Time Machine Backups Are Not Bootable

Speaking of backups and SuperDuper, here’s Shirt Pocket Software’s Dave Nanian on SuperDuper’s role in a post-Time Machine world:

Time Machine copies are not bootable until they’re restored.

In SuperDuper!, system recovery is done with a minimum of fuss and bother, and with respect for your time. Yes, Time Machine can restore a full system, but that’s not its strength. Doing so requires you to actually start up from the Leopard DVD (which you’ll need to have with you) and then take the time to restore the backup in full, which interrupts your workflow, requires a working, entirely separate destination device, and takes a lot of your time — at the exact moment when you can least afford it.

You can argue that, well, of course a guy from Shirt Pocket is going to argue that SuperDuper is still relevant. But he’s right. Time Machine does not create a bootable clone of your system, and in cases of catastrophic drive failure, a bootable clone is exactly the thing you need.

★ Thursday, 25 October 2007