Backing up my Mac Question

[BinderGang]

OK, I have an old MacBook pro (G4 Power PC).

The hard drive is pretty full. I just bought an external drive. What I want to do, is backup the Mac hard drive to the external drive and leave it on the external drive (so my Mac Harddrive will be 100% empty), but still be able to open and access all the files, documents, etc.

Pretty simple question. I thought I knew what to do, but reading around made me second guess, so I thought I'd ask. Thanks!

 

[sushi]

How do you propose to boot/start up your Mac?

Do you plan on having the external HD connected all the time?

 

[SmurfBoxMasta]

Unless you plan on doing as BG said and have the external connected all the time, you will need to have the OS installed on the internal drive in order to boot the machine, which btw, is a powerbook G4 NOT a "macbook"

If OTOH, that IS your plan, then you will need to use system preferences to select the external as the boot drive, and be sure to power it on bEfOrE starting up the powerbook.....

The better option is keep the OS on the internal and your files/documents etc on the external.......

 

[hank-b]

The better option is keep the OS on the internal and your files/documents etc on the external.......

I agree - you should have the OS on the internal drive and documents on the external drive. Note however that if this is what you want to do - to free up space on the internal drive - this is not "backing up", which is what the subject of your post was. If you want your stuff backed up, it should be stored in two separate places. If I were you, I'd have two external drives, with the OS and applications on the internal drive, documents on external drive A, and a backup of the applications and documents on external drive B.

hb

 

[EB66]

what do you plan on doing with your powerbook if you have no os or anything on the drive inside it?

 

[BinderGang]

I want to thank all of you for all your help. It seems as if I confused myself, but you all helped me out with my misunderstanding. So now, let me ask what I'm really looking to do, now that I actually know.

Is there a good program to move the documents off my drive onto the external drive or is drag and drop the best way to go?

Secondly, with a second external hard drive, what is the best way to backup both what's still on my Powerbook hard drive and what's on the first external hard drive?

 

[Sigi]

Backing up

Hello,

have a look at Superduper - will cost you 25 US$ or have a look at Carbon Copy Cloner - this is available as a free download.

Both programs work like a charm. Just read the manual of both before you download. First you will learn a lot about backing up and second you will see which user interface you might like more.

Sigi

 

[alphaod]

Or you can boot to the Restore DVD and use Disk Utility to 'Restore' from your internal drive to the external HDD of your choice. Then you can boot directly off the external drive.