Want to reinstall OS X -- recommendation for back up appllication data?

Hi,
I want to reinstall OS X on my iMac. But I need to backup some Apple application data first so I can restore it later.
Specifically, all the email in Mail.app, all the songs/albumart/otherdata for iTunes, and the data in Address Book.
Can someone point me in the right direction for how to back up then restore this data? If there's a commerical app that will handle this easily for me, that might be good too (but most backup apps I've seen are intended for coping an entire disk, I don't think that's what I'm looking for).
Any help is greatly appreciated! Thanks,
slegge

slegge,
How to back up and restore your important Mac OS X 10.4 files, is a good place to start.
;~)

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HT3728 i want to use my time capsule for back-ups only and not connect it to the internet

I live in digs and with perfectly good wi-fi. Therefore, I simply want to use my Time Capsule for backing up my iMac. Airport Utility doesn't seem to want to let me do this and insists I connect the unit to the internet first.

I gave full info for how to do this setup in this thread with screen shots..
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4817218?tstart=30
Any of it you don't follow just ask.
The TC is really a complex thing to use, when you don't do it as Apple designed it.. and in fact on your iMac an external drive will be cheaper, faster and more reliable than a TC. But I guess you already have it so may as well use it.

Using TC for back up and data storage...partition?

I'm not sure I know enough to word this question properly so my apologies in advance.
I picked up a time capsule today and I want to make sure I set it up the right way. Besides using it for back-ups, I'd like to use it for data storage of things that no longer fit on my laptop. (Now a MacBook Air with a smaller drive than I'm used to.)
I'd like to put my iPhoto library, iTunes and various other things that I don't have to have with me all the time on it.
Should I partition the drive? Can I partition the drive? For data and backup sections?
I also have a question re: two people backing up to one TC. If one is backing up all the time and one is in town only occasionally, how is space distributed if partitioning isn't possible? If the TC capsule backes up till it's full and then drops off the oldest backup, what does it do when it;s full and the occasionally backed up machine is put into the network?
Many thanks for any help. I'm looking forward to setting this up and would like to avoid doing it wrong!

whateverwerks wrote:
Should I partition the drive? Can I partition the drive? For data and backup sections?
I also have a question re: two people backing up to one TC. If one is backing up all the time and one is in town only occasionally, how is space distributed if partitioning isn't possible? If the TC capsule backes up till it's full and then drops off the oldest backup, what does it do when it;s full and the occasionally backed up machine is put into the network?
Many thanks for any help. I'm looking forward to setting this up and would like to avoid doing it wrong!
The drive cannot be partitioned. You can create folders as you wish to suit your need for things other than backups.
As noted earlier, when the occasionally connected machine is connected for backup, it will delete the oldest backup for that machine to make room when needed.

Method for backing up connection data?

I am moving to a new workstation. I need a way to back up my
connection data, because I manage multiple sites using Contribute
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A few other notes on backup and backup material. The previous article on DVD backup not withstanding, not all writable DVD's are equal. A very good article on this subject can be found here:
http://adterrasperaspera.com/blog/2006/10/30/how-to-choose-cddvd-archival-media/
Part of my other day job is IT administration at a small semiconductor company. We, like most other companies, do ALL of our backup to tape. Our tapes are not MiniDV but DLT's. We store all of our tapes off site in a environmentally controlled storage facility. I suspect you like me cannot afford something like this for our video work but at a minimum this does mean you should not stuff your tapes in a box and stick them in the attic.
Another thing to note that backup means you should, at minimum, have 2 copies of your critical files on two different pieces of hardware. If you keep all of your project files on your working system disk in your Mac and a copy of those files on an external drive you are pretty safe in your backup. If you ONLY keep one copy on that external drive, you are playing with fire. Especially when it comes to hard drive. Hard drive failure is the numero uno failure mechanism in computers, followed by power supplies. It is not a question of if a drive is going to fail, simply when.
For me, I run a RAID 5 1.2TB linux server on my home network. I keep my working files on my MacPro and backup to the server. I'm paranoid square so in addition to that, I back up my RAID to two 500GB portable external drives on a periodic basis. For me, hard drives and media is dirt cheap as opposed to trying to replace important data that is lost or in many cases, irreplaceable.

Help for recoveray of Palm data

I have a Palm m515 with all my contacts info. The Palm stopped syn after I installed the new Desktop software (v6.2) sometimes ago. Recently, all the info in my Palm was gone, because I failed to recharge it for a period of time. Now, only data I have is the one in my Documents (/Documents/Palm OS Desktop/[Palm user name]/address/). There are three files in this directory: address.bak; address.db; UiPrefs.dat. Similar files are found in directories of [datebook], [memopad], and [todo], under coresponding file names.
My question is: how to recover/read the data from these files, if these files contain the actual data I syn'ed at the last time. Really appreciate any suggestion and help. Many thanks!
Post relates to: Palm m515

You can recover the data from your user folder provided you have only sync'ed once with the PC when you discovered the data missing. When you sync to the PC there are files created for each PIM category in your user folder. For Example; datebook.dat or datebook (Depending on the version of Palm Desktop) and datebook.bak. Using 6.2 the file names are .mdb and mdb.bak. For 6.2, the files are located in the username folder in PalmOSdesktop in my documents.
The files are named .dat and .bak. When you sync, the current data is stored in .dat. The next time you sync the data in the .dat file is copied to the .bak file. To recover the data, close Palm Desktop. Rename the .dat to .old. then rename the .bak to .dat. If the data in the .bak file is intact, it will now be in palm desktop when you reopen Palm desktop. I have included a link to show you how to find the userfolder on the PC.
http://kb.hpwebos.com/wps/portal/kb2/common/article/26674_en.html
Here is another link regarding data loss;
http://kb.hpwebos.com/wps/portal/kb2/common/article/39503_en.html
The best way to backup your data is to use the export feature in Palm Desktop. Make a new folder on the PC desktop named Palm Desktop Backup data. Next, select the category you want to export. You will get a window that asks where you want to save the file, save in the folder created on the desktop. There is a button that allows you to select currently selected record or all, select all. If you don't select all, then only the record highlighted is exported. You will then need to name the file for export, I suggest the name of the category, eg: datebook (With current date). Do this for all critical data in each category. With the data exported to the folder on the PC desktop, you can save this data to a flash drive, external hard drive or a CD-RW. With this method you will have your data in a seperate place than Palm desktop and the device. If you "Lose" data again, you can import the data back into palm desktop.
Make sure that when you make changes in palm desktop or the device to export the data to the folder created for the backup.
Here is a link for other options for backing up your data;
http://kb.hpwebos.com/wps/portal/kb2/common/article/28751_en.html
If you are using Win7 64 bit, you will need the USB drivers from Acceca, here is the link;
http://forums.hpwebos.com/t5/Windows-HotSync/64-Bit-Palm-Desktop-Drivers-are-HERE/m-p/337516
For reference purposes, click on the following link for the support page for your device on the kb.hpwebos.com webpage.
http://kb.hpwebos.com/wps/portal/kb/common/article/47831_en.html#m515
There are links on the page to the user guide, troubleshooting, how to's, downloads, etc.

I want to reinstall my operating system,How can I back up all my add ons, extensions and personas for reinstallation when Im done?

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Want to reinstall OS X -- recommendation for back up appllication data?

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