Updating main volume from Sandbox

[camner]

The SD! documentation mentions that it's possible (but seems to discourage!) updating the main volume from its sandbox....

My MO up 'til I read of the possibility was this:

1. Have a main volume "Macintosh HD" and an associated Sandbox.
2. Boot off of Sandbox and go about my business. Anytime I install anything new I keep a copy of the installer in a folder on my desktop called "installed on Sandbox"
3. Periodically boot off of "Macintosh HD" and reinstall everything there that had been installed on "Sandbox"
4. Create a new Sandbox via Smart Copy.

Step 3 takes a lot of time. The documentation-discouraged timesaver would be to update "Macintosh HD" (when I'm ready to do so) directly from "Sandbox" using SD!, instead of manually reinstalling stuff. Why isn't this a good idea?

Also (and I may not be right about this), aren't there other system files that get updated without my being aware of it? Aren't those changes lost when I boot off "Macintosh HD" and reinstall the stuff that I know about?

Possibly random musing...With my strategy give above, if I lose my hard drive containing "Macintosh HD" and "Sandbox" I'm going to lose the folder in which I keep track of things I've installed onto Sandbox. So, should I keep the folder of installed stuff somewhere else?

[dnanian]

It's discouraged because you have to be careful. As long as you follow the instructions carefully, including making a backup before you copy back, you should be fine.