backup image

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seemoore

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How do i create a backup image of my HD drive to DVD, don't care if it takes a few DVD's just want it backup. So when i got to reload my system it loads everything programs i installed and OS X, everything thats on that drive. Thanks
 
I have also used impression (http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/19902) with good results. Does Carbon Coppy cloner allow you to back up to multiple DVD's, or to DVD at all? It has been a while since I used it, perhaps this functionality has been added. Back when I used it, you could only copy to another volume with enough space to hold everything, and I don't think it supported DVD's. But like I said, that was a while ago.
 
You're gonna need something indistrial-strength to do what you want. When you make a backup of OS X with Apple's Backup or Carbon Copy Cloner, one way or the other, you're going to have to re-install Mac OS X from the install CDs before you start restoring stuff. There's no utility out there that will allow you to restore an OS X system to a system that doesn't have OS X (or some operating system) already installed on it.

If you want something that will do a comprehensive backup, I would suggest Retrospect available from http://www.dantz.com.

Otherwise, I would simply get a .Mac account and use Apple's own Backup software to back up the essentials of your system. If you legally obtained the software you have installed on your hard drive, it's extremely simple to just re-install the program from the application's install CD and simply back up the preferences that you need for that program -- it only takes a few minutes for each program, sometimes less than that.

Apple's Backup will span DVDs or CDs, meaning you can back up as much stuff as you like and Backup will just prompt you to put in a new CD or DVD when it fills the first up... and it'll continue until all the stuff is backed up.

CarbonCopyCloner will not span CDs, DVDs or hard drives. It's a utility to make a clone of your system, so, obviously, you cannot clone a 10GB system to a 4GB drive. You gotta have equal or more space, as macavenger said.

If you do choose to use CarbonCopyCloner, you'll first need to make a disk image and clone your hard drive to that disk image, then put the disk image somewhere you can access it. Then you'll need more than one hard drive or a hard drive that has been partitioned into at least two partitions: one large enough for a basic install of OS X, and one large enough to accomodate your "cloned" hard drive. Then, you can install Mac OS X on the basic install partition, and use CarbonCopyCloner to clone your old system from the disk image to the other partition.

I would suggest backing up the essentials and reloading.
 
and could be a solution to create a partition in which store a image of the main hard drive, then reinstalling the osx on the old partition and restoring data form the image?
 
You could do that, but I don't recommend it. You're just asking for an unstable system if you go mixing old preference files with new preference files. DATA: sure; PREFERENCES/SETTING: I would recommend against it. It takes a minute or two to set the font/color settings back the way you want them in Safari and at most 5 minutes to re-enter you mail server settings in Mail.
 
I agree with ElDiabloConCaca, up to a point. I backup my entire user folder, that is where all the personal preference settings, iTunes Music Store purchases, photos, and data files are located. I don't know about you but I have a lot more preferences than Safari and Mail -- not surprising with well over 100 applications. I have had to restore from a backup and I didn't have any problems with the restored preferences. I did have to re-enter some serial numbers however. :(

If you restore from CDs/DVDs you will have to install OS X first anyway so that is a given. If you have downloaded applications or updates (who doesn't?) you can burn those to a CD or DVD so you don't waste time re-downloading everything. I use a DVD-RW for that purpose just to save on media costs, but at the expense of the time it takes to erase the DVD-RW.
 
Good points, perfessor... the only reason I suggested not restoring old preference files is that they are a common cause of application instability. So, for a user who backs up their hard drive, experiences instability, reinstalls, then restores the preference files may, in fact, be returning instability to the system if one of the preference files is the culprit. Plus, resetting preferences shouldn't be a big hassle to a casual user who hasn't heavily changed the layout of their apps from the default. But I still understand -- I wouldn't want to have to reset all my preferences, since I have a lot of 3rd party apps I use and have a lot of them set up much different than the default setup.

You know, I've owned a CD-RW since 2001 and a DVD-RW since last year and have yet to use any kind of -RW disk -- only -Rs. I think I may try what you suggested: using a DVD-RW for updates and stuff I change a lot...
 
You can use Carbon Copy to make a clone of your system into an expanding disk image that it automatically it creates for you (CC prefs). You can then use DropSegment (Stuffit Deluxe V8) to create CD or DVD size files.

As mentioned before, you'll need to have ample space to do the initial backup, but I do this as a compressed backup (taking less room than the original), and I have had no problems. Then burn the various segmented disk images to CD/DVD and remove them from your system.

When you 'pooter dies horribly, do what ElDiablo said.... install the basic OSx which takes about 10 min's (but zero the drive if you have time, which takes MUCH longer). Then install the image from the CD/DVD's
 
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