Catalina

[Fury]

So to be clear I shouldn't use SD until you are through with the beta? I'm on v119.

[dnanian]

No, you should use the beta posted at http://www.shirt-pocket.blog - it's in very good shape.

[Fury]

Thank you, Dave.

[mmurray]

Originally Posted by Fury

So to be clear I shouldn't use SD until you are through with the beta? I'm on v119.

For what it is worth I used beta 5 for the first time today. I have two other backups from before my Catalina install (and Dropbox and TimeMachine) so I wasn't too concerned about it stuffing up.

My previous SD backup USB disk from Mojave failed SD's attempts to convert it to APFS so I followed the instructions and erased it and did a full backup from the beginning. I thought it was pretty fast - 308 GB in 1 hour 50 minutes with the USB 3 hard disk hanging of a USB 3 hub then into a USB-C MacBook Pro. The backup disk booted the laptop OK. Didn't seem to be anything jumping out at me in the log as wrong.

Interesting when I just went to eject the USB backup drive by dragging it to the trash Finder warned me there were two volumes mounted which I guess there are. I thought the Finder might just treat them as one ?? No big deal I just clicked on the Eject Both option.

[dnanian]

The APFS conversion is done with Apple's tools, and unfortunately they don't always work. They usually work, but not always.

Apple's a bit inconsistent about handling volume groups. When you're not booted from the drive, it shows them as two separate volumes...and ejects them differently too. Expected, based on our experience.

Glad it worked!

[gmike]

Hi Folks, To my disappointment SD did not work (at first) with Catalina! Then I found the BATA - WORKS!!! Not thinking, I forgot I had to reformat the partition before the backup. One other small problem I didn't realize I would have to select the back up in Preferences instead of the Option Key in order to boot from the backup (test). Normally I wait at least 6 months before installing a new OS but after some nervous moments and reviewing the blog all is good. Thanks SD

[dnanian]

You can definitely boot from the backup with the Option key. Some drives need you to attach the drive after you get to the boot menu...

[franklinesmith]

I'm using SD 3.3 v119.7, Catalina 10.15.1. I'm backing up to an external drive. The backup executes correctly with no errors. However, I can't get the external drive to boot. I've tried 2 different drives with the same result. Anyone else having this problem?

I've filed reports with shirt pocket, but no response. I know Dave's busy so that's understandable.

Frank Smith

[dnanian]

Frank, I've responded to each of your emails. Please check your Junk folder, perhaps?

[franklinesmith]

Dave, I have nothing from you, including my spam folder.

[dnanian]

I can only tell you that you've sent me email from gmail twice, and I've replied. Try sending me *direct* email rather than through "send to shirt pocket": perhaps you have the wrong email there? Because I have replied to each message, and nothing has bounced.