Clone onto partition

[JamesP.]

I wil be buying a hard drive in the future but not at the moment.

I have the internal hard drive split into 2 partitions..

I'm wondering if I could do a an exact copy of the OS and its installed programs as it is is on partition1. and have it saved on partition 2 incase anything gets messed up.

Can this be done?
I don't want continuous backup, just an image of the OS partition/programs as is right now. 20gb is used on partition1 and I have more than enough space on partition 2.

 

[Fishrrman]

"Can this be done?"

Yes. Use CarbonCopyCloner.

Should be no problems at all.

 

[JamesP.]

"Can this be done?"

Yes. Use CarbonCopyCloner.

Should be no problems at all.

Is there any free version like this that could do it just once?

 

[Mal]

Is there any free version like this that could do it just once?

You can just use the trial of CCC, or use Disk Utility. Click on the partition you're copying from, choose the "Restore" tab, and drag the partition you're copying to into the "Destination" box.

jW

 

[Krazy Bill]

I believe the basic version of SuperDuper is still free (not a trial). I used it for years.

 

[JamesP.]

I believe the basic version of SuperDuper is still free (not a trial). I used it for years.

I want to copy new ML install and my fresh software installed programs.


I do not care about files, I just want copy of programs installed etc.

Can this be done? Does not seem it from the download?

If so I'd appreciate your knowledge

 

[desertman]

deleted (how do I delete a posting totally?)

 

[r0k]

I want to copy new ML install and my fresh software installed programs.


I do not care about files, I just want copy of programs installed etc.

Can this be done? Does not seem it from the download?

If so I'd appreciate your knowledge

I just used CCC to clone Lion to a new drive today and it asked me if I wanted a recovery partition. I said yes and it sent me to another screen which took about 10 minutes to create and clone it than returned to clone my main drive. Very nice. I'm sure it works with ML but I've only used it on my Lion machine. CCC is not free but the trial version works fully. If you want to use it again and again, then I do recommend you buy it.

As for not caring about files, once you have the applications folder, it's not such a big deal to grab everything else. CCC has two modes. File mode and block mode. File mode can be run on the drive you booted from. Block mode must be run on a drive other than the one you booted from. I have never bothered with block mode.

 

[desertman]

I believe the basic version of SuperDuper is still free (not a trial). I used it for years.

Correct. Still free forever with basic functions.

 

[JamesP.]

I just used CCC to clone Lion to a new drive today and it asked me if I wanted a recovery partition. I said yes and it sent me to another screen which took about 10 minutes to create and clone it than returned to clone my main drive. Very nice. I'm sure it works with ML but I've only used it on my Lion machine. CCC is not free but the trial version works fully. If you want to use it again and again, then I do recommend you buy it.

As for not caring about files, once you have the applications folder, it's not such a big deal to grab everything else. CCC has two modes. File mode and block mode. File mode can be run on the drive you booted from. Block mode must be run on a drive other than the one you booted from. I have never bothered with block mode.

It said I had no recovery partition so I opened disk center and got this:

'CCC cannot create a Recovery HD on this disk because it cannot find any suitable source Recovery HD volumes or archives. Reinstall MAC OS X to restore the recovery HD partition, then return to this window to create a Recovery hd clone on your destination disk'

All I want to do is make a copy of my OS partition so If down the line it gets messed up or I want to go back to day it was freshly installed with apps I can just get the copy and add it back to the OS partition and be back to how it is now.

Anyone any help on what best way to go is?

 

[r0k]

It said I had no recovery partition so I opened disk center and got this:

'CCC cannot create a Recovery HD on this disk because it cannot find any suitable source Recovery HD volumes or archives. Reinstall MAC OS X to restore the recovery HD partition, then return to this window to create a Recovery hd clone on your destination disk'

All I want to do is make a copy of my OS partition so If down the line it gets messed up or I want to go back to day it was freshly installed with apps I can just get the copy and add it back to the OS partition and be back to how it is now.

Anyone any help on what best way to go is?

There is a recovery partition tool available from Apple. I suggest you clone first, then run the Apple tool. You can always clone again. Another option is if you have a USB recovery stick (that you made yourself before you installed Mountain Lion) you really don't need a recovery partition. Either way, CCC should happily clone your existing drive after you dismiss the warning about not having a recovery partition.

 

[JamesP.]

There is a recovery partition tool available from Apple. I suggest you clone first, then run the Apple tool. You can always clone again. Another option is if you have a USB recovery stick (that you made yourself before you installed Mountain Lion) you really don't need a recovery partition. Either way, CCC should happily clone your existing drive after you dismiss the warning about not having a recovery partition.

OK, I cloned from Mac OS to the other partition.

If say, I a few months I want this clone on the partition to overwrite the OS partition, how do I go about it?

Also mid clone i got this error:

CCC will proceed with the backup task, copying as many files as possible. Please note:

• The first error occurred while trying to access:

"/Applications/Calendar.app/Contents/Resources/no.lproj/BackupRestore.nib"

• CCC will make two attempts to back up damaged files
• CCC's log file contains more specific information about the affected files or folders.
• Physical errors may cause the backup task to take longer than normal.
• You can stop the backup task at any time. CCC will pick up where it left off the next time you run this task.

Please click on the "?" button below to learn more about resolving media errors.

What is this?

 

[r0k]

OK, I cloned from Mac OS to the other partition.

If say, I a few months I want this clone on the partition to overwrite the OS partition, how do I go about it?

Also mid clone i got this error:

CCC will proceed with the backup task, copying as many files as possible. Please note:

• The first error occurred while trying to access:

"/Applications/Calendar.app/Contents/Resources/no.lproj/BackupRestore.nib"

• CCC will make two attempts to back up damaged files
• CCC's log file contains more specific information about the affected files or folders.
• Physical errors may cause the backup task to take longer than normal.
• You can stop the backup task at any time. CCC will pick up where it left off the next time you run this task.

Please click on the "?" button below to learn more about resolving media errors.

What is this?

This might be a question better answered by Bombich software, but to me it looks like a relatively unimportant file that got corrupted and is not being copied. I've never seen this error though I've used CCC dozens of times. I would take a look at each file it complains about and decide whether you think it's important. A local calendar backup file is pretty unimportant when the real calendar backup is iCloud.

 

[Benbikeman]

To be honest, I'd question the value of a 'backup' on a partition on the same physical drive as the original. While there are things that can corrupt a volume while remaining partitions are fine, most drive failures are going to kill the entire drive.

External drives are not expensive.

 

[Fishrrman]

"Is there any free version like this that could do it just once?"

CCC version 3.4.6 remains "free".

Download it at:
http://www.bombich.com/download.html

 

[JamesP.]

This might be a question better answered by Bombich software, but to me it looks like a relatively unimportant file that got corrupted and is not being copied. I've never seen this error though I've used CCC dozens of times. I would take a look at each file it complains about and decide whether you think it's important. A local calendar backup file is pretty unimportant when the real calendar backup is iCloud.

Hey, I continued on from that and the clone ended and I got this

I used disk utility to check disks and all showed as OK. I'm a bit lost whats going on with this.

Is there any way to check why, can I do a chkdsk like in Windows, or is that disk utility is.
Any help would be great.

 

[Weaselboy]

I used disk utility to check disks and all showed as OK. I'm a bit lost whats going on with this.

Is there any way to check why, can I do a chkdsk like in Windows, or is that disk utility is.

Yes, Disk Utility's repair disk is similar with chkdsk under Windows.

You might try a command-r boot to the recovery partition then run Disk Utility from there. It will be under the utilities menu. Just start Disk Util and select Macintosh HD then click repair disk.

Edit>> Now that I realize you have no Recovery HD partition: You won't be able to do a command-r boot if you have no Recovery HD partition either, so my advice to use Disk Util from recovery will not work.

Do this instead. Boot to single user mode and run "fsck -fy" as described at the bottom of this page.

 

[desertman]

There is a recovery partition tool available from Apple

Where do I find that? What is the name of this tool?

----------

"Is there any free version like this that could do it just once?"

CCC version 3.4.6 remains "free".

I don't remember exactly what it was but CCC 3.4.6 did not work well for me with OS X 10.8. I am therefore still using CCC 3.4.5 for my 3-times-daily clone-backups.

If you need something for "just once" or in general can do without scheduled backups you could also use SuperDuper free forever.

 

[Weaselboy]

Where do I find that? What is the name of this tool?

He is talking about this tool from Apple. It requires an existing Recovery HD partition on the drive to be used during the creation of the USB key.

 

[JamesP.]

Yes, Disk Utility's repair disk is similar with chkdsk under Windows.

You might try a command-r boot to the recovery partition then run Disk Utility from there. It will be under the utilities menu. Just start Disk Util and select Macintosh HD then click repair disk.

I verified disk there and result was all appears to be ok.

I checked verify permissions and that also completed.

 

[Sandman01]

Trouble formatting Recovery HD with CCC

I am trying to format a recovery HD with Carbon Copy Cloner to my external hard drive as a back up. I'm using Mac os 10.7 Lion, which does not come with a recovery disk. I do want full functionality from my backup.

I was able to clone and boot from the external drive, but it doesn't have a recovery HD. I am having trouble formatting the disk with a Recovery HD. I get the following message from CCC disk center:


"The underlying disk is not partitioned with the GPT partitioning scheme."

Can anyone help?

Thanks in advance
Sandman01