I have been using my Lacie Starck to backup my iMac for a couple of years. Now I want to start using a MacBook Pro, but I want access to all the files from my iMac. Can I do this via the Lacie backup? I don't have a network.
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Can I use my Lacie Starck to backup my iMac and MacBook Pro?
- Thread starter margyhenderson
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Sorry, I don't understand what you mean by bootcamp?
Neither does he.
Yes, you can use it to back up both, but (assuming that you're using TM) you'll need to partition it. There are 2 ways to accomplish the dual backup capability assuming that both computers are on the same wifi network.
1. If you have an Airport Extreme, hook up the partitioned drive to the Airport Extreme via USB and set up user account access to each respective backup partition for each computer in Airport Utility. Then set each computer to automatically connect to its respective partition on login under the User Login Items pref pane. Finally direct TM on each machine to use its particular partition as the backup drive. For your initial backup for each machine connect it directly to the AE router via ethernet cable or the initial backup will take FOREVER. Subsequent backups will happen automatically whenever you're logged into your home wifi network.
2. Do the same thing basically, but attach the drive to your iMac and set up user account access for the laptop on the iMac in Finder (this will only work with OSX 10.6 and later). Make sure the iMac is set to Wake on LAN Access. Also connect to the laptop to iMac for the first backup or it will take FOREVER. Subsequent backups will happen automatically whenever you're logged in to your home wifi network too.
With either method when you are away from your home wifi netowrk or when it is down, backups WILL NOT HAPPEN. You will also get a couple of warnings that the OS can't find the backup drive (server) whenever you restart and you're not on your home network.
Nevermind all that, I just reread your post.
Again, assuming that you are using Time Machine for backups, you can do a migration to the MBP from the iMac backup disk. But you could also do this directly from the iMac by just connecting the two with an ethernet cable. If you just want to transfer some files, I don't think you can do that from the hard disk if you have been using Time Machine as your back up program. If you have just copied the files onto the HD then you can just plug the HD into your MBP and use that the same way as you did with your iMac. You could also just connect the two computers via an ethernet cable and access the files on the iMac through Finder as long as file sharing is set to on in the Sharing panel in Preferences (this conditional necessity also applies to method #2 quoted above).