backup entire hard drive

[sa3er]

i want to make a full backup from my HDD and also encrypted. i think disk utility is good enough but i have a question. if i make the image backup when system is started (from application menu) it will be good to restore later or i have to backup from installer disk and when system is not loaded ? (as explained here : http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1553 )
for a good backup i have to use installer disk's disk utility ??

 

[John T]

Use SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Cloner. They are similar and can produce bootable backups etc.

 

[maflynn]

I use CarbonCopyCloner to clone my drive, but I also use TimeMachine as well. Either solution will work. The advantage of CCC is that you have a bootable clone.

 

[sa3er]

these apps have no encryption option like disk utility ... even time machine !

 

[Weaselboy]

these apps have no encryption option like disk utility ... even time machine !

You could make an encrypted sparse bundle, then use CCC to clone to that partition.

See this.

 

[gyorpb]

CCC is a GUI wrapper around a bunch of standard tools. The cloning process is exactly the same as using the restore process in Disk Utility, because they both use the exact same underlying tools.

.tsooJ

 

[sa3er]

i don't trust to encrypted sparse bundle , you guys think CCC is better than disk utility ? if it is then i'll do it

ps:my entire hard drive is encrypted with pgp

 

[Weaselboy]

i don't trust to encrypted sparse bundle , you guys think CCC is better than disk utility ? if it is then i'll do it

ps:my entire hard drive is encrypted with pgp

The advantage with CCC is it will allow you to easily update the backup by just updating changed/new files. DU will require making a whole new copy and that will take much longer.

I use CCC to clone to an external drive and it works well.

 

[sa3er]

i tried to backup with Disk utility and this error happened :

2011-10-24 00:47:59 : Disk Utility started.

2011-10-24 00:49:07 : Creating Image “Hitachi Media.dmg”
2011-10-24 00:49:21 : Preparing imaging engine…
2011-10-24 00:49:23 : Reading Protective Master Boot Record (MBR : 0)…
2011-10-24 00:49:43 : (CRC32 $3C144876: Protective Master Boot Record (MBR : 0))
2011-10-24 00:49:43 : Reading GPT Header (Primary GPT Header : 1)…
2011-10-24 00:49:43 : (CRC32 $18582BA8: GPT Header (Primary GPT Header : 1))
2011-10-24 00:49:43 : Reading GPT Partition Data (Primary GPT Table : 2)…
2011-10-24 00:49:43 : (CRC32 $02DA8A1A: GPT Partition Data (Primary GPT Table : 2))
2011-10-24 00:49:43 : Reading (Apple_Free : 3)…
2011-10-24 00:49:43 : (CRC32 $00000000: (Apple_Free : 3))
2011-10-24 00:49:43 : Reading EFI System Partition
2011-10-24 00:49:51 : Reading C (Apple_HFS : 5)…
2011-10-24 09:14:29 : Unable to create “Hitachi Media.dmg.” (File too large)

WTF

 

[Matthew Yohe]

i tried to backup with Disk utility and this error happened :


WTF

Where are you creating that image? On the same drive?

Isn't it saying it won't fit, because you're copying the size of the disk, onto the same disk?

 

[sa3er]

Where are you creating that image? On the same drive?

Isn't it saying it won't fit, because you're copying the size of the disk, onto the same disk?

into a 500GB external hard drive which 90% of it is free
my mac hard drive is 500 too i think, and i'm using about 150 GB of it ...

what's wrong

 

[John T]

Sorry Misunderstood last post!

 

[sa3er]

Sorry Misunderstood last post!

my mac HDD is 500 GB. 150 GB of it is used already
i have an external HDD. its 500 GB, which have about 400 GB free space
why my backup failed then ?

 

[John T]

i have an external HDD. its 500 GB, which have about 400 GB free space
why my backup failed then ?

Because, it appears that as Disc Utility reported, the image you were trying to create was not large enough. That is nothing to do with the size of the HDD.

 

[sa3er]

Because, it appears that as Disc Utility reported, the image you were trying to create was not large enough. That is nothing to do with the size of the HDD.

so what i have to do ?
there is no way to backup then encrypted ?

 

[John T]

You originally said the data on your HDD was encrypted using pgp. You were then advised to copy the data to an external HDD using either Carbon Copy Cloner os SuperDuper. For all intent and purposes both of these do the same job, namely make an identical clone of data on one HDD and copy it to another. The fact that the data is encrypted should make no difference.

You then say you've unsuccessfully tried to create an encrypted image to contain your data on an external HDD using Disc Utility. As already explained, there is nothing wrong with this procedure, however, this failed because, as Disc Utility reported, the image you created was not large enough.

Obviously, if you want to use Disc Utility, you'll need to determine the amount of the data you want to backup - this will ensure the size of the encrypted image you create to hold the data is large enough. Go to Disc Utility>file and follow instructions.

Disc Utility takes quite a while to create an large image so be patient! Third party software is available that is a lot quicker. However as your data is already encrypted, I can't understand why you don't use Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper. Why try to encrypt a file that is already encrypted?

 

[sa3er]

You originally said the data on your HDD was encrypted using pgp. You were then advised to copy the data to an external HDD using either Carbon Copy Cloner os SuperDuper. For all intent and purposes both of these do the same job, namely make an identical clone of data on one HDD and copy it to another. The fact that the data is encrypted should make no difference.

You then say you've unsuccessfully tried to create an encrypted image to contain your data on an external HDD using Disc Utility. As already explained, there is nothing wrong with this procedure, however, this failed because, as Disc Utility reported, the image you created was not large enough.

Obviously, if you want to use Disc Utility, you'll need to determine the amount of the data you want to backup - this will ensure the size of the encrypted image you create to hold the data is large enough. Go to Disc Utility>file and follow instructions.

Disc Utility takes quite a while to create an large image so be patient! Third party software is available that is a lot quicker. However as your data is already encrypted, I can't understand why you don't use Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper. Why try to encrypt a file that is already encrypted?

How to determine the amount of the data i want to backup ??? there is no such thing in disk utility image options ...

well i do care very much for security, my mac have information for a business company (a forex company) and i extremely have to care about security because if anything bad happen i'm responsible to my manager

 

[John T]

How to determine the amount of the data i want to backup ???

If, as you say, you want to back up all data on your HDD, Disc Utility will tell you. If you want details of individual files, right click on file and then "Get Info".

 

[sa3er]

If, as you say, you want to back up all data on your HDD, Disc Utility will tell you. If you want details of individual files, right click on file and then "Get Info".

i don't understand relation of "get info" with disk utility image !
i do like this : first select the HDD (hitachi blah blah) then File>New>disk image from disk0
then it ask where to save backup and i choose my external hard drive and compressed and encrypted ....

 

[John T]

i don't understand relation of "get info" with disk utility image !

This has nothing to do with Dic Utility! Note what I said - "If you want details of individual files, right click on file and then Get Info". To make this clearer I possibly should have referred to "right click on individual file you want to back up and then on Get info"

i do like this : first select the HDD (hitachi blah blah) then File>New>disk image from disk0
then it ask where to save backup and i choose my external hard drive and compressed and encrypted ....

That's where you're going wrong! It should be: File>New>Blank Disc Image.
Read the help page on Disc Utility for a detailed explanation.

 

[sa3er]

This has nothing to do with Dic Utility! Note what I said - "If you want details of individual files, right click on file and then Get Info". To make this clearer I possibly should have referred to "right click on individual file you want to back up and then on Get info"



That's where you're going wrong! It should be: File>New>Blank Disc Image.
Read the help page on Disc Utility for a detailed explanation.

have to choose "sparse bundle disk image" or "sparse disk image" ?
and what to put as size ??? (it can't determinate size by itself ?!)