It's obvious, but I didn't know that SuperDuper would disallow making the boot drive the target. That's good to know. Makes perfect sense.
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Originally Posted by dnanian
I'm not sure what you mean by the "older, yet more up to date". There aren't two versions on the backup -- we don't keep old version around. So, when you Smart Update, the backup will once again exactly resemble the source...
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I booted from the backup to make sure it was bootable and working. It was.
Since I was going to wipe the original and restore the backup to it after reformatting the original drive, and as I was booted into the backup, I checked for mail, which altered the backup's mail database.
Then I booted back into the original to check and see if my mail program on the original was using Andale Mono. It was.
Now the quandry. I didn't check for mail on the original, but I did open the database in opening the program. Did the mail program silently update the original's mail database file, therefore giving it a newer modification date, although the size would still be smaller than the backup (the backup mail database which I had added new mail to just a few minutes before)?
Some programs seem to do this (InDesign, I think). I open a file, and have changed nothing, but when I close it I am asked "Do you want to save changes?" (I swear this did not happen in OS 9!)
So now, if I Smart Update (or update newer, or update different), does it erase the backup mail database (which I want to keep) because it sees the modification date on the backup as older? I don't think the original mail database was altered in merely opening it to view it, but maybe the mail app changed it... I'm not sure without going to the actual file and doing a "Get Info". If the database on the original was not modified, then the backup version should not be deleted in the updating process, because it has a newer modification date.
Normally this is never a problem. The backup is merely a backup and you don't boot off of it with the intention of anything more than immediately restoring it to a working drive. Only I had altered the backup with the view of shortly making it
the primary copy. Hence the hesitation of possibly wiping out changes made to the backup trying to Smart Update it from the original.
I'm afraid rewriting this response will just make it more obtuse. If you read this far, give yourself a gold star. And I will register the software soon so don't worry.