A serious problem, with a simple solution?

[NaughtyNoNo]

This is my plea to the Macrumor Community:
Please give me my Mac, back!!


THE GAME PLAN!: I am grateful for any input, ideas, or suggestions.

1. I intend to back up my external hard drive, using CrashPlanPRO (trial)
2. Then, reformat the external HD to *clone my Mac's internal HD
3. With all of my data safely stored on the external HD, I will perform a complete erase and install of the Lion OS, on the Mac's HD
4. When all is said and done~ I can pick and choose what I need from the external HD -- namely, User folders (Applications, Music, Photos, etc)

*I am not 100% what type of 'cloning' method I would use -- It seems that some options allow for straight up archiving, and others would make it so that there is nothing to do with the data besides use it in a restore attempt?​

THE PROBLEM!!: ......just trying to keep calm, and carry on =/

How can I install and use CrashPlanPRO without the use of finder?

I have tried manually mounting the disk image:

hdiutil mount CrashPlanPRO_3-1.5.3_Mac.dmg

Then copying it to Applications,

sudo cp -R /Volumes/CrashPlanPRO/CrashPlanPRO.app  /Applications

This resulted in only an "uninstall" application showing up in the Launchpad, but no client to trigger the CrashPlan application to open.​

I was also unable to open it manually in terminal, by taking shots-in-the-dark at what the client would be named >_>

I also tried turning it on with:

sudo launchctl load /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.crashplan.engine.plist
sudo launchctl start com.crashplan.engine

No such file, it says..

It seems to me that if I could get CrashPlanPRO to open, and discover my external hard drive, that I am pretty much 'in the clear' at that point.
So... any advice for getting me to that blessed point of step 2?

DIRTY-DETAILS: the 'why' of where I'm at now.
I started experiencing a "Finder Unexpectedly Quit"-loop, after my system mysteriously ran an update (I had explicitly asked my computer NOT to perform such updates).

I also have no access to the majority of my applications; I have been in a pseudo-safe-mode [only able to run Safari to research the problem, and StickyNotes to take note of my findings].​

WHAT HAVE I DONE!?: just about anything I have come across that others have tried who were experiencing a similar issue.

• Deleted the Finder.pref file
• Deleted the Finder.savedState file
• Created a new Admin account
• Repaired permissions from the Recovery mode
• Plenty of reboot's; one after each attempted solution
• Uninstalled NTSF for Mac
• Installed+Used Maintenance
• Downloaded, but was unable to Use PathFinder

(*may have omitted some small command line 'fixes', etc)

--In the past, I was a fool; I have now learned the importance backing up your computer--

 

[NaughtyNoNo]

sorry...

I posted this in desperation, but it really sounds like more of a specific issue of trying to install third-party software that should be brought up with their customer service, perhaps.

I will leave my original post up, just in case anyone has anything to add, but tomorrow I will contact CrashPlan and see what advice they have for me.

I am still looking forward to hearing back from any of you, however.
Thank you for your time <3

 

[RedCroissant]

I posted this in desperation, but it really sounds like more of a specific issue of trying to install third-party software that should be brought up with their customer service, perhaps.

I will leave my original post up, just in case anyone has anything to add, but tomorrow I will contact CrashPlan and see what advice they have for me.

I am still looking forward to hearing back from any of you, however.
Thank you for your time <3

Well I'm not sure how to do some of the things that you want, but if you know where the file is located and don't want to use the Finder, then change the directory to wherever the .dmg is stored and type "ls" in that directory. That should give you the file name of the .dmg and you should be able to go from there.

 

[Fishrrman]

"I intend to back up my external hard drive, using CrashPlanPRO (trial)"

Do this, and I predict you are going to LOSE EVERYTHING.

The proper way to "back up" your internal drive:
1. Buy an EXTERNAL drive
2. Use CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper to create a bootable clone of the internal drive.
3. Boot from the backup drive
4. Do whatever you're going to do with the internal (install a completely clean version of the OS, etc.)
5. Either use Migration Assitant to migrate your apps and account data back to the internal, or, do the file transfers manually.

Confucius say:
He who relies on CrashPlan, is going to end up with a big crash!

 

[Jrtesq]

Confucius say:
He who relies on CrashPlan, is going to end up with a big crash!

CrashPlan generally gets good reviews around here. Have you had problems with it? I use CrashPlan in addition to my backups on external drives.

Or are you just saying that CrashPlan should not be relied on when when doing a full erase/reinstall?