Want to back-up all files to LaCie External, what do I do?

The manual or lack of one seems to do me no good. I see I can use Silverkeeper or LaCie 1-click backup. I want to use the one that will work best. I guess what I'd want to do is back up all my files in case my computer fails or crashes or something. I don't think I need to do a "bootable backup"...but maybe I do...I have no idea. Again, I want to make sure, if my hard drive fails, that I will have saved all my files to my external and have the ability to put them onto a new hard drive. I also want to partition the external into a backup, a music area, and a videos area. I know I go to disk utility for this.
So, in short my question is, should I use Silverkeeper of LaCie 1-click backup for backing up all my files in case of hard drive failure and also for saving music and videos to?

My personal recommendations are (order is not significant):
1. Retrospect Desktop (Commercial - not yet universal binary)
2. Synchronize! Pro X (Commercial)
3. Synk (Backup, Standard, or Pro)
4. Deja Vu (Shareware)
5. PsynchX 2.1.1 and RsyncX 2.1 (Freeware)
6. Carbon Copy Cloner (Freeware - 3.0 is a Universal Binary)
7. SuperDuper! (Commercial)
The following utilities can also be used for backup, but cannot create bootable clones:
1. Backup (requires a .Mac account with Apple both to get the software and to use it.)
2. Toast
3. Impression
4. arRSync
Apple's Backup is a full backup tool capable of also backing up across multiple media such as CD/DVD. However, it cannot create bootable backups. It is primarily an "archiving" utility as are the other two.
Impression and Toast are disk image based backups, only. Particularly useful if you need to backup to CD/DVD across multiple media.
Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQs on maintenance, optimization, virus protection, and backup and restore. Also read How to Back Up and Restore Your Files.
If you want to be sure you can quickly recover if your hard drive fails then you want to create a bootable backup on at least one partition of your external drive. Prepping the drive is done as follows:
Extended Hard Drive Preparation
1. Open Disk Utility in the Utilities folder.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Set the number of partitions from the dropdown menu (use 1 partition unless you wish to make more.) Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the volume(s) mount on the Desktop.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process will take 30 minutes to an hour or more depending upon the drive (volume) size.
7. Repeat Steps 4-6 for each volume you created if you created more than one.

Similar Messages

Backing up all files to an external hard drive

I recently converted over to a Macbook Pro from PC and had all of my PC data saved to an external Hard Drive. I can retreive the data fine, but I can't save anything to the Hard Drive. I have plenty of room on my Macbook, but old habits are hard to break and I like to back everything up at least once a week.
I do not want to reformat my External Hard drive as there is ALOT of information on there that would be lost.
So, how can I copy things over there, or drag them over to the External? When I try, it gives me the circle with the line through it.
And if you have time, tell me about Time Machine. I am interested, but it seems like alot of work, because I would have to copy everything off the hard drive, let Time Machine reformat it, and then copy it back. Seems VERY time consuming.
External hard drive is 2TB and has approximately 90GB on it.
Thanks for your help.

Sorry for missing this addition:
Drive Preparation for OS X
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Security button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.
Steps 4-6 are optional but should be used on a drive that has never been formatted before, if the format type is not Mac OS Extended, if the partition scheme has been changed, or if a different operating system (not OS X) has been installed on the drive.

I recently lost my windows laptop due to a virus. I had backed up all files onto a drive(files only). However no itunes playlists. i have all my playlists on my iphone and pics etc however when im trying to sync to my new computer itunes deletes all data

I recently lost my windows laptop due to a virus. I had backed up all files onto a drive(files only). However no itunes playlists. i have all my playlists on my iphone and pics etc however when im trying to sync to my new computer itunes wants to deletes all data off of my iphone so i click cancel
i want to update to iOS 5 and still have itunes be able to copy my playlists from my iphone. for free. why does apple provide a recovery from iphone option?

If you have a backup, restore the ENTIRE iTunes folder to the computer. This restores the library and device association files. If for some reason you chose to only back up the media and not the entire iTunes folder, then the only option is to let iTunes wipe the drive and re-sync.

HT204350 I have a Mac Book Pro with 10.6.8 and want to back up my files using a flash drive. It says I did it but when I tried to check on my other Mac - an I Mac with 10.5.8, thedata does not seem to be there. I cant see photos, etc.

I have a Mac Book Pro with 10.6.8 and want to back up my files using a flash drive. It says I did it but when I tried to check on my other Mac - an I Mac with 10.5.8, thedata does not seem to be there. I cant see photos, etc.. It shows the backup as a file and shows various system info. but there are no photos or other files shown.
Thanks for any advise.
Mike

A PowerPC Mac, if that's what it is, won't be able to see an Intel Mac's formatted data. Also ExFat formatting is not supported by 10.6.3 or earlier. I would try viewing the backup on another Intel Mac with at least 10.6.4. If it isn't there, then the backup never really took place. I much profer a hard drive with Carbon Copy Cloner.

How do I restore all of my itunes content onto my newly installed computer drive? All my purchase are no longer in my account but I did back up the files onto an external hard drive. Now how do I get them back? Please

how do I restore all of my itunes content onto my newly installed computer drive? All my purchase are no longer in my account but I did back up the files onto an external hard drive. Now how do I get them back? Please

Ummals wrote:
...I did back up the files onto an external hard drive. ...
Did you follow all the steps as detailed here...
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1751

I want to back up all my photos to a flash drive - how to do?

I have PSE8 and am running Win7 64 bit laptop. I want to back up all my photos to a flash drive. I can't seem to do this within my PSE8, just gives me the option of copying to a CD or DVD. Should I be doing this from My Pictures or can I do this in PSE8? Not very good at this type of thing so would appreciate instructions. There are 9600 photos but only equal 12 gigs. Thanks.

Check out http://bit.ly/nzcmK7 and http://bit.ly/AwcWzu to decide yourself that which workflow fits better to you. Ideally recommended workflow is to have Backup of your Catalog which will take backup of all your Photographs with appropriare organization structures you have in Catalog.

Currently my internal drive is full due to Aperture. I want to work with Aperture from a external drive verses my internal drive. In addition, I want to back-up my work to another external drive. Is this easily done? Does this make sense? Pros / Cons...

Currently my internal drive is out of space due to my Aperture files. I want to place Aperture on a external drive to work from verses in intnal drive. In addition, I want to back-up all my work to another external for safe keeping. Once I move aperture to the external, I want to delete it off my internal drive. Does this make sense to do? Pros / Cons....

It is common for people to move their Aperture, iPhoto, iTunes etc. files to an external drive when those files become too large to conveniently keep on the internal drive.
The best approach is probably to keep the applications (iPhoto, Aperture etc.) where they are now, but move the files (photos, music, videos etc.) to the external drive.
You should set up a process to regularly backup all the files from both the internal drive as well as the external drive you'll be using. Here are two approaches:
(1) Use Time Machine. You can configure Time Machine so that it backs up both the internal drive as well as the external drive, all to a third separate backup drive. This is done via the Options button in the Time Machine preference pane.
(2) You can use a "cloning" program, such as SuperDuper, Carbon Copy Cloner, to make complete copies of files on your internal drive and that external drive. One way to do this is to use a very large disk for the backups, and to partition it into two backup drives, making one dedicated to the internal, the other dedicated to the external.
Two separate types of backups are recommended. I use both (1) and (2) above, and I disconnect and shut down the clone type backups when not being used. That way a power failure or surge that might destroy the original disk(s) plus the Time Machine backup(s) would still not damage the backups made under (2).
Don't delete your original Aperture files until you have verified that they are working properly from the external drive AND you have made a backup of them.

IMac 10.5.8 is stuck on Apple logo loading screen , how can I back up my files with an external hard drive ?

so my iMac (10.5.8 its pretty old ) got stuck on the apple logo loading screen (as I call it lol) and it will not go beyond that .I've already made and appointment for the genius bar but now would I back up my files with an external hard drive ? No unfortunately I don't have any other laptop or computer just the external hard drive. how would I back it up? Does it have something to do with "target disc mode"?

Hi,
Thank you for great advice re SuperDuper.
You wasnt to know we didnt live in USA. We will try to get the full retail version of Leopard off the net. We will also phone round the apple resellers.
In the meantime, we are happy running Tiger with the knowledge that SuperDuper has cloned our hard drive in case of a disaster.
SuperDuper recommended backing up the hard drive with a new user account if we were using filevault on the master account. We backed up our hard drive without creating a new user with filevault as we could not read the pdf `Instuctions as preview was not responding.
Is this copy safe to use as a bootable drive or should we copy our entire HD again using a new user account without filevault?
Keith & Shem

I replaced my hard drive and I backed up my files on an external hard drive but when I reloaded my iweb to my imac none of my files were on it so I can't make changes to my Published web site have I lost my files what can I do

I replaced my hard drive and I backed up my files on an external hard drive but when I reloaded my iweb to my imac none of my files were on it so I can't make changes to my Published web site have I lost my files what can I do

By default iWeb keeps its data in (user)/Library/Application Support/iWeb in a file named Domain. Without this file you cannot proceed (other than by recreating the site from scratch using the published version as a reference) so you need to locate it on the original disk.
To confuse matters, Apple have hidden the user’s Library folder in Lion and Mountain Lion to casual viewers, in an attempt to stop new Mac users messing their machines up. To access it, in the Finder go to the ‘Go’ menu and hold down the Option (Alt) key; the Library folder will appear as a choice.

Please help with backing up and updating on Lacie external HD

hello,
This is my first time to use an external HD. I am mainly using it to back up photos, music, bookmarks, fonts, address book and movies. Once I get everything on the external hd, how does one go about updating periodically? Do I have to manually update every category? There isn't a way that you can tell the computer to update the files is there? I have heard from some people that you can schedule updates. The Lacie website or user guide has no info on updating!
Sorry to be asking such dumb questions, but I really don't understand how the update process works. Thanks!

Cathy:
Nice going. Backing up is the best thing you can do for your data. I suggest that you make a bootable clone of your entire HDD rather than backing up individual files. In that way you will have a current backup, as well as an emergency boot drive and you can boot from the external drive and run diagnosics and repairs on your internal HDD.
First you need to format your HDD. It it is larger than you internal HDD, I suggest that you partition it so that the first partition is approximately the size of your internal HDD, and the other partition you can use for whatever. Dr. Smoke's FAQ Backup and Recovery has excellent tips on backup. He uses Retrospect, which I have found difficult to use. As suggested by the previous poster, SuperDuper and Carbon Copy Cloner are the cloning utilities of choice. There are differences, but the main difference which impacts you immediately is that to be able to make regular updates of your clone you will need to register SuperDuper ($28), while Carbon Copy Cloner is donation ware.
Here are step by step directions for formatting and partitioning your extnernal HDD:
Formatting, Partitioning Erasing an External HDD
• Connect external HDD to computer
• Turn on external HDD
• Start up computer and log in
• Go to Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility and launch DU.
• Select your HDD (manufacturer ID) in left side bar.
• Select Partition tab in main panel.
• Select number of partitions in pull-down menu above Volume diagram.
For more partitions than one, after you have selected the number of partitions adjust the size of the partition by selecting the top partition and typing in the size; then move down if more adjustments need to be made.
(See Dr. Smoke’s FAQ Backup and Recovery for tips on partitioning external HDD)
• Type in name in Name field (HD Backup, or whatever you want to call it)
• Select Volume Format as Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
• Click Partition button at bottom of panel.
• Select Erase tab
• Select the sub-volume (indented) under Manufacturer ID
• Check to be sure your Volume Name and Volume Format are correct.
• Click Erase button
• Repeat above procedure to erase each partition
• Quit Disk Utility.
Once you have formatted your HDD, now you are ready to clone your internal HDD to it.
Creating a Clone using Carbon Copy Cloner
• Connect external HDD to computer
• Download and launch Carbon Copy Cloner
• Select a Source. This will normally be the Disk which you want to backup
• If you wish to backup/clone only your Users Folder or other folder click on the checkbox. If you want to copy the entire HDD, check Macintosh HD.
• Select a Target. This will normally be your external HDD, (or, if you so decide, you can backup/clone to a Disk Image on the external HDD.)
• Cloning Options: for the first time you should backup everything. For updating your backup you should select Incremental backup of selected items.
• If you want your clone to be an exact copy of the original you should check the box to Delete items not on the original.
• Click Clone
Clone Old HDD to new HDD using SuperDuper
• Format external HDD (see directions above)
• Connect external HDD to computer
• Download and launch SuperDuper
• In the Copy field select your internal HDD
• To is your newly formatted external HDD
• Using backup all files
• Click Options button
• Check Repair Disk Permissions on Source
• During copy Erase Destination HDD then copy from Source
• On successful completion Quit SuperDuper
Please do post back with further questions/comments.
cornelius

Do i have to delete all files on my external hard drive, to make a Backup of my Macbook?

Hi!
I Have a MacBook Pro, and i want to make a Backup of it (with help from Time Machine.)
- To a external hard drive, but, i have one little issue, and that is that i already have other files on that external hard drive, (from other computers..) but when a start up Time Machine, it want me to delete all thoose files, (which i wouldn't!)
So what can i do, if i want to make a backup of my mac, on a external hard drive, where there already are other files on which i don't want to delete?
Please respond quikly!
Thanks!
Magnus Ejlskov.

Magnus,
To add to Barney-15E's point, not only must the drive be formatted correctly, but the volume or partition being used for Time Machine (TM) must be used for TM and for TM only. You indicate that you want to store other files on this hard drive. That's fine. But those files should be stored in a separate partition and NOT the partition that will be mapped to TM. TM backs up incrementally. It will automatically delete the oldest back-ups as space is required for newer back-ups. Any files stored in the TM partition that are not stored anywhere else will, eventually, be deleted.

Backing up all my photos on external hard drive

Hi!
I have iPhoto 4.0.3 (no need to upgrade, nor have I had the time to do it yet), and I have 6,347 photos. It says that I'm using 3,506 MB. My computer isn't running slowly, but I haven't bought extra RAM and I'm sure iPhoto isn't helping the speed of my computer. I have a LaCie external hard drive with 104.12 GB available. I have heard that I should drag my "iPhoto Library" folder to the external hard drive and save it there. I already have supposedly saved all my pictures on a DVD as well. My first question: Is just dragging and dropping this folder to the ext. hard drive sufficient or is there something else I need to do to make sure it is transferred? Second question: Once transferred to the LaCie, will these pictures only open in iPhoto? Third: Is it then safe to delete all my photos in the iPhoto program?
Thanks!
Kim

iPhoto Help topics of interest...
"backing up your iPhoto Library folder"
"moving your iPhoto Library"
"switching between photo libraries"

How to back up 'new files only' to external hard drive?

not sure i'm doing this the best way.... any suggestions would be great!
i have my master photo/video library on my desktop (using a file tree that i've grown & know exactly where things are since 2003- (pre mac).
that file is on mac + saved to an external hard drive. i back this up to my external often, BUT I'm not sure if i'm doing it the best way.
i add photos, change the master file name w/ current 'added to' date, then drag or copy to the external hard drive and it copies/writes. then i go and delete 'older file date' to keep space on external. i've tried to copy using the w/o changing the file name, but then i have 2 copies of same file name on back up and i have to browse to see which one has the new photos?! is there a way to add only the 'new' photos/files to the external instead of doing a complete copy, then i can go and update the file name w/ a current date? concerned that my method of add new master file/ delete old master file will create eventual problems on the external?

BenB wrote:
The auto-backup is the database only, not the media.
To back up the whole Library totally, first make sure to Consolidate it, then simply drag-and-drop it on to the backup drive, that simple.
The KB article referenced by Karsten suggests one additional step: make sure your copy of the library is not at the root level of the drive to which you are copying it. I have not clue why this might be important.
Herewith:
Back up your Project Library and events using the Finder
To create a single backup copy of your Project Library and events, you can copy the Final Cut Projects folder and Final Cut Events folder to an external storage device.
If you are backing up incrementally, create a folder structure that helps you easily navigate through your backup folders. You could label the folders with the date you made the backup copy, for example.
Important: To avoid issues, it’s essential that you place the backup files in a folder (named “2012 Final Cut Pro Backups,” for example) that is not at the root level of your external storage device.
In the Finder, locate and select your Final Cut Projects folder and Final Cut Events folder.Your Movies folder is the default location for all project and event files:/Users/username/Movies/ Important: If you moved a project or event after you created it, it will not be in the default location.
Drag the Final Cut Projects and Final Cut Events folders to the external storage device.
The folders are copied to your external storage device.

All files saved to external HD in last 2 days are gone or corrupt.

The last couple days I've had specifically two whole folders and all files inside either go corrupt or missing on my external hard drive. At first I thought my external was just failing so I recreated one of the projects and saved to another external hard drive. Woke up this morning and that folder is completely missing along with the 2-3 files inside. Now, I'm scared it's a Mac issue not a hard drive failure.
I save all my files to an external hard drive which then gets backed up via CrashPlan to their online backup. Unfortunately CrashPlan is slow to upload files so the most recent ones are not backed up.
I'm running 10.8.5, haven't updated to Mav yet. Is that advisable?
Help help help.
Thank you!

Back up all data immediately as your boot drive may be failing.
This diagnostic procedure will query the log for messages that may indicate a system issue. It changes nothing, and therefore will not, in itself, solve your problem.
If you have more than one user account, these instructions must be carried out as an administrator. I've tested them only with the Safari web browser. If you use another browser, they may not work as described.
Triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it:
syslog -k Sender kernel -k Message CReq 'GPU |hfs: Ru|I/O e|find tok|n Cause: -|NVDA\(|timed? ?o' | tail | open -ef
Copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C.
Launch the Terminal application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.
Paste into the Terminal window (command-V).
The command may take a noticeable amount of time to run. Wait for a new line ending in a dollar sign (“$”) to appear.
A TextEdit window will open with the output of the command. Normally the command will produce no output, and the window will be empty. If the TextEdit window (not the Terminal window) has anything in it, post it — the text, please, not a screenshot. The title of the TextEdit window doesn't matter, and you don't need to post that.

HT201250 i would like to use time machine but also back up other file to my external drive?

I just got a WD T3 external hard drive and I would like to use time machine but also back up other files that to the drive. Can anyone help me out.
Thanks Mark

You would need to go to your Applications folder>Utilities>Disk Utility> and there create Two Partitions on your external hard drive, naming them differently. Then you could go back to your desktop, open the dock, right click on the Time Machine icon and select "Open Time Machine Preferences". In there select the external hard drive Partition that you want to use for TM. The other external drive partition will be available for other uses.
Hope this helps

Want to back-up all files to LaCie External, what do I do?

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