Auto-mount internal drive by non-admin user?

[Michael@wengam]

My main user ID had admin status when I set up schedules for SuperDuper! to clone the single startup drive to an internal drive on my MacPro. Normally the other drive is unmounted: SD! was able to automatically mount/unmount the other drive before/after running.

For security, I demoted my everyday user account to 'normal' user status, but now my scheduled SD! runs fail because SD! can't find the backup volume. If I run the schedule manually (press 'Copy Now') then I am asked for the username/password for an admin user; on entering them, the disk mounts and the backup proceeds.

Outside of SuperDuper!, if I use Disk Utility to mount the backup volume, then I am asked for an admin's username/password. But there is no option to save the admin's password in the normal user's keychain (probably by design). So that does not help me have a scheduled backup run automatically.

Is there a way to do this other than run SD! in an account with admin status? Or, can I set up the schedules when logged into a separate admin account, and somehow get them to run automatically even when the machine is not logged into that account?

[dnanian]

Sorry, no - the user you're running under has to have the ability to mount and eject volumes if you want it to automatically mount and eject volumes.

[Michael@wengam]

Thanks for explaining.

With fast user switching, can a SuperDuper! schedule set up by User 1 run when User 2 is logged in and visible (is that called 'in front'?), while User 1 is logged in but in the background? And how does admin status then come into play between the two as far as mounting/unmounting disks?

[dnanian]

No, as indicated in the Scheduling section of the User's Guide, the User 1 schedule will not run when User 2 is onscreen. Admin affects the user who is scheduled, not the user who is not.

[Michael@wengam]

If you're backing up by schedule to a disk image on network-attached storage, do you also need to run SD! in an admin account to automatically mount/unmount the disk images? [I don't have one to try this].

[dnanian]

If you can open them to mount them in Finder, we should be able to do so too.