Best way to clone a working boot volume?

TechSgtChen · #1 05-28-2009, 04:12 AM

So now that I have a mostly working boot volume, can someone suggest the best way to clone it to a different drive so I can experiment but have a bootable backup quickly available? I considered using Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper, but I'm not sure if they will copy the non-OS stuff, specifically things like the bootloader.

thorazine74 · #2 05-28-2009, 09:38 AM

I dont know about SuperDuper but CCC image doesnt seem to contain the chameleon bootloader, I supposed the mbr or the partition boot sector are left out, not sure (at least when I tried it didnt work for me). You can reinstall the bootloader manually and it should boot after the image is restored.

zuz242 · #3 05-28-2009, 09:43 AM

jup, the problem is the bootloader.
right now im happy with the disktool / dmg images.
but i need a second osx system to reinstall the bootloader (got one on a 16gb usb memory stick

is there an easy way to install the bootloader without a running system?

zuz

TechSgtChen · #4 05-28-2009, 11:15 PM

That's a bummer. Guess I'll have to install iPC again on the other disk and use Migration Assistant. Or, wait, if CCC doesn't affect the bootloader, can I install a basic iPC and use CCC to clone all user accounts plus kexts and plist over?

thorazine74 · #5 05-29-2009, 08:41 AM

You can make a bootable USB Drive with Chameleon2, boot the restored partition from there, and then install it on the HD.
I think you should also be able to install it booting from an Install DVD, using Terminal (I havent tried it) and manual installation; chameleon files would have to be uncompressed to an accesible location beforehand.

Ali C. · #6 06-01-2009, 07:05 AM

Excuse me *knock knock*
You can clone from drive-to-drive using CCC. Just clone to the other drive, then go into System Preferences and select the other drive as the startup disk. Then when Chameleon comes up from the old drive, simply select the new drive as the boot disk instead of letting it start the old one, and reinstall Chameleon once it's booted.
This was how I migrated my install to a new, faster hard drive. Everything works just like before, but faster since the new drive is a SATA. And I keep the old one for emergency.

RetroRen · #7 06-01-2009, 08:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zuz242

is there an easy way to install the bootloader without a running system?

zuz

You can boot from DVD disc. Put your hackintosh dvd in drive, pres f8 on boot manager and type:
rd=diskxsy
then hit Enter
x is the hdd number, y is the partition number of your osx installation. You can find that data in disk utility on your hackintosh dvd. When you get into osx just install chameleon and it will boot just fine next time

zuz242 · #8 06-01-2009, 01:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RetroRen

You can boot from DVD disc. Put your hackintosh dvd in drive, pres f8 on boot manager and type:
rd=diskxsy
then hit Enter
x is the hdd number, y is the partition number of your osx installation. You can find that data in disk utility on your hackintosh dvd. When you get into osx just install chameleon and it will boot just fine next time

you are right!
i forgot you could use the dvd bootloader to boot seperate partitions.
it is good to remember this in case my backup system screws up

lv99 · #9 06-22-2009, 03:21 AM

i used software called Paragon to backup a HD partition. it doesn't care the partition had windows/unix/mac