Can Super Duper Copy Boot Camp XP partitions?

[Waikiki]

Can Super Duper Copy Boot Camp XP partitions? If I clone my macbook pro HD, will it clone the whole thing, including the Windows XP parition?
This is VERY important.....

[DarylF2]

My guess is no (at least for Boot Camp partitions formatted as NTFS), since by default Mac OS X cannot write to NTFS partitions (and I'm guessing that SuperDuper uses the basic OS APIs for writing to disk). For FAT32 partitions, SuperDuper may indeed work fine, but I haven't tried it.

What SuperDuper would need to do to clone NTFS partitions would most likely be to perform a block-level copy, which I don't *think* it currently does.

I look forward to hearing from Shirt Pocket Software about this though. I hope adding full Boot Camp partition support is on their To-Do list!

[dnanian]

Sorry, guys -- didn't get notified about this thread for some reason.

At present, we only support HFS+ volumes, so a BootCamp partition is not supported. A full copy of it can be done with Disk Utility, if you'd like.

Adding "true" support for BootCamp is not something we have planned for the short term. Doing it properly would basically mean full testing for both Mac and PC partitions, ensuring that we can do everything with a Windows partition that we can do with the Mac. Since NTFS can't even be written by OSX, we wouldn't be able to do that anyway (save for a full copy), and trying to do it for FAT32 only would be a rather large task.

Personally, I'd rather spend my time improving the experience for "real" Mac partitions...

[Waikiki]

Thanks Dave, but.....while I share your Mac passion, you will find that many of us for reasons we cannot fight, must use M$ Windoz. The Intel Mac's w/ BootCamp allow me to actually use my MacBook Pro on the road with Lockheed Martin, an all M$/Windoz Corp. It is the only was I can VPN.
I think you will find that BootCamp, or OS 10.5 with BootCamp built-in, will be a HUGE draw for the platform.
Apple created BootCamp knowing it would draw in a much larger pool of owners, and perhalps you folks should consider that point of view as well.
I am fully aware that what we are asking is difficult for a small company, but long term -- as Apple is thinking, would put you folks even more ahead of your compeitiors than you already are....

[dnanian]

Sure, understood. I'd really encourage you to purchase some Windows-based backup software for your Windows volume. It's the best way to make certain your solution is designed and tested extensively with Windows...

[amcmis]

As an unwitting recipient of a intel duo iMac, (their mistake! ha!) I lost the ability to use VirtualPC, which i used extensively. Along comes BootCamp, followed within 24 hours by Parallels Workstation Beta. I am now on beta 6 of Parallels, and have not booted off my Bootcamp partition since the first time. Not looking back. They're just getting the shared volume thing down now, but I really didn't need it, I just published a SMB share and networked to it from inside Windows.

BootCamp is an oddity, a POC. Concurrent virtualized systems is the future. (Just buy some RAM first) The joke is, how do I get my 15GB back from the BootCamp partition? Hmmmm, I wonder if SuperDuper could help me out there...

I can only imagine that SD has no trouble with Parallels container files, eh?

[dnanian]

I think the boot camp assistant can remove the boot camp partition, amcmis.

And, you're right: no problem with the Parallels files, as they're just files on a standard HFS+ partition...

[Waikiki]

I can get Parallels purchased by work, and SD will clone an entire HD w/ Parallels files, right?

[dnanian]

Yes, it will.

[arnaud]

Hello everyone, hello Dave.

I thought I had understood the thread -SD DOES NOT backup the Win partition, period ! - until the last 3 answers.
So I'm gonna ask two questions to clarify my mind if I may

#1 : My new MacBook has a "80"Gb drive; let's say I give 20 Gb for Windows, that leaves us with 60 for the mac partition. How large my backup drive has to be, to allow SD to work properly ?
(even though it won't backup the Win part) ?
Do I need a 80Gb or 60Gb external drive ?

#2 about Parallels vs BootCamp : I don't understand the last question and your last answer Dave.
Either way SD doesn't backup Windows, am I right ?

Thanks

[dnanian]

Your backup has to be large enough to hold the data from the volume you're backing up. In your example, it would need, at most, to be 60GB.

#2: Yes, we would back up a Parallels "Windows" drive, because it would be stored on a Mac volume as a file.

[arnaud]

Got that.

Thanks (as always) Dave !

[Brent]

Hi Dave,

First off thanks for fantastic software.

A little unrelated...

I plan to install Parallels to my Sandbox first and then install it on my Mac HD once I know its safe. Later, when I reclone my Mac HD using 'shared users and apps' - Parallels would remain on the Mac HD and get deleted from the Sandbox, right? (since this option doesn't copy user data or applications)

If so, what happens when I add software to run on the Windows OS in Parallels? I would like to first test windows software in the Sandbox to be safe but I would not be able to do that if Parallels was only on the Mac HD.

Is there a way for me to ensure Parallels remains in the Sandbox so that it can receive windows software from time to time? I am assuming that the Parallels file is where windows apps are stored.

Hope that makes sense. Struggling to get my head around it.

One more thing....is there any reason why it would be better for me to create a sandbox that was bigger than 15 gigs?

Thanks,

brent

[dnanian]

I'm a bit confused about what you're doing. If you install it on your Sandbox, then re-clone from Mac HD -> Sandbox, Parallels will be removed completely, unless you've installed it on Mac HD.

Software you install in Parallels is all inside Parallels' disk image, and isn't affected by the Sandbox at all. In fact, the Sandbox doesn't isolate anything about Parallels except for the application and its extensions, should you install it there.

Does that help?

[Brent]

Yes, I would eventually install Parallels to the HD. At some point I would reclone the HD and I realize that Parallels would then be removed from the Sandbox.

I also understand what you are saying about Sandbox not isolating anything but Parallels and its extensions.

I do not want to install windows apps directly to Parallels on my HD. I would rather keep Parallels installed on the Sandbox so that I could test the windows apps from there before moving them to the HD.

The thing I am concerned about is disk space. I have heard that the Parallels disk image can swell very quickly. So I would like to move apps to the HD from the Sandbox as soon as I am sure they are trouble free. Then I would like to reclone the HD from time to time to make save space.

I guess I will have to reload Parallels in the Sandbox every time I reclone so that it (Parallels) is ready to receive new windows apps.

Does that make any more sense?

Thanks