Before having my iMac repaired

Question

My home iMac needs repair as the CD drive won't work anymore. I have a laptop that I use for work that I'll be using at home too until the iMac is repaired. I also have a large external drive where my iMac backs-up to with time machine. What is the best way to make sure I have access to important info I have on iCal and Address book and Mail? I want to make sure and not over-write info on the laptop I need for work. What other considerations are important before I take this computer in for repairs?

Answer 1

I would make at least one clone of the entire hard drive using something like carbon copy cloner or super duper.
If the laptop is a mac, you can boot straight into the clone and use it as if the laptop is the iMac, but bear in mind any changes you make won't be reflected on the iMac when it returns until you restore the iMac from the clone. If you prefer, if the laptop is a mac (always important to give all details here so we can help as best we can) then you can plug the external clone into the laptop and just read the files of it.
scottjoyce wrote:
access to important info I have on iCal and Address book and Mail?
Programs like address book and iCal have information stored in most parts of the computer, and look for them in your main boot drive. So hypothetically, if you plugged in your external and read it just as a usb drive, and went to applications and opened address book, Address book will start looking for it's files that have the path of a boot drive, not your external which will have a path similar to Volumes/Drive Name/Applications/Address Book.
That is why booting from the clone would work better for this.
To boot from an external drive, hold down the option key just after you press the power button at start up.
If your laptop is not a mac, you will have to export your data from address book and iCal so windows ca read it and the same goes for mail unless you have web based mail such as MobileMe and gmail, in which case you can manage your mail from internet explorer or the like.
It is not advised to use Time machine with a partitioned drive and even less advised to partition the drive it is in the middle of using. Using a bootable clone will only work if the laptop is a mac, however it will not work at all if you have nowhere to clone your iMac to! If this is the case, I would suggest, Exporting your address book by opening up address book on the imac choosing file>export>address book archive. Open up iCal, choose file>backup iCal. Take these two files to the laptop, clearly named so they are identifiable as the iMac's files. Repeat these steps with the laptop and keep these files from the laptop safe somewhere, as these will be the only copies of your laptops Address book and iCal. Then open address book, choose file>import>address book archive and this will make your address book on your laptop the same as the imac. Open iCal, choose file>import and choose import an iCal file. This will make your iCal the same as your iMac. Make sure as to have safely backed up you laptops Address book and iCal before importing the iMac's files.
For mail, on the iMac, choose the mail box you want on the laptop, right click it and choose archive mailbox. Create a new folder for the mail box as there may be more than one file from the archive, in which case importing is much easier as you can just point the laptop t the folder. On the laptop, choose file>import mail box and choose Mail from Mac OS X. Locate the folder you have the files in and choose import. This will bring over all your emails from your iMac to your laptop. I have never tried this particular trick but imagine it will work just fine.
Hope this helps.
Regards