[Kenstee]

When using carbon copy cloner do I do a straight clone or use the preference to create a disk image? Advantages of each? Backing up to an external FW drive. And is it bootable? And can I have items besides what I cloned on the ext HD partition? Thanks.

[aapljack]

I always do a straight clone. I haven't tried using the disk image option. I assume it will do the same thing, only in disk image form.

In the preferences, there is an option to make the clone bootable and it works good. When I installed Panter on my PB, I cloned the HD to my ipod. Before I erased the PB HD, I booted from my ipod to make sure everything was cool and it worked, no problem.

You can have items on the partition after the clone, but I think if you still have them on there when you do the next clone, they will be erased. I'm not totally sure about this, might wanna check the documentation.

Happy cloning!

-b

[Kenstee]

I did this and on the backup FW HD there are a series of folders rather than an icon of the HD with the folders inside it. Is this the way it's supposed to be? I guess I thought there would be an icon with Macintosh HD and the folders inside.

[Oneota]

The results you saw are normal. Direct cloning produces a copy of one volume on the other volume, not a folder within the volume. It wouldn't be bootable otherwise (this way, you can boot from the clone).

[camion]

Originally posted by Kenstee:
When using carbon copy cloner do I do a straight clone or use the preference to create a disk image? Advantages of each? Backing up to an external FW drive. And is it bootable? And can I have items besides what I cloned on the ext HD partition? Thanks.

I've done it both ways and had no problems. I work at a univeristy and we use CCCloner to clone computers as they arrive so that they all have the same standard software installed. That saves us a lot of time and hassle.



I'll give you some scenarios.

1. If you have a FW hard drive, create multiple partitions on it and use CCCloner to clone the system on your HD to one of the partitions. You can then boot to the FW partition if there are problems with hour internal HD.

2. If you have several different setups to clone then clone to an image file. That way you can store several images on a single FW partition and retrieve the one you want.

In any event I always want one bootable partition on my FW hard drive so I can boot to it if my internal hard drive goes south. That means I always do #1 and then I do #2 as needed.

So, how do you boot to the FW drive if your internal drive is sick? Just hold down the <option> key while restarting. Your computer will search for all bootable partitions and you can pick one. I've used this "option" many times to troubleshoot and rebuild sick system partitions.

[zigzag]

Very helpful, camion. Dumb question: what exactly would I want to clone for a good, basic bootable back-up partition? In other words, not all my personal files, just the OS and applications, in OS X. Would you just clone the Applications, Documents, Library, and System folders?

[Kenstee]

Question to Zigzag's point.... When I cloned initially I got copies of everything. All my files, folders etc.

If I want to also have SOLELY a bootable system clone which elements do I clone? Just the System folder? Or do I need some of the invisable files as well?

Also, can the system boot off of a disk image if I select that as a clone option?

Thanks everybody for taking the time to answer. Much appreciated.

[camion]

Originally posted by Kenstee:
Question to Zigzag's point.... When I cloned initially I got copies of everything. All my files, folders etc.

If I want to also have SOLELY a bootable system clone which elements do I clone? Just the System folder? Or do I need some of the invisable files as well?

Also, can the system boot off of a disk image if I select that as a clone option?

Thanks everybody for taking the time to answer. Much appreciated.

I don't claim any particular expertise, but I'd include the following in the image to get a useful boot partition.
.DS_Store
.hidden
Applications
Desktop DB
Desktop DF
Documents
Users
Library
System
bin
mach_kernel
sbin
usr

After cloning I'd go into the following folders and delete what I deemed unnecessary.
Applications (OS X Apps)
Documents (Various docs)
Users (user and shared directories)

The other folders above either I don't know much about or I know they're needed by the Darwin/UNIX system.

The directories below contain OS 9 files and aren't really neded for an OS X boot partition.
System Folder
Applications (Mac OS 9)
Desktop Folder

[cdhostage]

Do not attempt to use Norton Utilities and CCC on the same install. NU will never work properly on a clone, whether you're running from it or trying to repair something on it. I used to notice an enormous improvement in Finder responsiveness and system startup if the hard drive was Doctored and defragged, but the improvement is no longer noticeable in 10.2.8 . There's a good chance something will go horribly wrong when you run Disk Doctor, and you won't know until you next try to boot. About 5% of the time it simply will not recognize that there's a boot volume, 5% of the time it crashes booting, and 90% of the time it looks normal but it feels dirty as if NU has sullied your system.

So, all in all, don't use Disk Doctor or any of NU except the defragmenter. Never mind CCC which is absolutely wonderful, Norton has been producing **** since the introduction of OS X.