Correct use of a Sandbox
 

Hello Folks... I've read the manual and I think I understand it but I wanted to quickly clarify a few things.

I am trying to achieve this :

I use my machine pretty heavily and over time the OS will more than often break. I'm tired of having to re-install the OS and all my apps. I would like to create a work area I use daily but also have a bootable copy of that area I can restore from.

How I am going to achieve this :

-Create two partions on my internal HD, one called Macintosh HD. One called Sandbox
-Install 10.5 to Mac HD
-Clone Mac HD to Sandbox
-Use Sandbox as my daily working start up and smart update back to Mac HD weekly as long as everything is running fine.

Questions

-Is this the best way to do it?
-How should I Backup my Mac HD using Time Machine? I won't be booting it often so time machine will not activate but it holds my home folder/original files. Can I use time machine to back up my sandbox? Will this follow the symlinks to Mac HD and copy all my home folder files?

I HAVE ANSWERED THE LAST QUESTION MYSELF - Just checked a TM backup I did before when I was experimenting with sandboxes and SD. It backed up everything but the symlink files.

-So should I use SD to back up my Mac HD to an external drive whilst booting from the sandbox...blimey all a bit confusing I know..


Any help much appreciated.

Matt

Yes, I'd make a full backup of your base Macintosh HD (NOT the sandbox) routinely.

Thanks Dave for getting back to me so quick. I am testing out my plan now and it all seems to work okay. Just updated to 10.5.5 and installed a few apps then cloned back to Mac HD perfectly.

I've also just discovered I can use TM whilst booted on the Sandbox partition to back up my Mac HD and ignore the sandbox.

Everything else looks okay to you doesn't it Dave?

Thanks again for you help.

Yep - seems fine.