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kennedy · Mar 12, 2003, 12:27 AM

Numerous threads here have recommended Carbon Copy Cloner for various tasks... so I was excited to try it out for mine... unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be working very well... any advice appreciated...

Task: I have a network with 10 iMacs that I want to install OS X 10.2.4 and OS 9.2.2 on. So, I've carefully installed each along with some apps onto one of the iMacs. And then I made all the needed settings and so on. I was then going to carry it around and copy that install from the one iMac to each of the other nine via Carbon Copy Cloner. That seemed waayyy easier than trying to repeat the install on every computer separately.

Result: On my first try to do the copy, the copy/clone of the OS9 partition seemed to complete successfully... but looking at the top level of the copy and the original shows them to be somewhat different... some additional entries plus some things that look like aliases on the new. On the copy/clone of the OSX partition, it somehow overflowed the target disk. The source and target are both 7GB in size. The source only has about 2.5GB used. But the copy aborted when it filled all 7GB of the target. Looking at the two, it is odd that there are many hidden directories on the original that are not hidden on the clone (but maybe CCC fixes that up last, but since it aborted...).

Anyway, can anyone report success with CCC in making a clone directly onto a firewire drive?
Should I instead copy to an image file and then restore from the image file... two separate steps... rather than trying to just directly make the copy?
Any issues with connecting to the drives via Firewire? (I am booting the target Mac with the "T" option such that it just acts as a set of Firewire drives on my source Macs.)
Can anyone report success with making a copy of the OS X partition that you are currently booted into?
Can anyone report success with making a copy of an OS 9 partition?
Any issues with CCC and the latest versions of the OS?

Thanks!

Tyler McAdams · Mar 12, 2003, 01:32 AM

I've used CCC to clone to and from a firewire drive w/o any troubles...

kennedy · Mar 12, 2003, 04:12 AM

Update: It appears the first problem was due to trying to copy the same partition that I was booted on. Luckily, I had a third (empty) partition on my "template" computer.

Current Problem: The clone of the OS X partition boots and seems to run fine. The clone of the OS 9 partition is recognized as a bootable OS 9 partition by most things... but when trying to boot off of it, I just get a disk icon... so, something's not quite right about it.

Studying CCC documentation, its not clear if CCC supports cloning OS 9 bootables. Does anyone know if it does? Has anyone successfully cloned an OS 9 partition?

Thanks.

chabig · Mar 12, 2003, 05:22 AM

I've cloned my hard drive and it still boots from OS X and 9. What you're seeing is probably just the files and directories that are hidden on the boot volume. Just let CCC do the clone and then reboot. When you're booted from the cloned drive, you won't see them anymore.

Mithras · Mar 12, 2003, 07:05 AM

I don't know why CCC would have any problems with the OS 9 partition, but since OS 9 doesn't have
(a) important hidden folders
(b) permissions that need to be set

So with the OS 9 partition, you could just drag-and-drop copy.

gorickey · Mar 12, 2003, 07:35 AM

Is the OS 9 System Folder "blessed"? If not, that's your problem....

kennedy · Mar 14, 2003, 08:41 AM

Originally posted by gorickey:
Is the OS 9 System Folder "blessed"? If not, that's your problem....

Well, CCC said it was blessing it.

Interestingly, I can run Classic using the copied OS9. But if I try to boot into it, I get a disk with a question in it... and it cycles up and down the drive... ugly clicking sound to boot... weird... I have to hit the reset button and hold the option key to allow me to select a different boot disk.