SuperDuper problem

sequitur

Recently, I did a SuperDuper backup but with a "MINOR" change. I changed "Restart from (internal drive)" to "Restart from (external drive)". I did this to make sure the external drive was bootable. It was; however, now I can't get my computer to boot from the internal drive. In addition, I can't get SuperDuper to back up my internal hard drive to the external HD. The external HD is grayed out. How do I get back to "normal"?

Thanks.

toxotes

You should be able to go to System Preferences, then select Startup Disk, then select your internal hard drive, which will cause your mac to reboot from the internal drive. Once you do that, the external drive should no longer be disabled in Super Duper (it won't let you back up to it now because it's currently set to be your boot disk). Hope this helps.

sequitur

Quote:

Originally Posted by toxotes


You should be able to go to System Preferences, then select Startup Disk, then select your internal hard drive, which will cause your mac to reboot from the internal drive. Once you do that, the external drive should no longer be disabled in Super Duper (it won't let you back up to it now because it's currently set to be your boot disk). Hope this helps.

That did it. It's back to the internal drive, AND the external drive is no longer disabled.

Thanks. One more question: For a day or two, I didn't realize I was using the external drive and I saved a bunch of stuff, which of course is now on the external and not the internal drive. I don't recall all that I saved or changed. How do I sync the two drives? I don't want to scramble up the additional files and changes.

toxotes

I guess what you could try is booting off your external drive again (by reversing the steps above), then use Super Duper to clone your external drive over to your internal one. I think that will work in theory but personally I'd be reluctant... if it were me I'd try to find the files I had changed on the external and copy them over manually instead. I think I cloned an external to my internal once using SD and I had some permissions issues or something. Can't really remember but it just makes me a little wary. Maybe you could create a smart folder in Finder that shows you files that were modified within the last x days... I think that should work.

sequitur

Quote:

Originally Posted by toxotes


I guess what you could try is booting off your external drive again (by reversing the steps above), then use Super Duper to clone your external drive over to your internal one. I think that will work in theory but personally I'd be reluctant... if it were me I'd try to find the files I had changed on the external and copy them over manually instead. I think I cloned an external to my internal once using SD and I had some permissions issues or something. Can't really remember but it just makes me a little wary. Maybe you could create a smart folder in Finder that shows you files that were modified within the last x days... I think that should work.

I liked your suggestion to find the changed files. That makes a lot of sense. I ran 'Find' set up as "Files created after 12-17-07 on the external HDD which I figured would cover the files I saved after I screwed up and let everything save to the external HDD instead of the internal HDD.



Well, "Find" found those files - 785 - of them. Most were 'caches', update summaries, logs, contents, settings, messages, (just) numbers, Resources, CrashReporter, preferences, Defaults, indexes, etc.



Do you have any idea as to whether I should copy ONLY the files I recognize or ALL of them? Which way will I screw up the least? I realize I am burdening you with this question, so I am opening this up to ANYONE who has a suggestion. I have learned a good lesson from this, but I don't think it's worth the aggravation. I'll NEVER do this again. Your advice has been worth it's weight in gold and I'll know what to do "NEXT" time I foolishly make the external HDD the start up drive.

toxotes

I don't mind your questions because I've done the same thing so it's not like I have to rack my brains or anything. I think you're right to recognize this as a problem where you want the solution to be one that will "screw up the least" because I don't know if there's a perfect solution. I too faced this problem of trying to find only the files that mattered when OS X presented me with hundreds of recently-updated system files. Which to copy? I ended up copying over only my documents because they were most important to me. I figured any system preference changes I might have made I could always do again so I left those files. I also left Safari caches files, etc., which I assumed it would just create again if necessary. As for messages, I use IMAP so I didn't have that issue. This may be a problem because I'm not sure how mail stores its messages if you're using a POP server... e.g., if you copy the messages over, will that be enough, or is there a separate index file that it uses that will make those messages inaccessible unless it's copied too? I'm afraid I can't answer that question though... Unless I knew how a program used its indexes I don't think I'd copy them over for fear of corrupting its system and making everything inaccessible. Maybe you could copy the message files to your desktop and then drag them into Mail once you're done everything else? This might work although I can't say for sure since I've never tried it.



I wouldn't worry about booting from the external in the future as long as you don't do any work on it that you'll want to be accessible later. I switch my boot drive to the external once in a while just to make sure it's all working (at least I did before I switched to Leopard and started using Time Machine)... everything goes smoothly as long as you remember to set it back before you start doing real work!

sequitur

Again, I followed your advice and copied the files I recognized. After checking around, I didn't find any real problems by not copying ALL the files. Well, one, but not a biggie. I had to use Quicken backup as there were some data missing for a couple of days. After replacing that info and reconciling, everything I really care about is back to 'normal'. My panic attack is down to a dull roar.

Thanks again.



Edit: At times, I teach entry level apps like Office (on PC's). I tell my students that they shouldn't be afraid of the computer. I tell them if they back up often, they can't mess up too badly. Wrong!!! I'm going to have to tone down that advice. I find that the 20 something students aren't as concerned about screwing up as the older students are.

toxotes

I'm glad your panic attack has abated. I'm finding that the older I get the more of a big deal it would be if I were to lose everything. I keep a lot of important stuff on my computer now and I'm old enough that I've been doing it long enough that the total loss would be pretty devastating. I keep my important files sync'd between three computers plus I have the external drive backup, so unless the whole house burns down I should be okay... still, I'd be much more comfortable if I could find a reliable, mac-friendly offsite backup that didn't cost a fortune.

sequitur

I live in South Florida which is a lodestone for hurricanes. I have a box of important stuff ready to flee with me. I can dump my external drive in the box, jump in the car and head for higher ground. Like you, I do worry about a fire when I'm not home. I'd like an offsite repository, too, but I have a queasy feeling about trusting important info to an unknown quantity. I do email some important stuff to my two daughters, but their HDD's are just as vulnerable as mine. That reminds me - I need to think about using FTP.

oldcodger73

A lady in my genealogy group did everything she was supposed to. She backed up her data files and stored it at her son's house. Well, her computer crashed, loosing everything on it and the next day her son's house burned down. She had to reenter about 20 years of work on her replacement computer.



Besides backing up on external hard drives I also back up my data and digital pictures on DVDs, 9 DVDs currently, once a month and store it in our bank safety deposit box. At least if the house burns down I'll have semi current data.



I was really looking forward to 50 and 100GB Blu-ray discs for safety deposit storage but I'm beginning to question whether that'd be cost effective. Now that the price on external 2.5" drives are pretty reasonable, it seems a better way would be to buy two 160GB drives for backup and alternate them in the safety deposit box. With that much storage you could come pretty close to cloning your HD. Of course, this approach is only for people who are paranoid about backing up.

toxotes

These approaches would be pretty effective but I'm too lazy to adopt any routine that involves taking things offsite, which is why I would prefer an online offsite backup. Until I find one that meets my nitpicky criteria I'll remain vulnerable however.



Having said that, I'm finding FolderShare a pretty convenient way to get important files offsite. It can sync directory structures between different computers over the internet, so if any of your sync comps are offsite, you effectively get an offsite backup with it. But not entirely--it's not a true backup... no version control for example. But still, effective if your house burns down.

sequitur

Update: At first, I copied only files I recognized from my backup to my main drive and had no problems. THEN, I began to find I was missing stuff and that some files weren't complete. I called my daughter's boyfriend in Boston. He uses a Mac Pro and backs up with SuperDuper. It turns out that he had a similar problem to mine - running on the backup HDD, instead of the main HDD, for a few days. He heard the backup HDD running and realized that he needed to get back to the main. After finding that stuff was missing from the main HDD, he did a backup, including all of the unseen support files, from the External to the Internal and got back the missing info.



I gritted my teeth and did the same - backup from ext HDD to int HDD. Then restarted from the internal HDD.

Everything s back to "normal" now, except for 1 day of missing emails. Evidently, those unseen files are needed, but I sweated blood over the more than 1000 support files that I "unleashed" on my main drive.

I am grateful for AppleInsider and the knowledgeable AI members. Even when you guys don't know the definitive answers, you get me to thinking more logically and open new vistas (pardon the expression) for me.

AI has become a "religion" for me.

toxotes

I've gotten a lot of good ideas and help here too! If you can ignore the short-tempered posters (none of them in this thread thankfully!) it's a great place to troubleshoot problems. Anyway, glad things are back on track for you.

toxotes

I've gotten a lot of good ideas and help here too! If you can ignore the short-tempered posters (none of them in this thread thankfully!) it's a great place to troubleshoot problems. Anyway, glad things are back on track for you.