backup no longer bootable

[whatisup]

so up until about a week ago, all was well with my external fire wire drive back up. now I can't boot into it. the start up screen takes about five minutes to complete and then i get the log in window. my user name and password do not work for the bootable back up. prior to this problem i was never asked for my user name and password to start up from (boot) from the FWD and the start up screen took about five seconds to complete. i am the only account on the HD (admin) and I have not installed any updates from apple. the only thing i have done differently on my HD is to make a "smart mailbox" for my unread mail messages in apple mail to go into. I can access all of the data on my FWD, I just can't boot from it anymore. I am using 10.4.2. any thoughts?

thanks,

whatisup

[dnanian]

Are you using Smart Update, Erase, then copy, Copy Newer or Copy Different?

[whatisup]

I had been using "copy newer files from the HD to the FWD". under "standard scripts" i had been using "backp - all files". I started with a new blank FWD, then i formatted it and started using SD from there.

thanks for your quick response.

[dnanian]

OK, whatisup. As indicated in the User's Guide, "Copy Newer" and "Copy Different" do not guarantee a bootable result. You have to use either "Smart Update" or "Erase, then copy".

If you Smart Update the drive at this point, it should fix it up so you can once again boot from it. Note, though, that it will also remove any files from the destination that are not present (and selected) on the source.

Hope that helps!

[whatisup]

Dave

you have been very helpful. thank you so much. i will give this a try.

[dnanian]

No problem, whatisup. Hopefully this'll take care of it!