Sandbox operation question

[Randy Kahle]

After making a Sandbox (shared users and applications), if I

1. Install a new application in the Sandbox
2. Do a "Smart Update" from the Sandbox back to Macintosh HD

then the newly install applications are in both the Sandbox and on Macintosh HD.

If I then

3. Do a "Smart Update" from the Macintosh HD to the Sandbox

then the newly installed applications in Sandbox will be replaced with a sharing link that points back to the Macintosh HD copy of the applications.

-- Randy

[dnanian]

Correct, although in step 2 you need to use "Backup - all files" to copy back, and in step 3 you'll use the Sandbox script again. This is absolutely critical: if you use the Sandbox script in step 2, you will lose data.

[Randy Kahle]

Dave,

Thanks - to document this fully then:

After making a Sandbox copy (using shared users and applications), if I

1. Install a new application in the Sandbox
2. Use "Backup - all files" with "Smart Update" options from the Sandbox back to Macintosh HD

then the newly installed applications are in both the Sandbox and on Macintosh HD.

If I then

3. Do a "Sandbox - shared users and applications" with the "Smart Update" option copy from the Macintosh HD to the Sandbox

then the newly installed applications in Sandbox will be replaced with a sharing link that points back to the Macintosh HD copy of the applications.

-- Randy

[dnanian]

That's right (assuming that you actually started up from the Sandbox, of course).

[ken]

Regarding:

"That's right (assuming that you actually started up from the Sandbox, of course)."

But if I start up from the sandbox I cannot copy from the Macintosh HD to the Sandbox. The Sandbox choice is disabled in the drop down box.

If I start up from the Macintosh HD I can smart copy using the shared applications option but I end up copying everything, including Final Cut Studio, which is huge. I am trying to copy links only in order to save space in the Sandbox partition.

[dnanian]

I mean you start up from the Sandbox after you're done. A Sandbox isn't useful unless you run from it.

[ken]

I just retried copying using shared applications, smart copy after booting from the Mac Hard drive. My 8 Gig motion program from Final Cut studio is still on the sandbox when what I want is just a link. I have also tried erasing the sandbox first but everything still copies over. (OS X 10.6)

[dnanian]

I don't think your copy script was written properly, then. Did you review the section on sharing additional material in the User's Guide?

[ken]

I am not using a custom script, just the menus in SuperDuper.

[dnanian]

Well -- I don't see Motion being specifically excluded in the existing Sandbox scripts: it should be linked/aliased. Do you have it in an unusual location?

[ken]

Actually motion is shared but the app itself is small, .3 gig. The /library/application support/final cut/ directory is the deal killer for final cut studio apps. With motion that is 8 gigs which is not shared. I am guessing when I install the all of final cut studio's 50 gigs this directory will blow up in size. Why doesn't the shared apps script make the application support directory shared? I have tried running a customized script which also shares the "application support" directory. It seems to be working. My Sandbox is down to a more reasonable size of 8 gigs.

Having to spend a lot of time customizing scripts for each application installed makes it not worthwhile to even use a sandbox. You are better off keeping data on a separate partition, making incremental system partition backups to an image and restoring the system partition to an earlier version when it won't boot properly. This is what I do on the rare occasion that it is neccessary in windows, using Acronis.

It would seem to me that the steps outlined above by Randy to maximize the number of pointers should be standard operating procedure and explained clearly in the manual. Rather than a warning in the manual about only doing this if you know what you are doing there should be a warning dialogue if the user appears to have changed the default smart backup to the Apple HD and is about to overwrite his data.

[dnanian]

Because Application Support includes a lot of things that are OS-specific, and thus if we share the whole thing you're not isolated. On top of that, some applications don't like a symlink there...