moving bootable sd! image between 2 external drives?

[joemac]

hi d' and others...

i've got a 4 month old 100gb bootable sd! image on a 250gb firewire 400 drive

and would like to move it to a 120gb usb drive to store it off site.

1. do i just start up from the external sd! image and open sd! and then smart update to the 120gb drive?

2. or do i start up from the internal drive open sd! from it, then connect the 2 external drives, using the sd! image as source and the 120 usb as destination?

i know the drive capacity is tight, but nothing else will go on the 120gb drive , it's strictly a fail safe 3rd fall back thing.

thanks!
joemac

[dnanian]

An image file? You can just copy the file with Finder...

[joemac]

Originally Posted by dnanian

An image file? You can just copy the file with Finder...

yeah, that was my initial thought,

but am concerned that simply copying and moving with finder, might not leave the copy as bootable.

also i was under the impression that finder/copy has issues with files larger than 4 gb ?

perhaps i've used the 'image' term incorrectly in the question.

i want 2 move a currently bootable sd! clone to a different external drive and want it to be exactly identical...

so are u suggesting to just 'copy and paste' it?

ok, that's what i'll try...

thanks,

joemac

[chris_johnsen]

I think he meant if the backup was in a disk image file that you could just drag and drop that image file. But it sounds like you have a partition that is actually bootable.

In the case of a bootable partition, I think the right thing to do is use SuperDuper! to copy it. You have three disks: "internal", "250G FW", and "120G USB", right?. You have a bootable backup of the "internal" disk on (a partition of?) the "250G FW" drive, right?

If that is the case, then either of your original plans sounds like it would work. You do not have to be booted from a particular partition to make a backup of it (your plan #1). The only reason I can think you might need to do this is if your four-month-old backup is of a different major OS release from the current, internal disk. If "internal" and "250GB FW" are the same OS release, then go with your plan #2. If they are different, then go with your plan #1. Either way set SuperDuper! to "Backup - all files" from (the partition on) "250G FW" (happens to be the boot volume, if using plan #1) to (a partition on) "120GB USB". Use "Smart Update" if you like, but since it sounds like it is a from-scratch copy ("120GB USB" is empty), it won't be much faster than an "Erase then Copy".

If your machine is a PPC, it will not be able to boot from the backup on the USB drive, but the data will be fine. It will be a bit more awkward to restore though.

[dnanian]

As Chris said, if this is a disk image file -- e.g. a sparse image, created with the "Disk Image..." choice in the destination pop-up, it's not bootable in its current form, because it's not a real disk. If not, use SD! as indicated.

[joemac]

yep, u nailed it chris...

the bootable partition on the external fw drive is an older release of os x than is running on the internal drive.

so i'll go with option #1. it is an intel mac.

thanks again

joemac