Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

quiklee · Jul 3, 2006, 01:46 PM

Since I'm turning in my MacBook to the Apple Store soon for the discoloration issue, I need to mirror everything on my MB since i do all my work on it and have it configured perfectly. I have my mac mini lying around as my entertainment hub, so I think i can sacrifice that right now.

Can someone please help me or show me how i'm suppose to mirror a MacBook to a Intel MacMini?

Thanks so much.

Chuckit · Jul 3, 2006, 02:19 PM

Migration Assistant would probably be the easiest way.

jmiddel · Jul 4, 2006, 06:22 PM

When you say mirror, do you mean making an exact copy of MB to Mini erasing the latter's content? If so go here :http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDup...scription.html and downoad SuperDuper. You can use it free to clone, ie make an exact copy, of MB's hard drive onto that of the Mini. You would want to connect the two via Firewire cable, and start the Mini in target mode by holding down the T key at startup, it will appear on the MB as a FW drive, and you're ready to clone.

Simon · Jul 4, 2006, 11:31 PM

Do you really mean mirror?

If so, boot the MB in FW target disk mode. Connect it to the Mac mini. On the mini go to Disk Utility (in /Applications/Utilities), select the MB's HDD. Hit the 'Restore' tab. Drag the MB's HDD onto the source field, drag the mini's partition to the destination field. Click restore. Done.

TheoCryst · Jul 5, 2006, 04:38 AM

Originally Posted by Simon

Do you really mean mirror?

If so, boot the MB in FW target disk mode. Connect it to the Mac mini. On the mini go to Disk Utility (in /Applications/Utilities), select the MB's HDD. Hit the 'Restore' tab. Drag the MB's HDD onto the source field, drag the mini's partition to the destination field. Click restore. Done.

Don't think that would work... I'm doubting Disk Utility would willingly trash the partition off of which it was running. I would actually boot the Mini in FW target disk mode, then do all the same steps from your MB (source still MB's HDD, destination still Mini). But that's just me.

Simon · Jul 5, 2006, 04:45 AM

Originally Posted by TheoCryst

Don't think that would work... I'm doubting Disk Utility would willingly trash the partition off of which it was running. I would actually boot the Mini in FW target disk mode, then do all the same steps from your MB (source still MB's HDD, destination still Mini). But that's just me.

Oh I was assuming he had a backup partition ready on the mini. I didn't understand he actually wanted to overwrite his mini's boot partition.

quiklee , if you really want to overwrite your mini's HDD with the data of your MB's HDD, you have to do it the way TheoCryst mentioned. Boot the mini in FW TDM and use Disk Utility on the MB to clone the MB's drive to the mini. Try booting the mini from the clone partition before you actually give away the MB just to be on the safe side.

Chips G · Jul 5, 2006, 07:40 AM

I would also recommend backing up your important files to a CD or online as well, just in case.

angelmb · Jul 5, 2006, 07:45 AM

I have done this with a couple of Power Macs (MDD & Yosemite) and the help of SuperDuper as jmiddel says.

krx · Jul 8, 2006, 06:33 PM

Just curious about something. I want to use Disk Utility to back up the hard drive of one iBook to another iBook. Disk Utility Help says to do backups by creating a new disk image. I'm thinking I can then save the image of the entire hard drive to the other iBook through FW target disk mode. But this is the second thread I've seen saying to do this through the Restore function. Can anyone tell me what the difference is between the two methods and which might be better for my purposes? I don't want to erase the drive on the target iBook - it is used by my wife; I just want to backup my drive onto my account on her iBook.

Also, is there any great advantage to using SuperDuper for this purpose?

himself · Jul 8, 2006, 08:10 PM

Disk Utility's Restore function let's you restore a hard drive, either directly from another hard drive or from a disk image. How you back up the hard drive depends on what is most practical for you... backing up to a disk image is a good idea because you'll to have a full backup before you decide to actually erase everything.

krx · Jul 8, 2006, 11:05 PM

Oh so I would use "Restore" if, say, I wanted to boot from my hard drive on my wife's iBook (after restoring my hd to her iBook)? But I should make a disk image of my hd and store that on my wife's iBook if I just want to save a backup of it?

Then, if I ever lose the data (or whatever) on my iBook, I can restore it with the backup disk image saved on my wife's iBook using the Restore function of Disk Utility - have I got that right?

Simon · Jul 9, 2006, 01:12 AM

Originally Posted by krx

Oh so I would use "Restore" if, say, I wanted to boot from my hard drive on my wife's iBook (after restoring my hd to her iBook)? But I should make a disk image of my hd and store that on my wife's iBook if I just want to save a backup of it?

Then, if I ever lose the data (or whatever) on my iBook, I can restore it with the backup disk image saved on my wife's iBook using the Restore function of Disk Utility - have I got that right?

Yes.

Basically you can backup to file or to disk. Restoring is backup up to disk, You don't necessarily need to format the destination disk before restoring to it, but you'll get a messy mix of previous and backed up files if you don't. If you backup to a disk image you're backing up to file which is nice since ot contains all the backed up data in one single file and there's no mess. The disadvantage is you can't boot form the image in case of an emergency.

As a rule of thumb, if you have an dedicated extra partition you can restore to that since it will allow you to boot form the last backup at any time. If you don't have a dedicated partition backing up to a disk image is more appropriate. In case of an emergency you will just need to boot from the OS X installer disk, go to DU and restore the hosed partition from the stored disk image. Or you can restore through FW target disk mode if the image is sitting on another local Mac.

krx · Jul 9, 2006, 11:18 AM

Thanks - this is exactly the clarification I needed.

Now, I guess it would be ideal if I had a designated partition on my wife's iBook to restore to, so I could boot from it if need be. But if I recall it is not possible to partition a drive w/out erasing it first. Is that right? If so, I'd need somewhere to restore my wife's hd to first, in order to get it back after partitioning.

Since I don't yet have somewhere to restore to, my best bet for the short term (until I figure out which NAS I'm getting and set this up right) is probably to back up to a disk image on my wife's iBook. But can I do this w/out causing system or other problems - that is, can I store a disk image of my whole hard drive on my wife's unpartioned hard drive w/out conflict?

Gotta be sure I don't fubar my wife's iBook - that would be seriously unpleasant.

Simon · Jul 9, 2006, 02:50 PM

Originally Posted by krx

Now, I guess it would be ideal if I had a designated partition on my wife's iBook to restore to, so I could boot from it if need be.

That would be nice. An external FW HDD with two partitions (one for you, one for your wife's iB would be even better of course).

But if I recall it is not possible to partition a drive w/out erasing it first. Is that right?

Yes. Without thrid-party software, you can't live re-partition.

But can I do this w/out causing system or other problems - that is, can I store a disk image of my whole hard drive on my wife's unpartioned hard drive w/out conflict?

Yes, as long as she has at least a few GB of free HD space left, that should be no problem at all. The backup is just a normal dmg file AFAIK. It's one big file sitting somewhere on your wife's disk. Nothing to worry about.

Dark_Lotus · Jul 9, 2006, 04:12 PM

Wouldnt the easiest way to do it would be just to make a sparseimage of your account, which saves everything in your home folder, and copy it to your ipod or mac mini?

krx · Jul 9, 2006, 09:58 PM

Originally Posted by Simon

That would be nice. An external FW HDD with two partitions (one for you, one for your wife's iB would be even better of course).

I would do exactly that except I want to get an NAS so I can get both iBooks and the iMac on my home LAN all backing up automatically (probably w/SuperDuper!). From what I'm gathering, I can get a pretty good one with 250GB or so for under $300, which isn't a whole lot more than what I can get a good external FW HDD for, AFAICT (like this Lacie D2). I just haven't figured out which NAS to get cause there's a lot of mixed opinion on them.

Originally Posted by Simon

Yes, as long as she has at least a few GB of free HD space left, that should be no problem at all. The backup is just a normal dmg file AFAIK. It's one big file sitting somewhere on your wife's disk. Nothing to worry about.

Yeah, I just pulled up a couple old threads that discussed this (like this one). It doesn't sound like there's anything for me to worry about.

Originally Posted by Dark_Lotus

Wouldnt the easiest way to do it would be just to make a sparseimage of your account, which saves everything in your home folder, and copy it to your ipod or mac mini?

I already made disk images of my home folder and burned them onto CDs. But I like the idea of having a complete copy of my hard drive that I can restore from if need be; also gives me a second form of backup which helps me rest easier at night. I just read an interesting article on using sparse images - maybe I'll do that when I get my NAS set up. But I don't have a mac mini (god forbid) and truth-be-told I've had my iPod for over a year and have yet to fire it up. Just got it cause it came free (after rebate) w/my iBook.