Disk Utility Restore vs SuperDuper!

[dan]

If I want to create a bootable clone of my internal disk drive is there any difference between using the Restore function in Disk Utility or using SuperDuper!? Or do they both produce the same result -- a bootable clone of my internal drive? Thanks!

[dnanian]

They're quite different: you can't really run Disk Utility "Restore" on a mounted volume, Disk Utility's "Restore" doesn't do a Smart Update or selective copy and, when run file-by-file, Disk Utility's "Restore" isn't as accurate.

[dan]

Boy I'm really confused. I tried to find the answer on the net before I cloned my internal drive but couldn't find a clear answer. I am on 10.5.7. I used Disk Utility's restore to partition my external drive and used a partition map scheme of "GUID partition table". Then I used Restore to copy my internal hard drive to the external drive. When it was done both disks had the same amount of used space and I was able to boot off of the new external drive. And as far as I could tell all my files were there - music, videos, and other files. So as far as I could tell using Disk Utility Restore or SuperDuper! to clone the drive was equivalent. I know I can't use Disk Utility to do an incremental backup which is what I think Smart Update is and I know you can do that with SuperDuper!. But are you saying that Disk Utility's Restore doesn't do a byte-for-byte copy whereas SuperDuper!'s cloning does? Thanks in advance for amplifying your answer!

[dnanian]

No, that's not what I'm saying. Restore isn't as good about copying all the various bits of additional metadata, attributes, etc. But, as with everything else, they fixed bugs and it gets better every release.

[dan]

Dave thanks for your replies.

I just completed a Disk Utility Restore of my internal hard drive to my external drive. I then checked the amount of used space on both drives:

Internal: 165 GB (177,169,125,376 bytes) boot drive
External: 161.53 GB (173,443,739,648 bytes)

I was not happy about the difference.

I then booted off of the external drive and checked the amount of used space:

Internal: 164.75 GB (176,897,163,264 bytes)
External: 164.78 GB (176,929,144,832 bytes) boot drive

but the initial amount of used space was 164.69 GB and over the span of a few minutes increased to 164.78 which I guess is because the amount of swap space used is increasing (even though I'm not doing anything). Am I in danger of not having the OS or an application work properly? Would the amount of used space been identical had I or if I used SuperDuper!? Thanks again for your answer!

[dnanian]

No. We specifically and intentionally don't copy things that don't have meaning across a restart (or shouldn't be copied) like swap files, temporary files, etc.

Are you in danger? Probably not. Hard to say.

[mackoolaid]

No. We specifically and intentionally don't copy things that don't have meaning across a restart (or shouldn't be copied) like swap files, temporary files, etc.

Are you in danger? Probably not. Hard to say.
Dave, I know this is stupid. But for the life of me, I CAN'T FIGURE OUT HOW TO RESTORE FROM SUPERDUPER?!!!! Can you spell it out for me? Thanks.

[dnanian]

Have you taken a look at the "Recovering from a disaster" section of the User's Guide? It spells it out in great detail...