With a fresh interpretation of Mac OS X—10.4 , “ Tiger”—recently being resign , a popular topic has been endorse up your backbreaking private road . As Joe Kissell observe in his recent Macworld excerpt fromTake Control of Upgrading to Tiger , a life-sustaining part of any rise is making sure your important datum is backed up . But even without a major OS upgrade in the violent , savvy users know that you should always have a good , working accompaniment of your Mac ’s heavy cause .
One path many users get such a substitute is to “ clone”—make a mirror image of — their drive . Not only does this approach get you perform an Erase and Install of OS X , using Migration Assistant to restore your data and applications from the clone ( as explained by Joe ) , but it also means that if anything should ever happen to your independent hard driving , you may be up and fly the coop from the clone in no clip . Unfortunately , because of invisible files and permissions proceeds , you ca n’t but drag the contents of one volume onto another to get a good written matter , as you could in Mac O 9 and originally .
In the past , my favored public utility company for clone my operose drive has beenCarbon Copy Cloner ; alas , it ’s not yet compatible with Tiger . On top of that , as swell a service program as it is , some users find its user interface a snatch intimidating . Another option is Mac OS X ’s Disk Utility , which can make written matter of bulk , but its options are fairly special . In search for an alternative , I ’ve recently found a new favorite : Shirt Pocket ’s $ 20SuperDuper ! 1.5.5 ( ) .
SuperDuper’s main screen.
Like Carbon Copy Cloner , SuperDuper!—although I ’m true enthusiastic about the software , the exclamation point is in reality part of its name — lets you make an exact duplication of your severe drive ; the resulting clone is even bootable . But what I care most about SuperDuper ! is that it ’s well-situated to use for the most basic part while offering advanced feature not discover in Carbon Copy Cloner .
On the easy - to - employment side , the user interface explains , in plain English , what is go bad to happen , so you may be sure you ’re in reality doing what you require to do . For example , to make a touchstone clone ( a bootable copy ) of a mass , you simply choose the bulk you need to be copied and the intensity to which you want the transcript to be made — you make these choices from bulge - up menu set up in a sentence that reads , Copy { volume name } to { book name } . But just in case that is n’t clear enough , SuperDuper ! then state you what is going to pass off :
SuperDuper ’s main screen .
SuperDuper backup types.
If this is all you want to do , simply click the Start Copying button , provide your admin - level username and countersign , and lease SuperDuper ! do the balance ; a progression dialog shows you the progress of the copy . The leave written matter will be an exact clon of the original — if the original volume was bootable , the copy will be , too .
However , SuperDuper ! also ply a number of different ways to copy file and volume , as well as several ways to customize the process :
substitute types of copiesIn addition to the standard “ Backup – all files ” method acting of cloning a volume , SuperDuper ! bid three other types of copies :
SuperDuper’s backup options.
SuperDuper backup types .
The “ refuge clone ” feature is rather unique ; it produce a copy of your live driveexceptfor user Home folders and ( if selected ) third - party applications programme , which remain only on the original drive ; both volumessharethose file . The ism behind such a setup is that if you need to put in new software , or an OS Update , you would boot from theclone , set up the software or Update on the clon , and then see if everything work fine — your personal data will be safe on the original bulk . If no problem occur , you may afterward reboot from the original mass and instal the software or Update there . If you do have problems , you’re able to switch back to the original volume — which was unswayed by the new software or Update — and go as if you ’d never changed a matter ; you wo n’t lose any change to personal files you made while booted from the “ condom clone . ” ( you could then erase the ringer and create a new one . )
Interesting enough , as the screenshot above implies , the four stock backup eccentric are in reality provided by hand build into the coating . Advanced exploiter can create their own playscript , free-base on or include the stock certificate book , to further customize SuperDuper ’s functionality to their indigence .
SuperDuper backup summary.
Copy optionsIf you click the Options button before start up your copy , you ’ll see a number of options for the current written matter operation , categorized into Before , During , and After the copy . For example , before the copy start , you’re able to have SuperDuper ! repair permission on the source volume . And king users and decision maker will prize the “ After transcript ” options : SuperDuper ! can make a disk image of , or install a computer software onto , the name and address bulk , or even run a book that customize the destination book — great for deploying a stock persona to many computer , as in a science laboratory environment . you may also choose to reboot from the novel clone after SuperDuper ! is finish .
SuperDuper ’s backup pick .
But for most users , the more important choice here are the “ During copy ” choices :
Whichever simulate method acting and choice you take , the “ What ’s go to happen ? ” summary will always explain precisely what is operate to happen , so you could make trusted you ’re really performing the desired action .
SuperDuper backup sum-up .
SuperDuper ! call back your setting the next time you found it , so you do n’t have to go back and set it up again each metre . And if you find yourself perform several different types of backup operations with SuperDuper ! , you’re able to preserve your background for each , and then load the appropriate setting when need . SuperDuper ! is also AppleScript - able-bodied , so savvy users can automatize their copy operation using these configurations files .
Finally , the SuperDuper ! manual is comprehensive and understandable — something I always appreciate — and even include a section on how to recover from a accompaniment should disaster strike .
take into account its open interface , splendid functionality , and illuminating documentation , I consider SuperDuper ! to be a must - have utility for Mac OS X. The only major feature article miss is the ability to schedule transcript / clone performance — for example , I ’d like to be able to evidence SuperDuper ! to mechanically clone my grueling campaign every night at midnight . The good news show is that Shirt Pocket has forebode scheduling livelihood in the next major update — which promises to make SuperDuper ! even more of a Gem .
