Hi Pat, I’ve posted 'My Backup Strategy’ numerous times on WAMUG, I’m sure you have either downloaded or read it.
You need to have a "Bootable External Drive Backup" of your complete system (Clone), in case your Internal Drive fails, so you can boot from the external ‘bootable’ backup drive and be up and working, until you can install a new Hard Drive in your computer. Backups are a Must - Scheduled Backups are Vital! People who don’t back probably shouldn’t be allowed to use a computer — it’s that damn important! Having important data / files on only a single disk or computer is absolutely stupid— unless you want to lose them all! Basically a good Backup Strategy consists of three parts: 1. Use Time Machine or another backup application to store "Archives". Use your backup application to update your "Archives" incrementally (copying only new or changed files each time) at least Daily. 2. Create a Bootable backup Clone (Duplicate) of your Startup Volume. Use your backup application to update the Clone weekly. 3. Store at least one backup copy (I prefer a Bootable Clone of my whole system) off-site. Somewhere other than your House in case of fire or burglary, and update it regularly. My Backups: Time Machine backs up my entire system (Hard Drive) to 1TB Time Capsule (hourly) Déjà Vu backs up my Home folder to a Drobo which holds 4 - 1TB SATA drives (every night …) Déjà Vu backs up my Home folder to a 500GB SATA portable drive that lives in my car (every night ...) For security this drive is password protected. Déjà Vu does a bootable Clone of my Startup Volume - [HD] to a 1TB External Firewire Drive (weekly …) I have an extra off-site backup (Bootable Cloned HD by SuperDuper) on a 1TB External Firewire Drive at a relative's. This is updated every 1-2 mths Important: A. Check your Daily Backup to be sure everything has been backed up. B. Test your Bootable Backup Clone to be sure it will boot your computer in the case of an emergency. If your Mac's Hard Drive dies, you can startup from the Bootable Backup Clone and be back up and running in a very short time. Cheers, Ronni On 02/10/2011, at 4:43 PM, pat wrote: > Hi, Ronni, > > Thank you very much, indeed. That worked. Silly me, my brain > slipped a cog and I thought that holding down the 'S' key WAS doing a > Safe Boot. > > It is surprising that just changing the energy settings caused such a > rumpus. > > A question slightly related to my previous problem: several people > have written on the WAMUG list about setting up another bootable OS > on their Macs. I had the impression that to be a bootable OS, it had > to be on the primary disk and also not a partitioned disk, but I got > the impression they were talking about a secondary disk. Is this > possible? My Mac Pro has 3 disks - one has the Boot Camp partition > plus some things stored there. I forgot to mention this, but I > presume it is the reason I was able to boot into Windows. The other > disk is completely empty and I use it as a scratch disk for > graphics. If I partitioned this one, could I put another OS on it? > > Anyway, thanks again for the terrific help. > > Pat > > > > On 02/10/2011, at 4:14 PM, Ronda Brown wrote: > >> Hi Pat, >> >> You don’t mention starting up in ’Safe Mode’? >> If you boot into Safe Mode Shift Key), the system will perform a >> file system consistency check using the "fsck_hfs" tool. >> >> Hold down the Shift key from the moment you hear the startup "bong" >> to the moment the "spinning gear" appears. >> Expect this startup to take longer than usual. >> Don't be alarmed if the fans whirl loudly during the "spinning >> gear" display. >> Eventually you will be presented with the Safe Boot login screen. >> >> Log in as the administrator and change the System Preferences > >> Energy Saver settings. >> >> Cheers, >> Ronni >> >> 17" MacBook Pro 2.3GHz Quad-Core i7 “Thunderbolt" >> 2.3GHz / 8GB / 750GB @ 7200rpm HD >> >> OS X 10.6.8 Snow Leopard >> OS X 10.7 Lion >> Windows 7 Ultimate (under sufferance) >> >> >> >> On 02/10/2011, at 12:54 PM, pat wrote: >> >>> The patient: Intel Mac Pro, three and a half years old, running OS >>> 10.6.8, 300 GB startup disk with 160 GB free. >>> >>> (Sigh) The patient was performing well yesterday afternoon until... >>> >>> I opened System Preferences and changed the Energy settings to 3 >>> hours each (they had been set for shorter intervals. Then did a >>> Restart. >>> >>> There was the usual startup chime, the pale grey screen with the >>> apple, then a blue screen. There it remained. The little windmill >>> cursor appeared at intervals and went away at intervals. The blue >>> screen flickered a bit, like it really was trying to start up. >>> >>> Remedies I tried: >>> Starting up holding the S key - no change. >>> Starting up holding the C key (the external backup disk, not Time >>> Machine, was attached - it is supposed to be bootable) - no change. >>> Starting up holding the option key (there is a Bootcamp partition). >>> Yes, I can boot into windows. (Arrrgghhh). >>> >>> While in windows, I opened the cd tray and put the Snow Leopard disk >>> in, then tried a restart holding the C key again. Used the SL disk >>> to repair permissions - there were only about a dozen repairs, all >>> having to do with System/Core Services/ Remote Management. Also >>> clicked Repair Disk. The message said the disk was OK. >>> >>> Tried another restart - no change. Started up on the SL disk again, >>> repaired permissions again - the same items were 'repaired.' >>> >>> Used an old laptop to access Apple support, worked through the >>> Express Lane. Resetting the SMC sounded promising, so I went through >>> the steps of that, but no change. That was a far as I could go with >>> Express Lane without paying for a phone consultation. >>> >>> Unfortunately, I don't have a current copy of Disk Warrior, or I >>> would have tried that. >>> >>> So I am really hoping WAMUG members can help. >>> >>> Pat >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- >> Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml> >> Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> >> Settings & Unsubscribe - <http://lists.wamug.org.au/listinfo/ >> wamug.org.au-wamug> > > -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- > Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml> > Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> > Settings & Unsubscribe - > <http://lists.wamug.org.au/listinfo/wamug.org.au-wamug> -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml> Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> Settings & Unsubscribe - <http://lists.wamug.org.au/listinfo/wamug.org.au-wamug>
