Hard drive failing, what files besides photos/music/etc should I back up before replacing the drive?
I bought my MacBook 5,2 Intel Core 2 Duo 2.13 GHz 2GB 800 MHz DDR2 SDRAM in 2009, never had any problems with it until now. For a few months now, my macbook will freeze up (usually if I'm doing a lot such as posting a youtube video on facebook, or running a game,etc) and make a clicking sound, to which I can't do anything except hard restart it. It only did it once in a while until now it's happening more frequently at very annoying times. I never thought to look it up because I'm an idiot but now that I did I learned that my hard drive is imminently going to fail. I know I dropped it once, from my bed to hardwood, with no immediate damage but I'm sure that could've done something, other than that I take very good care of it.
So I'm in the process of backing up my stuff, which I figure isn't a lot so I'm probably going to use a USB drive & CDs..but my question is: Is there anything important that I need to back up besides my files (pictures, music, documents)? Like any program files etc? And when I do replace the hard drive, which I may do myself following DIY on here, what will remain on my computer? Will my applications all be there? I've only downloaded a few programs that could be redownloaded anyways (frostwire, tinyumbrella, etc) and my Pages/office are on disk. Sorry if these questions are stupid, this is my first personal computer and I've honestly never had to back anything up before/replace hard drives. I appreciate any help to any of these questions and I can further detail anything needed
Omdineen wrote:
It boots up to where its just my background and the Finder bar but then crashes, so I can't click anything. Anything from here or am I just screwed?
There are a few remaining options.
If you have another Mac with a FireWire port, try FireWire Target Disk Mode: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1661
You need a FireWire cable to connect the two Macs. This will allow you to mount your failing HD on a working Mac and copy files that way.
Try Safe Mode - read about it first:
Safe Mode or "Safe Boot" is a troubleshooting mode that bypasses all third party system extensions and loads only required system components.
Starting up in Safe Mode
This assumes the Finder is crashing due to a third party system extension or optional system component that Safe Mode will prevent from loading. You should still be able to copy files directly to an external device, but file sharing will be disabled.
Lastly boot from the DVD again, repair the disk again, reinstall OS X, and keep your fingers crossed. You're squeezing the last drops of life from the thing.
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If you back it up first.
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How are you backing up data? (Movies, Photos, Music, etc.)
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Finding photos, music, etc from previous home folder
Alright. I screwed up by renaming my homefolder by accident. Despite much good advice and references to many good articles by the honorable members on this board, I have not been able to restore the contents of my original home folder.
Here's what I need to do now, manually, I think:
1. Find and import all my old email messages.
2. Tell iTunes how to find all the music that was in my home folder before the gaff.
3. Find my old photos and tell iPhoto how to find them.
4. Re-register applications that I had purchased that no longer recognize my computer.
Anyone have instructions that a beginner could follow?
Many thanks,
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Mac OS X 10.3.9
iTunes 7.6.2 (9)
iPhoto 4.0.3 (4H2)
Mail 1.3.11 (v622/624)
Message was edited by: Kelly H
I know this stuff is still on my machine. I can search and find it, I just don't know how to get my apps to find it on their own!If you can find all those things, you are more than halfway there.
Open a Finder window to the location where your old files are located. For example, if you used default settings, your iTunes music library files should be at
<startup drive>/Users/<OLD user name>/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music/
You can follow the path more easily if you go to the View menu (in Finder) and select +Show path bar+. Now, open a second Finder window to
<startup drive>/Users/<NEW user name>/Music/iTunes/
There should be another +iTunes Music+ folder there that is empty. Move the OLD +iTunes Music+ folder (drag and drop) to the NEW iTunes folder (where the NEW +iTunes Music+ folder already exists). Finder will ask if you want to replace the existing folder. Select OK to do so.
Now launch iTunes. I don't think iTunes will automatically recognize the new content (maybe it will). If it does not, select your Music library in the left sidebar of the iTunes window. To get iTunes to recognize all your existing media, drag and drop that just moved +iTunes Music+ folder from the Finder window to the main pane of the iTunes window. Let iTunes do its thing, which may take a while if you have a lot of songs.
iPhoto should be a similar process. Find your files under old user, find the equivalent location under the new user, move the folder with the files to the new user, make iPhoto recognize the content at the new user's location. I don't use iPhoto too much...
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Monty,
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I Actually, I have wiped My Blackberry torch 9800 out although I Have Not done any Back up . So, Is there any possibility to recover My files Including Photos, Videos, Contacts ,..Etc? Because I Really need those Files for Student examination Purposes ?! If you could deliver If anything can be done so,,, your responses are appreciated,,,, Waiting for your response,,,,,
No backup at all? Were you not even running protect? How about sync'ing with a computer or with the cloud?
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