[OS X TeX] backing up /usr (and MacTeX)

[Alex Hamann]

On 30.01.2009, at 16:41, Gary L. Gray wrote:

>
> On Jan 30, 2009, at 11:33 AM, Alain Schremmer wrote:
>
>> On Jan 30, 2009, at 8:35 AM, Rolf Schmolling wrote:
>>
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> what about cloning it to an external Disk. I'd recommend SuperDuper
>>
>> doesn't work with large files over ethernet. I had to give it up  
>> after "they" couldn't help.
>
>
> Every night at home, I use SuperDuper! to clone to network drive  
> (also in my home) via a wireless connection. It usually takes about  
> an hour or so, but it sure is painless. The key is to clone to a  
> sparse disk image. For the first clone, you can have the drive  
> hooked up to your machine so it is fast, and then just do smart  
> updates after that. Cloning over a network is nicely described in  
> the SD! documentation.
>
> -- Gary
>



Thanks  to Rolf and David who made suggestions regarding backup  
strategies both on- and off-list.
In fact I use Intego Backup (the X4 version - don't get me  
started...) for backups but my firewire HD is deep in Germany while I  
am sitting here in London. So I can not make a clone capable of  
booting. Moreover, now that Apple is moving away from firewire (WHY  
did they do that to me?!) that might not be the best storage option  
anymore.
Anyway, not a big deal... this iBook will eventually (or rather in  
the near future) break down completely so I am careful not to keep  
important data on my HD and keep small selected backups on a USB  
storage device. Unfortunately, last time I reinstalled from scratch  
and tried to save a clone on that USB-HD I ran into major problems  
and had to reinstall 5 times.
Long story, short conclusion: my current approach is to maintain  
backups of the really important stuff on my HD (my customized MacTeX  
distro being part of that). Therefore it would be nice to know if I  
can just create an archive of /usr and move that to the USB storage  
device or if this would lead to problems when trying to revert to  
that backup.

Cheers,

Alex