What if I already have a lot of data on the hard drive that I want to use for backup?
If your backup hard drive already has data on it that does not exist on the source volume, there are a few different approaches to protecting that data:
Add a new partition to the hard drive
If the hard drive is partitioned with the GPT partition scheme, you can use Disk Utility to resize existing volumes (those volumes must be formatted with a filesystem that supports resizing, such as HFS+) and to add new partitions. These actions can be done non-destructively, as long as the hard drive is partitioned with the GPT partition scheme.
Leverage CCC's "Protect root-level items on the target" feature
If your hard drive is partitioned and formatted correctly and does not already have a version of Mac OS X installed upon it, you can use that hard drive for back up without losing the existing contents. This subject is covered in the "Options to the Incremental backup of selected items method" section of the documentation.
Back up to a disk image
If you simply cannot reformat or repartition your backup hard drive, you can use CCC to back up your data to a disk image. This subject is covered in the " Backing up to a disk image" section of the documentation.
Back up to a folder
If you're backing up user data (e.g. not the OS), you can use CCC to back up your data to a subfolder on the target volume. This subject is covered in the "Clone to a subfolder on the target volume" section of the documentation.
PLEASE NOTE: We strongly recommend that you find the means to dedicate a volume to the task of backing up your irreplaceable data. If you have data on your backup volume that exists nowhere else, it is not backed up! Whenever you target a volume for use with Carbon Copy Cloner, there is a risk that some files will be removed for one legitimate reason or another. CCC offers options and warnings to protect your data from loss, but nothing can protect your data from a misuse of CCC or a misunderstanding of the functionality that it provides.
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