Hi Alan, Hi Ronni, Hi Daniel, Just a couple of thoughts/comments on using a separate user account and on partitioning.
Using a separate user account to segregate your temporary backup data I tend to be the only user of my main computer and, in the past, I have used the approach of separate user accounts to segregate distinct areas of my work in my case this was: * Me (main user) all my usual personal computing * Potoroo all the work I do as a committee member and webmaster of a not-for-profit community organisation * Genealogy all the research, documents, images etc relating to my ongoing family history investigations In the (really) old days before OSX, I just used to cover this with various levels of cascading folders in my main DATA folder but as OSX took over Apple really pushed you in the direction of higher level splitting into Documents/Pictures/Music/Movies etc. My first approach was that, rather than creating three different (me/potoroo/genealogy) sets of subfolders in each of the main Apple Documents/Pictures/Music/Movies folders, I would create the three user accounts and just log into or switch to the relevant user account depending on the work I was doing. In practice, I soon found lots of problems with this approach I won¹t bother highlighting them all as most of them wouldn¹t be relevant to your proposed use of the separate user account the big one that, I think, could be a problem for you is User permissions. Ronni has written excellent articles on user permissions before so I won¹t try and go into the details - and possibly introduce some errors ;o) The thing is that Apple envisages user folders being used by different users who don¹t want all their stuff being accessible to other users so when you are logged in as one user you (generally) don¹t have access to stuff you created when logged in as a separate user. What permissions a file gets also can vary whether you move it on the same disc/partition, copy it, or move it to another disc/partition (which will generally/always? Leave the original in place and create a copy on the second disc/partition). Now there are ways around this, from using public folders to changing folder and file permissions, and I always found a way to access the files I needed to but it DID become very tiresome so the next time I did a major system update, I reverted to one user for ALL my work and relied on an organised filing system to keep track of it all (I do have a separate Computer Admin user account that I can use for troubleshooting but that is a different use/purpose and that account does not hold any of my data/documents). You say you are wanting a ³temporary² backup storage area and I¹m not sure exactly how you intend to move stuff into this and (perhaps more importantly) how you intend to access it if you need to use the back-ups so I don¹t know how much of a problem permissions issues would be to you but if you find you NEED the backup, it would be a bad time to discover permissions issues. If it was me, I would not create a new user account instead I would just create a new high level folder (called, say, temporary backups) and use that to store the sparse images. I¹m still on Snow Leopard and the main file structure will no doubt have changed somewhat through Mavericks and Yosemite, but the obvious option on my set-up would be a new folder, called temporary backups, in users/shared since it is outside your actual personal user folder it is separated (as a new user folder would be) but still owned by you so without the potential permissions/access problems). On my set-up I could even create a new folder at the top level of the disc (ie alongside library, System, Users etc) which would put it even more ³out-of-the way² - however, personally, I prefer to leave this level clean, with just the Apple created folder hierarchy. Just my personal observations/experience/preferences others may well feel differently you need to find what works best for you. Using separate partitions on the main computer HD I would not dream of disagreeing with Daniel¹s and Ronni¹s comments partitions were much more useful/used in the past when storage was much more expensive. Having said that, I DO have my HD partitioned ;o) I initially had my HD partitioned into 3: 1. Main OSX and all user data/documents 2. Insurance back-ups from other computers 3. TV programs (downloaded video from iView and other sources) But, as Daniel mentioned, I fairly soon ran into partition size problems (particularly 2) so I purchased more external drives to cover all the back-ups, deleted partition 2 and re-organised to just have the 2 partitions: 1. Main OSX and all user data/documents 2. TV programs (downloaded video from iView and other sources) The main advantage, I find, is that I have quite different back-up needs/schedules for the two partitions: * Partition 1 is my digital ³life² it has 2 Superduper clones on separate external drives and timemachine back-up. In addition, all the important documents are synched to dropbox (and hence to 2 other computers which also have back-ups). You might say the approach is belt & braces & piece of string on 3 pairs of trousers ;o) * Partition 2 contains a lot of data and represents a fair bit of time/effort in collecting it it would be frustrating and annoying to lose it, but hardly a tragedy. I have a superduper clone of this on a separate external HD, which I update after adding a bunch of new content. I am happy with just one clone and no time machine back-up it¹s just TV programs. I COULD have all this on one partition, exclude the TV stuff from Time machine, and set-up more complex superduper scripts for back-up. But I do find the two partition set-up the most convenient for me, at present. Having said that, I can envisage myself setting up a network drive, attached directly to the router, and ending up with video and music on that and leaving the computer clean of all that (and with just one partition). I have had no problems with my partitioning but I DO research carefully how it all works, read several ³how-to²s including Apple¹ and Ronni¹s and make sure I know exactly what I am going to do BEFORE I start. It goes without saying that everything has back-ups before doing any of this but you are obviously a conscientious baker-upper and well-aware of these needs ;o) Again just my personal observations/experience/preferences others may well feel differently you need to find what works best for you. Cheers Neil -- Neil R. Houghton Albany, Western Australia Tel: +61 8 9841 6063 Email: [email protected] on 14/12/14 20:44, Alan Smith at [email protected] wrote: > Hi Daniel > > Thanks for your input. Yes, I¹ve had the problem of partitions ending up the > wrong size down the track. > > I wanted a ³temporary² backup storage area as several ³spare² external drives > have data relating to the 2009 iMac in its various stages of decline and > recovery. I don¹t want to delete them yet. > > I decided on the sparse image approach because SuperDuper erases the target > disk as part of its process - and I didn¹t want that going on near the boot > drive. I decided that I could put several images in the one partition, which > could be moved one at a time if space became an issue. > > However, I am now thinking that my security needs (fumble fingers, not web > probes!) could be improved by putting the sparse images in the standard > structure of a second (bold, italic and underline!) user account. The images > only need accessing once a month in normal times. May keep them there, and > not worry about external drives at all > > Cheers > Alan > > > On 14 Dec 2014, at 7:22 pm, Daniel Kerr <[email protected]> wrote: > >> You can create one partition on a Fusion drive, after that ,no. >> More info here. - http://support.apple.com/en-au/HT202574 >> My personal opinion on partitions on internal drives,and again I point >> out,..this is my personal opinion, I think partitions are a waste of time. >> You're not gaining any benefit with a partition, and nine times out of ten, >> down the track either Part A or Part B of the partition is the "wrong size". >> Then you have to go back to square one. >> Generally just easier to a) get another external drive as a backup (as >> externals are cheap), as you'll spend less "money time" on it and can get >> larger sizes,or just create a backup folder to back up to. >> There's no real "benefit" in partitioning I findnot these days. It's not >> like if one partition dies it's not going to affect the other partition, as >> it's the same drive. >> >> Again, just my take on it,.. >> >> Kind regards >> Daniel >> >> Sent from my iPhone 6 >> >> --- >> Daniel Kerr >> MacWizardry >> >> Phone: 0414 795 960 >> Email: <daniel AT macwizardry.com.au> >> Web: <http://www.macwizardry.com.au> >> >> >> **For everything Apple** >> >> NOTE: Any information provided in this email may be my personal opinion and >> as such should be taken accordingly, and may not be the views of MacWizardry. >> Any information provided does not offer or warrant any form of warranty or >> accept liability. It would be appreciated that if any information in this >> email is to be disseminated, distributed or copied, that permission by the >> author be requested. >> >> On 13/12/2014, at 1:04 PM, Alan Smith <[email protected]> wrote: >> >>> I would like to utilise some of the vast unused space on the internal drives >>> of two iMacs as backups for films. Is this possible? If it is possible >>> then what is the downside? Could such a partition be later removed to >>> restore the space to OS X? I do not want to go through the disk-erase and >>> OS X re-install operation! >>> >>> My concept is to use SuperDuper to create a sparse image (which permits >>> smart updates) of some of the films on a USB 3 external drive. In >>> practice I would use say three sparse images for ease of management. >>> >>> iMac 1 (2012) has 1TB with Fusion Drive. iMac 2 (2009) has a standard 1TB >>> drive. I would prefer to use the Fusion Drive iMac for the backups. Both >>> iMacs have Mavericks installed, and hence should also have Recovery >>> partitions. (If an OS X upgrade or Boot Camp can install partitions, why >>> not me??) >>> >>> I have assumed a partition would be needed, but can a sparse image simply be >>> used as a file within the Macintosh HD¹ OS X startup volume structure? >>> >>> >>> Regards, >>> Alan >>> >>> Alan Smith >>> Late 2012 iMac 27" Intel Quad Core i5 Fusion 3.2GHz 8G RAM - OSX 10.9.5 >>> Mavericks >>> Late 2009 iMac 21.5" Intel Core 2 Duo 3.06GHz 12G RAM - OSX 10.9.5 Mavericks >>> iPhone5; iPad2; ATV2
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