OS X Mavericks - How to backup system files only

Okay ... ;
is there a way for e.g. Time Machine to back up system files / resources only .
... I mean I have a fully working core system software, that I want to backup, but ...
... I have also downloaded lots of other files / third party software,
which I'd like to exclude from the backup .
Is Time Machine capable of doing this ...
or is there some other software, that could to this ....
Regards,
zergei W ;

System Preferences/Time Machine/Options - add what you don't want to backup there and it will be excluded from the backup.

Similar Messages

How i backup system files to DvD-Rw?

Hi, i have windows vista home premium. So how i can backup All important system files into DvD-Rw? i got one time virus and i musted to repair it and lose money =P in that Dvd-Rw have just 4,20 Gt so its that enough for system files? or some backup so if i cannot lock in to my user so i insert the Dvd-rw in Dvd thing then i open computer then it say want recover your Computer and yes then select languace. Some kind of that. Sorry bad english. Thanks for all at help when i get it

My dvd/cd rom is not in device manager,my back up disc will not restore ,my windows vista home premium is not a genuine copy. My computer HP pavillion model dv9804ca was bought in May 2008.Why is this all happening in the last month.How can I fix it.

Does Time Machine backup system files (/usr/local/*)?

Does Time Machine backup system files (/usr/local/*)?
If so how do you locate them in the Time Machine interface?
If I go into Time Machine mode and type say "/usr/local" in the Time Machine search bar I get nothing although I can open a terminal application and cd to /usr/local and see bin, lib, include, etc.
Of course I can never see /usr/local in Finder either ... only at the command line.
Thanks.

John, another tech pro ("baltwo") suggests:
Run this in the Terminal:
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles 1
OPTION-click and hold on Finder's Dock icon->Relaunch which reveals all hidden files. Then, look for that file and delete it. To hide all of those, use the same command, substituiting zero for the one, and relaunch the Finder.

How to access system files

How to see system files in Finder (e.g. the main mail data file) ?

Not sure what "system files" you mean, but you might find it when you have Finder opened and look in your Menu bar (which starts with the  logo).
Then you find "Go" to the right.
1. For the system files -> Click Computer in the list, then Macintosh HD (Or what ever your hard disk is named) and then there is a folder name "System".
You might also mean that you are trying to find the library, which is located there also.
2. If it is the library you are seeking, you might need the "User Library" which is hidden by default.
To get that, open the "Go" menu again and then press and hold the "Option(or alt)" on your keyboard.
Then "Library" will show up in the middle of the list, and that is your user library.
I hope I was a bit of help, please do note that these folders contain very important information.
I strongly advise you to only adjust anything in there, if you perfectly know what you are doing.
Cheers~

Backup certain files only

hello
Apple's Time Machine is a good utilities. It makes backups. Total backup of the whole system
But, what can I do if I only want to backup specific files only
What I want to backup:
1. photos in iPhoto
2. musics & apps in iTunes
3. Google Earth placemarks
I would like to say thanks for any repliy

http://www.grapefruit.ch/iBackup/
http://freeridecoding.com/smartbackup/index.html
http://www.bombich.com/
http://www.lacie.com/silverkeeper/
http://www.econtechnologies.com/pages/cs/chrono_overview.html
http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html
My favorite free app is iBackup.
My favorite Paid app is Chronosync.
My favorite donationware app is Carbon Copy Cloner.
The most highly customizable and capable app is Chonosync - hands down.
The fastest backup app is the command line app rsync, which comes with OS X
(requires a little bit of command line "Geekiness" to use though).
Kj ♘

My iMac crashed, how to backup my files from a dead drive

Hi, I need to backup my files, I haven't made any backup before, not even a time machine. I started up using the CD that came with it but DU isn't able to repair my disk. I know I made a mistake by not making any backup before but please help if you have any clue on how to retrieve my files. Thanks.
Fami

The DiskWarrior DVD has an OS X System Folder on so it will boot most Macs (I believe there are some exceptions, so it's worth checking out the Alsoft site for info). Put the DW disk in the drive and boot up holding down the C key.
http://www.alsoft.com/

Macbook won't boot after mavericks - how to backup to external drive and install new OS

I have a macbook pro - mid 2011 running 10.6.8. Tried to install mavericks and now computer can't boot, constantly restarts. I've tried reinstalling twice and repaired the disk, everything is OK and reinstallation didn't work. I bought 10.8 to install- apple sent me a link via email. How do I backup the drive through an external drive, erase the current drive, and then install 10.8?

You will have to boot from your Recovery HD:
Clone Mavericks, Lion/Mountain Lion using Restore Option of Disk Utility
Boot to the Recovery HD:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
     1. Select Disk Utility from the main menu then press the Continue
         button.
     2. Select the destination volume from the left side list.
     3. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
     4. Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag it
         to the Destination entry field.
     5. Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to
         the Source entry field.
     6. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
Destination means the external backup drive. Source means the internal startup drive.
Install or Reinstall Mavericks or Mountain Lion from Scratch
Be sure you backup your files to an external drive or second internal drive because the following procedure will remove everything from the hard drive.
OS X Mavericks- Erase and reinstall OS X
OS X Mountain Lion- Erase and reinstall OS X
OS X Lion- Erase and reinstall Mac OS X
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible
            because it is three times faster than wireless.

How to hide system files in finder

Is there a way to hide .? files and systems files that are grayed out in finder?

Open the Script Editor or AppleScript Editor in one of the subfolders of Applications and run the following:
tell application "Finder" to quit
if (do shell script "defaults read com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles") is "1" then
do shell script "defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles 0"
else
do shell script "defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles 1"
end if
delay 2
tell application "Finder" to run
If you change your mind later, run the script again.
(70820)

How to backup my files from a crashed 10.6.8 Mac?

Need help with my 10.6.8 Mac! It all started when I accidently kicked my power strip 2 days ago which turned the computer off. I have done this a million times before in the 3 years I have owned the computer, but it has never done this: when I start up the computer it completely freezes up after 30 secs -2 minutes. You can move the mouse around, but the spinning wheel appears and you can’t switch apps, force quit anything, etc.
This made me remember that my computer has one of the Seagate 1TB hard drives used certain iMac systems may fail (I got an email about it from apple). I have 1 month left to replace the hard drive under their warranty program, so this seemed like a good time to replace it.
The problem is, I need to somehow back up my files before I do take it in be replaced. I can’t use time machine normally because the computer freezes when I start it. So I decided to see if I could try and use the disk utility from the start up disk to fix the freezing problem in the meantime so I can back up my files normally. I put in the install disk, started it up, held C, and got the installation page. Here’s where I think I really f-d up though: after choosing the language, and hitting continue, I accidently prompted the start of it reinstalling the hard drive (I didn’t realize the utility option was at the top of the page and was supposed to choose it from there). I immediately used the quit option from the drag down menus at the top, which brought up a message saying something like you might not be able to restart your computer if you do this, but I did it anyway because I didn’t want to lose all my data. So now when I do open the disk utility and click on my hard drive it is red and says “take into apple representative” or something and when I try and click verify disk or whatever. So I tried clicking on the hard drive that is listed right below it (I think it said “Mac Hard drive,” and the main one above it at the top of the list is ”1 TB ST3” with a bunch of numbers after) and clicked verify disk,, which showed the following:
Verifying volume “Macintosh HD”
Checking Journaled HFS Plus Volume.
Checking catalog file.
(then in red writing)
invalid node structure
The volume Macintosh HD could not be verified completely.
Error: This disk needs to be repaired. Click Repair Disk.
So I clicked repair disk and it says
(in black)
Verify and Repair volume “disk0s2”
Volume Repair complete.
Updating boot support partitions for the volume as required.
(then in red writing)
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.
Next I tried plugging in my external hard drive and following the instructions from here: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1553 to create a “new image” to back up to. However when I tried to make the new image it gives me an error about unable to create invalid argument.
Basically my question is, is there any way for me back up the files from my computer?!?

Start up using your install disc and with your external drive connected. After selecting your language go to the Utilities menu and select Disk Utility, (don't make the same mistake again) erase and format your EXTERNAL hard drive, format as Mac OS Extended Journaled and quit Disk Utility. Go back to the installer screen and click continue, this time select to install OS X onthe EXTERNAL drive and install. When the installer is done restart this time holding down the OPTION key to get to the boot panel where you will select the external hard drive as your start up volume. When you are restarted choose to run either set up assistant or migration assistant and attempt to migrate your files and Apps from the damaged drive. Keep your fingers crossed that you haven't totally hosed the internal drive. Let us know how that goes.

How to backup older files

I lost my phone and I got a new one. How will I do to find older backup for my Iphone. I have backup with Timemachine.
When I connect my iphone to itunes it only finds one backup file (and it is my wifes backup) in my computer. I have backup files on external disk, but how do I find the right file? Which file is mine or my wifes?
Thnx

Try this:
http://www.iphonebackupextractor.com

How to backup/restore files stored in the local copy of my iDisk using time

I have a MobileMe account and thus I am using the iDisk. I configured it to have a local copy. Thus I imagine that Time Machine is making an hourly backup of it.
However, when I enter Time Machine to restore a file, I cannot open my iDisk (it goes to the current version, not the historical ones).
This is particularly worrying for me, as all my important files (except images, movies and music)are stored on my iDisk such that I can access them from my multiple computers.

From this PCWorld article:
[Back up IDisk With Time Machine|http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/190738/backup_idisk_with_timemachine.html]
This local copy is stored as a sparse image bundle, which you can find on your Snow Leopard Mac by moving to your user folder and then following this path: Library/FileSync/incomprehensibly-named-folder where incomprehensibly-named-folder bears a name made up of letters and numbers. Inside this folder is the file you're after--yourmobilemename_iDisk.sparsebundle.
Unless you've configured Time Machine to exclude your user folder and its contents, this is where you'll point Time Machine to look for a backup. Note that when you travel back in time and restore this file, you'll be warned that there already exists a file with that name and offered a choice to keep the original, keep both, or replace the original. I'd suggest keeping both. Here's why.
I'm going to assume that people would want access to their old iDisk because they've lost something from it between then and now. If you keep the original, you can't get to your old stuff. If you replace the current sparse image bundle with the old one, your iDisk and Mac are now out of sync and you won't have the files you added since the restore point until they're synced again. If you keep both, you have everything you need.
Move the restored file to your Desktop, double-click it to mount it, and grab the content you want. Leave the original where it was, remove the (original) that now appears in its name, and your Mac and iDisk can go back to syncing where they last left off.
------------------------------

Finder - how to hide system files / folders????

I did something (which I can't recall) and now there are a lot of system folders showing up in Finder windows. Examples:
.DS_Store

Open /Applications/Utilities/Terminal, copy the blue text in, and press enter:
defaults delete com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles;killall Finder
That deletes the preference entry to show all files, then restarts Finder.
Good luck!
Message was edited by: joshz

How to backup the files that are into the Time Capsule HD? is it possible?

Hi my question is not so simple...I think
I'm using a TC only as a router and a network HD
and I saved on it all my movies, tv shows and also my itunes library and iphoto library to share all this stuff also to my mac mini which is connected to my Plasma tv.
I wanna know if is it possible to backup with time machine the TC hard disk
because I don't know how to tell to time machine to backup not my macs but my TC.
I read this article that explain How to enable Time Machine on unsupported volumes
http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/10/how-to-enable-time-machine-on-unsupported-vol umes/
You think that if I activate this option Time Machine can read from TC and make a backup of it?
Message was edited by: riki1278

riki1278 wrote:
I wanna know if is it possible to backup with time machine the TC hard disk
No, sorry, Time Machine cannot back up a network drive.
You can copy ("archive") everything on the TC's internal HD to a USB drive connected to it, per the green box in #Q6 Using TIME MACHINE with a TIME CAPSULE *User Tip,* also at the top of this forum. That's probably the simplest and easiest way, but it's also likely the slowest.
Or, see Kappy's post on Basic Backup, complete with links to the web sites of each product. I've also heard that Chronosync may work for this purpose.

How to Backup Home Folder Only?

How do I backup only my home folder. I only want to backup my data not all the system stuff and applications. Time Machine only lets me exclude things. So what it the best way of telling it to exclude everything except my HOME folder? Thanks....

If you just want to do... then don't use Time Machine...
You should be looking at Backup... it was just updated.
You can use it to easily schedule a backup of your home folder.

Backup RAW files only

Hi there,
is it possible to backup the large RAW/DNG files on an external hard drive and keep the preview files on my laptop? Am working on a MacBook Pro and RAW files take up too much space. Still, I want to keep the previews.
Thanks a lot!!!
Carl

I am working on a Lenovo laptop with a small 80 gig hard drive... My catalog & previews are on my C drive
I have 2 external drives... 1 is 500 gig where i store my raw files... the other external drive is a 1 tera byte used to backup my raw file & my c drive.
To backup my main 500 gig, i use a small utility named Directoty Synchronizer... Once a day, i will start this utility & it will sync my 1 tera drive with my 500 gig... XMP files that has been updated will be copy over, files that has been deleeted on my main 500 gig will also be deleeted on my 1 tera, new rendered tif or JPG will be copy over etc... all that compeetly automated.
I also copy to the 1 tera the backup of the lightroom catalog that is made every day and once a week, (i am a bit parano when it comes to backup), i will image my C drive & put the image on my 1 tera byte external...
Of course, i also have backup copies of my raw files on DVD in case things goes verrrrrry bad...
I learned the hard way that backup is something we must not postpone after i lost 25 hours of work in photoshop to create a 20 pages album for 1 of my customer

OS X Mavericks - How to backup system files only

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for