Is it safe to backup clone...

Question

...if I've just had problems with the native drive? Could any problems carry over to the clone?
I booted from the clone, ran Disk Utility, and got the drive working again. I was about to perform my regular backup...but should I? Is it safe?
Message was edited by: Diane Wordsmith

Answer 1

...if I've just had problems with the native drive? Could any problems carry over to the clone?
Yes, since the clone is basically a copy of the first drive. They would either get carried over (if you did a block by block copy) or they would be reflected in the clone if the directory was messed up on the first drive and the files were messed up as a result.
I booted from the clone, ran Disk Utility, and got the drive working again. I was about to perform my regular backup...but should I? Is it safe?
When backing up I boot from my clone, verify the main drive, then boot from the main drive and clone it over since I am now assured (as much as possible) that it is in good condition for cloning. In theory you should have multiple copies of backups of different ages (a la Time Machine) but I don't know many people who own that many drives.
The quandry comes when your main drive does need repairing. There does exist the possibility that repairing a drive may make it worse. Ideally then you don't want to mess up your existing good but dated backup before you are certain the repair has succeeded. You then need a second spare drive so you can clone the main drive with its possible errors so if something does go wrong with the main drive while repairing you at least have a copy of the files as they currently exist, then try to reconcile those files with the previous ones. Maybe this isn't terribly clear, but hopefully you see what I mean. I don't know of many who actually do it that way though. I've only had minor errors on my drive once and I just crossed my fingers and went ahead and repaired it - successfully.