Partitioning to clone drive *and* archive data?

[Pie-air]

Hi Dave. I’ll be brief. I’ve got a (Tiger 10.4.11) G4 laptop with an 80 GB drive and two external drives -- 80 and 250 GBs. Obviously the 80-to-80 is a straight clone. I want to partition the 250 to archive photographs and word docs in the section not used as the 2nd clone. I need to archive about 50 GB of data so I can free up the internal drive (12 GB available, with probably 1.5 GB in-camera waiting to go in; not wise to drop below 10 GB on the internal drive for stability’s-sake, is it?). So:

1. Should the size of the partition on the 250 be the same 80 GB size as the internal drive or should it be a little bit bigger? 80/170 is right?
2. Do I need to partition it at all? A MacBar guy said I didn’t need to unless there were multiple users, but then how would archiving the data work? (Wouldn’t want to overwrite 8,000 unique photos.)
3. The 250 drive was already formatted and a clone of the internal drive saved out to it once, so it would have to be reformatted, partitioned, and re-saved to the new locations. Any issues involved with that?
4. Is the Sandbox feature something that should be used in archiving data? I can’t quite grasp the relationship, if there is one, between a clone of the internal drive, an archival storage area, and the Sandbox.

I’ve spent several hours recently reading threads and the PDF and haven’t seen the issue of partitioning for the purposes of cloning *and* archiving to free up the internal drive flatly addressed. It’s doubtless a very common situation. Did I miss this in the threads and manual?


You’ve got a very together operation going on here, Dave. Thanks.

[dnanian]

In general, I'd make it about the size of the 80, but remember that if you're outgrowing the drive now, you're going to definitely get a larger one. As such, giving it some more room to "plan for the future" is a good idea.

You definitely need to partition if you're going to store a backup and some archived data side by side.

Don't worry about the Sandbox for now: you don't sound like the kind of user who needs it, and it has nothing to do with archiving.

Please remember: the "archive" is something you're managing yourself. Move files there when you want to save them. Do not direct SD! at the archive volume!

[galfromdownunder]

Originally Posted by dnanian

In general, I'd make it about the size of the 80, but remember that if you're outgrowing the drive now, you're going to definitely get a larger one. As such, giving it some more room to "plan for the future" is a good idea.

You definitely need to partition if you're going to store a backup and some archived data side by side.

Don't worry about the Sandbox for now: you don't sound like the kind of user who needs it, and it has nothing to do with archiving.

Please remember: the "archive" is something you're managing yourself. Move files there when you want to save them. Do not direct SD! at the archive volume!

Now just so I have this right... I've been using Super Duper with a 60/60 for the past 3 years. Now I'm upgrading my Powerbook G4/Tiger to a 160gb, so I'm about to set off to buy a bigger clone drive.

Can I buy a 250 or even 320, partition it 160/90 or 160/160, and use the leftover for scratch - i.e if I ever have to restore from the clone, the system will present me the two partitions to choose from? JUST HAVE TO MAKE SURE NOW ...

Thanks!

[dnanian]

It'll present you with the one that you've backed up to, of course, if you're trying to start up, since the other doesn't have an OS on it... make sure you partition properly for your Mac type -- you want to use GUID for Intel Macs or Apple Partition Map for Power PC (behind the Options button in the Partition tab of Disk Utility).

[galfromdownunder]

Originally Posted by dnanian

It'll present you with the one that you've backed up to, of course, if you're trying to start up, since the other doesn't have an OS on it... make sure you partition properly for your Mac type -- you want to use GUID for Intel Macs or Apple Partition Map for Power PC (behind the Options button in the Partition tab of Disk Utility).

Thank you Dave. Fabulous fast answer - that's why your earn the big bucks.
I only wish drives were small enough to allow at least 2 or 3 generations in your shirt pocket.

Just clarifying Pie-airs post ... does SD do non-bootable Smartcopies between drives? Assuming I buy say, a 250gb external partitioned 160/90, can I first do my nightly bootable clone to the 160 partition, then "point" SD to the remaining external 90 and clone THAT yet a third drive? I am paranoid about backing everything up ....

And thanks for keeping it working for Power PC/Tiger people - if it ain't broke, don't fix it I say!

[dnanian]

Drive data is drive data. It doesn't matter what drive you're copying from - if it's properly set up as a bootable drive, and you're using the right settings/script, the result will be bootable. If not, it won't be.

In other words, say you use "Backup - all files" with Smart Update to copy from your startup drive to a USB drive that doesn't support boot on a Power PC. You then do the same from that USB drive to a FireWire drive which does support boot. The result will be bootable.