[frw73]

I had a similar issue. I have set up Time Machine to do backups over my network to a NAS box but it's painful to do a backup/restore from it. My challenge was to swap out the 250Gb 2.5" SATA drive in the laptop to a 128Gb Solid State Drive (which, by the way is blazing fast!)

I quickly figured out that using Time Machine over the NAS was painful as it involved:
1. Installing MacOSX from the original DVD
2. Tweaking some stuff (I highly recommend you read this if you are going to use Time Machine to backup to a NAS over your network rather than a directly connected USB Drive): http://www.readynas.com/?p=253
3. Individually restoring directories as doing a complete drive restore was not possible due to write permission issues

So Time Machine was out for this purpose and, BTW, the time machine restore over the NAS even when connected by gigabit ethernet took around 7 hours!

Other problem with Time Machine is that not all the software was installed correctly and I had to reinstall things like the iWork suite to get it to work properly.

Next step was to try to do a complete backup onto a USB Hard drive and then restore to the blank SSD from the USB drive after swapping the laptop HD with the SSD drive. I attached the USB drive and reformatted using Disk Tools to MacOSX format with a GUID partition table.

First I tried Carbon Copy Cloner (which is freeware / donation) but it ran into errors while writing the backup image onto the disk. Don't remember the error but I wasn't comfortable potentially wasting more time and losing data.

Last, I had success with SuperDuper which is under $30USD to do the same. Plugged in the USB drive, reformatted to a GUID Partition using Disk Tools and formatted the drive. Then ran SuperDuper and made sure the disk was bootable under options. Took about 1 hour or so. Shut down and replaced the laptop HD with the SSD drive. Booted from USB drive and then restored from the USB drive to the SSD drive without any problems whatsoever. I made sure to set the options which included fixing permissions on both the backup and restore. Installed sotware runs flawlessly. I don't think it works if you dual-boot another OS though and you may have to reinstall using Boot Camp if you want to restore a dual boot partition. Not sure.

So long and short of it, is that for under 30 bucks, SuperDuper worked seamlessly and provided peace of mind with maximal ease of use.

Good luck with your backup.

[frw73]

Originally Posted by castaway

time machine would do the trick, no?

http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/timemachine.html

In the ideal world, yes, but in practice it is far from foolproof. There are many google-able threads on this problem. In the early days after I got my MacBook I mistakenly deleted the MacOSX partition when trying to install Windows XP under Boot Camp. The Time Machine restore (albeit from a NAS over wired gigabit ethernet) was very slow and, worse, incomplete. If you think that Time Capsule / Time Machine is sufficient to fully restore all settings, programs, permissions etc. then I think you will be quite surprised, and not in a good way.

Unless I was doing something wrong. I am new to Mac after all, but TM was certainly NOT the be-all-and-end-all that I thought it was going to be.

[KILO15]

Originally Posted by Cuban///M3

inverter i mean

Still don't follow bro.

[KILO15]

Originally Posted by coke4class

is kilo15 a real human or does he live inside a mac...lol... seems like he is tha man...

i was gonna say "timemachine"... but i guess theres better option posted...

Time machine is the best option but The OP has an older OS that does not have tiger

Originally Posted by Cuban///M3

inverter i mean

Still don't follow bro.

[Cuban///M3]

Originally Posted by KILO15

Still don't follow bro.

something to convert the cig lighter in the car into a AC/DC outlet

[KILO15]

Originally Posted by Cuban///M3

something to convert the cig lighter in the car into a AC/DC outlet

Any inverter will do. I use a 300w one from pep boy's.

[KILO15]

Originally Posted by frw73

In the ideal world, yes, but in practice it is far from foolproof. There are many google-able threads on this problem. In the early days after I got my MacBook I mistakenly deleted the MacOSX partition when trying to install Windows XP under Boot Camp. The Time Machine restore (albeit from a NAS over wired gigabit ethernet) was very slow and, worse, incomplete. If you think that Time Capsule / Time Machine is sufficient to fully restore all settings, programs, permissions etc. then I think you will be quite surprised, and not in a good way.

Unless I was doing something wrong. I am new to Mac after all, but TM was certainly NOT the be-all-and-end-all that I thought it was going to be.

something must have gone wrong. I've used TM to restore three times and 4 times on my buddies...Never a problem. Just need to wait about 2 hours for the full restore. But everything was there.

Did you use the OSX DVD when restoring?

[Cuban///M3]

Originally Posted by KILO15

Any inverter will do. I use a 300w one from pep boy's.

hasnt messed up the macbook when you used it?

[KILO15]

Originally Posted by Cuban///M3

hasnt messed up the macbook when you used it?

Nope. The inverter has a fuse and the charger has a whatchamacallit as well. But if it really worries you just buy an extra battery.
I always make sure to connect it after the car is running.

[Cuban///M3]

Originally Posted by KILO15

Nope. The inverter has a fuse and the charger has a whatchamacallit as well. But if it really worries you just buy an extra battery.
I always make sure to connect it after the car is running.

dalé

ill pick one up tomorrow