Back in June , I covered MCE ’s OptiBay Hard Drive , a unequaled acclivity for MacBooks and MacBook Pros that replace the laptop computer ’s ocular drive with a second intragroup heavy drive . ( You employ an outside optical drive when necessary . ) As I notice back then , the ascent is n’t for everyone , but it ’s a slap-up solution for masses who need to maximise their on - the - go laborious - drive space , want a totally freestanding drive for Windows ( via Boot Camp ) , or desire the security of always having a bootable backup right there inside their laptop computer .
Before Leopard , I contain advantage of the last approach : If you expend a utility such as SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Cloner to observe an up - to - engagement clone of your primary drive on the OptiBay driving , you ’ve always find a bootable parking brake disk that ’s a mirror - image transcript of your main drive ( at least at the time of the last clone update ) . This intimate clone is n’t an ideal backup from a data - refuge standpoint — if someone steals your laptop , they get the musical accompaniment , as well , so you should also keep another backup separate from your laptop . However , if you ever experience a intemperate - campaign cataclysm , you may just boot from the OptiBay drive and be back up and running in a issue of second .
But now that Leopard is out , our tweaked MacBook Pro has become my Leopard - testing machine , and I ’ve discovered another consumption for the OptiBay drive : host Time Machine backups . As with any inner or external hard drive , you simply assign the OptiBay campaign to Time Machine , and you ’ve now got your Time Machine backup with you , and updated , at all fourth dimension ; if you ever accidentally delete information , or if a file gets corrupt , you may straightaway recover it .
However , there are a couple caveats here . The first is that , as I mention above when talking about an intimate clon , you ’ll also want another substitute back home just in case something ever happens to your laptop as a whole .
The 2d issue is that , unlike a SuperDuper clone , a Time Machine backup is n’t bootable . If your main drive ever has a problem that need you to restore it from your Time Machine substitute , you must boot from the Leopard Install disc to do so . Not only is this slow , but in the face of an OptiBay - equipped laptop , you may find yourself out and about without an optic drive .
My solution to this dilemma was to separate the OptiBay movement into two partitions : one 10 GB in size , and the other make up the ease of the disc . I then used Disk Utility to clone my Leopard Install disc to the 10 GB partitioning and distinguish Time Machine to use the other partition for substitute . If disaster ever strikes , I can just reboot off the Install partition and , once the Installer runs , take Restore System From Backup from the Utilities fare . ( This frame-up has the added reward , compared to a received Time Machine setup , that the “ Mac OS X Install ” partition ismuchfaster to bring up than the actual OS go Install DVD . )
Of course , the clone approach still offer up the quickest mode to get back up and running after a drive failure or other disaster . However , this Time Machine arrangement has a few advantages of its own . For one , musical accompaniment occur more frequently , by default . For another , Time Machine provides versioned backups — I can retrieve the interlingual rendition of a particular file from earlier today , two 24-hour interval ago , or last calendar week . Finally , I get Time Machine ’s ease of setup and single file convalescence . I have n’t decided which approach I ’ll stick with in the long run , but I ’m enjoying having so many option .
( If you do n’t want to go the OptiBay path , much of the above discussion also apply to an external concentrated drive . )
update : Removed statement about Time Machine bear on battery life . Time Machine automatically disables backing when the laptop is running off barrage power , initiating a championship when the laptop is next plugged in .
