What files should I back up?

I recently backed up most of my computer on my external drive. I only backed up what was on my desktop, music, movies, pictures, and documents. Is there anything else that I should have backed up? I am probably going to need to wipe my hard disk and re-install OSX because I am getting an invalid node error, but I am hesitant to wipe my hard disk incase I didn't back something important up.

I didn't use a back-up tool, so I was simply copying everything over to my external manually. If you read through my other post, you will learn that I can't start my computer up anymore, so I can't back anything else up. I'm hesitant to re-format my harddisk if I missed something. But if there isn't anything major that I can't simply re-download or re-install from CD's, then I might just go ahead and re-format my harddisk.

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I just bought an external hard drive. What files should I back up?

I just bought a 60gig external hard drive and I wanted to know what files should I back up?

The easiest is to drag /Users/<yourhomefoldername> to the backup drive.
Only the files you've created can't be replaced. The rest is on CDs, DVDs, or can be purchased again if need be.
I don't bother with clones because there's always the possibility of trouble down the line if you have to restore from one. (Something could be wrong with the clone, or it could be altered if you have to boot from it.) Why take the chance, when the OS and apps are expendable? And, if you don't test that the clone is good (by restoring to a blank drive), you're just fooling yourself as to its viability.
If the internal drive dies, you take the time to install a new one, load up OS and applications, then copy your home folder back. So your computer will be unusable for a half-day---big deal. This doesn't happen every day.
The main thing is that you've backed up your home folder.

What files should I transfer back to a clean install of mountain lion?

Hi,
I have a 2.4 GHz core 2 duo running snow leopard. I want to upgrade to mountain lion but want to start with a clean install. i have everything backed up on an external hard drive. My questions are this: what files should I transfer over from 10.6.8 while leaving the old junk behind. I will reinstall only the compatible apps later.
My second question should I use migration assistant or set-up assistant? I can't seem to find the necessary tutorial that is straight forward for this.
Any help would be appreciated.

If you're doing a clean install, which usually isn't necessary, then you want to bring over as little as possible. You can use Migration Manager in Setup Assistant to bring over your Accounts if there are no problems there. (If there are it probably accounts for the issues you're having and you'll need to troubleshoot your Home folder.)
You'll probably want to leave settings behind. Applications you already said you would install later.
The reason to run Migration Manager on the Setup Assistant is becuase after that it tends to create a second Home folder, which is not helpful.
Be sure you have a good backup before you begin.

My Mac Book Pro is giving me a message that the start up disk is full, how do I delete files, and what files should I be deleting

My Mac Book Pro is giving me a message that the start up disk is full, how do I delete files, and what files should I be deleting

There are several nice programs that can help you figure out what's on your computer - OmniDiskSweep, WhatSize, and DaisyDisk are the three I like. If you've had your computer for a while - and especially if this isn't your first Mac and you've been migrating from one computer to another, one of these programs can help you find files you didn't know your computer still had. For example, when I was trying to shed files to fit int a 256GB SSD, I discovered I had nearly 1GB of files in my Application Support folder belonging to programs I no longer used.
Other than that, your easy choice are music, video, and photos. They tend to be the big files. A movie will generally be at least 1.25GB, for example.

Clean installing OSX, what files should I keep?

Thanks in advance for reading.
So I'm in the process of doing a "Clean Install" on my old MBP.
I'm backing up the basic documents, photos and files I need.
I use Adobe Photoshop & Illustrator. I have all sorts of fonts, patterns, special settings I've made.
Can anyone guide me as to what I should keep and where to go for it?

You cannot boot with a TM backup. It's basic function is to restore previous versions of things. A bootable backup/clone mimics your current installation and allows you to boot from it, acting just like the original. See http://pondini.org/TM/Clones.html for details.

What files should i delete?

Hey, i need to reinstall Mac OS X Tiger due to a software error which results with the kernel panic error issue. I have tried doing everything Apple told me to do but that doesn't work so i need to reinstall Mac Os X.
When backing up folders, what should i back up? i mean i don't want to back up my whole hard drive as that has all the Tiger software on it which i don't want!

Kernal Panics are usually the result of a hardware problem. Before you erase, can you isolate to a hardware device?
Issues with a hardware device can sometimes appear to be software issues, but are not resolved with software troubleshooting. Eliminate hardware as a cause (or conversely, isolate the issue to software):
1. Disconnect external devices. If the computer is an iBook or PowerBook computer, disconnect all external devices. For an iMac, disconnect all devices other than the Apple keyboard and mouse. For a Power Mac, disconnect all external devices other than one display (which should be connected to an original, built-in video port), and the original Apple keyboard and mouse. If this resolves the issue, add devices back one at a time (shut down first if the device requires it) to further isolate the issue.
2. Insert the Apple Hardware Test CD that came with your computer (if one did). Use the extended test. If any issues are found proceed to step 3, or contact AppleCare or your nearest Apple Authorized Service Provider to arrange for diagnostics and service as necessary.
3. Shut down the computer and remove any third-party memory upgrades, expansion cards, additional hard drives, or other internal hardware upgrades. If you are not comfortable doing this, an Apple Authorized Service provider can assist. A service fee may be charged if the issue is not related to your Apple hardware. Alternatively, you may wish to skip this step and go to "Reinstall Mac OS X" below.
* If the issue is resolved, add your devices back one at a time. When the issue returns, remove the most recently-added device. If the issue goes away again, you have identified the cause. If software was included with the device, try deleting and reinstalling it. You may also wish to contact the vendor or manufacturer of that device for specific troubleshooting steps.
* You may want to test devices on all available ports into which they can be used. If a USB device works on USB port 1 but not on USB port 2, try connecting other devices to port 2. It is possible that your computer's ports aren't working properly.
May be a solution on one of these links.
Troubleshooting
The X Lab (Troubleshooting & Maintenance of OS X)
OS X Routine Maintenance & Generic Troubleshooting
Prevent Mac Disasters
Kernel Panic
Mac OS X Kernel Panic FAQ
Mac OS X Kernel Panic FAQ
Resolving Kernel Panics
 Cheers, Tom

What size should the back-up drive be?

I'm using a lacie 1TB External firewire drive to back-up my 250gig iMac, I mostly use the mac for email, photos, home use etc. (The drive is almost full, using 230 gig). (Yes I know that's too full and I plan to put in a 500 gig drive). I upgraded to leopard about a month ago and set up time machine recently. There are 17 backups- "lines" in the time machine "star wars" screen- on the external drive totaling 700 gig of data!!
I have not added any pictures or large files since beginning to use Time machine. Should the time machine backups use that much space? I thought after the initial back-up time machine only keeps record of the changes.? Using CCC I could have cloned the hard drive three times and still have room left!
Does the large amount of HD space used to back-up sound ok for only a 250 hard drive?
Joe

Many users here recommend that your TM volume be about two and a half times the size of the data on your main hard drive. So, if you have 400GB of data to back up, you should give TM a 1GB volume for backing up.
But in my experience, how much space you need really depends on your computer usage patterns. My weekly backups go all the way back to January 2008, when I first started. My main hard drive has 115 GB used of 148 GB total. My TM backups of that disk total 168 GB on a 212 GB partition. So I have never needed to have nearly as much backup space as the 2.5 multiplier recommendation.
I try to manage my computer use so that Time Machine is not backing up files I do not want backed up, and is not backing up stuff twice if I move files to a different location. I rarely work with large files (no photoshop, no Final Cut Pro, etc). When I do have large files, they usually start in my Downloads folder. If I want to keep something I download, I eventually move it to a different location. To prevent TM from backing it up twice and unnecessarily using up space on the TM drive, I exclude my Downloads folder from being backed up. I'll let TM back it up after the download is in its new permanent location.
I don't really consider it a big deal to not have backups of the contents of my downloads folder. I figure that if my hard drive breaks and I lose all of my downloads, I can just download them again.

What file should i save my entourage contacts to import in address book

Help, again, sorry.
I need to import contacts from Entourage to Mail, what type of file is needed to be exported from Entourage to enable mail to import it?
Thank you.
Dean Jackson

The default export option for Entourage contacts is a tab-delimited plain text file which should work since the Tiger Address Book includes a Text File import option which doesn't always work as intended.
A better option in my opinion is creating a folder on the Desktop named Contacts or whatever you prefer.
Select a contact in the Entourage address book and at the menu bar, go to Edit > Select All to select/highlight all contacts.
Click and drag the highlighted contacts to the created folder on the Desktop. This will create a copy of each contact as a separate vCard file.
At the Address Book menu bar, go to File > Import and select vCards. Navigate to the created folder on the Desktop.

What size should external back-up drive be for use with Time Machine?

I am very new to Macs.
My iMac has a 500GB hard disc - not much on it yet.
I want to back the hard disc up daily and automatically to an external hard drive using Time Machine. So that I could restore everything if the iMac failed.
1. Does the external hard drive that I buy need to be larger than the iMac's hard disc, e.g 1Tb? Or is 500Gb enough in my case?
2. Should it be pre-formatted for Mac when I buy it? Or do I have to do this?
3. Should it use firewire or USB?
4. Presumably I need to leave the external drive plugged in all the time? Or will this stop the iMac from switching on and off?
I really want the easiest solution possible as I am not very techie and I want the minimum amount of fiddling with it. So I am confused between whether to choose a Western Digital My Book Office edition or Studio edition, 500Gb or 1TB, firewire or USB, or maybe a Lacie?
Would be grateful for advice.
Thanks very much.

Welcome to the Apple forums. If you have a 500G external disk, that will work fine for quite a while with hourly, daily and weekly backups, but sooner or later it will fill up, but then it begins to delete weekly backups. The same will happen with whichever size of external disk you buy: sooner or later. . . . Nonetheless, that disk will be fine for most purposes. I have 250G and use a 200G partition for my MacBook Pro and while that was fine, it tends to delete weekly backups so I have about 6 months of backups stored. (I also make other backups of all data).
It may be preformatted, but that is unlikely. Use Disk Utility (in Applications>Utilities) and use MacOS Extended, which is selected in the Partition tab (you do this even if you only use a single partition).
The system works with either Firewire or USB 2..
You do not need to leave it in all the time. If it is connected, it will make the backups, if not, nothing will happen and it will indicate that the next backup will occur when the disk is attached. To disconnect, you would highlight the disk in a Finder panel and press the Eject icon (not while TM is running of course) then disconnect the cable.
I am not able to suggest which disk is best, although my LaCie one has not missed a beat. Others may have a different idea. Try a Google search with the disk manufacturer's name and "problems" or somesuch. No disk is perfect of course.

What files should not be checked into Source Control?

Good afternoon.
Running RoboHelp 11, integrated with Team Foundation Server and Visual Studio 2010.
When my two colleagues recently "got" the latest project files from Source Control, they also got items that had been removed or deleted. For example, I had removed all conditional build tags from my project, but their version still included the build tags. Eventually, thanks in part to an old post from Peter Grainge, we realized that the PSS in Source Control contained a lot of that old information. We deleted the PSS and stopped checking it into Source Control. Problem solved. No more conditional build tags or unwanted Single Source Layouts, etc. (I think the PSS got checked in by our Release Engineer when he was trying to solve some other problem. Two years ago it was not being checked in.)
I vaguely remember reading something somewhere once upon a time about not checking certain RoboHelp project management files into Source Control. So far I've not found any such information in the RoboHelp Help or online.
Does anyone know where I can find a list of RoboHelp HTML project management files, such as the PSS file, that should never be checked into Source Control?
Many thanks.
Carol Levine

Look in Snippets on my site.
See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips
@petergrainge

I need to know what files should have included to properly run my download of Adobe Photoshop

I downloaded a paid vs of Adobe Photoshop & Premier Elements 12 WIN. I have a feeling that I did not receive all of the necessary files. I was working on a photo and a box appeared stating that I needed Premier to use the function...would I like to purchase it now. I had already purchased it and I cannot seem to get this rectified. What do I do.

Good day!
If you are talking about Photoshop Elements please post over at
Community: Photoshop Elements | Adobe Community
Regards,
Pfaffenbichler

What should I back up?

iLife arrived today and I installed all of the apps. What files should I back up on my computer before I open iWeb? Can I do this by just duplicating them or should I have done it from iWeb 06?
I want to make sure I have good backups, based on the difficulties people are reporting on this forum!

All the files required for a fresh copy of iWeb 06 to open up your sites, still ready to edit (if all goes wrong with 08) are contained in a folder under your user area. Go to youe 'Home' > Library > Application Support > iWeb> and in there is a file called 'Domain' This is the file that contains all the stuff from your current sites.
From what I have read, the best option seems to be to MOVE ithe Domains file to a new safe location. Then ALSO make a COPY for extra safety! Then after installing iWeb 08. just start a new site and have a fiddle around to see whats going on, THEN quit it and use the 'open exisiting site' option (which I'm guessing you get by holding the 'alt' key as you open the application) - but may be similar to imovie where it just asks you.
This will then import your old site, and hopefully not mess too much up, but it looks like it is likely to naff it up good and proper - so might be worth waiting a week or 2 to see what apple come up with!
If it does knacker the sites REMEMBER you have you backup copy but DO NOT just start fiddling with that one, make a NEW COPY and always keep one nice and safe - just incase you have to go back to using 06 version.

When I am finished editing an image in Lightroom, what files or versions should I have in my database of images?

When I am finished editing an image in Lightroom, what files should I have in my Library? I start with a RAW file or a tiff scan from film. I label that "A" as the archived file. I make a virtual copy to work on in the Develop module. When I am done, I save a file as a Print file with dimensions of the print. Since Lightroom is non-destructive, do I need to save any other versions? For instance, in Photoshop since the crop is destructive,
I edit an uncropped version and do the crop when I am working on the Print version. What should I have for the most flexibility over time in Lightroom?
I use Lightroom CC on a IMAC desktop. My photos are on a separate hard drive and are also backed up offline. Im running OSX10.9.4.

You don't need to make a virtual copy before you edit the photo (this is optional, but most people don't bother as its extra work with little or no benefit). EXCEPTION: If you are doing multiple crops of the image, you would need virtual copies in that case, created after all other editing is completed.
You can't "save" from Lightroom, you can "export". (It's a terminology thing) You would need to export a photo at the desired dimensions for printing, but there's no need to retain this exported photo, you can consider it temporary and delete it once the print has been made, knowing that you can always re-create it exactly from Lightroom if you need it.
So to answer the question in your title, all you need to retain on your hard disk is your original image (and in the EXCEPTION case where you have multiple crops of the image, you would retain the multiple virtual copies in Lightroom).

Getting new HD; what should I back up?

Hi all,
My HD in my iBook is making some concerning sounds so I before death appears I am going to replace the HD. The question is in addition to the User directories, what else should I back up. I have the original installation CDs for Apps so I can install the apps from those.
Thanks so much for any help and advice.
Ed

You don't have to make a bootable "clone" copy of your hard drive. That's a convenient way to do it, but certainly not the only way. I'm assuming you can also connect to that Buffalo drive using USB.
Start up from your Mac OS X Installation CD. From the Installer menu, run Disk Utility. Select the internal drive on side bar. From the menu, select File > New > Disk Image from {name of internal drive}. Save the disk image file to the Buffalo drive which is connected by USB.
Once the process completes, restart normally. Find that disk image file and double-click on it to mount it on your Desktop. Inspect it to make sure it looks good, especially your user directory where your personal files are located. Now, you have a copy of everything. Even if you decide to reinstall the OS and apps, it's good to have everything.
If you want to restore from your backup... After you install the new drive, start up from the Mac OS X Installation Disk, and run Disk Utility. Select the new drive on the sidebar. First, go to the Partition tab to format it, selecting Mac OS Extended (Journaled) as the format type. After formatting is completed, go to the Restore tab. At this point, connect the Buffalo drive by USB if not already connected. Find that disk image as the Source. Drag the new drive's one partition (under the drive) from the sidebar to the Destination field. Click Restore.

What file converter should i use?

I have a sony Handycam DCR-SR68,
im not exactly sure what the format records in, im guessing MPEG,
the software that came with this was PMB, not to crazy about it, so using PMB to convert the file it only says WMV, and premiere elements9 wont work with it, it makes it way to slow and messes up the program for me.
What file should i convert this to? and what would be the best way to convert,
i would rather try to stay away from downloading things, but if i have to download a converter i will, i would just prefur to find out if i could of converted it with adobe or maybe even windows (i have Windows 7)
This will really help me out,

Actually, PrE should handle the MPEG-2 files with Get Media>Harddrive Camera.
There should be no real need to convert the files, though obviously you have a highly compressed format/CODEC, so motion (camera, or subject) might not be the greatest. No conversion progarm can recoup the data, prior to compression.
Good luck,
Hunt

What files should I back up?

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