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In the past, you could copy a bootable volume just by dragging its contents, and you could run Finder straight off the install media. Today I guess Apple finds

In the past, you could copy a bootable volume just by dragging its contents, and you could run Finder straight off the install media. Today I guess Apple finds it eccentric for a user to expect to create a simple backup.

Wowfunhappy 6y ago
...are you talking about OS9? In OS X I'm pretty sure you've always had to explicitly mark a volume as bootable. (Not complicated, but more complicated than just dragging contents over.)
- gsnedders 6y ago
  Copying the full filesystem should've worked for OS X too, though not copying merely the contents (i.e., you need FS-level metadata). But yes, from OS X you needed a secondary boot loader (BootX) to be discovered by OpenFirmware, whereas for classic Mac OS OpenFirmware itself found the payload to boot (which differed between Old World and New World systems).
- bombcar 6y ago
  Was blessing a drive an OS 9 thing? I seem to remember that but it did it automatically.
  - Wowfunhappy 6y ago
    No, it wasn't, so you could make a backup drive and boot from it directly by just copying the contents in Finder. But never in OS X. Which is why GP confused me...
bartvk 6y ago
Why the extreme sarcasm? Apple apparently thinks it's eccentric for users to clone their internal storage. I think they have the numbers to support it as well. Making Time Machine backups is very convenient. What I've done personally, is started making backups to an SSD. In the event of a problem, I buy a new Mac and restore it to that, in a very fast manner. This means that, including shopping, roughly half a day of work will be lost. This is acceptable to me. If you really can't wait, then don't sell your old Mac and keep it around for as long as it's supported. Don't get me wrong, I'd rather Apple didn't drop this function. But I do understand that cloning is a feature that's not used much, and that temporarily falls by the wayside in the development process.
- ChrisMarshallNY 6y ago
  > What I've done personally, is started making backups to an SSD. In the event of a problem, I buy a new Mac and restore it to that, in a very fast manner. This means that, including shopping, roughly half a day of work will be lost. This is acceptable to me. I do something similar. I run Time Machine backups, then have what I call “hot backups.” These are CCC bootable clones to a zippy external SSD. I update them every 4 hours. Also, most of my crucial data is “cloudy,” in things like GitHub. APFS has the new “split” system, with a separate “data” volume. This can be used for Restore Mode rebuilds. I have not had to rely on a full backup restore from Time Machine in years. The hot backup has been fine. It also means that I don’t have an issue wiping my computer and taking it in for service. I have the luxury of having a backup device (usually a couple of years older model of my primary).
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]

Wowfunhappy 6y ago

...are you talking about OS9? In OS X I'm pretty sure you've always had to explicitly mark a volume as bootable. (Not complicated, but more complicated than just dragging contents over.)

gsnedders 6y ago
Copying the full filesystem should've worked for OS X too, though not copying merely the contents (i.e., you need FS-level metadata). But yes, from OS X you needed a secondary boot loader (BootX) to be discovered by OpenFirmware, whereas for classic Mac OS OpenFirmware itself found the payload to boot (which differed between Old World and New World systems).
bombcar 6y ago
Was blessing a drive an OS 9 thing? I seem to remember that but it did it automatically.
- Wowfunhappy 6y ago
  No, it wasn't, so you could make a backup drive and boot from it directly by just copying the contents in Finder. But never in OS X. Which is why GP confused me...

bartvk 6y ago

Why the extreme sarcasm? Apple apparently thinks it's eccentric for users to clone their internal storage. I think they have the numbers to support it as well. Making Time Machine backups is very convenient. What I've done personally, is started making backups to an SSD. In the event of a problem, I buy a new Mac and restore it to that, in a very fast manner. This means that, including shopping, roughly half a day of work will be lost. This is acceptable to me. If you really can't wait, then don't sell your old Mac and keep it around for as long as it's supported. Don't get me wrong, I'd rather Apple didn't drop this function. But I do understand that cloning is a feature that's not used much, and that temporarily falls by the wayside in the development process.

ChrisMarshallNY 6y ago
> What I've done personally, is started making backups to an SSD. In the event of a problem, I buy a new Mac and restore it to that, in a very fast manner. This means that, including shopping, roughly half a day of work will be lost. This is acceptable to me. I do something similar. I run Time Machine backups, then have what I call “hot backups.” These are CCC bootable clones to a zippy external SSD. I update them every 4 hours. Also, most of my crucial data is “cloudy,” in things like GitHub. APFS has the new “split” system, with a separate “data” volume. This can be used for Restore Mode rebuilds. I have not had to rely on a full backup restore from Time Machine in years. The hot backup has been fine. It also means that I don’t have an issue wiping my computer and taking it in for service. I have the luxury of having a backup device (usually a couple of years older model of my primary).
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]