Rebooting from USB / Carbon Copy Cloner?? Is it possible? Or Firewire only?

Hello
I'm just choosing a new backup drive for my MacBook Pro.
I'm using Carbon Copy Cloner to back up.
Is it possible to book from a USB 2.0 drive?
Thanks

Having a CCC image and running TimeMachine is an excellent option. With a clone, you'll always be able to get up and running in just the amount of time it takes to reboot should you have a catastrophic failure of your internal drive. You cannot boot from a TimeMachine backup. Of course your TimeMachine backup will always have the most current versions of anything you might be working on that might not have been included in your last CCC image. This way you'll be able to get up and running fast and you'll have access to all of your most current data. You will need separate partitions if you want to run both on the same machine as TimeMachine will grow to fill all available space in the partition on which it is running, so you will need to give it its own partition.

Similar Messages

Carbon Copy Cloner no longer free ):

ok guys i just found out the CCC is no longer free. Can someone tell me another alternative to back up my hd, or where i can download it again?
Thanks.

The following is from: Carbon Copy Cloner's Transition to a Commercial Product
Can I continue using the older version that is "donationware"?
Yes, absolutely. If you are currently using CCC and have not donated in the past, you are welcome to continue using any version up to and including 3.4.7 as long as you like without purchasing a license. Note, however, that previous versions of CCC are not qualified against Mountain Lion and we are no longer developing older versions of CCC. In addition, we offer limited support on a case-by-case basis. Choose "Update CCC..." from the Carbon Copy Cloner menu to see options for disabling the CCC software update checks.
You can download previous versions of CCC on our Downloads page.
If I donated for CCC in the past, will I have to purchase the new version?
No. To express our appreciation to all of the people who have sent a verifiable donation to Bombich Software prior to July 24, 2012, we will grant a registration code for CCC 3.5. If you are a previous donor and see a message about a 30-day trial, you can retrieve your registration code here.

I have an iMac 2013 running OSX 10.9.4. I want to use Carbon Copy Cloner to backup user files to an external hard drive. Then I want to remove iPhoto libraries from iMac. What will happen to the iPhoto libraries that I back up when I run backup in a

I have an iMac 2013 running OSX 10.9.4. I want to use Carbon Copy Cloner to backup user files to an external hard drive to free up space on my iMack Hard drive.
So, say I make the backup today, delete iphoto libraries from my iMac, and then backup my iMac in a week. What happens to the iphoto libraries that are on the external backup drive now that I am backing up the iMac where they no longer exist?
I will have them backed up to a separate second external drive as well.
I'm just very cautious about removing them from the hard drive.
Thanks for helping and understanding my crazy caution!

I'd like to store my Aperture /IMovie Libraries on an external hard drive.
That is fine and recommended.. use the fastest disk you can afford.. ie Thunderbolt>USB3>FW800>USB2.
In addition, I'd like to partition the external hard drive so that Time Machine can use it to both back up my IMac and the external library drives.
Let me be clear.. you want to partition the one disk.. use it for TM and move your files to the external disk.. and then backup to the same disk.. You can do it.. but that is not a backup.. that is an experiment in how long you can get away with running files and backups on the same disk before you lose everything.. like Russian Roulette.. pull the trigger enough times and laws of probability will do you in.
You must have backups on a different disk .. otherwise it is pointless.
Can I set up a RAID 5 format for redundancy?
No.. you can buy special USB and Thunderbolt external drives that support RAID..
BUT that is still not a backup.. let me show why.. you make a silly move and corrupt your file in aperture.. it is not that rare.
Raid will corrupt all copies of the files.. it is replicated across all disks.
Delete a photo it is deleted across all disks.. you have no recovery.
Alway, always consider RAID system one disk.. backup onto another disk.. and if the photos or movies are at all important to you.. ie your family .. make another copy and store in a relatives house.. There is no such thing as too much redundancy.

Can I update an iMac from another iMac using Carbon Copy Cloner?

I change office locations every 6 months and move to a similar iMac setup. At each move, using external hard drives, I update the "older" iMac HD with the current Mail, Addressbook, work files, etc. Currently, I am using Snow Leopard; the machine I am transitioning to is behind, using Leopard.
This time something new is before me, I purchased (honestly) the Snow Leopard upgrade for the iMac that I am transitioning to. So I have an OS upgrade plus a file plus a lot of application additions/upgrades.
The question is, can I use *Carbon Copy Cloner* to make an image of my current iMac and upgrade the 2nd iMac with all my recent applications in one fell swoop? I would

Arthur Levy wrote:
I change office locations every 6 months and move to a similar iMac setup. At each move, using external hard drives, I update the "older" iMac HD with the current Mail, Addressbook, work files, etc. Currently, I am using Snow Leopard; the machine I am transitioning to is behind, using Leopard.
This time something new is before me, I purchased (honestly) the Snow Leopard upgrade for the iMac that I am transitioning to. So I have an OS upgrade plus a file plus a lot of application additions/upgrades.
The question is, can I use Carbon Copy Cloner to make an image of my current iMac and upgrade the 2nd iMac with all my recent applications in one fell swoop?
Yes. Noondaywitch is correct. As long as the version of OSX is no older than the one the newest Mac came with, and the older Mac is compatible (enough RAM, etc), and the drives are formatted properly, you should be able to clone from one Mac to an external HD, then clone that back to the other one.
When you make the clone, boot up from it and run several apps, make sure your internet connection and browser work, etc.
Before cloning back to the other Mac, boot it up from the clone and do the same.
You may have to change a few settings for your internet connection, of course.

How can we disassociate an Apple ID from a set of computers formated from a single computer using Carbon Copy Cloner and a single image and then Migration Assistant to install their old profile? The original ID is the Apple ID for all the stores.

Here is a bit more detail.
We were replacing old teacher machines and wanted to do it as efficiently as possible. Therefore, we set up one computer, through the OS installation and ran all updates, and then made a disk image so that we can use Carbon Copy Cloner to image all the other computers without having to run all the other updates. Once they were set up to a base level and assigned to a teacher we used Migration Assistant to import all their old files and items. Everything has been fine until recently the computers became aware of needing an update for one or two apps. The machine asks for the original computer's Apple ID for all updates. We have logged out of the apple id and back in with another to test if running the updates will work with that Apple ID and even after a refresh it still asks for the other Apple ID. How can we disassociate the Apple ID from those other computers so that the individual who owns the original is not needed each time there is an update or has to give out their Apple ID password?

There are two parts to this:
1) It may be that you should have an Apple Education Support person helping you with this. If you have enough computers for this to be a problem, you may benefit from a Server, a site license, and an occasional visit from an Education Support Specialist.
2) The brief answer, if you want Individual Apple_IDs to control each computer, is to buy new copies of Mac OS X under those new Apple_IDs and re-download and re-Install. Mac OS X is customized to the Apple_ID before it is downloaded.

Carbon Copy Cloner from Older OS to Newer OS

If I use Carbon Copy Cloner and clone my HDD for my Mac Book Pro which is currently running Snow Leopard, and copy it onto a computer with Mavericks, is there anything I have to do special?
Will it replace Mavericks with Snow Leopard?
Or will it just put all my files and programs and such on Mavericks?
Seems like a dumb question, but I am operating under the assumption that the newer OS X's may psossibly have some slightly different system folder structures and having a carbon copy of and older OS may cause there to be doubles of folders that couldnt be replaced because they are in different loctations or have different names.

You could buy an external HD and make a time machine backup... in the setup of mavericks (with the new HD in your MacBook) you have the option to import user data from time machine or an old mac...
An other option is to copy the HD of your MacBook to an external HD (with CCC) but you have to import your old data per drag and drop from the external Copy. This option is more difficult and requires much time, but you have a "clean" new system without any old stuff from previous systems...

Mac Pro Boot slow after Leopard Update and Carbon Copy Cloner

I just purchased a 1TB Internal hard drive - Seagate Barracuda 7200rpm - and used Carbon Copy Cloner to clone my original hard drive (which is running Tiger). Everything seems to be normal, except the the long boot up process. The desktop appears, the dock appears, and then there is a long pause of 20 to 30 seconds before the drives mount and and the desktop folders appear. I have 10 gigs of RAM, I have rebuilt the Directory with Disk Warrior 4.1, and also repaired the disk permissions (although some of them state that they can't be repaired). When I reboot from my original 250 Gig hard drive, the boot is lightning fast. Any thoughts? I have many third party software programs installed and am trying to avoid a fresh Leopard Install. Thanks, this is my first post!

this may happen on the first boot on a cloned drive because the system has to rebuild various caches that are not cloned. it should be back to normal boot speed after that.

Best External Hard Drive for Carbon Copy Cloner?

I'm about to do a clean install of Leopard on my *Mac Pro* but I want to back up/clone my current system (10.4.11) to an *external hard drive* first. Based on the recommendations of similar users (Logic Studio) -- a clean install is preferable to an upgrade from Tiger to Leopard. I plan to use *Carbon Copy Cloner* to clone my current system but am unclear as to whether I can use an *external USB drive* versus an external Firewire drive.
Some people claim that firewire is much faster and more reliable for transferring/backing up data, and more importantly, that it's the only type of external hard drive one can boot from -- but I'm not sure that's true for these Intel-based Macs.
Also, I currently use an *Apogee Ensemble* audio interface which does not like sharing the firewire bus with other peripherals. I've also heard references to a external hard drive chipset called 911+ as being important but I think this may only be in regard to firewire.
Bottom line, _can I use an external USB drive with Carbon Copy Cloner on an Intel-based Mac?_
I'm looking for something around 500 Gigs that can sit on my desk with a minimal footprint. I'd like to partition it into three volumes -- the first for the Tiger clone; the second for weekly Leopard back-up; and the third for sound library storage. I'll likely need to access the third volume in realtime from *Logic Pro 8* (audio application) so the HD should be pretty fast. Recommendations?

So Kappy & Hatter...
Allow me to spell this out in practical terms. I'm installing Logic Pro, an audio production application. The consensus is that best results are achieved by installing the application on the internal system drive in bay #1 on the Mac Pro.
Most professional users of Logic Pro recommend a second internal drive in bay #2 solely for audio recording even though the app runs on the drive in bay #1. The drive in bay #2 is often a Raptor because of the 10,000 rpm spin rate, beneficial for the recording process.
For sound libraries with large audio samples/loops, often streamed to the app -- a third drive is recommended to store the sound library. It can be internal or external. Many people use external drives for this function on a firewire 800 bus. The emphasis for this drive would be to read quickly and stream the samples quickly. I would assume that a 32MB buffer cache versus 16MB would be beneficial. I was looking for hi-speed if I went the external route -- hence my foray into the realm of eSATA buses, but perhaps I should just get an internal drive for this as I do have drive bays available in the Mac Pro.
Can you recommend drive spex for this task or a particular hard drive for this task of storing and streaming the sound library?

HELP! Has Carbon Copy Cloner Killed This G5?

I've got myself into a right old pickle, and wondered if any of the Mac faithful would be able to share any bright ideas on how to proceed.
Essentially, here's how I spent my Bank Holiday;
Mission - To completely clone the 150GB System and 230GB 'Projects&Sounds' internal drives on a Dual 2GHz G5 - both drives over 99% full. OS=10.3.5
Began by downloading SuperDuper only to find Sys Reqs not met. (10.3.9 required).
Used Carbon Copy Cloner to duplicate 230GB Internal to 240GB partition of 400GB Ext FW800 drive - all good.
Used CCC to move 56GB of files from 150GB Ext FW400 drive to 130GB partition of 400GB Ext FW800 drive - all good.
Used CCC to clone internal 150GB System drive to 150GB Ext FW 400 drive. 'Bootable clone' selected.
At end of cloning process, with roughly 1GB left to go, CCC hung up.
Force quit CCC yielded no result.
After 2 hours, whole system was frozen, including menu-bar clock & dock. Hard restart from power button.
Stalled at grey screen - Apple & spinning cursor
Disk utility verified all clones OK - backups intact. Initial side by side check reveals all files seem to be present.
Mission now to get G5 going again.
Hooked up 1st G5 by firewire Target Disk Mode to 2nd G5.
Ran Disk Utility on 1st G5's System drive from 2nd G5. Error reported; "The underlying task reported failure on exit (-9972)" Also reported "Keys out of place" Failed to verify/repair.
Installed Disk Warrior 3.02 on 2nd G5 & ran on 1st G5's System drive. Reported major differences between original and rebuilt directory in preview, chiefly in HD Library (App Support) & System Folder.
Made note of differences and rebuilt directory of 1st G5's System drive with Disk Warrior.
Rechecked with Disk Utility, 1st G5's System drive appeared fine this time.
Attempted to boot - stalled at grey screen - Apple & spinning cursor
Booted 1st G5 into Single User mode; fans screaming; reported
"Can't open Library: / System / Library / Frameworks / CoreFoundation.Framework / Versions / A / CoreFoundation (No such file or directory, Errno = 2)"
Ran fsck, all good.
Exited Single User mode, Finder failed to launch.
Relaunched Target Disk Mode, copied missing file from clone back to original.
Attempted to boot - stalled at grey screen - Apple & spinning cursor
Booted into Single User mode; reported huge screen of gobbledygook (see pic!)
Attempted to reinstall System 10.3.4 (Archive & Install) from Install disk - got first kernel panic
Would not boot from install disks
Ran Apple Hardware test - test would not run
Error - "Invalid Memory Access at %SRR0: 00000000.00000000 %SRR1: 10000000.00083030"
Apple PowerMac7,3.5.1.8f2
BootROM built on 05/21/04 @ 10:56:59"
Reinstalled system 10.3.4 over firewire Target Disk Mode from 2nd G5 using Install disks.
Attempted to boot - Kernel panic.
Ran Apple Hardware test again - test still would not run.
Error - "Invalid Memory Access at %SRR0: 00000000.00000000 %SRR1: 10000000.00083030"
Apple PowerMac7,3.5.1.8f2
BootROM built on 05/21/04 @ 10:56:59"
Unplugged all FW & USB peripherals
Removed all but 2 of RAM chips (8 x 1GB DIMMS installed in machine altogether)
Attempted to boot - Kernel panic.
Swapped RAM around in pairs
Attempted to boot - Kernel panic.
Ran Apple Hardware test again - test still would not run.
Error - "Invalid Memory Access at %SRR0: 00000000.00000000 %SRR1: 10000000.00083030"
Ran out of ideas, patience and hair to pull out. Went home to sob on the wife's shoulder and hug the cat.
Now what?
I have to get this computer working again fast!
cheers, and sorry for the long post
Dave
G5 2GHz Mac OS X (10.3.5)
G5 2GHz

Just an update on the situation;
First of all, many thanks you guys for all the replies and helpful suggestions - I was a few millimetres from the end of my tether when I first posted.
After I ran DiskWarrior on the System Drive, it appeared to be OK according to both DU and fsck, so I was able to do another backup copy of all the important stuff. I'd already used Target Disk Mode to create some space on it, prior to my Archive and Install of 10.3.4 over firewire. This still had no effect, however.
As luck would have it, yesterday morning a mate of ours who is an audio systems tech was in the building on another job, so he popped by to have a look. When I opened it up, it was like it had been found in the middle of an ancient pyramid, brown sandy dust all over the fans and the heatsink. We performed a PMU reset, swapped the ram around again, unplugged the HDs and attempted to boot from CD - still no joy. Quite a lot of swearing though.....
My techy mate confirmed my worst fears that it is most likely a blown processor or logic board. We're going to swap in another system drive today just to make sure, but it doesn't look good. Fortunately, he was able to loan my colleague another machine to use whilst the G5 goes away to sickbay for diagnosis and a no-doubt costly repair, but we still had to reinstall and reauthorize the mountain of plugins (over 250!), then copy over more than 100Gb of project and audio files from the backups, which took until 10pm last night to accomplish. We'll have to do the same thing again if and when the original machine comes back from repair.
I'm devastated, this is exactly the disaster I was trying to avoid in the first place. I didn't know you could clone from DU (thanks Tom) - if I did, I probably wouldn't be in this mess..... you live and learn, eh?
This morning though, everything seems to be running fine, the temporary G5 is performing well. Three days behind schedule, looking at a possible £1500 repair bill, but at least we can get some real work done now!
Thanks again to everyone
Dave
G5 2GHz

MacPro wont back up to Time Machine or Carbon Copy Cloner?

I am running 10.6.8 on my 2 x 3 Ghz Intel Mac Pro with 10 Gb of Ram. I have been backing up my two internal drives to an external 2 Tb WD for over a year using time machine and it would lose the drive every once in a while but I could get it back. Now after multiple erasures and reformats I can't get Time Machine or Carbon Copy Cloner (not at the same time : ) ) to run any faster than 1Gb/13min. Just my big ol' music drive will take 6 days at that speed!
I know there is something wrong for these speeds to be this slow. Does anyone have any suggestions of ways to speed up transfer and get the data flowing freely like it should or even theories about what's going on? I am using USB 2.0 from the drive to the tower. Cheers.

First what interface did you use? USB2? can't and expect any decent backup performance and forget zeroing a drive. FW800? on some WD MyBook, yes.
I would if possible move it into a FW800/400/eSATA drive case from OWC.
Add a PCIe SATA + USB3 CalDigit card and use that.
Move the drive inside an option? some WD MyBook can't, were built around the external drive case.
Your profile is out of date 10.4.11 is way old and didn't include TimeMachine (10.5 Oct 2007)
Lion and ML are better at Disk Utility and managing disk drives.
I use WD Green, very inexpensive, but no MyBook (yet, maybe USB3 NAS some day).
Why keep your data on one drive that has been beaten to death and not try a WD Black or couple other drives - or do you have those just not listed? Clone your system, clone your data, and even a spare TimeMachine... but I would go with two system backup drives. That is safe, and covers anyone's important system and media and digital library needs.

Reinstalling and Carbon Copy Cloner

I mistakenly posted my question to an 'answered' thread, so will re-post it here. Apologies for the duplication!
Hello Good people on this Mac Forum.
I need your help. Here's the situation:
I'm running OS 10.3.9 on my powerbook G4, which I divided into 5 partitions when I first set it up, a couple of years ago now.
The trouble is that as I grow and my computer grows with me, the partition where I store my hard drive files just isn't big enough to keep up (I have less than 1GB free on this drive and obviously keep getting 'full' messages).
I've already moved most of my applications out onto another partition (months ago now), which has caused various small problems (e.g. I can't open PhotoShop or Dreamweaver files without opening the application first), but the hard drive keeps exanding as I receive emails and blah blah and now it's to the point where I don't even have room on my hard drive partition to receive a podcast, or download a new album to iTunes.
I have plenty of room on other partitions, so my thought is to get rid of the partitions altogether and open my computer up into one large hard drive disc again.
The folks at AppleCare have told me I need to boot from my Software Install and Restore disc and erase the whole disc; then go through the re-installation process.
The problem is that installing from my 'Software Install and Restore' disc will take me back to where I was when I bought the computer (Jaguar), while I am currently running Panther with the benefit of all those years of software updates, etc. I would like to save myself the time and trouble of redoing all this work if at all possible.
I've backed up all my current files on an external drive, using Carbon Copy Cloner (which is partitioned to exactly mirror my computer). What I'd like to do is just get a clean slate on my computer and transfer everything from the external hard drive over onto it. In other words I want to have one drive on my computer, and keep everything exactly as I have it now (sans the partitions).
Has anyone done this before? The AppleCare folks can't help me with the transfer because they are officially unable to advise on anything involving third party software (in this case CCC). They suggested I come here with my question, where people are not constrained by the same rules.
I had originally imagined I could just go through the installation process with my 'install and restore' disc, and then drag and drop (or clone) my backed up files over the new install, replacing them, but they said there might be problems with that. Has anyone had experience with this?
Another solution might be to erase my computer's hard disc, and then boot up from my external drive and clone the backed up files directly onto the empty disc. Would that work? I'm not sure how to boot up from my external drive, or make sure that those files are bootable, however.
Unfortunately I can't find my Panther OS install disc (it's somewhere in a box in the basement that I haven't unpacked since moving), which I'm sure would make the whole thing easier.
Any thoughts or advice for would be very much appreciated.
Amy

Hi Grant,
Thanks for replying!
I've done it several times. The only thing that I'm
not sure of is how you go from several partitions
back to one
This is what I need to do, yes. Are you saying you haven't actually done it? (I too have gone from one to several partitions, and also from several back to one -once- but I didn't need to replace files from an external back up that time.)
(your backup must be to several different
partitions, right?)
Yes, my back up is an exact mirror of my current set up, with the same partitions.
Before you do this, make sure that your backup on the
xternal drive:
1. Is on a firewire, not USB drive
Right - it is.
2. You marked "make bootable" on CCC
I did that, yes.
3. Make sure it actually boots
How would I check that? I don't know how to start up from the external hard drive.
All that said, there are advantages to doing a clean
install.
I'm not sure what you mean by this - do you mean just install through my 'install and Restore' CD?
Its not a bad idea, so long as you can back
up and restore just your files. Most of the updates
will happen automatically (except apps and 10.3.x),
But these are the updates I'm concerned about. There are a LOT of them - I am a web designer and regularly use a LOT of applications. I don't want to reload every one of these, and go through all the updates again. I have deadlines to meet and need to spend the shortest possible time on all this and be safe and smart about it.
and you know that its clean and uncorrupted.
Nothing is corupted now, that I know of. That isn't really the problem.
But you
can always do that later, after the clone, if you
have a problem with it.
I'm not sure what you're referring to here, but I do appreciate the support, especially since it sounds like you use CCC. Can you tell me know to check to see if my backed up systems partition (on the external hard drive) is bootable? Thanks so much.
Amy

Carbon Copy Cloner: do you have to wipe the target drive

From reading the instructions that come with the download of CCC, it seems that when you clone your Applications drive to another drive (as backup), you are essentially reformatting that 2nd drive to be a copy of the first, right?
So when you use CCC, you must have a drive dedicated to becoming the clone? You would lose all data on the target drive? Correct?
If so, it seems to make sense to get a modest hard drive just to hold a clone of the cleanly reinstalled system.
I still am not clear on how to create a bootable clone on a drive, and how to restore that clone. Do you have to reinstall the operating system (and the various application files that also are installed at that time) and then somehow transfer the clone back to the original drive. Or somehow does the clone make it unnecessary to reinstall the operating system before moving the cloned copy of the os back to the Apps drive.
Whew, that's a tangled up understanding so if anyone can unravel this mess itd be great.
Also, is CCC better than making disk images with Disk Utility?

Jon:
Some of what I say will be repeating some of what has already been posted by way of giving a comprehensive response.
The two most popular and powerful utilities for backup/cloning are SuperDuper and Carbon Copy Cloner. Both have their supporters. Both are effective and relatively easy to use. The latest version of CCC is more powerful, but, I think, SD is easier to use. One of these is the first element in making a clone.
SuperDuper will erase the Destination drive before cloning. CCC gives you an option. You really want it erased, unless you are doing cumulative (SmartUpdates in SD) updates, or you will end up with a jumble of stuff. Both will do cumulative updates. CCC allows you to drill down to a single folder. SD allows you to clone the entire HDD, or just the Users Folder. Both make bootable clones, diskimages, compressed read only disk images.
You need an external firewire Hard Disk Drive. Get the largest you can afford and partition it. Since PPC Macs will not boot from USB devices, firewire is important. There are a lot of HDDs out there, some are sexy looking, some have one touch backup etc. The most important feature in a firewire HDD is that it should have the more reliable Oxford 911+ chipset. This is the part that interfaces the Hard Disk Drive with the computer. When it goes, and it does go on many of these drives after the warranty has run out, the drive itself may still be functional but the computer can't see it. Here is a list of HDDs from OWC that have the Oxford 911+ chipset.
You need to format the new HDD Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and, if it is larger than you need for backup, partition it. Dr. Smoke's FAQ Backup and Recovery has excellent tips on backing up, and has a suggested scheme for partitioning your new external FW HDD. If you need step-by-step directions for partitioning and formatting, please post back and ask.
Finally, once you have chosen your partition scheme, adjusting or deleting partitions would destroy all data on the drive except you use third party software.
Cloning is an excellent way of backing up as it not only gives you a backup of your data and total installation, but it gives you an emergency boot drive as well as a drive from which you can boot to run diagnostics and repairs on your internal HDD.
Please do post back with further questions or comments.
Cheers
cornelius

Back up options? Time Machine or Carbon Copy Cloner? What's Better?

Hey guys,
I'm considering performing a clean install of OS X Mavericks on my macbook pro mid 2010. I've been having a lot of lag issues with opening/switching programs and slow browser performance (Safari, Google Chrome, Firefox). I'm currently using Time Machine to back up my macbook pro, but I recently heard of Carbon Copy Cloner as a back up option from the Apple community forums. What do you guys think is a better option? When I do a clean install of Mavericks, which backup option will give me the safest and quickest file transfer?

TM is a system backup, not an archive or best idealized "all data backup"
Carbon Copy and Super Duper are for making system clones for quick recovery of your internal HD
NIETHER are close to "best" or idealized data-only backups or archives, theyre both system emergency backups / restores.
External NAS or HD data collections are for your expanding data archives and backups.
Methodology to protect your data. Backups vs. Archives. Long-term data protection
Data Storage Platforms; their Drawbacks & Advantages
#1. Time Machine / Time Capsule
Drawbacks:
1. Time Machine is not bootable, if your internal drive fails, you cannot access files or boot from TM directly from the dead computer.
2. Time machine is controlled by complex software, and while you can delve into the TM backup database for specific file(s) extraction, this is not ideal or desirable.
3. Time machine can and does have the potential for many error codes in which data corruption can occur and your important backup files may not be saved correctly, at all, or even damaged. This extra link of failure in placing software between your data and its recovery is a point of risk and failure. A HD clone is not subject to these errors.
4. Time machine mirrors your internal HD, in which cases of data corruption, this corruption can immediately spread to the backup as the two are linked. TM is perpetually connected (or often) to your computer, and corruption spread to corruption, without isolation, which TM lacks (usually), migrating errors or corruption is either automatic or extremely easy to unwittingly do.
5. Time Machine does not keep endless copies of changed or deleted data, and you are often not notified when it deletes them; likewise you may accidently delete files off your computer and this accident is mirrored on TM.
6. Restoring from TM is quite time intensive.
7. TM is a backup and not a data archive, and therefore by definition a low-level security of vital/important data.
8. TM working premise is a “black box” backup of OS, APPS, settings, and vital data that nearly 100% of users never verify until an emergency hits or their computers internal SSD or HD that is corrupt or dead and this is an extremely bad working premise on vital data.
9. Given that data created and stored is growing exponentially, the fact that TM operates as a “store-it-all” backup nexus makes TM inherently incapable to easily backup massive amounts of data, nor is doing so a good idea.
10. TM working premise is a backup of a users system and active working data, and NOT massive amounts of static data, yet most users never take this into consideration, making TM a high-risk locus of data “bloat”.
11. In the case of Time Capsule, wifi data storage is a less than ideal premise given possible wireless data corruption.
12. TM like all HD-based data is subject to ferromagnetic and mechanical failure.
13. *Level-1 security of your vital data.
Advantages:
1. TM is very easy to use either in automatic mode or in 1-click backups.
2. TM is a perfect novice level simplex backup single-layer security save against internal HD failure or corruption.
3. TM can easily provide a seamless no-gap policy of active data that is often not easily capable in HD clones or HD archives (only if the user is lazy is making data saves).
#2. HD archives
Drawbacks:
1. Like all HD-based data is subject to ferromagnetic and mechanical failure.
2. Unless the user ritually copies working active data to HD external archives, then there is a time-gap of potential missing data; as such users must be proactive in archiving data that is being worked on or recently saved or created.
Advantages:
1. Fills the gap left in a week or 2-week-old HD clone, as an example.
2. Simplex no-software data storage that is isolated and autonomous from the computer (in most cases).
3. HD archives are the best idealized storage source for storing huge and multi-terabytes of data.
4. Best-idealized 1st platform redundancy for data protection.
5. *Perfect primary tier and level-2 security of your vital data.
#3. HD clones (see below for full advantages / drawbacks)
Drawbacks:
1. HD clones can be incrementally updated to hourly or daily, however this is time consuming and HD clones are, often, a week or more old, in which case data between today and the most fresh HD clone can and would be lost (however this gap is filled by use of HD archives listed above or by a TM backup).
2. Like all HD-based data is subject to ferromagnetic and mechanical failure.
Advantages:
1. HD clones are the best, quickest way to get back to 100% full operation in mere seconds.
2. Once a HD clone is created, the creation software (Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper) is no longer needed whatsoever, and unlike TM, which requires complex software for its operational transference of data, a HD clone is its own bootable entity.
3. HD clones are unconnected and isolated from recent corruption.
4. HD clones allow a “portable copy” of your computer that you can likewise connect to another same Mac and have all your APPS and data at hand, which is extremely useful.
5. Rather than, as many users do, thinking of a HD clone as a “complimentary backup” to the use of TM, a HD clone is superior to TM both in ease of returning to 100% quickly, and its autonomous nature; while each has its place, TM can and does fill the gap in, say, a 2 week old clone. As an analogy, the HD clone itself is the brick wall of protection, whereas TM can be thought of as the mortar, which will fill any cracks in data on a week, 2-week, or 1-month old HD clone.
6. Best-idealized 2nd platform redundancy for data protection, and 1st level for system restore of your computers internal HD. (Time machine being 2nd level for system restore of the computer’s internal HD).
7. *Level-2 security of your vital data.
HD cloning software options:
1. SuperDuper HD cloning software APP (free)
2. Carbon Copy Cloner APP (will copy the recovery partition as well)
3. Disk utility HD bootable clone.
#4. Online archives
Drawbacks:
1. Subject to server failure or due to non-payment of your hosting account, it can be suspended.
2. Subject, due to lack of security on your part, to being attacked and hacked/erased.
Advantages:
1. In case of house fire, etc. your data is safe.
2. In travels, and propagating files to friends and likewise, a mere link by email is all that is needed and no large media needs to be sent across the net.
3. Online archives are the perfect and best-idealized 3rd platform redundancy for data protection.
4. Supremely useful in data isolation from backups and local archives in being online and offsite for long-distance security in isolation.
5. *Level-1.5 security of your vital data.
#5. DVD professional archival media
Drawbacks:
1. DVD single-layer disks are limited to 4.7Gigabytes of data.
2. DVD media are, given rough handling, prone to scratches and light-degradation if not stored correctly.
Advantages:
1. Archival DVD professional blank media is rated for in excess of 100+ years.
2. DVD is not subject to mechanical breakdown.
3. DVD archival media is not subject to ferromagnetic degradation.
4. DVD archival media correctly sleeved and stored is currently a supreme storage method of archiving vital data.
5. DVD media is once written and therefore free of data corruption if the write is correct.
6. DVD media is the perfect ideal for “freezing” and isolating old copies of data for reference in case newer generations of data become corrupted and an older copy is needed to revert to.
7. Best-idealized 4th platform redundancy for data protection.
8. *Level-3 (highest) security of your vital data.
[*Level-4 data security under development as once-written metallic plates and synthetic sapphire and likewise ultra-long-term data storage]
#6. Cloud based storage
Drawbacks:
1. Cloud storage can only be quasi-possessed.
2. No genuine true security and privacy of data.
3. Should never be considered for vital data storage or especially long-term.
4. *Level-0 security of your vital data.
Advantages:
1. Quick, easy and cheap storage location for simplex files for transfer to keep on hand and yet off the computer.
2. Easy source for small-file data sharing.
#7. Network attached storage (NAS) and JBOD storage
Drawbacks:
1. Subject to RAID failure and mass data corruption.
2. Expensive to set up initially.
3. Can be slower than USB, especially over WiFi.
4. Mechanically identical to USB HD backup in failure potential, higher failure however due to RAID and proprietary NAS enclosure failure.
Advantages:
1. Multiple computer access.
2. Always on and available.
3. Often has extensive media and application server functionality.
4. Massive capacity (also its drawback) with multi-bay NAS, perfect for full system backups on a larger scale.
5. *Level-2 security of your vital data.
JBOD (just a bunch of disks / drives) storage
Identical to NAS in form factor except drives are not networked or in any RAID array, rather best thought of as a single USB feed to multiple independent drives in a single powered large enclosure. Generally meaning a non-RAID architecture.
Drawbacks:
1. Subject to HD failure but not RAID failure and mass data corruption.
Advantages:
1. Simplex multi-drive independent setup for mass data storage.
2. Very inexpensive dual purpose HD storage / access point.
3. *Level-2 security of your vital data.

Restore SSD from USB Flash Drive Clone

Hi,
My sister bought me a 512gb Samsung 830 SSD which I wanted to format using a 32gb USB flash drive which I'm using as a boot disk (Clone of my orginal hard disk using Carbon Copy). However, When I open up the Disk Utility and go to restore the SSD using the USB Flash drive I get an error "The startup disk can't be used as a restore source: To use this disk as a source, restart your computer using the recover system, and open the Disk Utility again." I've restarted several times but always get the same response. What am I doing wrong?

I figured it out, I actually needed 3 things:
1) Carbon Copy Cloner
2) 32GB San Disk Cruzer USB drive
3) Plugable USB 3.0 HDD Docking Station
Step 1: Cloned my old hard drive and created image unto my desktop
Step 2: Format USB drive and restore USB flash drive using Carbon Copy cloner
Step 3: Shut down compter, remove usb drive and install ssd drive into computer (http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook-Pro-17-Inch-Unibody-Hard-Drive-Replacement/3 401/1)
Step 4: Install old hard drive into Plugable USB 3.0 HDD Docking Station
Step 5: Connect Plugable USB 3.0 HDD Docking Station with your old hd installed in it to USB port
Step 6: Start PC....allow the computer to book from the Plugable USB 3.0 HDD Docking Station
Step 7: Connect USB Flash drive to Macbook
Step 8: Open Carbon Copy Clone and restore the USB flash drive onto the ssd drive
Step 9: Once complete....shutdown macbook pro and disconnect both the USB flash drive and the Plugable USB 3.0 HDD Docking Station
Step 10: Turn on macbook pro, it should boot from ssd now (It's so freaking FAST!)

External Hard Drive Unreadable After Carbon Copy Cloner Backup

I am using a Maxtor OneTouch III Media external drive. I had formatted it to be read/writeable from Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger, and had been reading and writing files fine. Then I did a system backup to the external drive with Carbon Copy Cloner. Now when I plug the drive into the USB port, it says "the disk you inserted is not readable by this computer." I am guessing that Carbon Copy Cloner may have messed with the file system format. I had some pretty important files on there and would like to retrieve them, so I'd prefer not to reformat.
Disk Utility shows this information for the drive:
Name : Maxtor OneTouch III Media
Type : Disk
Disk Identifier : disk1
Media Name : Maxtor OneTouch III Media
Media Type : Generic
Connection Bus : USB
Connection Type : External
USB Serial Number : RA09E5XC
Writable : Yes
Ejectable : Yes
Mac OS 9 Drivers Installed : No
Location : External
Total Capacity : 149.1 GB (160,041,885,696 Bytes)
S.M.A.R.T. Status : Not Supported
Disk Number : 1
Partition Number : 0
Also, Partition Scheme : Unformatted
I know that the drive had a name (besides the generic "Maxtor OneTouch III Media) before I did anything with Carbon Copy Cloner. Is my data already gone?
Message was edited by: theleez

Hi , and a warm welcome to the forums!
I think the problem is more the One-touch, they can't boot PPC Macs even via Firewire.
I think you'll have to Reformat it again... did you maybe use GUID Partition Scheme the first time?
See this, except for the GUID part...
http://carlbach.blogspot.com/2008/02/maxtor-one-touch-iii-and-formatting-on.html

Rebooting from USB / Carbon Copy Cloner?? Is it possible? Or Firewire only?

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