Can't reboot to my bootable backup.
Two days ago I received my new Mac Mini, which is replacing my five-year-old iMac. So far I'm very pleased, with two minor issues just barely dampening my enthusiasm:
1- The video has "blinked out" a few times. I'm running video via HDMI->HDMI, and I understand this is a fairly common problem generating a lot of user reports here in the forums. I've only seen it three or four times in the two days I've had my Mini, and the "out" time is very brief, about a second, so I can live with this until Apple issues the expected fix.
2- More serious issue: When I attempt to boot from the bootable backup I created on an external drive, I get the following:
"You can't change the startup disk to the selected disk. Building boot caches on boot helper partition failed."
I can't restart to my external drive using the preference pane. I can reboot while holding the option key and then choose the external drive, but the Mini never fully boots after that; it just keeps spinning away on the grey Apple screen forever until I shut it down.
Any help here would be appreciated, as I don't feel fully comfortable with my data hostage to a single physical device. I'm sure all my personal data is there, but I'd like to be able to get at it by booting from that external drive should the drive* inside my Mini fail.
Do I need to install Mountain Lion directly onto the external drive to create the "boot helper partition" and then use rsync to complete my bootable backup? Because all I did was format the drive and then use rsync, which is what I've been doing for years now to create bootable backups.
* = Technically it's two drives, as I have the Apple-installed Fusion Drive. But it is one volume.
D'oh!
The external I'm using is a new virgin drive. I had never installed any version of OS X on it before. So yes, it was missing the behind-the-scenes/under-the-carpet magic. I suppose I could have installed Mountain Lion over its contents, but I just did a Carbon Copy Cloner clone operation instead, which has done the trick. I should be able to rsync for my backups to it from here on out.
Thanks, BD and Linc. Sorry to have wasted your time. I should have known better than to have just partitioned, formatted, and started the rsync backups without first either doing a proper volume clone or an OS X install.
Best wishes,
John H
Similar Messages
-
I am using MACOSX 10.6
The data on the disk partition on my Iomega 2Tb external hard disk drive (labeled "Bootable Backup") was written by Carbon Copy Cloner (CCC ver. 3.37)
I have had problems with overwriting this using CCC, and I have also had troubles changeing the data on my "Versioned Backup" partition, using either CrashPlan or CCC
A third partition that was virgin ("Half-Tb Volume") on the same external disk drive, however, DID accept the latest CCC bootable backup of my Macintosh HD...which is the reason I want to recover rthe space on the first bootable backup partition.
I have not found any links to this error using Google search, apart from the definition.
AnyoneDo a backup using Time Machine or a clone. Then boot into the Recovery Volume (command - R) on a restart. Run Disk Utility Repair disk. If it can't repair the disk, then select the erase tab and reformat using Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Also click the Option button and select GUID. When complete, reboot normally and restore your data.
Please update your profile to reflect the OS you are running. -
How do I backup files if can't reboot?
Volume 23 has an error msg of incorrect file number and therefore will not allow the machine to boot the OS. I've tried repairing the disc using the disc utility. It instructs me to backup the files and reinstall. How can I backup files, if I can't reboot the OS to access the files?
There are several ways to back up a Mac that is unable to fully boot. You need an external hard drive to hold the backup data.
1. Boot from the Recovery partition or from a local Time Machine backup volume (option key at startup.) Launch Disk Utility and follow the instructions in this support article, under “Instructions for backing up to an external hard disk via Disk Utility.”
2. If you have access to a working Mac, and both it and the non-working Mac have FireWire or Thunderbolt ports, boot the non-working Mac in target disk mode. Use the working Mac to copy the data to another drive. This technique won't work with USB, Ethernet, Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth.
3. If the internal drive of the non-working Mac is user-replaceable, remove it and mount it in an external enclosure or drive dock. Use another Mac to copy the data. -
Can I restore from an iTunes backup after setting up as a new phone when a full reboot/restore has been carried out?
As @wjosten says. Note, however, that it is important to NOT sync the phone after resetting it. A Sync will overwrite the backup that you want to restore.
-
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 -
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. -
I am trying to create a bootable backup of my mac hard drive. I attached a USB hard drive to my mac mini 2012. Then I GUID partitioned it, cloned my internal drive to the external (using carbon copy cloner), and confirmed all the data made it over. Then I set the external drive as the bootable drive and restarted; but it still booted from the internal drive. I have retried mulitple times with the same result. I have also tried holding down the option key while restarting but the computer does not give me the option of rebooting from the external drive. Is there something I am missing?
I have confirmed the following:
1. The hard drive dock is bootable to the mac (voyager S3 from macsales.com)
2. The hard drive is readable from the mac
3. The hard drive is partitioned to GUID format
4. Selected the external drive as the boot drive from inside mac os.
Can anyone think of anything else?As a quick test you can try installing OS X to the external drive to try booting to a fresh installation. If this works then try another cloning approach. It is likely you might have an odd setting or two in Carbon Copy Cloner that might be the problem here. While not the best option, you can use Disk Utility's "restore" feature to clone the boot drive to an external drive.
-
How to make a bootable backup of the operating system
Hi,
I am given the task to make a bootable backup of the OS (Solaris 9). I know I can use ufsdump to backup the system in single user mode. However, to make a backup bootable, shall I backup the file system to a DVD? Any advice will be greatly appreciated!
Cinderellai call it cloning the disk . you can install boot block as mentioned in second solution of cloning disk
e.g
# /usr/sbin/installboot /usr/platform/`uname -i`/lib/fs/ufs/bootblk /dev/rdsk/c1t2d1s0
################## solution 1 ####################################
dd if=/dev/rdsk/c0t1d0s2 of=/dev/rdsk/c0t4d0s2 bs=2048
############### solution 2 #####################3333
Now this is through but if the disk are from the same vendor (I tested also
dd on disks with different vendors and it function well) and if it the disk
are the same size my opinion is to use the dd command because it is easier
to be done. Anyway if the disk are not from the same size or vendor it could
be done also with ufsdump and ufsrestore. Here how it works and what I did
if your would like to clone a disk with ufsdump and ufsrestore:
For testing we have two disks:
c1t2d0 (Source Disk)
c1t2d1 (Destination Disk)
The source disk has the following layout (slice 4 and 5 are for Disksuite
metadb's but are not initialized or configured):
0 root wm 0 - 634 471.29MB (635/0/0)
965200
1 var wm 635 - 2014 1.00GB (1380/0/0)
2097600
2 backup wm 0 - 2732 1.98GB (2733/0/0)
4154160
3 swap wu 2015 - 2704 512.11MB (690/0/0)
1048800
4 unassigned wm 2705 - 2718 10.39MB (14/0/0)
21280
5 unassigned wm 2719 - 2732 10.39MB (14/0/0)
21280
6 unassigned wm 0 0 (0/0/0)
0
7 unassigned wm 0 0 (0/0/0)
0
On our testsystem the disk are the same size. Firstable the layout/label
from the source disk must be copied to the destination disk because with
ufsdump and ufsrestore this information will not be transfered to the
destination disk because this commands are based on filesystem. This is also
a difference between dd and ufsdump because dd copies also the information
from labels and layouts because this command is based on blocks and not on
filesystem. Here it is how it wors to copy the information from
layout/label:
# prtvtoc /dev/rdsk/c1t2d0s0 > /tmp/z
# fmthard -s /tmp/z /dev/rdsk/c1t2d1s0
fmthard: New volume table of contents now in place.
The slice 0 from the destination disk has now the same layout like the
source disk. This could be controlled with the command:
# format
To transfer the information from slice 0 source disk to the slice 0
destination disk the destination disk must be prepared to work on it. It
means at the moment there is no filesystem on this disk. To do this use the
command newfs. No option are neccessary because for default the filesystem
would be ufs. Only the raw device/slice must given to the command that newfs
knows what exactly must be don:
# newfs /dev/rdsk/c1t2d1s0
newfs: /dev/rdsk/c1t2d1s0 last mounted as /
newfs: construct a new file system /dev/rdsk/c1t2d1s0: (y/n)? Y
Now we have a filesystem on slice 0 and we could mount the slice 0. This
would be made with the command mount and option -F for filesystem = ufs and
-o for read or write = rw and at least which slice = 0. At the end of the
command is the device with the slice which must be mounted:
# mount -F ufs -o rw /dev/dsk/c1t2d1s0 /mnt
Now the device is mounted. With the following command ufsdump 0f = slice 0
and / = partition the filesystem / would be dumped. The whole dump would be
piped (I hope this is the correct english word) to the command ufsrestore
which would be executed in the mounted directory ufsresore and extracts the
dump.
# ufsdump 0f - / | ( cd /mnt ;ufsrestore xvf - )
Add links
Set directory mode, owner, and times.
set owner/mode for '.'? [yn] y
Directories already exist, set modes anyway? [yn] y
DUMP: 405886 blocks (198.19MB) on 1 volume at 406 KB/sec
DUMP: DUMP IS DONE
After given the command, the partition / from source disk and / from the
destination disk looks based on files absolutly the same but there is a
information which MUST be changed and it is the information in "/etc/vfstab"
because on the destination disk in this file are the information from the
source disk (it means source disk will be mounted on the device c1t2d0 and
the destination diks on the device c1t2d1). This information must be changed
in "/etc/vfstab" on the destination disk:
# vi /mnt/etc/vfstab
---------- /mnt/etc/vfstab ----------
#device device mount FS fsck
mount mount
#to mount to fsck point type pass at
boot options
#/dev/dsk/c1d0s2 /dev/rdsk/c1d0s2 /usr ufs 1 yes
fd - /dev/fd fd - no -
/proc - /proc proc - no -
/dev/dsk/c1t2d1s3 - - swap - no -
/dev/dsk/c1t2d1s0 /dev/rdsk/c1t2d1s0 / ufs 1
no
/dev/dsk/c1t2d1s1 /dev/rdsk/c1t2d1s1 /var ufs 1
no
swap - /tmp tmpfs - yes -
---------- /mnt/etc/vfstab ----------
Now we changed the information and the work is done on slice 0. We can now
umount the slice 0:
# umount /mnt
Proceed with the other slice similar like explained before. In our example
it would be:
# newfs /dev/rdsk/c1t2d1s1
newfs: /dev/rdsk/c1t2d1s1 last mounted as /var
newfs: construct a new file system /dev/rdsk/c1t2d1s1: (y/n)? y
# mount -F ufs -o rw /dev/dsk/c1t2d1s1 /mnt
# ufsdump 1f - /var | ( cd /mnt ;ufsrestore xvf - )
Set directory mode, owner, and times.
set owner/mode for '.'? [yn] y
Directories already exist, set modes anyway? [yn] y
# umount /mnt
Slice 4 and 5 are in our example not importante because this slice as
explained are for Disksuite metadb's and on the source disk there are at the
moment no information and no filesystem because Disksuite was not
initialized or configured.
It is a good idea to check the slices which where transfered files before.
This could be done with the command fsck:
# fsck /dev/rdsk/c1t0d1s0
# fsck /dev/rdsk/c1t0d1s1
# fsck /dev/rdsk/c1t0d1s2
# fsck /dev/rdsk/c1t0d1s4
# fsck /dev/rdsk/c1t0d1s5
Now it seems that all what done but something is missing!? The destination
disk looks now like the source disk with one exception; there is NO
boot-block on the destination disk. If you don't create a boot-block the
destination disk would never be bootable. To do this the system where it
must be done must be from the same architecture like the source disk it
means if the source disk is based on sun4m and you give now the command from
a architecture like sun4u to the destination disk the boot-block would not
work. This is what by me happens by the test (source disk based system on
sun4m > to install boot-block I tried to give the command from sun4u based
system and after I tried to boot the destination disk > result = destination
disk was not able to boot). Ok we set now the command for boot-block to the
destination disk to create there a boot-block:
# /usr/sbin/installboot /usr/platform/`uname -i`/lib/fs/ufs/bootblk
/dev/rdsk/c1t2d1s0
Now you could boot the destination disk with the correct alias or the
correct device alias. If you don't know what the alias is give on the system
the following command:
# ls -la /dev/dsk/c1t2d1s0
/dev/dsk/c1t2d1s0 ->
../../devices/iommu at 0,10000000/sbus at 0,10001000/SUNW,soc@
1,0/SUNW,pln at a0000000,753a58/ssd at 2,1:a
End the OS with init 6 and stop the system reboot if the banner of OBP
appears with stop + A. After that you are on the ok prompt. To set an alias
give following command:
# nvalias clone1 /iommu at 0,10000000/sbus@
0,10001000/SUNW,soc@,0/SUNW,pln at a0000000,753a58/ssd at 2,1:a
Use the alias with:
ok boot clone1
Have fun with you new clone...! I hope I did not forgett something but I
tested it several times and it worked every time absolutly nice with no
errors. -
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 -
Creating a Bootable Backup in ML
I've been doing a bit a reading here, but I am still unsure of what I need to do. I recetnly upgraded from Snow Leopard to ML, but I want to create a bootable (mirror) backup on an external drive. I have always used SuperDuper to do this. Super Duper claims that it's latest version will create a bootable backup of ML. My backups in the past have been a bootable mirror of my drive and not the OS alone. Am I better off just redownloading ML and creating a bootable thumb drive of ML or would I be ok mirroring my drive with ML on it as a bootable backup. I hope this was clear...
My backup system has been like this:
Two 1tb bootable HDs (mirrored) that I swap out every week - the one not in use goes into a fire safe
One 2tb for TM
Cloud backup for important stuff.
Thank you!!The Lion Recovery Disk Assistant is an app. When you Open it, you have the opportunity to create a Recovery HD on a thumb drive for whichever OS X you're currently booted into. Just the Recovery HD and not the entire installation of OS X. The Recovery HD is created and hidden when you install OS X. SuperDuper! doesn't clone this. Here is some reading for the Recovery HD in Mountain Lion. It's the same for Lion. If the Recovery HD isn't on your system, you won't have the ability to boot into it for recovery purposes. So the Recovery Disk Assistant gives you this ability via a thumb drive.
The main difference between creating a Mountain Lion Recovery HD and Lion Recovery HD is the Reinstall Mac OS X option in the Utilities menu. The Lion Recovery HD ONLY downloads and installs Lion. The Mountain Lion Recovery HD ONLY downloads and installs Mountain Lion.
For example, if you create the thumb drive while in Mountain Lion, its Recovery HD is put on the thumb drive. And when you boot from that thumb drive, you get the Utilities menu of selections with the ability to download and install Mountain Lion. So, you can't use that thumb drive to download and install Lion. Hope this makes sense. -
Creating a bootable backup for upgrade to Lion
I've read some articles and watched some videos on how to create a disk of my drive from the disk utility. Is that a good way to create a bootable backup of my Mac Mini? I also want to have all my applications transferred over to Lion, though I know how to do that in the installation of the OS. But I want a fresh install over Snow Leopard and reinstall my apps from that bootable disk, again is that possible? If this can work, how can I know for sure if the backup works?
Spinland wrote:
Then what CSound1 said: use CCC to clone your drive to another disk for safekeeping, then install Lion and enjoy. All of your apps will still be there after the upgrade.
Have you checked to make sure your apps are Lion compatible? This guide can help you find out:
http://fairerplatform.com/2011/07/are-your-apps-lion-compatible-how-to-check/
Hi Spinland
That is not what I said exactly ......
1 Clone the SL (internal) to the external.
2 Boot from the external and install Lion on it.
3 Run Lion from the clone until you know it works (and you can identify any incompatible apps).
4 Clone the Lion external back to the internal.
5 You're done. -
Can I use Time Machine to backup to partition on external drive and a Time Capsule?
Trying to plan in advance...
I was wondering if I can (with a laptop) use Time Machine for both:
1. Creating Time Machine backups on a partiion of an external drive. My plan was going to create 2 partitions: one to be used for Time Machine backups of another external hard drive (that holds all of my media) and then the other partition was going to be a bootable clone of my internal drive (totally separate from Time Machine)
and
2. Also use Time Machine for my Time Capsule, to create Time Machine backups of my internal drive.
Is this possible? I had heard that you can't use TM to make backups to a partition on an external drive, AND use it for another drive (like Time Capsule) at the same time. But I would think that this should be possible-
Thanks everyone-Yes you can, and if you are using Mountain Lion it's easy.
If you are using Snow Leopard (as in your profile - this is the Mountain Lion forum), you have to manually select the backup volume each time. Tedious, but possible.
Read Apple Support Communities contributor Pondini's FAQ on that subject: "Rotating" Time Machine backup disks -
How can I restore my latest iCloud backup from my iPhone 4 to my new iPhone 5?
How can I use the my latest iCloud backup from my iPhone 4 to update all my apps on my new iPhone 5? I just registered it and it is a later version of the backup. Can I reboot it now that I have a more current backup from my iPhone 4?
Restoring to an iCloud backup has to be done in the initial setup process. If you have already set up your iPhone 5 you will have to erase it and go back through the setup again. If you have any data on your phone now that is not in the backup that you are restoring to you'll need to do that first. Then go to Settings>General>Reset and tap Erase All Content and Settings. You will then go through the setup screens as you did when the phone was new. When given the option, choose Restore from iCloud Backup (see image below). Be sure you are connected to wifi and your charger as this will take some time to finish.
-
can a time machine usb drive conected to my mac book backup the data from an external usb drive connected to and airport extreme ?
Hi Adam, if you think yoiur HD may be failing you could do a TM restore onto the new disk. I would rather see you do a clone either SuperDuper or CarbonCopy Cloner.Of your internal drive. That way you have a bootable backup in case it does fail.
btw - what are the symptoms of your failing drive?
-mj
Message was edited by: macjack -
When I back up to my iomega external drive is this creating a bootable backup?
I recently noticed in disc utility that my HDD was in red and when I click on it I see the text that reads "this drive has a hard ware problem that can't be repaired". This is a replacement hard drive that I had installed just about a year ago. I guess I will be taking it in to get replaced. I am wondering though, are the backups I am doing on my iomega external hdd "bootable" backups? Will I and how will I be able to get this on to my new hard drive?
Your fear was wise! NEVER EVER use the same external HD for redundant backups. It is extremely wise to use both a Bootable Clone and TM backup however they should be on separate EHDs. The reason being is if the HD crashes you have lost all of your backup. EHD's are very cheap these days so just get yourself another and then use both TM and CCC. This is what I (and many many others) do.
Also here are some articles from MacWorld that discuss different backup strategies. One common thread you will see in each article is using redundant backups.
Backup Plan I
Backup Plan II
Backup Plan III
Maybe you are looking for
-
Want to reinstall software due to "Error 48: File or folder does not exist." but can't find discs !
In 2010, I bought the student version of CS5 including Photostop, InDesign, Illustrator, and some other things. The package was $200 contingent on me being a design student and I was required to send them documentation and everything. Now, nearly 2.5
-
RFBIDE00 without some fields missing
Hello. I'm trying to charge customer data using RFBIDE00 program, but I can't find some fields I need. For example, customer mail or contact person mail. I was thinking in a SAP Note or an enhancement to get this. Thank you.
-
How do I remove all of the contacts that Facebook put into my Contacts? iPhone 5
I have a million contacts now, including duplicates of people who were already there. It's a giant mess. I went to Settings > Facebook > (Toggle "Contacts" to Off) and then did Update All Contacts, but they're still there. In addition to not being ab
-
How can I get the username displayed in BW Web-Report?
Hello all, I try to get the username displayed in BW-Report such as 'welcome <username>'. Maybe you can give me a suggestion how to do it. I appretiate your answer. Regards Vivian
-
Ive just purchased a new pc and installed and authorized Itunes for the fifth and final time. What do I do if purchase another device and need to authorize Itunes again ?