Ok, thanks for all that Carlo. Cloning process is underway. In the mean time I went looking for system disc. The two black MacBooks were a purchase of reformatted MBs loaded with 10.5.8 from my previous employer. I've never needed the system instal discs before now too.
So I have system OSX discs for 10.5.2, 10.5.4 and 10.6.1 (from SWMBOs white MacBook). Do I take a leap and go 10.6.1 or end up backward from 10.5.8 where it currently is? Having cloned 10.5.8, is the data restore process easy into a 10.6.x machine? I've NEVER done a system restore before so a little unsure and dreading the consequences of destroying my 9yo's Minecraft creations!!! Regards Pete On 04/08/2012, at 10:34 AM, "[email protected]" <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Pete, > > The best format is Mac OS Extended (Journaled) with a GUID Partition Table > but ultimately you can, with extra work, get back to normal from anything > that records all your data. You could also do a Time Machine backup rather > than a clone. > > As for the size difference, you are quite right that you may be able to get > by with the smaller drive. Here are some areas where you could save files. I > have put them in approximate order that I would leave things out until I had > enough space. For you it may be different. > > 1) Choose not to clone any directories that you would not miss if they where > not there. In my case say a collection of iView downloads. You may also be > able to get by without your Downloads directory. > > 2) You can leave out directories that you have copies of on other computers. > > 3) If you need some files in the Downloads folder, trim any .dmg files that > you have already installed or that can be easily downloaded again. In my > case, say a Mountain Lion image or the latest Libre Office .dmg files. > > 4) The software will make a few smart choices for you. It will likely not, > for instance, copy the paging file if you happen to have one. > > 5) Clean our your caches and log files. > > 7) Least favourable choice but in a pinch. Remember that your operating > system refresh is very likely to work with no data loss. So if there is a > directory of files that you have been thinking about deleting in any case you > can exclude it from the clone. Some old podcasts or videocasts that you never > seem to get around to listening to my be candidates. > > Good luck, and keep us posted. :-) > > Regards, > Carlo > > --- > Carlo Margio > Real World Computing > > mob: 0404 296 965 > [email protected] > www.realworldcomputing.com.au > > On 04/08/2012, at 8:47 , Peter Crisp <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Ok thanks for that Carlo, I understand what you're saying, I have a spare >> 150GB external drive, what format does it need setting as to create the >> clone? It is a 250GB Macbook with 180GB showing available in Finder, I think >> the 150GB is big enough for this cloning process. I will do a browse for the >> CCC 3.4.x version. >> >> Thanks heaps for help here. >> >> Stay tuned - ! >> >> Regards -- 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>
