? Is this a choice?
-If you’ll be using a volume as a Mac OS 9 startup disk, select the checkbox to install the Mac OS 9 drivers.
*one partition (volume??) I'd like to be able to use as OS 9 startup in an emergency - but not all, esp since 2 segments (volumes?) are from Intel Mac.
-If you’ll be using a volume as a Mac OS X startup disk, click Options, and choose the appropriate partition scheme. To use a volume to start up an Intel-based Mac, choose the GUID partition scheme. To use a volume to start up a PowerPC-based Mac, choose the Apple partition scheme.
*Here's where things got tricky - last time I couldn't have one section (volume?) be GUID and one not -
so here's where a QUESTION is - if I want this to be able to backup G4 and MBP and be able to bootable for the HD for which each is a clone - what do I select as scheme - APM??? - and will this work for both???
Help please -
Mrs H

Disk Utility Backup Question

Hello, I have the latest Mac OS X updates on my Macbook Pro. My question is concerning Disk Utility. I am trying to backup my "home" folder or my entire hard drive as I am worried about losing files if my hard drive fails. I try to create a disk image of my "home" folder and about 10 to 15 percent of the way through, an error comes up saying that "(name of my home folder) cannot be copied" or something to that extent. I am fairly new to Macs, and I'm just wondering what this error is and how can I get around it and be able to back up all my information using Disk Utility, so that I can put it on my external hard drive. Thanks in advance,
Todd

Hello,
If you are trying to make disk image of the hard drive, and creating the disk image on that same hard drive, then that could be your problem.
You cannot really make an exact copy of something that is constantly changing.
Since the act of creating the image is also modifying the source, you would end-up going in circles.
You need to create your image on something else (a different drive).
That may not work either if the drive is in use while you are trying to make your image.
So, you could try booting from your original Restore Disk that came with your computer. Then, use the disk utility on that restore DVD to make your disk image.
But, if you want to go the easy route, consider using a utility like Carbon Copy Cloner.
http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html
This program can also be used to create a disk image version of your drive. That method would work like what you are trying to do now.
But, it can also be used to create an exact clone of your main hard drive to an external or second hard drive.
This would be a bootable backup that can be used to put your entire system back exactly as it was at the time of the backup.
This means that if something happens, you can boot from your external drive, and resume normal work. Or, you can boot from the external drive and run the program again to restore your computer to match the backup.
This backup is an exact clone of your entire installation, so it is readable by another machine.
It works great, and I've never had a problem with it.
If a full backup is not what you want, you can customize your backup to grab just what you want.
But, I use the "Clone" feature.
This has the advantage of being able to restore quickly, and return back to the exact point you were at when you backed-up.
And, by being able to boot from the backup, you don't have to use another computer or re-install your OS before you can restore. Just boot from the backup and restore.
I actually have my external hard drive partitioned into two sections.
One partition is used just for holding my system backup. It is sized to be large enough to hold my entire OS X installation and everything I keep on my system.
The other partition is the remaining portion of the drive. I use that one to hold large files that I use less frequently.
This works great because I can just over-write my backup partition for each backup without worrying about my data files (since they are on a separate partition).
And, it makes things much easier to manage.
This backup is the most flexible backup method there is.
You can use it to:
* Boot if your original hard drive were to fail completely
* Boot if your original hard drive's OS X installation were corrupted
* Restore your entire system to the exact state of the system at the time of backup. This means no re-installing and then restoring. Just boot and copy the drive back to your main drive. Nice, fast, and you're done.
* If you don't need to restore the entire drive, then just grab the files you need.
* It's readable by any Mac OS computer. No special software required to access it's files.
Another popular program is SuperDuper:
http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html
This program has similar capabilities to the one I use. But, they charge for the full version.
But, if you want to use built-in tools, you can use the Disk Utility built-into Mac OS X. This article describes that and other methods:
http://homepage.mac.com/geerlingguy/macsupport/mac_help/pages/0016-backuposx.html
Also, keep in mind that in order to have a bootable backup, you need a FireWire drive or a computer that supports booting from a USB drive (only the new Intel Macs support booting from USB).
Naturally, if you do make a bootable backup copy, you'll want to make sure and test it before you count on it. So, you should boot the computer from the backup copy, and make sure that it all works as it should. That way you'll know it works when you need it.
To boot from an external drive or partition, turn on your computer, and press and keep holding the "Option" key until the selection menu appears.
A menu will appear, and in a few minutes you'll be able to choose the drive / partition you want to boot from and proceed from there.
I hope this helps.

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