How to backup HD before clean install of Leopard?

[machomer]

From other posts it seems that alot of people recommend doing a fresh install of Leopard and back up my HD.

I have an external HD that I use with my Mac and Windows computers. I downloaded CCC, but it doesn't recognize my external HD as a target. Someone suggested that I need to format the HD for a MAC. I don't want to lose my data.

I saw there was an option for Backup everything and create disk image, but it will not be able to boot from the image. Will creating a disk image of my Mac HD allow me to copy my files back over once Leopard is installed?

 

[chscag]

CCC will only backup to a HFS + formatted drive. It can then make the drive bootable in order to restore to the internal HD.

I don't know how large your external is but if it's large enough you might think about partitioning it into two partitions. The first as HFS + so that CCC can use it for backups, the second as FAT-32.

Worried about losing data during the partitioning process? Use Partition Magic if you have it or GParted (free). Both can re-partition non-destructively. Make sure the first partition you create on the external is raw. The second as FAT-32 for your Win data. Then use Disk Utility from your Mac to format the first partition on the external as HFS +.

Backing up to an image with CCC requires the same HFS + formatting be used. Not a good option as the image is not bootable.

Regards.