Did I read that SD can defrag a drive...and another question.
 

I am wondering if, when SD smart updates to my backup drive, if it puts the files in the same physical position on the backup drive as the one I'm updating from...I guess I could say, does it preserve fragmentation.

I am asking this because I am upgrading to Leopard, and intend on keeping Tiger on my backup for a while. But I did not put a partition on my backup for a sandbox. In the hopes of saving some time, I am investigating the possibility of, once upgraded to Leopard on my main drive, using it's new partitioning feature to add a Sandbox partition to my backup drive, instead of erasing, partitioning and then recloning the Tiger backup, before upgrading. (I'm not yet sure that this is even possible on a G5, but am told that it is on an intel.)

I am working on a G5, of which both drives have never been filled to more than 60%...so I'm thinking that there should be enough unfragmented space at the end of the drive to do this.

No, we don't copy the actual disk structure - just the files. Note that you cannot sandbox Leopard when the main drive is Tiger, right? Leopard is too different in its treatment of your Home folder to allow the data to be shared.

Right now the main drive is Tiger and has a Sandbox, the backup drive is Tiger with no Sandbox. I will upgrade the main drive to Leopard, then erase and copy Leopard to main drive Sandbox. Then I was hoping to use Leopard to partition the Tiger Drive for a Sandbox, so I don't have to erase that whole drive the way I would have to if I did it before upgrading to Leopard on the main drive.

I want to put a sandbox on the backup Tiger because I want to keep it for a while, and want to be able to to Tiger updates in a Sandbox - thank you so much for Sandbox...and your reply.

when I upgraded from Tiger to Leopard, I had two partitions on my external drive. I made a normal smart backup to the partition where my Tiger backup was, and named it "Tiger Backup."

Then I upgraded my OS on my G5, changed a few of the drivers and apps (PITA!) that had to be updated to run on Leo, and finally made a full erase-and-replace Leo backup on the other partition, which I named "Leo backup."

I felt good knowing that I could always boot from Tiger if need be. One driver that had to be replaced immediately was for the Logitech S530 keyboard and mouse, which wouldn't run under Tiger. If you have that kb/mouse, then have your old USB devices ready and plugged in before you start the conversion.

I've noted this before here, but, under Leopard, repairing permissions can take a very long time, especially the first go-round, when you will think that something is very wrong. Be patient. At best, it now takes me 20 minutes to repair permissions, so you may only want to do that under a smart update if you have installed new software or software upgrades.

Thanks for the tips - wow, 20 minutes - that does seem very long. So far, I have checked my drive for problems with disk utility, and it came out with no repairs needed - and I've upgraded all the software and drivers, that I can make Leo compatible, unfortunately CS2 is never going to be completely, but I'm going to try it out - many folks are saying they are not having too many issues, but equally as many are...so I'm so glad I will have Tiger on backup. I am using a Wacom tablet, for which I updated the driver. So many details, but I am learning a bunch.