Question about External HD as Backup

I'm backing up my HD using a LaCie external and SuperDuper. SuperDuper is set to erase the external and transfer files/folders, etc. from the HD to the external and reboot the computer using the external. Everything seems to work fine but I thought whichever is the start up HD whether it be the Macintosh HD or the external HD, that HD should be above the other. So if the external HD is the start up one then it should be above the Macintosh HD/computer HD. But it is not. So, when I restart and pressing on the option key(I think that's the one), the external should be the one but it is in the same spot all of the time. So, I don't know whether the computer started up using the computer HD or the external. Am I doing this whole thing correctly? How can I make sure the HD I'm using is the one I want without going to system folder and changing the start up disc.

My previous machine was Tiger 10.4.11 and I recently got a new machine running Snow Leopard 10.6.5. I was always "obsessed" in keeping my disks in the same position on my desktop, so much so I used a app called DIM (as a login item) to ensure the disk positions,
http://www.parker9.com/desktopIconManager2.0.html#d
One of the first things I noticed on SL is that I didn't need DIM. The SL Finder apparently remembers where the disks are placed on the desktop from boot-to-boot no matter which disk it happens to boot from.
On Tiger I used to depend on which boot disk appeared first (top right) as a confirmation that I actually booted from that disk. Of course I had to look fast before DIM (as a login item) switched the disk positions But if I didn't happen to notice which disk appeared first I could always do what I now do on SL and use Terminal (I always keep a terminal session "laying around") with the command,
ls -l /Volumes
Whichever volume is symlinked to "/" is obviously the boot volume.
...Of course "About this Mac" is a good suggestion too

Similar Messages

A question about restoring from cold backup(control file backup not clear)

Hi,
I had another question about restoring the cold backup. My database is in noarchivelog mode and after taking a consistent cold backup, all I need to do is to restore the backup right? -Why I got this question is because: when I backup my control file to trace, I see statements like this:-----
-- Commands to re-create incarnation table
-- Below log names MUST be changed to existing filenames on
-- disk. Any one log file from each branch can be used to
-- re-create incarnation records.
-- ALTER DATABASE REGISTER LOGFILE '/uo1/app1/arch1_1_647102958.dbf';
-- Recovery is required if any of the datafiles are restored backups,
-- or if the last shutdown was not normal or immediate.
RECOVER DATABASE
-- Database can now be opened normally.
ALTER DATABASE OPEN;
My database is in noarchivelog mode now so don't know why these statements (of register the logfile) is there in the backup of control file? so when I restore the cold backup of this database, it will still work correct? (there is no logfile I have only CRD files in cold backup -no archive log files.)
thanks
Nirav

Thanks for your inputs! It is most useful to me.
Regards
Nirav

Two basic, related questions about external HDs and trashing/erasing

I have a couple of questions about using an external hard drive that I can't seem to get answered by surfing around. They'll probably seem stupid and basic, but ... Here they are:
1. When you drag a file from your external hard drive to the trash, does that file actually transfer to the main hard drive's trash, and thus the main hard drive? For instance, say I'm deleting a 4 GIG file. Will I temporarily add 4 GIGs to my main drive in the process of deleting it?
2. With a multipartitioned ext. drive, can you erase the contents of a single partition with the disk utility, thus bypassing having to drag-trash everything on that partition?
Thanks.
G5 iMac Mac OS X (10.4.2) Powerbook (10.4.6)

1. No. The files are moved to an invisible .Trash directory on the external volume. No copying of data takes place between volumes when you move stuff to the trash.
2. Yes. You can use Disk Utility to erase or securely erase just a single Volume on a disk, leaving the other volumes unaffected. Simply click on the name of the Volume in the left pane of Disk Utilitly, click on the Erase tab in the right pane, and choose the options you want for erasing the volume.

Question about external displays.

Just curious about external display use with the macbook.
I want to link up using DVI to DVI but I recently read that my external display will only show the same as the macbook display, and that i cant use the macbook display, and the external display as two seperate screens? but i read its possible to do on the macbook pro. Is this correct?

I don't normally use my macbook with my primary display, but I have tried it out.
I hooked it up via vga, rather than dvi though.
It worked fine, but defaulted to mirrored. There is an option in the settings to disable mirroring, and use the macbook as the primary and the external as the secondary.
I haven't found any way to swap them, and have the macbook as the secondary display.
The management of the screens was pretty cool though. You can drag and drop the screens so their relative position is set up how you want it (over/under, left/right, etc).
hope that this helps...
-jamie
MacBook 2.0GHz (white) Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Thunderbolt / USB3 questions about external backup drives for my new MacBook Pro

I have a new MacBook Pro retina 13". It has two USB3 and two Thunderbolt2 ports.
Until now on my iMac I've kept two backups on two WD USB2 drives. I have never had any problems with any of my WD Passport drives. One for Time Machine and one for CCC (a complete bootable clone incrementally created at 3:30 am every day).
I'd like to get new portable drives for my MBP for these backups going forward and have a few very basic questions, since this is the first time to have a device with a USB3 port, and the first time I even heard about Thunderbolt.
If I get a USB3 drive and need to use it to restore things on my older iMac, which just has USB2, will it generally connect and run with USB2 at a slower speed? Or would I have to get a drive with both USB2 and USB3 ports?
Is Thunderbolt just an Apple thing? Or is it a new standard widely used by peripherals now? I just never heard of it before. Is it faster than USB3?
Is it common for drives to have both Thunderbolt and USB2 connections?
Are there "hubs" for Thunderbolt like there are for USB? Considering the limited number of ports, I'm wondering the best way to connect 2 external drives. My iMac has 4 USB2 ports on the back, and I connect one drive separate to each of those ports, rather than going through a hub.
Is USB3 like USB2 in that if you have even 1 USB2 device (e.g. my Logitech headset) connected to a USB3 hub it will slow down everything on that hub to USB2?
Any recommendations for good, portable backup drives?
Thanks,
Doug

Hi Doug,
Lets see if we can address some of these:
If I get a USB3 drive and need to use it to restore things on my older iMac, which just has USB2, will it generally connect and run with USB2 at a slower speed? Or would I have to get a drive with both USB2 and USB3 ports?
USB3 is "backwards compatible" with USB2 so plugging a USB3 drive into a USB2 port should work, but at USB2 speeds.
Is it common for drives to have both Thunderbolt and USB2 connections?
Drives sold as Thunderbolt often (not always) have USB as well, drives sold as USB never (in my experience) have Thunderbolt connections.
Are there "hubs" for Thunderbolt like there are for USB? Considering the limited number of ports, I'm wondering the best way to connect 2 external drives. My iMac has 4 USB2 ports on the back, and I connect one drive separate to each of those ports, rather than going through a hub.
Yes there are (but don't expect them to be comparable in price to a USB hub) e.g. see here: http://www.belkin.com/uk/p/P-F4U055/
Is Thunderbolt just an Apple thing? Or is it a new standard widely used by peripherals now? I just never heard of it before. Is it faster than USB3?
I'ts an Apple technology (like firewire) and is far from widely used on peripherals. There ARE Thunderbolt drives etc by companies such as LaCie, WD etc but they are still very expensive (3 or 4x the price of an equivalent sized USB drive). For some this was a worthwhile expense since Thunderbolt is many times faster than USB2. But the arrival of USB3 has, in my opinion, changed the landscape. Yes, Thunderbolt is theoretically faster than USB3 (up to twice as fast) but benchmark tests have shown that in real world situations, the speed difference varies from no difference to Thunderbolt being 25 or 30% faster. When you take into account that USB3 drives are more common than Thunderbolt and are only a little more expensive than USB2 drives at present, then it's a "no brainer" as far as I am concerned.
Hope this helps.
Jon

Need help reinstalling Yosemite/Question about external hard drive

I have an early MacBook Pro and I have to reinstall Yosemite because I've been getting nothing but spinning beach balls, slow loading, lag in type showing up, and wi-fi issues. I took the laptop to the Genius Bar at the Apple store last week and they ran diagnostics on everything and all was perfectly OK. No hardware issues, no memory issue and he said my laptop was very clean. He saw the spinning beach ball many times while he was working on my laptop and suggested that I turn off File Vault as that could be causing the slowdown. He said if that didn't work (it didn't) to buy an external hard drive (which I received today) and to back up everything through Time Machine then reinstall Yosemite. I specifically bought an external HD that says "for Mac" and as soon as I connected it Time Machine opened and did the backup.
Now these are my questions. Are all my photos on iPhoto, and my Word for Mac documents backed up so that when I reinstall Yosemite, everything is going to be right where I left it? Will I lose Word for Mac and have to reinstall it? Isn't Word for Mac a one time use/install and will I have trouble and have to call Microsoft to input my authentication key in again and will they let me? I know silly questions but I'm really worried about losing stuff.
Also step-by-step detailed instruction on how to reinstall Yosemite would really be appreciated. Thank you!

YoJoLo wrote:
Are all my photos on iPhoto, and my Word for Mac documents backed up so that when I reinstall Yosemite, everything is going to be right where I left it?
If you have taken the backup using the Time machine then there is nothing to worry as all your photos from iPhotos and Word for mac documents are backup safely by your time machine.
Only keep one thing in mind that the external HDD which you use for the time machine backup should have the capacity size of about 3-4 times that of your backup data size. Or else, the time machine external drive will start deleting the files if the external drive is about to be full.
YoJoLo wrote:
Will I lose Word for Mac and have to reinstall it? Isn't Word for Mac a one time use/install and will I have trouble and have to call Microsoft to input my authentication key in again and will they let me?
You absolutely don’t have to reinstall the Word for mac if its install in the first place because Time machine will backup the system installed files of your MS Word which you had installed.
Word for mac is a one time install and you don’t have to call Microsoft for any authentication key after you have restored your Word backup files from the time machine drive. As I said before the time machine will backup your Word system installed files leaving you no chance to reinstall it again.
YoJoLo wrote:
Also step-by-step detailed instruction on how to reinstall Yosemite would really be appreciated. Thank you!
Here, Yosemite reinstall procedure......
Important: To reinstall OS X, you must be connected to the Internet. Make sure your power adapter is plugged in. Reinstall OS X using the built-in recovery disk.
In the menu bar, choose Apple menu > Restart. Once your Mac restarts (and the gray screen appears), hold down the Command and R keys.
Select Disk Utility, then click Continue.
Select your startup disk on the left, then click the Erase tab.
Choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled) from the Format menu, enter a name, then click Erase.
Important: Erasing the disk removes all the information from the disk. Be sure to back up the information you want to keep to an external device.
After the disk is erased, choose Disk Utility > Quit Disk Utility.
Select Reinstall OS X, click Continue, then follow the onscreen instructions.
Hope this helps.....

Question about external HD DVD (Blue Ray) players with Tecra M5

I have a TECRA M5 laptop (running XP) although this question could be relevant to other laptop users with no internal HD DVD players.
Is there an external (e.g. USB) HD DVD that I could connect to my laptop? So to watch HD movies on my laptop?
If such a thing exists would it also plug directly to a HD TV (as my laptop has no HDMI)?
Is there any way I could swap my existing internal DVD for a HD one?

Oh man,
I will show you why you _shouldnt_ think about buying an external drive for your machine.
1. Yes, there are PLENTY of external HD DVD drives, mostly of them are connected trough USB
2. You could plug it in your notebook, yes, and probably you could play HD DVD movies on your machine but NOT in HD since your display only supports a maximum resolution of 1024x768 pixels, but HD movies need at least a resolution of 1280x720. Any sufficiently fast computer with a 1280x720 or higher resolution display is capable of displaying HD video, even though computers are generally not advertised as such.
3. No, you cannot plug it directly into a HD TV, I mean why dont you buy then a HD DVD player???
4. Yes you could, but are you familiar enough with computers systems to exchange a drive which is built in your machine?? If you really would spend the money for the drive you should ask then spend some extra money for an technician. ;)
Cheers

Question about using an incremental backup to update a standby

We have a 2TB Oracle 10g database with a standby and the application that uses it is about to be updated. We're using cumulative incremental backups with block change tracking to back it up with weekly level 0 backups. The application upgrade will be making a lot of changes (several hundred GB) and we have stop the standby during the upgrade process as a quick way to get back (we don't have the space for a flashback recovery) in the event that there are issues with the upgrade. We can just let the archivelogs back up and get them over to the standby and applied once they decide they like the upgrade but, it looks like it would be simpler and perhaps quicker to use an incremental backup to update the standby. I probably won't but, If we do that, it looks like we can turn off archivelogs in the primary and not deal with them at all. I've never tried this but, I do have some questions.
Does it make sense to take this approach?
If we were to turn off archivelogs in the primary, would that have any effect on block change tracking? I don't see why it would but, had to ask. Of course, we would turn archivelogs back on and take a level 1 backup after the upgrade.
Thanks in advance for the education.

Funny you should mention that rolling upgrade, I'm actually planning to do that in another environment. My testing says it works pretty well and I'll be able to move a 400GB database to new hardware and upgrade it to 11g with very little downtime. However, in this case, the database is not being upgraded. The application is. It's just that, as part of that upgrade, there are a lot of updates and I'd just as soon not deal with the archivelogs for that. Here's what I was thinking about:
Set logs shipping to defer in the primary.
Stop log apply in the standby.
Turn off archivelogs in the primary.
Do the application update.
If they like the results, turn archivelogs back on in the primary.
Take an rman incremental backup from scn in the primary.
Apply the incremental backup to the standby.
Start log log apply in the standby.
Start log shipping in the primary.
The process for getting and using the incremental is described here:
http://docs.oracle.com/cd/B19306_01/backup.102/b14191/rcmdupdb.htm#BGBCEBJG
This isn't your regular incremental backup.
So, am I the only crazy one? Has anyone else tried this?

Question about making a project backup with Media Manager

I have several projects that I am working on right now. I'd like to make a backup of these projects and burn them to DVDs. The question I have is when I select "copy" with Media Manager it shows me how much space the backup will be. Without selecting the render files each of my projects would fit a a single DVD. If I don't include render files can they easily be recreated by just re-rendering the backup project?
Thanks!

Backing up a project file takes very little space. Backing up the media associated with that project can take up a tremendous amount of space. By using Media Manager, I assume that you want to back up (copy) the media ... correct?
Do you only have 4.3gb of media used in the project you want to back up? That's all the data a DVD disc will hold.
-DH

A simple question about external hard drives.

hi. this may be a stupid question but i kinda need to know the answer.
can you use any external hard drive on a mac mini?
also does the mac mini come with a wireless card?

Welcome to Apple Discussions!
can you use any external hard drive on a mac mini?
Nearly any, but not necessarily all. Some bus-powered hard drives will not function at all, or may function inconsistently, and not all external drives will satisfactorily daisy chain, but by and large any mains-powered USB or Firewire drive will work. If intended for use to boot an Intel-based Mac (or to be bootable for such a system in case of problems with the internal), it will need to be partitioned in the GUID scheme (achieved easily via Disk Utility).
Firewire is better than USB if you have the option, simply because FW is more consistent in data transfer performance. USB drives are typically cheaper if cost is a significant factor.
In some ways, choice of drive may be affected by intended use. For example, if you intend to boot the system with it, a fast (meaning 7200rpm) drive with Firewire interface would be a good choice, while if being used for storing an iTunes library, a slower 5400 rpm drive with USB2.0 interface would be perfectly adequate.
also does the mac mini come with a wireless card?
All current Mac minis come with 'Airport' wifi already installed, though the original entry-level mini did not have wifi as standard. If your mini is one of these earlier ones, wifi can be added in a number of ways. If it's a later model, an Airport icon is normally set to show on the menu bar. It looks like a fan and if switched off, the fan will be blank, in on but not connected to a network, it'll show 4 grey arcs, and if on and connected, the arcs will be black.

R200 - Question about external display resolution 1920*1200

My boss has bought this screen and is a little bit disappointed because he can't reach the maximum resolution of the 23" tft screen 1920*1200. The R200 proposes only resolution that have an aspect ratio of 4:3 so the maximum for the screen is 1600*1200. Is there a "special" driver for the graphic chip that allow non 4:3 resolution ?
Thanks

Hello
As far as I know on external display the maximum resolution is restriction of the graphic card and unfortunately there is nothing to do. The only thing that you can do is to check all settings in TFT menu. I am pretty sure that there you will find an option for picture format switching.
Bye

A question about external microphone called "thumbtacks"

I recently bought one of those small microphone the size of a pin called thumbtacks, is great small and easily comfortable. Those microphones feels like the Itouch has an built-in microphone on it, I tested it on several recording apps works great. I even tried it on shazam and it works like a charm, but I didn't get much luck was on the VoIP apps like skype among others.... I don't know if I was the cause of it not working or because I mistakenly thought it will work on VoIP apps. Everytime that I try using the skype app there appears like an iPhone calls features like mute, speaker, among others button on the screen while on a voip call. I tried pressing the speaker icon but nothing I couldn't hear the other person speaking, they could only hear me. Am I doing something wrong or I might need to return the item?
Thanks to all, and any help I would appreciated it.
Message was edited by: John-macOwner

John--
**gentle chiding tone in voice**
Come on--you've been here long enough to know that Christmas weekend means questions aren't always answered in a few hours.
**more serious tone**
I don't have a thumbtack mic; I'd like one. But my understanding is that they are designed for recording, not VoIP. They don't look like they're engineered for VoIP; you might have better luck with earphones with mic combo.
Blessings to you in the New Year--I'm looking forward to seeing more of your posts!
Doc

Question about external drives

Hi
I currently have all my mp3s in a USB Western Digital hard drive
So when I open Itunes there is a little slowness in opening Itunes and getting the whole library in there?
Would it all be faster if I put the mp3 on a Firewire drive?

When you open iTunes, it is not loading every song and video you have. It is only loading the iTunes library file, which is the database that tracks all of you iTunes media. And that library is usually located on your internal drive, in your user hold folder, at
/Music/iTunes/
It is only your +iTunes Music+ or +iTunes Media+ folder that has been moved.
So no, I don't think it will make a noticeable difference. iTunes may need to briefly hit the external drive to confirm it is accessible, when it starts up. So the actual delay may be caused by the external drive being in sleep mode. The delay is from the drive needing to spin up.
You can try a test. Run iTunes. Immediately quit. Then immediately run iTunes again. Does you iTunes library come up faster the second time?

Questions about external hard drive

I'm running out of space on my macbook and am going to get an external hard drive, at least 500Gb. I see all kinds of different prices here and at places like circuit city, best buy, etc. I was wondering if just any external drive that uses USB will be fine, in which case I'd look for the best deal. But I play a lot of video files on my macbook, which is what the new drive will mostly hold. Will accessing/playing video files on the external drive be slower than it is on the macbook itself?

Any external drive would likely be OK. Firewire would be faster than USB, so preferable. You can also make your own external drive.
Although you can buy a complete FireWire or USB drive system, you can also put one together if you are so inclined. It's relatively easy and only requires a Phillips head screwdriver (typically.) You can purchase hard drives separately. This gives you an opportunity to shop for the best prices on a hard drive of your choice. Reliable brands include Seagate, Hitachi, Western Digital, Toshiba, and Fujitsu. You can find reviews and benchmarks on many drives at Storage Review.
Enclosures for FireWire and USB are readily available. You can find only FireWire enclosures, only USB enclosures, and enclosures that feature multiple ports. I would stress getting enclosures that use the Oxford chipsets (911, 921, 922, for example.) You can find enclosures at places such as;
Cool Drives
OWC
WiebeTech
Firewire Direct
California Drives
NewEgg
All you need do is remove a case cover, mount the hard drive in the enclosure and connect the cables, then re-attach the case cover. Usually the only tool required is a small or medium Phillips screwdriver.

Question About External Monitor Resolution

Can my external monitor's resolution (such as 1920/1200) connected to my macbook be higher then the 1280/800 my computer has?

The problem with running in mirrored mode is that the external display will be limited to a set of resolutions that match the aspect ratios that are supported by the MacBook's internal LCD. This means that you will end up with a limited set of resolutions on your external display and it may even be impossible to select the optimum or native resolution for your external display (when running in the mirrored mode). However, when you disable mirrored mode you should be able to select any resolution that is supported by the external display itself (as reported by the display hardware). However, there have been reports of users having problems with resolution settings when they connect a display using HDMI, since in some cases that appears to default to a maximum resolution of 1920x1080, which is the standard 1080P for HDTV.

Question about External HD as Backup

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