Backing up selected files onto an external hard drive
Hi,
I have partitioned an external hard drive in order to use it for both Time Machine as well as selected files. Is there a way to move over all data/documents/libraries as a whole rather than document by document? I thought that if you clicked on the user in the side bar, and dragged it onto the hard drive that would back up everything, but I can't seem to do that. I am beginning to use a new MBP and I want to only bring over select files and leave the rest on the external hard drive.
Thanks for any help!
Time Machine is a pretty sophisticated backup system - it will start by backing up your whole computer, and then it will do what is called an "incremental" backup every hour or so. That incremental backup will take a copy of every file that has changed since it previously backed up. So it will be fairly efficient with space usage, and it will allow you to recover files at many different points if you have a problem - for instance, you will be able to restore a document from earlier that day, from the day before, or even further back if it existed then.
Apart from an offsite backup, I rely on TimeMachine for all my backups, because the big advantage is that it works in the background and backs up often. The approach you seem to be considering is entirely manual, and therefore likely to be much less often.
You can definitely restore individual files with Time Machine. It has the benefit that you can also restore an entire computer if you need to, but that is not the only thing it does. You may wish to browse Pondini's excellent Time Machine website to acquaint yourself more with its features.
http://pondini.org/OSX/Home.html
In answer to your question, yes, your important files are generally in your home folder. However, if you only back up the home folder, and your MBP has a disk failure, you will have to reinstall it from scratch, add all your applications, download all the updates again, and then copy in files from your backup. There may be issues associated with preference files and application versions, because you will be copying back preference files from your home folder but possibly installing later versions of applications. If you already have the disk available, I don't recommend this approach. I don't understand why the Genius Bar has put you off but then I am not privy to the whole conversation.
Hope that helps.
Ivan
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The auto-backup is the database only, not the media.
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Back up your Project Library and events using the Finder
To create a single backup copy of your Project Library and events, you can copy the Final Cut Projects folder and Final Cut Events folder to an external storage device.
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Backing up all files to an external hard drive
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http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1427
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I would also suggest you get a 2nd, much larger hard drive, partition it if desired, move your data to it, and start a 2nd Time Machine backup on it. You can set Time Machine to alternate between the 2 drives by adding the new drive to System Preferences/Time Machine. If you want to make a copy of your current backup on the new drive, you can do that using the Disk Utility Restore tab. If you chose to do that, make the copy first since using the Restore tab erases all data on the drive or the partition.
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Back-up / Retrieve Files from an external hard drive that doesn't appear in Devices
Someone please help!
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(PLEASE SCROLL 13 ROWS DOWN)
Verify and Repair volume “Your Hard Drive Name”
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Volume repair complete.Updating boot support partitions for the volume as required.Error: Disk Utility can’t repair this disk. Back up as many of your files as possible, reformat the disk, and restore your backed-up files.
Ok. I would really love to reformat this disk, but I have stuff on here from film school that I CAN NOT lose
Question:
How would I go about backing-up the disk if the image doesn't appear under devices? I went to the "Restore" tab/button, but I can not choose the hard drive in the first field. I could have sworn my hard drive was formatted for Mac, but I may have formatted it back to FAT32. I know the disk still functions because when it is powered on, it cycles with/without being connected to my MacPro, but after that, it will only cycle if connected (confirming connection). It does run again when I connect the firewire cable. Here is my equipment:
8-Core MacPro 16GB-Mem RAID
MacOSX 10.6.8 | 2 X 1TB Internal HDD
Aug-2008 15" MacBookPro
(That I used the Maxtor-External with mostly)
DEVICE IN QUESTION
500GB Maxtor One-Touch Plus
FireWire 400 6-pin Connection Bus (2 Ports)
Purchased in Early 2008 from Staples
I can fit the back-up on my 2nd HDD in my MacPro or in my other External:
2 TB G-Technology G-RAID External
1 x eSATA | 2 x FireWire 800 9-pin | 1 x USB 2.0
Self Powered DC-IN
I have had a nightmare searching for answers, so any options you might have would be tremendously helpful. I can't lose the data because I have everything I did during film school on there. That stuff is basically what you pay for when you go to film school, you pay to show what you can do and what equipment you have used. SAVE ME FELLOW APPLE PEOPLE!!!! We COMMAND, as well as CONTROL!
-RaphSaiGet Disk Warrior that will repair the problems without requiring that you reformat the drive - $99.00 on a bootable CD. Will not work on a FAT formatted drive.
You will need to use Drag and Drop to save your files by copying them from the bad drive to a good one.
To reprep the drive:
Drive Preparation
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Security button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size. -
When I try to drag files into my hard drive, it says the Finder can't complete the operation because some data can't be read or written (Error Code -36). This is happening even when dragging files back into the external drive which had originally come from there. Does anyone know how to deal with this issue? Thanks!
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You have to describe exactly your action when the error occurs. Is the ext'l drive you mentioned formatted as NTFS (Win default file system)? Without additional software, Mac OS X cannot write to NTFS, it can only read from it. -
Nothing seems to work, not even dragging files over. Is the drive not compatible? Am working on a new Mac Book, its not a problem on my older IMAC?
There are two scenarios in which GoFlex drives are supported for use with a Mac. When you connect a GoFlex drive to a Mac, you will be presented with a utility to configure the drive for use. First, if you want to use your GoFlex drive solely with a Mac, the utility will reformat the drive into the HFS+ format, which allows you to use the drive with Time Machine or the included Memeo Premium backup software for Mac. If you would like to be able to "shuttle" data back and forth between a Mac and a PC, a special driver needs to be installed onto the Mac that allows it to access a Windows-formatted drive (i.e. NTFS). Time Machine will not work in this case, nor will Memeo Premium software for Mac. However, if you want your GoFlex solution to also work with TimeMachine, the drive will need to be reformatted to HFS+ journaled.
source: GoFlex Frequently Asked Questions
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