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Backing up applications on external hard drive?

J

jshelton

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 4, 2008
528
8
I have a question that I should probably know the answer to, but I don't. I have a Western Digital My Book on the way and I am going to back everything on my Macbook up on there so I can do an archive and install.

Is it possible to put applications like Mac:Office 2008 on the hard drive so that I don't have to install it again, or can you only back up certain files on externals? I am not very familiar with backing up data.
 
If you have Leopard, you can use Time Machine which makes for an easy backup solution for those that are somewhat backup challenged. If you don't have Leopard, try a program like Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper! to make a bootable complete backup. -GDF
 
I do have Leopard. So Time Machine makes it pretty self explanatory?

So basically, I can take MS Office, my iTunes library, iPhoto library, VLC, Toast, etc., and move those apps to the external, do an erase and install on my Macbook, and move them all back over without having to download them or reinstall Office?
 
Well, not exactly.

Some programs will put some needed files in other places throughout the HD, so there is no way to be sure that you got them all.

You can backup using TM, then erase and restore from the TM Backup.
 
r.j.s said:
Well, not exactly.

Some programs will put some needed files in other places throughout the HD, so there is no way to be sure that you got them all.

You can backup using TM, then erase and restore from the TM Backup.
Click to expand...

Can you elaborate on this please? Bare with me :D

When I backup using Time Machine, I can completely erase my hard drive and when I restore from the Time Machine backup, all apps like Office will be added back?
 
jshelton said:
Can you elaborate on this please? Bare with me :D

When I backup using Time Machine, I can completely erase my hard drive and when I restore from the Time Machine backup, all apps like Office will be added back?
Click to expand...

Once you make a complete backup using Time Machine, you insert the Mac install disc 1 into the superdrive. Shut down the computer, then start the computer while holding down the "option" key. Wait till you see the image of a disc pop up, then select it. Once you get to the point where you install the operating system, select "erase and install". Once OSX is installed and started up, there will be a box pop up on the screen asking you if you want to use Time Machine to migrate all your data over.
 
WPB2 said:
Once you make a complete backup using Time Machine, you insert the Mac install disc 1 into the superdrive. Shut down the computer, then start the computer while holding down the "option" key. Wait till you see the image of a disc pop up, then select it. Once you get to the point where you install the operating system, select "erase and install". Once OSX is installed and started up, there will be a box pop up on the screen asking you if you want to use Time Machine to migrate all your data over.
Click to expand...

Or, you can just insert the OS X Install Disc 1, boot by holding C, and choose Restore from Time Machine backup from the menu bar.
 
Thanks people! I appreciate the fast responses.

I'll give it a shot when the hard drive comes in this week. Maybe an erase and install will fix whatever problems I am having with the Macbook.

Just a quick note: I have Firefox open at the moment (nothing else), and my CPU temp is 70C and the fans are at almost full speed. WTF?
 
holy. It showed 99 for iAntiVirus. It was just open in the background.

I guess I will ditch that since it isn't really necessary anyway.
 
Well...I closed it and then opened it back up. Now it showing 0.0

At 52C and 1793rpm.

Hmmm...anyway, I'll go ahead and remove that. Again, thanks for your help and the speedy responses!
 
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