OSX upgrade

[honestone]

OK, sounds good. Just a couple of more comments:

1. When I stated "Also, when you upgrade to the new Mac OS, you'll need to delete the eDrive again, and create a new one, which will be based on the newer Mac OS you plan to upgrade to", that is not valid. I did "kind of" correct it later on in my post above, as when you "migrate"/copy needed "stuff" from your backup after the completion of Yosemite's installation, the eDrive is not "migrated"/copied, so you will need to create a new eDrive (all the other "pieces" of TechTool Pro will be copied over).

2. There is a product very similar to SuperDuper! entitled Carbon Copy Cloner. It is also an excellent choice, but there are two differences from SuperDuper!:

A. As already mentioned, SuperDuper! costs $27.95 (demo mode available), whereas Carbon Copy Cloner costs $39.95 (demo mode also available: https://bombich.com/kb/ccc4/how-does-free-30-day-trial-work).

B. Carbon Copy Cloner also backs up the (hidden) Recovery HD partition, whereas SuperDuper! does not. For myself, that is not an issue, as 1) that partition gets recreated on a clean, fresh installation of the Mac OS, 2) there are other ways of re-creating it, 3) I (and you also) have a more advanced disk cleanup/maintenance/repair program in TechTool Pro, and 4) with a SuperDuper! bootable backup, I can restart my Mac from such a backup, and use whatever tools I have there, including Disk Utility.

 

[arc1953]

Ok…today I downloaded the free version of Super Duper! and let it assist me in making the latest Time Machine backup. I am impressed with Super Duper! but I can see that the paid version is better. I had intended to wait until I could get a new firewire external hard drive, but I decided to try my usb western digital that I have had for years. I also let Tech Tool Pro remake it's E-drive after the recent update. Slowly getting there.

 

[honestone]

Good that you got SuperDuper!, but you are using it for the "wrong" reason! You would use SuperDuper! to make its own bootable backup. Why are you using it to assist with your Time Machine backup? Remember, Time Machine backups are not bootable!

Also, as I mentioned, you need to download the Mac OS you want to upgrade to. And of course checking on your third party software.

I laid out the plan for in detailed fashion above. Let's hope you follow it so that this project will result in success.

 

[arc1953]

In the dialog box where Super Duper! was telling what all was happening, one of the things it said it was doing was 'make time machine backups bootable'

 

[arc1953]

Ok, assuming that the backup is not bootable…it appears to me that with the unpaid version of SuperDuper!, it does not have any option for backups, it is erase and backup (no smart backup). So, doing anything other than a full backup will erase the previous full backup. So, I go to Disc Utility and see that there is an option to partition the external drive with 1-16 partitions, which I assume that it is possible to divide down to 1/16 of it's 1.5TB capacity. It is not partitioned now. So, I am thinking that if I partition this external drive I should be able to keep the full backup, and have a separate space to copy a startup clone to. Is this correct?

 

[honestone]

First of all, assuming your main "system" on your machine is as clean as possible, determine its entire size, To do that, click on the volume name that contains it, and then do a Get Info on that volume. You should then see how much space is allocated to that volume, and how much space is being used.

Next, as you are thinking, "add" at least one partition for the SuperDuper! backup to that drive. The size of it should be between the two size figures you found out above. Myself, I always leave a good amount of extra space on that backup, and unless a lot of the 1 TB space is being taken up already, you have the option of making that partition for the SuperDuper! backup as large as you want.

Now, regarding the demo mode. Myself (even with the paid mode), I do not need to back up my stuff on a daily basis. I do it weekly, and I just have SuperDuper! erase the previous week's backup and replace it entirely with the new one. I am actually making 2 SuperDuper! backups for each of my Macs to two separate external drives (SSDs inside), so I always have a backup of the backup. Again, that works for me, and I don't need to have it do a "smart" backup.

Along with that, I am doing all sorts of disk cleanup on my own on a daily basis. For example, on Friday, a new version of EtreCheck came out. So, I downloaded it, installed it, tested it (worked of course), and then deleted the prior version. No. sense wasting disk (SSD space for me). Another thing I do on a daily basis is to have deleted EMails permanently removed for its database. I use Outlook 2016 for my EMail, and there is a simple keyboard combination I use to accomplish that.

So, as you can see, I am not a "pack rat", as I make a sincere, dedicated effort to keep my machines "lean, mean, and clean". But, I certainly understand if one needs to backup more frequently, and thus the "smart" feature is nice for that.

I never knew that SuperDuper! could make Time Machine backups bootable. As they say, learn something new everyday. But, I am unsure why that would be necessary, when with the paid version of either SuperDuper! or Carbon Copy Cloner, one can schedule more frequent backups, and such backups are already bootable. Along with that, please explain more clearly what you mean buy "it does not have any option for backups, it is erase and backup (no smart backup).". You first say "does not have any option for backups", but then in that same sentence, you say "it is an erase and backup (no smart backup). So, which is it? Backups, or no backup?

 

[arc1953]

What I meant is it appears to me (and I might be wrong) that with the unpaid version there is no option to backup selected pieces(smart backup). Backup all or none.
After the full backup, I believe that it said I had 1.3TB leftover.

 

[honestone]

That's what I thought you meant, but it sure was not very clear! And yes, the demo version seems to be, most likely, rather "generic" with its feature set. For me, though, such a "backup only" functionality is perfect. But the paid version does run faster, and $27.95 is not a whole lot of money for such a fine product.

 

[arc1953]

Thank you Honestone, for helping me with the upgrade. Sierra 10.12.5 is up and running.

 

[honestone]

Thank you Honestone, for helping me with the upgrade. Sierra 10.12.5 is up and running.

Cool! And glad I was able tohelp.

I would be good, going forward, for you to follow a process for performing disk cleanup, maintenance, and repairs, and backups frequently. Myself, I do daily disk cleanup, and every week I use Onyx, TechTool Pro, and SuperDuper! to 1) do more extensive disk cleaning, 2) do disk maintenance, and if necessary, repairs, and 3) do backups. Such a process has led to my Macs having rarely any issues at all. But even when issues arise, I have a fool proof recovery process in place that I can resort to.

 

[arc1953]

Yes, I plan on being more proactive about learning what to do and what not to do as I use these excellent resources to keep the Mac lean, clean, and mean

 

[honestone]

Cool! One of the things you can do every time you check your EMail is to have EMails you delete permanently removed/deleted. I use Outlook 2016 as my EMail client, and there is a simple keyboard combination I use to do just that. You might want to research how to do that with the EMail program you have.

Also, whenever you download a new update file for an application, after installing and testing it, get rid of the old one. No sense having that prior version taking up space.

Since you already have TechTool Pro, I suspect you know how helpful that is. Not sure if you have downloaded and installed Onyx yet, but that would be good to have also. Finally, when you want to remove/delete an application, just dragging it to the trash actually still leaves other stuff related to the app behind. To completely get rid of all that stuff also, I use the excellent free program AppCleaner, which you can get from here (and it's free!):

https://freemacsoft.net/appcleaner/

It really works well.

 

[arc1953]

Great, thank you.