Advice needed:HDD Cloning strategy questions

[Digitopian]

Ok, here is my situation.

My current internal system drive is reaching capacity and what I would like to do is add a 2nd Internal drive and clone the original drive's contents onto the new drive for permanent use as the primary system drive. This would allow me to wipe the original drive and use it for other purposes such as a streaming audio drive for VI's or for use as a place to store future backups of PT sessions, or perhaps disk images. From the research I've done so far it seems that the superDuper cloning app may be my best bet as I am hoping to retain my non I-Lok plugin authorizations on the newly cloned drive. Does this strategy make sense? I have very little experience with cloning drives.

Any thoughts on this are very welcome. If there is a better way to go, or if there is a better cloning app, then this information would be great to have. This operation has to go right the first time as I cannot afford any down time and really would like to avoid a fresh install of everything if at all possible.
Thanks in advance,
Ethan

[Avid]

This operation has to go right the first time as I cannot afford any down time

Take the time to try what you propose above. Then reboot a few times and test your apps and auths. When you boot off of the new drive, unmount the original drive (or remove it from the Mac Pro entirely) so that you can be sure that everything you need is being recognized off of the new drive.

Once you have established that everything is working correctly, then you can wipe the original drive. But you may find that it doesn't, in which case you may have to try the whole process of cloning more than once. Just commenting on your statement that it has to go right the first time. Give yourself some time to test and even redo, and hold off on wiping that drive.

[Obsidian Dragon]

I used the free utility Carbon Copy Cloner from OWC. It works like you want. I cloned a drive and it works fine. Go to www.macsales.com

[Digitopian]

Thanks digidesign, I will definitely hold off on wiping the original drive. Are there any specific things that tend not to work correctly that I can check first?

Obsidian Dragon,

Does CCC retain non I-lok plugin authorizations? the main reason that i was thinking about SuperDuper is that i've read that it tends to be a better bet regarding these types of plugin authorizations.

Thanks Guys!

Anything else that I should be aware of?

[Avid]

I also have used Carbon Copy Cloner many times successfully. Here's their website:
www.bombich.com

But while I haven't used it, I have seen many DUC posts recommending SuperDuper over CCC, but I can't say personally.

For my last cloning, I used Drive Genius 2, which came at a discount with a hard drive and enclosure I got from OWC. The one feature that Drive Genius has that found useful besides duplication was the ability to resize drive partitions and add partitions without erasing the drive. Something that the Mac OS X Disk Utility does not do.

[Avid]

Does CCC retain non I-lok plugin authorizations?

I don't know, not something I've personally tested with all scenarios or plugs.

the main reason that i was thinking about SuperDuper is that i've read that it tends to be a better bet regarding these types of plugin authorizations.

I think there are posts here on the DUC that reinforce that. Try a search for SuperDuper and you should find some threads on that.

[Obsidian Dragon]

Originally Posted by Digitopian

Does CCC retain non I-lok plugin authorizations? the main reason that i was thinking about SuperDuper is that i've read that it tends to be a better bet regarding these types of plugin authorizations.

I'm going to have to let someone else respond to that as I am currently only using the built-in plugins with Protools 8.0.3. I've been hesitant to load up my NI Komplete due to so many people complaining about NI products. I also have Autotune, EZ Drummer, and NI Band Stand sitting in the drawer. I've just been so happy with VI's that comes with Protools already. YMMV.

[Digitopian]

Originally Posted by Digidesign

I think there are posts here on the DUC that reinforce that. Try a search for SuperDuper and you should find some threads on that.

These posts are what i am basing my findings on. I suppose that if the worst case scenario of going through with this strategy is that i may have to re-authorize a few plugs then I can live with that.

Are there any other potential issues/ scenarios that I should be aware of?

Out of curiosity, is there a different approach that may work better or have other benefits in the long run? I do intend on installing snow leopard at some point and have heard conflicting reports regarding doing a fresh install vs. upgrade.

I apologize for all the questions but I would like to have a solid plan of attack. I am thinking that I would definitely do the snow leopard upgrade further down the road and as a completely separate step. Does this make sense? Perhaps Install SL on the newly reformatted drive once the clone drive has proven to be a completely usable system drive.....

Regards,
Ethan

[The Dougfather]

+1 for CCC.

Great app, used it on countless macs with no problems.

[Digitopian]

Originally Posted by The Dougfather

+1 for CCC.

Great app, used it on countless macs with no problems.

Any experience with CCC and retaining non I-lok plug authorizations Dougfather?