Shirt Pocket Discussions  
    Home netTunes launchTunes SuperDuper! Buy Now Support Discussions About Shirt Pocket    

Go Back   Shirt Pocket Discussions > SuperDuper! > General

Reply
 
Thread Tools Rate Thread Display Modes
  #1  
Old 03-04-2005, 08:37 AM
Timmy Timmy is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 98
Backing-Up w/ FileVault enabled

If I perform a full backup while logged into a user account that utilizes FileVault, what will the resulting back-up disk look like?

Thanks,
Timothy
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 03-04-2005, 08:42 AM
dnanian's Avatar
dnanian dnanian is offline
Administrator
 
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Weston, MA
Posts: 14,923
Send a message via AIM to dnanian
In general, Timothy, you should create a non-FileVaulted account to perform backups from. While you *can* back up a FileVault account from "inside" it, the resulting backup has the hidden FileVault volume "mounted", so logging into that image in a recover situation can be weird.

If you log out and into a non-FV account, the image is closed and "put away", and the backup is a lot "cleaner".

Note that, as you'd probably expect, Smart Update doesn't work as well with FileVault. Since your user files are stored in one "big image" under FileVault, that entire image needs to be backed up each time any files on it change. That takes a lot more time than, say, just backing up a modified document.
__________________
--Dave Nanian
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 03-04-2005, 08:56 AM
Timmy Timmy is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 98
Quote:
Originally Posted by dnanian
While you *can* back up a FileVault account from "inside" it, the resulting backup has the hidden FileVault volume "mounted", so logging into that image in a recover situation can be weird.
Yeah, I'm having a tough time wrapping my brain around this scenario...

So, the FileVault .sparseimage would be 'open' on the backup all of the time?

Quote:
If you log out and into a non-FV account, the image is closed and "put away", and the backup is a lot "cleaner".
Would Fast User Switching over to the non-FV account be sufficient, or should it be a regular log out/log in?

Thanks for your help with this,
Timothy
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 03-04-2005, 09:25 AM
dnanian's Avatar
dnanian dnanian is offline
Administrator
 
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Weston, MA
Posts: 14,923
Send a message via AIM to dnanian
It's not so much that it'd be "open", but OSX does some strange things when you log into a FileVault account to "fool" the system into thinking your files are local. Basically, they mount a special volume and then "link" it to your home folder.

The special volume is stored on the drive, but in this linked situation, it's in an "open" configuration, rather than "closed" (like when you log out).

So, to get it to be as it would be when you reboot -- the safest configuration -- it's best to log out and into a non-FV account. This closes the volume and puts its away, ensuring that the backup proceeds as if your computer was turned off. That way, when you boot from the backup, it's as if you had started from a power-off situation, rather than from logged-in.

FUS isn't enough, unfortunately, because the volume isn't closed.
__________________
--Dave Nanian
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 03-04-2005, 09:33 AM
Timmy Timmy is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 98
Thanks for taking the time to explain this, Dave!

Regards,
Timothy
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 03-04-2005, 09:42 AM
dnanian's Avatar
dnanian dnanian is offline
Administrator
 
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Weston, MA
Posts: 14,923
Send a message via AIM to dnanian
No problem. It's a reasonably common question, and I should probably write a FAQ about it!
__________________
--Dave Nanian
Reply With Quote
Reply


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools
Display Modes Rate This Thread
Rate This Thread:

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Backing up a partition to disk image unmounts that partition kbradnam General 8 02-17-2005 07:42 PM
SuperDuper! and FileVault Kool General 12 01-16-2005 06:26 PM
Error backing up BootCacheControl? dnanian General 0 03-16-2004 06:58 AM


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 10:25 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.9
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.