Best way to back up a Mac system's hard drive?

I am fine with backing up my documents and important user files with Toast, but is there something similar to Symantec GHOST, which I am used to from my PC days, for the Mac? Specifically the new Intel iMac.
I find it more frustrating to have to reinstall all my applications and figure out all my settings again in the event of a hard drive failure. I'd love to be able to ghost my entire drive to a USB disk like I would do periodically with my PC.

Probably the best two programs you'll find in this regard are SuperDuper and Carbon Copy Cloner. Personally, I use (and much prefer) SuperDuper. Unfortunately, neither is yet compatible with the iMac Core Duo.
You can find out more about SuperDuper here:
SuperDuper
iMac Intel Core Duo 20", 1.5 GB RAM, OWC 300 GB FW HD Mac OS X (10.4.5) eMac 1.42GHz, 1 GB RAM, 160 GB HD, SD; iPod w/ video 30 GB

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What is the best way of backing up bookmarks to an external hard drive?

I'm helping someone setup a backup routine on their laptop, and would like to include her Firefox bookmarks. With IE, I normally move my favorites folder under My Documents, so when I backup the My Documents folders I always have my favorites. I wasn unable to find a similar ability with Firefox, so I wasn't sure how to go about backup her bookmarks. My preferred option would be do to something similar with Firefox (i.e., move bookmarks), but since that doens't seem feasible, I'd like to know what specific folder I need to add to my backup routine to backup the bookmarks. Thanks.

Thanks for the quick response. Let me clarify my question. I want to be able to configure my backup software to access and backup Firefox bookmarks. I would normally do this by telling the backup software which folder to add to the backup. My preference is to use the actual (current) bookmarks, rather than a backup, but if I have to create a backup in order to do this, I guess I'll do that.
Hope this makes sense, but let me know if you have any questions.

What is the best way to copy aperture library on to external hard drive? I am getting a message that say's "There was an error opening the database. The library could not be opened because the file system of the library's volume is unsupported".

What is the best way to copy aperture library on to external hard drive? I am getting a message that say's "There was an error opening the database. The library could not be opened because the file system of the library's volume is unsupported". What does that mean? I am trying to drag libraries (with metadata) to external HD...wondering what the best way to do that is?

Kirby Krieger wrote:
Hi Shane. Not much in the way of thoughts - - but fwiw:
How is the drive attached?
Can you open large files on the drive with other programs?
Are you running any drive compression or acceleration programs (some drives arrive with these installed)?
Can you reformat the drive and try again?
Hi Kirby,
I attached the UltraMax Plus with a USB cable. The UltraMax powers the cable so power is not an issue. I can open other files. Also, there is 500GB of files on the drive so I cannot re-format it. Although, I noted I could import the entire Aperture Library. However, I do not want to create a duplicate on my machine because that would be defeating the purpose of the external drive.
Thanks,
Shane

Is The Best Way To Update OS to "Zero Out" eMac Hard Drive?

Ok, so I've got the OEM Apple eMac Tiger installation discs and
will be updating to Tiger 10.4+ in the next week or so.
Here's my question: Is it better to "Zero" out the eMac Hard Drive
(using the Apple installer/utility disc), or better to just proceed
with the Tiger installation and select for my previous Apple OS 10.2.8
to be automatically "archived" during the Tiger installation?
I would assume that the "Zeroing out" process would be the best, even though
the actual process of "Zeroing" the Hard Drive takes quite a long time.
Any suggestions on the best way to prepare the Hard Drive for the Tiger
installation would be appreciated.
- David
Message was edited by: DavidMac

Is it better to "Zero" out the eMac Hard Drive
Only if you're erasing sensitive data or experiencing problems with the existing system.
(40722)

What is the best way to back up separate macs?

I have an older Mac book pro and so does my girlfriend. We would like to back up the documents and pictures in case something happens to either one of them. We don't want to spend lots, but we want something that is reliable and easy to use. I don't know anything about external hard drives or cloud back up solutions. Are we use one hard drive for the 2 computers, can we continue to back up the data if we move to new macs, will we be able to transfer the data? Any assistance would be appreciated.
Thank you!

Time Machine is your best and simplest option. Look at this definitive web site which should address all of your questions:
http://pondini.org/OSX/Home.html
If things are still unclear, post back.
Ciao.

New Mac Pro - Best way to get Windows XP on 2nd Internal Hard Drive?

After 16 years, I'm back to a Mac. I picked up a second hard drive for my Mac Pro that I have not installed yet and would like to solely dedicate this drive to running XP Pro. What is the best way to do this please? Thanks!!!

Hi and welcome to Discussions and also welcome back
for running Windows XP you can use the BootCamp Assistant which is part of OSX Leopard (in the Applications/Utilities Folder).
Print out the Installation Guide found either inside the BC Assistant or from here http://www.apple.com/support/bootcamp/ and follow it to the letter.
While maybe not neccessary but advisable, make a backup of your OSX volume.
The BC Assistant gives you the choice to use a secondary harddisk fully for installing Windows (page 7 of the guide).
Make sure that during installation of Windows you re-format the destination with the Windows Installer (page 9+10 of the guide).
Also be aware that with XP you can only use the 32-bit version, since the 64-bit XP version is not supported.
Only with Vista you can use the 64-bit versions, when you have a 2008 or later model of the Mac Pro.
Once you have installed your XP, insert the OSX Leopard DVD while in Windows in order to install the BootCamp Drivers.
And download the appropriate BC Update 2.1 from here: http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/apple/windows/
Other possibilities to run Windows on a Mac are the Virtualization apps like Parallels, VMWare Fusion or VirtualBox.
http://www.parallels.com/products/desktop/
http://www.vmware.com/products/fusion/
http://www.virtualbox.org/
And the specialty Crossover Mac http://www.codeweavers.com/products/cxmac/
When running Windows on a Mac be sure to use a decent Anti-Virus solution.
Hope it helps
Stefan

Best solution for backing up 3 Mac's with one drive

I know there are several options for backing up one computer, but I would like to be able to backup 3 computers on a single 1TB external drive. Is this possible and would it be possible to use Time Machine on all 3 pc's. I know I will have to move the drive between them. I would prefer a NAS, but cost is an issue.
Any help would be appreciated and I hope this is the correct forum for it.

TM will also work. I would give each machine it'sown partition, assign one partition to each machine as its TM backup volume.
I know that a Time Capsule at $299-1TB and $499-2TB is much more then just a USB2 or even firewire hard drive, but remember that with a Time Capsule you are also upgrading to a 802.11n wireless router with true dual band support (simultaneous 802.11g and 802.11n connections, each running at their native speeds). Just a thought, if your wifi network is getting old too and you are thinking of an update there at the same time.

What's the best way to transfer iphoto pictures to an external hard drive?

Just bought a new LaCie 1.5 Terabyte external hard drive to back-up all my photos. What's the easiest way to copy my iPhoto library?
Also is there a way to copy an entire "event" in iphoto and paste these events into subfolders on my external drive?
I am trying to create a system of subfolders on my hard drive that groups some events together instead of copying my entire library into one folder.
I tried the "drag and drop" way, but found that sometimes when I let go of the mouse button over the appropriate folder they would somehow miss the folder and end up pasted on-top of the folder instead of inside the folder.
Or, am I just wasting my time with the subfolder thing? Is it better to just transfer the entire library to one folder on the external drive? ... since it's only for back-up purposes anyway.
Thanks,

The best way, IMO, is to copy the iPhoto LIbrary package intact to the external HD. That will backup all your photos, edits, books, slideshows, etc.
To keep the backup copy current use a backup application like Synk or Synk Pro which is capable of making incremental backups, i.e. backing up only those new or changed files.
OT

Best way to migrate iTunes and iPod to new hard drive

Currently, my iTunes Library is referencing music files that sit on my music data drive (E:drive). My Library is actually on another data drive (D: drive), while my OS and apps are on the C: drive. I also have a networked Network Attached Storage (NAS) drive that has a duplicate copy of all of my music files.
One of the reasons I have the NAS is to have 24/7 access to my music files through a Sonos Zone Player system (highly recommend this) hooked up to my stereo. The Sonos player is able to pickup all of my playlists but because iTunes creates the plalists thinking that all of the songs reside on my E:drive, they are broken links as far as Sonos is concerned.
So my quesion is, what is the best way to redirect my iTunes Library so that it pulls the songs from the NAS rather than my internal E:drive? Since the NAS is always on, I don't care that when I want to play songs on my computer, it pulls them off of the NAS. In "migrating" the music file links, I'd like to maintain all of my rankings, play counts, and playlists. Is this possible?
If not, then at a minimum, I'll be swapping out my E:drive for a larger one and need to know the best way to migrate the music files. It would be simple to just take out my current music file drive, swap in the new drive, and copy the files from the NAS drive onto the new drive. Do I need to de-authorize my computer at the start so iTunes doesn't think I'm giving permission to a new computer? Will my play counts, ratings, and playlists still show up? Regarding the latter, I'm guessing yes since the Music Library isn't being touched (on the D: drive).
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Thanks in advance,
Steve
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Well, you'll need to reinstall iTunes and the iPod updater.
Did you happen to save the iTunes library file?
What are the iTunes library files?

Best way to re-install OSX for resale after hard drive wipe

Just got a new MacPro and having transferred everything from my early 2008, I have a buyer for that machine. I want to only give him OSX Mavericks and some legally transferrable applications. What is the best way to do this?

Before you sell or give away your computer, in addition to the steps mentioned in this support article, take these steps:
Run Apple Diagnostics or the Apple Hardware Test. The buyer will do this (or he should), and you don't want to be surprised by the results.
Reset the PRAM and the SMC, which might contain personal information.
If you set a firmware password, remove it by running Firmware Password Utility in Recovery mode.
If you activated FileVault in OS X 10.7 or later, turn it off.
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If you created any other data partitions on the internal drive, remove them in Disk Utility.
Erase the data partition(s) with the option to zero out data. An SSD doesn't need to be zeroed.
You can't legally or practically transfer any software downloaded from the Mac App Store to the new owner of the machine, even if it was free. That includes OS X, so if you upgraded to OS X 10.7 or later, you must reinstall an older OS, either from the installation media, if applicable, or by booting into Internet Recovery (option-command-R at the startup chime.) If you installed from physical media, deliver those to the new owner.
If you're selling the machine, or donating it in working order, and it originally shipped with OS X 10.4 or 10.5, then you have the option of installing either from the discs that came with it or from a retail Snow Leopard disc (which you must then transfer with the machine.) The buyer should understand that if he doesn't get the original discs from you, he won't get the bundled iLife applications or the Apple Hardware Test. Replacements for the original discs can be ordered from Apple.
The new owner will have to redownload any software that came from the App Store, including OS X upgrades, under his or her Apple ID. If you ever updated the bundled iLife applications (Garage Band, iMovie, and iPhoto) through the App Store, you can't transfer those either.
Remove the machine from your list of registered products. If it's still covered by an AppleCare Protection Plan, transfer the coverage to the new owner by following the instructions in the AppleCare Terms and Conditions (under the heading "Transfer of Plan.")

Best way to move OS X image to larger hard drive?

I'm thinking of moving my OS X install from the original Macbook Pro 120 GB hard drive to a larger replacement hard drive. What's the best way to do this? Do I need imaging software and an external hard drive?

does it need to be formatted a certain way?
For a MacBook Pro, it will need to be partitioned with the GUID partition format or you won't be able to boot from it. Format in the standard Mac OS X Extended (Journaled).
Cloning is not the same as creating a single image file, right>
Correct, cloning is not the same as creating an image. You could, if you wanted, use CCC or Disk Utility to create a disk image of your current HD on the external hard drive, but since you still have to be able to boot from the external drive to be able to restore the disk image to the new internal drive, it's just an extra step over just cloning your current hard drive to the external since you'd have to install Mac OS X on the external drive so you could boot from it. But if you already have an external drive set up to be bootable and don't want to erase it (which you would do by cloning to it), then creating a disk image of your current internal drive, booting from the external drive, and then using Disk Utility to restore the image to the new internal hard drive is an option.
Regards.

What is the best way to manage itunes content using an external hard drive connected to airport extreme?

Just a little history on what I've already tried. I have my itunes folder on my external hard drive with an alias linking to my macbook pro. My hard drive is networked from airport extreme. Streaming content is not a problem. Syncing my iphone is the problem. I just get the pinwheel and a message stating sync unsuccessful because itunes was unable to connect. It takes a very long time to change any settings in itunes for mu phone.I have 8g of ram so that shouldn't be a problem. Any help would be appricated.

The best solution would be two different types of backups, one local (in your own home) and one elsewhere. So, option 3 is the "best" solution.
I, personally, use Crashplan to backup all of my computers because it's much more convenient than an external hard drive.
With an external hard drive, you can either use Time Machine to create the historical/incremental backups OR you can create a bootable clone periodically using SuperDuper! or Carbon Copy Cloner.
I don't know of any way to make the machines mirror images of one another - as far as I know, the best you could do is transfer data from one to the other at time of purchase and then use something like DropBox to keep files in sync.
~Lyssa

How can I install Lion back on my mac, after the hard drive was replaced?

I had my hard drive replaced, by warranty. Guys in service centre installed 10.6.7 , but as my mac is a new one, and was eligible for free install of Lion. Unfortunately I didn't use time machine, so i don't have a back-up on software (I guess it's included in Time Machine). I have tried to download Lion from the Apple store application - it says - The file got somehow corrupted, and didn't run the installation. I have tried to download t once again - AppleStore app said it's installed already - And I couldn't download it again. I've decided to reinstall MacOS from DVD's I got with my mac and to try again. Now AppStore offers me to buy it! But it's supposed to be free, just because I had it installed already, isn't it? I wrote an email in Hardware up-to-date program, hope they'll help, but my mac was bought almost half a year ago.. What else can i do? Can somebody give me any advice, please?

You bought your Mac after Lion came out? Right?
You then upgrade from snow Leopard (10.6.x) to Lion (10.7.x), correct? How did you do the upgrade the first time?
You had to logon to the Apple Mac store and use your purchase date and serial number to get the free upgrade the first time. Just do that again.
Maybe not through the App store? Maybe through Apple Support after logging into your account and viewing your registered products?

Best way to store data from a plot on hard drive

I have a DAQ set-up that will be on 24/7 for several days, and the whole time it's streaming data to an XY-Graph with a limited buffer. My question is, what's the best way to store my plot data in such a way that I can empty out my plot every few hours but if I want to pull up data from a few hours ago I would just have an option on my initial VI to view any old saved plot data.
Basically, I'm trying to not overload my RAM with all my plot data so I'd like to save it to the hard drive while my VI is running, and only display, for example the last 8 hours worth of data... I've been looking at TDMS, but I'm not sure if that's the right solution.
much thanks!

Hi,
You could save your data using TDMS as well as ASCII to simply load it in another application later.
Attached VI shows you how to save your data to a File after a certain amount of iterations, you can combine this then with your code and a timestamp.
Christian
Attachments:
Save to new file every N samples.vi ‏20 KB

What is the best way to move iTunes library to a different hard drive?

I have a MacBook Pro and recently removed my optical drive and replaced it with an internal hard drive so that I can have more storage. My iTunes library is on the original hard drive. I am getting close to running out of space on the original hard drive and would like to move my library to the new internal hard drive. What is the best way to do this? Thanks.
-gigascott

A re-iteration of what I posted earlier... If you let iTunes manage your music for you then copy the whole iTunes folder and everything it contains to the other drive. Hold down the option key at the same time as starting iTunes. It will present you with a window, one of the options being to open a different iTunes library. Navigate to the iTunes folder on the other drive and let it open the library.itl file in the folder there. In all likelihood it should open it with no problem and you will not see any difference between when you had it on your first internal drive. If you get info on a track and look at summary you will see it is now referencing media on the other drive.
Message was edited by: Limnos to reflect using second internal drive.

Best way to back up a Mac system's hard drive?

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