Carbon Copy Cloner and Drobo in exFAT?

[Maxi86]

Guys, I'm trying to use Carbon Copy Cloner.
In order to do so, I formatted one of my partitions on my external hard drive into Mac OS Extended (Journaled)... it's 300 GB... so that would be more than enough, I reckoned.

However, CCC gives me this warning:
'You may have difficulty booting from this target volume, the underlying disk is not formatted with a partitioning scheme that Apple recommends for Intel Macs.'

What does this mean? Should I continue anyway? Or will it be an useless clone?
Does this mean I have to have a 'clean' external HDD for this job?


Regarding the Drobo... I installed it in Windows, when setting up I could only choose to format in NTFS or FAT32. I chose NTFS, but then went to My Computer and reformatted it to exFAT...
Now the Drobo Dashboard doesn't recognize the file system and says it's unformatted. I can use it perfectly though...

But when trying to get to the data on my iMac, I was unhappily surprised...
Although the Drobo Dashboard does show the Drobo, I can't find it in Finder...
It is visible in Disk Utility... but it's greyed out...

Does anyone have any idea how to get into the Drobo data?

And could it be possible to make another partition on the Drobo for the CCC clone? Or would I get the same warning again?

 

[Vantage Point]

I formatted one of my partitions on my external hard drive into Mac OS Extended (Journaled)... it's 300 GB... so that would be more than enough, I reckoned.

However, CCC gives me this warning:
'You may have difficulty booting from this target volume, the underlying disk is not formatted with a partitioning scheme that Apple recommends for Intel Macs.'

I'm not an expert but I think you can only use one format/disk, meaning that each partition cannot be a different format. I know you can read from any format but you can only write to the Mac format on a Mac. However, I am not 100% sure

 

[Maxi86]

I am currently using the same partition I just formatted to make a Time Machine backup, seems to work just fine...

 

[Vantage Point]

Try "Repair Disk Permissions" in Disk Utilities (and even 'Verify Disk') - can't hurt to try.

 

[Maxi86]

I verified the volume 'Drobo', it seems to be OK.
I suppose Repair won't do much either...

could it be the exFAT factor?

 

[balamw]

I verified the volume 'Drobo', it seems to be OK.
I suppose Repair won't do much either...

If you look at it in Disk Utility it should tell you what partition scheme was used.

It shoudl be one of GPT, MBR or APM. Intel Macs want GPT. You may have chosen MBR.

B

 

[Maxi86]

Right, I checked Disk Utility...

The partition map scheme used for the Drobo: GUID Partition Table.
I noticed so is my internal HDD of 1TB...

My external HDD is Master Boot Record (MBR).
How can I change it on the Drobo?

btw what about regarding the Carbon Copy Cloner?

 

[balamw]

Right, I checked Disk Utility...

The partition map scheme used for the Drobo: GUID Partition Table.
I noticed so is my internal HDD of 1TB...

My external HDD is Master Boot Record (MBR).
How can I change it on the Drobo?

btw what about regarding the Carbon Copy Cloner?

I'm confused.

CCC is giving you the error because you are trying to clone to your MBR partitioned external. No?

Why do you want to change the Drobo?

B

 

[Maxi86]

I'll try to be more clear...
My 1.5TB external HDD has a few partitions:
- Elements; NTFS; 300GB
- Cinema; NTFS; 600GB
- Library; Mac OS Extended (Journaled); 300GB
- Media; NTFS; 150GB
- Combination; exFAT; 20GB

The HDD as a whole has MBR as it's partition map scheme. But still when try to copy a clone to 'Library' I get the above mentioned warning.
It works just fine for Time Machine.

And the problem with the Drobo is... I can't get to the data, it's visisble in Disk Utility and Drobo Dashboard, but it's not on my desktop or with Finder...

 

[balamw]

Let's dal with one issue at a time CCC is just complaining that it won't be able to boot from the clone it makes to partition Library on the external drive. If you need to be able to boot from it it needs to be GPT with a hybrid MBR. Either live with not booting from it or get another drive for your image.

You can't boot to Time Machine so it isn't bothered by the fact it's MBR.

The Drobo issue may get more traction in Mac Peripherals.

B

 

[Maxi86]

Although I won't be able to boot from the partition Library... can I still use it to copy it to for example an SSD? Or copy it to another HDD which is GPT?

When you have a new drive, can you set up the MBR or GPT manually? Using Disk Utility in Mac OS?

 

[balamw]

Although I won't be able to boot from the partition Library... can I still use it to copy it to for example an SSD? Or copy it to another HDD which is GPT?

When you have a new drive, can you set up the MBR or GPT manually? Using Disk Utility in Mac OS?

Yes, but you will have to boot from some other drive like the os x install disc to run CCC.

Yes. You can pick when you partition the drive at first. There are tools that will allow you to convert on the fly, but they are not without risk.

B

 

[Maxi86]

So does that mean that after installing the SSD, I would have to choose GPT with an hybrid MBR before transferring the cloned image?
Or will just inserting the OS X install disc be enough to run CCC and read the image image?

Oh and I will post a new thread regarding the Drobo in the Mac Peripherals section, thanks for the tip!

 

[balamw]

So does that mean that after installing the SSD, I would have to choose GPT with an hybrid MBR before transferring the cloned image?

Yes. You'll have to run Disk Utility from the Mac OS X disc to partition the new SSD and then run CCC from somewhere else (put a copy on your External or on a USB thumb drive).

B

 

[Maxi86]

I got a 500GB Lacie external HDD...
After formatting to Mac OS Extended (Journaled), the Partition Map Scheme automatically went to GUID Partition Table (GPT).
How do I make it with an hybrid MBR? Is it actually necessary?
When using CCC I get the message 'This volume will be bootable.'

And btw can I use the above mentioned drive to put my CCC image AND Time Machine back-up together? Or do I need to make separate partitions?

 

[balamw]

How do I make it with an hybrid MBR? Is it actually necessary?

Not if the drive is to be used only with Mac OS X. Usually Disk Utility will create the hybrid MBR for you anyway.

And btw can I use the above mentioned drive to put my CCC image AND Time Machine back-up together? Or do I need to make separate partitions?

Sure, you can use the HFS+ formatted drive for both CCC and Time Machine backups, it just makes restoring from CCC a bit trickier since you would restore also the Time Machine backups.

B

 

[Maxi86]

is it therefore perhaps good to make partitions? to be able to restore CCC only...
like 50GB for CCC, another 150GB for Time Machine
and the rest an exFAT partition for using with both OS'es...

will CCC and Time Machine work properly in this setting?

 

[balamw]

Sure, but I'm still not a fan of exFAT under any circumstances.

Generally I would pad the partitions by 50-100% from your needs now so you won't have to resize later.

B