I have never done a backup; i don't have an external hard drive ; i want to intall snow leopard...is it important to do a backup first?

i have never done a backup; i do not have an external hard drive;
do i need to do a backup before i upgrade/install snow leopard?

Most commonly used backup methods
OS X 10.4/10.5 need to upgrade, 10.6.8 ok still
https://discussions.apple.com/community/notebooks/macbook_pro?view=documents

Similar Messages

  • I want to be able to backup my iPhone 4 to an external hard drive since I don't have enough space on my Windows hard drive, how do I do that?

    I want to be able to backup my iPhone 4 to an external hard drive since I don’t have enough space on my Windows hard drive, how do I do that?

    Go through the below forum with similar issue and follow the process mentioned by "Macjack" in the beginning.
    https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4499820

  • I perviously transfered all my iTunes music to an external hard drive. But now when I connect the external hard drive and try to play a song, I get an error message saying that I need to "locate" my music. I don't how to find it on my external hard drive.

    I perviously transfered all my iTunes music to an external hard drive. But now when I connect the external hard drive and try to play a song, I get an error message saying that I need to "locate" my music. I don't how to find it on my external hard drive. Please help for I am not that computer savy and don't want to mess anything up.
    Thanks! 

    I called Apple Support and they walked me through it. They told me to basically copy and paste my music to the external hard drive. (I think.) Or maybe it was they had me transfer a folder to the EHD. I don't exactally remember it was a few years back. But I tried to plug in the EHD before starting and...nothing. Still says same thing, "locate file."

  • How do I backup my iPhoto Library to an external hard drive and keep my photos grouped by their events?

    How can I backup my iPhoto Library to an external hard drive and keep my photos grouped by their events?

    I have attempted to make sure my iPhoto library has been backed up on the external hard drive and that it is safe to delete some events from my internal hard drive
    You need to think this through.
    Time Machine is a back up application. It keeps a rolling back up of the data. It's called rolling because it means you can revert to the data you had on a specific date and time. But that's not eternal, and as time goes by, and your drive fills up, older backups are deleted. So if you delete Events on your Mac they will - eventually - also be deleted from the Time Machine back up.
    If you wan tot archive data hendon't use Time Machine for that job. Here's how you might archive an iPhoto Library:
    Make sure the drive is formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
    1. Quit iPhoto
    2. Copy the iPhoto Library from your Pictures Folder to the External Disk.
    Now you have two full versions of the Library.
    3. On the Internal library, trash the Events you don't want there
    Now you have a full copy of the Library on the External and a smaller subset on the Internal
    Some Notes:
    As a general rule: when deleting photos do them in batches of about 100 at a time. iPhoto can baulk at trashing large numbers at one go.
    You can choose which Library to open: Hold down the option (or alt) key key and launch iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Choose Library'
    You can keep the Library on the external updated with new imports using iPhoto Library Manager

  • I'm having some difficulty with Time Machine.  It appears to be deleting backups from random dates on my external hard drive.  I am not deleting them.  Are they hidden and how do I prevent this from happening?  Can I retrieve them?

    I'm having some difficulty with Time Machine.  It appears to be deleting backups from random dates on my external hard drive.  I am not deleting them.  Are they hidden and how do I prevent this from happening?  Can I retrieve them?

    ... I didn't know that Time Machine was more a last resort back up instead of main back up.
    Don't rely upon Time Machine to the exclusion of all else. I compliment Time Machine with a periodic "clone". TM is much better than nothing, but it's a safety net, not a hammock
    Here is my understanding of Time Machine's file deletion algorithm, distilled from Pondini's FAQ, Apple's KB articles, and my own observations.
    Time Machine deletes ("thins") files from the backup disk as follows:
    Hourly backups over 24 hours old, except the first backup of the day
    Daily backups over 30 days old, except the first backup of the week
    Older backups get deleted when Time Machine requires space and you deleted them from the source disk.
    Therefore, assuming TM has been performing at least one backup per day, backup files will remain available:
    at least thirty days, if they existed on your Mac for at least a day
    until you run out of space, if they existed on your Mac for at least a week
    In addition to the above, Time Machine always keeps one complete copy of your source disk so that the entire volume could be restored if necessary. Any files that remain on your source volume will be present on the TM backup, no matter how old they are.
    If you are using 250 GB of space on your source disk, its Time Machine backups are likely to require at least twice that much. A good estimate of the minimum required backup volume size would be about three times the size of your source disk - 1.5 TB in your case.
    A more thorough explanation would require Pondini since he has plumbed Time Machine's mysteries far more than I have.
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1427

  • I have WD 1TB and use Time Machine for the past 2 years. Now I have multiple folders in my external hard drive and want to know how to condense all folders into yearly folders instead. Anyone know how to do this?

    Now I have multiple folders in my external hard drive and want to know how to condense all folders into yearly folders instead. Anyone know how to do this?

    anthonycancel wrote:
    I want the folders I already backed up to come together into one folder when that year is over. Is there a way to manually do that or automatic through TM?
    I'm quite sure there is no "automatic" way to do this. I've never heard of anyone trying it either. I suppose if you wanted try it, you could simply create a new folder in the same partition TM is on, label it for that year, then gather all the days for that year and drag/drop them into the folder. I suspect (but do not know) you'd be risking the continuity of your backups, meaning TM would simply start over again, meaning that next back up would start a new series of backups, with the first one roughly equalling the entire capacity of your internal HD, instead of adding only the new data to the previous backup. Once again, I would recommend against it, unless you're fine with TM starting a new series of backups if it doesn't work out the way you want it to. Hope you'll post back with results so we can learn from it.

  • If I already have an Airport Express Base Station, can i hook an external hard drive into it's USB port and use that hard drive with Time Machine?

    If I already have an Airport Express Base Station, can i hook an external hard drive into it's USB port and use that hard drive with Time Machine?

    No, and that shouldn't be done with an AirPort Extreme or Time Capsule.
    (66017)

  • So I am trying to copy my hard drive "Macintosh HD" to an external hard drive, i want to use Terminal and have tried many ways. For example cp -r /Volumes/"Macintosh HD" /Volumes/"NO NAME". When i do it says No such file or directory. Ideas?

    So I am trying to copy my hard drive "Macintosh HD" to an external hard drive, i want to use Terminal and have tried many ways. For example cp -r /Volumes/"Macintosh HD" /Volumes/"NO NAME". When i do it says No such file or directory. Ideas?

    The reason that threadjacking is frowned on (as mentioned in the terms use which you can read by clicking the link to the right on this page) is for the most part a practical one:
    By starting your own thread your problem can get individual attention, focussed on your particular set of circumstances.
    By joining somebody else's thread it becomes tricky to answer more than one question at the same time, and can lead to confusion for both parties.
    So if you don't mind the minor inconvenience, please start your own thread (in the correct forum) so we can get to grips with your particular problem!

  • I have been storing my Aperture and IMovie Libraries on an external hard drive that recently died.  Fortunately I've been using Time Machine to back up to a 2nd external drive.  How do I restore my libraries to a new external hard drive?

    I have been storing my Aperture and IMovie Libraries on an external hard drive that recently died.  Fortunately I've been using Time Machine to back up to a 2nd external drive.  How do I restore my libraries to a new external hard drive?

    This is a tricky one.
    Open up Time Machine and go back to a date using the timeline on the right side of the window when you know the drive was working and was backing up as part of Time Machine backups.
    Click on the name of your Mac under the Devices heading on the left side of the window in Time Machine, and if things are working correctly you will see Macintosh HD (or whatever you have named it) and the name of the external hard drive that was backing up in the past.
    Right-Click on the name of the external hard drive and then click on "Restore (name of drive) to....."  You may be asked for your adminstrator password at this point.
    It might be easier to restore the drive contents to your desktop if you have room on your Mac, and then copy things over to the new external drive where you want to store the Aperture and iMovie Libraries.
    Once the libraries have been moved over the new external hard drive, you will likely need to "point" Aperture and iMovie to the location of the libraries on the new external hard drive.

  • HT1751 I am trying to backup my iTunes library onto an external hard drive but it won't complete due to 'insufficient privileges for some of the items'. Am I doing something wrong and is there a solution to this problem?

    Hi All,
    I am currently trying to backup my iTunes library onto an external hard drive so that I can copy it onto my new Macbook Pro. I have been following the steps posted on the Apple website however each time I get a dialogue box stating:
    'The operation cannot be completed because you do not have sufficient privileges for some of the items'.
    Is this because I have items that were bought under another persons iTunes account? If so, is there a solution to this problem? Or am I doing something completely wrong?
    Thanks in advance,
    Sbrooks19

    Go through the below forum with similar issue and follow the process mentioned by "Macjack" in the beginning.
    https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4499820

  • Can I have mavericks time machine on one partition of a WD  external hard drive and snow leopard data on another

    can I have mavericks time machine on one partition of a WD  external hard drive and snow leopard data on another

    If you want to and it is so large that it has room (350% is a good estimate for TimeMachine), then use a partition(s) to hold system restore images or bootable clones. Or VM images.
    Using SSDs most Mac Pro models can easily hold 6 or more storage devices inside, except the nMP cylinder 6,1's;  which do need external Thunderbolt and USB3.
    System drive / data / scratch / backup data / backups of system / ....
    I recommend a couple system backups, especially when faced with dual boot situations as well as an OS that is still undergoing updates and changes.

  • I have a MacBook Pro, 10.10.2 Yosemite. My external hard drive no longer appears on my screen or in Time Machine

    I have a MacBook Pro, 10.10.2 Yosemite. My external hard drive no longer appears on my screen or in Time Machine. I have gone into Disc Utility to repair disc, and get the message: Error: Partition map check failed because no slices were found. I was trying to follow Melophage's instructions by going into "Terminal" and entering  "diskutil list; diskutil cs list; mount"  and "diskutil info disk2."  Then I entered the command "sudo got show disk1."   I am sure I have made the problem worse. Can you give me some help?  Thank you. blelambert
    Last login: Wed Mar 11 19:23:03 on ttys000
    ~ belambert$ diskutil list
    /dev/disk0
       #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
       0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *251.0 GB   disk0
       1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1
       2:          Apple_CoreStorage                         250.1 GB   disk0s2
       3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk0s3
    /dev/disk1
       #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
       0:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh HD           *249.8 GB   disk1
                                     Logical Volume on disk0s2
                                     7A998EAE-68FB-4BAC-BF40-7A31D2806B2C
                                     Unlocked Encrypted
    /dev/disk2
       #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
       0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *2.0 TB     disk2
       1:         Microsoft Reserved                         134.2 MB   disk2s1
    ~ belambert$ diskutil cs list
    CoreStorage logical volume groups (1 found)
    |
    +-- Logical Volume Group 883A56F4-5559-4872-A8DA-960F99655B63
        =========================================================
        Name:         Macintosh HD
      Status:       Online
        Size:         250140434432 B (250.1 GB)
        Free Space:   8921088 B (8.9 MB)
        |
        +-< Physical Volume 7EDAFA20-FF9A-45FB-BA44-6526BB46C381
        |   ----------------------------------------------------
        |   Index:    0
        |   Disk:     disk0s2
        |   Status:   Online
        |   Size:     250140434432 B (250.1 GB)
        |
        +-> Logical Volume Family B47B0B40-CBF2-4D02-BFEF-182061AC6F8E
            Encryption Status:       Unlocked
            Encryption Type:         AES-XTS
            Conversion Status:       Complete
            Conversion Direction:    -none-
            Has Encrypted Extents:   Yes
            Fully Secure:            Yes
            Passphrase Required:     Yes
            |
            +-> Logical Volume 7A998EAE-68FB-4BAC-BF40-7A31D2806B2C
                Disk:                  disk1
                Status:                Online
                Size (Total):          249779191808 B (249.8 GB)
                Conversion Progress:   -none-
                Revertible:            Yes (unlock and decryption required)
                LV Name:               Macintosh HD
                Volume Name:           Macintosh HD
                Content Hint:          Apple_HFS
    ~ belambert$ mount
    /dev/disk1 on / (hfs, local, journaled)
    devfs on /dev (devfs, local, nobrowse)
    map -hosts on /net (autofs, nosuid, automounted, nobrowse)
    map auto_home on /home (autofs, automounted, nobrowse)
    localhost:/vB3z604U-dvSpES6320fHq on /Volumes/MobileBackups (mtmfs, nosuid, read-only, nobrowse)
    ~ belambert$ diskutil info disk2
       Device Identifier:        disk2
       Device Node:              /dev/disk2
       Part of Whole:            disk2
       Device / Media Name:      WD My Book 111A Media
      File System:              None
       Content (IOContent):      GUID_partition_scheme
       OS Can Be Installed:      No
       Media Type:               Generic
       Protocol:                 USB
       SMART Status:             Not Supported
       Total Size:               2.0 TB (2000365289472 Bytes) (exactly 3906963456 512-Byte-Units)
       Volume Free Space:        Not applicable (no file system)
       Device Block Size:        512 Bytes
       Read-Only Media:          No
       Read-Only Volume:         Not applicable (no file system)
       Ejectable:                Yes
      File System:              None
       Content (IOContent):      GUID_partition_scheme
       OS Can Be Installed:      No
       Media Type:               Generic
       Protocol:                 USB
       SMART Status:             Not Supported
       Total Size:               2.0 TB (2000365289472 Bytes) (exactly 3906963456 512-Byte-Units)
       Volume Free Space:        Not applicable (no file system)
       Device Block Size:        512 Bytes
       Read-Only Media:          No
       Read-Only Volume:         Not applicable (no file system)
       Ejectable:                Yes
    belambert  ttys000                   Wed Mar 11 17:34 - 17:39  (00:05)
    belambert  ttys000                   Wed Mar 11 17:33 - 17:34  (00:00)
    wtmp begins Sun Mar  8 14:40
    ~ belambert$ ~ belambert$ diskutil list
    -bash: :~: command not found
    ~ belambert$ /dev/disk0
    -bash: /dev/disk0: Permission denied
    :~ belambert$    #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
    ~ belambert$    0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *251.0 GB   disk0
    -bash: 0:: command not found
    :~ belambert$    1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1
    -bash: 1:: command not found
    ~ belambert$    2:          Apple_CoreStorage                         250.1 GB   disk0s2
    -bash: 2:: command not found
    ~ belambert$    3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk0s3
    -bash: /dev/disk1: Permission denied
    ~ belambert$    #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
    ~ belambert$    0:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh HD           *249.8 GB   disk1
    -bash: 0:: command not found
    ~ belambert$                                  Logical Volume on disk0s2
    -bash: Logical: command not found
    ~ belambert$                                  7A998EAE-68FB-4BAC-BF40-7A31D2806B2C
    -bash: 7A998EAE-68FB-4BAC-BF40-7A31D2806B2C: command not found
    ~ belambert$                                  Unlocked Encrypted
    -bash: Unlocked: command not found
    :~ belambert$ /dev/disk2
    -bash: /dev/disk2: Permission denied
    ~ belambert$    #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
    :~ belambert$    0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *2.0 TB     disk2
    -bash: 0:: command not found
    ~ belambert$    1:         Microsoft Reserved                         134.2 MB   disk2s1
    -bash: 1:: command not found
    ~ belambert$ ~ belambert$ diskutil cs list
    -bash: ~: command not found
    ~ belambert$ CoreStorage logical volume groups (1 found)
    -bash: syntax error near unexpected token `('
    ~ belambert$ |
    -bash: syntax error near unexpected token `|'
    ~ belambert$ +-- Logical Volume Group 883A56F4-5559-4872-A8DA-960F99655B63
    -bash: +--: command not found
    ~ belambert$     =========================================================
    -bash: =========================================================: command not found
    ~ belambert$     Name:         Macintosh HD
    -bash: Name:: command not found
    ~ belambert$
    -bash: 3:: command not found
    ~ belambert$ /dev/disk1
       Whole:                    Yes
       Internal:                 No
       OS 9 Drivers:             No
       Low Level Format:         Not supported
    :~ belambert$ Last login: Wed Mar 11 19:23:03 on ttys000
    ~ belambert$ diskutil list
       Whole:                    Yes
       Internal:                 No
       OS 9 Drivers:             No
       Low Level Format:         Not supported
    ~ belambert$ Last login: Wed Mar 11 19:23:03 on ttys000
    ~ belambert$ diskutil list
       Volume Name:              Not applicable (no file system)
       Mounted:                  Not applicable (no file system)

    racergirl,
    have you tried resetting your MacBook Pro’s System Management Controller, to see if that makes a difference with the heat?

  • I have itunes directory on an external hard drive and want to direct a new installation of itunes on windows 8 to use it. I tried holding down ctrl and clicking itunes and after many tries got it to work one time. When I went back in later it had reverted

    I have itunes directory on an external hard drive and want to direct a new installation of itunes on windows 8 to use it. I tried holding down ctrl and clicking itunes and after many tries got it to work one time. When I went back in later it had reverted back to a blank version of itunes and I cant get ctrl to work again. Any other ideas?

    This is sometimes caused by a problem with the iTunesPrefs.xml file, normally found at C:\Users\<User>\AppData\Local\Apple Computer\iTunes\iTunesPrefs.xml. Try dragging this to the desktop and trying again.
    Alternatively the problem may be that you have McAfee AV and it is preventing iTunes from updating the same file and thus causing the problem. See Why does iTunes delete my itunesprefs.xml? for details.
    tt2

  • I have a tried to format my seagate free agent 1TB external hard drive so I can use it, but I keep getting an error message saying it failed. Can n e 1 help me plz

    I have a tried to format my seagate free agent 1TB external hard drive so I can use it, but I keep getting an error message saying it failed. Can n e 1 help me plz

    This article has a link for more information on finding your profile directory: [[Fix the "Could not initialize the application's security component" error message]]. On Windows 7, you can try this (either in a Windows Explorer window address bar or from the start menu search box):
    %APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles
    You may see one folder in there and that's the one you want. If you see more than one, look for the one with the most recently modified files.

  • I have recently moved all of my files to a larger external hard drive, but when I am reminder of an itunes upgrade it's still attempting to go to the old drive.  How can I change the settings so it automatically goes to my new hard drive?

    I have recently moved all of my files to a larger external hard drive, but when I am reminder of an itunes upgrade it's still attempting to go to the old drive.  How can I change the settings so it automatically goes to my new hard drive?

    lisacooney wrote:
    I have recently moved all of my files to a larger external hard drive
    How did you move these files?

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