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marknicholls

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 7, 2004
415
0
Bristol, England
Hey

When i used windows, i would copy and paste my "my documents" (which included all photos and music) and backup my emails and contacts on my iomega external peerless 20gb drive, but the annoying thing with that, is that i have to delete everthing on the drive, before copying and pasting as if i had removed anything on my PC, it would still be on my backup cartridge

Is there anyway i can select the areas i want to keep in "sync" with my cartridge, and when i insert it into the drivem it would sync? or will it be a case of copying and pasting, the same as in windows?

my main concern ismusic and photos.

How do you guys backup your important data?

Thanks - im still finbding my feet on my mac.....but really loving it
 

MontgomeryBurns

macrumors member
Mar 14, 2004
70
0
I think you can do what you want to do by just backing up your User folder (Mac HD/Users/Username). The User folder is your personal 'account' for your computer and contains your Music, Pictures, Docs, and Movies folders, and your Desktop. You can do this simply by dragging the User folder onto the icon for your removable hard drive, and it will copy over (you'll find macs to be a lot more drag-&-drop oriented than windows systems).

If you have more than one user, it keeps user's music and pictures and things apart from other users, so you would have to back those up separately.

As far as i know there isn't really an easy way of syncing specific folders or files with a removable backup device, but I don't do a lot of regular backing up that would require such a thing. When i back up once a month or so, dragging a folder over isn't that big of a deal.
 

munkle

macrumors 68030
Aug 7, 2004
2,580
1
On a jet plane
I'm a big fan of SuperDuper. It allows you to make a full bootable backup of your Mac and has a sync option too.

If this is more than what you are looking for another good alternative is Synk. This should cover you otherwise you could try searching macupdate.com or versiontracker.com.

Glad to hear that you're loving your Mac! :)
 

seamuskrat

macrumors 6502a
Feb 17, 2003
898
19
New Jersey USA
Depending on your needs, there are a few ways.

1) Copy the Home directory to a separate volume. If you have an iPod or external firewire drive this is easy, relatively fast and copies your documents, music, photos, etc. NOT the applications.
2) Back up program like Dantz' rtrospect. It will allow you to pick and choose backups, sync files, and changes only and automatically back up on a schedule. It sounds like the solution you asked for. its commercial software, but well worth it.
3) Buy .Mac and use MacBackup. This can backup to DVD or iDisk for small files. Its also able to sync and schedule. It comes with a .Mac membership which has benefits, but is less powerful and flexible than retrospect.
4) Clone the drive. Use Carbon Copy Cloner and clone the drive. It gives you an exact bootable copy. Cons are you have to remember to reclone when you make significant changes.

marknicholls said:
Hey

When i used windows, i would copy and paste my "my documents" (which included all photos and music) and backup my emails and contacts on my iomega external peerless 20gb drive, but the annoying thing with that, is that i have to delete everthing on the drive, before copying and pasting as if i had removed anything on my PC, it would still be on my backup cartridge

Is there anyway i can select the areas i want to keep in "sync" with my cartridge, and when i insert it into the drivem it would sync? or will it be a case of copying and pasting, the same as in windows?

my main concern ismusic and photos.

How do you guys backup your important data?

Thanks - im still finbding my feet on my mac.....but really loving it
 

marknicholls

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 7, 2004
415
0
Bristol, England
seamuskrat said:
Depending on your needs, there are a few ways.

1) Copy the Home directory to a separate volume. If you have an iPod or external firewire drive this is easy, relatively fast and copies your documents, music, photos, etc. NOT the applications.

How would i do this in a mac? do u mean creating a partition and using that space for my stuff? i did this with windows, and used the d:\ as the my documets folder

I have had a look, and i cant find a partition magic for the mac
 

seamuskrat

macrumors 6502a
Feb 17, 2003
898
19
New Jersey USA
Thsi step would require an iPod in firewire mode OR an external firewire hard drive. Its pricey. You do not want to back up onto a separate partition, as the drive crashing kills BOTH partitions.

When you have a second drive mounted, a new icon appears on the deaktop. You just DRAG and DROP. Very simple. But unless you have an iPod or external drive, you will want to investigate the other options.

The easiest way to back up data to an external drive. You CAN burn to DVD or CD depending on your optical drive type, but it takes time.

Since you are new to Macs, may I suggest the Missing Manual Series by David Pogue. Your local Library, Borders, or B&N should have many of them. Even if you do not purchase them, take a peek, as they are well written and good even for old hats with the OS.

Let me know if you have other questions about the backup process.


marknicholls said:
How would i do this in a mac? do u mean creating a partition and using that space for my stuff? i did this with windows, and used the d:\ as the my documets folder

I have had a look, and i cant find a partition magic for the mac
 
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