ProfN Posted February 9, 2003 Report Share Posted February 9, 2003 Up to now, I've just used Retrospect 5.0.238 Desktop with Mac OS 10.2.3 to do immediate backups to CD sets. This has been a lifesaver if I never used Dantz's software for any other purpose. But I am confused now on how to use Retrospect to help me create a bootable duplicate of my 40-gb 733-mhz G4 hard drive's two 20-gb partitions onto an external IceQube firewire drive. PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: I bought the external firewire hard drive primarily for diagnostic and major repair work on my OS 10.2.3 and OS 9.2.2 partitions on my 733-mhz G4. For example, I'd like to be able to boot the external firewire to launch OS X versions of Drive 10 and Norton Utilities and future OS X versions of DiskWarrior and TechTool Pro. SECONDARY OBJECTIVE: Just in case the internal hard drive ever crashes, it would be great to have the firewire external drive instantly available to run all my software and documents. THIRD-LEVEL OBJECTIVE: Avoiding the feeding and switching of members of CD sets in doing immediate backups. SITUATION: The firewire external drive will come from the factory with only one partition and OS 9 installed on it, but not OS X. I noticed in other forums that the 40-gb IceQube is compatible with OS 10.2.3. I maintain in my OS 10.2.3 partition only my OS X system, OS X applications and an absolute minimum of original documents. I maintain in my OS 9 partition almost all OS X-created documents, music and photos with aliases, as needed, linking them to my OS X partition. I also need to maintain there OS 9 software I use for diagnostic and repair utilities not yet available in OS X versions, and previous years' OS 9 tax software versions. YOUR COUNSEL, PLEASE: 1. In order to duplicate my G4 internal drive partitions' contents and their functionality, would my first step be to erase the external firewire's one partition and create new partitions? 2. What would have to be installed first before Retrospect could duplicate what it takes to make the external drive bootable in OS 10.2.3 or OS 9.2.2? (Because I can only afford slow dial-up connection that is subject to occasional disconnects, it would be great if Retrospect could bring over as much as possible of my system files and configurations. I do own the install CDs for OS 10.2.0 and OS 9.2.1. 3. Once the external drive is prepared, how would I best proceed in duplicating the two partitions and desktop of the internal drive? 4. What is the best strategy with Retrospect for every couple months keeping the external drive in tune with major changes in the internal drive? 5. With the above strategy in mind, would one also still be able to drag and copy an occasional important file from the internal drive to the external drive in between the periodics syncing? 6. Would it be practical to use the external not only as a bootable drive, but also to employ it as I now do CDs for creating and storing future Retrospect backup sets? Thanks so very much for whatever thought you can devote to these questions and to whatever answers you can provide that will help all of us who take the step of adding an external firewire drive. Respectfully, NormN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maser Posted February 10, 2003 Report Share Posted February 10, 2003 Why not just use Carbon Copy Cloner (get from Versiontracker.com) to make a clone of your internal HD to your external FW drive every so often? it would be a lot easier... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CallMeDave Posted February 12, 2003 Report Share Posted February 12, 2003 1. In order to duplicate my G4 internal drive partitions' contents and their functionality, would my first step be to erase the external firewire's one partition and create new partitions? Yes. 2. What would have to be installed first before Retrospect could duplicate what it takes to make the external drive bootable in OS 10.2.3 or OS 9.2.2? (Because I can only afford slow dial-up connection that is subject to occasional disconnects, it would be great if Retrospect could bring over as much as possible of my system files and configurations. I do own the install CDs for OS 10.2.0 and OS 9.2.1. Nothing. 3. Once the external drive is prepared, how would I best proceed in duplicating the two partitions and desktop of the internal drive? Duplicate partition A of internal drive to partition A of external drive, and partition B of internal drive to partition B of external drive. 4. What is the best strategy with Retrospect for every couple months keeping the external drive in tune with major changes in the internal drive? Repeat step 3, above. 5. With the above strategy in mind, would one also still be able to drag and copy an occasional important file from the internal drive to the external drive in between the periodics syncing? Yes. 6. Would it be practical to use the external not only as a bootable drive, but also to employ it as I now do CDs for creating and storing future Retrospect backup sets? Only if you Duplicate using Replace Corosponding Files. Otherwise Retrospect will overwrite files on your Destination that do not exist on your Source. Or you could configure the external drive with a partition that is not used as a Duplicate Destination, and store any files you want on it. Carbon Copy Cloner is quite capable of handling step 3, above. But once partition A on the internal drive has been Duplicated to partition A on the external drive, only Retrospect will be able to match the files that have changed and copy over only those; CCC will duplicate every singel file every time, making your regular synching more time consuming. Also CCC does not go back and Verify the files it has written so it can't alert you to any possible errors. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProfN Posted February 13, 2003 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2003 Thank you so very much for your thoughtful, helpful and clear response. Retrospect is an exceptional program and I'm absolutely delighted that I can count on an easy duplication of my hard drive to a bootable external firewire drive and the elegance of my keeping the new drive an up-to-date security blanket. This forum, help from "Call me Dave," and the tremendous technical support are among the reasons I strongly recommend Dantz products to my alumni, former faculty colleagues, and other friends. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maser Posted February 13, 2003 Report Share Posted February 13, 2003 I would agree somewhat that CCC might not be an option here for copying over the "changed" info. but it depends on how much data is being moved. CCC can move over specific directories to other volumes and they are just fine, so if the person just needed to clone what was changed in the "users" directory, this might be just as quick to do with CCC. And I've used CCC probably 500 times (or more). Corruption has never been an issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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