[Carlo Medina]

I just pulled the trigger on a new 200GB 7200RPM Hitachi HD, upgrading my 120GB 5400 RPM HD which is over 94% full and has recently started frequently giving me the spinning beach ball due to being so full.

I also bought the OWC firewire external enclosure, FW800 and FW400, to help me out since I will be doing the swap and install myself.

Here's my dilemma:

SuperDuper is not yet Leopard compliant so I can't use that. What also worried me was when I did a test copy of my old Tiger HD (when I thought I was going to upgrade the HD back then) it came up a couple of GBs smaller in the SuperDuper clone than the original drive, despite me choosing the "copy everything" option.

I could use Carbon Copy Cloner and use the "bit for bit" copy. One thing that worries me is that I really don't want a true bit for bit copy because I'm sure my HD is terribly fragmented. Not only is it at 94% filled, but I handle a lot of small audio and video files, constantly adding and deleting them, all the while also installing and upgrading various programs. So I'm positive my HD is fragmented.

I am interested in Apple's own Migration Assistant, but I understand that you may have to reinstall some programs which I'd like to avoid, especially since I have quite a few programs with limited install authorizations and don't want to be dinged twice against it (like Adobe CS3, Moviemagic Screenwriter).

Additionally someone mentioned Disk Utility after booting from the Leopard disc, but I'm not sure if that will avoid having to reinstall/authorize programs or defragment my files.

I have until the weekend to figure this out (that's when the stuff should arrive) and any help would be appreciated!

What I'd ideally like:

An nearly identical, but defragged, version of my current HD. I will have an external means to clone/copy the disc and am open to any suggestions.

[DaveF]

Carlo,
Can you manually defrag your current disk, then do a bootable copy / clone of it?

Apple Help on Defrag

From the paucity of defraggers for Macs, this seems to be of almost no concern to most people -- unlike on Windows where defragging is a cure-all (placebo) for what ails ya. But here's the one I could find.

So, how about:
- Backup (in case defrag causes trouble)
- Defrag
- Clone to new drive
- Install new drive

[Carlo Medina]

I know HFS+ and Mac OSX does a pseudo-defrag on the fly. I don't think I have enough HD space free to use the Coriolis solution.

This is why I was interested to see if anyone using Migration Assistant had any success stories without having to reinstall/reauthorize programs. Because that would allow me to install a new version of Leopard, then migrate the old programs in, and the theory being as OSX migrated the programs over, there would be defragging on the fly. But I have heard rumblings of having to reinstall programs which I'd like to avoid.

[Ronald Epstein]

SuperDuper is not Leopard compliant?

I backed up my drive using it the other day.

Are you saying I will not be able to boot into the external
backup that SuperDuper created should there be a problem?

[Michael_K_Sr]

Quote:

This is why I was interested to see if anyone using Migration Assistant had any success stories without having to reinstall/reauthorize programs.

No.

Avoid it, especially with the Adobe software you already have installed.

[Carlo Medina]

Ron, I believe the phrase they're using is "not yet fully Leopard compliant". They have discovered some minor bugs that only occur in rare but repeatable instances and the programmer is a perfectionist so he's reluctant to fully sign off on it until he can work all the kinks out. Check out their website blog for more details. Chances are you'll probably be able to boot from it and everything's fine. Just to be safe though, when a fully compliant SuperDuper comes out I'd re-clone your drive.

[Carlo Medina]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Michael_K_Sr

No.

Avoid it, especially with the Adobe software you already have installed.

Thanks for the warning, Michael. I'll heed it.

Any idea if the Disk Utility "clone" function will work satisfactorily (while booting from the Leopard CD)? Or should I just stick with Carbon Copy Cloner (or SuperDuper if the Leopard-approved version is out by the time I tackle the project)?

Here's the procedure I'm asking about, as posted by Daryl L in the other thread:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daryl L

Well, here's my opinion of backups at this time. Given you want to do it just before an Erase and Install of Leopard.

My first choice would be to use Disk Utility (DU). By using DU I would feel more confident everything is copied right since no programs or system files (the OS) are running when creating a cloned startup backup.


1. Put in Leopard disk and restart holding down the C key during startup to boot from the disk.

2. Once it's started choose Disk Utility on the menu bar. Hilight your the drive you want to clone (source drive/volume), click the Restore tab.

3. Drag the source drive/volume to the source field, drag the drive/volume to make a clone on to the destination field and check "Erase Destination" (make sure nothings on the destination drive/volume you need to keep.

4. Click Restore.

After it's done you'll have an external bootable clone, then you can test it. If it works commence to do an erase and install of Leopard.

My second choice (at this current time) is a tie between Superduper and CCC. As long as you restart holding the Shift key down to boot into safe mode having minimal processes running as possible (recommended in SD's help). It seems SD can backup Leopard okay but not compatible to smart update. CCC is suppose to be fully compatible, I'm just not sure now compatable since the latest released was before Leopard was released. Once SD is fully compatible I'd choose SD before CCC (I just feel more comfortable with SD).

[Michael_K_Sr]

I'm a huge SuperDuper fan, but even after they release version 2.5 (Leopard compatible), I'll wait a week or two to see what bugs users may be reporting. I know they are beta testing the software now, but I don't know how many people they've seeded it to.

I have to do a lot of disk cloning in my job, and since Leopard's release I've had no problems with Carbon Copy Cloner.

[Carlo Medina]

Very good to know, Michael. Since it sounds like Migration Assistant isn't the way to go, I'll either use Disk Utility or CCC. Now that you've vouched for CCC (and I've never done DU) I might lean towards CCC.