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cloning and recovery drives

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  cloning and recovery drives "M. John Matlaw" <nouser@invalid.com> - 2014-02-18 13:17 -0500
    Re: cloning and recovery drives nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2014-02-18 13:28 -0500
      Re: cloning and recovery drives "M. John Matlaw" <nouser@invalid.com> - 2014-02-18 18:19 -0500
    Re: cloning and recovery drives Alan Ralph <alan.ralph@gmail.com> - 2014-02-18 20:14 +0000
    Re: cloning and recovery drives Andreas Rutishauser <andreas@macandreas.ch> - 2014-02-19 06:53 +0100
      Re: cloning and recovery drives "M. John Matlaw" <nouser@invalid.com> - 2014-02-19 13:20 -0500
        Re: cloning and recovery drives Andreas Rutishauser <andreas@macandreas.ch> - 2014-02-20 06:57 +0100
          Re: cloning and recovery drives dempson@actrix.gen.nz (David Empson) - 2014-02-21 00:57 +1300
            Re: cloning and recovery drives "M. John Matlaw" <nouser@invalid.com> - 2014-02-20 12:15 -0500
              Re: cloning and recovery drives Lewis <g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> - 2014-02-20 17:49 +0000
              Re: cloning and recovery drives dempson@actrix.gen.nz (David Empson) - 2014-02-21 14:43 +1300
                Re: cloning and recovery drives dcohenspam@talktalk.net (Daniel Cohen) - 2014-02-21 19:48 +0000
                  Re: cloning and recovery drives dempson@actrix.gen.nz (David Empson) - 2014-02-22 12:57 +1300
                    Re: cloning and recovery drives dcohenspam@talktalk.net (Daniel Cohen) - 2014-02-22 09:36 +0000
          Re: cloning and recovery drives William Hanna <whanna@invalid.invalid> - 2014-02-21 08:51 -0800
            Re: cloning and recovery drives Lewis <g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> - 2014-02-21 22:41 +0000
            Re: cloning and recovery drives John Albert <j.albert@snet.net> - 2014-02-23 00:19 -0500
              Re: cloning and recovery drives William Hanna <whanna@invalid.invalid> - 2014-02-23 06:32 -0800
              Re: cloning and recovery drives Alan Browne <alan.browne@FreelunchVideotron.ca> - 2014-02-23 14:16 -0500

#56658 — cloning and recovery drives

Will using Disk Utility to clone a boot drive clone the Recovery 
partition as well? Is there a way to make it do so?
Same question for Superduper!

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#56660

In article <le084a$2p1$1@dont-email.me>, M. John Matlaw
<nouser@invalid.com> wrote:

> Will using Disk Utility to clone a boot drive clone the Recovery 
> partition as well? Is there a way to make it do so?
> Same question for Superduper!

carbon copy cloner will.

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#56681

On 2/18/14, 1:28 PM, nospam wrote:
> In article <le084a$2p1$1@dont-email.me>, M. John Matlaw
> <nouser@invalid.com> wrote:
>
>> Will using Disk Utility to clone a boot drive clone the Recovery
>> partition as well? Is there a way to make it do so?
>> Same question for Superduper!
>
> carbon copy cloner will.
>
You think it's worth $40?

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#56670

On 18/02/2014 18:17, M. John Matlaw wrote:
> Will using Disk Utility to clone a boot drive clone the Recovery
> partition as well? Is there a way to make it do so?
> Same question for Superduper!

By default, Disk Utility will *not* show hidden partitions such as the 
Recovery Partition. In order to access it, you'll need to first enable 
the Debug menu in Disk Utility. Make sure Disk Utility is not running, 
open a Terminal windows and type the following :

defaults write com.apple.DiskUtility DUDebugMenuEnabled 1

The next time you run Disk Utility, you can go to the Debug menu and 
check 'Show Every Partition' to display the Recovery Partition.

Alan.

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#56705

Salut John

In article <le084a$2p1$1@dont-email.me>,
 "M. John Matlaw" <nouser@invalid.com> wrote:

> Will using Disk Utility to clone a boot drive clone the Recovery 
> partition as well? 

no.

> Is there a way to make it do so?

no.

> Same question for Superduper!

Same answers...

Carbon Copy Cloner can achieve that:
<http://www.bombich.com/>

Or Apple's Recovery Disk Assistant
<http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4848?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US>

Cheers
Andreas

-- 
MacAndreas Rutishauser, <http://www.MacAndreas.ch> 
EDV-Dienstleistungen, Hard- und Software, Internet und Netzwerk
Beratung, Unterstuetzung und Schulung
<mailto:andreas@MacAndreas.ch>, Fon: 044 / 721 36 47

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#56715

On 2/19/14, 12:53 AM, Andreas Rutishauser wrote:
> Salut John
>
> In article <le084a$2p1$1@dont-email.me>,
>   "M. John Matlaw" <nouser@invalid.com> wrote:
>
>> Will using Disk Utility to clone a boot drive clone the Recovery
>> partition as well?
>
> no.
>
>> Is there a way to make it do so?
>
> no.
>
>> Same question for Superduper!
>
> Same answers...
>
> Carbon Copy Cloner can achieve that:
> <http://www.bombich.com/>
>
> Or Apple's Recovery Disk Assistant
> <http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4848?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US>
>
> Cheers
> Andreas
>
I just wonder if there's anything unique about the Recovery partition 
between different machines.  Is there anything different in the Macbook 
Air 11", 13" or a 17" Macbook Pro.  If they're all the same couldn't one 
just clone the Recovery partition from any system (or from 
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1433 ).  Though 
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1433 may be suggesting that there is some 
sort of link between a specific system and it's Recovery partition.

 From http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1433
Note: In order to create an external OS X  Recovery using the OS X 
Recovery Assistant, the Mac must have an existing Recovery HD.

Why?  If the Recovery Drive is just some sort of bare bones boot device 
what's the difference? Or perhaps that's just a requirement for using 
Apple's Recovery Assistant.  Or maybe the version of the OS makes a 
difference.



So using Alan Ralph's
  defaults write com.apple.DiskUtility DUDebugMenuEnabled 1 terminal
command I'm able to see the Recovery partition in DU and I was thinking 
of just cloning that (using DU) to a partition on which the cloned copy 
of the system resides but the Apple kb urls have left me confused.

Perhaps it'd be easier just to put a Recovery Drive on a USB stick but, 
again, would I need a separate USB stick for each computer's Recovery 
Drive or is the Recovery Drive the same for all machines that can boot 
from a Recovery Drive?

Dunno.  Maybe I should just give it a whirl and see what happens.

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#56735

Salut John

In article <le2skq$hkn$1@dont-email.me>,
 "M. John Matlaw" <nouser@invalid.com> wrote:

> On 2/19/14, 12:53 AM, Andreas Rutishauser wrote:
> > In article <le084a$2p1$1@dont-email.me>,
> >   "M. John Matlaw" <nouser@invalid.com> wrote:

> > Or Apple's Recovery Disk Assistant
> > <http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4848?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US>

> I just wonder if there's anything unique about the Recovery partition 
> between different machines.  Is there anything different in the Macbook 
> Air 11", 13" or a 17" Macbook Pro.  If they're all the same couldn't one 
> just clone the Recovery partition from any system (or from 
> http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1433 ).  Though 
> http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1433 may be suggesting that there is some 
> sort of link between a specific system and it's Recovery partition.

I think the contents of the Recovery Partitions are not specific per 
model (they are different per OS (Lion/Mountain Lion/Mavericks)) 
> 
>  From http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1433
> Note: In order to create an external OS X  Recovery using the OS X 
> Recovery Assistant, the Mac must have an existing Recovery HD.
> 
> Why?  If the Recovery Drive is just some sort of bare bones boot device 
> what's the difference? Or perhaps that's just a requirement for using 
> Apple's Recovery Assistant.  Or maybe the version of the OS makes a 
> difference.

Interpreting the note you are citing, I think the Recovery Disk 
Assisitant needs the contents of the Recovery HD to produce a Recovery 
HD on the external volume.

Note from the article I linked;
If the system was upgraded to OS X Lion, Mountain Lion or Mavericks 
purchased from the App Store, the external recovery drive can be used 
with other similarly-upgraded systems.

So I think you can use that Recovery HD with different Macs.

> So using Alan Ralph's
>   defaults write com.apple.DiskUtility DUDebugMenuEnabled 1 terminal
> command I'm able to see the Recovery partition in DU and I was thinking 
> of just cloning that (using DU) to a partition on which the cloned copy 
> of the system resides but the Apple kb urls have left me confused.
> 
> Perhaps it'd be easier just to put a Recovery Drive on a USB stick but, 
> again, would I need a separate USB stick for each computer's Recovery 
> Drive or is the Recovery Drive the same for all machines that can boot 
> from a Recovery Drive?
> 
> Dunno.  Maybe I should just give it a whirl and see what happens.

Feedback here would be appreciated ;-)

Cheers
Andreas

-- 
MacAndreas Rutishauser, <http://www.MacAndreas.ch> 
EDV-Dienstleistungen, Hard- und Software, Internet und Netzwerk
Beratung, Unterstuetzung und Schulung
<mailto:andreas@MacAndreas.ch>, Fon: 044 / 721 36 47

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#56744

Andreas Rutishauser <andreas@macandreas.ch> wrote:

> Salut John
> 
> In article <le2skq$hkn$1@dont-email.me>,
>  "M. John Matlaw" <nouser@invalid.com> wrote:
> 
> > On 2/19/14, 12:53 AM, Andreas Rutishauser wrote:
> > > In article <le084a$2p1$1@dont-email.me>,
> > >   "M. John Matlaw" <nouser@invalid.com> wrote:
> 
> > > Or Apple's Recovery Disk Assistant
> > > <http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4848?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US>
> 
> > I just wonder if there's anything unique about the Recovery partition
> > between different machines.  Is there anything different in the Macbook
> > Air 11", 13" or a 17" Macbook Pro.  If they're all the same couldn't one
> > just clone the Recovery partition from any system (or from 
> > http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1433 ).  Though 
> > http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1433 may be suggesting that there is some
> > sort of link between a specific system and it's Recovery partition.
> 
> I think the contents of the Recovery Partitions are not specific per 
> model (they are different per OS (Lion/Mountain Lion/Mavericks)) 

There are compatibility issues in the case of newly released models.

The same rules apply to recovery partitions as normal OS X
installations. The kernel in OS X or a recovery partition supports a
specific set of Mac models, and if a Mac model is too new to be
supported by that kernel, then the recovery partition won't work on that
model.

For example, the Late 2013 MacBook Pro models came with a custom build
of 10.9 (13A3017 for the 15-inch model, which I have). The recovery
partition has the same kernel build on it.

It also has a System/Library/CoreServices/PlatformSupport.plist file
which lists all the supported model identifiers, which from a quick
glance appears to be all models supported by Mavericks, including
"MacBookPro11,1", "MacBookPro11,2" and "MacBookPro11,3", which covers
both variants of the MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Late 2013) and the
MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013).

An installation of Mavericks on an older model will have a recovery
partition from the general release of Mavericks, probably 13A603 if the
recovery partition was created by installing 10.9 (13B42 if 10.9.1 was
the initial install).

The 13A603 and 13B42 kernels (and therefore a recovery partition
containing either kernel) doesn't support a Late 2013 MacBook Pro.


This will also affect older OS X versions, as the recovery partition is
created when that major version of OS X is installed, and then usually
doesn't get updated for subsequent minor system updates (unless you do
another full install with a newer minor version).

For example, a generic install of 10.8 will have a recovery partition
containing the same kernel, which is too old to support Mac models
introduced after July 2012.

On the other hand, a generic install from the 10.8.5 installer would be
new enough to support all new Macs introduced prior to September 2013.


If you want to try copying recovery partitions around, pick the one
which was installed from the newest minor version of the OS, or the one
from a newly released model. Don't mix recovery partitions with
different versions of OS X.

> >  From http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1433
> > Note: In order to create an external OS X  Recovery using the OS X 
> > Recovery Assistant, the Mac must have an existing Recovery HD.
> > 
> > Why?  If the Recovery Drive is just some sort of bare bones boot device
> > what's the difference? Or perhaps that's just a requirement for using
> > Apple's Recovery Assistant.  Or maybe the version of the OS makes a
> > difference.
> 
> Interpreting the note you are citing, I think the Recovery Disk 
> Assisitant needs the contents of the Recovery HD to produce a Recovery
> HD on the external volume.

Yep. It isn't possible to create a recovery partition from the main OS X
installation, because the recovery partition contains files which don't
exist on a standard install of OS X, including several utilities.

> Note from the article I linked;
> If the system was upgraded to OS X Lion, Mountain Lion or Mavericks 
> purchased from the App Store, the external recovery drive can be used
> with other similarly-upgraded systems.
> 
> So I think you can use that Recovery HD with different Macs.

Different Macs which were all upgraded to that major OS X version, yes,
because they are all using the general release of OS X.

It isn't explicitly stated, but it can be inferred that the recovery
drive might not work with newer models which came preinstalled with the
same OS X version (because the kernel is too old to support a later
model).

-- 
David Empson
dempson@actrix.gen.nz

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#56761

On 2/20/14, 6:57 AM, David Empson wrote:
> Andreas Rutishauser <andreas@macandreas.ch> wrote:
>
>> Salut John
>>
>> In article <le2skq$hkn$1@dont-email.me>,
>>   "M. John Matlaw" <nouser@invalid.com> wrote:
>>
>>> On 2/19/14, 12:53 AM, Andreas Rutishauser wrote:
>>>> In article <le084a$2p1$1@dont-email.me>,
>>>>    "M. John Matlaw" <nouser@invalid.com> wrote:
>>
>>>> Or Apple's Recovery Disk Assistant
>>>> <http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4848?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US>
>>
>>> I just wonder if there's anything unique about the Recovery partition
>>> between different machines.  Is there anything different in the Macbook
>>> Air 11", 13" or a 17" Macbook Pro.  If they're all the same couldn't one
>>> just clone the Recovery partition from any system (or from
>>> http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1433 ).  Though
>>> http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1433 may be suggesting that there is some
>>> sort of link between a specific system and it's Recovery partition.
>>
>> I think the contents of the Recovery Partitions are not specific per
>> model (they are different per OS (Lion/Mountain Lion/Mavericks))
>
> There are compatibility issues in the case of newly released models.
>
> The same rules apply to recovery partitions as normal OS X
> installations. The kernel in OS X or a recovery partition supports a
> specific set of Mac models, and if a Mac model is too new to be
> supported by that kernel, then the recovery partition won't work on that
> model.
>
> For example, the Late 2013 MacBook Pro models came with a custom build
> of 10.9 (13A3017 for the 15-inch model, which I have). The recovery
> partition has the same kernel build on it.
>
> It also has a System/Library/CoreServices/PlatformSupport.plist file
> which lists all the supported model identifiers, which from a quick
> glance appears to be all models supported by Mavericks, including
> "MacBookPro11,1", "MacBookPro11,2" and "MacBookPro11,3", which covers
> both variants of the MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Late 2013) and the
> MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013).
>
> An installation of Mavericks on an older model will have a recovery
> partition from the general release of Mavericks, probably 13A603 if the
> recovery partition was created by installing 10.9 (13B42 if 10.9.1 was
> the initial install).
>
> The 13A603 and 13B42 kernels (and therefore a recovery partition
> containing either kernel) doesn't support a Late 2013 MacBook Pro.
>
>
> This will also affect older OS X versions, as the recovery partition is
> created when that major version of OS X is installed, and then usually
> doesn't get updated for subsequent minor system updates (unless you do
> another full install with a newer minor version).
>
> For example, a generic install of 10.8 will have a recovery partition
> containing the same kernel, which is too old to support Mac models
> introduced after July 2012.
>
> On the other hand, a generic install from the 10.8.5 installer would be
> new enough to support all new Macs introduced prior to September 2013.
>
>
> If you want to try copying recovery partitions around, pick the one
> which was installed from the newest minor version of the OS, or the one
> from a newly released model. Don't mix recovery partitions with
> different versions of OS X.
>
>>>   From http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1433
>>> Note: In order to create an external OS X  Recovery using the OS X
>>> Recovery Assistant, the Mac must have an existing Recovery HD.
>>>
>>> Why?  If the Recovery Drive is just some sort of bare bones boot device
>>> what's the difference? Or perhaps that's just a requirement for using
>>> Apple's Recovery Assistant.  Or maybe the version of the OS makes a
>>> difference.
>>
>> Interpreting the note you are citing, I think the Recovery Disk
>> Assisitant needs the contents of the Recovery HD to produce a Recovery
>> HD on the external volume.
>
> Yep. It isn't possible to create a recovery partition from the main OS X
> installation, because the recovery partition contains files which don't
> exist on a standard install of OS X, including several utilities.
>
>> Note from the article I linked;
>> If the system was upgraded to OS X Lion, Mountain Lion or Mavericks
>> purchased from the App Store, the external recovery drive can be used
>> with other similarly-upgraded systems.
>>
>> So I think you can use that Recovery HD with different Macs.
>
> Different Macs which were all upgraded to that major OS X version, yes,
> because they are all using the general release of OS X.
>
> It isn't explicitly stated, but it can be inferred that the recovery
> drive might not work with newer models which came preinstalled with the
> same OS X version (because the kernel is too old to support a later
> model).
>
My newest mac is a Mid 2012 Air so it sounds like I could create a 
recovery drive that would work on everything I've got (assuming all are 
running the same OS X version).  I just wonder, at one point you mention 
"copying recovery partitions around".  I'd assumed I'd either have to 
clone or use Recovery Disk Assistant.  Will a simple copy of the 
Recovery partition work?

At this point I'm thinking a small USB3 stick might be the way to go. 
Outside of 10.6 systems all I'm using is 10.9 so the one external 
Recovery drive should work on all my computers, if I'm reading you right.

Thanks for your help.

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#56764

In message <le5d6u$111$1@dont-email.me> M. John Matlaw <nouser@invalid.com> wrote:
> My newest mac is a Mid 2012 Air so it sounds like I could create a 
> recovery drive that would work on everything I've got (assuming all are 
> running the same OS X version).  I just wonder, at one point you mention 
> "copying recovery partitions around".  I'd assumed I'd either have to 
> clone or use Recovery Disk Assistant.  Will a simple copy of the 
> Recovery partition work?

No, and I would not suggest you clone either. Use the Apple provided
tool. It works, and it's far more likely to do the right thing.


-- 
He remembered the knowledge. He remembered feeling his mind as cold as
ice and limitless as the night sky. He remembered being summoned into
reluctant existence at the moment the first creature lived, in the
certain knowledge that he would outlive life until the last being in the
universe passed to its reward, when it would be his job, figuratively
speaking, to put the chairs on the tables and turn all the lights off.
He remembered the loneliness.

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#56790

M. John Matlaw <nouser@invalid.com> wrote:

> My newest mac is a Mid 2012 Air so it sounds like I could create a 
> recovery drive that would work on everything I've got (assuming all are
> running the same OS X version).

With the recovery disk assistant, copying the recovery partition to a
USB flash drive, probably yes.

>  I just wonder, at one point you mention "copying recovery partitions
> around".  I'd assumed I'd either have to clone or use Recovery Disk
> Assistant.  Will a simple copy of the Recovery partition work?

Using Disk Utility? Not exactly. As far as I know, Disk Utility has no
mechanism to create the special partition type used by the recovery
partition, nor put it in the right place (it normally goes immediately
after the corresponding OS X partition). You would end up with a normal
partition that contained a copy of the recovery partition, which would
be mounted automatically at startup (read only) and would be visible in
Finder.

That copy of the recovery partition would be bootable, but you would
have to choose it manually via Startup Disk or using the Option key at
startup. It wouldn't be recognised as the recovery partition by
Command-R at startup, and if you reinstalled OS X it would end up
creating another standard recovery partition.

> At this point I'm thinking a small USB3 stick might be the way to go.
> Outside of 10.6 systems all I'm using is 10.9 so the one external 
> Recovery drive should work on all my computers, if I'm reading you right.

If your newest Mac is a mid 2012 Air, then that and all older Macs
running 10.9 will be the general release of 10.9.x, and their recovery
partitions will be identical. You can create a bootable USB recovery
drive with Recovery Disk Assistant from any of them and it will work on
all of them.

That recovery disk probably won't be compatible with a Late 2013 MacBook
Pro, nor any future model, so if you were to buy (or needed to support)
a newer model which came with Mavericks, you should use Recovery Disk
Assistant to copy the recovery partition from that newer Mac to your USB
flash drive: the resulting recovery drive should still support all the
older models on 10.9.x.


Also a side note: if you are doing Time Machine backups to a directly
connected drive, 10.7.2(ish) or later keeps a backup copy of the
recovery partition on the Time Machine drive, and sets up a boot stub so
you can boot from the Time Machine drive and it will boot into the
appropriate recovery partition for the computer (provided there is a
compatible one backed up). From there you can do all the usual tasks,
including erasing the main drive, restoring from the Time Machine
backup, or doing a fresh install of OS X on the main drive. This may
reduce your need to keep a separately bootable recovery disk.

The drive I'm using for Time Machine started with 10.7.x, and it
contains two recovery partitions: a 10.7.3 one from my previous MacBook
Pro, and a 10.9 one from my Late 2013 MacBook Pro.

For some reason there is no copy of my 10.8 recovery partition on the TM
drive. This might be a bug, or it might be because the 10.7 recovery
partition would have sufficed for my old MacBook Pro and for doing
maintenance tasks on a main partition containing 10.8.x. It clearly
wasn't compatible with my new MacBook Pro, so Time Machine had to back
up the 10.9 recovery partition alongside the old one.

For reference, the backup copies of the recovery partitions are stored
under the Backups.backupdb folder, in a hidden .RecoverySets folder,
under which the separate recovery partitions are in numbered folders: 

.RecoverySets/0/com.apple.recovery.boot/
.RecoverySets/1/com.apple.recovery.boot/
(etc.)

You can look at the PlatformSuport.plist and SystemVersion.plist files
in each of them to identify where the recovery partition came from and
which models it supports.

> Thanks for your help.

You're welcome.

-- 
David Empson
dempson@actrix.gen.nz

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#56809

David Empson <dempson@actrix.gen.nz> wrote:

> For reference, the backup copies of the recovery partitions are stored
> under the Backups.backupdb folder, in a hidden .RecoverySets folder,
> under which the separate recovery partitions are in numbered folders:
> 
> .RecoverySets/0/com.apple.recovery.boot/
> .RecoverySets/1/com.apple.recovery.boot/
> (etc.)
> 
> You can look at the PlatformSuport.plist and SystemVersion.plist files
> in each of them to identify where the recovery partition came from and
> which models it supports.

This is useful information. Thanks. However, the information provided by
PlatformSupport.plist is not easy to make sense of, as the models are
identified by a sequenxe of characters that need to be interpreted.
-- 
<http://www.decohen.com>
The Labyrinth of the Heart: Changed Myths for Changing Lives 
book and e-book <http://www.decohen.com/labyrinth>
Send e-mail to the Reply-To address, not the From address.

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#56818

Daniel Cohen <dcohenspam@talktalk.net> wrote:

> David Empson <dempson@actrix.gen.nz> wrote:
> 
> > For reference, the backup copies of the recovery partitions are stored
> > under the Backups.backupdb folder, in a hidden .RecoverySets folder,
> > under which the separate recovery partitions are in numbered folders:
> > 
> > .RecoverySets/0/com.apple.recovery.boot/
> > .RecoverySets/1/com.apple.recovery.boot/
> > (etc.)
> > 
> > You can look at the PlatformSuport.plist and SystemVersion.plist files
> > in each of them to identify where the recovery partition came from and
> > which models it supports.
> 
> This is useful information. Thanks. However, the information provided by
> PlatformSupport.plist is not easy to make sense of, as the models are
> identified by a sequenxe of characters that need to be interpreted.

That's presumably the "SupportedBoardIds" key, which has strings like
"Mac-031B6874CF7F642A". I haven't worked out whether those can be
interpreted, but further down in mine there is a
"SupportedModelProperties" key which has strings like "MacBookPro4,1",
which are standard model identifiers that are well documented.

There are more entries in the SupportedBoardIds list than the
SupportedModelProperties list, which I assume is due to there being
multiple board IDs for some model identifiers.

-- 
David Empson
dempson@actrix.gen.nz

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#56823

David Empson <dempson@actrix.gen.nz> wrote:

> That's presumably the "SupportedBoardIds" key, which has strings like
> "Mac-031B6874CF7F642A". I haven't worked out whether those can be
> interpreted, but further down in mine there is a
> "SupportedModelProperties" key which has strings like "MacBookPro4,1",
> which are standard model identifiers that are well documented.

Of course you're right. I just did not look down far enough.
-- 
<http://www.decohen.com>
The Labyrinth of the Heart: Changed Myths for Changing Lives 
book and e-book <http://www.decohen.com/labyrinth>
Send e-mail to the Reply-To address, not the From address.

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#56797

for what it's worth, here's my BU strategy

every night i clone my boot drive to a local drive using SuperDuper

i've been doing that for about 5 years

it's saved my ass a few times

i also use time machine

and, every week or five i clone my boot drive to a portable drive that
i keep in my car

i haven't lost a significant file in many years

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#56815

In message <210220140851143414%whanna@invalid.invalid> 
  William Hanna <whanna@invalid.invalid> wrote:
> for what it's worth, here's my BU strategy

> every night i clone my boot drive to a local drive using SuperDuper

> i've been doing that for about 5 years

> it's saved my ass a few times

> i also use time machine

> and, every week or five i clone my boot drive to a portable drive that
> i keep in my car

> i haven't lost a significant file in many years

Mine is

1) Time Machine backup to local drive
2) Backblaze ($5 a month to backup the 8.5TB I have connected to my
iMac.)
3) Important things live on Dropbox and Copy.com and Google drive and a
Transporter.

-- 
"Don't be nice. It's Creepy."

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#56882

On 2/21/14 11:51 AM, William Hanna wrote:
> and, every week or five i clone my boot drive to a portable drive that
> i keep in my car

Is that a platter-based HDD that you keep in the car?

You've had no temperature/humidity problems with it?

Just wondering, because it's an "off-site" strategy I've 
considered myself. Chances are if the house burned down, the 
car might make it through the conflagration.
Then again, someone could steal the car, but keep the drive 
encrypted, and chances are they won't be able to get at the 
data (if they can even find the drive).

Right now, I use a weatherproof USB3 flashdrive for storing 
some backup material in the car. But was leery about using a 
conventional HDD drive, again because of the wide variations 
in temperature we have here...

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#56887

i've resolved myself to the fact that there is NO 100% safe solution...
or, at least, one i can afford

i take reasonable precautions and live with the results

so far, so good


In article <530984cf$0$28904$862e30e2@ngroups.net>, John Albert
<j.albert@snet.net> wrote:

> On 2/21/14 11:51 AM, William Hanna wrote:
> > and, every week or five i clone my boot drive to a portable drive that
> > i keep in my car
> 
> Is that a platter-based HDD that you keep in the car?
> 
> You've had no temperature/humidity problems with it?
> 
> Just wondering, because it's an "off-site" strategy I've 
> considered myself. Chances are if the house burned down, the 
> car might make it through the conflagration.
> Then again, someone could steal the car, but keep the drive 
> encrypted, and chances are they won't be able to get at the 
> data (if they can even find the drive).
> 
> Right now, I use a weatherproof USB3 flashdrive for storing 
> some backup material in the car. But was leery about using a 
> conventional HDD drive, again because of the wide variations 
> in temperature we have here...

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#56913

On 2014.02.23, 00:19 , John Albert wrote:
> On 2/21/14 11:51 AM, William Hanna wrote:
>> and, every week or five i clone my boot drive to a portable drive that
>> i keep in my car
>
> Is that a platter-based HDD that you keep in the car?
>
> You've had no temperature/humidity problems with it?
>
> Just wondering, because it's an "off-site" strategy I've considered
> myself. Chances are if the house burned down, the car might make it
> through the conflagration.
> Then again, someone could steal the car, but keep the drive encrypted,
> and chances are they won't be able to get at the data (if they can even
> find the drive).
>
> Right now, I use a weatherproof USB3 flashdrive for storing some backup
> material in the car. But was leery about using a conventional HDD drive,
> again because of the wide variations in temperature we have here...

I'll be restarting my offsite plan and transporting the (encrypted) 
drives in well padded briefcases (2 per case).  Won't have time for much 
temperature change and it will be so gradual due to the padding that 
condensation shouldn't happen at all.  Drives will be kept at a friend's 
house.

-- 
   Privacy has become an essential personal chore that most
   people are not trained to perform.
                  - Jaron Lanier, Scientific American, 2013.11.

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