[X4U] synchronizing to an ibook

[Philip J Robar]

On Apr 8, 2006, at 9:49 AM, Michel Eytan wrote:

> I own a G4/450 AGP and an iBook/800. I want to use the iBook as a  
> backup for
> my G4. I know how to set it up as a slave (cmd-t to start it up from a
> Firewire connection) and then use a soft (Personal Backup) to  
> synchronize.
> However I cannot simply clone the G4 since the two systems must differ
> somehow (not the same ROMs and anyway Apple prohibits this).

Not sure what you mean by "Apple prohibits this" (unless you mean you  
only have one license for the version of OS X installed on the AGP),  
but I would expect a clone of your AGP to work on the iBook. OS X  
installs are not platform specific - other than new point releases to  
support new hardware. And those will also work on any older machine.

Where you're going to run into trouble if you use both machines,  
rather than the iBook just being a static backup, is deciding which  
machine should be the master - and then hoping that the differences  
that grow between the machines as you use them is reconcilable by  
your backup software. Personally, if I understand what you're trying  
to do, I think you're asking for trouble and fairly soon.

Since I'm not completely sure what you're trying to accomplish here  
(It doesn't help that I've been up all night.), I can't help but ask  
why you don't just get an external drive (Fry's has an external 160  
GB for $70 and you can find similar deals at the various deal sites.)  
and use it as a backup target for both. Just clone each to their own  
image or create a folder for each and back up individual stuff to the  
appropriate place.

> So what *exactly* should I exclude from the backup once the iBook  
> is in slave
> mode? All of my Library folder?; less?; more? Also can I after that  
> install
> Tiger to the iBook by an Archive & Install option? Thank you.

Given my lack of sleep I'm going to leave this to someone else to  
decipher.


Phil
--
"We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. When the loyal  
opposition dies, I think the soul of America dies with it."
  -- Edward R. Murrow