Randall
04-22-2006, 08:36 PM
Carrying on from a discussion in the Windows on a Mac (http://www.aota.net/forums/showthread.php?postid=147269#post147269) thread, I have finally decided to get serious about backing up my Mac.
The setup: a 300GB Maxtor drive installed in a MiniStack (http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/ministack/) Firewire enclosure so I can make bootable backups. There's one 74GB partition to match the Mini's internal drive, and the rest is just free space for now.
I did my first backup with Carbon Copy Cloner (http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html), and then switched to the external drive as my system disk. Whoa -- 7200rpm and a 16MB cache make a difference. The speed improvement over the (G4) Mini's 4200rpm drive was instantly noticeable.
The Maxtor is also noticeably noisier. I almost never hear the Mini's internal drive, and the MiniStack's cooling fan kicks in frequently, even when I'm running off the internal HD (so much for passive cooling). That leaves me with a choice: fast and noisy (but still quieter than my Dell), or slow and inconspicuous.
I'll probably go for the speed. I'm used to computers that make noise. :winky:
After reading this excellent blog post (http://blog.plasticsfuture.org/2006/03/05/the-state-of-backup-and-cloning-tools-under-mac-os-x/), I realized that cloning OS X isn't as easy as I was led to believe. I did not see any signs of broken aliases on the clone -- I moved my Photoshop folder and the alias still worked -- but it's apparent that CCC is not the best choice if you want an exact copy. Sheila's SuperDuper (http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html) comes closer, but those pesky inodes remain elusive.
Being the geek that I am, I want an exact copy -- no ifs ands or buts. It turns out that the Disk Utility included with OS X is the closest thing to Norton Ghost and Acronis True Image on the PC. It can make block-level copies, inodes and all. Perfect. :smile:
NetRestore (http://www.bombich.com/software/netrestore.html) uses the same underlying technology, but I went with Disk Utility because I can boot from the Tiger install DVD and do the cloning outside of the OS. That's the only way to guarantee a perfect duplicate, since you don't have to worry about system files changing in mid-backup. And it was faster than CCC to boot.
So there you have my first experience with OS X backups. I'm about to leave town for a 19-day housesitting assignment, and I'm leaving the Firewire drive here as insurance and bringing along the 200GB USB drive that has all of my Dell backups. That way I can carry my entire computer life with me and leave it all behind at the same time.
Cool.
Randall
The setup: a 300GB Maxtor drive installed in a MiniStack (http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/ministack/) Firewire enclosure so I can make bootable backups. There's one 74GB partition to match the Mini's internal drive, and the rest is just free space for now.
I did my first backup with Carbon Copy Cloner (http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html), and then switched to the external drive as my system disk. Whoa -- 7200rpm and a 16MB cache make a difference. The speed improvement over the (G4) Mini's 4200rpm drive was instantly noticeable.
The Maxtor is also noticeably noisier. I almost never hear the Mini's internal drive, and the MiniStack's cooling fan kicks in frequently, even when I'm running off the internal HD (so much for passive cooling). That leaves me with a choice: fast and noisy (but still quieter than my Dell), or slow and inconspicuous.
I'll probably go for the speed. I'm used to computers that make noise. :winky:
After reading this excellent blog post (http://blog.plasticsfuture.org/2006/03/05/the-state-of-backup-and-cloning-tools-under-mac-os-x/), I realized that cloning OS X isn't as easy as I was led to believe. I did not see any signs of broken aliases on the clone -- I moved my Photoshop folder and the alias still worked -- but it's apparent that CCC is not the best choice if you want an exact copy. Sheila's SuperDuper (http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html) comes closer, but those pesky inodes remain elusive.
Being the geek that I am, I want an exact copy -- no ifs ands or buts. It turns out that the Disk Utility included with OS X is the closest thing to Norton Ghost and Acronis True Image on the PC. It can make block-level copies, inodes and all. Perfect. :smile:
NetRestore (http://www.bombich.com/software/netrestore.html) uses the same underlying technology, but I went with Disk Utility because I can boot from the Tiger install DVD and do the cloning outside of the OS. That's the only way to guarantee a perfect duplicate, since you don't have to worry about system files changing in mid-backup. And it was faster than CCC to boot.
So there you have my first experience with OS X backups. I'm about to leave town for a 19-day housesitting assignment, and I'm leaving the Firewire drive here as insurance and bringing along the 200GB USB drive that has all of my Dell backups. That way I can carry my entire computer life with me and leave it all behind at the same time.
Cool.
Randall