unclear about some usage issues

[camner]

Thank you for your prompt and complete reply.

1. I now understand better what you mean by checkpoint. I think where I was confused is that a "checkpoint" to me implied the ability to have multiple checkpoints (as in XP's "system restore"). You didn't actually say that (or even imply it). I just inferred it. What I now understand is that Sandbox is a single checkpoint...it can be updated at any time by a recloning process. It allows one to...safely...make changes to one's system, and if the changes work well, one can create a new checkpoint.

2. I haven't tried this yet, but working with other backup utilities (SilverKeeper, for example), it takes a while to actually do the smart backup, so I set it to only copy changes to my Documents folder. I now understand that the way SD works, this would be a mistake!

3. You write, on page 16 "...restoring one of these images is much, much, faster than doing a 'file by file' copy". Once again, I inferred something you didn't really say. I concluded that by creating multiple dmg images, I would accomplish two things: (1) multiple "checkpoints", and (2) quick restores (as opposed to "cloning back" from my backup drive). It still isn't clear to me what you would recommend as a backup strategy for someone who has a second internal drive whose sole purpose is backup...should I also keep periodic dmg images, or be content with regular smart updates to the 2nd internal drive.

4. My idiocy here. I just didn't read the docs carefully enough. I now understand that I can select an image as the target of a cloning...I had overlooked that and thought the only way I could create a dmg image was by checking the box while doing a file-by-file cloning.

5. Here I think you are not being clear enough in the docs. Until I read your reply, I did not fully understand the implications of doing a Smart Update with a 'cut down' list of files. The implications are sufficiently staggering (destruction of clone!) that I might suggest that when someone attempts to do so (assuming you can detect it), a nice window saying something to the effect of "hey, are you absolutely sure you want to do this--you will lose all files on the target that are not contained in the folders you specified" would be a great feature.

Another question...can one schedule a SD cloning as a cron job?