One thing I hate, hate, HATE, about Windows is when my system drive dies or becomes corrupted.  Totally out of luck when that happens.  Sure, I have backups and restores will get me back and going…hours later and with some (okay, more like a lot) stuff not totally working, but it’s better then no restore image at all, right?  Maybe.

When I first started using OS X back in the 10.1 days, I was so happy (okay, elated!) when I found out that I could easily backup the system and restore it just in minutes! I knew what I was doing, so I didn’t need the aid of some of the third-party software solutions out there (and there are some really good ones, too.) But, I did have a couple of issues that needed some tweaking to get it just right on my first restore when I sent out my PowerBook for repair (which came back with a blank hard drive.)

Interesting enough, did you know OS X comes with a backup feature that allows you to not only backup your entire hard drive but actually use it on another Mac as the primary drive?  So, if you have to send out your Mac for repair but have to still work as if you’re on your existing Mac, you can.  As long as you have another Mac around and an external hard drive.  Sweet, huh?

It all can be found in the Disk Utility application that comes with OS X.  The only “hard” part is overlooking Apple’s use of “Restore”.  We’re really backing up a drive, not restoring, but you know, if that’s what Apple wants to call it, fine.  Basically, you’ll be selecting your hard drive and then an external hard drive for the “restore” to go to.  Once that process is done, you can detach the external hard drive and connect it to your other Mac.  Have that Mac boot in Target mode (Apple + T at power on) and off you are!  Outside from the fact you may be working on a slower computer, you will be working on your computers data.

Once you need to restore (in the proper sense) your computer back, simply reverse the process in Disk Utility and reboot. Back you are with all the changes you may have made while using the image in Target Mode. Now, how nice is that?

While Microsoft continues to promise a powerful and a pleasurable user experience with Windows XP (and more so with Vista,) simple things like this is what actually qualifies an operating system to use those descriptives. When Apple claims that OS X is the most powerful operating system in the world, it’s a little more then just a marketing statement with this as its proof.

Tags: easy, backup, live, restore, entire system