Mac OS X client restore convoluted, but works

[akatsuyama]

I am testing Mac OS X user restores for disaster recovery purposes. I use Carbon Copy Cloner to create a standard user setup from a master disk with "Administrator" as the base user. I then create user accounts as needed for individual's workstations.

 

If the workstation was a "fresh" one, I would give that user administrative privileges to manage their files and upgrades. However, I cannot do this Retrospect restoration.

 

I am using Retrospect 6.5 (PC) to handle my user's data. In my backups, I backup the <user_name> folder as a volume. I exclude the "Microsoft User Data" folder from my incremental backups and run a separate script to backup the "Microsoft User Data" folder as a "recycle" backup.

 

I have discovered in the restore process that: 1) I have to create a dummy, non-administrative account, 2) restore the user's data to that account, 3) delete that account, 4) create the "real" account with administrative privileges, 5) sign on as the user, 6) mount the image of the deleted account, containing the Retrospect restored data 7) drag the data into the respective folders.

 

If I try to restore the data with any other method, e.g. giving the user account administrative privileges after the data is restored, permission errors abound, making the restore to that account useless.

 

Any comments or simpler workarounds?

 

[natew]

Hi

 

I'm having a hard time following this process:

 

So you backup individual folders via Retrospect client from OSX machines. Are you restoring all of the files to the same machine or a new one? Are you trying to preserve user permissions when restoring the files?

 

A "replace entire" or "replace corresponding" will restore priveleges exactly the way they were when you backed up. This can cause problems when moving data to different machines. Try "selected files" and see if that makes a difference.

 

Thanks

Nate

[akatsuyama]

I had an interesting talk with Dantz Tech Support, discussing my problem with restoring to a new Mac. They said that the first two restore options in Retrospect Windows 6.5 are "Restore Entire Volume" and "Replace Corresponding Files" keeps the original permissions. The "Retrieve Files and Folders" and "Retrieve Just Files" takes on the permissions of the signed-on user.

 

The main issue that I had was that once I restored the user's data on to the new Mac, the user couldn't access things such as the Entourage mail folder (Microsoft User Data), even if I changed the user back to an "Administrator" of that Mac. (This was trying the first three of the above methods.) Even transferring documents to Trash caused a permissions problem. Running the "Disk Utility" program did not solve the problems either.

 

I put in a call to Apple Tech support and they suggested deleting the user (which creates an image file as backup) then recreating the user as an "Administrator". That solved the problem. I then signed on as that user, transferred the files from the mounted image file and was then able to access all of the resources on that Mac, especially the Entourage mail files.