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Help Backing Up MBP

B

Beantown

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 7, 2010
78
0
Boston
Hey guys, I'm going to the Apple store today to get my MBPro's graphics card replaced/repaired. They say I should back up everything on my MacBook before I go in. I don't have any external hard drives, and I have no idea how to back up all my stuff. Can anyone help me out and give me a quick, easy way to back up all my stuff. Thanks.:apple:
 
Lol this is a toughy.

Uhm ok first as an emergency thing basically if you have or can get any blank DVDs (verbatim, not anything else) then you can backup everything on your desktop and in your documents / downloads folder. Do this by inserting the DVD . Os x will bring up a "burn" folder that you can use to drop off your stuff. Alternatively, use a flash drive. A 16 gig sandisk should be less than 35-40 and will be good in the future.

As far as your apps go you should be able to get them back via their original sites or from CDs.

The absolute Best method would be a straight clone of the drive using CCC or superduper but you don't have the capacity for that.

GET THE CAPACITY FOR THIS! Hard drives die!!! Data loss sucks!!!
 
it is never to late to invest in a small external; hard disk they are like $80 for a 500GB and you will hav eit for quite some time, unless you run a series of disks and spend hours and hours and hours switching them >_< and labelling them and then re installing them >_<
 
I managed to get my WD Elements 1TB external harddrive for $99 + tax at Walmart a while back. I see them going for that much on the BestBuy flyers as well! Pretty cheap, and it works grrreat!
 
Alright thanks guys. Do you think that they could do that for me at the Apple store or what.?
 
Beantown said:
Alright thanks guys. Do you think that they could do that for me at the Apple store or what.?
Click to expand...

apple will sell you a hard drive :D

they won't do a full backup for you. It'd take hours while sitting on the bar.

I don't know why I didn't ask before but, can you still see video and interact with the machine or is it completely toasted?

also, Is it an older macbook pro that was bought before late 2008 or a later macbook pro bought after late 2008 (glass screen?)
 
Thw Apple store probably has external HD drives on sale and if they do you could tell the Genius your drive is not backed up, offer to buy a drive and ask them to do the backup before the repairs. I don't know if tjey will accomodate you or not but asking is free.
If your income depends on your data, get at least 2 backup disks and use them. Otherwise you will eventually pay dearly for not doing so when data loss hits!
If your data is personal stuff only, DVDs may be enough.
Good luck.
 
May as well learn how to backup your stuff now. Just buy a portable/external HD thats Mac compatible and hook it up, then run Time Machine. Easiest way i can think of.
 
As said above maybe you should invest in an external HDD, they are pretty cheap these days. You dont need a time capsule to use time machine.

Only other thing you can do is use CDs, dropbox, and flash drives.

Unless your ISP offers any online storage or you have another computer you could back up too. You could always buy a month of dropbox and back up your home folder.
 
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