super-duper, usb, and firewire

[fells]

can smart updates be done with usb and still be able to boot with firewire or is there anything lost in the translation?

[dnanian]

Sure, not a problem as long as the drive is properly partitioned (and supports FW startup in the first place).

[Kalkas]

Hello,

I have a simillar question and I just want to see if I have understood it right.

If I have understood it right, we can backup with SD! to a properly partitoned USB external drive instead to a FireWire drive.

I do have a FireWire drive, but it is too small for my system, while the USB drive has enough size. I know how to make a bootable FireWire drive. Could I use FireWire drive as a startup disk while the usb drive can be used as a disk where I store my images of the system? Is this a bad idea?

[dnanian]

As I've already indicated in a reply to your emailed support request, USB drives are fine and can be used as startup drives on Intel Macs.

[MarcP]

I have a new iMac and wish to have a SD bootable back up. What would be really nice is if I can use a USB powered external HDD rather than one that requires a separate power supply.

[sjk]

I doubt it matters if a drive is bus or external powered in order to boot from it (it doesn't with FireWire), though Dave possibly knows for sure.

[dnanian]

That should not be a problem, MarcP, assuming that the drive can run reliably bus powered. Kind of up to the drive itself!