backup

Acronis True Image 2017

Newegg has the Acronis True Image 2017 backup program on sale for $9.99 after a $30 mail-in rebate. See here. It is for one device, and works for a Mac, PC, or iOS device. 

I've used Acronis to backup my PC for a long time, and it seems to work well (in theory, anyway), because, thankfully, I've never had to use it to recover from a failed disk. I've not used Acronis on a Mac, but I'm sure it would work just fine, as Acronis has a good reputation.

Just FYI, be aware that probably next month Acronis will come out with their 2018 edition. This won't negate the effectiveness of the 2017 version. Whether you use Acronis or another backup program, I highly recommend that you do a clone or image of your hard drive just in case you might have a hard drive failure.

Is this likely? No. Is a fire on your house likely? No, but you carry insurance just in case, don't you? That's why I'm a big believer in a full, bootable backup for my hard drive. If your hard drive failed, could you easily live with this, or would this cause you considerable anguish.

Jim Hamm

Back Up Your Mac

If you have a Mac you probably use Time Machine, which is great to recover a lost file or so. But what if your storage drive (HDD or SSD) failed, which is rare, but can happen. Could you then recover everything you've lost? You could if you've done a clone of your drive to an external drive. 

This is a simple process, and external drives are quite reasonable in cost nowadays. There are many programs available to clone your Mac, and here is an article comparing the different options. I've used Super Duper for years, and thankfully have never had to test it. If, say, the drive in my Mac should fail, I would replace it (an SSD), then plug my external drive in and reload everything I had previously on the drive -- OS and everything! I'm up and running again.

You hear the terms clone and image when referring to backups. What's the difference, you might ask? Well, you probably don't even care, but if curiosity prevails, read on.  Here is an article that describes the difference in the two processes. 

The important thing in all this is to have a bootable clone of your hard drive. If catastrophy should strike, you can quickly recover.

Jim Hamm 

World Backup Day

 April 1st was "World Backup Day". The website says something like 'don't be an April Fool, no way, backup today'. Regardless of the day, I'm a big fan of backing up your electronic device, whatever it is. Here is an excellent article, from iMore, with tutorials on how to backup all your Apple devices. 

You'd hate to lose, for example, all those pictures you've taken of your travels, family and friends. Backing up is simple, and is relatively inexpensive. For my Mac I use the program 'Super Duper' and an external hard drive. This does a full clone of everything on my hard drive, including the underlying OS. If a disaster should happen to the Mac's hard drive, after it was replaced, I would be able to boot from the external drive and reload everything I had on the drive.

The iMore backup guide is a good one, so I suggest you take a bit of time and read the tips -- and most importantly, do a backup.

Jim Hamm

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Might Want to Delete Old iCloud Backups

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       "If you'd want to delete old iCloud backups to free up more storage space on your iPhone or iPad, take a read on this article," Jim Hamm informs us.  
        "Looking at my iPhone 6 I saw that 462 MB of data was stored there from my old iPhone 5. I didn't really need that backup anymore, so I could have freed up this storage space if I'd needed/wanted to. 
        Jim Hamm goes on to say, "Also, as you scroll down the list of apps you have on your device you can stop any of them from being included in future iCloud updates, should you want to. Since I have plenty of storage space available I let them all continue to be included in future updates. But this is good to remember if, in the future, I start running tight on iCloud storage space."
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Unclutter -- Get Organized -- Backup

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        “I’m going to get organized!”  Have you said this lately?  Well, Mac will help you.  It takes just a few simple steps to save and place things where you want them on your computer.  It might be handy to have several titles for that one same writing.  Do Command + D for duplicate and put it both places. 
Have you noticed that when you go to Finder (Smiley man face on the dock)  that under the heading of File in that top menu bar you can choose New Finder Window.  Click there to bring up an identical Finder Window.  Now you can have both copies open and go from one item or one column to another without losing view of the one you’re going to rearrange. 
I’ve been writing stories, short articles, and poems for a long time.  And Mac has made it easier to compose, print, and save these writings.  Now I had the bright idea to copy the writings to a thumb drive as a backup copy for our son Robert to keep at his house.  
The price was right for a Kingston USB 2.0, so we bought both a 16 GB and a 32 GB.  These are the plain, metal things that are narrow enough to fit into the slot on the side of the MacBook Pro, not those cutsey things at the office supply store that appeal to kids. 
But how much space do we need?  Go to the Finder and click to bring up what you’ve filed there.  Click on the folder in question, but don’t open it.  (Click on the screen shot to enlarge, then click to go back to this page.) 

Now, go to Command + i and up comes an information box with space for Spotlight Comments — those will be key words or phrases that you choose to help you find this later.  
        Under General you see the size of all that’s inside the folder in question.  Here it’s 202,586 bytes which is 209 KB on disk.  You see when you created that folder of stuff and when it was last modified.  At the bottom you see where to click to bring up the info on Sharing & Permissions that you’ve allowed for it. 
       Of course you remember how to convert bytes to useful measurement of some kind?  Me, neither.  I did find an interesting article on how to compare this to that, but where did I file it? 
To unclutter the desk top I started a file called Today News.  Unfortunately for me, it has odds and ends from the last week.  Now, what did I name the article I’d saved?  Relax.  I open Today News and click on the second View where I can make it show the items in the order of Date Modified.  
        Here it is: http://www.convertunits.com/from/MB/to/GB   It can convert other units, gives definitions, metric conversions and more.  On the left side at the top are 6 light green boxes with impossible-to-read lettering.  I expanded the page view to finally bring up the words Computer Data Storage, Metric System, Date Calculator, Salary Calculator, Molecular Weight, and Discussion Forum.  You do remember you can enlarge the page view by doing Command and +  (plus) a few times on the page.  To shrink it back do Command and -  (minus) until you like the looks of the page.  

Seagate Surprises

It seemed like a logical choice for an external backup.  Seagate Backup Plus with 1 T. memory was at CostCo for a good price.  Bought it, and planned to get at it much sooner than I did.  Little did I know that some Seagate Surprises were waiting for me.
Time Machine seems to be happy with the FreeAgent Drive with 500 GB doing its automatic backups.  And those little Thumb Drives are so easy to use for copying documents and folders from my computer to the iMac.  But, what about saving a lot of stuff for our boys, so they’d have access to it on their PCs? 
The Seagate Backup Plus came with a tiny 8-page folder giving minimum instructions.  How difficult could that be?
Now, the challenge was to convert a series of writings I’d started out in Word for Mac 2011, then I’d changed into Pages ’09 for my own convenience.
Doing Command + I  (i) brought up a little column that showed kind, size, where it was, keywords. I could click on Open With and make changes. So, at that time I did Open With Pages and clicked Change All where it says, “Use this application to open all documents like this one.” 
  However, our sons still are each using a PC computer!  
Now, with the new, skinny Seagate Plus here on my desk I could easily — I thought — save both the Word and the Pages versions of the articles, stories, and poems I’d written.
Several hours later after dragging folders to the little Seagate icon I realized I should try this out with someone with a PC.  That would be a friendly neighbor gal. I watched.  My folders did come up on her screen. Only problem was her PC did not want to let her eject the Seagate.  She phoned a PC tech she knew who advised her to just turn off her computer and then unplug Seagate.  Seemed like that was the solution. 
But, here came the biggest surprise.

          I clicked to see what it was, and saw info from a company named Paragon Software Group that now had set up territory on my computer.

  There was NO mention in the Seagate tiny pictorial Quick Start Guide that I would want or need a program or connection with Paragon Software Group.  Clicking on Manual brought up a 24-page illustrated manual.  
         Later, looking for something else on System Preferences it brought up an unexpected icon in the list under the category Other.  Their website is www.paragon-software.com  Email is sales@paragon-software.com 

Not knowing what I had done or what needed doing, I emailed our PMUG officers for suggestions. John Carter was the only person who had time to make some comments. We may work further on this later.  This IS a busy week. 
       Let’s take a quick look back at settings that allow others to use your computer camera, microphone, storage, cookies, etc.  Look at Adobe’s page settings, starting at the column Flash Player Help on the right side of this page http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/help02.html  and clicking to look at each category.  Privacy, storage, security, notifications, website privacy, website storage, protected content playback, peer-assisted networking panel.  Then go to Table of Contents to get other pertinent information, including how to update Adobe Flash Player.  

        So, it’s an on-going process . . . Doing . . . Learning . . . Doing . . . Learning.  Just when you know it all they upgrade this program or that device!  More Doing. . . Learning. . . Doing!
      This was today's handout at the April 19 PMUG meeting at the Prescott Public Library,   by Elaine Hardt.  


Backup? When? How?

        A query from Bobbie Pastor opened the conversation.  Ward Stanke advises, "Drives die. Western Digital is generally better than Seagate, Toshiba seems to be better than WD.

        "Here's a blog post from Backblaze that talks about their experiences with consumer grade hard drives (like you or I would buy from Costco or Best Buy)."
        And Ward concludes with, "Backblaze runs a profitable cloud storage service using theses drives and has accumulated quite a bit of data concerning reliability, primarily on Seagate, WD and some on Toshiba."  
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Malware Locks Your File, Unless You Pay Ransom

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        Startling new information comes to light in this article from Today Money, dated today.  A new, nasty piece of malicious software, CryptoLocker,  is infecting computers around the world — encrypting important files, even your photos —and demanding a ransom to unlock them.  It says a typical extortion payment is $300.  One business received an email attachment that looked like a shipping invoice from U.S. Postal Service. 
        Anti-virus software can not undo the damage, according to the NBC news writer.  Backing up is the only way to reduce the risk of losing your files forever, however he also warns your backup device should be disconnected from your computer until the next time you need to access it.  The article gives more details.  

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Backing Up With Time Machine

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         John Carter sends this info, "I recently experienced that Time Machine on my computer would not delete an older backup to make room for a newer backup, and consequently the backups continued to fail with a message that there wasn't enough room for the new backup. I talked at length with Apple Support about this and we came up with no solution. I simply purchased a much larger backup drive and started over again. It may take months now before the new drive gets full.

        "What I suspect was the problem was that my computer needs a backup drive that is more than twice as large as the total space USED in my computer. Since I'm using a little over 1TB that I want to back up, my new 3TB backup drive should now be more than adequate to handle two complete backups plus any additional incremental backups."
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Are You Checking Time Machine?

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          "If you're using a Mac, chances are you're using Time Machine. It's nice that Apple provides a backup system that's easy to use. However, have you checked that Time Machine is really backing up? No? Well, I haven't either. Here's a Blog from a guy that didn't check either.

        "Now might be a good time to verify that Time Machine is working correctly. What a pain it would be not to be able to recover -- in case of a hard drive failure -- all that important 'stuff' you've saved over the years."  
        And this is the little nudge from Jim Hamm that we probably all need!  
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You ARE Backing Up, Right?

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Just like a mother, I am smiling while I am reminding you.  Call it nagging, yes?  

Others have said it, you’ve made a commitment to yourself to do it.  So? You are backing up? Time Machine gave me an unexpected notification this week.  I’d never seen such a message before.  And it didn’t explain !  (Click on the screen shot to enlarge it.) 

        Nothing that came to mind to solve this new puzzle.  What did it mean?  The Time Machine message box did not identify which files it could not copy. There was nothing I had done recently to mess with the settings. But clicking on the tiny icon at the top of the screen showed the last back up to be last night at 8:30 pm.  What had I done then? Has some mean old hacker messed with my dear, trustworthy computer?   Taking a break to make lunch, the back of my mind was busily reconstructing the various websites I’d viewed, the changes I’d made on some recent writing, even the emails I’d received.  Finally, an idea.   I’ve been working on a new project to convert some of my stories and poems into an e-book.  I’d never done it before.  And, as of today it’s not yet complete.   On the e-book formatting following the guidelines:  https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/help?topicId=A17W8UM0MMSQX6  I’d gotten down to Saving as Filtered HTML.  I clicked to let Microsoft Word 2011 do that job.  A folder was created, and looking at that folder’s content pages didn’t look familiar at all.   Oh, well.  Surely it knows what it’s doing.  But it was HTML.  Could that be what is “read-only” that my Time Machine could not back up? Bravely, I dragged my e-book writing folder to a thumb drive.  Bravely, I then dragged the original folder on the desktop to Trash !  Now, I shut down the computer with a prayer that I hadn’t messed up. Within minutes, I started up the computer again and saw that the FreeAgent Drive sitting behind the computer screen WAS lit up, like it’s supposed to be. I gave it a little time to …..hopefully !  Now, what does the little icon at the top of the screen say?  YES !  It had backed up.  It was behaving !  Stuff was saved.  There are 261 entries for How To  listed here at the PMUG newsblog and 13 are under the heading of Back Up, and they date from 9-10-09 to 2-24-13.   Scan through and see which device and which system you have.  Find what applies to your setup.  You’ll remember that CDs and DVDs can degrade over time and might get scratched. What kind of backup would save your valuable data?   You give it some thought. Then, back it up with a smile.

 
Might Consider Doing an E-book?

Reading a book on an iPad, Kindle, Nook, etc will become a popular thing.  An e-book can be free, at a low price, or varying prices.  You can claim all rights so that the reader cannot share it.  On Amazon publishing is free, and you can specify the price you want.  You could get 35% royalty or you could set it up to get 70% royalty.  You’d read all the legal disclaimers to protect your writing.     Even if you do not envision writing a best-seller for which film makers would offer you a handsome price you could write something that your family and friends would be interested in reading. I’ve not found where it tells how long your e-book will be available to prospective readers.  I need to do the submit and review process before the deal will be finalized.  (There’s more to learn ! )           Here are several helpful sites to research: 

Here’s a publishing guide on-line that is free, the book is $5.99 paperback. 

 
Other Interesting Info 

Here’s an acronym list:  astronomy, atmospheric research, business, chatting, chemistry, medical, NASA, SCUBA diving, government, army official and slang, and more.

 
What Are You Doing, These Days?

        Using some new Apple device?  Learning more on your Mac computer?  Got any suggestions for your friends at PMUG?  Found any interesting info on the Internet that you’d like to comment on?    Have you subscribed to NetNewsWire?  You will then be notified when there’s something new posted to the PMUG site www.pmug.us.          Keep in touch and keep smiling ! This is today's handout at PMUG from Elaine Hardt 

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How to Update to iOS 6

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        John Carter gives directions, "iOS 6.1.2 update is available. How should you proceed? This notice is going out to a large group of people, and you may get this notice more than once. If you do not own an iOS device, you may disregard this notice.

        "First, how often do you perform a backup of your iOS device (iPod Touch, iPad, iPhone)? Did you know that you can backup your iOS device either by connecting it directly to your computer, or by Wi-Fi if you have the option set in iTunes to do a sync with the device over Wi-Fi? For the iPhone and iPod Touch, you can also set an option to automatically sync the device when the device is connected to the computer (this option is not available for the iPad)."
        Here's John's next suggestion, "Backing up an iOS device can be done to either a Cloud storage or to your computer using iTunes. Most devices can exceed the free 5GB storage of any Cloud storage, so it's probably best to backup to your computer."
        And, now for a caution, "Also, before doing a backup or an update, do an update of iTunes, sync your device, and then perform a backup followed by the update. You should also then perform another backup after the update is complete. The before update is necessary in case something goes wrong with the update process and you need to restore and start over again.
        "When you connect your iOS device to your computer, iTunes may automatically start up. If it doesn't, you'll have to manually start iTunes. When iTunes starts, you may get a notice that an update for the device is available. If you haven't done a device backup since the last time you made any changes to the content of the device, you should cancel the update, perform a sync, then perform a backup, and then do the update followed by another backup".
        Pay attention to John's warning, "If you find that when doing an update using iTunes that the downloaded file is corrupt (the update is approximately 1GB, and a file this large may not be properly handled), rather than perform the update using iTunes, try the update from the device itself (Settings -> General -> Software Update). One setting in 'Disk Utility' may be the culprit of a corrupt download. That setting is 'Verify Checksums' (open Disk Utility -> Preferences and uncheck that option). 
        "Even with this option unchecked, the large file might still be corrupt. Another possible cause of a corrupt download is some firewall setting in the Internet modem (unproven). If that happens, then it is really necessary to perform the update from the device itself. To do that, disconnect the device from the computer, power-cycle the device, and then go into Settings -> General -> Software Update. You may even find that the download goes much faster when updating from the device."
        Now, a call for patience!  John says, "In all, it may take several minutes to do all these steps, so your patience is necessary.
        "Following this procedure will ensure that your device will be updated properly and your content will not be lost."
        And, in closing John reviews it: 
  1. Update iTunes.
  2. Sync your device to iTunes.
  3. Backup your device.
  4. Perform the update either from iTunes or from the device.
  5. Backup your device again.      (Got it? Thanks to John Carter!) 
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Upgrade Fever?

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        Can I upgrade to Lion and still keep my old, familiar, and useful Snow Leopard?  You'll find complete directions here, but with a warning.  If not done correctly you could lose all your data, everything on your computer!  Aaaak!  Read here for the info.
        Another nifty announcement on that same site:  Read about Random Hacks of Kindness (RHoK) events scheduled for June 2 & 3.  "Hack for humanity" is their slogan,  it's FREE, and being held at Burlington, VT.
        So, PMUG readers, anyone want to pass on info on any recent upgrades?

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Be Prepared!

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        Not just a Scout motto, but a good reminder to all of us, “Be Prepared.” Our main consideration today is be prepared by backing up what’s on your computer. Hopefully you’ve got an exterior drive that’s lit up, doing its job with Time Machine, as you’re writing on your computer. So what happens when the unexpected happens? What about an electric surge or malfunction of the transformer out there in the alley?
        Surge protector strips might help. How about an APC Back-UPS device? Or, better yet, a whole-house surge protector from APS?
        We experienced a problem just last week with the alley transformer. Four neighbors were also affected. Interesting what got fried and what didn’t. Good-bye to my dishwasher, microwave, fluorescent light in the laundry room, 3 radios, the doorbell, and a couple of surge protector strips. Thankfully, not hurt were the computers, printers, TV, and washer and dryer.
        SOS to some knowledgeable guys from PMUG. “Would an additional backup device that’s only plugged in once a day to use, then unplugged, be a good idea?” was my query.
        John Carter emailed, “For my iMac, I have a 500GB USB powered hard drive that is solely dedicated to being a fairly recent clone of my internal hard drive, and once I update the clone, it is put away in the closet. I only update it once every few months. I also have Time Machine backing up to a 1TB hard drive. If I should lose my internal drive — or the entire computer — I can boot up off the clone and restore from the Time Machine. I also have another 500GB USB powered hard drive that I back up my personal files to. This one gets updated fairly often and then is unplugged and put aside. Now, I have two machines, an iMac and a MacBook Pro, and they are pretty much a clone of each other. The MacBook Pro has its own Time Machine hard drive. So if one goes down, the other is brought up to date from the backup of the down machine and I’m no worse for wear. And since both machines have the same operating system and complete set of applications, I only need one bootable clone for both machines.
        "Industry standard backup methods is to have one set of full backups onsite and another duplicate set of backups offsite. The onsite backups are incremental every day and the offsite backups are full backups once a week. The weekly backups are rotated every four weeks so that only four devices are needed for the weekly backups. One device is used for the daily incremental backups. These daily backups are accumulated on that one device until the end of the week when it becomes the full weekly backup. A duplicate is made of it and sent offsite. Every fourth week one of the weekly backups comes back from offsite and becomes the next daily incremental backup device. Once a year, or as often as the company’s policy dictates, the backup devices are replaced with new ones.”
        John summarized, “You can never have too many backups. Choose what is critical to you and be very paranoid about it.”
        Jim Hamm wrote, “I recently purchased a small external drive from Amazon, a Buffalo Technology MiniStation Stealth 500 GB USB 2.0 portable external Hard Drive HD-PCT500U2/B (black). It is very small, quiet and only $50. I’m quite pleased with it and would buy another one.”
        David Passell went into detail, “I bought two My 500GB Passports about two (or three) weeks ago from Best Buy. One was specifically for Mac, the other for PC. I set up/partitioned my Passport for Mac as a clone for the Mac HD;  I purchased the fully featured SuperDuper. The internal Mac HD was 120GB and was getting limited in free space. I created a sandbox, in a much smaller partition, on the passport from which I always start. I also have some items I save on a partition that is just "passport.” It works very well. if I disconnect it (while the Mac is off), the Mac will restart from its internal HD. When starting/restarting, hold down the OPTion key and select the drive or sandbox to start from. The System Preferences startup disk does not work.
        "As for the PC Passport, I connected it to a Windows 7 Dell. it backed up the machine two ways. (1) I used the 'smart' software that came with the Passport and found it only backed up Data. I used the backup software that is part of Windows and it backed up (I think) the whole computer. I am really not very familiar with Windows and have difficulty telling where anything is, or what is running.
        "As for writing to the PC Passport if I plug it into the Mac: I obtained Mac Fuse and NFTS 3G. That combination of 'other' system preferences allows transparent writing to the disk. Before installing those, I could only read from an NFTS-formatted drive. Formatting a drive to NTFS is another matter. It appears more involved. Several forums simply say find somebody with a Windows machine.
        "I bought a Seagate Free Agent several weeks ago. It had a lot of movie promotional material on it; one movie I could watch free, and about 150GB of movies I would have to 'subscribe' to. It seemed clunky and I returned it.
        "I purchased a WD My Book 3TB drive hoping to replace the 500GB that I have been using since 2008 for Time Machine. It was PC formatted but I repartitioned it for Mac OS extended Journaled it to use for Time Machine and other things. It was totally unsuitable. It would not automatically mount on Mac turnon. I reformatted it (on a PC) to NTFS, restored the software that was on it, and returned it for credit."
        David’s recommendation: “As far as power surges are concerned, I strongly recommend putting a UPS (I've been using an APC for years) between your equipment and your power lines. I also installed a power surge protector right inside the main breaker box (keep one hand behind your back and wear rubber soled sneakers when you do this :).  I also have a UPS between the power line and my VCRs and DVD recorder. That way recordings and timer settings are seldom lost except for very extended outages.   
        Jim wrote again to emphasize, “The most important thing about backing up is to do it. Another aspect that's important—and which I just recently did—is to have a bootable backup clone. A couple of programs to do this, and which are mentioned often in blogs, are Super Duper and Carbon Copy Cloner.”
        Don got us started now, buying two APC Battery Backup units that each handle 6 outlets. But, that’s just the start, so the project continues . . .
        Review the basics: A 5 minute video about Time Machine http://www.cultofmac.com/82299/how-to-easily-back-up-your-mac-with-time-machine-video-how-to/
        A helpful article from Macworld on what and how to backup. http://www.macworld.com/article/156601/2011/01/what_how_backup.html
        So, what do you think, and how can YOU be prepared? Are you backing up? Are your backups secure?
        See you at Saturday's PMUG meeting!

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Time Machine Isn't Permanent, Either

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        Thanks to David Passell for the following important info.
        "Time machine is a very good program for going back if something goes wrong, but don’t use it as a backup for things you might want to go back to in the present. If you open Time Machine preferences you will note the last line, 'The oldest backups are deleted when your disk gets full.'
        "The nasty thing about it is that you get the warning after it has happened. (A clue is when menu icon turns for a long time). Then you open Time Machine and find out nothing but the last month or less is still backed up. If you think you can go back to that choice picture/article/etc. you deleted to save space, you are out of luck.
        "I have had it happen to me more than once. The following conditions may cause this to happen:
      • Forgetting to exclude Parallels virtual machines.
      • Connecting a new disk drive and putting a clone of your system or a sandbox on it.
      • Creating or downloading a large video or program file (Lion upgraders take notice).
It is probably a good idea to turn off Time Machine before doing a large download or any operation that may cause a backup of it all to occur. Before starting Time Machine again go to Options and exclude the new drives."
         At this point David offers his closing comment, "One last thing about Time Machine: I am considering purchase of a larger drive to replace the 500 GB drive I have been using since 2008. (I lost those early time machine records long ago). However, I have seen no instruction on transferring an existing Time Machine to a new drive to preserve the old ones and continue with new. Could I clone the Time Machine to a partition in the new drive, and then select the partition in the new drive as 'Use for Time Machine'?"

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Compare SuperDuper and CarbonCopyCloner

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        It's important to backup what you've got on your computer.  But what's the best way?  John Carter compares two programs.  "What’s the difference between SuperDuper! (SD) and CarbonCopyCloner (CCC)?
        "In a word, money. But there is more.
        "Either SD or CCC are okay for cloning the entire internal hard drive to an external hard drive for saving a full backup for emergencies. Such a clone can be booted from, and you can restore your internal drive from that clone up to the point that the clone was created. I suspect that SD is winning out over CCC for cloning. However, you can’t use all the features of SD without purchasing it.
        "A major functional difference between SD and CCC is that SD always does a full erase of the target disk and CCC never does a full erase of the target disk. Making a clone with CCC requires that you first use Disk Utility to format the target drive. After the clone is created, you really should be using CCC to keep your clone updated if you’re not using Time Machine.
        "Another difference is that SD will clone either the entire source or just  /Users on the source. With CCC you can select the files and folders you want to backup, and this is most helpful for performing incremental backups.
     (Click on each illustration to enlarge.)

 "Setting up the options for either one doesn’t give you any warm feeling that you will have a bootable copy when it’s done, but my recent experience with SD is that after you click on Copy it gives you a laundry list of things it will do and it includes a notice that it will set the target disk to be bootable. CCC just tells you its done. If you started with a properly formatted drive (one partition, Mac OS journaled), you won’t have any problems booting from it if all the system files are on the drive.
        "Be aware that booting from a USB drive and launching applications from same is painfully slow."

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Prevent a Hard Drive Catastrophe (updated 8/26/2015)

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John Carter to the rescue!  This article on protecting your Mac against a catastrophic hard drive failure is still worth looking at. John refers to Macworld Hints as "THE place to look for tips and techniques about the Mac. However, you can spend a whole lot of time filtering through the thousands of submitted articles and comments to get a concise answer for your question. You might find just what you’re looking for or you might feel like you’re wasting your time. "For example, I did a search for 'time machine backup' (using the advanced search and searching titles only) and got 516 hits, the first 14 were comments and the rest were hints about different aspects of using Time Machine in connection with backups." John advises, "One of the best hints is 'Make a Bootable Backup.'  This is one way to protect yourself against a catastrophic hard drive failure, but it doesn’t give you the option to boot up from an external hard drive and continue using the Time Machine disk for backups." So, read how to do it, and then do it.  It's easy and it's logical.

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Access Your Documents

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This site is recommended to us by Jim Hamm.  He writes, "Now you can access items in your Dropbox account from an iPhone, iPod and iPad, as well as your Mac. This could be very handy if, say, you're out and about and not near your computer. Just use your mobile device to log into your account on Dropbox (you'll need to create one with a password), then you can access that document you want to look at."