10-01-2006, 12:33 AM
"Oh, right, a backup of the OS could take me back to where I was, but that would not have FIXED me. I would still have 1gb of free space."
Actually it WOULD have fixed you. Once you can safely boot you can easily tackle your space allocation mistakes, you'd be back to a state before the crash, and you'd have the luxury of solving the problem without the additional headache of a crashed computer. Easy peasy. Or the additional headache of having to endure common sense advice from fellow mac users who are baffled by your rare situation, unsympathetic about your unwillingness to back up, and unimpressed by your alleged 18 years of experience.
"...a backup of the OS could take me back to where I was..."
There's no reason to back up "the OS". The OS---except for updates---is already on a set of discs. Why back up what's already backed up?
You're in an unusual situation because you stored your Operating System on ONE partition, and your OTHER stuff on ANOTHER partition. On modern macs there's ZERO BENEFIT to doing this. Whoever told you to do that gave you bad advice.
By now I imagine you're considering dumping the crippling partition scheme.
Most experienced computer users here back up their whole volume. Now that HD space is not a problem, backing up the whole thing is much easier. The duplicate comes in handy for emergencies, large and small. Not just big data-ruining crashes-- which few of us ever have anymore--but for regular troubleshooting purposes.
Information aimed at preventing future problems is more useful than information aimed at solving short-term problems that sure to be repeated.
Actually it WOULD have fixed you. Once you can safely boot you can easily tackle your space allocation mistakes, you'd be back to a state before the crash, and you'd have the luxury of solving the problem without the additional headache of a crashed computer. Easy peasy. Or the additional headache of having to endure common sense advice from fellow mac users who are baffled by your rare situation, unsympathetic about your unwillingness to back up, and unimpressed by your alleged 18 years of experience.
"...a backup of the OS could take me back to where I was..."
There's no reason to back up "the OS". The OS---except for updates---is already on a set of discs. Why back up what's already backed up?
You're in an unusual situation because you stored your Operating System on ONE partition, and your OTHER stuff on ANOTHER partition. On modern macs there's ZERO BENEFIT to doing this. Whoever told you to do that gave you bad advice.
By now I imagine you're considering dumping the crippling partition scheme.
Most experienced computer users here back up their whole volume. Now that HD space is not a problem, backing up the whole thing is much easier. The duplicate comes in handy for emergencies, large and small. Not just big data-ruining crashes-- which few of us ever have anymore--but for regular troubleshooting purposes.
Information aimed at preventing future problems is more useful than information aimed at solving short-term problems that sure to be repeated.