Backup system, move downloaded files to ex Disk

[silverhand31]

I've been use Mac for a while but I haven't use any app to backup my mac hard disk.
Today I just purchase a 1TB ex disk.
So I decided to split it into 2 disks, one for backup system, one for Data
Then I use CCC to copy my Mac (uncheck Download folder, movie folder, music folder... )
Is it a good way to backup my mac if my hard drive got problem?

And I attempt to store my movies on Data disk, is there any good way to do that like auto move new movie everytime I plug my ex driver? And how to fast copy them
I set all type disk is Mac journaled, so if I plug it in to window PC will it be recognized and copy-able?
Thanks.

 

[ezramoore]

That is a fine way to backup your data. That method won't allow you to boot from your external should your internal drive fail (you will have to reinstall your OS from other media, then restore the files on your backup disk).


I'm sure you could write some sort of script (probably using rsync) to move new files over to your external drive every time you plug it in. I don't know of any existing software that would help you with that.

If you have formatted both partitions on your external disk as Mac OS Journaled (HFS+) you WILL NOT be able to read them from a Windows computer without installing some software that will allow Windows to read the HFS+ filesystem.

 

[silverhand31]

That is a fine way to backup your data. That method won't allow you to boot from your external should your internal drive fail (you will have to reinstall your OS from other media, then restore the files on your backup disk).


I'm sure you could write some sort of script (probably using rsync) to move new files over to your external drive every time you plug it in. I don't know of any existing software that would help you with that.

If you have formatted both partitions on your external disk as Mac OS Journaled (HFS+) you WILL NOT be able to read them from a Windows computer without installing some software that will allow Windows to read the HFS+ filesystem.

Could you share me those script? Thanks a lot.
About my Data disk, I have to format it into Window NT, FAT or exFat so both Mac and pc could read from it?
And how could I could boot from external disk. Before using CCC, I remember that CCC told me to do something related to make that disk become bootable. Am I right?

 

[ezramoore]

I don't have any scripts that would do that. They would be pretty specific to your use, and I doubt that you could find someone here to write them for you and then help you install them. I recommend that you look into rsync.

I'm not sure if you will be able to boot the computer off of your backup partition if need it to be readable by Windows. In my experience, formatting a disk using the GUID partition table scheme means that the disk will not be recognized by Windows no matter what the filesystem. I would just skip the requirement of the backup being bootable. If your internal drive fails for some reason, it is pretty easy to reinstall the OS then transfer your files from your data-only backup. It will make things a lot more stable and a lot less complicated to set up.

If you want the disk to be readable AND writeable by both OSes you need to either use FAT32 or exFAT. FAT32 has a file size limitation of 4GB, so if you have hi-def movie rips, or other large files you need to be aware of that limit.