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Home: Video University Forums: Mac Video:
What is the proper way to mirror a drive in a Mac?

DVman
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Jan 14, 2006, 6:09 PM

Post #1 of 8 (778 views)
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What is the proper way to mirror a drive in a Mac?	Can't Post

I just bought a hard drive which I plan to install in my Power Mac G4 1.4G. Ths computer has two drives and I want to install a third one. I have a system drive with OS Tiger and I would like to mirror the system drive to the new drive I am installing. Could anyone tall me what is the procedure to mirror (copy) the system drive into this new drive. The system drive is quite old and is not as reliable as the new Seagare Barracuda drive which I am installing.

I am not sure if I can just drag the drive icon which appears in the desktop and put it into the new drive icon appearing to start the copying operation (so it will be identical as the system drive) -or- if I have to click on the system drive to go inside and select all programs inside and drag them into the new drive. Any help or suggestion how to do this will be greatly appreciated. After I make a duplicate of the drive, I plan to erase the old system drive.

RatVega
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Jan 14, 2006, 9:06 PM

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Re: [DVman] What is the proper way to mirror a drive in a Mac? [In reply to]	Can't Post

I'm thinking that you should be able to mount the new drive, set it up for journaling, etc., then select everything from root on the system drive and drag it to the new drive. The only possible hitch I can see is that the system files may not want to copy.

Another approach would be to make a disk image of your system drive with Disk Utility, mount and prep the new drive, then do a Restore to the new drive from the image.

A third possibility would be to use the RAID 1 option in OS X to get an exact mirror, then "break" the RAID and retire the old drive.

I'd probably also take a few minutes to call Apple Support and pose the question to them. If the response is anything but authoritative, ask for an OS specialist. First level techs can be good, but Level Two techs are there for questions just like this one.

Good luck!

______________________________________________________________
Currently on a loaded 2.5GHz G5 dualie/5GB/1TB internal RAID/dual 19" monitors. Final Cut Studio, Adobe Suite, Boris RED. Shooting with Canon.

VU California Crew, Inland Empire Sub-Chapter (paragraph?)

DVman
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Jan 14, 2006, 10:46 PM

Post #3 of 8 (765 views)
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Re: [RatVega] What is the proper way to mirror a drive in a Mac? [In reply to]	Can't Post

when you say select everything from root on the system, what does it mean?

If the system files do not want to copy, how would I know?

Thanks.

In Reply To

RatVega
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Jan 14, 2006, 11:09 PM

Post #4 of 8 (762 views)
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Re: [DVman] What is the proper way to mirror a drive in a Mac? [In reply to]	Can't Post

Root is the first level of the system drive directory. When you "open" the system drive, what you see in Finder is the root directory. The reason you want to select all the files here is because if you just drag the disk icon and drop it on the new drive, you'll get a folder named after the system drive and everything will be in the folder. This is a different hierarchy than the source.

If the system files can't be copied, you'll get an error statement from the copy utility telling you that you don't have sufficient privilidges or words to that effect.

______________________________________________________________
Currently on a loaded 2.5GHz G5 dualie/5GB/1TB internal RAID/dual 19" monitors. Final Cut Studio, Adobe Suite, Boris RED. Shooting with Canon.

VU California Crew, Inland Empire Sub-Chapter (paragraph?)

DVman
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Jan 15, 2006, 12:00 AM

Post #5 of 8 (759 views)
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Re: [RatVega] What is the proper way to mirror a drive in a Mac? [In reply to]	Can't Post

Thank you again. That is very good information.

ABout the second approach, doing a disk image of the system drive with Disk Utility, when you say do a Restore to the new drive from image, you mean, to format the original system drive after the disk image has been created?

Also, would this second approach be better than the first? The last approach using Raid is the most difficult for me to understand.

Best,

DVM

<< Another approach would be to make a disk image of your system drive with Disk Utility, mount and prep the new drive, then do a Restore to the new drive from the image. >>

Renny
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Jan 15, 2006, 12:53 AM

Post #6 of 8 (758 views)
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Re: [DVman] What is the proper way to mirror a drive in a Mac? [In reply to]	Can't Post

You might want to check out Carbon Copy. I think it might be what you're looking for. It's free.
http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html
Renny
Butylphenyl Methylpropional

RatVega
Enthusiast

Jan 15, 2006, 3:26 AM

Post #7 of 8 (746 views)
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Re: [DVman] What is the proper way to mirror a drive in a Mac? [In reply to]	Can't Post

I'd create the disk image of the system drive, then bring up the new drive and format it (make sure to include journaling - you'll want that.) Then mount the new drive and use the Restore function in Disk Utility citing the system disk image as the source. This should create a perfect copy of the system drive. From there, it's only a matter of changing the boot volume to the new drive, reboot, and you can do whatever you want with the old drive.

Note that I haven't done this, so I'm talking theory. It is my best belief that it will work fine. Again, I encourage you to cross-check my thinking with Apple Support. I think this may be the cleanest way to go.

If you're not familiar with RAIDs, don't even bother to try to understand the last option. I only mentioned it because it's there. Hard to say if it's a rational option.

______________________________________________________________
Currently on a loaded 2.5GHz G5 dualie/5GB/1TB internal RAID/dual 19" monitors. Final Cut Studio, Adobe Suite, Boris RED. Shooting with Canon.

VU California Crew, Inland Empire Sub-Chapter (paragraph?)

chucksav
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Jan 15, 2006, 11:38 AM

Post #8 of 8 (731 views)
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Re: [DVman] What is the proper way to mirror a drive in a Mac? [In reply to]	Can't Post

If you want to back-up (archive) you system drive, use Carbon Copy Cloner or Superduper. I prefer Superduper because it makes Finder-friendly archives. Both will make bootable system backups. You could also use the Apple-supplied Backup.

In this context, a "mirrored" system is one where identical data is written simultaneously to two or more drives. The mirror dive is an up-to-the-millisecond clone of the original drive, and can seamlessly take over should the primary drive fail. You can set up a mirror with Disk Utility or the superior (but not free) SoftRAID.