Network Question

[NewtoMacs]

Hi,

I know you have had many questions on this issue, but after reading the requisite posts, including "How to update an image?", I still can't figure out how to solve this problem.

I am relatively new to Macs, so bear with me.

I am on Computer A, which is mounting drives from Computer B (B is the server for the entire office). Using A, is it possible to copy the mounted drives from B or any other connected computer onto an external drive, which is connected to A. I am not trying to copy the data to the server.

SuperDuper does not give me the option of choosing the mounted drives, only those that are local to A. Does this mean that I have to install SuperDuper on every computer and move the external drive around to backup all drives? If so, could this problem be avoided if all I wanted was a data backup and not a completely bootable copy.

Thank You for any and all help,
NewtoMacs

[dnanian]

You cannot "pull" a backup to a networked machine, NewtoMacs; you can only "push" a backup to an image stored on a network volume. That image can be stored on an external drive on "computer A", but you have to mount the image on "computer B" and perform the backup there.

It doesn't really matter if it's a data backup: the problem is that, given "native file format", we need to preserve ownership, and authorize to get access to all of the files in the mounted volume -- and you can't authorize like that across a network.

(Yes, you can get access to some files -- the ones owned by the user who logged in -- but that's typically not enough.)

Hope that helps. Remember: only the *image* needs to be mounted on the computer doing the backup. That image can be *hosted* on any computer on the network.

[NewtoMacs]

Dave,

I really appreciate your help, but I am still a little confused.

Would it be correct to say, "If I want to backup a drive, then I must run SuperDuper! from the computer that the drive is stored on, but the target can be on any networked computer."

For example, if I want to back up the local hard drives on 3 or 4 networked computers I could buy SuperDuper!. Then, copy it to all of the computers. Then run SuperDuper!, copying the drives to an external drive on one of the computers using the method you described in the "How to update an image" post.

Thank you so much for your timely responses.

[dnanian]

That's right. SuperDuper! has to be run on the source.

As long as "all of the computers" are yours, then -- yes -- you can run SuperDuper! on them all. If not, though, you'd need to license a copy for owner.

Sounds like you've got it!